“Feeling the sport through the images”: Interview with photographer Alexander Aguiar

Joao Fonseca photographed by Alexander Aguiar

Beyond the aesthetic attributes of what is often hailed the most elegant sport, beyond the star power of the best players in the world, beyond the nuanced and off-the-wall images, beyond the stoic grandeur of tennis, Alexander Aguiar’s tennis photography is about the game. It is deeply attuned to the game: the endurance, the frustration, the patience, the resilience, the strength, the athleticism, the artistry, the style, the small victories, the constant recommence, the losing resignation, the winning relief. It is deeply attuned even with how the game can shape the spectators. In his photography, I see the thrill of experiencing the excitement of the sport that I love. Alexander Aguiar loves the game, too. He played it growing up, he is still playing it – a comeback story of sorts. I think that this comes through in his photography. And beyond his understating of and passion for the game, beyond the beauty of the game laced with an insight of what makes the players tick, beyond his photographic abilities and creativity, you feel he is doing something for the sport, that it’s not just a job, and that’s important. There is always a story behind each photograph. And that’s a feeling that cuts through his tennis photography, Tour de France reportage and sports portraiture alike.

In our interview, Alexander and I talk about his growing up playing tennis in South Florida, about the quirky players or fringe characters that he liked as a kid, about his determination to build a small library of images to document Brazilian rising talent Joao Fonseca, the one thing that photographers in sports are often guilty of, and about one of the best places where people can thrive outside.

Joao Fonseca photographed by Alexander Aguiar

Can we start with tennis? I am passionate about tennis and I can pore over your tennis photos without ever tiring or wanting to get to the next one. They are so fresh and authentic and they always make me think of the game first, not the best players of the world being featured in them. What is your relationship to tennis? Does it hold a special interest for you that goes beyond your work as a photographer?

Of course we can start with tennis!! It’s actually where sport started a bit for me as well – I grew up playing tennis somewhat competitively, then took ten years off, and now have been addicted again for the last 5 or so years. I trained at academies in South Florida through to 11th grade or so, and I’m now back to playing 4-5 times a week. Some of my first photos in sports were taken as a kid, while running around the Miami Open (then called the NASDAQ) and documenting young legends like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marat Safin, and other favorites of the early 2000’s. When it comes to my photography career, I’ve always tried to keep tennis and photography apart (something like a separation of Church and State), but lately I’ve been searching for some new life in photography and have been focusing on shooting more tennis to enjoy things a bit more. Your compliments about feeling the sport through the imagery means a lot to me – I’d like to think that my thousands of hours on court as a tennis player help with that. While I’m guilty of it too, I think a lot of photographers will often shoot jobs in sports despite not being very familiar with the sport… and it shows to the true enthusiasts who see the images. I feel like my experience playing tennis contributes to my eye when deciding on certain angles, moments, and movements that are special to the game, and I feel like I can have somewhat of an authentic POV in the sport.

”I feel like my experience playing tennis contributes
to my eye when deciding on certain angles, moments,
and movements that are special to the game.”

Playing tennis, running around the Miami Open and documenting Rafa (my all-time favourite), Roger and Safin (loved his game), it really can’t get any better than this. And you are absolutely right, your familiarity with the sport does come through in your photos and I sensed you must have at least played or loved the sport very much. I wish more photographers who photograph tennis played tennis. I feel that so many focus on getting a good angle, or a good shot of a spectacular move, but often times emotion lacks. There is narrative in each of your images and I just love that, it does bring the viewer closer in, it’s really an immersive feeling. Did you study photography?

I didn’t, it’s something that I somewhat stumbled into accidentally through my first job. It wasn’t on the job description and was never discussed in interviews, but the football team I was working for gave me a camera before my first day of work and I was somewhat tossed into the deep end of the pool with it. I remember reading the camera manual in my hotel bed the night before starting the job, because I had never used a DSLR before. It was a Canon 70D if I remember correctly.

Aryna Sabalenka, Miami Open, photographed by Alexander Aguiar for Racquet Magazine

”To me, the photographs that feel composed and nuanced
in live sports are usually the ones that catch my eye.”

Carlos Alcaraz, Miami Open, photographed by Alexander Aguiar for Racquet Magazine

Photograph by Alexander Aguiar for Racquet Magazine. Miami Open

You have recently photographed the Sunshine Double. What was the highlight for you of this year’s Indian Wells and Miami?

It was my first time at Indian Wells and I absolutely loved it. We don’t have mountains in Florida, so whenever I’m around them I’m always in awe. The grounds are incredible and the tournament is run impeccably – I would totally recommend anyone interested in going to check it out. My motivation behind going was mainly to shoot Joao Fonseca, a rising young talent from Brazil. He’s still very young and I don’t like to put too many expectations on a player’s career, but even without looking into the future, it’s hard to not be amazed by his game as it stands today. I actually took a road trip to Cary, North Carolina to watch him play in a Challengers Event (yes, like the movie – it’s an entry point into the pro tour) and also took a day trip to watch a qualifying match at the US Open last year (I flew in the morning and flew right back that same evening). It relates to the images I took as a kid of Rafael Nadal in Miami in 2005, but there’s just something exciting about shooting a young player who appears to have a bright future ahead. So with all that said… Yes, I made it a point to shoot him in Miami as well this year! I’m building a small library of images to document his career when I can.

”My motivation was mainly to shoot Joao Fonseca,
a rising young talent from Brazil.”

Joao Fonseca is incredible to watch and I am happy to hear you are determined to document his career. What about the women’s tennis? Is there any young tennis player that has captured your interest?

Mirra Andreeva is a lot of fun – she had an early presence on tour as a teen and seems to be under great guidance with Conchita Martinez as her coach. She’s so fun and “youthful” – I think her personality brings a fun element to all of her matches and to the tour.

What player did you look up to the most when you were playing tennis as a kid?

I had a handful of players I liked – sometimes the quirky ones or fringe characters. I liked Fabrice Santoro, Marat Safin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and of course the greats: Federer and Rafa. I feel like I have an appreciation for all players in that era, because it’s the era when I followed tennis religiously. I can be talked into being a fan of anyone… David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko, Gilles Simon—they were all great.

Will you be shooting any of the clay court season?

At the moment, I don’t have any plans too, but I would love to. Houston looked like a lot of fun, and, of course, the European clay swing is awesome. Monte Carlo is probably my favorite tournament on the calendar… I’ve been to the grounds once, but not during the tournament.

Photograph by Alexander Aguiar

What makes a good sports photograph?

I’m not sure I can answer that one for everyone! But, in my case, I always appreciate sport images that go beyond button pushing. A lot of my work (including commercial athletic imagery) is controlled in a photoshoot setting, and I’m always reminded how tough it is to get memorable images while shooting live sports. Sometimes there are natural moments that happen that can make a frame fun, but often times it can be difficult to get things just as you want them. To me, the photographs that feel composed and nuanced in live sports are usually the ones that catch my eye, while photographs that feel documentary and alive in photoshoot settings are the ones that end up being my favorites.

Do you always carry a camera with you?

At certain points in my career I have, but lately I haven’t been. I’m not great with an iPhone either, so most of what I do is my phone is more utility than creative (like taking a picture of a parking spot to remember where my car is). There is something to be said about having a camera on you though, because there are times in my day where I’ll see something that I want to record as an image and sometimes regret not having a camera on me. I feel like I usually have a camera with me when I’m feeling inspired to shoot more, but I’m not too hard on myself when that isn’t the case.

Photograph by Alexander Aguiar for Racquet Magazine. Miami Open

”Sometimes I like to add elements of street photography
or portraiture to sports work.
Getting outside of that purist box
helps bring some more personal voice to the work.”

Is it make or take a photograph? Do you wait for a good photo? In this sense, is, for example, sports photography (where speed of reaction is paramount) different than travel photography or other kind of photography?

I haven’t thought about my official stance on make vs take before, but I suppose the main difference, for me, is in the intentionality of an image (more intention would lean towards making, while less intention would lean towards taking). Sports photography can be different than others because of anticipation, like you mentioned – understanding movement patterns and the flow of an action are important to get an image just how you want (which goes back towards making vs taking). But with that said, I feel like my sports photography has gotten better as other parts of my photography skillset improved. Sometimes I like to add elements of street photography or portraiture to sports work, which can help blur the line between documentary and prescribed images. I feel like shooting pure sports photography can be a bit limiting, especially when couped up in a photographers pit with a dozen other photographers shooting with the same lenses, cameras, and angle as you. Getting outside of that purist box helps bring some more personal voice to the work.

Yes, I completely agree about that element of surprise. It’s the atmosphere surrounding it or how it can impact other aspects of life and culture. Which brings me to the Tour de France. I love the mountain, as I do tennis, and so there was so much more I was interested in when watching it, not just to watch my favourite cyclist, Jan Ullrich. You have photographed the tour and again your storytelling is so complex, succeeding to also capture the beauty and fascination with this legendary sports event. Tell me a little about that experience.

Well I’ve shot the Tour de France twice – I did it once in like 2019 or so, and then once more recently. Both were sort of “personal” projects that I wanted to shoot, but after my first time shooting the Tour, I realized I wanted to do a project on it that involved a little more narrative. I ended up going back to shoot a story on the signage on the course that directs the cyclists on where they’re heading while traveling across the entire country by bike over the course of a month. I ended up writing and shooting the story and pitching it to the New York Times, which ran as a full page spread in the Sunday paper. My mom and I traveled on both projects together, so it was a fun experience that we had and something I’ll remember for a long long time.

Why the personal interest in the Tour de France?

At the time I actually wasn’t into cycling at all. I think I decided to shoot it one day in the summer of 2018 while my roommates were randomly watching the Tour de France on TV. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but, for some reason, I was captivated by it and decided right then that I would make a project out of shooting it. Sure enough, I was shooting it the next year and then wrote my NYT project on it a couple years after that.

Le Tour de France. Photograph by Alexander Aguiar

Apart from photographic skills, instinct and creativity, have there been moments when you thought that being in the right place at the right time played a big role in the outcome?

I’m sure it has, but I always feel like I can do a better job of putting myself out there and being in the right place at the right time. Maybe it has less to do with actual images, and more with networking and meeting people in the creative industry… I just feel like I can always do a better job at it.

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, preparing to take a photo, where would you want to be?

I’d love to be in Europe for a summer to shoot the tennis clay court swing and maybe a bit of Wimbledon!

You live in Miami Beach. What is the best part about living in Miami and which you would miss if you lived anywhere else in the world?

Miami Beach is great – the lifestyle it provides is right up my alley. It’s great to have the beach so nearby, and the area is really conducive to a walking lifestyle. I don’t particularly need a car here, which is great. Besides that, South Florida is such an active place where people can thrive outside. I love being able to play my tennis year round as well as bike, run, and do just about anything else I can think of it. And seeing the sun every day of the year isn’t so bad either!

It certainly isn’t! Thank you, Alexander, for this wonderful conversation!

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Le Tour de France. Photographs by Alexander Aguiar