Catching up

Its been a while since I posted so thought I would post some images etc from last few weeks.

I will start backwards and a word about yesterday. For those who don't know I work part time as a photographer and the rest of my time is divided between working as a postman and lecturer at Perth College (strange combination but works at the moment). So most Saturdays I have a shift at the Post Office before returning home getting changed and getting back out to cover sport for the papers. This was the case on Saturday and to add to this I turned 40 and was having some family across for a small celebration. The plan was to go out by 2pm provide images from one Amateur game and one Junior game for the Telegraph and home by 3pm. That was the plan but it went quickly pear shaped when I got stuck in football traffic (St Johnstone v dundee) and didn't arrive at my first game until 2.40pm. A quick five minutes shooting before crossing town to cover the second game and home by 3.15pm.

Thankfully the rest of the day ran smoother and i am another year older and...........

Here are a couple of images sent to the paper.

Last Wednesday was similar in some ways in that I was teaching in Kinross in the evening and was looking to get some images from a Men's basketball game(Perth Phoenix v Edinburgh) that night which was taking place in Perth. I finished at 9pm in Kinross knowing the game would finish up around 9.30pm. Thankfully after driving the 20 miles to the venue I managed to catch the last quarter of a pulsating game. One thing i have noticed though was the lighting seemed a lot dimmer than usual and I was pushed to get decent a decent shooting speed with 1/200th to 1/320th being the norm whilst shooting at f2.8 ISO 3200. Here are a couple of the better frames from that game.

Also during February I shot a few images around Perthshire Rugby Club. First up I had organised to try some portrait on a few (willing?) players. This is new ground for me using some protable flash set-ups to try and achieve a distinctive look to my images. Not as successful as i would have liked but I achieved a couple of reasonable images. I also shot a couple of news images for the papers.

Perthshire player Adam Pattinson

Perth Firefighter Matt Smith (26) has been selected for the Great Britain rugby squad to take on the British Police team at Birmingham on Wednesday 25th February. Matt will earn his third cap for team GB despite never have been selected for the Scottish team. He is also the only Scot to be selected for the GB team.

Perthshire Rugby Club Vice President Bob Lindsay, Community Development Officer Andy Cummins (front) and Scottish Rugby mascot Scotty the Dog display some jugling skills a mini rugby ball which are being handed out to local children as part of Perthshire's day of rugby which has been dubbed 'Super Saturday'. (Friday 20th Feb)

One last image I liked for some reason.

Another busy time

On Friday I took a trip up to Forfar. I had been asked by the PR company behind the Homecoming Scottish Cup to photograph some the events they had organised as a taster to the forfar v Glasgow Rangers clash. This involved a trip to Strathmore Primary where the kids had a chance to view the cup as well as learn some football skills from SFA coaches. It was then onto Lochside Sports Centre where the cup was on display for the public. Forfar Athletic Chairman Neill Wilson was on hand to receive some support from locals.

On Saturday I covered six games over three hours for the Evening Telegraph and Courier. This consisted of two amateur games before moving onto Kinnoull v Ballingry. I decided I would then take a trip to Jeanfield Swifts game against Bankfoot. I had been asked to capture former St Johnsone player Jim Weir in action for Bankfoot and as I knew he would be playing decided a trip would be worthwhile before heading down to the North Inch and the rugby. Perthshire were playing Dunfermline in a Premier 3 clash. Lastly some Basketball with Perth Phoenix and City of Edinburgh. Altogether a busy but satisfying couple of days.

Ten images from five games.

It was a busy Saturday afternoon with covering five games (three different sports) in five different locations over a 2 1/2 hour period. All these games were shot for either the Evening Telegraph or Courier so I basically tried to get two decent frames from each game.

First up was a couple of amateur games - Bridgeton v Fairfield and then Letham v Roselea. It was then onto Kinnoull v Hill of Beath in the Redwood Cup followed by rugby - Perthshire v Morgan in a Premier 3 derby. I finished the afternoon off by visiting the basketball, Perth Pheonix v Boroughmuir at Perth Academy for 15 mins.

Canon EOS 40D - f2.8 , 1/1600th ISO320

Canon 40D - f2.8, 1/1250th ISO320

Weddings

As I plan to try and take on more weddings I have created a seperate blog for them here.

Jeanfield Swifts v Dyce

Action from the first half (I had to head of to shoot two other matches) of Swift's Junior Scottish Cup tie against Dyce at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. The game ended in a 2-2 draw with swift's now having to travel to Dyce for the replay.

John Anderson who scored Swift's first and took his tally for the season so far to 18 goals.

Basketball

With the winter weather putting paid to most football on Saturday I took the opportunity to take in some basketball at Perth Academy. Perth Phoenix mens met Robert Gordon University in the last 16 of of the Chairman's Cup. I managed to catch a little ove rthe last two quarters and it was good to shoot some BB again. Here are some of the images. These were shot with a combination of a 70-200 and 18-50, 1/400 and f2.8, ISO 3200

Winter is here

Jack Frost has arrived which in sports terms means less games as they fall victim to the winter. With only one game to shoot on Saturday I found myself shooting some potential features for the papers. They weren't used so lets hope football resumes next week and I get back to what I am good at!