Loch More

The weather was fantastic today, bright sunshine and not a breath of wind.  Decided to try some reflection shots at Loch more for the first time.  The majority of the loch is still covered in a sheet of ice.  I experimented with the white balance to get a cool blue effect.

SWPP awards for January

I gained 5 silver awards from the SWPP for entries during their monthly on-line competition for January.  This is the most awards I have won in a single month.

More Scotland U20s rugby

Some more pix of the Scotland U20s vs France U20s game played in Inverness on Friday night.

Scotland vs France Rugby International

I was one of the many official photographers at Murrayfield on Sunday for the RBS Six Nations match between Scotland and France.  A crowd of nearly 62,000 meant it was very noisy when Scotland were on the attack, but unfortunately this did not happen too often.  France won 18-9.

I will be taking photos at the Scotland vs England game on 13th March.

Scotland U20s vs France

Scotland U20s played France at Inverness tonight and the score was 8-8.  Caithness player Kris Hamilton (above) came on as substitute early in the 2nd half and played a blinder.  Over 100 Caithness supporters travelled down to the game, which drew a crowd of nearly 3,000.

SWPP Book Honour

The SWPP had over 23,000 entries in its on-line competition held throughout 2009.  The 1,500 images with gold awards were automatically put forward for the Photographer of the Year finals.  I didn't win any of the major awards, but my photo above was picked as Judges Choice for inclusion in a limited edition book that features the best 200 photos of 2009.

I received a copy last week and I'm pretty chuffed at seeing my image in a glossy book.  It appears in amongst images created by some of the best photographers in the world.

There are rumours that O'Neil will not be returning to Thurso this year, so it will be difficult to get some more stunning surfing shots without having to travel a fair distance.  Ireland or Scotland's West coast have been mentioned.

Surfing archives

I had another look through my surfing photos taken at the 2009 O'Neil Cold Water Classic (over 1,000) and processed some that I "missed" first time around.