From Momentoo: Faces of Corus

Visiting Wijk aan Zee 2005 was fun, for many reasons. The extraordinarily exciting chess was a pleasure to watch. But it was also the work of a number of talented photographers that made the event so memorable. The professional amongst the camera-wielding crowd was Fred Lucas, well known to our readers from past galleries (see links at the bottom). Fred was the official Corus photographer, walking around with a giant lens with great light-gathering power, getting candid and unusual photos of players in action.

We learnt a lot from Fred during our stay in Wijk. For instance the importance of white-balancing your camera before going on the hunt, so that your pictures don't all look as though a sever case of jaundice had hit the participants. Or how to steady a camera in very poor lighting (see picture below). Part of the improved quality of our own photographic efforts can be directly traced to the lessons we receive at the hands of this professional.

As the official Corus photographer Fred Lucas had his own little studio, where he could conduct proper photo shoots with the players, with lights and props, and perfect eye contact. On his Momentoo site there are over 200 pictures to see, and many more on the official Corus web pages (links below). We asked Fred to select his twelve favourites and present these to you as a review of the great tournament.

Fred Lucas: Faces of Corus

Judit Polgar; Hungary

Parimarjan Negi, India

Vladimir Georgiev from Bulgaria

Alexander Grischuk, Russia

Vishy Anand, India, Vladimir Kramnik, Russia

Natalia Zhukova, Ukraine

Magnus Carlsen, Norway

"My relation with chess is simple," says Fred Lucas. "I'm a photographer who is very fond of the game, loves the atmosphere at tournaments – it's if you can really feel all the ideas coming up on all those boards – and I love to make pictures, especially with available light. What I like most when photographing chess players is to get their emotions that are otherwise hard to see, because life immediately proceeds to the next moment. Before the start of a game most players are busy with themselves, concentrating and some give you the impression that they really don't want to pay attention to anything else than the game to come."

Links

• Wijk aan Zee official photo gallery
• ChessBase Wijk aan Zee illustrated reports
• Momentoo – chess in available light
• Tea Lanchava: My life is a mix of beautiful dreams!
• From Momentoo: Faces of Calvià
• Fred Lucas' Momentoo web site