Halkirk vs Avoch

Today's Highland Amateur Cup quarter final replay, between Halkirk and Avoch ending with a 3-1 win to Avoch. Halkirk were 2-0 down after 46 mins, scored a goal mid way through the second half that was given by the referee, but the linesman saw an infringement off the ball and it was disallowed.

The Avoch keeper then saved a penalty, but could not keep out the follow up, thus setting up a grandstand finish. Avoch went down to 10 men and the game boiled over with some rough tackling and frayed tempers. Avoch scored late on with a free header and despite being urged on by the large crowd, Halkirk could not get another goal.

Castletown now play Avoch in the semi-final. The Kirkwall Thorfinn vs Wick Groats semi-final match was postponed to 1st August due to the heavy rain.

Lake District

I attended some workshops at Sellafield last month and managed to spend an evening taking photos in the Lake District. Went up to Wasdale Head which had a nice pub at the end of the road and a pack horse bridge. The above statue is at Whitehaven harbour, the luxury yacht was at Ambleside and the beached yacht at Ravenglass estuary, just yards from my hotel. Have tried experimenting with converting the colour pics to Black & White.

Halkirk vs Thurso Swifts

Halkirk beat Thurso Swifts 1-0 in the league tonight. Michael Bremner scored the only goal late in the game (see above). With half of his team missing, Neillie MacKay had to use his full squad to muster a scratch team against the unbeaten league leaders.

The result blows the league wide open and gives the "Wildcats" a great boost for their Highland Amateur cup replay against former HA Cup winners Avoch, this Saturday (3pm in Halkirk). Castletown await the winners for a place in the final.

Liam Bremner at full stretch in crossing the ball

Centre forward Johhny MacKay played a blinder and scored a goal which was chalked off for offside. Here he was a fraction of a second too late to connect with a cross ball.

Gavin Swanson lost his boot after tangling with Mark Nichol

Graham Gunn fails to stop Michael Petrie having a shot at goal

Ex Wick Academy player Nigel McKenzie tussles with Graham Gunn

Nigel MacKenzie blasts a shot wide of the mark

Latheron Show

The weather at the Latheron Show was dry but very dull and grey. Photos in these lighting conditions are very difficult, especially action ones. I concentrated on the working hunter jumping and the lead rein, mainly because I sponsored the lead rein class with some nice large rosettes. I also had lots of requests for photos outside the ring and getting the ponies to stand still, proved difficult at times.

Hopefully it will be nice and sunny at the County Show this weekend.

I had to leave before the showjumping started as there was a big cup tie football match at Castletown at 3pm. They beat Kyleakin 4-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Highland Amateur cup.

Castletown vs Kyleakin

I caught the second half of the Castletown vs Kyleakin Highland Amateur Cup quarter final match today. I was at the Latheron Show until 2.30pm. Castletown won fairly comfortably 4-1. Chris Sutherland and Alan Farquhar ran riot down the right wing and most of my pics are of them.

I heard that Halkirk drew 3-3 with Avoch - John O'Groats lost 2-1 away to Kirkwall Thorfinn and Wick Groats beat Back.

SWPP awards for June

I have just been awarded my 3rd Gold award by the Society of Wedding & Portrait Photographers (SWPP) via my membership of the Society of International Sport & Leisure Photographers (SISLP). I entered my B&W photo of the steps at Dunnet beach for the SWPP June competition. Their website is www.swpp.co.uk.

My two other Golds were for pics of the new extension to Eden Court Theatre, Inverness. All Gold awards get featured in the Professional Image Maker magazine.

All three now go forward to the final of the UK Photographer Of The Year awards, which will be held in London in January.

I also got a silver award (my 9th) for my pic of my neighbour's white bull. He was lying down beside my garden fence on a nice sunny day. I poked my camera through the fence and was only 3 feet away from him. He was curious, but did not make a move.

Will keep trying to get a Gold for my sports photos, but it is proving very difficult to please the judge.

EOS Magazine feature

I'm delighted to find out that I'm featured in the prestigious worldwide magazine by Canon called the "EOS Magazine". The July to September edition shows four of my wrestling photos in the readers photos section. They were taken at the All Star Wrestling show in the Assembly roooms, Wick, last March. It was my first attempt at indoor action photos.

I'm receiving a £100 Jessops voucher for being featured, which will come in handy as I'm planning to buy a Canon EOS 50D to replace my 350D.

I nearly sent in my photos from the Country Music Festival in Halkirk and I notice that the reader on the opposite page had rock concert photos featured.