It’s that time of year again where the warning signs go up on the surrounding roads, the weather gets colder, and the Stubbington 10k is held. It is also the time if year when I take the opportunity to test out some of my kit with thoughts to the year ahead. Last year I was checking the repairs to a camera body and lens that had been dropped in late December and fixed just after the new year. This time I was testing a recently acquired lens for some specific jobs which I’m hoping I’ll be shooting in the late spring. For those who are interested – single point follow-focus of runners using a very shallow depth of field on a long lens.

So it was down to Titchfield Haven, at about the 7km mark, for 30-40 minutes of sports photography in the bright but very cold January weather. On arrival I had a brief chat to the official event photographer who had also arrived at the same time, and I set up my kit checking for exposure and framing so that when the runners came through I was ready. I got some of the lead runners with the Titchfield Haven Visitors Centre as a backdrop, and then switched to the other side of the road mindful of the position of the official photographer who was set-up behind me – I didn’t want to be in his shots and so positioned myself next to a signpost out of the way to capture some close ups of runners faces – framing some of them between other spectators.

With those shots captured I then crossed back again and headed towards the Titchfield Haven bridge a little for a different viewpoint and knelt down, again to reduce my visibility to the official photographer, and to shoot slightly up at the runners. My timing was good as several runners passed in fancy dress, a gorilla suit, donkey and teddy bar in a fireman’s outfit and then as the field began to thin out I broke down my kit and walked back to the studio – pleased with the results on the back of the camera and keen to check them on the larger computer monitor.

I didn’t get the variety of images I would have liked on a normal job because I was specifically testing my setup, and because I was restricted in where I placed myself so as not to spoil the official race images. That said I’m very happy with the results and really looking forward to some more sports photography over the coming months.

Here are some of the images I captured

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Well I just got back from the Hampshire Baby & Toddler Show in Southampton.

The show started very busily, and the large cruise centre terminal filled with prams, toddlers, expectant woman and friends, dads, husbands, partners and parents. Our stand drew lots of admiring glances, and wonderful comments and we spoke to lots of people about our fine art newborn photography and also our childrens portrait photography.

Our feature canvas wrap was once again one of the favourites of the visitors, and we had a large number of entries to our competition to win a childrens or newborn portrait session and a £50 credit. We will be drawing the winner on the 17th October.

It did seem like most of the visitors came in the morning, and then headed out in the sunshine, and the afternoon wasn’t as busy but it did mean I got to speak to some of my friends, and the other companies we work with including Jessica our account executive from Little Media who was at the Baby Hampshire stand just across from us.

Here is a quick iPhone image of the stand – it might jog your memory if you came to see us, or if you were unable to talk to me while I was busy speaking to another visitor.

Thanks also go to Rebecca, Jane and all the event staff on the day for organising the show. I hope everyone that came today enjoyed themselves and I hope to see some of you in the studio or out on location for your portraits soon.

The second annual Hampshire Baby and Toddler Exhibition takes place this weekend on the 2nd October at the City Cruise Terminal. It runs from 10am to 3:30pm and should, based on last year, be an amazing event.

We will of course be attending again and will be in our regular position at stand B12, close to the refreshments area.

On the stand we will be showcasing our fine art newborn portrait photography, featuring 3-21 day old babies. we will also be showing some of our location maternity shoot work, and some of our childrens and family portrait photography. Visitors to the stand will be able to enter a competition the winner of which will be entitled to a free session and a £50 credit towards any purchase which has a value of £145.

We really look forward to meeting all of you who are expecting, and who have young families – please do pop by the stand to find out more.

Yesterday I made the short journey up to Guildford to the Surrey Sports Park where I was shooting two competitive matches between British Colleges Sport’s netball team and Surrey Storm NTL and LSE Regional Academy on behalf of the BCS Netball team. The previous day the squad had trained with England international and Surrey Storm player Tamsin Greenway.

We started with an end-of-season squad photo and then some of the warm up before the actual netball matches commenced. Each game was 60 minutes long broken into six, ten minute periods giving me time to change position, and review my images. With thirteen members in the BCS Netball squad for these matches the team was being rotated on a regular basis.

I could have done with a sub for myself, shooting continuously for over two hours following the rapid paced netball on display was mentally exhausting, if not physically. But of course excellent fun.

Here are some of the images from the day. Both BCS and Surrey Storm/LSE Academy staff, players and parents can view the full gallery here. You will need a password supplied by Louise or Emma to view this password protected set of images.

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Pat Cash returned to Lee-on-the-Solent for the tennis club’s centenary open day. Joined this year by Dan Lobb from ITV’s Daybreak and recently Loose Women, Dan was previously a UK top 20 professional tennis player, and played country tennis with the club’s Director of Tennis Chris Wilkinson.

The format of the day built upon previous successful open days with free coaching for  kids and adults in the morning, entertainment in the form of ballon modelling, magic shows, face painting, games, a Zumba demonstration and an excellent selection of drinks, and food. I was shooting for the club as the official photographer, one of a series of PR and commercial photography jobs I do for this client every year with a reasonably open remit to document the day as it happens and capture some key PR images for the club and their sponsors.

The main event was a re-match between Chris and Pat Cash with Dan Lobb commenting, and again it was Chris Wilkinson emerging victorious with a demonstration of consistent and tricky returns which Pat just couldn’t live with. There were some excellent moments with Pat working the crowd, even at one point getting his “guns” out and proffering them to the spectators. Dan interviewed the players throughout the match, and then picked up a racquet himself for a doubles match with Pat and local player Joe Moore taking on the old county partnership of Lobb and Wilkinson and then a final doubles match with club juniors playing an extended tie-break match with Pat Cash and Dan Lobb.

Sadly Dan picked up a (very) minor injury whilst demonstrating his “caterpiller”, and we wish him all the best for a well healed chin before he takes to the Daybreak sofa next week.

Images from the entire day can be viewed, and purchased, in an online gallery. Attendees can find the password in the programme, or by contacting the club. Previous years images can also be viewed from that page.

You can view all of the photos of Dan from the day in an online gallery which also has options for purchasing prints by clicking here.

Here are a small selection of the images from the day. Now I’ll return to editing some of our beautiful newborn baby photography.

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The Stubbington 10k was raced today around the villages of Stubbington, Titchfield and Hill Head. This was my second year of taking images at the event, although it was cancelled last year because of the heavy snow. In January 2009 I was testing some new equipment purchased in the previous couple of months, this year I was testing some adjustments made to a camera and lens just after Christmas prior to putting the cameras back into professional use again.

The official event photographs will no doubt be found associated with the Stubbington 10k race website – these were taken for my personal assessment only.

I used the area around the Hill Head sailing club and the Tichfield Haven visitors centre for these images. They are probably the most scenic of the Stubbington 10k, and provide some good backgrounds and dynamic composition with the curves in the road, harbour and pavement marker posts. It is also just over half distance in the race allowing the runners to have spread out a little and making it easier for me to track and focus on a small number of runners to test the accuracy of my equipment.

So here are some of the images I captured.

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Saturday saw our 5th year as the official photographers at the Portsmouth Hospital Trust Ball held in the Guildhall, Portsmouth. In excess of 400 guests attended an evening of food, music and dancing and we took formal portraits during the evening with printing on-site for the guests to purchase. As usual there was a mixture of couples, friends and departments and using our high tech wireless transfer and event printing workflow we were able to shoot, view and print in less than a couple of minutes ensuring that everyone that wanted prints as mementos of the night was able to do so.

The evening went without a hitch, and we understand from the organisers, again delighted with our service, that the entire event was a massive success.

Here are some of the images from the night.

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We have just returned from the Botley Park Hotel following the Southampton Wedding Exhibition organised by De Mellow Promotions – occupying our usual feature stand position in the atrium.

We both had a very good day, managing to speak with lots of couples and brides to be including many who had just got engaged and our congratulations go out to all of you – for those of you who expressed a strong interest in our work and for us to photograph your wedding we will be in touch shortly. With enquiries ranging from later this year through to December 2012 we are excited to be able to work with some or all of you.

The stand showcased some of our new albums and signature album designs as well as our high quality contemporary matted albums and large framed prints and canvas wrap. We were touched by the very good feedback we received from everyone we spoke to about the quality of our photography, design and products which we believe are our strong differentiators in this crowded marketplace !

For anyone that couldn’t get to talk to us at the stand during the busy periods, or who were unable to make the event itself please feel free to contact us directly to talk about your wedding plans. We will be at other fairs over the autumn, but do expect more key dates to be booked over the coming weeks following this show and of course our other normal routes of enquiry.

Finally it was great to see some of the other wedding suppliers at the show, many of whom we work with throughout the year but some who we haven’t seen since January or February.

And finally an iPhone shot of our stand just prior to the start of the show as a reminder for anyone who attended….

Just back from Queens Club in London for the 2010 Aegon Championships and day two of the tournament.

On a changeable day the tennis, and practice, was interrupted by several rain showers but the evening cleared and produced some excellent doubles and beautiful light.

I was stationed on court 9 with a view over to court 10 and had the pleasure of photographing the matches between Richard Gasquet and Rajeev Ram and then the doubles match between Novak Djokovic / Jonathan Erlich and the British pairing of Jamie Delgado and Jonathan Marray with some glimpses of Marin Cilic and Andre Sa playing another British pairing on 10.

When the clouds broke and the dry spells long enough the practice courts also saw a lot of players either warming up or getting a good hit for tomorrows play – notably Rafa Nadal who played for over an hour with a huge crowd in attendance so much so I couldn’t get anywhere close.

Here are some images from the matches. Click on an image to view and then step through the gallery…

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Today I covered the PR for the Lee-on-the-Solent Tennis Club on their annual Open Day.

This year both Pat Cash and Andrew Castle visited the tennis club to be part of this well prepared, and executed event.As with last year my brief was fairly straightforward. Capture the day, photograph some PR images of the celebrities with the sponsors and their families, and then shoot the tennis matches.

The day started wet, very wet but the tennis clinics still took place with heavy rain visible in the images. Some came prepared for the rain, and some didn’t. I was beginning to rue not having a change of clothes. Even the balloon man was making umbrellas. However almost to the minute the rain ended at about 1pm, and apart from a short shower the weather improved and the crowds arrived to watch a feast of doubles matches including the main event Pat Cash and Andrew Castle vs Chris Wilkinson (director of tennis) and Michael Privett (mens club champion).

For those who came to the day a gallery of all of the images will be available from Monday 31st May (planned) for you to view and if you wish to purchase prints. You will have details on the back of your open day programme, on an A5 flyer from inside the club or I’m sure someone at the club will help you. The gallery can be accessed from the Open day page on the website which can be seen here.

Here are a few taster images from the day (and yes the younger brother is licking rainwater of his siblings back !). Click the main image to start the slideshow or pick from the thumbnails.

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