News / Blog

I've just enjoyed a weekend that was full of action, sports, charity events, live music, the occasional celebrity, fun and a moment of adrenaline rush!

My galleries will be updated with all this drama over the next few days but first online is a Gallery featuring Saturday's Guernsey Kart & Motor Club Hillclimb at Le Val des Terres.

It was here that my adrenaline rush took place. I felt this whilst taking pics at the first corner of the 'Terres... just before the entry into 'the tunnel'.

I was minding my own business just trying to capture the dynamics of the bikes, cars and karts as they found the racing line through this fast corner.

My peace and karma was shattered as I heard the distinctive rumble of Shaun Leigh approaching me on his way to the top. My position behind a granite wall meant that the V8 engined FMD Colour Monster Locust only came into view after Shaun had entered the bend.

It was then that I realized that things were not quite going to plan as my usual view of the racing cars - that is controlled and hitting the apex wasn't happening this time!

Shaun was drifting the big V8 sideways through the corner... and at considerable speed! More to the point he was sliding in my direction!

But, as I should have known, Shaun wrestled with the steering, stamped on the throttle and brake pedals and, somehow, managed to miss me and the granite standing in his way. He pulled off one of the biggest 'saves' that I can remember and then powered his way onwards to the finish line.

The whole event only lasted a second or two but I can remember it in slow motion... and I have the pics to remind me.

After that experience the rest of the day was quite subdued but I still managed to capture some good pics. They are now online:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW SHAUN LEIGH GIVING ME A FRIGHT

Moving the Rubis Soapbox Challenge across town to St Julian's Avenue was a great success.

The 'track' was steep and was lined with spectators who enjoyed the free fun and entertainment. All the smiles made that clear.

There were even a couple of crashes to make things more memorable :-)

However the only damage done was to a couple of the Soapboxes as the 'red haze' of racing descended and the drivers pushed their machinery to the limit in the quest of lowering their best time by small fractions of a second.

I fancy that this day of fun could be established in its new setting. It seemed perfect for racers and spectators alike. Hopefully we will all meet again next year on the steep slope of our newest race track. See you there.

My pics are now online here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2017 RUBIS SOAPBOX CHALLENGE

During its short life Guernsey's School of Popular Music has established a strong base of support. It has also established its own traditions. Not a bad effort after just a couple of years work!

I've been lucky to document some of these 'traditions' as they became established. It has been fantastic to get to know the tutors and students and to see how the hard work and practice is rewarded.

It is clear that the SoPM's modern approach to teaching music enables the students to blossom in confidence leading them to enjoy sharing their talents with friends, family and a wider audience.

The students have just completed two showcase events allowing them to demonstrate the progress they have made and I was at both gigs capturing some of the performances.

Many now familiar faces took to the stages fulfilling their ambitions to share their love of live music.

The first of the summer season's events was the Summer Concert at The Church on the Rock. Followed by the Summer Gig at The Doghouse.

You can view my pics here:
CLICK TO VIEW THE SoPM GALLERIES

The Guernsey Kart & Motor Club's Summer Series Kart Championship passed the mid-point with Round 5 today.

This championship still has plenty to offer in the form of close racing with each driver able to drop their lowest points when the final count takes place.

I'm pleased to say that the weather stayed dry this time... unlike Rounds 2 and 3 which were nasty and wet!

I have only just dried out my kit after getting completely drenched on Friday night whilst taking pics of the OSA All Terrain Challenge. Summer, what summer?

So this evening, as I don't have to spend time on drying and cleaning the kit, I think a little tipple of a Single Malt Scotch Whisky or two will be in order.

This is my little treat as today's Karting pics are already on-line :-)

View the pics here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF ROUND 5 OF THE KART SERIES

Stage 6 of the 2017 OSA All Terrain Challenge took place yesterday in torrential rain with competitors facing a waterfall running down the steep steps on the cliffs at Jerbourg.

Remarkably there were quite a lot of smiles from the runners as they completed the stage... what a strange lot!

I stood out in the downpour for over an hour and I think I ended up wetter than I've ever been on a photo assignment. I also completed the the course after working my way down to the bottom during the race.

Unfortunately it seems that the old rule that says 'what goes up must come down' works in the other direction too.

It goes without saying that by the time I had made it back to the top of the cliff I was both saturated and hot and steamy! All just for a few pics!

Photographers must be as made as the competitors it seems!

I've added a Gallery of pics here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2017 OSA ALL TERRAIN CHALLENGE

I recently photographed the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating Club's 2017 Competition at Beau Sejour.

This was my first time photographing Roller Skating and I left the event with a feeling of admiration for the talent of so many youngsters who had clearly devoted a lot of time into perfecting their performances.

This sport is quite challenging to photograph. It is fast moving with quick changes of direction. The venue (Beau Sejour sports hall) offers no help in adding interest to the background and the hall lighting is poor and has a habit of changing colour between shots!

You might think that all those difficulties would mean I would hate the job. But no, it was quite the opposite.

I'm always looking for a new challenge and I hope I captured some of the highlights of each performance and I hope I have the opportunity to photograph this competition again sometime.

I've added a Gallery featuring some of the competition. The Gallery is password protected. Please contact me here SEND AN E-MAIL TO ASK FOR THE PASSWORD and I will give you the Password.

The Gallery can be viewed here:
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PHOENIX ROLLER SKATING GALLERY

The 2017 Guernsey Motor Festival Seafront Sunday was bigger than ever. St Peter Port seafront was closed to traffic allowing a huge display of all types of vehicle.

The entertainment spread along to the North Beach car park where a day of motorsport action took place.

The weather played its part by encouraging thousands of people into town and the day provided a fantastic end to the MSA National Hillclimb weekend.

This gallery features some of the displays and entertainment...
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2017 MOTOR FESTIVAL SEAFRONT SUNDAY

Rounds 19 and 20 of the Avon Tyres - TTC Group 43rd Guernsey National Hillclimb Championship were held at Le Val des Terres on 15th July 2017.

This was a bit of a vintage year as we saw five local drivers qualify for places in a National Round.

Darren Warwick and Nick Saunders qualified for both Rounds and duplicated their podium places each time by finishing in second and third place. This was Nick's first time on the local National podium and it was a deserved reward for a driver who has chased this goal for so many years.

Both competitors drive cars that lack all the modern technologies and have to make local knowledge count together with awesome skill and nerve! When you drive a car that is slower up the straight bits there is only one way to be competitive against the 'power junkies'... you have to be faster around the twisty bits. That's where the nerve comes in!

Congratulations have to go to Richard Spedding who won both of the local Rounds... this was actually the first time that Richard had stood on the top step of the podium. Guernsey is guaranteed a special place in his motorsport memories!

Twins Paul and Ian Le Messurier were also notable qualifiers in what was basically a home built car. Very impressive. They have made a habit of joining the 'top guns' in the Run Offs. Well done guys.

The other truly impressive performance came from Jackie Le Cheminant who became only the second lady to qualify for a Guernsey Top Twelve Run Off. Jackie has only just taken over driving the Rubis OMS car that used to be shared by her father and brother. Jackie certainly showed that she is more than a match to the guys in the family.

Another memorable performance came from John Dunne who seemed to raise his own high standards in response to the appearance of a couple of top tin-top drivers from the UK. Just as in Jersey, John was pushed hard by the visitors but was triumphant and ended the two events with a new record on both hills.

This gallery shows all the action from 2017.

If you are a competitor please consider buying a couple of pics as this is my livelihood and my wife gives me a very small beer allowance. I'm meant to earn the rest ;-)

Follow this link to view all of the Guernsey National action:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE GUERNSEY NATIONAL ACTION

This is just a brief Blog to tell you that the Galleries have been updated with pics of Rounds 17 and 18 of the Avon Tyres - TTC Group 44th Jersey National Hillclimb Championship.

These latest Rounds were held at Bouley Bay hill, Jersey on 12th July 2017.

In contrast to the previous years event when it was a scorching day leading to incredible racing and the outright record for the hill dropping three times, 2017 started with a light drizzle and never really fully recovered.

However the event was notable for a local man. Jason Mourant took his Gould GR55 to a memorable win in Round 17 beating all-comers and becoming the first local resident to win a Jersey round of the MSA Hillclimb Championship since 1962.... it only took 55 YEARS! Well done Jason.

These galleries display all the action. Please remember that pics are very low resolution and don't display the detail in a print or higher resolution digital files.

Now the racers move on to Guernsey and Le Val des Terres. Once again I'll be track-side capturing all the action,. See you there.

Follow this link to view pics of the 2017 Jersey National:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE JERSEY ROUNDS OF THE 2017 NATIONAL HILLCLIMB

I've just managed to add a gallery of GK&MC Sprint pics from Saturdays Vazon Coast Road meeting.

That is probably it as far as updates go until the end of the week as I'm now off to Jersey to photograph their round of the MSA National Hillclimb Championship at Bouley Bay.

We are all hoping that Condor Ferries has managed to find space on one of their ferries to get the trailers over after running out of space yesterday!

Normal service (updates) will resume shortly....

Click here to view the Sprint pics:
CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VIEW THE GK&MC SPRINT PICS

The weekend has been very busy but what great fun.

It was about as diverse as you could make it... just how I like it!

Over the two days I have photographed a Sky Bet Championship football team, Bristol City, playing a friendly against Guernsey Football Club at Footes Lane.

As a contrast to that I captured some of the 'action' during the Guernsey Bowls Tri-Test match at the Corbet Field. This featured teams from Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey.

Another summer sport that was on the list was a Praxis CI League Cricket match at the College Playing Field, 2mi Wanderers Irregulars vs Canaccord Genuity Griffins.

Then to mix things up a bit more there was Motorsport action at Vazon Bay for the GK&MC Sprint meeting.

Now that list would have been interesting enough as it is but the weekend continued with a photoshoot at the Pheonix Artistic Roller Skating Club's competition at Beau Sejour. This was the first time I had been asked to cover this event and I was very impressed by the standard of performances.

.... and that wasn't the end of the 'togging. A quick visit was booked for me to photograph Noi Monachan and her garden which was opened to the public in aid of the Guernsey Headway Charity.

Oh, and there was a bit of gig photography added to the list to complete the mix!

All that photography has left me with some editing to do... but that is well on the way. You can view the first galleries featuring the Guernsey Bowls Tri-Test match, the Praxis CI League Cricket match and the GFC vs Bristol City football.

Follow these links to view the first pics:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE GFC vs BRISTOL CITY FOOTBALL
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE BOWLS TRI-TEST
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE PRAXIS CI CRICKET

That's another job done, hurrah!

The final galleries of pics from Chaos Voodoo 13 have now been added to the website.

New additions feature Demise of Sanity, Granite Wolf, Sugar Slam, Honest Crooks, Johnny Cage and the Voodoo Groove, That Band and a few more pics of the Peace Tent.

This is where you will find all the Greenman Chaos Voodoo 13 pics...
CLICK TO VIEW THE COMPLETED CHAOS VOODOO 13 PICS

Once again the Chaos Voodoo 13 Music & Motorcycle Festival was held on its unique clifftop site. All the expected ingredients were present, music & bikes... well that goes without question. Beer and fun. Of course, by the bucket full!

Perhaps it was just me that was missing from the usual line-up as I ended up with a couple of conflicting photo assignments :-(

But that didn't stop me from covering most of the Festival... and I still managed the usual 'van-camping' on the three nights!

My overall beer count might have been slightly down on the norm but perhaps that was a good thing for a photog who approaches retirement age at an alarming speed ;-)

You can now view the first of my pics that show some of the fun and music that made Chaos Voodoo 13 another vintage year..... More will follow.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FIRST PICS OF CHAOS VOODOO 13

The Condor Ferries International SandAce ACU British Championships took place at Vazon Bay, Guernsey on 24 June 2017.

For 2017 the event had been awarded a new International status which is a fitting reward to the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club and all the officials who put in so much work during the year to make it happen.

There is a particular pressure on the team of officials when their race track will disappear under the ocean as the tide comes in! The whole operation is now very slick with all the essential elements in place. The only thing that the team couldn't control was the weather which lacked the sun that would have really completed a perfect event.

Luckily the rain didn't appear until the finals and by that time the large crowd were captivated by the high standard of racing and most of them stayed on to see the climax of the 2017 championships.

Once again the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club organized a fantastic event that ran smoothly and efficiently.

Well done to all those who made it happen... see you again next year!

Click on this link to view galleries featuring pics of the atmosphere and racing at the 2017 SandAce Championships on Vazon Bay, Guernsey.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2017 SANDACE CHAMPIONSHIP

I suppose I should thank the MTB section of the Guernsey Velo Club for getting me out of my sleeping bag this morning... it turned out that fresh air was probably a good antidote to my Chaos Festival hangover ;-)

It was sheer willpower that got me motivated together with the promise that I should be able to capture some good pics at the new custom built jump.

So as I headed off from the festival carpark at Pleinmont in my Tallpictures van/Motorhome my ears were still ringing from the two previous nights of music and my head was still a bit 'fuzzy'!

However there's nothing better to distract a sports photographer from his pain than a bit of dramatic action... and that's exactly what was on offer. The new jump was indeed a great place to get impressive action pics.

I've added a new gallery of the mornings racing.

When that job was done I headed back to the Chaos Music and Bike Festival for one last night of fun.

Those pics will follow shortly together with all the action from the Condor Ferries International SandAce ACU British Championships held at Vazon Bay on Saturday. You can see it's been another hectic weekend :-)
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PETIT BOT MTB DOWNHILL PICS

Maybe this is an incorrect quote by I think it probably sums up my weekend quite well...

'Only Mad Dogs & Guernseymen go out in the midday sun'

That's exactly where you would have found me for the two scorching weekend days. Saturday was spent photographing the Reservoir Speed Event. Then Sunday there was the Powerboat racing to photograph.

Both events required standing under the relentless sun... I'm looking for a bit of sympathy here but I doubt I'm going to get any :-)

Actually I'm not complaining about having to stand outside in the heat. In fact far from it, as today I've been mostly stuck in the office completing the edit and paperwork that plays too big a part in a professional photographers life :-(

It was worth the effort though as I'm now nearing the completion of that work. This is a sure sign that the weather will break - just as I want to get out in the garden!

My main updates today have been to add three new galleries featuring the Guernsey Kart & Motor Club Reservoir Speed Event, Cars, Bikes and Karts.

You can view the pics by clicking on this link:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF THE 2017 RESERVOIR SPEED EVENT

The weekend has been a proper scorcher.... almost too hot to work!

But that's OK for me as I don't count what I do as work. It's usually just fun!

And there has been plenty of fun, sun, sea, motorsport, music... and more sun for me over the weekend.

June is shaping up to be the normal non-stop month for me as the diary is pretty full :-)

So there's no time to be too chatty in this Blog so I'll get straight to the point. I've just added a new Gallery of pictures featuring one of the weekend's assignments - and it ticked the fun, sun, sea and motorsport boxes. That's nearly the full set!

You can view a new gallery of Powerboat Racing pics by following the link.

This features Race 4 of the Guernsey Powerboat Association's Stanley Gibbons sponsored Race Series over the North Beach Outer course.
CLICK TO VIEW THE SCORCHING POWERBOAT RACING PICS

One thing was certain when the Abba tribute band 'Bjorn Again' played for two nights to a packed crowd within the walls of Guernsey's historic Vale Castle.

... There was no shortage of hit songs for the band to play ...

Vale Castle is the traditional venue of the Vale Earth Fair so it is no stranger to live music. It is a fantastic setting for live performances and there was a large crowd for the first night of Bjorn Again.

Many people in the crowd had obviously been up in the attic to find some of their old gear. This added more atmosphere to the night.

I felt the only disappointing aspect of the night was that it seemed to end a bit too abruptly. Another fifteen minutes would have made the punters feel they had good value from the night.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICS OF BJORN AGAIN

The shortest Blog ever?

This is just a quickie to add a link to the latest picture gallery featuring Saturday's Cricket game at the College Field - Elizabeth College 1st XI vs NGIT Cobo Tigers 1st XI.

View the pics here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LATEST CRICKET PICS

Yesterday I spent the afternoon on the beach... and it felt just like summer!

I was tempted to go rock-pooling but as I was on Vazon bay there was a shortage of pools... but lots of SAND.

That was just right for what I was photographing. SAND racing :-)

The beach was actually unusually firm, dry and flat for Round 5 of the Guernsey Motor Cycle & Car Club Championship. When those conditions were combined with a day that actually felt like summer we were sure to have an enjoyable afternoon.

Let's hope that we can repeat the very same sunny weather for the British Sand Ace Championships at the end of the month. I've got my finger's and lenses crossed to make sure!

Earlier in the day, my mornings photoshoot had re-enforced why it felt like a summer's day as I'd been assigned to cover a cricket match at the College Field. How very 'British summertime', eh!

The only thing missing was a cool gin and tonic. But later, I made do with a few pints of Real Ale... sorted!

Cricket pics will follow.

The Sand Racing pics are now online here:
CLICK TO VIEW PICS OF ROUND 5 OF THE SAND RACING CHAMPIONSHIP