[Kombisaurus]

I've been shooting a fair bit of sport recently (and actually getting paid for some of it!).

We recently had the AHL (Australian [field] Hockey League) women's championships and I was asked to shoot the WA team in the semi-finals and grand-final (which they won!).
At the same time the Netball Junior Nationals were going on at my work, and there were a number of teams there with our athletes competing which I managed to shoot. To my surprise, one of the Tasmanian junior coaches was an ex-girlfriend of mine from many years ago! We caught up for a chat which was nice.

During the nationals, I was approached by the offical photographers for Netball Australia to shoot some of the WA games of the ANZ Netball Championships this season (that's the top-level national league - like the netball equivalent of the NBL). So I've got some more netball coming up to shoot.

Then last week I was asked to shoot some Men's field hockey this week when there's an international series here in Perth. Oh, and on Friday I was offered a job to shoot a battle-of-the-bands competition being held over 4 weeks and 4 venues here in Perth throughout May.

Also there was a corporate Canoeing day hosted by our head canoeing coach for Rio Tinto.... and the Hobart Triathlon... and so it goes...

Sorry I didn't split this up into a number of posts, but I figured it was all kind-of related...


1. I love those facial expressions!


2. West Coast Fever vs Adelaide Thunderbirds (Adelaide won).


3. Look out!


4. Who said netball is a non-contact sport? The West Coast GD cops a shoulder to the jaw from Adelaide's GS.


5. The victorious WA Diamonds after their AHL grand-final win.


6. Kobie McGurk passes hard past her QLD opponent.


7. Hope Munro fights off an ACT defender.


8. Lisa Parmenter passes up field.


9. An exhausted WA team happy to win a penalty corner in the dying minutes.


10. Kobie McGurk and Hope Munro relieved at beating ACT and making the grand final.


11. Bikes lined up at the Hobart docks for the Hobart Triathlon.


12. I'm practicing my panning as the men ride past.


13. Men and Women racing back to the transition area to leave their bikes.


14. It's amazing how quickly these athletes can transition.


15. The result of a fall during the bike stage.


16. Ex olympic-medallist and WAIS head canoeing coach, Ramon Andersson.


17. Corporate canoeing events result in plenty of fun...


18. ...and spills.

[Rabid Penguin]

nice! 4 is such a lucky shot!

[Wedding Shooter]

Great to hear about your paid work Adrian. These look great too. The girl in number three goes to our church - she is really tall (towers over me and I am 185cm - 6 foot 1 inch).

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks for the feedback guys

RP, that bit of biffo in shot #4 had been on the cards for about 10 minutes... the GS had been getting more and more physical and it was only a matter of time before there was a collision. Every time she went for the ball with other players around I would squeeze off a few frames waiting for a moment like this.

And WS, that's Susan Fuhrmann in shot #4. It's a small world isn't it? Oh, and she's 6'5"!!! Pretty agile too for such a big girl.

I'm back out at the Perth Hockey Stadium tomorrow night to shoot the Kookaburras (Aussie mens team) in a Four-Nation International series that starts tomorrow between Australia, China, India and Korea. The games should be fantantastic as these are some of the top field hockey teams in the world. Tickets are available too if anybody wants to come and watch and/or photograph a game (nearly all the hockey shots above were taken from public areas with just a 200mm lens).

http://www.hockeywa.org.au/2006_news.cfm?NewsID=1913

[NT73]

They are certainly great shots and I don't think luck comes into it.

[wulinka]

Great stuff,
yes, 3 was lucky for you, not so lucky for the girl in the back I guess,

I love the kind like 6 and 7, brilliant colors, great composition,
and I can't not wonder, do you shoot and shoot away and then see what you got, or do you really
see that composition at the very moment?
I have no experience shooting sports, I know I would not see it, but maybe FOREsee it try to be prepared....

Uli