Thurso Pentland vs Staxigoe United

Thurso Pentland played hosts to Staxigoe Utd in the Highland Amateur Cup today in brilliant sunshine. In a closely fought game, Staxigoe edged it by two goals to nil.  Pentlands matched Staxigoe in all areas except in front of goal, where they lacked the killer touch.

Luke Sawyer scored a cracker midway through the second half and the second came near the very end.  It was a controversial penalty where the ball hit the hand of a Pentland player as he attempted to hit a clearance.  To many spectators it was unintentional.

SWPP monthly awards

For the SWPP & BPPA April competition, I won a gold award for my surfing pic of Alan Harper, Aberdeen, competing in the Scottish Surfing Championship at Thurso East.  This pic appeared on the front page of the Caithness Courier in March and is my first gold award this year.

In the March competition I was awarded 3 silvers.  They are for pics of the bandwithnoname, who performed at Thurso High School in Feb, an oil rig parked in the Cromarty Firth and a lineout ball during the Scotland vs England RBS Six Nations Championship.

Fashion shoot with Courtny

Jock & Christine Campbell kindly agreed to let me use their luxurious home at West Watten for a fashion shoot with Courtny in April.  My Great Aunt used to live in the house in the 70s & 80s and the extensions built by Pat & Alex Grant have totally transformed it.

I experimented with off camera flash (two speedlights) for the indoor shots.  The sun was very bright for the outdoor shots and shade from the garden trees came in handy.

Courtny was busy as she changed into 3 different outfits throughout the afternoon.

Something totally different (and challenging) to my usual sports action photos!

Caithnes Utd U15s vs Buckie Thistle

Caithness Utd U15s beat Buckie Thistle 4-1 at the Dammies yesterday in brilliant sunshine.

Caithness Utd U13s vs Buckie Thistle

Caithness Utd U13s beat Buckie Thistle 12-0 at the Naver all-weather pitch yesterday. It makes up for losing heavily to Clach last weekend.

Thurso FC Sportsman's Dinner

Thurso FC held a Sportman's Dinner and auction last night in the Weigh Inn Motel for club funds.  A packed house of around 140 was entertained by hilarious speeches from Jim Black, ex sports writer with the Sun and ex world class referee John Rowbotham (from Kirkcaldy!).  MC was Dave Edwards of the P&J.

There was general agreement that the speakers were probably the best Thurso has heard.  John Rowbotham has shed a new light on what referees really get up to in a match, even though he spoke in Italian for the first 2 mins (because he is often mistaken for the world class Italian referee!).

I put on a slideshow of my latest sports and events photos, which played in the background throughout the excellent meal. 

The event was organised by Iain MacKay and was first class.

Wick vs Buckie Thistle

Buckie Thistle beat Wick Academy 3-0 yesterday to win the Highland League title for the first time in 52 years.  The game was controversial due to Wick being reduced to 9 men early in the scond half and with Wick fans raging at some of the refereeing decisions throughout the whole match.

Alec Lamb was so mad at being sent off, that he "attacked" the side of the dugout in frustration and needed medical treatment on his hands for his trouble.

The TV cameras were there, Moray Firth radio and the national press photographers, so it was a big occasion.

There was a huge travelling support and even some arriving by helicopter!

Two of my pics were published in the Sunday Post and there will be some in tomorrow's P&J.