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!

Saturday's images

Here are some of the images shot yesterday. Considering I had 2 hours to shoot images at four different venues I was pleased with the results. These are images from the two Junior matches I shot. (The others were an Amateur game and a team photo).

Back to norm

After all the wedding posts I feel I shoot put up images of what you would expect to see on this blog. Here are somefrom the last two weeks.

Getting a chance to shoot this on someone's wedding day - cool!

When I sat down with Lindsay and Bruce before their wedding it became apparent Bruce was a big golf fan. I mentioned taking some golf related pictures on his wedding day. He was really up for the idea and he and some other members of the wedding braved freezing tempertures walked onto the pitch dark golf course and allowed me to try out a few images for 5 minutes. These were the best of the bunch, not perfect but we certainly had fun trying.

Shot with two bare Vivitars laid on the ground in front of them. F4.5 , 1/60th, ISO800 for both.

Wedding - Lindsay and Bruce

So as mentioned in the last post, I shot my first wedding for over 10 years on Saturday. Assisted by Jenny, I had a great time and Lindsay and Bruce were a joy to work with. We got lucky with the weather despite the face it was freezing ther was great light to use. I used a couple of remote speedlight/umbrella set up to mainly use as fill. These are some of the images I am currently working through.

Fun in the rain

I shoot my first wedding in over ten years this Saturday. Although I have shot plenty weddings in the past I am excited with the possibilities this weekend will offer. Times change and hopefully I am now a better photographer, the stuffy images of the past will make way for a more relaxed and spontaneous style.

The couple getting married are Lindsay and Bruce. A great couple and we spent about ten minutes on Sunday morning , beaten back by the wind and rain, getting some pre-wedding images. These were shot handholding a flashgun in one hand and a 40D with 70-200 in the other. I would have liked to use a stand and brolly etc but I don't think they would have survived in the wind.

Scotland 'A' v Australia 'A' (21/11/06)

This is a test. After reading Craig Mitchelldyer's blog entry I decided to try embedding a slideshow gallery. I have tried this before with mixed results, but this was before Photoshelter brought out some new updates. This is a 'A' international game from two years ago but I will probably use this as a way to display future press images as you can click and buy straight from the slideshow. Cool!

Hey I'm getting this flash thing

Here are some images from a sponsored head shave(partial) and leg wax held in a crowded bar at the weekend. All images were taken for the paper. The images themselves are nothing startling but I was pleased with the way I controlled flash. In the images I was positioned no more than 1-2 feet from the subjects in the photo but still managed to control how light from a mounted flashgun was spread. The answer was a A5 piece of white card velcro mounted to bounce the flash against. I think it produced quite a pleasing result in a situation I might normally have struggled to light evenly.

Catalogue shoot

I have just finished a catalogue shoot for http://www.twiceonline.co.uk. This is the first time I have shot something like this which I found more challenging than shooting people. Making an inanimate object interesting is all to do with light and focus. I would hope I have succeeded doing so with the images I took. Below are some examples.
For the record Twice is a local business run by Caroline Hoyer Millar selling household goods made with traditional materials or in a traditional way. Pay her site a visit.

Speed shooting

Saturday should have been a fairly easy day shooting. I was asked by the paper to cover two Amateur matches both kicking off at 2pm, a Junior match kicking off at 2.30pm, another Junior match kicking off at 3pm and a simple news image about football programmes at the same ground.

The weather forecast said the rain in the morning would clear in the afternoon.Good. I got my equipment together and left the house just after 1.30pm giving plenty time to get to the furthest away amateur ground. Got to the ground to discover the game wouldn't be kicking off at 2pm after all probably closer to 2.30pm. So I decided to go the the second amateur match with a view to covering that first. Same story. Now I was left with 3 games all with a 2.30pm kick-off. Suddenly the day would be a bit more hectic. I headed back to the first game and shot a few images before heading back to the second amateur. The heavens opened at this point. Torrential rain and wind. I shot the second match for just over 5 minutes before heading off to my first junior game. By this time I was drenched. Covered the next two games and news image by 4pm. Wet through but job done. The glamorous life of a bottom rung sports shooter!

Below are the images I will be submitting to the paper with the exact time they were captured. One thing I would say is that there is a real similarity in the images due to the fact that I shot the first three games from a midfield point for safety (making sure I have images to submit). Award winning images they are not.

Tay Thistle v Dundee Shamrock. Image captured 14.40pm

Tay Thistle v Dundee Shamrock. Image captured 14.41pm

Letham Amateurs v Menziehill AFC. Image captured 14.49pm.

Letham Amateurs v Menziehill AFC. Image captured 14.51pm.

Jeanfield Swifts v Steelend. Image captured 15.08pm.

Jeanfield Swifts v Steelend. Image captured 15.09pm.

Scone Thistle v Culter. Image captured 15.36pm.

Scone Thistle v Culter. Image captured 15.42pm.

Scone Thistle president Scott Farquharson with the new look programmes. Image captured 16.03pm.