By blending sports photography with cinema and art, photographer Geoff Lowe gives his shots a narrative quality that connects movement, emotion, and visual expression. Credit: Geoff Lowe

(CNN)-- South African-British photographer Geoff Lowe does not view sports as a competition between winner and loser, but rather as a space for emotion, movement, and visual expression. While he is known for documenting major global sporting events, he has developed a visual style that blends sports photography, cinema, and art, giving each image a dimension beyond the moment itself.

Lowe relies on combining dozens of consecutive shots taken in fractions of a second into a single frame, a technique aimed at freezing time and displaying the sequence of a player's movement and the ball's trajectory in one image.

After his work at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, he caught attention during the 2026 World Cup with a composite image from the France-Senegal match, which received widespread interaction on social media platforms.

Lowe combines dozens of consecutive shots taken in fractions of a second into a single frame, a technique aimed at freezing time and showing the sequence of a player's movement and the ball's path in one image. Credit: Geoff Lowe

Lowe explained that his experience at this year's World Cup was not traditional, as he did not obtain an official accreditation to cover the tournament, which posed many challenges. He had to buy tickets, travel long distances, and could only use his phone to document the event.

He noted that these conditions, despite their difficulty, gave him a completely different experience from the norm, explaining that when a photographer has all the accreditations and the best shooting positions, they often end up producing the same images over and over again.

He added that during the tournament he had to use different tools and experienced it as a spectator, which he considered more enjoyable than standing inside the stadium among photographers who are in a constant race to get specific shots.

The photographer is more concerned with movement, expression, and feeling in sports than with the details of competition. Credit: Geoff Lowe

Lowe said in an interview with CNN Arabic that the conditions and tools he used were completely different, although the images looked close to his usual style, considering that this type of challenge is what makes him enjoy his work.

As for transitioning between photographing individual sports and global events such as the World Cup, he emphasized that his creative approach does not change much, explaining that he is not concerned with winning, losing, or results as much as he is with the emotions experienced by athletes.

Geoff Lowe did not obtain official accreditation to cover this year's World Cup, which posed many challenges. Credit: Geoff Lowe

He does not care about the match results.

The South African-British photographer also added that he approaches sports the same way he looks at dance or ballet, where movement, expression, and feeling matter more than the details of competition, noting that he may not remember the details of the match or race he photographed, but he always remembers the feeling that moment left inside him.

As for photographing athletes, he explained that he enters each experience without any preconceptions and lets the moments reveal themselves, as the image may revolve around movement or emotions.

Lowe explained that his visual style, which relies on freezing several moments within a single image and then compressing or extending time to show the bigger picture, is not subject to fixed rules, but gives him the freedom to manipulate images to serve the story he felt while shooting.

In the age of artificial intelligence and technology, Lowe is annoyed by the normalization of imitating others' work. Credit: Geoff Lowe

Sports Photography Enters the Art World

As for the evolution of sports photography, Lowe said he discovered his passion for Photoshop and image manipulation in 2010, before dedicating himself to professional sports photography in 2017 and 2018. The lack of job opportunities initially gave him the freedom to develop a different visual style, which helped draw attention to his work on social media and build a large audience.

As these platforms have become the primary means of following sports content, he has noticed the emergence of more young creatives pushing the boundaries of creativity to unprecedented levels.

The South African-British photographer said that some works he sees today seem 'crazy,' but he realizes that people were saying the same thing about his images eight years ago, so he feels he was part of the generation that moved sports photography from mere journalistic documentation to a space closer to art.

Some works he sees today seem 'crazy.' Credit: Geoff Lowe

Lowe also touched on the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on the future of photography, emphasizing that despite the importance of new tools and their breaking down many barriers for creators, he believes it is necessary to preserve the real elements that give the photographer the joy of living the moment and feeling the energy while working.

He pointed out that what bothers him most is the normalization of imitating others' work, considering that many creators now produce content that follows popular trends just to attract attention.

Lowe concluded by noting that style, skill, and imagination cannot be copied, and that creativity will remain the essential element for creating art capable of influencing people no matter how tools change, adding that there are always those who create trends and those who follow them, but the difference between them remains clear.