Picture perfect: Noel gets shot at the title

A Mullingar photographer has had two of his images shortlisted for the World Sports Photography Awards 2026. Filmmaker and photographer, Noel McIntyre of Motion Picture Media, is selected as a finalist in the prestigious competition.

Noel made the shortlist with two images; one taken in Mullingar at the Canoe Polo Championships during the summer and the other at Laytown races taken in September.

Judged by leading figures from sport, media, photography, branding, and the creative industries, the World Sports Photography Awards is a celebration of sports photography. The 2025 awards marked a record-breaking year, attracting some 2,200 photographers from 97 countries submitting work across more than 50 sports.

“I'm a fairly ambitious character,” Noel said; “to date, I've rarely entered any of those photographic competitions. This one came to my attention in November. I just thought I'd enter some of my best work and see if it gets anywhere.”

Noel selected images he believed were under-represented: “I looked through the past winners, the type of work submitted. There was a lot of American football, Formula One and the Olympics. I just thought canoe polo was a good choice, I thought the subject matter was going to help me because it was unique.”

The images going forward to the final are remarkable. Noel said a lot of work goes into capturing these moments: “The golfer Gary Player famously said, 'the harder I work, the luckier I get'. I was probably three days going down to the canoe polo event. That's picking the right spot and rattling off about seven or eight thousand images a day.

“Out of all of those, you get one where the writing on the ball aligns. It's about dogged determination and perseverance, but when you get an image like that, you know it. Let's say that shutter speed was probably one two thousandth of a second. The hairs in the back of your neck stand up when you look at that, because you just know that's a moment in time, a millisecond captured.”

It's easy to see why the picture was selected, there is a magical quality to it: “I guess there are a lot of elements in that image that caught the judges' eyes. The writing on the ball is lined up. The guy is either about to be submerged or he's after coming up over the water.

“He's determined not to take his eye off the ball while there's another guy coming in to attack him. You have the water spray and everything.”

In contrast the Laytown picture is very different: “There was a thunderstorm that day. I remember being here in Mullingar and looking at the forecast. I knew that there was a possibility of getting some dramatic shots. It's one of my mantras in photography; look the other way. If the crowd is looking one way, I tend to look the other way.

“The racetrack is behind us in that picture. I had a long lens specifically to try to capture that kind of shot. I wasn't one bit surprised to come home with that shot, and I knew it was going to be dramatic. There is some processing, but generally I do little processing, really.”

Noel won't have to wait too long to find out how he did: “The winners will be announced on January 16. I'm particularly proud to be in that final. I think there were less than 30 images worldwide on the shortlist. I know it will be difficult, I'm competing with shots from the Olympics and Formula One. I'm particularly proud that the image was taken in Mullingar.”

Noel says there is a lesson in having a local image in the hunt for international accolade: “For young photographers, and my own son who's getting into photography, the message is always bring your camera. There's always an opportunity on your doorstep. That's what I'm most pleased about.”