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The evening events organised by Guernsey Athletics at Footes Lane offer the perfect mix of a relaxed schedule punctuated by the highs offered by the track races.

I visited last weeks Aztec Track & Field event and whilst there was an annoying chill in the air the early evening light was perfect for photography.

I've added a few of my photos to a new Gallery here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE GUERNSEY ATHLETICS EVENING EVENT AT FOOTES LANE

I seem to build the same sense of anticipation and optimism every time I decide to spend some time photographing surfing. Admittingly this is only a couple of times a year but it's a sport that can make amazing photos.

I leave home imagining the scene that will greet me.... Sunny blue skies, incredible white waves contrasting with the deep blue-green sea. Perfect.

So on Saturday when I left home to photograph the Guernsey Surf Club's Longboard Championships and the sun was shining from a blue sky I was happy!

When I arrived at Portinfer the surf looked good to me.... a NON surfer! The guys surveying the scene were hopeful for a good competition but it was too early to enter the water.

Now this was a bit of a problem for me as I was due at the West Legion for a short photoshoot with a celebrity Darts player so I had to pop off down there.

Once that job was done and as I drove back up the west coast towards Portinfer it was clear the weather had turned. The sky had turned grey with a touch of sea mist. And then when I arrived at the bay the waves were nothing like I had dreamt about. In fact nothing was working out!

But I thought that I should still make the effort to salvage what I could from the event and I know that the next time I get the urge to photograph surfing I will once again leave home (having forgotten this frustration) keen and optimistic. Having a short memory can be a real bonus sometimes!!

My surfing photos are now online here. Please use your imagination (like me) when viewing them.... think blue skies, green sea and towering white waves!
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST SURFING COMPETITION PHOTOS

The Guernsey Badminton Association hosted the Sarnia Hotels 2024 Junior Open Tournament at the Rohais Centre a couple of weeks ago.

With titles covering age groups from U10 to U18 there was continuous action on the courts!

I spent a short while covering as much play as I could. The event report is in today's Guernsey Press Sport and those photos together with extras are now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 JUNIOR OPEN BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

The School of Popular Music Jersey continues to grow and emulate the success of the original School of Popular Music Guernsey.

I've just returned from the 'Other Isle' after photographing their Easter School Gig at Chambers.

The whole place was buzzing with the enthusiasm and confidence of the young performers. It was clear that 'The Stage' was the natural environment for many of the talented students!

I'm always a bit in awe of how quickly the students learn new songs and then perform on stage after just a few days of practice!

My photos of all the bands are now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE SoPM JERSEY 2024 EASTER SCHOOL GIG

Variety in your work life keeps everything fresh and interesting. That is certainly my aim when choosing the assignments to put in my diary.

The long Easter break offered a really diverse mix for me. Indoor, outdoor. Fast action, slow and moody calm, clean and very dusty, daytime and evening, young and old.... you get the picture (I hope)!

One event was the School of Popular Music Guernsey Easter School Gig at the Doghouse. I always look forward to this one.

This years seemed to be especially busy and a massive challenge for me to get anywhere near the 'action' on stage as there was an eager audience of youngsters packed up close and not wanting to miss a moment of the performances!

The enthusiasm and support was fantastic.

I did manage a few photos and if you want a feel of what SoPM offer take a look at this gallery:
CLICK TO VIEW THE SoPM GUERNSEY EASTER GIG

Sport is usually fast moving in its play but of course there will always be exceptions. I've yet to struggle to keep up with a game of Chess.

One of the many Sports that make it a little more challenging is Badminton. Not only is the play fast with exceptionally fast rackets it seems that the Badminton Halls have to be painted in quite dark greens. At least they are this colour at the Guernsey Badminton Centre.

The lighting is also high in the roof and really not that bright!

It obviously must work perfectly for players but photographers are really up against the worst of combinations.

This all came back to me when I was asked to cover the Guernsey Basketball Association's Easter Open Tournament.

It was fun following the competitive play... but maybe not quite so great taking photos. But I captured what was requested and the photos are now in a gallery here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2024 GBA EASTER OPEN TOURNAMENT

The first thing on my list after getting home from the 2-Day Motocross event - even before starting the edit - was to have a shower.

The work that had been done to prepare the track really paid off. It was in perfect condition. This was probably helped by the lack of heavy rain for a few days. And about time too!

However this resulted in the drying track and continuous Motocross racing throwing a mist of fine dust across the whole cliff-top track.

But after a dip in the shower I have been hard at the edit knowing that the busy Easter of Sports photography will lead to a pile of editing.

My final edit of the MX photos show what a competitive two days of racing we enjoyed

Click the link to view the photos:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 2-DAY MOTOCROSS PHOTOS

The Boxfit 'Vegas Night' at Beau Sejour played to a full house so there was plenty of noise to support the action in the ring.

The evening is a successful and important fundraiser for the Cheshire Homes with additional charities benefitting from the fighters own sponsorship.

I photographed all eleven bouts and it has been a long haul completing the edit as so much other sport has been happening too.

But after a final push I've uploaded eleven new galleries featuring all the action. Click the link to view them:
CLICK TO VIEW THE BOXFIT 2024 VEGAS NIGHT

Photographing the 2-Day Guernsey Trials meeting can be quite a headache. At least that is what I had by the end of the weekend!

It might be that I tried to cover just a bit too much Sport in three days (yes it was a long weekend!) but that's another story.

The problem with Trials is that it's nice to visit a selection of Sections to offer a change of background. But this means travelling around and it is so easy to completely miss some of the riders as I'm always in the wrong place!

So I've just made my excuses, if there are no photos of you, sorry!
I did manage quite a few pics though... click the link to view them:
CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE 2024 GUERNSEY 2-DAY TRIALS EVENT

I've be lucky to spend the whole weekend photographing Sports in Guernsey. I think many people don't realise the variety and how much Sport is played every day on our Island.

Highlights for me were the Inter-insular Volleyball - nail biting to the end, the 2-Day Trials all over the Island, GVC Downhill Racing at Talbot Valley and the Boxfit night at Beau Sejour.... in fact I lost count of how many hours I was at Beausie!!

I'm working through the edit and the first photos are of the Gravity races. Click the link if you are interested:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND 1 OF THE 2024 GVC GRAVITY SERIES

I think that Volleyball might have just become my favourite indoor Sport to photograph.

Maybe it's just that I don't get along to the Guernsey Volleyball events as much as I do some other Sports. But I think it's a bit more than that alone.

Volleyball is fast moving with play spread all around the court. It's often quite a challenge to keep up with the action! Because my work often has a repetitive side to it, a bit like most jobs I guess, I have built up a sort of 'muscle memory' of the photographic techniques needed for most Sports. This means that when photographing the 'unfamiliar' Volleyball I really need to work hard at capturing the best moments of action. It's fun and a challenge... and I love it!

So one of my New Years resolutions is now to visit the Volleyball courts a few more times in 2024.

I've uploaded photos of the weekends Inter-insular Volleyball games to the new website. Click the link to view them:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2024 INTER-INSULAR VOLLEYBALL

On Saturday night we were able to enjoy a live performance of Guernsey's alt-grunge Band Tantale at St James Guernsey. They played their most recent Album 'Where Nothing Ends' in full.

Tantale left nothing in the locker when planning this gig. They were supported by The Bare Minimum, Flexagon and the GLC - The Guernsey Laser Company. The stage also used projected images to enhance the experience.

The result was an incredible show that showcased what talent the Island is blessed with across all aspects of live music.... including great sound, imaginative graphics and stage design. Amazing and memorable stuff!

I revelled in the music and the Lasers made me a bit trigger happy too!

If you want see a taste of what you missed when you decided to stay at home on Saturday night (shame on you)..... give the link below a click:
CLICK TO VIEW PPHOTOS OF TANTALE AT ST JAMES

The Guernsey Dinner Boxing Club welcomed a Wales Select team to St Pierre Park Hotel for the March 2024 'Boxing at the Park'.

On this occasion the visitors proved to be too strong in depth across the bouts.

But the amount of split decisions illustrated how well the Guernseymen stood toe-to-toe with the Welshmen.

Here's a link to my photos if you are interested:
CLICK TO VIEW GUERNSEY v WALES SELECT DINNER BOXING

I spent my weekend at Beau Sejour covering the Netball Inter-insulars against Jersey.

It is a reflection on the strong performances by all the Guernsey teams that local supporters probably left after the games satisfied that their teams had played really well... but sadly for little reward.

It was left to the Guernsey Over 30's to ensure that it wasn't a complete red-wash.

From my perspective I enjoyed the challenge of capturing the action of such a fast moving Sport.

I managed to photograph four of the games. So far I've added photo galleries of the Under 19's and Over 30's. Others will follow.

Click this link if you want to view the 2024 Inter-insular Galleries:
CLICK TO VIEW THE NETBALL INTER-INSULAR PHOTOS

Photos of the 2024 Haute Capelles School Charity 'Ladies Night' Catwalk Show in support of the Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation are now online.

A full evening of entertainment had been organised offering the opportunity to 'Buy a Night' in one of the foundations three flats.

All the 'pre-loved' dresses were on sale after the show and combined with a meat draw and raffle draw hundreds of pounds were raised for the PPBF. What a great success.

A donation to the PPBF will be made from any picture sales made on my website.

Click here to view the Gallery:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 PPBF CATWALK PHOTO GALLERY

A HUGE well done to St James Guernsey for organizing the two nights of the Decibel Weekender. Gig goers were treated to a great line-up of bands including many top visiting artists.

The venue has been busy over the last couple of years working on the performance space. Clearly a big investment has been made in state of the art sound systems and the acoustics are sorted with new curtains. And to top it off there is new lighting..... just to keep the photographers happy you understand!!

Keep an eye on the St James diary for the next events... there are many!

I did my bit and took a few photos of both nights. Click the link if you are interested:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2024 ST JAMES DECIBEL WEEKENDER PHOTOS

Photos of the Finals night of the Guernsey Badminton Association's 2023 Closed Tournament at the Rohais Badminton Centre are now online.

What was going to be a quick visit for me turned into a more relaxed affair on Friday evening.

I was due to grab a few photos of the finals of the Guernsey Badminton Closed Tournament before the dash to Blanche Pierre Lane for a few Football pics too.

But the footie was cancelled due to damaged floodlights so I was able to photograph four of the Badminton finals instead.

Those photos are now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE GUERNSEY BADMINTON CLOSED TOURNAMENT FINALS

It was quite a hectic weekend for Sports photography.

In my case the weekend started on Friday as the first event the cameras came out for was the Guernsey Dinner Boxing Club's November 'Boxing at the Park'.

It was a very competitive night with the visitors from Hull bringing a very strong team. This led to a night full of action with Guernsey managing an overall win... but only after a fight!

I photographed all ten Bouts and the photos are now online. Click the link if you are interested:
CLICK TO VIEW DINNER BOXING - GUERNSEY v HULL

After the first two nights of Battle the Guernsey School of Popular Music relaxed a little for their 'Music for Everyone' event on the Sunday afternoon.

In some ways I think this could be my favourite event of the three. The format sees one or two students on stage within a band made up of SoPM Tutors. This way solo musicians and singers get a chance to experience what it is like to be in a band.

Then, as a bonus for the audience, after the performance the students take part in a short interview where we learn a little about their passions for music.

I really enjoy the format and so do the students judging by the smiles.

My photos of the event are now online on my new website. Follow the link to view them:
CLICK TO VIEW THE 2023 MUSIC FOR EVERYONE EVENT

Day two of the Guernsey School of Popular Music's 2023 'triple-header' at Beau Sejour saw the 'longer established' musicians get their turn to go into battle.

Titled as the 2023 Corporate Battle of the Bands the competition was tough for the honour of lifting the trophy.

The five bands showcased a mix-up of some recognisable faces together with a host of 'first-timers'. It would be easy to expect little from such an arrangement but as in previous years the standard of performances was really impressive.

At the end of the night there were plenty of smiles to be seen... even on the losers faces. A testament of just how much fun had been had by all.

My Galleries of photos are on my new website and they can be viewed by clicking this link:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE 2023 BATTLE OF THE CORPORATE BANDS