There's only two Jason Roberts .....

By Barrie Mills on May 17, 09 09:22 PM

I used to joke with Steve Shakeshaft - one of my extremely distinguished predecessors - that with an average exposure of 1/125 of a second for each shot he took, he'd probably only actually worked for a couple of hours during his entire career.

I think he took it as a joke, anyway - although I've never had a Christmas card from him.

As Steve would patiently point out to me, the crucial thing is WHICH 1/125 of a second you photograph. One of my favourite photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, called it the decisive moment.

This picture by Jason Roberts, from the Daily Post and Echo's coverage of this year's Grand National meeting, shows exactly what Steve - and Cartier-Bresson - meant.

You have to have a certain knack, an instinctive talent for your art to take a picture like this. As the horse fell, Jason already had his exposure and focus sorted - all he had left himself to do was catch the decisive moment, the most dramatic part of the animal's headlong plunge over the fence. But that's the hardest part of all.

Jason's a great football photographer as well - he particularly enjoys covering Blackburn Rovers games when, occasionally, the crowd have been known to sing 'There's only one Jason Roberts'.

But it's an apt comparison, the football photographer and the striker. Without that knack for being in the right place at the right time, the striker won't shoot on target - and neither will the photographer.