Scotland vs Fiji 2

Some more pics of the Scotland vs Fiji game (out of 500 taken on the day).

Despite the stadium lights, it was pretty dull as far as the camera was concerned and in the second half I had to up the ISO rating to 1,600-2,500 in order to get a shutter speed of around 1/1000 sec (at f2.8). This creates lots of noise and results in pics that are not quite as sharp as usual.

Rugby Fans

When play was stopped during the Scotland vs Fiji game I took some snaps of the crowd and came across a group of friends in fancy dress. The girls took a shine to the guy in the lime green thong!

Caithness RFC vs Hawick YM

As I was taking photos at the Scotland vs Fiji match and Colin Gregory was also away, fellow Thurso Camera Club member, Duncan McLachlan, stepped into the breach to take some action photos at the Caithness RFC vs Hawick YM game.

Duncan used the tips given by professional sports photographer Phil Downie, Dingwall, who had recently given a talk to the Camera Club. Duncan took full advantage of his high quality Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens as the lighting conditions were very poor.

Caithness played some brilliant rugby to run in 9 tries and so give Hawick their heaviest ever defeat (59-5).

Scotland vs Fiji

My application for a media pass for the Scotland vs Fiji match was successful and I had a great afternoon taking pics at Murrayfield alongside approx. 20 professional photographers. Despite the bad forecast, the weather was surprisingly dry. The ground was only a third full, but the crowd still made plenty of noise, especially the kids.

I managed to be in the right spot for both of Scotland's tries and the one that was not given. First batch from over 500 photos are posted here.

My Cousin's wedding

My cousin Ann MacKay married Neil McInnes last month and the venue was the Forss House Hotel. Ann's friend, Jim Poyner, is a professional photographer now based in York and he kindly agreed to "show me the ropes" and pass on a few tips throughout the day. Jim's website address is;

www.jimpoyner.co.uk

As well as watching and learning, I managed to take a few photos from the sidelines. Having been bombarded with insights, tips, do's and dont's, I could see that good wedding photography is quite a skill. There is a fair bit of pressure and it can be quite stressful, but lots of satisfaction when good pics are "in the can".

The afternoon was a great experience and a bit of an eye opener.

Calendar Competition win

The 2010 calendar competition run jointly by Photobox, Photo Pro and DSLR User magazines is now finalised and my photo of the new extension to Eden Court Theatre in Inverness has been selected from thousands of entries. Both magazines feature the 12 selected photos in their December 2009 issues and my photo is the one for March 2010. The A3 sized calendars cost £19.99 plus P&P and can be bought from;

www.photobox.co.uk/2010-competition-calendar

This is the second 2010 calendar that features one of my photos. The Caithness calendar by North of Scotland Newpapers has a selection of photos by members of Thurso Camera Club and the month of June features one of my surfing photos taken at the 2008 O'Neill surfing event. It is quite unusual to have a sports action photo in a calendar.

It is available in most Caithness newsagents priced at £5.99.

Portraits

My fashion shoot with Courtny has produced a few enquiries for portraits and I have "dabbled" into this new avenue over the last few weeks. It is a big learning curve.

The new footbridge over the Thurso river, opposite the Thurso cemetery, is very smart and provided something different for this teenager family shoot.