Rochdale Town v Stone Dominoes 2009-10

Really good game today - exciting and lively.

More photos from this game can be found here

A slideshow from this game can be found here

Platform 4

Platform 4 is an annual festival in Manchester. These are from a performance called Fusion, a collaboration between ‘The Urban Playground’ and ‘Gravity Style’. Below are some shots from when the artists had finished and did a parkour workshop, but these are from the actual performance, which was quite simply stunning.

Manchester Parkour

Today I went into Manchester to shoot

some stuff at Platform 4. One of the greatest displays was by The Urban Playground and Gravity Style, who collectively put on a show called Fusion. It contained large elements of Parkour amongst other things. Shots from that will follow shortly. They were fantastic. But at the end of their show they did a workshop for people who were interested in Parkour. Now this is a sport I’ve always wanted to photograph and some of the results are here. It’s a fantastic, exciting sport that should have much more attention – demanding skill, strength and concentration. Anyway anyone from Parkour out there who wants someone to photograph them – just let me know. Practice would be enough for me!

Something a bit different

Billy Collins is an American Poet - who wrote this classic poem about growing up:

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

Rochdale Town v Barnoldswick Town 2009-10

Glorious hot sunshine and some cracking action.

Further photos from this game can be found here

A slideshow from this game can be found here 

Bobby Charlton Sports

For many, many years I recorded the Bobby Charlton Sports School. Starting mainly as football they mushroomed into a multi sports experience for young people from across the country and abroad.  Locations included the Armitage Centre of Manchester University, before moving to Hopwood Hall College in Middleton. The sessions covered all ages, and had special girls weeks and galkeepers sessions. This particular set of shots are from 1994. On this visit the poor goalies were found the muddiest goal in which to practice saving shots.

Rochdale Town v Oldham Town (away) 2009-10

This was without a doubt one of the most challenging shoots for Rochdale Town to date. An evening kick off, so under floodlights. Now I love North West Counties football, but the one thing that can be a problem are the floodlights - Old Trafford they aint. So with the technology stretched as far as it was possible to go this was the result. For the photographers out there some of these shots were taken as slow as 1/20th at max app., pushing the chip to the highest available – about 3200 asa equivalent. All in all I’m quite pleased with them. Though in the second half as it got darker and darker, I was reduced to shots of static subjects like the crowd. Still, they show the atosphere!

 Further photographs from this game can be found below

link here

Manchester Youth Theatre

Not all my photography has been about sports - for a long time I worked every year for a real Manchester institution - the Manchester Youth Theatre run by Geoff and Hazel Sykes. Unfortunately it's no longer in existence, but for over 20 years it allowed young people from Manchester to experience the reality of theatre work. These young people would work throughout their school summer holidays, then taking over such venues as the Library theatre and Green Room for their productions - which they frequently sold out. The photos here are from 1992 and are the first real archival shots - hence their in black and white - but there's more to come!

Boundary Park win title

Boundary Park FC beat Woolworths FC 2-0 to win the 2nd Division of their Rochdale League. This was one of the first sessions for Boundary Park, but keep an eye out for further games in the 2009-10 season.

Rochdale Town v Cheadle Town 2009-10

A great game that belies its 0-0 scoreline - but still plenty of action to follow

Further photos from this match can be downloaded here

A slideshow from this match can be found here 

just a kick about...

Sometimes the greatest fun comes when unplanned. Having finished our course, the Manchester Archaeologists (class of 2007) decided one afternoon, in between the alcohol, the play some footy. The results are here for all to see.

Rochdale Town v AFC Liverpool 2009-10

Opening game of the season - giving the opportunity for action photographs.

Further photos from this game can be downloaded here

A slideshow from this game can be found here 

The Original King...

When I was eight I was taken by my dad to my first football match at Old Trafford – and there I formed my allegiance. Now whilst I won’t go to the games anymore (LUHG), they’re still, and always will be, my team. I was also privileged to be of the age that meant I saw the United Trinity play – but for me the finest – for all the undoubted skill and flair of Bobby and George – was the original King Denis. And there's a great kids poem about him by Gareth Owen - called simply 'Denis Law'.

Evening in Manchester

Every so often I'm going to raid my archive of photos- there'll even be some black and white here! So this is the first and shows evening in my hometown. Not that old but Oxford Road on a cold, wet winter's evening produced some pleasing light trails - even if it was really cold.

the start of it all

I’ve always been interested in footy – but if you’ve ever seen me play (and not many have!) then you’ll realise why I take photographs of it! Last year I started to take some shots at Rochdale Town. This year whilst I’ll be covering a lot of Town games, I will be shooting other teams- and other sports. But for a start here’s a few from last year – Rochdale Town against Bootle and Padiham.

Pre season training 2009-10

at Rochdale Town - and I managed to get there twice. Once the weather wasn't too bad but the other time it was awful, but I enjoyed myself - hope these give some idea of just how wet it was!