On a gorgeous sunny day this week I popped up to RAF Lakenheath for my third visit of the year. I took the 600mm & the 100-400mm.

It was quiet when I arrived around 11am but after about 40 minutes some F-15s took off & the ones that had launched earlier in the morning began to return. The following two shots show the F-15C launching.

I’d been told by one of the other ‘togs there that there were a couple of 747s on the base. I have no idea what they were doing but got to see one of them take off.

In my previous visits I’d never seen any of the Blackhawks, so was really pleased when 6205 hovered by the runway then launched across the Brandon Road into the trees & then returned a few minutes later.

I then left the Brandon Road & went round to the other side of the base so I could shoot a few jets landing.

In between landings I decided to take a few snaps in the field.

For the fourth successive weekend, I shot some American Football (can you tell I love this game?).

This time I went over to Milton Keynes to watch the MK Pathfinders take on the Lincolnshire Bombers.

This was another nightmare for us photographers, bright sunlight, one team in black & one team in white. Plays havoc with the exposure. Why can’t all teams play in mid-gray? (OK, I know the answer to that)

I was very impressed with the ground at Milton Keynes. It’s the only pitch I’ve been to which has a safety rope around it & the standard of pitch marking was the best of the four grounds I’ve visited so far.

The centre shot above of  no. 23 was a touchdown run. In the next sequence the last two aren’t in the wrong order, the middle shot was a throw by MK (in white) which was intercepted by the player in black.

I won’t be doing any American Football next weekend, phew.

There are around 400 shots from this game on my old website, go to “Photo Galleries / Sport / US Football 4“

For the second week running I popped over to Watford to catch the Watford Cheetahs American Football Club take on the Colchester Gladiators. The weather was warm with a mixture of bright sunlight & cloudy skies.

The Cheetahs played somewhat better than the week previously but lost the game 40 points to 24.

I’ve not had a chance to process any pof the shots beyond standard sports shots (as I did for the match against Staffordshire) but am keen to explore that kind of processing further in due course.

All shots were taken on the 5D MkII with 600mm F4 & the 20D with 70-200mm f2.8 IS.

I have finally managed to process & upload the complete set of game shots (in excess of 350 photos) to my old website at http://www.neesam.com/photography, just go to the Photo Galleries section then select Sport & then US Football 3.

By the way, if you’re visiting this blog as a member of one of the teams, I’d love to know what you think of the shots, so please leave me a comment!!

Well I’ve spent so much time processing shots over the last week or 10 days I’ve not had a chance to add part two of the Watford – Staffordshire Football game, so here they are.

I’m quite pleased with the way the photography is coming along. I learn a little bit more each match. Sports Photography is pretty new to me & something I;m keen to expand.

One of the criticisms I’ve received so far on the shots is that some of them lack faces or balls, which are apparently, quite key to ball-sports photography. I can see the point but I think there is a balance to be had between pure sports photography & sportsmen who make interesting/esthetically pleasing shots, so I’m happt to include shots which don’t include faces or balls.

I enjoyed the opprunity the rain gave me for a few ‘different’ shots which I think have a nice effect of the sportsmen in the rain.

For the full collection of shots you can see them on my old Photography website, just go to Photo Galleries/Sport/US Football 2

For the second week in a row I managed to shoot an American Football game. This time I drove down to Watford to watch the Watford Cheetahs play the Staffordshire Surge.

A pretty awful weather prediction of rain & lots of it held off & much of the game was in sunshine. The rain finally came but not until the last few minutes when I got to try out my lens/camera rain-proof covers (which worked quite well).

Just two combinations today, the Canon 20D with the 70-200 f2.8 L IS & the Canon 5D MkII 600mm F4 on the monopod.

The first offering today is a set of shots which have been processed in Lightroom then saved out to Photoshop for some minor adjustments. They may not be to everyone’s taste but I quite like the effect.

The game started off pretty evenly matched until the Surge scored first, from then on it was pretty much downhill for the Cheetahs whose plight wasn’t helped by two or three interceptions thrown by their quarterback. I did manage to capture a couple of catches, but the one with most promise, a catch in the end zone, was disappointingly out of focus, mind you, trying to get it with a 600mm lens while standing behind the end zone was always going to be hit & miss.

More ‘standard’ sports photography shots to follow in part 2…

Here are a few of the actions shots of the Saxons – Cobras game.

Most of the shots were done on AE-priority (aperture). I kept the lens wide open, which on the 600mm is F4 & tried to shoot above 1/800sec.

I have to confess to having a special interest in American Football. I have been a fan for most of my life. As a teenager I used to listen to games in bed in the eraly hours on the American Forces Network. I was overjoyed when Channel 4 started showing matches from the NFL. The country was taken by storm in the early 80s & within a couple of years of them showing the NFL, teams started to spring up all over the country.

I saw an advert in my local paper in Stevenage asking if anyone would be interested in forming a team in the town. Four of us met in someone’s house & the North Herts Raiders was born. I helped run this team for several years. We weren’t very successful, in fairness, though we did win a few matches. I started off the first couple of games at Tight End, got promoted to Quarterback for a couple of years, & broke my leg against Luton one year & my knee against them the following year.

I ended my American Football career as a player/coach at the Bedford Stags. I still have the kit, though at my age it is only really useful for fancy-dress parties. Watching & taking photos does make me miss the game!

I hope to photograph a few more matches this season.

If you are interested in seeing the rest of the shots from this game, I have over 300 posted on my old website. Visit my old photography website, select Photo Galleries then Sport.

Last Sunday afternoon I drove up to a sports centre at the edge of Peterborough to photograph an American Football Match. The Peterborough Saxons took on the London Cobras.

The weather was gorgeous, nice & sunny. I took the 5D MkII & my older 20D together with 3 lenses – 70-200mm L f2.8 IS, 100-400mm L f4.5-5.6 & the 600mm L F4.

I had previously emailed the chairman of the Peterborough Saxons to obtain permission to shoot the game. He said he was happy for me to do so. It’s funny when you turn up somewhere with big lenses, the amount of people who think you are a professional photographer. I was asked if I’d been sent by the league – I wish.

The 600mm got most use during the afternoon which saw the Saxons lose to the London Cobras 49 points to 6. To be honest, I didn’t really follow the ins & outs of the game; you miss so much when viewing the game through a camera viewfinder.

The shots here are more ‘arty’ shots rather than straight action, more will follow. They have been processed via Lightroom & I’m quite pleased with the look of them, though they may not be to everyone’s taste I suppose.

I shot somewhere in the region of 600 pics but suffered something of a schoolboy error. Swapping between the monopod-mounted 600mm lens & the other camera I managed to knock the dial from AE-priority to manual & ran off quite a lot of shots on the 600mm of 1/200sec at F11 rather than 1/800 plus at F4. This meant that quite a lot came out blurred & were binned leaving me with about 450 useable shots.