World Rugby: Women's Rugby World Cup Experiences Launch
Reportage-Led Promotional Photography
There are moments as a photographer where everything aligns: the energy, the subject, the purpose. The Women’s Rugby World Cup Experiences launch at Allianz Stadium was exactly that. Bright April sunshine bathed the pitch, and the atmosphere buzzed with excitement and pride.
For someone who lives and breathes rugby, and spent years both on and off the pitch, this event wasn’t just another assignment. It was an exciting moment. From the minute I walked into the stadium, I was met with familiar faces, players I’ve followed, photographed, cheered for. Friends from past campaigns and collaborators in the world of women’s sport. That sense of community, of something significant growing stronger, was in the air. And that’s exactly what I wanted my photographs to reflect.
The brief was promotional, and the hard part of a promotional brief is that it has to read as real. A hospitality campaign can very easily look like a catalogue. So the day was shot as reportage: guests finding the trophy on the pitch, a canapé handed across, hands over an interactive game, a compact camera held up at the empty bowl, the laughter of people who had come for a day out and realised where they were standing. Nothing was posed that did not want to be.
This sits alongside the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 tournament coverage shot for Rugby Journal, and the Where We Belong campaign launch at the Brighton i360, also for World Rugby. I wrote about the Experiences day in full here. If you are commissioning brand or event photography around a tournament, here is how commissions work.