junior ironman

One of the main reasons we went to Busselton for the Ironman was for my step-son to compete in the junior triathlon. There is no denying he is a natural but I think he is going to get a shock next year when he goes up a level and competes against 13 year olds ;) The highlight of the day was the kids meeting Mitch Anderson who was there to give out prizes and awards. They were going on and on and on and Mitch eventually realised that it was going to take forever so he started handing out spot prizes to kids that hadn't received anything. Big mistake! He was mobbed by about 40 kids trying to get their hot little hands on his prizes. I think he even got his feet trodden on and perhaps had a horrible visual of not being able to compete the following day due to the stampede of kids that afternoon. Thankfully, the triathlete emerged unscathed and I think all of the kids got a spot prize :)

I am ironman - hear me roar

Ok, some 600 photographs later I am finally ready to share some pics from the WA Ironman held last weekend in Busselton. The day was absolutely perfect for photographs. Overcast with lots of clouds which meant no hard shadows and I got to play with a few techniques. I will have plenty more to come as I sift through all the photos so stay tuned. First up - this guy from Canada came around the corner. It was quite amusing at the time seeing him in the middle of an international race with a coffee in his hand. Some panning that turned out fantastic. Excuse the b&w's. I'm on a black and white binge at the moment. The panning shots really lend themselves to monotones rather than full colour.

For some reason when I look at this image I see Hugh Hefner. It totally looks like him. But in fact it is Garth from New Zealand and he is . . . wait for it . . . 71 years old. They build 'em tough in NZ Dad :) Mr, ahem excuse me, Doctor Mitch Anderson. He came in third overall and ran a great race. I am still on the fence about the porn 'stach. Mr Jason Shortis. Now, Jason is to WA Ironman what Lance Armstrong is to the Tour de France. This is his race. Unfortunately Jason had a humbling day when he was penalised for drafting but it is a joy to watch him race. Not too hard on the eyes either ;)

Monsieur Patrick Vernay of New Caledonia. He won the event this year and looked like he did it with some fuel to spare.

This was Jason coming down the shute in 12th place. You would have thought it was 1st place from the way the crowd reacted. He is an unofficial sandgroper and is a pretty popular boy over here.

This little one was too cute to not take a shot of. I like the timelessness of this image. If it weren't for the velcro shoes it could have been taken 50 years ago.

Ironman WA

Just a small teaser :) Lots of editing to do after this weekends Ironman WA. Stay tuned . . .

first post

So here I am. A new blog for my photography. There are so many photographers I am admiring at the moment, internationally. I can only hope to aspire to their portfolios and hopefully this blog is just the first step in educating while also promoting what I have been told is an inate talent that should be embraced and nurtured - so here I am. I will be sure to come back soon and update regularly and perhaps give an overview of how I came to be here but for now, here are a couple of recent (and not so recent) photos that have caught my eye and are among my favourites right now.

This is an image of the Busselton Jetty taken in December 2006. The colours were this vivid and the ocean almost translucent. We will be back there next month so expect lots of photos of Busso.

I came across this only the other night as I was archiving and backing up my photos and I really like it although I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I was following the player (incidentally my step-son) as he fell on the ground and the angle almost amplifies his pain as he loses the ball. Perhaps not the most technically correct image - but one I like.

My favourite subject. My nephew who is growing up way too fast. This was only a couple of months ago and its his latest habit of sticking out his tongue and I think trying to see how far it stretches. He can actually touch the tip of it to his nose. A very handy quality for a little boy :)

Here he is again, almost one year ago to the day that the "tongue" photo was taken. I'm a sucker for black and whites.

My first wedding that was just last month. It was my brothers wedding and although I wasn't going to take photos I ended up taking a heap of them. This is my favourite I think. The mix of light and dark and the defined features of the bridesmaids make me want to study the picture. Or perhaps its just an overexposed image that my amateur eye likes.