Erin's first birthday

My daughter Erin celebrated her first birthday this week.





Just started walking, talking and much more..

Peaks and troughs

An action packed couple of days shooting horses at Perth Races. I spent Tuesday covering the meeting from a trainers/stables point of view. The stables in question are owned by Alan and Lucy Normile. On Tuesday they had two horses running and the aim was to cover them from start to finish, so I started at the stable photographing head girl Libby Brodie and stable girl Caroline Barclay preparing the horses for the race (they were a joy to work with though I'm not sure how much they enjoyed being in the limelight) then onto the racecourse. Access to areas of the racecourse can prove difficult, even with a press pass, but thankfully I got what I needed. The Evening Telegraph ran the story on the Wednesday which I was pleased with as it was my first feature I had pitched.


Here's how it looked.

Also on the Tuesday tragedy struck as Mighty Fine, a 13 year old grey, died of a suspected heart attack after winning his race. He had ran a good race minutes before. I think his trainer Paul Blockley summed it up best.

"This is a tragic end to a fantastic horse. At least he died doing something he enjoyed and has gone out on a high."

Here he is winning his race.

Great to be shooting football again

Yesterday was the first time I hae shot football since May/June. Probably doesn't seem long to people not interested in the game, but I enjoyed getting back to it. Not much to write home about a couple of friendlies - Luncarty v Tayport and Kinnoull v Violet but it was a good opportunity to get some shots of new players. Bring on the rugby!

A day at the park

A day just spent kicking around the park with my kids - Kieran, Struan and Erin

An image from Perth Races

Just an image from a quick visit to Perth Races on Sunday. Loved the colours.

Website blues

It seems like a good idea. I will attempt to build my own website. I remember a few years ago my first attempt at building a website. I didn't have a clue where to start, I was computer illiterate and I thought reading a few books was all that was required. For any professional web designers out there you will know how wrong I was.

I teach digital photography parttime to a range of people from complete beginners to keen amateurs and the important thing for all these students is having a complete knowledge of their particular camera. How many times have you read a complete manual? Not many.

You would think I would practice what I preach. Fast forward to July 2007. I have decided to build a new website. And again I am wondering whether it was the right thing to do.

Time will tell.

www.shaunward.co.uk

Rain stops play

So the rain eventually stopped too late. Perth Races were cancelled and my plans changed.

Took a trip up to Loanleven Farm where I am starting to do a feature on life on a organic farm. Spent the morning with Brian who is the head stockman at the farm. What Brian doesn't know about cattle and sheep is not worth mentioning. One thing I found out in my visit is that cattle have a hierarchy. So next time someone spins that old wives tale about the cows lying down so its going to rain don't listen. The cows are lying down because the chief told them to!
Loanleven Farm stock cattle, sheep and pigs so hopefully this year long project can yield some interesting shots and facts.