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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

It's been a glorious spring day in Guernsey and I've been enjoying the best 'offices' our Island has to offer.

They included my first stop of the day in the picturesque Talbot Valley for Round-1 of the GVC Summer Downhill MTB racing.

As well as the MTB racing I've spent two days chasing the riders taking part in the GMC&CC 2-Day Trials event. This took me along the full length of Guernsey. Those pics will follow.

Another sport and I was down on Chouet beach for the Autocross... that's another edit awaiting my attention.

And that's not the end of it! There was also the first GK&MC Sprint event at Vazon Coast Road.

All those events took place on Saturday and Sunday but my weekend had started on Friday evening with the Guernsey Dinner Boxing Club at St Pierre Park Hotel with nine bouts between Guernsey v Police Community Clubs.

Let the edits begin...

The first of my pics are online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE SUMMER DOWNHILL MTB RACING

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

The wind made it almost impossible to stand upright on the exposed corners of the Pleinmont cliffs at today's Motocross championship meeting.

However the conditions didn't stop the riders taking to the air in spectacular fashion. Once again there was some close racing and the track is improving with each race weekend.

Today's pics are already online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF ROUND-4 OF THE MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Some like it heavy. In fact there is quite a tradition in Guernsey for the heavier side of music. Metal has always had a following and many bands have formed then split over the years.

I popped along to a night of the dark stuff at The Fermain Tavern which was well named as 'Black March'. I captured a few pics of three of the current bands on the scene... Of Abscess and Amputation, Ironfoot and From Darkness.

Follow the links to view my pics:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF OF ABSCESS AND AMPUTATION
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF IRONFOOT
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF FROM DARKNESS

It doesn't take long for a Facebook update to spark an interest in my latest pictures and two new Galleries are clocking up a load of views.

The weekends photo assignments included a couple featuring Motorsport action. Now there's a surprise!

It was also predictable that some music would feature over the two days. I popped in to The Fermain Tavern to sample some of the heaviest music available in Guernsey. There'll bit more on that in the next Blog.

For now it's just the Motorsport updates added to the Gallery. Both events were pounded by a strong and chilly wind but it was fairly bright so you would never guess from the pics. You had to be there to know!

You can now view pics of Round-3 of the Karting Championship and Round-10 of the Autocross Championship here:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND-3 OF THE KART CHAMPIONSHIP
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND-10 OF THE AUTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Now I know that Blog headline is a bit corny... but hey, I'm not a copy writer, I'm a photographer.

But that headline isn't too far wrong.

I photographed a gig at The Fermain Tavern on Saturday. The promoters were Havoc Events. They'd invited a mixed lineup of local talent - both young and not so young (sorry Coastal Fire Dept.)

I missed the first acts but caught the end of the Vice GSY set. Next up were the loud, heavy and grungy Coastal Fire Dept. Has the Tav ever been blasted with such a solid wall of riffs?

Then to contrast it was Kings who closed the night with their polished, modern set. I really like this band. Their sound is distinctive and contemporary. They are another example of the amazing talent that Guernsey seems to nurture.

There must be something about a small community that acts as a catalyst for talent. I recommend that you try and catch a Kings gig. If you like things on the loud and heavy side then Coastal Fire Dept. would be the way to go!

My pics of the gig can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF KINGS
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF COASTAL FIRE DEPT.
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF VICE GSY

That was a quick edit! Helped by the consistent light (this makes an edit simpler) I've turned around and uploaded the edit of today's GK&MC Motocross Championship race before the meeting has even finished!

It's always surprising how quick we can get things done if there is a pressure on time available.

At the moment, outside of my work as a photographer, I've got many things to juggle. It's keeping life interesting, busy and challenging... and I'm loving it.

So I'm calling on experience to minimize any time wasted sitting at the monitors. This adjustment is probably doing a useful job as over time I've drifted into a laid back and relaxed attitude to editing.

Time will tell if my new habit sticks for longer than a few weeks!

The mega-fast Motocross edit is now online here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ROUND-3 OF THE MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

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

A quickie update as I'm waist deep in picture edits with no time to chat :-)

The 2019 Resolution IT Guernsey Rally edit is done. Yeah.

The Day-1 gallery is now online. This features the Friday evening stages which were raced mostly in the dark and gave photographers a real challenge to achieve any sort of decent result.

My effort at this challenging task is now online.

Also today it was great to see four pages of my Rally pics in the Guernsey Press. Hope you enjoyed the coverage.

Check out the Rally Day 1 pics here:
CLICK TO VIEW DAY-1 OF THE RESOLUTION IT RALLY[/url

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

Will I be accused of being over excited if I state that the 2019 Resolution IT Guernsey Rally was pretty spectacular?

Well, so what if I am! I spent two days following the event including seeing some of the massive amount of organization and the number of people behind the scenes who have to come together to make this event happen... and I was more than impressed.

The Stages were varied and challenged competitors versatility on each day. A large number of spectators took full advantage of the perfect springtime weather... but it is still midwinter!

Big respect to the Guernsey Kart & Motor Club, some great work sorting that out! Or maybe it was all the helpers who came over from Jersey who brought their own sunshine along with them? I don't care if they did. It was the icing on the cake of a great Rally event. Bring it on again next year please.

I'm now working on the edit... and it's a big one! Check out the link below to keep up to date with the latest uploads.

As well as photographing the Rally I also covered 21 BOUTS of boxing at Beau Sejour and just to completely wear me out, there was also a gig to photograph on Friday night after the evening Stages of the Rally.

My whole body is aching... but it's a good kind of ache. The sort you get after having a good work-out. The only problem is my recovery rate at 64 years old isn't what it used to be :-(
CLICK TO VIEW THE RESOLUTION IT 2019 RALLY PICS

Harry Dean Junior and the New Breed played their first gig to a packed theater at Beau Sejour. We were all there to pay tribute to one of our talented and loved 'musical brothers', Ged Kelly who recently died too young.

It was a true tribute to Ged and his family to see so many local musicians play a role during the evening, many others had traveled to Guernsey just to be a part of the evening.

The headliners on the night were Harry Dean Junior and the New Breed. This new band fronted by Chris Dean featured several members who would be familiar to fans of King Rat & the Soul Cats.

That link kind of gives you a clue about what you'll hear from Harry Dean Junior and the New Breed... together with a new set list. A greater recommendation couldn't be made. Make sure to get along to one of their gigs.
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF THE GED KELLY TRIBUTE CONCERT

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

Follow the link to view pics of Round-2 of the Guernsey Kart & Motor Club's 2019 Motocross Championship....
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MOTOCROSS PICS

The weekend has been spent photographing Motorsport of the offroad variety.

First up it was the crazy world of Motocross as the 2019 Championship kicked off with Round 1.

The track looked to be in near perfect condition and it was nice to see a change to the layout. This keeps it interesting... both for the riders and photographers!

There was more offroad action of the four wheeled variety on Sunday with a busy session on the beach where the Autocross Bangers were as entertaining and competitive as ever.

The picture galleries can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW ROUND 1 OF THE 2019 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST AUTOCROSS RACING

Today was a great day to photograph the Autocross Banger racing. OK it was bitterly cold but hey, it was dry and for much of the time is was bright. Remember it is January!

There was a good turn out of racers and as always the heats and finals ran smoothly. This genre of motorsport does a fantastic job of keeping the action going. This is down to the years of experience running the event. But I guess that an approaching high tide focuses the mind also!

Plenty of close action was on show for the spectators who mostly sat in their cars - no doubt with the heaters on too.

One racer didn't seem to feel the cold and as this photo shows he must have been happy as he even found time to give me a thumbs up whilst on full opposite lock in his huge Mercedes. Well done Jamie Queripel ;-)

A gallery of pics can be viewed here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE LATEST AUTOCROSS PICS