Hello Adela, could you introduce yourself to our readers and explain your role in the world of CS lans?

Hello! My name’s Adela, I’m a freelance esport photographer based in Warsaw. I’m the one responsible for the photos you see on Flickr, social media, and advertisments :)

Did you study photography, or was it only a hobby at the beginning that little by little became more important?

Well, it usually starts as a hobby, even when you decide to study the subject later, doesn’t it? I got interested in photography around high school and even took some courses to understand it better, but artistic studies were never meant for me. In short, yes, it began as a hobby, but it turned out to be something much, much more important.

How did you get into the world of eSport? Was your first passion photography and then you discovered eSport, or did you like eSport so much you chose to take photos about it? Or was it something else?

 It was kind of both. By the time I discovered esport I already knew and liked photography, but I didn’t treat it seriously and I surely never expected it to become my job.

The merging of photography and esports was a series of happy little accidents in my case: me and my friends decided to go to IEM Katowice 2013, since it was the first major esport event in Poland. Somewhere between booking hotels and train tickets I decided I’d like to take my camera with me and then bluntly thought that someone might as well use these photos, so I simply wrote a series of emails to every Polish news site going there and somehow ended up with a press pass.

That was one of the best three days of my life and I quickly realised that this is exactly what I want to do from now on, so only then I started taking photography really seriously.

Did you already take photographs in other fields of activity? For a photographer, eSport seems to be an unusual sector. Are there any specific aspects that others might not have?

Not really. As I said, my “serious” photography began with my first esport event. Nowadays I sometimes accept invitations to other events like conferences or parties, but it’s nothing major since I simply don’t have much time to do it. I also try to document some events in Warsaw like demonstrations or marches since it’s always interesting and usually very important, but I consider this to be personal projects.

Esport is definitely a very unusual subject to capture because it combines traditional sport photography, meaning competition, emotion, teams, winning and loosing moments, with the demanding environment of gigs and concerts: lights, lasers, pyrotechnics, and crowds. People are sometimes utterly bewildered when I tell them I love taking pictures of guys playing video games, but they usually change their minds when they see the scale and the atmosphere of those events.

The DH Winter 2016, seen by Adela (click to enlarge)

Is there a secret, a “thing” to catch some specific moment in photos, like winning moments?

I’d love to say it takes some special sixth sense to do it which I and few others happen to posses, but as with everything, it takes some talent and a lot of practice. There are a lot of cues that help you with catching a great shot: your knowledge of the game, observation of the players or even knowledge of their specific, personal “tells”, listening to the crowd and the casters if you can’t see the game yourself. After some time you learn to notice them and combine automatically to a really surprising extent.

But it really takes practice and patience. I still miss a lot of good moments, but thankfully less than I used to :)

On Twitter, you define yourself as freelance. How do you choose which event you’ll attend? Do you ask for accreditations for each event or do organizers ask you to come?

My decision-making process when it comes to going to the events is very simple at the moment: Can I go without having some serious trouble at the university?

At the moment I only go to the events I’m invited to.

With the development of CSGO, tournaments now take place around the globe. Is being on the road most of the time complicated?

Since I’m still studying I don’t travel and work as much as I would like to, but I can already tell you that it can be indeed both complicated and exhausting, but very rewarding at the same time. Most of the people working in the esport travel virtually all the time, being on the road for two to three months non-stop with only a couple of days to repack go again. The very logistics of this kind of life are not easy, but most of us simply like this way of life.

From an external point of view, we could think that you’re lonely while you work. Is this true or did you meet people on several events with whom you became friends?

Lonely is probably the last word I’d use here. Every event I go to I either see my friends again or meet some new. Esport is full with interesting, passionate, and hard-working people, so it’s impossible to feel lonely.

What are your relations with the players, by dint of seeing them and being close to them on many events? Do some players like to “play” with the camera, like when we see TaZ or f0rest on the streams?

It varies of course from person to person, some of them enjoy having their pictures taken, some of them are a bit more shy, but they know that being on camera is simply a part of their job and that we’re actually trying to make them look awesome, so we’re not going to choose weird angles or weird face expressions (However, I admit, weird face expressions are fun sometimes).

We also try to respect their privacy by not following them around and taking photos when they’re backstage chilling, eating, napping, practising, tweeting, hanging out with their friends. It happens sometimes, but not without their permission. We also try to keep out distance when they’re onstage, for obvious reasons. 

ReDeYe in full light

Regarding the use of the pictures, it’s difficult to have the copyright respected on the internet. Did you have some of your pictures used without even your or your employer’s name (ESL, DH…) mentioned? What are your feelings then: proud to see your work loved and used, or frustration of seeing your work stolen?

 That’s a very important question, thank you for that.

Yes, it’s actually impossible to have the copyright respected on the internet, yes, I had my pictures stolen multiple times and no, it’s never something to be proud of. Every time I’m as frustrated and annoyed and feel, well, robbed, especially since it’s usually done by the people who should seriously know better, meaning journalists or public persons.

I never fuss about my work being taken and edited by the community on reddit for example, because it’s usually harmless and often hilarious. I take my photos for people to enjoy and while I’d prefer they remember my name when they do it, it’s still okay, I consider it my service to the community, so to speak.

However, seeing my photos on professional sites and social media is seriously infuriating, because it means that someone is either seriously incompetent or ill-willed. We understand you might not have the funds to pay us for using our work, but stealing it doesn’t make it better, it just make you untrustworthy.

Believe me, it will be better if you actually take effort to contact the author, explain the situation and offer some alternative solution: maybe you’re a beginning news site and while you can’t pay me, you can offer me some exposure and the feeling of being acknowledged by writing a short piece about me? Maybe you’re selling something and the business is not great yet, but you’ll be happy to give me a small discount? Or maybe apart from signing my photos you can’t really do anything for me, but your request was so polite it melted my ice-cold, professional heart? Everything is better than stealing and if you can’t do your business otherwise, then maybe you shouldn’t do it at all.

Pardon my little rant, this is a very touchy subject ;)

Is there any LAN that impressed you? From the crowd, the stage…

It will seriously sound very tacky, but every LAN impresses me. Of course, the bigger ones like IEM finals in Katowice, DreamHack Masters, ESL One Cologne, or DreamHack Summer or Winter are the most impressive in terms of the stage and the crowd and the sheer amount of emotions, but the smaller ones can feel surprisingly fun and electric.

Are you especially proud of one or many of your pictures in particular? From their context, what is emerging from it...

I’m never exactly happy with my photos which is probably good, but it means I’ll have to wait a long time to finally be able to say “ooooh, this one is AMAZING” :)

From a technical point of view, which devices and accessories do you use?

Most of us use Canon 5d m3 cameras and lots and lots of zoom lenses with f/2.8 because of their versatility and the tough light conditions, it’s seriously dark out there.

Unfortunately, while equipment can be not much of an issue in other photography areas, especially in the beginning, esport is unforgiving. 

In interview with Efrag during the ESL One Cologne 2016

Do you make a living from eSport photography or do you work on other fields, photography or something else?

Like every polish student I used to work as a waitress/barmaid, but thankfully I don’t have to now.

It is known that the only person who’s not on the picture is the photographer. Have you ever felt a lack of recognition or do you not care about it?

To be fair, while I’m not exactly internet famous, I feel that the people who should know who I am and what I do know it by now and appreciate it, and that’s what really matters. I also was a nominee for the esport photographer of the year award, so the lack of recognition is not an issue here :)