Photo special: Getting SEEN - French rugby celebrated in new free online publication

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the varying quality of today's sports photos could set that count anywhere between 10-10,000.

We're lucky enough to have the superb Michael Paler photos to enhance the visual impact here at frenchrugbyclub.com, and the site would be severely devalued without his excellent (and prolific) contributions.

I've always been a sucker for high quality sporting photos and one of my most treasured books is Flip Schalke's exquisite 'Muhammad Ali - The Birth of a Legend, Miami 1961-64'. Its classic cover - an underwater shot of Ali shadowboxing - is worth the purchase alone and sets a mighty high standard in the world of photo-journalism.

It's always a pleasure to high grade sporting photos given maximum exposure so I'm also delighted to give SEEN Sport Magazine a plug. It's a new free online publication that, in its own words, "combines our passion for sport and photography". It aims to give a platform to images that haven't already been dulled by the increasingly homogenous global media saturation (ie the widespread use of agency photos) and it provides a refreshing emphasis on the camera rather than the keyboard.

Its launch edition features spreads on boxers Carl Froch and Andre Ward, footballer Lionel Messi and a visually stunning gallery of images showing the impressive South Africa 2010 World Cup stadia, but it's the room given over to rugby that obviously caught my eye.

First, there is an insightful article (and photos, of course) on New Zealand superstar Dan Carter - including his reflections on time spent with Perpignan and his views of the France team - and secondly there's a selection of images celebrating the 2010 Grand Slam achieved by 'Les Bleus'.

For those that enjoy your sporting photos then it's well worth checking out. It won't cost you anything...   

SEEN - Edition 1