Sport Pictures

Beach Communication, originally uploaded by sportpictures.

The wheels of opportunity and circumstance were turning in my favor this last Sunday. My first ever confirmed press pass was for a Beach Volleyball competition in Lausanne, Switzerland around 2005, but alas the fact I only found out about this two days before the tournament, I was actually unable to fund the flight to get out to Switzerland on that occasion.

Now in the UK Beach Volleyball tournament only ever happen on the South Coast in places like Brighton and when you live in Manchester its far enough away to think twice about the journey. So it was to my great surprise that I found out that there was going to be a tournament in Blackpool of all places in early September.

Confirmation that I’d be able to shoot for womensportreport.com only really happened on the Saturday evening prior to the final day of finals.

So I packed up all my gear and made sure that the correct lenses would be on the two D200s as I’d already worked out that changing lenses on sand was not really an option. So I jumped in my little smart car and made the 55 mile journey to Blackpool.

The day started brilliantly with lovely bright sunlight through hazy broken clouds. Regardless of the fact the clouds became thicker during the day and turned into a rather dull day by the end of the day, but for a week when the weather has been really poor for a total week it was great that the good weather came out at a weekend for a change. Women Sport Report used a few of the pictures which I was able to wire straight from the media tent on the afternoon. There report can be found here.

This picture is the one of the ’standard’ shots from Beach Volleyball that has intrigued me since I started photographing sports all that time ago.

Over the past three or so years I have been blessed with being able to shoot at a number of local, national and international sporting events. Earlier today as I was watching Gail Emms and Nathan Robinson in their badminton games I realised that I must have shot a number of Olympic competitors.

My challenge to you is to spot the Olympic athletes in my photographs on Flickr. For the person that tags the most Olympic athletes before the closing ceremony I will provide a professionally printed A3 photograph of the image of their choice from my Flickr collection.

For a valid claim you have to tag the most Olympic athletes from my collection with the Flickr +note function with Athletes Name and ‘Olympics 2008′ in the note [ click on the photograph of Fatima Moreira de Melo above to see an example]. Please then add a comment in the comments section stating your claim with the Sports Persons name. The person with the most ‘claims’ in the notes/comments will be sent an email and asked to provide details of the image they would like and an address to send it.

All entries after the closing ceremony will not be counted.  Get spotting those Olympic athletes, the fun thing is I don’t actually know how many I have got!

Exhausted, originally uploaded by sportpictures.

When you have ran as far as these people you would not blame them for taking a few moments rest at the end.

Originally uploaded by sportpictures

It’s always a great joy to find a group of people that are willing and wanting to have their picture taken. These Sol Beer promotions people were parked off Piccadilly Gardens in three Volkswagen Beetles in yellow with big logos all over them.

“I wanted first to thankyou very much for the images as they really show off the movement of fabric and are very different from the ones previously taken in London.” - Minna Ramsay

It was a very pleasant surprise this afternoon to receive an email from Minna. Above is quoted a small section of the email which I must admit gave me a gentle glow inside. Minna, if you read this I’ve sent you an email, or will do once I’ve finished writing this entry. I think we both owe a big thank you to the models of the evening who helped immensely to convey the feel of the garments they were displaying.

I picked this picture because this particular model was really assisting me by actually playing to the camera as she approached the end of the catwalk. A number of times she was really working the clothes and actively promoting the garments by cheeky movements that were definitely aimed at the photographer - or that’s what I’d like to think!

Minna, all the best with your search for a job - when your big and famous in Milan, Paris or London remember me… Read the rest of this entry »

I had the privileged of photographing at the final catwalk show presented by the fashion students at the Manchester Metropolitan University on the 16 July 2008

This particular model really worked hard at involving the camera and pulled some very entertaining poses towards the camera and it really showed in the photographs that I was able to capture.

Personally I was very impressed with the level of craftsmanship that was presented on the evening - although encapsulated in the safe place behind the camera. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and with the blessing of the powers that be from the university I will return in 12 months time.

I think I’d like to just mention all the hidden people that have assisted with the creation of the garments presented. I overheard a number of the students expressing how they wished there was a way they could publicly show their appreciation for the technicians and persons who normally remain nameless and assisted the students in their working to produce amazing garments - so this is you thanked.

 

GM-B-RUN2008-23824 (1)

Originally uploaded by sportpictures

Today I was able to go and photograph just under 50 pre-1980’s cars. They were invited by the Lancashire Automobile Club and were dispatched from the Worsley Old Hall, in Worsley, Manchester.

I enjoy events with cars and tend to go for more speedy events like rallys. But today having been given the opportunity I find that its amazing to see how well preserved some of the vehicles are, in fact I bet some of them only get brought out once a year.

Kneeling on the floor was killing my kneeling knee but then again the pictures do look so much better if you can get the lower angle. At that level there was also a very strong smell of premium fuel - I bet some of these cars would have run happily on crude oil closer to the start of their lives.

Well I hope they all made it to sunny Blackpool in the times allocated and I look forward to hearing some of the tales.

Please visit my photobox gallery if you would like to purchase any of the prints from the event.

The Manchester 10K Run

Originally uploaded by sportpictures

I just had this funny feeling that I knew this guys face but I could really not place it. And to think its the guy out of Eastenders after all. I was starting to think that my celebrity count was quite low for this year and I turn up with this gem.

The lighting bobbed around from being very good to being relatively flat. This is a shot from when it brightened up. I love the expression on the face, he had around 350 metres left to run … I’d be begging for oxygen if I’d just run that far.