A couple of weeks ago I published a general blog about photographing Bosham, going there to see the dawn, the high tide and the bird life. This is the companion blog that is about the film photography that I've done there.
I think some of the photos I've taken have been good, some pretty ordinary, and some of the experiments with time expired Kodak Ultra have been awful. But we learn from our mistakes.
My first SLR was a Zenit B, bought in about 1971. I kept the Zenit for about 9 years and then bought a Pentax K1000, a real gem. After a while, that camera needed servicing and I replaced it with a Pentax MZ30, which turned out to be pretty poor. In the early 2000s I bought my first digital camera and after a short period of overlap, I sold the K1000 and gave away the awful MZ30.
I was exclusively digital for around 10 years and then in 2012, I bought a Canon EOS-1 on eBay, it used the same EF lenses as my digital cameras.
Time expired generic film
On my first trip to Bosham in 2012, I took my EOS-1 along. I had some TruPrint free film that had been lying around my office for some years and also some Ilford FP4+.
The TruPrint film was great, really good colours.
OK, mea culpa, I was so excited by the bright colours of the boat and channel, I chopped the tip off the church steeple.
Black and white film
Ilford FP4+
I honestly can't remember if I used a red filter on this visit, the lack of sky detail suggests not, but I soon picked up a Hoya red 25 filter and it pretty much sits on the Canon EF 24-105/4 IS that is my go to lens for film.
Something I did on that first visit was to try some long exposure photography. Of the Ilford films I've used, FP4+ is easily the most forgiving of long exposures and gives good results without having to worry too much about reciprocity failure (In my hands, Pan F 50 has been awful).
What I've got here is a couple of stacked images. I've taken the scans and stacked 5 or 6 images in Photoshop and then did a median stacking mode. I don't think mean worked that well.
Long exposures
In addition to FP4+, I've also used HP5. Other BW films I use are Ilford Delta 100 or 400 and the rather expensive SFX 200, which I haven't used at Bosham yet.
I added a Canon EOS 1v to the EOS-1, and I put BW film in the EOS 1v and put colour film in the older model. Eventually, I replaced the EOS-1 with another EOS 1v and then bought a third EOS 1v to use exclusively with Ilford SFX 200 and then I needed to get a red 29 filter for optimum result.
Ilford HP5+
I think the best thing about Bosham, is being there for the high tide. You have to be check tide tables, weather forecasts and generally do your homework and be lucky. When you are lucky, it shows.
I have to add here that I really didn't get good results with long exposures and HP5+
This last image was photographed on HP5+ in a Zorki 4K that I'd acquired. I held a 77mm red 25 filter in front of the lens for the shot. This was the last roll of film I'd taken with that camera. The rewind mechanism failed and I was quoted £130 for repair. The camera cost £35.
In the end, I sold the 50/3.5 lens and the camera body is on display on one of the shelves in my office with a dead EOS 5D.
Ilford Delta films
This was shot on Delta 100 and was one of the most magical morning I've seen at Bosham. High tide was at dawn, so we had the golden hour too.
Time Expired Kodak 400 Ultra
By the time I was taking these photos I'd gained a FED-3. It was a nice enough camera that has since been replaced with Leica iiif.
Having had such good results with the other time expired film, I snapped up 10 rolls of the Kodak.
Bad error, I should have bought just one.
I can't begin to tell you how much of a disappointment that awful film was. Unfortunately, I'd used a few rolls before getting it processed.
Processing
A little bit about processing. I don't want to seem like a heretic here, but I haven't developed or printed film since 1980. I used to process my own film at university and afterwards during my PhD, but not since. I've either used PeakImaging or AG Photographic. They provide me with a disk and depending on how much I pay for the scanning, I get some small to very large files.
I get my final jpg to the final display version by processing in Photoshop. I've tried two different ways, one is adjustment layers and the other is to open the file in camera RAW. In particular, I think the latter gives me better control of the gradients to bring out clouds or lighten up the reflections in water. it's also very good at sport and scratch removal. I look on Photoshop as being the equivalent of preparing a print. I do also get my work printed, and soon I'll have to get one of my negs re-scanned at very high resolution for an art print. Expensive but worth it.
Cameras
I thought you might be interested in the camera gear.
My first film camera after going back into film photography in 2012 was the Canon EOS-1 This was the top of the line film camera in the late 1980s, it had one AF point a the similar metering modes to current digital cameras and a general feel of professional solidity. It came with a massive battery pack that almost doubled the weight, so I changed that for the standard battery. One day I must eBay the battery pack.
My next acquisition was the FED-3, that I bought for a separate project I was working on. It was a pretty good machine and the lens was excellent, a very sharp 50/2. The light seals on FED-3s were suspect in some instances, so you had to keep it in its leather case. I had no troubles with light leaking, but always kept it in the case. I used the FED-3 for colour film, because it came with a brown leather case.
After I bought my Leica, I sold the FED-3.
After the FED-3 came the Zorki 4K. I'd thought about getting one of these for years and I used it for Ilford HP5+, because it had a black case. It worked well, right up to the point when it died. The 50/3.5 lens didn't look special compared with the nicely solid 52/2.8 on the FED-3, but stopped down to f8 is gave some excellent results.
Eventually, I added a Canon EOS 1v to my collection. It's the last film camera that Canon made, it's a huge lump, but it is just so very, very good.
So I bough two more. Although those camera bodies were very expensive when they came out, they are actually not that expensive now. When I bought the last one it was about the same price as a low end DSLR (later I've paid import duty from Japan). But those cameras are so astonishingly good, it's worth getting at least one. As I mentioned earlier, one is standard BW, one for SFX 200 and one for colour film.
Finally, I bought a Leica iiif. It's a little jewel of a camera, so very beautifully made and so very nice to handle. the one I bought came without a lens, so it's got a Russian 50/2.8 sitting on it. I haven't used the Leica at Bosham yet. It needs a service, because I managed to damage a shutter curtain and I'll need to get that addressed.
Here is my current film camera stable.
As I have three identical film bodies, I need to know which one I need. I've solved that conundrum by having different coloured tape on the back of each one. It's not a foolproof system, I once thought I'd taken photos of Beachy Head light house with colour film, but actually got it in BW.
The Lens hood on the EF 24-105/4 IS has tape on it, so that I can quickly distinguish between a film camera and an EOS 5D3+24-70/4 IS when I'm using both.
I hope you have enjoyed this little blog.
]]>The 2020 polo season has had a rather slow start, so I thought I'd take the opportunity of some free time to go through my archive and put together some new galleries. One that has given me a fair bit of fun was the Royal Navy Polo gallery.
I first saw the Royal Navy Polo Team at a tournament organised by the Honourable Artillery Company Saddle Club on a makeshift polo pitch on Thorney Island in September 2007. Since then, I've seen a lot of the Navy players and grown to know them. They are a nice bunch.
Polo was brought to the UK from India by the British Army cavalry regiments and that it was first played here on a ground that is now somewhere under Heathrow airport. The first games were chaos, but after the rules were codified something like the current game developed. The Royal Navy’s polo heritage extends back as early as the 1860s.
Polo needs skill, bravery, commitment and teamwork. It's an ideal military sport and as you would expect, it's something the Royal Navy is good at. I've put together this photo blog to celebrate their achievements and to remind us of what we can look forward to in the future. Eventually.
of a great group of people and to
If you like these photos, I've added a Royal Navy Polo gallery.
Polo skills
But there are times the skills fall over, as do the goal posts.
Polo bravery
Sometimes bravery is not enough and you have to fall back on being lucky
Polo commitment
Polo teamwork
The Royal Navy Polo Team a very friendly group and show respect for their opponents
After the games there's the presentations. The Royal Navy gets a lot of trophies.
Silverware
After the presentations, comes the celebrations
This last photo is one of my favourite polo photos.
Behind the scenes there are the vital polo grooms.
There are the pre match and between chukkas pep talks
Sponsorship is vital in polo, so here's the sponsor for the Hackett Rundle Cup.
The Navy can take the Duke of York's Cup away with them.
But is does have to come back the next year.
Although there's a great deal of fun with the Royal Navy Polo Team, they are very competitive and don't always win.
I hope it's not going to be too long before we can meet up for some more polo.
]]>
Bosham is a pretty, sleepy village on Chichester Harbour, it's a couple of hours drive from where I live and one of the places I like to visit and photograph. It looks like a wealthy place now, but a thousand years ago is was one of the richest and most powerful places in England.
It's said that Bosham is where Cnut (Canute?) tried to hold back the tide to show his sycophantic courtiers that he was't all powerful. There is a story that Cnut had a daughter that drowned here and that her tomb is in the church. The wealth of Bosham in Saxon times may have been why Harold Godwinson lived in Bosham, at the manor house. His visit to the church and manor are shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. After he came in second at the battle of Hastings his remains may have been buried here later.
Chichester Harbour is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a wetland visited migrating wildfowl, so it’s popular with birdwatchers.
Watching the tide come in, is a good a way to spend a couple of hours and if you have a camera (or several) a great place for photography.
I have gone around the village and taken a few photos, but as people's windows give out onto the High Street, not too many. The cafe on the right does a very good breakfast and gives great views of the water, when it's there.
Some of these photos are rather smaller than others, the web site sets the photo size to 944px (!?) for the blog, but I usually add my photos at 800px. The new images for the Bosham gallery update were added at blog size. - lockdown blogging.
Bosham close up
I've also been to the church, but learned the history after going, so I'll have to go back and look again.
The church has its own web site and gives all the information you would want
For me, the best view is from the other side of the tidal inlet. Shore Road runs from the quay, around the outside of the tidal inlet and then on towards Bosham Ho. The harbour is usually quite interesting, with something going on much of the time, at the top of the inlet there are often some swans and then the road goes on to where the best views of the village can be seen.
At the Quay
One of the places swans congregate
There's a small, private jetty further round and it's a good place to get seagull photos.
Private Jetty
Further down, there's a small pebble beach with some boats and dingies pulled out of the water.
Small pebble beach
Where I like to take photos
Along here is the best place to watch and photograph the tide coming in.
If you get the right tide at the right time, it can be absolutely dazzling. High tide in the golden hour is really, really spectacular. I've also done a couple of time lapses here too.
At other times, the view can be really pretty, and equally beautifully lit.
A few times when I've been there, boating activities start when the tide comes in.
The road carries on for a few hundred metres and then bends away to the left. There's a footpath that carries on beside the water and heads towards a ferry that goes across to Ichenor. I'm not sure what that is, there was no obvious sign when I walked down there.
The second private jetty
Wildlife
By wildlife, really I mean birds.
One think I've learned over the years is that my camera gear, which is optimised for sport, really isn't good enough for birding, unless it's a swan or the bird is really close.
Egret
Crow carrying a dead seagull chick
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Teal
Brent Goose
Redshank
Bar-tailed godwits
Greenshank
If you can stay around for the evening, that can be magical too.
Visiting Bosham
I really like this place and I'm really looking forward to getting back there after the lockdown ends - I'm writing this at the end of May 2020.
It's a place I can recommend and it's not difficult to get to from my part of the county.
I have one very important piece of advice, there's a good car park at Bosham, it's not expensive and it has a bus stop and toilets too. Don't be tempted to think you can park on one of the roads.
One of the first things you will see, is this sign: -
Don't risk ignoring it. The car park isn't expensive, filling your car with sea water is.
Update
In July 2020 I went down to Bosham to photograph Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). I had a reasonable idea of where it was going to be in the sky, so it was just a matter of waiting for it to appear in the night sky. Eventually it appeared and I was rewarded with images like these.
I hope you enjoy this photo blog. I'm planning to put together another on about film photography at Bosham.
]]>After seeing Dungeness in a TV documentary in ~2011, I thought it looked fascinating and I wanted see the place. I finally managed my first visit in early 2012 and now, I try to go back about once a year.
Dungeness is a place with much to recommend it. It's really quite picturesque, if you look in the right direction.
At the tip of the headland is that distinctly ugly 1960s Dungeness (A and B) nuclear power station. Dungeness has two nuclear power stations, two lighthouses, two pubs and one narrow gauge railway.
It is also an internationally important conservation area with important plant, insect (invertebrates in general) and bird communities. It’s a National Nature Reserve, a Special Protection Area and is part of an area of Site of Special Scientific Interest. There have also been two pieces of Banksy art there, giving Dungeness the highest per capita Banksy access anywhere in the world, the first piece was stolen shortly after completion and the second piece was removed for preservation after EDF energy set out plans to clean up the beach. Other artists and photographers live in the hamlet and of course, Derek Jarmon once lived there.
In addition to being popular with beach fishermen and birdwatchers, Dungeness is also popular with photographers and film makers. What draws them is the hamlet (some houses made from old railway carriages) and an array of derelict fishing boats, and their associated gear and buildings. Unfortunately, among the people going there to take photos, one group thought smoke bombs would be a good idea and burned the boat Molly Rose to the ground. It was also appalling to see that someone else had done a wire wool shot next to one of the other boats.
The most photographed of the derelict boats has lost its deckhouse and another, the Our Cathlene, that had been in reasonably good condition has been knocked about very badly.
What struck me after a couple of visits, was that the boats and buildings on the beach aren't just decaying because of the weather and time, they have also been deliberately damaged. Now, as much as anything I'm recording the slow disintegration of what is left.
Diamond navigation marker.
I think this marker was erected after the nuclear power station was built. It was washed away at the end of 2019.
Molly Rose
Molly Rose was a fishing boat in use from 1968 into the 2000s.
In May 2016, people with cameras wanted to use smoke bombs for a photograph and burned the boat to the ground.
Our Cathlene
Dungeness has no harbour so its fishing vessels were launched from the beach using ropes, winches and bulldozers. The boats, were less than 10 metres in length, had a design that allowed them to allow them to be run up onto the shingle beach on their return. The RX boat registration letters indicate that the boat was registered with the port of Rye. RX435, Our Cathlene operated between 1964 and 1997.
When I saw the boat for the first time, it was intact. It looked like it had fresh varnish on her and even had oars strung on either side and I thought if was a working vessel.
I travelled for about two and a quarter hours and then lugged by camera gear across the shingle beach to get sunrise photos of the boats and I'm pretty glad I did.
By January 2017, the mast was gone and the deck house was over to one side too.
By November 2017, the deck house and mast of Our Cathlene had gone altogether. Another boat had had the deck house removed and placed to one side, so this wasn't weathering.
Both of the boats in the image below had deck houses in place at my previous visit. The deck house remains on the ground in the foreground hadn't blown there in a storm, it had been placed there.
This photo had been photographed on time-expired Kodak colour film. I'd tried some other time expired film before and it was great, but this stuff was a disaster.
The Net Shed and the Dungeness Fishing Boat
the Net Shed, was a fisherman's hut close to what is arguably the most photographed of the Dungeness fishing boats is the one in nearest to Prospect Cottage. It stands beside a narrow gauge railway railway that was used to transport fish across the shingle beach.
When I first visited the beach, there, the net shed was shabby, there were lots of nets around it and lots of stuff inside, but it was still upright. There was also a small shed beside the boat, next to the winding gear.
The Net Shed in March 2012, still largely intact.
By December 2019 it was gone.
As an aside. The small shed beside the boat had been decorated with a cartoon. All of the debris was removed, so that little art work is gone too.
Once the current corona virus pandemic eases and we can get out again, I hope to get back there and see what it looks like.
If this blog tempts you to visit, do so, but please remember all this stuff belongs to someone. treat it with respect and follow the local rules.
June 2021 Update - The Latest Dungeness Boat Fire
In June 2021, I learned that the most photographed of the Dungeness fishing boats had been destroyed by fire. I travelled over to see what had happened and what was left. It was a poignant site, almost nothing was left, just some rusty steel and the engine block.
I'm fortunate to be in the position of being able to spend much of the summer watching or umpiring cricket and photographing polo.
I haven't always photographed polo, I started in 2007 after bumping into the polo manager from RMA Sandhurst when I was taking photos at Royal Windsor Horse Show. I was invited along to photograph at Sandhurst, one thing led to another and then I was photographing military polo.
The season opener is a tournament played at RAF Cranwell in early May and I've been fortunate enough to cover that event a few times. For obvious reasons, this season's tournament has been pushed back to September, but for now, here are some photos to give a feel for what goes on.
Going to Cranwell for the event is a treat, I'd applied to join the RAF but had been turned down because I have asthma, so spending a few days there is rather special. As a photographer, it's one of the event's I'll cover for the sheer enjoyment and not for the income.
The tournament usually has entries from several local clubs, usually a team from Ham in south London, two or three RAF sides, the Hackett Army Polo Team and the Army Reserves, so there are two days of play with a formal dinner in the middle. As weekends go, it's pretty good.
The first time I turned up, I didn't have a clue where I was going. I pulled up at the gates in front of College Hall and looked around for an idea of where to go. fortunately, someone was getting a pizza dropped off and I was able to ask. The guardroom is half a mile further up and once I'd been there, finding my way to my accommodation has been easy. Although I did drive in through the wrong entrance once.
Although the main gates are in front of College Hall, the gate guardians are on the other side of the road, there's a a Jet Provost and one of the 55 Squadron HS Dominies. The Dominie was a thrill to see. My father had been a flight inspector at the De Haviland/Hawker Siddeley factory at Broughton and was likely to have worked on this airframe. I lived about a mile from the end of the runway as a teenager and although I didn't see this one fly, I saw most of them.
Polo is played at the back of College Hall on a very nice ground that gives some very good sight lines for taking photos.
The games can be really very fast and entertaining although for some others, not so fast.
Something to watch out for during the RAF Cranwell polo is the gliding, the next field along is used for a gliding club and it's busy throughout both days of the event.
Sometimes you can get really lucky with air traffic.
I'm sure it's coincidence, but I have only seen the Battle of Britain Memorial flight aircraft at the polo when the RAF is playing.
Between games, it's good to catch up with friends and take the kind of team photos that sponsors like to see.
Between the two days play is the tournament dinner. It's a good opportunity to wear a black tie (although I wear an MCC tie) and celebrate. The more robust players keep going into the small hours, but I'm a snowflake and duck out relatively early.
At the end of the tournament, as many teams as possible gather in front of college hall for tournament photos.
I really hope I can get there in September.
Stay safe, stay well.
]]>
Here is the selection.
]]>
This year I'm cheating a bit and I'm putting together a "general" photography set and also another set of polo photos. Partly because I've taken a lot of photos and partly because it's just such hard work trying to cut thousands of images down into just ten or twelve.
I'm going to start with this shot from St Paul's Cathedral. It's one of very few film photographs I've had published recently. This one was used by St Paul's for the January image in their 2016 desk calendar. I was shooting film because on the way there, someone stole my digital camera.
It would be difficult for me to go through the year without spending at least some time on Cliveden Reach, the stretch of Thames between Boulters Lock and Cookham. This year's offering is a mute swan seeing off another swan that had strayed into its territory.
After a few days in Venice, I came home with a lot of photos. It's difficult to go there and not be drawn into just wandering around and snapping away rather than going after some planned images. There's so much to see and always, so little time. I had bough a new 10-stop neutral density filter and a small travel tripod before going on this trip, so I did force myself into taking a few deliberate shots, but nowhere near as many as I'd have liked.
In May we spent a weekend in Worcester, and a very nice place it is too. I managed to pursuade Karen to come with me to New Road to see the cricket. We stayed there for only an hour, but in that time the sun came out for just a moment and gave me a chance to see one of the iconic sights of English cricket.
In June I spent an afternoon at the British Wildlife Centre enjoying one of their photographer's visits. again, there were lots of photos but, the hedgehog stood out. As it happens, she was sent round this tree two or three times to get the right shot. I was delighted.
In September I spent a day shooting the cross country at Burghley Horse Trials, as an accredited photographer I could go pretty much anywhere I wanted. Accreditation came with one drawback, we had to be on site at around 06:30 and had to negotiate an early breakfast at our hotel.
Burghley was an early start, but it wasn't the only time I was up befor the sun this year. These last four images are in the "worth getting up for" category. The first shot is from the Sky Garden looking towards Docklands and was from a morning I spent helping Dave Burt and the London Instagram group.
This is dawn looking towards ancient Asine in Greece. The Greeks set sail from the next bay along when they went to war with Troy.
To get this shot I was up just after 04:00 and drove for a couple of hours to get to Dungeness for the sunrise.
My last shot is from closer to home and only involved a 30 minute walk (carrying camera gear). From one particular spot between Maidenhead and Cookham Dean, the sun rises from more-or-less directly behind Windsor Castle on perhaps one of two days during late November (and again in early January). I've photographed this scene several times now (and been unable to see it several times too), but still haven't got exactly the shot I want.
So I get up early and keep trying.
Getting up early isn't an infalable way to get great photos despite what all the photo blogs tell you. I had a very early start in Windsor Great Park tring to photograph the deer in rut. The light was awful. After some hours I headed home to get on with some writing work. My mid day, the light was perfect.
]]>Enjoy.
Some years ago, I found myself in the right place at the right time and to cut a long story short, was invited to photograph polo at Sandhurst.
It was the second time I’d seen polo, the previous experience had been, well, equine croquet. I took the photos and thought some were OK. I must have done something right because I was invited back. By the end of that season I was hooked on polo photography and some work had been published. Later I was approached by regimental teams, then I was photographing the army team, and then I was the "official" army polo photographer.
The first big public tournament for the army team is in mid June during the Sandhurst open day. It's a great day to look around the academy and a great day for the players to perform in front of thousands. At other times there are few spectators.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My experience may be limited and perhaps a bit parochial, but I think the Round Ground at Sandhurst is the most spectacular and perhaps also the most historic setting for polo. Coupled with the British military's ability to get things right and to do it in style, a tournament there is sport at its best. The ground has a lake at one end and New College at the other. Overlooking the ground is the Old College, dating back to 1812. The scene is spoiled a bit in another direction by the somehow award winning and brutalist Churchill Hall. People and teams love to be photographed in front of the colleges.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The main tournament to the military polo calendar is the Rundle Cup at Tidworth, and is played between the Army and Royal Navy. Players have another chance to play in front of thousands.
This is the one occasion when the national press will turn out.
However their attention is usually limited.
But they do stay if there's royalty on site.
The polo is usually pretty good although there can be the odd heart stopping moment.
|
|
|
|
As one of the two photographers for Tidworth Polo Club, I can get to the front of the queue. Presentations are not always the most interesting shots but do get used. But I can also get behind the scenes.
|
|
|
The Army Polo Team has also turned out Ham Polo Club for the HAC 105 Invitational, that marks the end of the season. In 2013 they won it.
Finally, there is the "without who" part. The main sponsor of the Army Polo Team is Hackett of London, so here's Jeremy Hackett and Muffin and Kieth Gap of EFG International. Also there's Col Simon Ledger, chairman of the Army Polo Association and voice of polo. Without them I would have less to photograph and would have a great deal less fun.
It wasn’t long before he went again
and again
and again.
Equipment acquisition fever took hold and soon his room filled with camouflage clothing, guns and pellets, or BBs as they are called by the cognoscenti. Equally soon, most of the house and garden acquired a thin layer of BBs, giving it a rather odd Christmassy air.
It was only a matter of time before I was asked to photograph a day of Airsoft. Partly because my son wanted some photos of him and his friends and partly because he hadn’t learned to drive by then. I think the risk of personal injury isn’t that high compared with photographing polo or skill at arms, so I went along. Since that time I’ve been asked along to photograph his university team and his competitive team, and the odd stag do too.
In terms of the photography, I like to keep thinks reasonably simple. I use my 7 year old Canon EOS 5D either with a Sigma 50/1.4 or a 24-105 and with that I'll use an old Canon EOS 40D, usually with an EOS 85/1.8. My son made some 5 mm polycarbonate discs of 77 mm diameter. I've attached those to some very cheap 77 mm filter rings I bought on ebay. Optically they're not great, but they provide an element of protection. Shooting in the open where the likelihood of getting shot should be less, I'll use a 5D Mk2. The iso-value is usually wound round the end stop, airsoft venues are either woodland or buildings, so the light is seldom good. Better cameras are OK if no one is firing.
Personal protective equipment is very important, I'll wear my old laboratory spectacles and a face mask. I tried a military flack jacket with a blue MEDIA patch, but allegedly I was indistinguishable from the other players and I'd get shot on a regular basis. So, I've moved to a hi viz jacket and the kind of workman's trousers that take knee pads. Boots and gloves and a hi viz beany finish the outfit. The gloves are photographers gloves that you can use with only the last joint of finger and thumb exposed. But just because I wear a hi viz doesn't mean I'm safe. And I've had some of that gear stolen too.
Here is a selection of images I’ve taken at Xsite at High Wycobe.
|
If you look closely here, you can see the BB pellet moving in from around his right elbow and bouncing off his face mask. |
|
|
For those who are interested, those trousers are still available on ebay. Other than the gun, which has an extended magazine and those trousers, you can see that there's not much sign of gear acquisition syndrome going on here. That was all about to change. |
|
|
New uniform, new gloves, new badges, new rifle, new pistol and holster, and a big mask. |
|
|
The mask didn't last long in use, it wasn't that comfortable and it was soon replaced by a lightweight wire grill and goggles. But at that time he was still wearing my boots |
|
|
|
Another venue we've been to a couple of times is The Mall in Reading. After C&A went out of business, the shopping centre shut down and eventually became an Airsoft venue. Photography there is hard work, the light is very low, the action could be anywhere and the chances are that you'll get shot any number of times trying to get there. There's every chance you'll get shot on a regular basis and that has been my experience there.
|
|
|
|
Southampton University Airsoft Team went on to use the last image for their brochure. |
Another site I've visited a couple of times is IronSight Airsoft outside Andover. My son was invited to join the House of Wolves Airsoft Team and IronSight is their home venue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This year started with something different. A day out with some WW2 re-enactors, the Screaming Eagles for one of their training days. With them was a German re-enactment group, so the training was done in the presence of someone who would shoot back. The day also included some Airsoft action too. The more eagle eyed will notice that in many photos the players are not using period weapons, this is because period Airsoft designs are very much more expensive than the more up to date versions. Some of the uniforms are also not 1940s and this is because some of the re-enactors also do Viet Nam. As an aside, I also took some photos with a vintage 35mm camera and hope to do a "compare and contrast" gallery at some point in the near future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
]]>
I saw a fair bit of cricket last season and for much of it I had a camera with me, so there's a fair amount of trawling to be done.
The season started in mid-April with Middlesex vs Notts. The game was played in great light and had lots of action. In the Notts first innings I had some nice shots of Chris Read, who made 40 before being knocked over by Steve Finn and in the Middlesex first innings both Sam Robson and John Simpson made tons. We also saw the injury that effectively ended Gareth Berg's career at Middlesex. He chased a ball to the cover boundary and collided with the advertising boards on the Grandstand. By the next over it was clear that he couldn't continue and that was the last end of his season.
|
Chris Read |
|
Gareth Berg - shoulder injury |
In May I photographed one of the local clubs in the opening round of the Royal London Club competition. I shot the wicket that won the game for the home club and had I used f8 instead of f4, the keeper would have been nice and sharp and it would have been a photo I could have submitted.
A week later I was back at Lord's to see a couple of days of the Lancashire game.
Day 2 was characterised by some very black clouds and bright sunshine. The shot of Lord's with the back clouds is a potential image, but it's a photograph of weather rather than of cricket. There wer lots of photos of batting an bowling but nothing that brilliant.
|
Lord's in May |
|
Eoin Morgan going to a century |
|
Tim Murtagh leading the side off with 6-60 |
In June I travelled to Oxford to see Middlesex play Oxford University at the Parks. It's one of my favourite grounds and in early summer it's very pleasant. I think the best shot I got here was one of Adam Rossington in what may have been his last game for the club before moving to Northants. Definately a potential pick for the Cricket Photo of the year, even though it was the warm up.
|
Adam Rossington at Oxford |
In July it was the MCC vs Rest of the World game to celebrate 200 years at the current ground. A photo of Sachin Tendulkar was among my Festive fifteen, but wasn't of the right quality for the cricket photo of the year.
But I was quite pleased with a shot a took of KP and I was using only a little pocket camera.
The Northants game was played in fairly flat light and I don't think I bothered adding the photos to Flickr.
I didn't see any of the T20s, so my next cricket was the Royal London Cup. In the Middlesex vs Surrey game, I was able to photograph Dilshan going to a century with a Dil-scoop, but he was facing the other way and it could have been a photograph of anyone. Later I photographed Eoin Morgan going to another century. But the ball wasn't in shot. Middlesex vs Somerset yielded nothing I could use and neither did Middlesex vis The Indians.
|
Eoin Morgan going to another century |
In August Eoin Morgan visited my home club, Maidenhead and Bray and I had some photographic gold. A girls' game was going on and gave some excellent images, especially when it started raining.
|
|
|
In September I was back at Lord's for some more county championship cricket and for the final of the Royal London One Day Cup. The Middlesex vs Durham game yielded a potential entry, Ollie Rayner went up for what he was certain was an LBW, but was turned down. The agony of the refusal was palpable, but I'm not wholly sure what's going on is entirely clear in the photo.
The Royal London One Day final was not the greatest cricket and as the light deteriorated, the quality of the images diminished, and really I got nothing worth considering. For the Sri Lanka test at Lord's I had just a pocket camera and didn't even bring that to the India test.
In the end, I'll be submitting the two photos of the girls playing cricket to the competition and then I'll hum-and-har about what the third one will be.
It should be noted that I am a member of Maidenhead and Bray, and was asked to take photos of the children's cricket. I have all the essential clearances to work with children in a club cricket setting.
]]>The photos have come from diverse sources; some from time spent away with my wife, some cricket, some polo and some personal projects.
Airsoft
At some point most people end up photographing their children playing sport and my first shot is of our son. You will have to take my word for that.
Italy and Spain
We had a few days in Rome and saw lots of weather, ranging from beautiful warm sun to some astonishing thunderstorms. The effect of the electrical storms became quite evident. The shot of Karen is from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, we went there immediately after a storm had ended and there was lots of charge in the air.
Karen in a red dress standing in the shaft of sunlight was planned. I noticed the light and persuaded her to stand there until there were no people in the background and had the exposure right too.
The Vatican stairway is something I'd seen photos of and wanted to try for myself. I was very lucky to find a moment when there was no one on it.
I took hundreds of photos in Florence and really only scratched the surface. On our final day there we went for a very long and very warm walk to the gardens overlooking the city. Really, this is more like fifteen shots than one.
We spent day looking at the Gaudi attractions in Barcelona. This is the courtyard of La Pedrera.
Cricket
I've spent a good deal of time watching, umpiring and photographing cricket this year, as ever. These are just two from Rather a lot.
Ollie Raynor - The agony of an appeal rejected
All I took to the MCC vs Rest of The World game was a little pocket camera. I will have taken many better cricket photos, but I liked this one. The Little master and his last game at Lord's.
Sachin
Polo
As the British Army Polo Team's official photographer, I've been very lucky with my photos again this year and was able to photograph Prince Harry for the first time.
A Sandhurst cadet showing suitable deference to a senior player.
The Hackett Army Polo Team
Later in the season I photographed an inter regimental tournament final at Guard's Polo Club. I managed to be in the right place at the right time for the celebrations.
Personal projects
About a mile or so from our house is a location that allows my to photograph the sun coming up behind Windsor Castle on just a couple of days during November and January. On this particular day, the view was blocked by thick mist. But I did get this view.
Windsor Great Park is a great place to take photos and having spent a fair bit of time trying to get some photos of the deer, this shot presented itself.
London Instagram meetups
I've had a few trips into London to take photos with the London Instagram group, lead by Dave Burt.
This was from a mid December meetup
]]>
The first thing you notice going in through the Grace Gates is that the floodlights have been lowered and face away from the ground, and the next thing is that there are road works behind the Tavern and Mound stands and that walking around the ground is off the itinerary.
I wandered around the ground as far as I could and took these photos and a few others and I probably missed more than I captured, but this is Lord's in January. But take heart, it's not too long before we can be back there enjoying cricket in the best ground in the world.
These photos are of farriers George Creighton (now retired) and David Van Den Broek, and the horses I'm showing here are ones that my wife has ridden. As horses need reshoeing every six weeks or so there's lots of occasions when I can be photographing, but getting the opportunity to take the photos means that shoots can be a fair time apart.
I like the subject because it's horses and because it's about skilled work. All stages of the process provide strong compositions and can be spectacular, especially if the light is good.
George Creighton shoeing Tabby
Tabby is an Arab mare and at the time of these photos, she was in her early 20s and one of the fittest horses in that yard (George was in his late 40s). These photos were taken over a number of years and conditions ranged from early morning bright sunshine, to falling snow. All of these images were shot on digital and some have been processed as BW or duotone in photoshop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
David Van Den Broek shoeing Bertie
Bertie is the horse my wife rode after Tabby went into retirement, she has moved from this yard and now is at Windsor Horse Rangers, where my wife teaches riding.
These shots were all taken on film. The light was pretty challenging, it ranged from bright sunshine to dark clouds and driving rain, and a further challenge was provided by one of the cameras. I had Ilford HP5+ in a Canon EOS 1v, which is a real joy to use and there was Fujifilm colour film in an older EOS 1 body that has a film rewind like a screaming banshee. I'd been worried about using that camera with horses, because the last thing you want is to mix red hot metal and a spooked horse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
]]>
I've walked that stretch of the river to take photos in the past and have even taken a 35 mm film camera with do some black and white photography. Unfortunately, after shooting several rolls of film, I had them processed by a company who went on to ruin every roll I sent them. After that fiasco I've only used Peak Imaging to process and scan.
|
|
|
|
Although I'd been back since those images were taken and have taken some quite nice results with a digital camera, I've wanted to go back and shoot some more film.
I managed to persuade my wife to buy a Samyang 14/2.8 wide angle lens for me for Christmas (the Canon 8-13 just wasn't an option) and I managed to pick up a very nice Canon EOS 1v film camera for myself, so the plan developed into going back to the South Bank and shooting off lots of black and white film with the Samyang lens mounted on the EOS 1v and perhaps having some colour film in my EOS-1.
I had also thought about shooting some film in the Natural History Museum, but when I arrived, there was a queue stretching down most of the way to the gate. I don't like queuing, so I nipped into the V and A for a coffee and headed into the west end. I called in at the Lomography Gallery and looked at some of their cameras. All I came away with was some oddly named Earl Grey film, which wasn't a bad price. I haven't used it yet.
The good thing about the 14 mm is that in portrait mode I could stand close to some tourists photographing the Elizabeth Tower and get all of the tower in too. There had been a woman in a white coat, who would have looked pretty good in shot, but she turned round and asked me to take a photo of her and friend. I managed to get her on the bridge, so all was not lost. The Samyang has a very domed front element and no filter will fit, so although I was using BW film, I couldn't use a red filter and had to add a graduated filter by opening the jpg in camera raw.
I planned to take a long exposure of Westminster and set the shot up using my 5D Mk 2, something of a lengthy process, I stacked a red filter and two ND filters on the front of a 24-105 and got a 1 minute exposure at f11. But in the end I just took a standard exposure on film and moved on.
|
|
|
|
The trouble with using a wide angle to look up is that you get rather a lot of distortion, like the woman in front of the Shell Centre. That would have been a better shot had I been able to isolate her against the pale buildings rather better. Photos from wide angles look very much better looking down rather than up - more of that later. Another failure was my shot through the railings along the edge of Jubilee Gardens, really the trees needed to bee in leaf and there was too much foreground. Something else that's quite noticeable is the distortion from just a slight tilt.
|
|
I took a few shots around the South Bank Centre and I think I ought to go back to explore architectural elements there as it's supposed to be some of the top Brutalist architecture in London. I think it's going to be another black and white film job. By the way, if you want to use a tripod when you go, you'll need to get permission. The book stalls are usually pretty interesting and I tried to get some people wandering past the Rankin photos, but got the shutter speed too slow. But note once again the need to be accurate with the wide angle, slightly off centre and it's not great.
|
|
At the undercroft there was a petition to stop redevelopment of the area into retail units and take away the very popular skate spot. I'm fully in agreement with the objection to bringing in retail units to secure funding (a perfect case in point being the Science Museum, which seems to have given up half of its content to dumbing down, with shopping and what I suppose they consider to be engaging content for younger visitors being the priority).
|
|
|
|
It took a couple of attempts to get some movement going on in the background and have the sticker on the rail in focus. In the end, I exposed for the background and had to dodge and burn the sticker to get it readable.
Another few shots from the walk east
|
|
|
|
The Tate is usually good for some photos outside and in, but I wasn't very taken by the entertainment going on outside. But there was plenty to see inside.
|
|
|
|
From my first visit, I've been keen to explore the escalators at the Tate photographically. They offer strong lines of perspective that really make the most of a wide angle lens, particularly when looking down from the top. I hate to think how many frames I've wasted trying to get a really good shot there.
I think the best shot I've taken there was the bottom right hand shot here, taken on my first visit, using a Canon 17-40 lens. It may not be very obvious on this frame, but this came from one of those ruined films I mentioned earlier.
|
|
|
|
After shooting far too many frames on those escalators, I headed back up towards Westminster and the tube back to Paddington. By the time I got back to the London Eye, the sun was looking good for some colour shots, but almost immediately I got there the battery on the colour film camera went dead and I took my last shots on BW.
|
|
What did I learn from my day out?
The Samyang 14/2.8 is a fun lens and although some complain about edge sharpness, it doesn't seem too apparent in the shots I took. It is very important to set up the shots carefully, slight inaccuracies, which are particularly evident when hand held, really impact the outcome of the shot. It's manual stop down and manual focus and you can't just point and shoot in the way you can with a fully automatic lens. To be able to see through the viewfinder you have to open up to f2.8, as you stop down, it gets to be very difficult to see anything. Although the depth of field can be pretty massive at say f8, if you open up to f2.8 to compose and don't refocus or don't stop down again, it's pretty easy to get an out of focus shot.
I also discovered that it's very easy to have someone walk or jog into your shot. Here's one from the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park
One last thing.
My EOS 1v didn't have a strap when I bought it and so I used the strap from my Canon G10 point and shoot. That's not enough strap to keep it on my shoulder and the lens suffered "deceleration trauma," resulting in a damaged hood. Fortunately, I was able to super glue the broken piece in place.
The gallery for these photos is here.
]]>I'll start off the year in photos with a shot I took in 2012, but was the only two-page magazine spread I had this year. I'd gone over to Windsor Great Park on the Saturday of the Royal Windsor Horse Show to take some photos of the carriage driving event as it climbed the long Walk. I stood where I could see the carriages came to the top of a steeper section that would give a good view of the castle in the background. Horse and Rider magazine took the photo for their May 2013 edition.
This shot is from my first attempt at catwalk photography from February at London Fashion Weekend. I'd tweeted in to Calumet and they offered me a slot in the pit.
I took my camera to a few cricket matches during the summer and these are some of the photos.
I had my usual summer of photographing polo, the first shot is Moss Hamilton playing for the Army Polo team at Sandhurst during the Heritage Open Day. The second shot was a spectacular dismount during an evening exhibition match.
A couple of travel shots.
We were in Prague in September and one evening we went down to the river and walked into a very big firework display.
Another Prague shot.
And something closer to home
Jersey
Romney Marsh
And the shot I liked best this year was one of those things that just happened and I was there to photograph it.
A proud father
Whether he should have stayed in the team and toughed it out is a matter of opinion, with Jonathan Trott heading home with stress after the first test and now Swann going after the third test, England have lost a couple of senior players and face a couple of tough games "playing for pride," but let's not go there.
I had seen Swann on TV during the 2008/9 series in India, where he started taking wickets in the first over of a spell. The first time i saw him play live was the 2009 Lord's test against the West Indians, where Ravi Bopara made 143 on debut and Graham Onions took a 5-38, also on debut.
Swann coming in from warm up at Lords 2009
In that game, Swann scored 63 in the England first innings and took three wickets in each innings and was man of the match.
Graeme Swann bowling action
Swann goes up for an appeal - and gets the wicket
Swann batting
Man of the match
I've gone on to watch Graeme Swann in many matches over the last four years, some have been hugely successful and others less so. Later in 2009, he played in England's early attempt at wearing red for ODIs during which they were royaly thumped.
England vs Australia
September 2009 at Lord's
At other times Swann has played in the more traditional England blue, sporting what looked pretty close to a mullet hairdo.
The last Time I saw Swann at Lord's wasn't playing for England, but one of his now rare turn-outs for Nottinghamshire, during the YB40 final.
Swann in the YB40 final 2013
We will all miss Swanny and I expect the timing of his retirement will be debated for some time, but let's not forget his 60 tests and 255 wickets, which have included 17 five wicket hauls and three 10 wicket hauls. He's also played 79 ODIs and taken 104 wickets. There's also the small matter of 1370 test runs and a nice round 500 ODI runs too.
As he moves out of the team, he leaves a gap and at the moment the only person who is likely to fill it is the man who preceded him in the England line up. Someone who I hope will reap the rewards.
]]>
The first shot I submitted this year is from my local club, Maidenhead and Bray. I can't remember why I wasn't umpiring that weekend, but I turned up mid afternoon with my cameras to see what was there to be seen. After popping away at the bowlers for a while, I decided that the biggish lad standing at the river end may look good in profile view and from there it wasn't too much of a leap of imagination to try a slow shutter speed.
It took a few overs to get the shot I liked, but this was about it.
Although I took my camera to a fair number of other games, my other two submissions came from the last game of the season at Lord's, the YB 40 final.
Having gone through the Nottinghamshire innings, I'd taken a few shots, some looked good, others not so good and by the time Glamorgan were batting the light was actually quite poor.
Harry Gurney opened the bowling (I think) from the Nursery End and I picked up a couple of good shots of his follow through. He'd picked up a wicket in his first over, so he was really coming in well and the follow through was dynamic.
Later, Samit Patel came on to bowl at that end and picked up a couple of quick wickets. Then he picked up his third, an LBW and I was in exactly the right position to get a shot of his celebration whilst the umpire kept his finger in the air. I was really pleased with that shot.
Given the quality of the shots that have won, I'm not expecting to pick up a prize, but I'm feeling happier about my cricket photography in general and I think it has improved, a bit.
The disparity between my earnings as a freelance science writer and my earnings as a photographer means that I'm still classified as an amateur, but I'm beginning to see signs that perhaps one day...
]]>
If the weather holds fair, I'll be starting my seventh season as polo photographer at Sandhurst this weekend.
In the 1850s the modern version of polo was developed by British army officers in the Punjab. The officers learnt the game from the Manipuri, an Indian boarder tribe. It became evident that polo was good for training soldiers, it requires fearlessness, teamwork and the will to win. The military brought the game home from India and it is now part of the history of the Royal Military Academy and the armed forces as a whole. Churchill played there in the 1890s and Princes William and Harry learned their game there in the early 2000s. Sandhurst is blessed with one of the most picturesque settings for any sport. The Round Ground is set between Old College, New College, and has a lake at one end (it is used for rugby in the winter and as a training ground too). It has been an immense privilege to go there, photograph the sport and meet the people.
The first big game for the officer cadets is in June during the Heritage Day, when the academy is open to visitors. The games are played in front of perhaps thousands of spectators.
|
|
|
|
Although William and Harry had finished their time at at the Academy by the time that I came along, I was able to photograph Prince William during one tournament.
During the Time Barbara Zingg was polo manager, she organised some really good summer evening polo tournaments with bicycle polo warm up matches. The events usually coincided with other balls going on, so there was always lots to see.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last year the marquee for polo matches had been moved from one side of the Round Ground to the other. When I asked why, I was told that they liked my photos showing the polo being played with Old College in the background so much, they decided that was the view they wanted everyone to have. The old view was of some brutal 1960s architecture, so it was well worth the change.
|
|
|
|
But central to the whole thing are the great people who make Sandhurst polo tick, the officer cadets, the instructors, the grooms and the commentators.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'll be blogging about Sandurst polo during the season and all the time I'll be remembering how lucky I am to be there.
]]>The last game of the season was a Sunday game at Bray. I think half way through September is an early end, but the hockey club takes over at that time.
The visiting club was Stage CC and they brough with them Colin Downey, who had a long and distinguished career as a football referee. what they didn't bring was a good forecast and rain was due. The match format was a 35 over game, so we had the best chance of getting a fair bit of the match played. for the second time, Matt Armstrong won the toss and elected to bat. This time opening with Cameron Jacobsen and Vish Kumar. Cam took on the bowling and smeared the runs through cow in a very entertaining way. Apparently he has scored 19 before the first boundary was scored through the off side, by Vish. Cam got out on 45 and Thomas Noakes came in feeling a bit delicate after a long evening. Despite the barracking from the cheap seats (his family) he did pretty well and dropped a couple of sixes into the hedges. He then went on to run out his partner. Jamie Kiddell and Tom Allen put on a stand and then the spinners came on and Bray quickly lost wickets until they were all out for 193 in 33 overs. A good number of wickets had fallen to steepling catches, the track was on the sticky side and leading edges were the order of the day. A good plan would have been a quick turn around and start the second innings, but instead we has a very pleasant tea.
The bowling for Bray was useful and perhaps a good deal slower that the previous week, with Chris Lowe opening at the road end, he was very difficult to get away and picked up a wicket when the batsman gave yet another steepling catch, to tom Allen. The next over Mat Armstrong picked up a very good lbw when the batsman played the wrong line. The next batsman came in and chipped Armstrong straight to long off, only to be dropped. The batsman went on the take about 30 runs off the next three overs.
At one point, the ball was played out to long off again and as I watched the batsman to make sure they made their ground, I heard the ball fizz past my head, missing it by a fraction. The fielder was the bowler I had taken off the previous week.
The drizzly rain intensified and the players were having trouble keeping their feet, so we called off the ground and went for a pint.
The 2013 season was over.
1st September
This was going to be one of my rare Sunday appearances at Bray and saw what turned out to be my biggest umpiring blunder. Worse yet for being in front of another senior umpire. The visitors were Jesters, a London based traveling side and they brought with them a premier league umpire from Cheshire.
The Bray side looked reasonably strong, not too many colts and not that many elder statesmen either, so when Matt Armstrong won the toss, he jumped at the chance of batting first in a 40 over a side game. Raoul Cheema and Sachin Moudgil opened, but made fewer than 20 runs before the first wicket fell and Vish Kumar came in. This turned out to be the high point of the Bray innings and they put on 58 by the time the innings reached the half way point. Cameron Jacobsen came in at the next wicket and went after the bowling. Bray finished on 164, which was really only going to be a defendable total if the bowlers were on song and I'd seen the MCC defend 181 a few days earlier.
Given that the opening bowler for Bray was Jamie Odell, who had played England under age cricket shortly before and had signed with Middlesex at the start of the season, things looked good. Right the way through to the end of his first run up. Jamie bowls with a fair bit more pace than your common-or-garden club colt and behind the batsman was exactly the common-or-garden colt wicket keeper, who had never seen pace like that before. Well the first over went for 12 runs, all of the boundaries were byes. The next over also included a dropped slip catch that went for four. At my end, the bowler appeared not to have had too much time between chucking out time after clubbing and the start of the game. Early on, he sent down a beamer that I no-balled. And this is where my blunder came in; I like to let friendly games take their own course and advise the players if they are on the edge of a wide or if they are getting close to bowling a no-ball or if they are running up the middle of the track, I want the game progresses without my intervention. Well, I had hoped that being called for a no-ball should have been enough to bring the lad to his senses, so although I ought to have given him a warning, I didn't. A big error.
The quicker bowlers came off and the slower bowlers came on, but after the runaway start that Jesters made, the asking rate was just too low to defend and by that time, the batsmen were well used to the pace of the track and scoring was no problem. Then the seam bowlers came back on and my bowler then produced two further beamers and we had to take him off. I've never had to take anyone off before. The lad wanted to go off the field (and perhaps have a sleep), but he had to stay on.
The only wicket of the Jesters innings was a run out and they won by 9 wickets.
Sadly, the bowler taken off for bowling three beamers didn't apologise to the batsman he hit.
24th and 25th August
The game on 24th August had the makings of a classical David and Goliath encounter, with bottom of the division Maidenhead and Bray 2nds visiting top of the table Amersham. A great deal of rain had fallen (and was continuing to fall), potentially the wet ball and outfield could have evened things up a bit and perhaps the game would be something of a lottery. In 1 Samuel 17, David was endowed with two key assets; the LORD who supported him and a bag of stones. Today, David turned up bereft of two key assets, two players.
Before the game could start, it had to stop raining and the wet wicket ends would have to be treated with sawdust and the covers removed.
A good hour was lost before starting. Bray won the toss and elected to bat. They made slow and steady progress, and as expected neither side had an easy time of it. John Hewitt worked hard and went on to score a half century before getting out. Although the rain had stopped when we went out to play, a slow and steady drizzle set in that eventually turned into proper rain. At one point, we thought we'd go off, but the rain eased and the game continued. Mud adhering to the players shoes became something of a problem and from time to time I had to clean them off, pretty much in the same way one would clean a horse's hoof (with a bail rather than a hoof pick).
Of course with a horse, you would run your hand down the leg before lifting the hoof, but I decided to forgo that part, especially as one of the players getting their shoes cleaned played for the Berkshire ladies team.
I'm not superstitious and I don't jump in the air when 111 is on the board, but three wickets fell on that score. The fact of the matter is that with the steady drizzle that had been falling, they were now playing on a good old-fashioned sticky wicket and the ball was popping, shooting and generally making a nuisance of it's self and the Bray players were for the most part , too young to have much experience on a sticky. After losing those three wickets, Bray were only able to put on another four runs and they were all out for 115 off 39.1 overs.
The champagne moment for that innings was the woman who played for Amersham diving to stop a drive. She missed the ball and landed with loud splat on a muddy wicket end. All of us had a giggle.
During the first innings the players from neighboring Chesham turned up to watch. Their game had been rained off and they wanted to see how their promotion rivals got on. There was some barracking from the cheap seats as the game progressed.
Having too few batsmen was a problem, but missing two fielders was a major inconvenience for Bray. They worked hard and there were some valiant dives trying to cut off boundaries, resulting in some very wet and muddy players but the numbers were against them. Something else that didn't help was that there were rather too many full tosses, half trackers and too much width. When you are playing on a sticky, it's vital to use the pitch, but all too often the pitch was taken out of the equation and runs were scored too easily.
Amersham were able to pick up the 115 needed in 18.2 overs for the loss of three wickets.
On Sunday, I went over to Home Park in Windsor for the MCC game. Windsor had been rained off the previous day and although the ground was still damp, the game went ahead. Instead of the usual time game, it was a 40 over match. As ever, The Club batted first. One notable thing about this game was that there were only two members and nine candidates in the MCC team.
The Home Park setting is magnificent. Set beneath the battlements of Windsor Castle, it's tree lined and altogether delightful. It's also a very good location for anyone who likes to watch the airliners on finals towards Heathrow. There is an apocraphal quote attributed to the Duke of Wellington that "The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." The actual playing fields of Eton are nothing special at all, but you could believe it of Home Park.
Batting wasn't easy and there was a regular procession of MCC batsmen going to and from the crease, with the stands of no more than 10 to 12 runs for about seven wickets in about twenty something overs. Jonathan Perkins managed to produce some mid innings solidity and scored 39 before his wicket went down. Rather peculiarly, lunch (and tea) were taken mid innings, so we all trooped off to eat and to have the usual speeches from the home team president and from the MCC captain.
After Lunch the local press and the Middlesex/MCC photographer Sarah Williams took team photos.
The club resumed its innings with John Stevens (49) and Ben Mooney (26) bringing respectability to the club score. They they ended on 181 off 40 overs.
Windsor made a good start with an opening stand of almost 60. They carried on strongly and went on to 141-2, with an asking rate of just over 2 runs per over with 17 overs to go. In cricket, drinks are said to work magic in dismissing well set batsment, so having tea mid innings stood to be very bad news. During tea, the deputy mayor and mayoress called in and gave medals to the young cricketers who had been having their cricket day.
After tea, runs came quickly and wickets started to fall regularly too. Windsor were always in touch, but fell away at the end. On the penultimate ball of the match the ninth wicket fell and the last man came in for the last ball. Incredibly, he wandered out of his ground with bat in the air and made no attempt to play the ball. The keeper took the bails off and the MCC had won by seven runs. There were some discussions with the scorers as to whether the last man was stumped or run out, but it's clear from Law 39 that he was stumped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
17th August
This was the away fixture at Teddington Town, who play on one of three grounds in a corner of Bushy Park. I'd stood there once before and played hockey there too. Previously, access to the ground was through the park and went past the rather nice central roundabout with a fountain at the centre. However, now it was via a gate hidden in the National Physical Laboratory. Unfortunately, this was not the day to be driving. The M4 and the M25 were both gridlocked when I set off and when I got off the M4, all of the roads were heavily congested. The closer I got to Teddington the more congested the roads became. It turns out there was a fixture at Twickenham that day and of course in that part of London rugby means getting cut up by nobbers in SUVs. Worryingly, as I was about a quarter of a mile from NPL (about 30 minutes driving) one of the Bray players went past me heading in the wrong direction. The trip had taken about one and a half hours instead of three quarters of an hour, so there was only fifteen minutes to go before the start.
Bray bowled first and we had found ourselves on a track with real pace and bounce. Tom, the opening bowler at my end is tall, and hit the track hard and at a good pace too. At the other end, Jack Kelly looked as though he was spraying it a bit, runs seemed fairly easy to come by on a ground with short boundaries. However, it did mean that the batsmen were going after him and getting out. He ended with 3-54, he was also instrumental in another wicket. One of the Teddington batsmen took one in the box, which discomforted him enough to stop him scoring. A second bulls eye from Tom at my end and his day was going downhill fast. Eventually, he tried a quick run and got nowhere. Tom was taken off and Alkesh Vaja came on to bowl. A fair bit younger that Tom, he is also a good 18 inches shorter, so the ball skids on with a lot less bounce and pace, something that did for two Teddington batsmen who were caught dead in front. Alkesh came away with those two LBWs in two balls and a third wicket. Teddington ended on 153. During the Teddington innings, one of the stags that live in the park came along and grazed between two of the cricket pitches. At times people were getting really quite close to it, within a few yards. In Windsor Great Park, getting close to the deer can only be done by very painstaking stalking, or by riding up to them on a horse. As it happens, there were also a lot of people riding in the park too, all of them being lead. Again, in Windsor Great Park, you can spend a couple of hours trotting and cantering to your heart's delight without the need for someone on the end of a lead rope.
The Bray innings was a straightforward enough affair. After an early wicket, James Coyne came to the crease. Having seen him smear opposition bowling around the park on a number of occasions, he was clearly very confident. Unfortunately it didn't come off and after a few outside edges, top edges and mows, he edged to slip and was gone. Will Ballantyne came and constructed an innings of 42, but became the third batsman to go to a waft outside off stump. Alkesh came in and dropped a 6 beside a dog walker and there was one of those utterly brilliant Fenton moments. The dog picked up the ball and ran rings around its master for several minutes as the owner dived and failed to stop him. I wish I had pulled out my phone and videoed it. Eventually, the ball was returned and after a quick rub down with a towel, the game resumed. With four runs needed for victory, Alkesh thought he'd go for glory. Never a wise move, the next man in got the runs and Maidenhead and Bray had won by four wickets.
The drive home could not have been more different. Not a car to be seen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10th August
One of the nicest grounds in the Thames Valley Cricket League is Marlow Park. Its roof has been replaced recently and is a bit new looking, but with its old sagging roof it looked a rural idyll. The club is set beside the Marlow sports centre and boats on the Thames can be seen a hundred yards away. On a good day, a fair number of people will sit around the ground and watch the game. On this day, there were rather more people that usual because a funfair had set up on the field adjacent to the ground. The carnival atmosphere was dampened a little by the fact that all the generators had been put next to the pavilion and it became pretty noisy.
The visitors were Maidenhead and Bray 2nds, who had won their previous game and were looking to build some momentum going into the late stages of the season. The pitch looked a little less than perfect, at the river end the surface was a little cratered and looked like it was going to do something if the bowling was accurate enough. Marlow Park won the toss and batted and from the start two things were clear, the bowling was not going to be accurate enough and the short boundary on the sports centre side was going to see some action. In short, it was August and the home team were going to make hay whilst the sun shone. One batsman on his way to 73 scored five 6s and eight 4s, most towards the short boundary. The interesting thing was the reactions amongst the spectators; in televised games the spectators all try to catch the ball. Not so the Marlow public, on several occasions men were abandoning their children, wives or girlfriends and leaving them in the firing line whilst they scarpered. One particular couple sat beside a tree at square leg and seeing the ball heading their way, he moved and let the ball hit her.
As I had expected, the pitch was distinctly two paced and the river end more so that the town end, and although there were signs that the odd batsman had weaknesses and at times the scoring rate was restricted, for the most part it was an all-you-can-eat buffet and the batsmen who did get out got themselves out. The score progressed from 200 to 250 in about 6 overs and from 250 to 300 in 4 overs. Although they were well past 300, they batted on so that Nabeel Janed could reach his ton. Marlow Park declared on 323-5 off 43 overs.
By the time Maidenhead and Bray came out to bat, it was a warm and sunny afternoon and the 1960s pop music was blaring out from the funfair, and the people were flocking in. Marlow Park started with the old ball and with spinners. Their spinners were using the pitch and bowling accurately in exactly the way that Bray had not. The buffet that had been served up earlier in the day had been tidied away during the tea interval and only scraps were left. Bray lost wickets regularly and there were other regular interruptions to play too as members of the public wandered onto the ground, clearly oblivious to the flagged white line and the fifteen people in the middle trying to have an afternoon's sport. One "gentleman" walked his family across the ground and despite any number or requests to leave wandered on showing his best "what are you going to make of it?" sulk (Proff Brian Cox has a great word that seems most appropriate here - nobber).
Bray had been limping on in partnerships of about 10 runs until John Hewitt came out to bat and in a 9th wicket stand (I think) pretty much doubled the score with one of the spinners. Then Matt Armstrong came in as the last man and he managed a flurry of boundaries before losing his stumps. Marlow Park won by 174 runs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
27th July
I'd stood in the game between Maidenhead and Bray 2nds and Farnham Royal in May and this was the return fixture. Although the home side seemed largely unchanged the visitors were an almost totally different side and to their great credit included a woman in the side. Most important for the outcome of the game, the person who scored 130 for Bray back in May wasn't there.
The weather forecast for the 27th was not great, for the previous few days, rain of biblical intensity had been forecast and there was a yellow weather warning in place for most of the south east of England. However, when I set out the sun was shining and it was 27C, warm enough to have the air conditioning on for most of the trip. The shortest route to Farnham Royal skirts across the top of Slough, and around Taplow and Burnham. Anyone who has seen the series Road Wars is going to be very familiar with the road, because it seemed to have a car chase along it in every episode. But not this time.
Farnham Royal is a neat little ground about 3 miles north of Slough, that is surrounded by trees, tidy looking houses and has a church in one corner. The outfield was yellow after three weeks without rain, but was short and lightening fast. The pitch had been used before but looked good.
Just before the game started, I was told that the other umpire had car troubles and would be late. As the home team had been inserted, one of their players would be standing at square leg and I would stand at both ends (what joy). The first ball of the match epitomised a bottom of Division 4 clash; the bowler send down one that was short and wide enough to go after, the opening batsman threw everything at it and got an edge that flew into first slip's hands and was dropped. The first ball at the other end was a full bunger and close to a no-ball for height, the second ball was another high full toss, was a no ball and came with a warning for the bowler. Soon things settled down a bit, the pitch was used by one side and the full face of the bat by the other. The young lad who dropped the slip catch was moved to point and took a good catch. The Farnam Royal No 3 (I think) was a capable looking batsman called Khan, who came in and smeared the ball all over the place, including one that cleared the hedge and went through the back window of a car parked outside a neighboring house. A small posse trouped outside to apologise and to retrieve the ball. Khan went on to score 133* and Farnham Royal declared their innings closed on 274-5, leaving Maidenhead and Bray 54 overs and an asking rate of a hair over 5 runs per over.
Not long into the first innings the second umpire turned up and I could stay at one end. He'd pretty much rushed out onto the pitch and lucky him, was still in shorts. Unfortunately, the home side has a few left/right combinations and instead of having a leasurely walk from one end to the other, I was now having to jog from square leg to square leg.
One of the great things about the Maidenhead and Bray ground is the 13th century church standing back at one corner. We often hear its bells and they have a charming lyrical note that lends them great musicality. Not so with Farnham Royal; St Mary's has bells well enough, but exactly the kind that grates on the ear and no matter how distant, sound too loud. And on Saturday they seemed to be having remedial bell ringing lessons that ended in a bell ringing detention.
The second innings started with the old ball and a young leg spinner who had been given an unhappy time in the first game. With a different opener, he was able to settle down and bowled well. The Bray batsmen were never really in trouble but inexperience meant that scoring opportunities went begging. The leggy would send down the odd half tracker and instead of breaking more car windows, the ball was defended back up the track for a dot. Will Ballantyne was able to make the most of the lose deliveries and accumulated runs at a reasonable rate, but all the time the run rate crept up. All the time the cloud cover increased too. Will went on to get a fifty and as wickets fell at the other end, he grafted and eventually got to 102*. Scoring became a little easier for Will when the new ball was taken and seam up was the order of the day. The new ball bowler at my end was bowling to Will Cunliffe, who edged direct to second slip on a no ball. the next delivery was another no ball and another edge, but this time over the slips and down to 3rd man for four. The next over the bowler had gained a good yard of pace and was the fastest Will had seen. He could defend the straight ball and scored some very good boundaries from on-drives, but couldn't tale advantage of the wider ones. He was out on 73, mostly from the other bowlers, but he did pretty well.
The clouds got thicker and darker, but rain radar didn't show an awful lot coming our way and when a light shower came and went I thought we had been lucky. However, the clouds got thicker and darker and we had a lot more rain. The pitch was covered and the rain stopped but is was now very dark. We got back on, but it was clear that it was just a matter of time before we went off as the rain started again. At one point I was at square leg and I would see the ball coming towards me quite easily, but it was almost impossible to see it going across. In my next over, the bowler told the others that he couldn't grip the ball and some of the fielders were saying they couldn't see the ball. I discussed it with the other umpire who wanted to see the over out. As far as I was concerned, the conditions had become dangerous and that left me with no choice but to abandon the game. Something I hate doing.
Maidenhead and Bray ended on 197-3 and claimed 7 points for the draw.
By the time I had driven the six or seven miles home, it was dark, the rain was unrelenting and had turned into a thunder storm and I didn't feel too bad.
I keep my phone with me when I umpire because on the only occasion I left it in my bag it was stolen. On Saturday I used the My Tracks app to see how far I covered during the day's umpiring. In 90 overs of the 100 over game, I covered approximately 10.6 miles. I'm not sure how accurate that is, a lot of GPS spikes go way outside the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
18th and 20th July
This week’s game wasn’t umpiring, it was a couple of days at the Lord’s test watching what proved to be a record defeat for the Australians.
I had got my dates wrong, I thought I was taking a friend to the test on the first day and I had booked (expensive) tickets for an air show for the Saturday, I had to let my son give my ticket to one of his friends. I really need to put these things in my phone’s calendar.
I turned up around 7.30-8.00 on Thursday, I had anticipated I would be so far back in the queue that I’d have to take one of the emergency backup seats under the Compton and Edrich stands. When I joined the queue, I has walked about three quarters of a mile from the Grace Gate and was in Grove End Road. The Rover ticket holders’ queue was snaking away from us coming up Grove End Road in the other direction. In fact the waiting time was shortened and the Lord’s staff opened the gates at 8.30, some excellent and very considerate work on their part. I found a seat in the Allen Stand, next to the pavilion and just behind the press photographers (good work by them too, they kept their heads down and didn’t interrupt our view) then went for breakfast in the pavilion. I ate in the Old Library and on leaving said hello to one of the pavilion stewards, who told me that the Queen was about to arrive. So I waited for a while, said hello and good luck to Chris Rogers (of Middlesex) and chatted with some people I knew. After a short wait, the queen came, chatted with the players and the game began.
The end of the queue 3/4 mile from the gate |
Setting up for Lunch |
Early morning music |
The Queen at Lord's |
England had won the toss and batted. From the pavilion, the flight of the ball is pretty clear, but from where I was sat, it’s better to watch the batsmen at work, so I was pretty pleased to see England batting. Also, the press had been talking about the track being dry, with a view to giving Swann something to bowl into, so England needed to bat first and let the conditions work their magic.
The first ball came and Alastair Cook looked leaden footed, but it wasn’t long before some boundaries were scored and everybody started feeling a bit better, unfortunately that didn’t last and in the blink of an eye England were 28-3. The rest of the day was spent watching Ian Bell accumulate runs. I was in the Long room when Bell and Trott went out after lunch and the applause was loud. I went in again as they came in for tea with Bell and Bairstow. They were cheered like heroes. Bell had a standing ovation on 100 and then another when he got out on 109. I felt rather less at ease watching Jimmy Anderson bat, his style is very personal.
On the Saturday, I got up at 4, walked to the station and got on a train just after 5. I walked from Paddington. Praid Street was quiet and the Edgware road was deserted. I was at Lord’s shortly after 6, but wonder of wonders, I was by the East Gate, only a couple of hundred yards from the Grace Gate. The wait was pretty long, but I was able to chat with the people about me and we all tried looking the other way when the Jelly Bean lady came along, but we usually end up handing over the money. I was listening to an audio book when the next old lady chugger came along. She got some more money and then I got nailed for a paper. That one was useful, because I had to leave something on a seat the reserve it. Once again the gates were opened at 8.30 for members and I was able to find some good seats and to head off for a full English breakfast. I met with some MCC members and walked around the ground for a while before my friend turned up.
The Saturday queue |
The Saturday queue at Lord's |
Working at Lord's in a neat uniform |
Working at Lord's looking tidy |
What I don't mind seeing at Lord's |
This is what I wore |
And how scruffy can you get without being kicked out? |
|
Joe Root gets to 100 |
The crowd at Lord's give Joe Root a standing ovation. |
The Bresnan Root partnership made slow going, but eventually started moving along and irritatingly, we had the second 99 run partnership with Bresnan unable to keep a short ball under control. After that Bell came in and we had a 150 run partnership. We were lucky that Bell stayed long enough to make those runs, there was a disputed catch, with the third umpire ruling that Smith didn’t take it cleanly. I was obviously a long way from the action, but my impression was that the ball didn’t carry. Later, I was perfectly in line for Bell’s pull to Chris Rogers and saw it all the way off the bat into Rogers’ hands.
At lunchtime we were entertained by the Band of the Royal Marines, who had been playing at Tidworth for the Rundle Cup the previous weekend. Those people are having to put up with a lot of hot weather. One of the photographers on the pitch photographing the band is someone who is often seen at Lord’s and has been seen on TV as he wandered around the pavilion terrace, holding up play. He must be the scruffiest person that has ever been allowed in the Lord’s pavilion. Lord’s has issued a set of fairly clear guidelines on dress in the pavilion. Members and visitors alike have to reach a certain minimal standard to be admitted. It’s my opinion that this character looks more like a tramp with a camera ban a bona fide snapper. When I photograph at places like RMA Sandhurst, I dress to the standards expected of the people who work there, so that’s a clean shirt, that’s been tucked into my trousers and shoes that have been cleaned and polished and not just within the last decade, I wear a jacket or blazer that doesn’t look like I’ve slept in it. I’ll leave this polemic at that point as I don’t want to start sounding like the daily hateMail.
The afternoon session dragged a bit, I was starting to feel drowsy, the scoring rate was slow and my early morning was starting to catch up and before I knew it I was snoozing. Worse yet, I had planned to meet up with Patrick Kidd and missed the appointment. I had a double espresso and watched Joe Root get his ton from the Allen Stand upper tier, then met Patrick and we went for a pint. We chatted for a while and then went back to our seats to watch Root put the Australian bowling to the sword. The crowd kept wondering whether there was going to be a declaration, whether it would be the Bell 50 or the Root 150 until eventually it was clear that we would not be seeing England bowl. The extended batting did enable England to put together a record beating run margin but we all felt that we wanted the England attack to be at them.
The consensus seems to be that Cook is just too cautious. There were comments that the press wouldn’t blame him if the Australians could chase down 500, but Cook didn’t want to risk anything as attainable as a 500 run second innings target. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill described John Jellicoe as “the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon” and perhaps Captain Cook may view his actions in the same light. It may be cricket, it may even be the Ashes but can’t we have some fun too?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6th and 10th July
This was a pretty good week; warm weather and interesting cricket.
On Saturday I drove up the M4 to the British Airways Concorde sports complex at Cranford to stand with Maidenhead and Bray 1st XI. It's a vast complex that accommodates football, hockey (I think I've played there) tennis and cricket. The car park also had several large lorries in it too. When I asked where the umpires changing room was, I was taken up to a large block and told "number five." When I was getting changed someone who looked like he'd been playing squash wandered in and stripped off. Although the other umpire had left his things in the room, I decided I'd take mine out with me. The other umpire had also turned out in a white coat and was wearing a tie, I was very impressed by the dedication to tradition, 30C had been forecast and I was in shirtsleeves.
The ground looked pretty good, the grass was shortish and wiry, and the track was hard with the odd crack here and there. It turned out to have both pace and bounce and was probably the best club track I've seen this season. The bowler at my end was tidy, but the bowler at the other end started making inroads almost immediately. Adam Dean was returning to 1st team action after injury and the previous week's disastrous visit to High Wycombe with the 2nd XI. After he had taken five wickets, something interesting happened, the incoming batsman had the sight screen shifted so that it was in the right place! Adam ended the innings with 7 wickets, I think. Only two had gone down at my end. British Airways 2nd XI finished on 123 off 29.5 overs.
Having experienced these early innings breaks all too frequently, we decided to start the second innings and play twenty two overs before tea. The openers went along at about four runs per over and were on about 60 when the first wicket went down. Unfortunately for the home team, that meant that James Coyne came in. He went on to score 54 in about 20 deliveries and after 18.5 overs the game was won and we went in for some tea.
In the second game, the Sir Michael Parkinshon XI played the Crusaders. This was the last game of the Crusaders European tour before heading back to Australia. The ground had never looked lovelier, although finding it taken up with a primary school sports day was a little alarming. Double bookings do happen from time to time and the school were able to finish their use of the outfield a few minutes before the cricket started. The tourists turned up in a coach and dozens of visitors came in, most wanting to know what time the bar opened.
The Parky XI was a mixture of players from around the area, mostly friends of friends or people that people knew. It turned out that a number of them were ex Berkshire players and the captain was Shaun Udal. Also in the side was Cameron Jacobson, who I'd seen in the MCC vs Oratory School game a week earlier.
|
|
|
|
My colleague was Darrell Hold, who I'd stood with in a league game some years before. He's an ex first class and ODI umpire, so I was on my best behaviour. The visitors batted first and went along at 3-4 runs per over for quite some time. The odd wicket fell and as the shine went off the ball and the bowlers, the scoring rate increased. From time to time we could hear cheers coming from the pavilion as the Australian test side made inroads into the English batting. Cameron came on to bowl, but cricked his back as he bent down to pick up the ball and Shaggy finished the over. I was quite pleased about that, it's another name to drop from time to time.
After 50 overs the Crusaders had put together 248, which was good going on a low and slow pitch. The Australian out cricket was very good and the bowlers, who had been getting in lots of overs during the previous few weeks were just a little better than the batsmen could easily cope with. The cricket balls provided for the game had the Crusader name and emblem on one side and the other was marked "Solid Hide Missile," which I thought quite funny. But then I'm easily amused. Wickets fell regularly and eventually the Parky XI were all out for just under 200.
Sir Michael had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing radiotherapy, so we were all pretty please to see him at the game. He watched for a while and then afterwards presented the Crusaders with a replica Ashes urn. I was pretty pleased because I was given a Crusaders top during the presentations. Unfortunately the biggest they had was a medium, so I may have to stop dodging salads before I can wear it.
After the game the visitors sat out in the sun and were encouraged to spend the last of their Stirling before heading off to Heathrow in the morning.
It was a good week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
29th June and 1st July
A busy few days, a local club game on Saturday, photographing polo all day on Sunday and then an MCC game to stand in on the Monday.
Saturday's game was Maidenhead and Bray 2nds against the improbably named Hight Wycombe Dragons. It turned out that the team had picked up the name from Green Dragon Lane and the eponymous pub that sits beside it. They were a likeable bunch who enjoyed their cricket. The game was played on what looked like a cross between a village club and a council rec. The track, which had concrete post settings at each corner and was not much harder that the Lord's outfield, and the grass on it was not much shorter. It would be a disservice to green seamers to liken that patch of turf to one. As you might expect, the outfield was, well, flourishing. In amongst the buttercups, daisies, clover and dandelions was the odd blade of grass. Here and there were some clippings that had fallen from a mower, showing that perhaps it had been cut, perhaps once, probably a long time ago. It reminded me of some of the grounds the MCC had played on in rural Italy and like them there were no sight screens. Well, in fact there were some, but one was covered in graffiti and the other one was missing most of it's bars. Set beside the "square" was one of those awful astroturf pitches that had been fashionable among village clubs in the 1970s. This one was mostly buried under the muck and mud that made them so slippery and impossible to play on with the slightest hint of moisture.
The home team batted first and lost wickets regularly. The ball held up in the turf and moved prodigiously; it was clear from the start that this was not going to be a high scoring match. It was also clear from the start that boundaries were going to be few and far between and would need a full toss to assist with scoring them too. Eventually, the Dragons made 85 off 29.5 overs, giving the visitors 70 overs and an asking rate of 1.2 runs per over.
Maidenhead and Bray went back out to bat, the kettle hadn't boiled and tea wasn't ready.
It was clear from the start that however much the home team struggled, the visitors were going to struggle more. The bowler from my end was a fourteen year old that bowled leg spin and googlies and had the batsmen tied in knots, he was almost unplayable. He overstepped a few times but other than that was pretty flawless. The bowler at the other end was even more spectacular, he bowled four consecutive wicket maidens. At tea he had 1-10 off 10 overs.
The visitors slumped to 15-5 and like vultures, the red kites gathered and circled.
After tea there was something of a recovery and the odd full toss meant that some runs could be made, but the damage had been done and after about 30 overs Maidenhead and Bray succumbed to the Dragons and to the pitch.
Monday's game was an altogether more impressive setting, with the MCC visiting the Oratory School. The cricket coach there is Chad Keegan who played his cricket at Middlesex and Sussex and among the school alumni is Dan Housego (nickname The Estate Agent), who has also played at Middlesex. The school is somewhere north of Reading and somewhere west of Henley in a stretch of Berkshire where the roads all go in almost exactly the wrong direction. If finding the school is difficult, finding the pavilion from the main gate is nightmarish, involving a labyrinthine series of paved and unpaved tracks. The ground its self is charming, the pavilion is a black building made attractive by a bright yellow balcony, beside which is a small shrine that looks like it may be a war memorial. Next is a wooded hill and adjoining that are the school buildings. The final side is open and offers a spectacular view down onto the Berkshire countryside.
Many of the club players were local to the school, one was a parent and one had taught at the school. It had the making of a very pleasant day. The MCC batted first and although the pitch was a little slow made good progress. They ended with 205-5(ish) of around 50 overs. The school lads came out looking to knock off the runs but were all out with four overs left in the final hour. Captain Cameron Jacobson (who I coached as an under 9) top scored with a 62.
Warm sunshine, great hospitality and great cricket is exactly what we look for in a day's cricket, and this one didn't disappoint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15th June
It was back to Bray for what could be kindly called a "mid-table" clash, Teddington Town were visiting. It would be fair and romantic to say that Teddington play at a charming ground in the picturesque Royal Bushy Park, surrounded by trees and deer. But I've only visited that ground once and it was wet, cold and wet with drizzle on a chilling wind.
It had been raining on the previous day and although seemingly dry and hard, the Bray pitch can go a bit two-paced and sticky under conditions like that. The visitors won the toss and batted with a couple of tidy looking batsmen. The opening bowler from my end was a shortish seam bowler of no more than medium pace, as an under-age player he had seven overs. It turned out that his pace and hight were almost exactly perfect to extract the maximum variation of bounce and pace from the pitch. He had a couple of close lbw appeals and then produced two deliveries that held up in the pitch and caught the batsmen plumb in front. In his last over another batsman went for a heave across the line and was caught at square leg. Fortunately for the fielding side, the mistimed shot didn't go too hard as the fielder had drifted off a bit and the catch came as a surprise.
As that fielder had to come on to bowl next, it was a good wake up call. He was a much taller bowler and had much more pace and produced movement off the pitch. For much of the time he was unplayable and the batsmen were lucky not to be good enough to get anything on the ball. His one wicket was electrifying, bowled at pace it cut back in and removed the off stump, even though the batsman had gone forward and covered up.
All this time the real activity was going on at the other end. Anthony Ball had picked up five wickets the previous weekend and despite the damp ball, passing rain showers and chilling wind, he managed to chip away at the visitors batting. The final two wickets came in the 30th over. Number 10 went forward, dragged and was stumped. As the appeal went up, he wiggled his foot back to get behind the line and failed. Number 11 cam in, went forward and lifted onto his toes, and was stumped. Ball had his second five wicket hall in two weeks. Stumpings are not common, so to get two in an over was exceptional.
Maidenhead set 70 overs in which to score 101. The players came straight back out as there was a "spot of bracing dampness in the air," they wanted to get on with the game before the forecast showers developed. Unfortunately, by the time three overs had been bowled, the bracing dampness had developed into a cataclysmic downpour with thunder.
|
|
|
|
Eventually the rain stopped and eventually the sun came out to reveal half an inch of water standing over much of the square. The Bray side spend a lot of time mopping up and getting the ground back into a playing condition and after three hours of work, and an entire bag of sawdust, we were back on.
Conditions were marginal and we umpires had told the captains at the restart that if people couldn't keep their feet, the match would be abandoned because of an unfit ground. Players physical safety comes first.
The first wicket fell and James Coyne came in at number three. Last time, he had made a 45 ball ton and this week he looked to continue where he left off. A boundary off the first ball and a single off the next, to keep the bowling. In the next over, he plundered 21 runs, although one shot did pass through cover point's fingers for what could have been a spectacular catch. In the next over gully had more luck and Coyne departed for what could be described as a breezy 26. His knock took the game away from Teddington, Bray needed something like 50 off 55 overs and it was just a matter of time. They ended up using only 25 of the 70 overs they had available and won by 6 wickets. This was the only game in the division that was completed.
There are many things that are more unpleasant than a wet umpire's coat in the wind, but when you're feeling that all-over body ache from the cold and the wet and you hat is on the point of dissolving into papier mache, it doesn't feel like that. I've been looking longingly at the warm and waterproof coats the umpires wear in the Champions League. I think the answer may be a white sailing coat, something made of gore tex and perhaps with a fleece lining. And perhaps that might be all the excuse the sun needs to start shining again.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
8th June
During the week, I'd stood in a Julian Cup game for Maidenhead and Bray and they had just scrapped home, so I felt somewhat optimistic as I went round the M25 for their game with Chenies and Latimer.
The first thing I looked for on arrival at the ground was the umpires' changing room. This was an old rural ground with quite an old and basic pavilion; two changing rooms, toilets, showers and a bar. When it was built, umpires were expected to mess in with the players or come and go in uniform. However, league rules had been introduced that required clubs to provide umpires with their own changing facilities and the club had provided them, in the shape of a box off the back of a GPO lorry.
In fairness it was quite large enough and they had equipped it with lights, a few coat hangers and two large armchairs with flowery covers.
Compared with other clubs, it wasn't a bad effort. At Beaconsfield, they had effectively converted the loft space above the scorers box into the changing room. It was hot and cramped and their was always the likelihood that you would bang your head on something or fall down the precipitous steps. Henley have installed a nice little cabin behind their picturesque wooden pavilion, thereby maintaining the quaint appearance and providing the needful. Wormesley still don't provide separate umpires rooms, even though they host YB40 games and many clubs will put the umpires in a nasty little store cupboard next to the water heater. The best umpires' room that I've used has to be Lord's, which as you might imagine has lots of space, showers, toilets, TV and a fully stocked fridge (so too does Wokingham).
Back to the game.
Maidenhead batted first and got off the mark in the first over, and lost their first wicket third ball of the game. At this point the home team may have started rubbing their hands together, realising that the visitors had now scored seventy nine runs for the loss of twenty one wickets. But celebrations would have been premature, number three for Bray was James Coyne, world champion at raquets doubles. The hundred came up after 10.3 overs and Coyne made is ton off 45 deliveries. It wasn't a chanceless innings, but some of the stroke play was spectacular. On a several occasions, the fielder on the cover boundary had only two or three steps to cut off the ball but never made it. Some 6s were dropped into the adjoining paddock and the horses came over to see what was going on. The second hundred was a single wicket partnership and took perhaps ten overs more than the first, but looked assured and cultured. The third hundred was altogether quite scrappy as wickets fell regularly and the tail was in. Maidenhead and Bray declared on 303-9.
When the home side batted, they found runs a little harder to come by and wickets fell regularly. At one point an opening bowler had been unable to complete his over and Coyne took over, and in a moment of pure cricketing magic took a wicket first ball. The Bray fielding was better than in previous weeks, with most slip catches going to hand although one chance will have left a nasty bruise mid thigh.
As the wickets fell, the resistance increased as the home side moved from attack to defence. After a fair time at the crease, the eighth man down was upset at getting out and there was an Athertonesque moment as he entered the changing room and a plastic chair left it. The last wicket pairing involved a good deal of farming of the strike but at last number 11 was run out and Maidenhead won by over 100.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1st June
Disappointments have been coming thick and fast this week. On Thursday I had been expecting to stand in a game at Radley, one of the better cricket schools with alumni that include Andrew Stauss, Jamie Dalrymple and Robin Martin-Jenkins, and a delightful timbered pavilion that nestles in one corner of the ground. On Friday I had been at Lord's and watched a distinctly lack-lustre England side fail to score freely and fail to take wickets regularly. The Saturday game ought to have been the highlight of the week, I was back at Bray and was seeing the 1st XI.
They had been skittled out for 30 last Saturday, but today they included last week's centurion from the seconds, an old Wellingtonian and a current Harovian, and even one lad that had played Berkshire under-age cricket (I, of course, have played Berkshire over-age cricket). The Harefield opening bowler was an under 17 but looked perhaps under 12, but he bowled like a seasoned veteran, first tying down one end and then knocking over quick wickets. The bowlers from my end did pretty much the same thing and they were helped by the previous few days torrential rain. It wasn't a sticky wicket, it was just damp in places. After one catch, the ball had a good dollop of mud stuck to the seam, where it had pitched and kicked. Under the thick cloud, the ball swung nicely and wickets continued to fall regularly. There were two in two deliveries and one lad ran himself out, and in under thirty overs the home side were all out for forty six.
Tea was taken, except the urn hadn't boiled yet and there was no tea, and then the home side went out to bowl. At this point I have to hold my hand up and own up to a blunder. I thought that a full toss had reached the batsman over waist hight and I called no ball after checking with square leg. He nodded agreement and the over continued. In fact there was a miss communication and his nod had been to indicate that the ball was good for hight. The Harefield openers were both young lads and they knocked the runs off in only 10 overs.
After the game I apologised to the bowling captain for my mistake and I got home four hours early.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
25th May
I was back at Bray for a 2nd XI clash between Maidenhead and Bray and Farnham Royal. The visitors come from a nice little ground north of Slough and visiting their ground one time I heard perhaps the funniest sledges I'd encountered. A High Wycombe batsman was having a difficult time and he was making Nick Compton's second innings in Leeds look positively electrifying, from somewhere in the slips a voice called out "send down a piano, see if he can play that!"
Anyway, there I was at Bray and the sun was shining. The odd damp patch on the square from the previous day's rain was drying out with a helpful breeze and all we were in for a good day's cricket. At a fabulous ground like Bray it's easy to wax lyrical about the English idyll as the air was full of the sound of birds and church bells. But that's getting away from the fact that we were there for cricket and the fact of the matter was that it was not just birds and the Heathrow inbound that filled the air; the ball was in the air on a regular basis too and went to hand on a regular basis, before continuing it's interrupted flight to the ground. Gravity was particularly effective on Saturday and there were six dropped catches in fifty two overs.
The Bray bowlers were for the most part, pretty miserly. One opener was having his first game after little pre-season practice and was prone to pushing one down behind the legs and paid the price, but for about the first thirty to forty overs, the visitors were being held to about three runs per over. Then one of the batsmen scored a boundary and showed some intent, and the game changed. All of a sudden the fielders scattered to the boundary and singles became easy to come by and the gaps between the well spaced fielders became easy targets. What initially looked like a target of perhaps less than 150 became an actual target of 215. I was certain that an in-out field would have at least kept the visitors below 200.
Bray came out to bat and the visitors used the old ball, and managed to push through the first half dozen or so overs for almost no cost. Then they took the new ball and brought on the seamers. Unfortunately, that meant an all-you-can-eat buffet of very drivable deliveries that got the treatment. The first wicket went down and the next batsman tucked in. Unfortunately, he got squared up and the only decision I had to make was as easy as they come. Naturally he went off muttering. Batsman number four blocked the first ball and then charged the seamer, had his swish connected it would have been a very big six. The next ball he forgot to charge but still swished and the stumps went flying. There was the odd wicket after that, but nothing as crazy, just sensible working of the ball to whatever part of the ground seemed best. All this time, the surviving opener was cutting, pulling and driving his way to fifty and then to his century and eventually to an unbeaten 130.
After the game we sat out in the sun and enjoyed a drink with the 1st XI who had been rolled over for 80 chasing 170, but who had managed to get back in time for the home win.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
27th April
This was my first MCC fixture of the season, a game at Shiplake College. The setting for the game was an award-winning tree lined ground with school buildings along one side. On arrival it turned out to be an open day and the school was swarming with small people in their best blazers.
On the pitch, fielding practice was going on for the school side and that meant high catches. Given that it was around 8C, that seemed a bit harsh, but the lads had found a way of avoiding the stinging pain delivered by 5 3/4 oz of leather hitting at speed and were dropping or missing the ball altogether.
I said hello to the club members that had arrived and introduced myself to the other umpire. He know the ground quite well, so I walked the boundary on my own, something I have always done before a game, with the one exception of Lord's. I'm not convinced Mick Hunt would be that impressed by an amateur umpire inspecting his ground. However, I have inspected the nursery ground because the boundary is a bit uneven in places and there can be lots of cut cable ties littering the place and they can be pretty sharp.
The ground was of course perfect, a beautifully clipped outfield and a pitch that was hard and dry, with perhaps a place or two that were perhaps just a bit softer.
It was a cold day and although I had crammed on as much clothing as I could comfortably wear under my umpire's jacket, it that turned out to be less than was needed and I was far too cold. The MCC batted first against some quite accurate school bowling and it wasn't long before I had my first lbw appeal. On the boundary everyone thought it was out, a leg stump yorker; but I felt that it was perhaps outside the line of leg and perhaps angling down too. No matter, the lad put the next ball, another yorker, on middle stump and the club had lost their first wicket. Shortly afterwards the dark skies went black and the first rain came and a few minutes later we were off. All except our hosts who had to stay out in the rain pushing the covers into place.
We got back out, but after perhaps eight deliveries more rain and another stoppage. I was quite pleased, I still had my emergency backup pullover in the changing room and I couldn't wait to be wearing it. The Association of Cricket umpires and Scorers may have been defunct for some time, but their pullovers are still superb.
To keep me on my toes, one of those anorak moments of umpiring pedantry had come along during the MCC innings, the school wicker keeper had been standing up to a slow bowler and strayed in front of the stumps, resulting in only my third wicket keeping no-ball in over 20 years of umpiring. The square leg umpire isn't having a rest between overs, they are still very much in the game. There was also a missed lbw appeal that I'd have given, the batsman swished at the ball but didn't connect, but the fielding side remained silent. I've seen that happen before and thought it odd that bowlers will go up for something that couldn't possibly be out but will miss something glaringly obvious.
With a second rain break meant the need for acceleration was imperative. The club players started to push, and runs and wickets came quickly. After receiving 41 overs the club declared on 169. On a dry summer's day with no stoppages and the temperature perhaps 15 to 20C warmer, that would have been a pretty easy ask, especially on a good pitch with a fast outfield. On a somewhat damp pitch it was a pretty good declaration and the school team had it's work cut out.
During the second (school) innings I stood at point rather than square leg for much of the time as the blindingly bright sun that had followed the rain made seeing the popping crease more than a little difficult. Umpires are directed to stand where they can best see the action. The school opening batsman was clearly struggling against the club opening bowler and was late on the first four deliveries. I was stood next to the point fielder and said that if the lad got anything on the ball it would be an edge and that a shortish third man would be a lot more in the game than gully. Imagine my delight when the next ball was an edge that flew to exactly where I said gully should have been. Moments like that almost make it look as though I know what I'm talking about.
At one point the school side had become a little becalmed, but a change in bowlers meant that they were able to pick up some rapid runs at one end and the club was able to pick up wickets at the other end. MCC captains have an extraordinary ability to keep games going and to keep the opposition interested. In the end, the school needed about 6 runs per over for about 15 overs and only really batted out the last over to ensure the draw.
After the game a parent came over to congratulate me on how well the MCC had played and how well their captain had kept the school side within reach of the total throughout the game. The MCC games are some of the most interesting games I get to stand in, the venues are usually very good and the cricket is usually of a very high standard and the games are played in great spirit. Cricket like that makes the umpire's job an enviable one.
I don't have a game now for a couple of weekends, I'll be photographing a horse show and some polo over the next two weekends. I hope it's warmer the next time I step across the boundary.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 20th
My first umpiring stint of the season was at my home Club, Maidenhead and Bray. It turned out to be something of a gentle introduction to the season, both for the players and for me, sort of. I ended up standing at both ends, but as it was only really a practice rather than a match that didn't matter. As an aside, when the premier leagues started in ~1995 my first game turned out to be one in which I stood at both ends, for 110 overs. Pretty tiring.
The club had just taken over the pavilion from the resident hockey club (some of the hockey players came along after their matches) and the changing rooms hadn't been fully reorganised. That wouldn't normally be a problem, but it meant that the umpires' changing room was a tad cramped as it contained everything that couldn't be fitted anywhere else.
Anyone who has never been to Bray really ought to visit the club. The setting is superb, it's one of the prettiest grounds I know. For me, the setting is on a par with grounds like Wormsley, although the pavilion isn't.
The game play its self wasn't that special, although the fielding was obviously better than that seen in the IPL. The most notable thing was how the winning runs were scored. Seven runs were needed of 3 balls, the non-striker called the striker through for a single and then reverse hooked the next delivery for 6! Competitive cricket starts next weekend.
At last! The cricket season is just starting and the life is adopting its proper order. One of the early season activities that has interested me over the last few years is the MCC Wisden Cricket Photo of the Year and the winner has just been announced. The quality of those shots is superb, the winning shot is eye wateringly good. The award was discussed in the latest Lord’s podcast which also included a discussion of cricket photography with Patrick Eagar, who is one of my cricket photography heroes and also Lawrence Booth who is the Wisden editor and cricket writer for the Mail. Booth, Wisden and of course Lord's are all on twitter (so am I).
There was an interesting discussion about people's first day at Lord's, mine was the 1981 Ashes test, which I think was Botham's last outing as captain. The England openers were Boycott and Gooch; the latter was rather more entertaining to watch and even got out in a more interesting manner, being caught on the rebound in the slips. The interview with Neil Dexter discussed the 2013 campaign for Middlesex. He said the side believe in their ability to win the championship and the good news for Middlesex members is that they plan to take the T20 more seriously. Booth identified the Middlesex side's ability to gather batting points as an issue and right enough, that's been something we have agonised over for some years now.
I’ve submitted work to the Cricket Photo of the Year, but have never been selected, but that’s no great surprise. Most of the time around cricket I’m either umpiring or coaching or watching the game, so although I take a camera, the photos are a lower priority than enjoying the game and that really shows in the results. I certainly don’t shoot cricket commercially and I’m not media accredited there, so none of my photos taken at Lord’s are available for license. Apparently, some press photographers have seen the big white lens in the pavilion concourse and have complained, because they don’t get the chance to shoot from there.
 |
 |
 |
 |
It goes without saying that the best cricket makes for the best photos and that means test cricket. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some wonderful test matches and to come away with some fairly pleasing shots. Patrick Eagar’s advice to non commercial photographers was to be aware of the background and not to have too much distraction going on there. To be honest, that’s something I can struggle with at times, I tend to use a relatively slow (300/4) lens and put an adaptor on it, so I can be working a depth of field that is quite unhelpful when there’s a cluttered background. Yes, I could use a 400/2.8, but that’s nowhere near as hand hold-able as my lightweight kit. So I make do and at Lord's I think in terms of the background being part of the experience. shooting at the local club, it's relatively easy to chose a clean background or set up something that suites the nature of the cricket.
 |
 |
 |
 |
One Day Internationals and floodlit games can be pretty spectacular and the bright colours help. The great thing with those games is that you can get some really nice late afternoon sunshine that lights up the play beautifully and later a floodlit Lord’s is pretty special.
 |
High end cameras are not always needed, this was taken |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The bread and butter of watching cricket is County Championship matches. I’ve been watching Middlesex for about twenty years and the atmosphere at a county game couldn’t be more different to an international. I couldn’t give you an exact figure, but crowds can be a few hundred up to a few thousand.
 |
 |
 |
 |
I’ve found the big thing is to keep looking for the interesting stuff that goes on, not just the bat and ball stuff in the middle, but all the interesting bits that you see by keeping your eyes open.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Once in a while, I’ll take my camera down to Maidenhead and Bray, my local side and I do concentrate on the photography there.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
So, I’m always impressed by the MCC Wisden cricket photos and I know that my chances of having a photo in those displays are slim. I also admire the work of the lucky few who take cricket photos for a living and I’m always challenged by the thought that although I can get “the shot” with polo and equestrian sport, could I deliver the same quality of results with cricket? As it is, I can always duck into the pavilion when I want to get warm or have a coffee, and the people who photograph cricket for a living are outside working.
]]>
The Parks is one of the nicest cricket grounds I know, it boasts an intimate little pavilion built in 1881 and is set in a very attractive park. When it's warm enough, a good number of spectators come along and picnic around the boundary and it's a very enjoyable day. When it's less warm and you're wearing every stitch of clothing you own, well at least you are watching live cricket for the first time in seven months. On those days, there are still a fair number of spectators but the chattering of teeth is an audible backdrop to the game. At the end of one such day I overheard Peter Willey say to the other umpire "That's another day we've survived."
Quite often the players will sit out to watch the game and you can chat with them, if they feel in the mood. Even in a picturesque setting someone who has just got out may not be feeling particularly communicative. You also can have the chance to meet up with some of the commentators, so for instance when Glamorgan played there, I was able to say hello to Ed Bevan who I had previously met in the Media Centre at Lord's.
For most of the games I've seen, it's been the first day's play and the counties are batting. I have a feeling that visiting counties are treated in the same way as the MCC and always bat first, but I have no conclusive proof to back up that entirely unsubstantiated assertion.
In 2012, the season started on March 31st, possibly the earliest start since the end of the Napoleonic wars. It was absolutely freezing and the visitors looked every bit was cold as the spectators. I felt a little sorry for Moises Henriques, who may well have got of a flight from Australia shortly before the game. He didn't even have time to collect his county pullover before playing.
In 2011, one of the visiting counties was Lancashire, who had probably just got back from the Champion County game in Abu Dhabi, so it may well have been 20C colder than their previous game. One notable thing from the Lancashire game, was that some of the players told me that Middlesex would be going back into the County Championship first division and right enough, at the end of the 2011 season they did.
2011 also provided one of the balmiest games I've been been to at the Parks. Nottinghamshire were the visitors and it was a chance to see the likes of Samit Patel, Paul Franks, Chris Read, Darren Pattinson, and Ali Brown, all of whom had played for England, and Adam Voges who had turned out for a less successful national side. It was a pretty good day's cricket with Voges and Brown both scoring big centuries. Voges dropped a couple of 6s into the pavilion, one of which hit the roof. OK, that's not huge, but it was big enough.
Samit Patel made a creditable, although perhaps not particularly fluent 79.
Charlie Ellison, son of Richard Ellison made his debut for Oxford in that game, Richard was watching the game with Merv Kitchen. Another Oxford bowler who is worth watching is Sam Aggarwal. He's a spin bowler who watches the ball out of his hand and therefore gives some good photographic opportunities.
 |
 |
There are some lovely college sports grounds at Oxford that I've played and umpired at, sadly the Parks is not one of them.
]]>The fixture was played at Lord's until 2010 and then it was moved to Abu Dhabi. Understandably so, in early April a day at Lord's can be anything from glorious sunshine with a good crowd to mind and finger numbing cold. On a cold day there are few spectators and the members end up huddling in the Long Room hoping that the radiators have been turned on.
In a way, it doesn't matter that it's cold, or wet, or even that you've just lost the feeling in your fingers, because there's live cricket to be seen for the first time in 7 months. One year I went up to Lord's just to be there even though there was no chance of seeing any cricket, it just seemed to be special to have been there at the start of the season.
The result doesn't usually matter either, nothing is resting on the game in terms of trophies or shiny stuff and that's just as well, as I think most games end as a draw. But it is a chance to look at players with international aspirations and to see some of the best of the university players. Of the games I've seen, the 2007 game stands out for the outstanding selection that made up the MCC team, including the current England captain. Other games have included other England captains and players but are more memorable for the coldness and dampness than for the quality of the cricket. But that's hardly surprising
The 2006 fixture with Notts was exactly the sort of long johns and overcoat day that makes watching cricket hard work and discourages all but the hardiest and most stoic of spectators.
In the first innings Notts worked their way to 191 and the MCC found batting even harder. The spectator in the Compton Stand was one of only a handful of people outside the pavilion and I noticed that at lunch he didn't move. So I wandered round to the back of the stand and managed to get a shot of the almost entirely empty ground.
The 2007 game was exactly the sort of weather that cricket needed; warm and pleasant. The MCC selectors had worked hard on the team selection and came up with an excellent side; Alastair Cook (captain), Tim Bresnan, Nick Compton, Steven Davies, Alex Gidman, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Alex Loudon, Graham Onions, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Zoheb Sharif (he later played for the MCC against the West Indians in June 2007 as his last first class game). With the exception of Zoheb Sharif and Alex Gidman, who played for England A, all of the team have played for England.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Nick Compton was the first wicket down caught by Raynor off Kirtley, however Cook put together a wonderful innings of 142.
 |
 |
The MCC went on to score a creditable 452 and Sussex made 385 with Onions and Harmison each taking 3 wickets. The game later played out to a draw, but was an excellent start to the season.
I think the first day of the 2008 MCC game was rained off. My friends told me that the rooftop terrace was opened on that day and that the champagne flowed freely. MCC champagne is rather good, so it's a shame I didn't go.
The last MCC versus Champion County game played at Lord's was against Durham in 2009. I went for the first day and saw some cricket, starting after lunch, but bad light and rain ended the day around the tea interval.
The first ball of the season was to Di Venuto, but I can't remember the bowler.
Two England notabes were in the MCC side; Vaughan and Key, and between them they made 17 runs in the first innings.
After two sessions were lost on the first day and no play was possible on the third day, the game ended in another draw.
Durham went on to win the 2009 championship and played the MCC in Abu Dhabi at the start of the 2010 season. In 2011 the champions were Lancashire. I listened to the online commentary for part of the game, there was no crowd noise and the only sound was of birds flying over the ground. I asked some of the Lancashire players what it was like when I saw them at the Parks. It seems I had a fairly good grasp on it; a big empty ground with big noisy birds flying overhead. But the weather in Abu Dhabi is a little more warm, predictable and friendly than NW8, except perhaps during the sand storms. But it's not Lord's.
I've been watching live cricket since 1981, after moving to the south east from the cricketing desert of Stoke-upon-Trent. As I've aged and the number and frequency of injuries has increased, I've given up playing and concentrated on umpiring and watching the game. Wherever and whenever possible, I'll watch through a long lens. I'm a very keen but not terribly accomplished cricket photographer.
Note: Peter is not media accredited at Lord's and his photos are not available for licence.
]]>The first thing to say is that the quality of the photos is pretty poor. Although it was new and considered pretty good at the time, the Canon EOS 20D I was using struggled in the dim light even though I had pushed the sensitivity to the maximum. I had 2 lenses with me, the 50/1.8 and the 24-105/4; the 50/1.8 was probably a bit long in the cramped confines of the bar and to be honest I never liked that lens and especially not the awful background blur. I don't think I used it at all on this trip. Given the general noise of the images, I've converted them to BW.
The evening started off fairly quietly with a pint and a seat by the fire and then we waited for our friends to gather.
Some had made it over from Germany and there were a fair number from the UK. Mid evening, some of the local people turned up and the musical instraments came out and we were trated to an evening of very good music.
I don't know the significance of the children dressed in masks and I can't remember what term was used to describe them, but they all piled into the bar, played music and then the food was served.
The celebrations went on well into the night and the next morning we had breakfast in the bar before heading back to Cork airport.
I didn't photograph him, but the same man who was at the bar when we arrived the previous lunchtme was sitting in the bar at breakfast time with his pint.
It was a very good evening and all the better for being among friends and for being a complete surprise.
A flick through some Michelin green guides showed some spectacular photos of Le Puy en Velay, with its chapels and monuments perched on volcanic spurs in the town. So our itinerary for the trip to the south was going to be Chartres, which I like a lot and then on to Le Puy en Velay, and on to the south coast via the Millau viaduct and the A75.
When we got to Le Puy we were surprised to see throngs of people in fancy dress. At the hotel we were told that the Fêtes Renaissance du Roi de l'Oiseau was in full swing. I grabbed a couple of cameras and we headed into town.
The fête was centred in the town centre park, the Jardin Henri Vinay and the Place du Breuil beside it.
The Roi de l'Oiseau had set up camp in the Place du Breuil.
Other small squares throughout the town were taken over as camp sites and music venues.
This group, Vagarem have a web site. They were good.
Wandering around the old town, it was quite surreal to find tourists rubbing shoulders with the people in renaissance period dress and people in period clothes using digital cameras.
The town also has some interesting points away from the fête, one such is the Black Madonna in Notre-Dame du Puy en Velay.
If you just happen to be in the Haute-Loire in mid September then this is a place you really should try to visit.
Course Camarguaise is a French sport where the players pull tassels from between a bull's horns.
Not only to the bulls survive the day, some can attain celebrity status. I was told that in some cases there are statues to particularly successful bulls.
There are teams of five players, some distract the bull and work it into a position where others can grab the tassels. The bulls are very aggressive and in order to survive, the players have to jump for their lives out of the arena.
Sometimes the bulls get very, very aggressive and rip up the arena inner wall. I took two photos in this sequence, in one the frame was entirely red as the plank flew past my face.
This one was on the other side of the arena and eventually the bull made its way into the passage around the edge of the ring. All the people in there had to jump for their lives.
Once the action starts properly, it's fast and spectacular.
After the bull fights the bulls were run along the road to their transport, this is known as "bandido."
In the second bandido shot you can see the outline of a curly headed boy just above the bull's horns. That's my son Alexander.
When I took these shots, I look very close to the action, but in fact there was a very deep ditch between the road and a field I was in and I was perfectly safe. Since then, the ditch has been filled in and it's down to the riders' skill to keep the bulls under control.
This was my first exposure to the sport. At the time I was quite interested in trying to get some slightly blurred photos using slow shutter speed in the fashion of Ernst Haas and spent less time trying to get sharp action shots. I would like to photograph this again and see what else I could get. The gallery for these photos is here http://petermeadephotography.zenfolio.com/cc07 .
]]>
As I understand the story, he was at a bull fight and found that with a drop in light he was forced to use a slow shutter speed, sometimes down to ~1/10 second and that after the photos were processed he saw that the rendering of movement and colour was impressive http://www.ernst-haas.com/colorGallery03.html .
The first time I tried it was to photograph a van passing my flat in Maidenhead. The shot came back reasonably well exposed and I thought looking good, but Dixons had put a sticker on it telling me how to take clear photos and avoid the blurr.
In 2007 I had the great fortune to spend an afternoon watching Course Camarguaise, the French bull fights where a team of players try to remove tassels from the bull's horns. Not only do the bulls survive, they can attain celebrity status. I had one camera set up to take high speed action shots and one set up to get slower shots when the action moved into the shadows. Unfortunately, the Camarguaise bulls are black and the men were in white, but the arena was at least red. I was quite pleased with some of the shots.
I also started shooting polo in 2007 and discovered that it is a sport that lends its self to slow shutter speeds very nicely. Initially I put an ND 8 filter on a backup camera and after a lot of trying started getting shots that looked about right. More gratifying yet, some of those photos sold.
At an evening game at RMA Sandhurst I was able to try out the Haas method, once the sun had gone down and the light levels fell.
The final image has been used in a collaboration with fine artist Kate Harding (Kate Harding web site), who has reproduced the image as an oil painting. My interest in capturing movement in this manner exactly matches her vision for movement.
I also been able to take some nice panning shots that work well in black and white. This shot was taken at Ypres beside the Cloth Hall. Ten minutes spent waiting for the right shot was one of the most enjoyable sessions of photography I have had.
I’m not the first person who has had their work taken off photo.net or some other web site and used without permission, and I’m certain I won’t be the last. My experience may help someone deal with the problem if it happens to them.
As a photographer who spends a lot of time around horses, I get to see lots of interesting horse behaviour and arguably, one of the most visually interesting behaviours is the Flehmen response, in which a horse will curl back its lips to get better access to an interesting scent. I've photographed this response on a number of occasions and in April 2009 I managed to get this shot.
Clearly spectacular.
Sometime later, I spotted the image with “hurrr I’m a hoers” on it. And before I knew it, it had gone viral; it had become a meme.
Wikipedia defines a meme as “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” In effect what that means is that everyone who wants to, pasts the image somewhere or writes (mostly inane) comments under it. There seem to be a fair number of web sites that deal with memes and a fair number of people who put together a collection of them on a third party web site. At one point, I did a Google image search on the meme and retrieved several pages of the image, an absolute nightmare.
At other times, I’ve also found the unmutilated image on various web sites, including one that likened Katherine Heigel to the horse and at other times Justin Bieber or Sarah Jessica Parker.
So as far as I could, I wanted to get the images taken down. Looking at the sites that display the image, I realised that several of them were forum web sites and others that suggested that the chances of getting anything done about it were slim. However, there were a number of sites that I use and some that did have contact addresses or pages. I decided that the battles I should fight were the ones I knew I could win (yes, I have read the Art of War). So where people have posted the photo or the meme on sites like Facebook, DeviantART, Flickr, Photobucket and a few others, I would contact the sites and get them taken down.
How to find an image that’s been used (and/or misused)
There are a number of options available, probably the best known is www.tineye.com who have browser plugins for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer & Opera. You right click the image and click “Search on Tineye”. In Google Images you can upload an image url or even the image itself.
I also found a plugin at this location http://jarred.github.com/src-img/ which is an adjunct to Google image search and works well, but you will get a warning about problems with Chrome.
I’ve also found a fair number of other images being used without permission, simply by looking for a credit “photo by Peter Meade.” I appears that a number of people genuinely believe that if you give credit for a photo, then you can use it. This may well stem from the creative commons license. Other people simply believe that if it’s on the web then it’s available. At least those are the “reasons” people have used. On one of those occasions a national newspaper published a portrait I had taken to illustrate an article, without bothering to ask first.
How to get photos taken down
Flickr
I found this page showing the meme :
The bottom right of the flickr page has a link to the Copyright/IP policy and the link to the online form goes to this page: -
http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/copyright/general.html
On Facebook I found numerous iterations of the meme on the same day, here’s one.
To report a copyright infringement on Facebook, you start on this page
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=208282075858952
Wordpress
On Wordpress, the online form is here <ahref=“http://automattic.com/dmca/”>http://automattic.com/dmca/
I had an email response from wordpress within an hour of submitting the form, very impressive.
DeviantART
On DeviantART, I have had to serve take down notices (DMCA notices) by email to this email address [email protected]
The information that Deviant requires to remove an image is essentially the same as the other sites, but need to be set out in an email.
It should be noted that although DeviantART has removed links to the copyright images, I've found that the images stay on their servers. I've complained to them about that.
The online DMCA form for Pinterest is here http://pinterest.com/about/copyright/dmca/
They have been very quick too.
On facebook there's a handy name and shame group https://www.facebook.com/sitesthatsteal and they also have a blog http://sitesthatsteal.blogspot.co.uk/p/image-search.html
Further Thoughts
The people responding to the DMCA notices at some sites may get back to you for clarification and I’ve had contact from Facebook and Flickr asking for further details and they have been very helpful.
Not everyone is helpful, I’m still waiting for images to be removed from DIYLOL and as mentioned above, I had to send a big invoice to Hollywood.com site before they removed the shot. Others respond with an "are you serious?" And in some cases just because the image is taken down once, doesn't mean it's not going back up soon after.
After removing the image, one person replaced it with an image saying “stop SOPA.” I took the screen grab below after getting the meme removed from one Facebook page. Clearly upset.
This has just been a single case, one of many. Over time I've discovered that people taking and using others’ photographs isn’t just restricted to the odd shot on a meme website or on Facebook; in the first half of 2012 alone, I’ve had to deal with everything from small travel web sites to a major national newspaper. Of course if you are happy to let others use your photos and you like the idea of them being seen by a wider audience, then this is all a non story, but if you want to maintain control of your intellectual property or copyright material then it's useful to know what to do. Hopefully, my experiences may help when you find someone using your work when you don’t want them to. The price of peace (of mind) is eternal vigilance.
2020 update
The happy ending
During 2019, I was contacted by an agency that wanted to licence the photo. I was quite stunned, finally someone wanted to use it. Twitter had a campaign running that used people's tweets, one of which used my image along with another horse photo (unknown photographer).
They wanted to use my image globally. I said yes and they were happy to pay up.
My image used on a subway poster.
(unknown photographer but copyright acknowledged)
