From pitch to publication: how Rugby World Cup™ shots get to market

Today we take it for granted that professional pictures of sports events are published instantly on websites around the world, and in newspapers and magazines the next morning. During Rugby World Cup 2019™, for example, every angle of a try being scored was sent to publications before the conversion kick was even taken. But what's the process by which these images actually get from pitch to publication?

Getty Images sports photographer Warren Little, who covered Rugby World Cup 2019™, has been shooting sports since the 1990s. He says that since he began working in the industry, technology has completely transformed the way his images get to publication.

"When I started working for Getty in 1996, we solely used film negative for events or moments that were time-sensitive," he says. "We would process and dry the negative film on-site, ready for image selection. Then the selected images would be scanned, captioned and finally sent, using a modem, to the London picture desk for global distribution via FTP systems to all clients for publication."

It's also the most reliable method, which is important in a situation where connectivity is crucial for Warren to do his job. "Unfortunately at major events we sometimes have situations where the signal can drop or the camera can't connect to a network," he says. "However, at Rugby World Cup 2019™ we had no real issues, as the network was fast and reliable."

Warren shoots JPEGs rather than RAW files because they're quicker to process. As soon as they're shot, images are delivered to his personal Dropbox account, from which Getty Images' team of editors in the agency's London office can access images. They can then move images into the Getty editing software to make small adjustments such as cropping, then add the captions and complete sending images around the world to clients via FTP.

Around 120-150 images from each match are ultimately posted on the Getty Images site. The main clients for Rugby World Cup™ images are World Rugby™, the sport's governing body, along with established clients around the world, including newspapers, websites and major sponsors linked with the sports personalities pictured.

Although the pressure is really on for Warren to deliver images of the key moments during a Rugby World Cup™ match, it's a job he loves doing. "The work is stressful, but it's a good stress," he says. "There's nothing like living the moment and executing the process from pitch to publication.

"Afterwards, it's a great feeling to see a moment I captured reproduced in print or online, such as when I'm sitting on a London Tube train the day after a match and I see people reading a newspaper that has used my picture."