Blog

For quite some time now i've been mulling over doing some sports action portraits using my new speedlights. Anyway yesterday I went to the local park with a friend of mine and his son Kieran.

The aim of the day was to get some cracking portraits of Kieran in his footy kit and also capture some staged shots of him in action. Now it's the first time i've really done this kind of shoot before so thanks goes to Chris and Kieran for their patience whilst I set up the lights took practice shot after practice shot.

With the lights set up we were just about to begin shooting when were had to move as a game had been booked for the pitch we were shooting on. So on to the next park and 15 minutes later we were ready to shoot.

First I tried some standard portraits of Kieran with him clutching the ball and giving it his best moody look for the camera. The results are quite pleasing and I feel I got the shot I had envisaged in my head.

Next we got Kieran kicking the ball something he was itching to do as he'd spent enough time waiting for me setting up the lights. We tried a mix of shots, some posed some action and thanks to Chris for fetching the ball after each kick of Kieran's impressive left foot.

Hopefully Kieran will be one for the future, and I can be the one taking the photos!

Anyway here's the best from an enjoyable shoot.

Today I went to a very wet Roundhay Park in Leeds for the 103rd Redbull Flugtag. For those of you not familiar with Flugtag, it is a fun event where contestants make all sorts of weird and woderful flying contraptions in their attempts to defy gravity.

Some er 'flew' and others er well sank, i'll let you decide which was the more popular outcome. See the best of the action over on my Flickr page here.

I got contacted by Dominic Krief of Farsley AFC who kindly asked me to shoot the charity match involving the Garforth Academy staff football team taking on a team of celebs from M1 Management all in the aid of charity.

Having not shot any football since Farsley finished last season as champions I was itching to get back behind the camera so jumped at the opportunity. So on a warm summers evening I made the 17 mile trip to the ground of Garforth Town.

To say I was a little ring rusty is a bit of an understatement and I forgot just how fast football can be and found the first 10 minutes I was struggling to keep up with the play. Despite missing a few of the goals I managed to get some decent action and celebrations and hope those involved enjoy looking at the photos.

You can see the best of the action here, and all images are available to buy.

Today I travelled to Tadcaster for Farsley AFC's penultimate game of the season at Tadcaster Albion. With Farsley needing a win to clinch the title it promised to be a an exciting game.

Farsley took command of the first half and stormed into a 3-0 lead with Ben Jones (2) and Lee Connor getting the all important goals. That seemed to be the title wrapped up but a superb comeback in the scond half by Tadcaster saw the game clawed back to 3-2 before Jones completed his hatrick from the spot to make it 4-2. Still there was drama to come as Tadcaster scored a 3rd meaning a nail biting end to a cracking match.

Farsley were able to hold on ad the final whistle sparked jubilant celebrations amongst the playing staff and the large traveling support.

See the best of the action here

Today I went along to Throstle Nest where Pudsey Juniors hosted their 2011 Football Tournament. Despite the wind and rain at the start of the day, there was a fantastic turn out for what proved to be a very fun and enjoyable tournament and one which hopefully will raise plenty of much needed funds for the Junior's.

I must say I really enjoyed shooting the U7's and it sure made a change from shooting the seniors at Farsley AFC. My one complaint when shooting Farsley is often the lack of celebrations when a goal is scored. No worries on that front today as some of the little fellas (and ladies) celebrated like they'd scored the winner in a world cup final and that made for some great photos, along with the various face paints and hair colours!

I aimed to get a shot of every player of every team but this proved more difficult than I first thought due to the number of teams attending the tournament so apologies in advance to anyone I may have missed.

Click here to see the best of a cracking day's football.

Having spent the summer getting used to my new camera set up shooting local junior cricket, I was keen to get back into the football after my brief taste shooting for Old Headingley AFC last season.

Looking for somewhere I could go week in week out to hone my skills I contacted Farsley AFC and they agreed that i could photograph their home games at Throstle Nest for the 2010/2011 league campaign.

I'm very excited by this opportunity and aim to use this as the perfect grounding in my quest to get to agency standard and land a role as a sports photographer.

Hopefully this year will be a successful one for both myself and the team down at Throstle Nest.

This evening I made my way down to the Britannia again (I'm becoming quite a regular down there) to cover the semi final between Congs and Liversedge U11's. The conditions were not the best for photography to be honest, with the low light levels and dark clouds, but nevertheless I was looking forward to getting more practice in.

Having worked out my positions on the boundary I waited for Pudsey to open the batting. Liversedge started well with strong bowling and tight fielding and Pudsey were finding runs hard to come by, eventually being bowled out for 72.

Now it was Liversedge's turn to take the bat, and i was making sure I got some shots of their batsmen as i wasn't expecting this game to last much longer...

How wrong I was!!!

Pudsey put in a superb effort, fielding well, taking wickets when all looked lost and producing some outstanding catches in the field. This all lead to a tense finish, going down to the final 2 overs with liversedge needing just the one run to win the game. Unfortunately the game finished on a no ball and Liversedge made it through to the final.

Congrats to both teams for a cracking semi final.

Best of the action is in my gallery.

I have just added two new products along with my existing prints and digital files. They now include bespoke sport posters and framed fine art prints.

Check them out here http://www.philcarverphotography.com/page11864.html

After a number of requests from customers, I have decided to make all my sports images available for purchase as a digital file. The size options and prices can be seen in my prices section of the website.

To purchase a file just click on the 'Buy Now' button and select the size you require from the drop down menu under each photo.

All digital files will be delivered electronically via email and therefore are free of postage and packing.

Well today I knocked off work early to get down to the Britannia to photograph the Congs' U9's match against Gildersome. Driving to the game I was a little worried by the rain that started falling may cause for a postponement.

Anyway to my relief the rain had stopped by the time I reached the ground. I had half an hour to wait for the game to start so I used my time to familiarise myself with the rather small boundary. I soon realised that 300mm would be enough reach, so off came my 1.4X TC. Despite the rain stopping there was still a distinct drop in light levels as the game got underway and it soon became apparent that my shutter speeds were suffering. Luckily the 1D mark III is blessed with good ISO performance, so up this went and my exposures were soon where they needed to be.

Again I didn't keep score as I was too busy trying to capture the great facial expressions on the players as they went about the game in a fun and friendly yet determined manner. I think I managed to capture some of my best celebration photos during this game. So overall very much worth finishing work early for :)

To view the best of the action just check out my sports portfolio in my gallery.

Well today was a big day for the U15's of Pudsey as the Congs and St Lawrence went head to head for what could well be a potential title decider.

Having shot the U15's a couple of weeks ago I was fairly confident of getting some decent shots and I have my positions on the boundary planned before I arrived. However these plans were up in the air when I realised the other wicket was to be used, therefore meaning I was further away from the action than i'd liked. This lead to a lot of shuffling along the boundary to find a decent position that would allow for clean backgrounds, after all no one wants the car park in the shot!

Anyway it was St Lawrence who opened the batting and were soon hitting the boundaries on a regular basis, despite the efforts of opening bowler Nathan Dalton and his team mates.

St Lawrence finished on 117 but not sure on how many wickets. This left the Congs with quite a target, and with the loss of a few early wickets that target looked even further away. Congs regrouped and were soon hitting their own boundaries but it proved too late and finished on a final score of 103.

Well done to both teams for putting on a great show of cricket, and congrats to St Lawrence who surely now are favorites for this seasons championship.

Catch the best of the action in my Sports gallery

Today I popped down to the Britannia Cricket ground to photography Pudsey Congs U11's take on Bradford & Bingley. Having shot the U15's a week earlier I was quietly confident of getting some good shots...after all this would be a much slower game than the older age group making it a lot easier right?

WRONG!!!

Yes the action was a little slower, but it was still fast enough for me to miss quite a number of shots. (note to self....must anticipate more lol!)

Anyway on to the cricket and it was a really enjoyable game. Both sides hitting plenty of boundaries and at one point nearly hit me for six. I was even offered a helmet, this despite me being well behind the boundary!!!

Again I forgot yo get a shot of the scoreboard, so If anyone would be so kind as to let me know that's be great.

Best of the action can be seen in my Sports Gallery.

Today I went down to the Britannia Cricket ground to photograph Pudsey Congs v Farsley U15's. This was my first time shooting cricket and I was really looking forward to shooting a more relaxing sport compared to the frantic nature of football and rugby.

What I thought would be a walk in the park soon turned into a very challenging shoot. I took for granted how easy it would be catching the action, if anything the timing of the shot is more critical in cricket than the other two sports. Also the difficulty obtaining good exposures of the player's white kits in constantly changing lighting conditions was proving too much for my tried an tested TV mode with auto ISO. So for the first time shooting sport I ventured into full manual mode!!! And boy am I glad I did. It took a few overs to get the metering right but once I did I was able to get good consistent exposures despite the changing conditions.

Anyway onto the cricket. Pudsey won convincingly though I'm not too sure of the score. Too much time looking through the viewfinder and not at the scoreboard. (note to self take pic of the board when finished!)

The best of the action can be seen in the Sports gallery.

A lovely evening for a cup final so i went along to Bus Vale where Hunslet were playing Headingley. When I arrived at the ground I soon realized although it may have been great weather to play in, it was a bit of a nightmare to photograph.

I'm still new to this sports photography lark and when I saw the long shadows cast across the pitch caused by the setting sun and some rather inconveniently place trees behind the goal I knew I was in for a challenge if I wanted to get any decent shots.
I'd come with the intention of photographing the Headingley boys, but due to the lighting conditions I had to sit where I felt i'd get the best images. It just so happened that Hunslett were the team attacking my end and so the result was plenty of Hunslet shots and not so many of Headingley.

As for the game, it was a cracking final. Now i'm still pretty new to Rugby as football is more my thing, but this was a full bloodied encounter with some superb tackling. At one point a mass brawl erupted between the sets of players, but credit the ref for calming things down and keeping all players on the pitch.

The result was....er I lost count. Too busy looking through the camera to keep track. All I know is Hunslet won pretty convincingly in the end with their no.6 playing a superb game.

Best of the action can be viewed in the gallery.

After recently upgrading my camera bag with a Canon 1D Mark III and the Canon 300mm 2.8IS I popped along to Stanningley Rugby Club where their U16's boys team where playing Headingley Hawks in their cup Semi final.

The game was a feisty affair and very well contested. Headingley ran out eventual winners with a score of 22-20, with Stanningley failing to take the opportunity to kick for goal late in the game in order to tie the scores.

You can see the best of the action in my gallery under the new sport section where all the images are now available to purchase as prints.

My first attempt at shooting Rugby brought me to Stanningley Rugby Club where their U16's were playing Whinmoor in the quarter final of the Leeds & District cup. Having only previously shot football, I was looking forward to trying a new sport.

The game finished 36 - 6 in favour of Stanningley, with Brett Hallas playing, in the words of his coach, his best game for the club. Being a friend of the family I soon realised i'd taken so many of Brett I rather neglected the rest of the team, something I aim to put right in future games.

Having previously shot with the Canon 7D this was my first time out with the 1D Mark III and have to say I am very pleased with the camera. The focussing is superb and the 10 frames/sec is very useful to have.

You can see the shots of Brett (oh and a few of the others lol) in my gallery.