As a former newspaper photographer, I know well the pressures to produce. If one is covering an event, say a sporting event, and one player is the focus of the story, then one has to return with a publishable picture of that player.
Clearly an action shot is best. A shot clearing illustrating why they are worth a story is by far the best shot. Sadly, this is not always possible. Sometimes time constraints force the photographer to spend just moments at a game. The pressure of covering the next assignment forces the photographer to go with a second best image.
It is at times like this that the shooter looks for a naturally posed moment. If an action shot is not to be then at least one must return with an image that will look good on the page. Second best must not look like second best.
This thinking can give a newspaper shooter an image to keep the sports page editor smiling and this approach can also produce a family album picture from almost any event. The naturally posed moment used to illustrate this article put a smile on every one's face from parents to grandparents to even the young soccer player.
The naturally posed moment is also a good backup photo. It is a solid image from the event that can be used if the other shots, the action shots, fail. Never let image blinders prevent one from seeing all the photo moments.
