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As the Autumn/Winter weather approaches Sports photography enters its own season of change and challenges.

Most of the sports events that I photograph are held outdoors. That means, of course, that the timing and weather conditions play an important part in how comfortable my work is. Will I face heavy rain and water running down my back? Or will light levels be so low that freezing the action becomes a challenge?

So it is quite nice on a wet October evening to have an opportunity to work indoors. This eliminates my first problem... I should be able to stay dry. The illumination is also greatly helped as most sports halls are reasonably lit - with some notable exceptions.

On the evening I'm currently talking about I was shooting in the main hall at Beau Sejour. Here the light is bright enough to get a usable shutter speed however as I was photographing Basketball games I needed to ramp up the shutter speed as that sport is so fast moving.

At the end of the two games that I was assigned to cover I had some nice shots... and I was warm and dry!

I've now added two new Basketball Galleries. Follow the links below to view pics of Le Mont Saint Storm Ladies v Ravenscroft and Le Mont Saint Mens v Giants.

CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF LE MONT SAINT v GIANTS
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF LE MONT SAINT STORM v RAVENSCROFT

Just a quick note to say that I've just added a gallery featuring my pics of the weekends Priaulx League football game at The Track - Belgrave Wanderers v Alderney.

Follow this link to view the picture gallery:
CLICK TO VIEW THE BELS v ALDERNEY FOOTBALL PICS

After laying low - from the photographic side of things - for what seems like most of the year I'm getting back into the full swing of things.

It's been a combination of factors that have distracted me from my usually full photographic diary since January.

Firstly the biggest disruption has come from Carol and myself deciding to move from our family cottage home of over 40 years into a modern bungalow. At least that is what it is now after spending nine months ripping it apart then re-building it again!

The end result... not that it is complete yet, is going to be fantastic and worthy of a few pics! It will be a novelty to photograph my own property for a change!

Things also went off plan after I was diagnosed with blood clots on the brain... yes I do have one!

But like I mentioned above I'm returning to full speed and there was plenty of that needed during the last week as I chased the action around the Island. This Blog gives you links to some of the photo-shoots.

There is also a link below to a Priaulx League football game that I covered at The Track on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon which made the colours in my pics radiate and put a smile on my face. There are still a few edits to complete. Pop back again to view those.
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF BELS v ROVERS

The 2019 Bowman of Guernsey 2-Day event was held at the Port Soif range in near perfect conditions. I popped along for a short period on both days to cover the competition for the Guernsey Press.

There was a good size entry with archers traveling over for the Guernsey Club's main event of the year from Jersey and the UK. There was a friendly and relaxed atmosphere with local archers making a good showing.

This gallery displays some of the atmosphere...
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2-DAY ARCHERY COMPETITION

I enjoyed my visit on Sunday morning to the home of Sylvans in St Peters. I was assigned to cover an Under 13's football game for the Guernsey Press 'Halftime' supplement.

It was bright and sunny (always a good start to a day) and there was a good crowd of parents, grandparents and friends lining the touchline enjoying the commitment and enthusiasm being shown by the next generation of players.

My youngest grandson is football mad so I have personal experience of the hard work being put in by the GFA and local Clubs to encourage the young players to develop their skills.

It struck me that one or two of the youngsters already had mature heads on their shoulders and there was real talent on show.

I've added a gallery of pics featuring some of the action:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF SYLVANS v VALE REC U13 FOOTBALL

I was assigned to cover the Priaulx League football game at St Peters on Saturday. I was looking forward to seeing how the Alderney side is shaping up this season and the game against Sylvans promised plenty action.

I wasn't disappointed with the pace of the game which kept spectators attention. I had turned up early having just left the 2-Day Motocross event and I settled in to capture the action.

What I hadn't anticipated was the clouds rolling in after the first thirty minutes of play... then the heavens opened and we all had to endure the uncomfortable heavy persistent drizzle. I and my kit got soaked through as I hadn't dressed accordingly!

Perhaps fortunately (I don't like getting wet!), I only had time in the schedule to cover the first half and when I left Sylvans were leading. But as I found out later Alderney showed their character and determination and pulled a win out of the hat with a final score of 3-4. Well done chaps.

I have uploaded a few pics to a gallery. Follow this link to view them:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF SYLVANS v ALDERNEY

We were treated to any extra hour in bed before today's Guernsey Triathlon Club Amarreurs Uber Sprint Triathlon & Aquabike race.

Often we have to be up and about for a 7am start but the more relaxed 8am race start was very welcome... at least for those of us who were just spectators!

For competitors the sea swim must have been as bracing as ever.

Maybe if you are a disciplined triathlon athlete you never carry a hangover from the Saturday night? But that early swim would certainly blow the cobwebs out of your system pretty quickly if you had weakened and let the training regime falter.

I was pleased that it was a bright morning... this helps capture some nice dynamic shots. My pics can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE AMARREURS UBER TRIATHLON

It had been about a year since I last visited the Delancey Flyers on one of their evening training sessions.

It was good to see that the enthusiasm for cycling was still just as strong with dozens of youngsters joining in a varied range of trials, races and coaching.

Once again there was a great atmosphere... no doubt helped by a warm summers evening.

Many parents had decided to sit in the park and relax for an hour whilst being relieved of the responsibility of looking after their children.

I've added a Gallery of pics which should illustrate what was going on in Delancey Park:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE DELANCEY FLYERS TRAINING EVENING

Sadly I was only allocated a short time to cover the day-long British Showjumping Spring Show in Guernsey. This meant only two of the Classes are featured here.... the Scope Furnishing Trophy & the Junior Foxhunter Trophy.

Click the link to view the pics:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE BS SPRING SHOW

Its been a busy few weeks doing almost everything apart from photography!

Life has been full of selling property, buying property and dealing with Advocates. I need to get back to work to pay for that one as that's an expensive business!

Also I've packed more boxes of belongings than I'm prepared to admit too.

How is it that many of us feel we need so many possessions to be 'who we are'? Probably most of them are forgotten and unused until we have to pack when moving residence!

To add to the work load I've been project managing the modernization of our new home which will be a completely up-to-date and most importantly easy to keep clean and maintained fully networked bungalow... after it is finished and we can move in. For now we have to 'camp out' in rented holiday accommodation.

Carol and I never really expected to be moving to a modern place after more than forty years living in a nearly two hundred year old Guernsey cottage but now we have started on this new journey we are really excited by it and we are certain the future will be easier for both of us.

All this ties in with my retirement in less than a years time but this will mean anything but putting my feet up as there will be a long list of decoration and projects to complete before life becomes all about putting the feet up, drinking beer and laying in the sun (at least that's my plan - I haven't run it by the boss yet!).

Luckily I was able to find my cameras this weekend (an amazing feat given we have things spread over four buildings and dozens of boxes) so I managed to get out to take some pics. I've photographed Sandracing, Cricket and a loud gig... much like normality really!

The first pics are online and feature a pre-season friendly game of cricket at KGV where Cannaccord Griffins played a visiting side from the UK, Sparsholt. The pics can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF CANNACCORD GRIFFINS v SPARSHOLT

What a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning.

It was a perfect springtime day and I'd been assigned to capture some pics of the Junior ABN Golf Tournament at St Pierre Park. The early morning dew had to be swept off the greens before play commenced and a fine mist hung in the valley.

I enjoyed following the play around the picturesque golf course but the inevitable edit of the pics back at my office had to follow. That's the high and low of life of a photographer.

A gallery of pics is now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE JUNIOR ABN AMRO GOLF TOURNAMENT

The Guernsey Dinner Boxing Club hosted nine Bouts at St Pierre Park Hotel featuring Guernsey v Police Community Clubs.

Once again diners were treated to some closely competitive fights with the Guernsey team taking the overall win.

I've added a gallery featuring every bout. You can view my pics by following this link:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LATEST DINNER BOXING PICS

Today it's been all about the bikes... with a bit of running chucked into the mix.

An early start to the day saw me driving through a heavy hail shower as I headed to Rocquaine for the Duathlon race.

Thankfully the strong winds moved the storm clouds quickly along their way and it just the wind chill we had to tolerate as the Duathlon hit the road with the first of two runs.

Once again the ages of the competitors was spread across decades! Somehow the Duathlon format seems to bring together a random mix of people who share the same passion for endurance sports (in my eye it's a passion for PAIN!)

After capturing some action I headed off to La Pomare to photograph the Velo Club's Winter MTB Cross Country. I was pleased that the early start to the day meant that I was still in time to photograph some of the Junior races. These pics will make a nice addition to the MTB Galleries.

Follow these links to view the latest pics:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE ROCQUAINE DUATHLON
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE MTB XC RACING

So take a guess what I did after spending all day photographing Day-2 of the Resolution IT Guernsey Rally?

Well my aching knees were telling me to go home and put my feet up, maybe I'd earnt a glass of Single Malt or two? That would have been the sensible thing to do!

But no, I found myself at Beau Sejour straight after the Rally finished as the Guernsey Amalgamated Boxing Club were presenting 'February Fury', a night of 21 Bouts featuring Guernsey ABC v Home Counties.

By the end of the night I was completely knackered but it was a great way to finish the weekend. Variety is the spice of life but thankfully most weekends aren't so busy!

I've started the mega edit of 'February Fury' and the first Galleries of pics are now online. It will take another day or so before I'm able to complete the full edit as I'm working on a couple of Commercial assignments but if you follow this link you'll be first to see the latest updates:
** UPDATE: PICS OF ALL TWENTY-ONE BOUTS ARE NOW ONLINE **
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST UPDATES TO THE FEBRUARY FURY GALLERIES

It's been enjoyable completing the first Resolution IT 2019 Guernsey Rally edit.

The first pics online are of the Day-2 Stages. They were in St Andrew and St Saviour. There were two closed sections of the public road... actually very narrow lanes.

Each of these was raced in one direction in the morning and then reversed for the afternoon. Of course this produced a completely different Stage.

The enjoyable part of this edit (actually the same can be said about many edits) is that I get to see what I was photographing and it's almost like I'm seeing the scene for the first time!

Weirdly there is something about the concentration and adrenaline whilst photographing fast moving action that gets in the way of actually 'seeing' what is in front of me!

So I can now say categorically (and I've seen the pictures!) that this was one amazing event.

You can see if you agree with me by checking out this first Gallery:
THE RESOLUTION IT RALLY PICS_DAY-2 PICS ARE ONLINE

After taking an early lead in the first half Guernsey Football Club left the pitch at half time after matching the visitors for work rate and skill.

However upon their return from the break the GFC seemed to have lost their pace and determination and spent much of the second half on the back foot and chasing the ball.

Sadly this led to an inevitable equalizer and Sevenoaks Town FC didn't give up there as they then maintained the pressure and were rewarded with the winning goal.

My pics of the game can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF GFC v SEVENOAKS TOWN

Two days at the Motocross track.... one noisy and one a bit more peaceful. The link between the two days was that both were spent photographing two-wheel racing action!

First up was Motocross racing (see the previous Blog) and today it was the turn of the MTB Cross Country riders.

My MTB XC pics are here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MTB XC PICS

Competitors racing in the Guernsey Velo Club MTB 2019 Downhill Winter Series Round-3 at Petit Bot enjoyed a dry track and bright weather.

There was a great atmosphere around the track as riders made their way back up the course once they'd had their own run to support, heckle and cheer their mates... especially if they took a tumble!

I've added a Gallery of pics. Follow the link to view them.
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST MTB DOWNHILL PICS

There was a double-header of action events for me to photograph this morning. I reckon that this sets the tone for the rest of the year as my diary is already filling up with a multitude of different events.

As I've mentioned many time before, it is the variety of sports, gigs, festivals, commercial shoots and news items that I photograph that makes my job the best.

I get to see and experience so much that Guernsey can offer its residents... just as long as they chose to be involved. I'm going to work as hard as ever to offer the best coverage out there. Make sure you visit this Blog page regularly to find a link to all the latest updates.

Today you can view pics of the GVC MTB XC race at The Guet and Round 7 of the Autocross Club Banger racing championship at Chouet. Follow these links:
CLICK TO VIEW THE GVC MTB XC RACING
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST AUTOCROSS RACING

After what can only be described as a miserable, wet afternoon photographing Guernsey Football Club playing against Bostik League team Whitstable at Footes Lane, the Green Lions managed to raise a small smile on mine... and spectators faces after they were given a late penalty... saving a 1-1 draw at the final whistle.

The Lions had looked like the better side at the start of the game but attention and motivation seemed to soon drift from players.

This allowed the visitors to snatch a goal against the flow of play up to that time.

The second half started with the GFC re-motivated and they chased every ball and came close to scoring several times. It was this pressure that won them a penalty. Sadly it was too late in the game to effect a turn-around and the draw had to be accepted.

So not a lot to brighten such a wet and windy day that saw me miserable and straining to see what I was doing through the wet specs, wet screen and wet lenses. Truthfully, I was relieved after completing the edit that I managed to shoot a few 'keepers'. Viewing the shots back in the studio was like seeing the scene for the first time!!

Thank you Nikon for producing such great cameras that, it seems, barely require a sighted photographer to capture great action!
CLICK TO VIEW GFC v WHITSTABLE PICS