Back in November we celebrated the first birthday of our beloved Border Collie, Tess.

Invites were sent out to her dog-walking pals & the party took place on the local common. She had five friends attend her party.

It absolutely poured down at the start. We arrived at the common & I realised I’d left the camera batteries on charge so had to go back home to get them. By the time we got back the rain had died down.

Doggy gifts were received & party cake & treats were eaten, a fun time was had by all.

In December I was tasked to cover a 5oth Birthday party. The brief was simply to take photos of the guests as they arrived & capture some shots during the evening.

I used the 5D MkII with the 24-105 f4 L lens & a Canon EF 580II flashgun. Additionally, as a light-softening measure I used a Gary Fong Lightsphere attached to the top of the flashgun.

The following were taken at the wider end of the lens with the camera held up in the air & poitning downwards, a bit hit & miss.

I took some shots hand-held but had to up the ISO levels, so you can see more noise in these shots.

An overdue update as I seem to be getting behind with my orders, so to speak.

This one was from Sunday 22nd November 2009, when I travelled down to Greenwich via a very wet M25 to shoot the Hurricanes’ third match of the season. Driving conditions were atrocious & I was fully expecting a completely rain-soaked game, but by the time kickoff came round the sun was out.

The Hurricanes took their first defeat of the season losing a hard-fought battle 20 to 19, how close can you get?

You can see from the selection of shots the differing lighting conditions; bright sunlight, overcast sky & into twilight. Of for the 2010 summer season with brightness & blue skies all game!