The Chapman Zone Dave’s Blog

….I like the whole Ice Hockey thing so much, I’ve decided to create an new blog post category, called…..

…..Hatfish Noodlebender!

Or mabe I should just call it ‘Ice Hockey’? That would probably make more sense…

….that Ice Hockey is possibly the coolest sport ever invented!

And there is no pun intended in that last sentence.

I’ve been carrying on shooting the Solent & Gosport teams for the past few weeks, and I’m starting to get the hang of the game, although the under 10’s 12’s and 14’s all have slightly different rules about what is a foul and what is not. But it’s so cool!

So cool, in fact, that I’ve signed up for a course of ice skating lessons! Six weeks of lessons….

…at 7 o’ clock on a Sunday morning!!!!!!

Whooooaaaahhh!!!!!

I’m motivated by two things, and I hope that they are potent enough forces to get me out of bed at 05:30 for the next 6 Sundays…

1. Jealousy. I am so in awe of the kids that play, the way they hurl themselves around the ice, stop or turn on a sixpence, that I want to be able to do what they do. Not that I have any aspirations to play mind you - I’d get killed in about 20 seconds. Christ, I’d get killed playing against the under 16s - they average about six foot two! Nah - just to be able to skate around a bit nippy like, would be sufficient for me. And I’ve always wanted to do one of those ’spray stops’ (as Steve tells me they’re called) - that would be so cool.

and 2. Revenge. I have taken the Scouts and Cubs skating a couple of times as an end of term treat, and both times, Harry the little sh*tbag, has spent almost the entire evening cutting me up and scaring the crap out of me, and I need to get my revenge now, while I’m still young enough, and he’s still small enough for it to be feasable!

Besides its been on my list of “things I’ve always wanted to be able to do” for most of my life now, and with this Thursday coming being five years since my dear mum passed away, I am mindful of the legacy of that whole ‘loss/grieving’ experience - life’s too short to put things off.

Well, I’m off to look at another few hundred photos I snapped this evening at the practise session. I went down there to get a shot of one more kid, and providing one of those shots is in focus, I have the full set!!!

Woohoo!!!

[The weekend that this post title refers to is about two weekends ago now, but circumstances got the better of me. Here it is anyway]

I was sitting at work on Friday morning, looking forward to a nice three day weekend, as my union planned to be on strike today. I was feeling even better about it, since I knew I didn’t have to man the picket line this time, as I’d just quit the Exec Committee the night before. I’d made another one of my comments on the discussion board at work that criticised the union a little, and one of the full-time officers sent me another email telling me off about it. This is about the tenth time this has happened, and I just told him to stick it up his *rse (in so many words - we can’t say stuff like that at work, or we’ll get in trouble), and the reps post as well while he was at it.

Truth be told, I was waiting for an opportunity to quit, and he provided the perfect one. I am getting more an more disillusioned with the union at work - they’ve had several opportunites to really stand up and make management think twice about doing some things, and every time they tamely huff and puff a little, and go no further. I’m not going to go into details about it, as it is veeery boring stuff to anyone that doesn’t work there…actually, it’s boring for those who do work there, as the same crap has been repeating itself for years now.

So anyway, three day weekend - nice!

Then an email turns up in my inbox - “strike has been cancelled”. Bollocks.

Seems the government has agreed to go back to the negotiation table…oooooooooo! That’s really worth a lot isn’t it? The government has promised to do something! Jeeeesus…

Guy Fawkes had the right idea…

So, my first thought was to turn to my boss and say “John, can I just take Monday off anyway? I really can’t be f*cked to come in”. We’ve been really busy these past few weeks, and this culminated on fridat at 12, and since John was just about to sod off home for the afternoon, he couldn’t really refuse! I’d gotten so enamoured with the idea of a three day weekend, even though I had nothing specific planned for today (except catching up with stuff), that I couldn’t face the idea of only a regular weekend.

So, skipping ahead to Saturday, I had tickets to go see Alter Bridge that night. As you will have read in an earlier post, I was trying to find a taker for the fourth ticket, as Jazzman had to drop out.

Seems I couldn’t even give it away! I asked several people, and they either had plans, or could not afford it. Come Saturday lunchtime, and Tom and I agreed that we should just offer it to someone for free. Even then we couldn’t find any takers!! In the end I managed to persuade John to accept a free ticket and transport up there…and I only just managed it!!!

While I was trying to get him to go, I was also playing around with the Ice Hockey team calendar. Natasha sent me a template of the design, so I could see what ratio the photos needed to be in to fit properly. The template was created in Microsoft Publisher, and I had to find a copy before I could open it. Problem was, I found a copy, opened the template, added some photos…..but it wouldn’t let me save it! Or export it to PDF!!!

Bugger. I wanted to get something back to them that day, so I did the only thing I could - recreate it in InDesign. Problem is, I couldn’t just ‘recreate’ it - I had to have a play with it as well….I can’t help myself sometimes!!! You’d think I had enough design work to do at work, that I wouldn’t want to touch it outside. But I think it was the opportunity to tweak an already good design, without a massive committee of people who really don’t know what they are talking about telling me how to design a form, solely to please whichever manager is shouting the loudest at the time.

I tell you, I could really let off some steam about work on this blog, but it is 22:35 now, and if I got started, I’d be up all night!

Seriously…..

But I got the caldendar done, and PDF’ed and sent to Natasha. I had created this simple three player montage (well, three photos stuck next to each other to make one) for the sample, with the idea that we could get every player from all three teams onto the calendar at least once. I also asked her not to send it to the person that created the original template, if there was any chance it would piss them off!

That turned out not to be a problem, which was a relief. So a nice morning/afternoon spent playing with photographs - about bloody time! I have such a massive backlog of photos I haven’t been through yet - going back to my Scotland Trip in 2005!!!

But back to Alter Bridge, John was seriously glad he did come, as were we all - what an awesome show. I took video of my favourite song of theirs, ‘Watch Over You’ on my phone. The picture is crap, but I’m really surprised at the sound. Check it out:

What a fantastic tune. And what a fantastic band! Up there with the best gigs I’ve been too. Of course, just after I’d booked the tickets for Brixton Academy, they made an extra date at…..Portsmouth Guildhall!!!

Bugger! Oh well, I have to go to the Cricket AGM on thursday anyway, so I guess it’s just as well…

So, I had one pint on an empty stomach, and I had a headache the next morning….god’s sake!!!

Sunday morning was Remembrance Day Parade with the Scouts, so I was not allowed to sleep in and feel sorry for myself. Uniform all ironed the day before, I just had to tear myself out of bed, and (after taking some painkillers) try to force some toast down. Harry got dropped round at about 9:30, as his mum was busy getting ready to do a bag packing session with the Ice Hockey team. It was a cold morning, and very windy, so my carefully moussed hair got blown into a mess within ten seconds of leaving the door, and was tickling my face for the rest of the morning.

The parade was the usual affair, made notable by the fact that all but one of the Scouts turned up - 25 in total. That is by far my best turnout yet. And they behaved impeccably as well - they were joking amongst themselves while we waited, but as soon as I called them to ready, they did not step out of line once, nor speak at all during the ceremony. Such was their level of commitment, that two of them almost passed out because of the cold…but only after I had dismissed them - the instant I said ‘dismissed’, Jimbo and Dan dropped to a crouch and looked very unwell indeed. They were both bluey-green!

I told the Scouts how pleased I was before they left (I think it is important to tell them stuff like that at events like this - the less exciting ones), and they all got picked up before I ferried Harry round to Sainsbury’s. I did a quick shop while I was there, and got one of the players to pack my bags and made a donation. Problem was, I only know them with their helmets on from their photographs, so I have no idea to this day who it was!

[OK, this is as far as I got. I had every intention of finishing it off as soon as I got round to it...but now that I have gotten round to it, I have forgotten what the hell else happened that weekend! Balls!]

[Oh, wait!]

So, I went to see my first adult hockey game in about twenty years (probably more that evening). The Hintons invited me up to join them to watch the Solent Devils face the Isle Of White Tigers (I think they were tigers anyway). It was billed as something of a grudge match type local derby, and there was one massive punch up right in the corner we were closest to - brutal! I’m not sure if it was a good game or not, as it all happens so quickly it is very very difficult to keep up with the action! I did enjoy it though, and intend to go see a few more of them. I always thought I ought to support a local team of some sort, and since I am going over to the idea that Ice Hockey is one of the coolest sports ever invented, why not the Devils?

…Alter Bridge on Saturday, with me, Tom and Jen - there is space in Toms car for this elusive fourth person too - bonus!

That’s this Saturday, 8th November. The gig is at the famous Brixton Academy.

Jazzman had to drop out, so his ticket is up for grabs. £20 is the face value, and I’m sure he would be willing to wait a little while for the money. Tough shit if he can’t!!!

Anyway, if you wants it, let me know - you have my number. If you don’t, I don’t know you!!

…to the world around me. Global affairs I mean.

So I wake up this morning, and perform my usual morning ritual:

1. Alarm (mobile phone) 1 goes off at 07:00. I awake to the mellow ambient strains of Equinoxe Part 1 by Jean-Michel Jarre. [Actually, I always seem to be awake before it goes off - does anybody else get that?]

2. Think ‘Bollocks’, turn it off, then go back to sleep. Well - half sleep.

3. Alarm (mobile phone again - it allows me up to eight alarms a day) 2 goes off at 07:30. This time, Steve Hackett tries to persuade me to get up with a rendition of his rather wonderful Spectral Mornings [I opt for songs that start off gently, so as not to jar me from my peaceful slumber too harshly - what a softy!]

4. Half awake this time, I ease myself up into a seated position, and begin to daydream about this woman that I’ve recently developed a horrendous crush on.

5. At 07:45, dad comes up with a cup of tea for me. Bless him. Daydreaming continues, abated only by a bit of small talk with the old man.

6. At 08:00. My third and final alarm goes off. I haven’t gotten round to putting a third song on the phone to wake up to yet, so it’s one of those god-awful stock ringtones that comes with the phone. At this time, romantic scenarios are cascading through my brain, maybes and what ifs, idyllic moments, infinitely preferable to going to work and dealing with the utter f*ck ups that currently prevail. So I continue to daydream.

7. 09:00 rolls around. The blissful daydreams become spiked with the harsh realities of the situation - it’s complicated. My brain starts kicking me in the balls with thoughts like “she’s with someone, stupid”, and “she’s almost certainly not interested in you in the slightest, dummy” and “she’s way out of your league anyway, fool”, “and you can’t tell her anyway jackass, because you might f*ck up what you have with her at the moment”, and numerous other things of that nature. So I snap out of it, and get up. [In case you hadn't guessed by now, I have self-esteem issues, with which I am not going to go into detail on this blog!]

8. Get dressed, go downstairs, put on the kettle and some toast.

9. Go back upstairs while said toast is doing, go to the loo, have a wash, brush my hair, fret at the sheer quantity of hair that ends up on the brush, as opposed to still on my head, ponder getting my hair cut, wonder what the hell to do with it if I did decide to get it cut, go back downstairs.

10. Make toast and a cup of tea, go back upstairs, eat breakfast while watching a bit of telly, or more likely a DVD if I am in the middle of one.

11. Put on leathers, which now actually stay where they’re supposed to now I have a pair of braces attached to them - hooray! Go downstairs, switch on motorbike, come back inside, put rest of kit on, jump on bike, back bike out of garden, pop it into first gear with an almighty ‘clunk’ (which I am still concerned about, even though some people have told me that it’s normal), head to work.

There you go, that’s my usual morning. Well, weekday morning anyway.

Today though, I completed stage 8 as usual, when my dad said:

“So Obama won then…”

………..

“Oh, yeah…..”

Now I would have gone “YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!”, as I really really wanted him to win, but the truth of the matter was that I had completely forgotten that the election was on.

I got home from Ice Hockey last night (I think I might refer to it that way from now on, so that if I ever get any new visitors that don’t know me, they might mistakenly think that I actually play the game, instead of just standing there in awe of the kids that do, while occasionally remembering to take photos), and got straight on the PC to continue going through the photos from Sunday, and add the ones I just took. Chatted to a couple of people on MSN, then went to bed. No telly.

I used to watch telly every day, sometimes all evening. One of the many blessings that joining 1st Fareham has bestowed upon me is that it broke me of the cycle - I got so busy doing various things (including still trying to have a life!) that I could not ‘commit’ to watching weekly programmes anymore, so rather than watch them occasionally and lose track of what was going on, I stopped watching them altogether. Nowadays, I limit myself to stuff that can be watched as and when, stuff like Family Guy, South Park, cookery programmes (some anyway), Extreme Makeover (Home Edition), although that is getting a bit much for me these days - all that melodrama and sad music, which used to have me in tears, now makes me a bit nauseated, DIY SOS, Match of the day….that’s about it, and I only watch them if they happen to be on when I am channel hopping - I don’t attempt to stay in to watch a particular programme anymore.

I love it! I wonder about how much life I have wasted sitting in front of the telly, just because I couldn’t be arsed to do anything else. But I’m sure I’ve ranted about that in the past, so I won’t go on about it now. I’ll go check the archives one day, to see if I have or not - if not, I feel a good rant coming on, as I haven’t had a proper one in ages!

So anyway, I only occasionally watch the news in the mornings, and after a couple of mornings of it, I get sick of all the bullsh*t, and don’t bother for a few more days. Then I’ll catch another dose one morning the following week.

The election of the first black president of the United States of America fell in between my catch-ups, so once I was informed, I decided to put the news on. Lots of people talking about what this all means for America, the world, the future. Lots of waffle, lots of nonsense.

…I turned the telly off again.

In this age of 24 hour news channels, you can get all the info you need in thirty seconds. Or rather, all you’re going to get that is of any use from them. Obama won, by quite a big margin as it happened, made a great speech, as did Senator McCain who was very gracious in defeat, apparently.

Now to ponder what it all means….

Wow! A black man is the President of the USA. Not one ounce of sarcasm in that last bit by the way, in case any of you were thinking that - this is big. This needs to sink in. I think the full meaning of this will take a while to reveal itself. I am happy that this happened by the way, as (despite what many of my colleagues at work will tell you) I am not a racist.

And the speech was great by the way - I had a read of it on the web. I haven’t read John McCain’s speech yet, but will probably do that tonight.

Of course, speeches are great, but that doesn’t mean that the reality will match the promises. Will Obama make any real change, or will he be another puppet of the corporations and tycoons? Or will he be assassinated by some redneck white-supremacist before he gets the chance?

Call me naive if you like, but upon reading words like his last night, I feel a small glimmer of hope for the future:

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voices could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

……

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; it grew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organised, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for their child’s college education. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.

And above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity.

Those are values that we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours: “We are not enemies, but friends… though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those who would tear the world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you.

And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the colour of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes, we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes, we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes, we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbour and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes, we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “we shall overcome”. Yes, we can.

A man touched down on the Moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes, we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: yes, we can.

Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.”

God, I hope he lives up to that speech……

I love that stage at which I have dumped the photos onto the PC, and am about to go through them to see what I’ve got - the fruits of my labours, so to speak. I feel a bit like a kid on Christmas morning…although that may be a slight exagerration.

Anyway, I told myself I’d wait before going through the Ice Hockey photos, as I needed to find out the ratio they needed to be to fit in the calendar template that was being made. I also need to find out what sort of photos they are after - I imagine a variety of action shots, group shots, ummmm…..what other kind of shots are there? I dunno - but I shall hopefully find out, as I intend to take as many photos as they let me!

It was a really good experience - tracking along following the action (or rather, trying to!), praying for some good focus and shutter speed. Trying to remember to take photos when they scored a goal, instead of cheering! As far as the technique, I felt better at the end of the game than I did when I started - a bit more comfortable keeping up. The only problem was that as the cards filled up (or as the batteries ran down?) the write rate from camera to card slowed dramatically. I spent at least half the third period waiting for the camera to write the photos on, during which time I cannot shoot, or at best take one every five seconds or so.

But anyway, I couldn’t wait as it turns out. Although I had marked 90 odd as ‘To do’, when I started going through them last night, I decided to have another look through the ones I did not select. Good job too, as I found a couple that turned out to be ok after all. I ran about twenty shots through Photoshop so far, in standard 6 x 4 ratio. Even if I have to do them again for the calendar it will be useful, as I found as I went through the shots and worked on them on PS, I was learning how to get the best out of the shots - not that I am getting anywhere near the best out of them, as my Photoshop skills, while adequate for my needs, do not even begin to scratch the surface of what it can do.

I’m quite happy with them to be honest….for a first attempt anyway. I had a trawl through the web looking for examples of Ice Hockey photography before I went to the game, and the standard is not amazing (not surprising considering the speed of the game and the prohibition of flash), so I’m hopeful
that the shots I take will be well received, especially after a few more sessions. I’m confident that I can get more than enough shots for the calendar. Which is nice!

I’m going back tonight to another practise session - now half-term is over they should have all the team there, so I can hopefully take the team photos tonight, and run off a few hundred more action shots- the more they have to choose from the better, and I want to try to differ a couple of things tonight.

Main one is the ISO setting - on Sunday I set it to aperture priority (f/2), ISO400, and pushed the exposure down a stop. Shooting in RAW, I knew I could afford to underexpose a couple of stops and recover it during processing. I avoided going to ISO800 or ISO1600 as I hoped to keep the amount of grain, sorry, noise down, and keep some detail in the faces. The problem was, as I had it on aperture priority, the automatic shutter speed was floating around the 450th-500th (which was ok), but sometimes went up to 200th-250th of a second, which turned out to be too slow, and many of the images were blurred as a result. Tonight I intend to use the higher ISO ranges - 800, 1600 and even 3200, just to see if the difference in picture noise is offset by the improved focus from the consequent faster shutter speed.

I also want to play around with the focus a bit. I recently had a quick scan through the manual to remind myself of the different autofocus options - there’s one on there called ‘AI Servo’ which makes the camera continually adjust focus according to the subject, locking on the instant the photo is taken. It is certainly an improvement over the ‘one shot’ default, which was having loads of trouble keeping up last Tuesday. The problem on Sunday was (I think!) that I had it on multi-point focus, so the camera was continually scanning objects that crossed all the focus points, and it was simply too many calculations going on at once for the camera to deal with comfortably, what with all the players going in all different directions at different speeds. Of course, I could be talking complete bollocks, but tonight I intend to try setting the autofocus on one point (the centre spot) and seeing if that speeds things up a little.

Of course, I say that I am going to experiment with these settings tonight, but that is utterly dependant on whether or not I remember all this stuff tonight - I have a tendency to get caught up in the moment, and forget to change stuff on the camera. I made a point of changing the set up on the camera last night, ready for the team shots tonight, as I know damn well that I would forget to do so, while busy arranging people and getting in position. The team shot is going to be the only time I can use flash, so I really don’t want to take a grainy shot that loses all the facial details, just because I forgot to twist one knob!

Besides, the Under 10’s are finishing their practise early especially to let me take the shot, and the Under 12s/14s are allocating a small chunk of their session too, so I really don’t want to cock it up and make them do it all over again!

….for number of photographs taken in an hour.

1,264!!!

One of my Scouts, Harry (whom I mention about two posts ago) plays for the Solent & Gosport Under 12s ‘Destroyers’ Ice Hockey team (he plays for the Under 14s ‘Hunters’ as well), and I’ve managed to score the gig as their official photographer.

Hopefully, once they’ve seen my photographs I will be able to keep the gig - I’m really enjoying it.

When I was a kid, I was visiting my relatives at Nottingham, and they took us to a Panthers game. Two of my cousins were going out with members of the team, so I remember we managed to get in for free. They were playing Southampton Vikings that night, and obliterated them 31-2. The captain, Darryl (who was going out with my cousin) skated over and gave me the puck from the game at the end. I was seriously chuffed at that, and have always held a soft spot for the game since that day, even though I have not actually followed it at all.

So a couple of months ago, I decide to go see Harry play. He’d mentioned it a few times, and I’d promised to go see a game one day. As it turned out, Harry’s mum mentioned in passing that they had a home game that Sunday and I had nothing to do, and actually remembered on the day, so I went.

In all honesty I was expecting to see the spectacle of a bunch of nippers falling over a lot while trying to hit a puck, but I was seriously surprised by how good they are! I can just about skate forwards without falling over, so to see these guys (and girls….well, girl I think) zipping about the way they do is amazing to me. Unfortunately, they have yet to win a game, but I’m sure that will come eventually. If they can just improve their passing and positional play, the victories will come. Ha! Like I actually know what I’m talking about! But they are good, no doubt about that. And I’ve always known Harry can skate, ever since we took the Cubs and Scouts to the rink, and the little bugger kept cutting me up, but watching him blast around the ice, tackling and turning and all that stuff…I’m almost in awe of him now - what a legend! But after watching that game, I was hooked, and decided to come back for more.

I went to see him play in the Under 14s game a couple of weeks ago, which they actually won (I’m told that doesn’t happen very often). I was standing by the netting, as all the seats were taken, and after the presentations were made, he skated over to me to give me a high-five through the net. So I held my hands up to meet his, but wasn’t prepared for the speed he was going at, and when he reached me, he nearly knocked me off my feet! It was great to see how pleased he was, as I know from personal experience how demoralising losing all the time can be at that age. I used to play for the worst under 11s football team in the league, and 6-0 beatings were considered a mild let-off for us. It didn’t help my love of the game, I can tell you that much.

So anyway, I had a look for their website, and saw that the photos were a little out of date, and the link to the photographer was no longer working. So I mentioned in passing to Natasha that if they needed any photographs taken, she only had to ask, and she pounced on the offer - she was planning to ask me anyway, so that was a happy coincidence!

They are hoping to release a calendar as a fundraiser at the end of the year, and as they only have 3 home games left, I thought it prudent to get down to a practise, so I could get some practise in myself (I’ve never tried my hand at sports photography before). The evening was cut slightly shorter when Harry had a rumble with one of his team mates (who is a complete wanker apparently - I’m not saying if that is a direct quote or not!), got sent off the ice, broke his stick in anger on the way off, then disappeared. I spent most of the night talking to him outside trying to convince him not to quit the team (I think his dad managed to convince him later that evening, fortunately). The conclusion I reached quite quickly about the photography was that I needed to set my aperture as wide as I could, the ISO to 800, and machine gun the crap out of the camera - that basically means take hundreds of photos in the hope that some are in focus.

Not very scientific, I grant you.

I was supposed to take some team photos as well that night, but because it was half-term, they were missing quite a few players. So that’ll be this coming Tuesday.

So today I go down there and froze my arse off for a couple of hours shooting the game against Streatham. Streatham are one of the strongest teams in the league, and we lost 8-3, but the Destroyers got the first goal, and were challenging for most of the game. I have to say that it was really exciting photographing it, partly because I just had no idea what I was getting as I panned back and forth up and down the ice, and partly because I was living in constant fear of getting a puck in the face (or worse, the camera)! The camera was seriously struggling to keep up, as I was running off mutliple shots at a time. I had to keep stopping to wait for thirty seconds so the camera could write to the memory card. By the end of the game, I had managed to fill up two 4gig cards and most of a 2gig one, and completely drain two batteries! I think I learned a lot from it though, apart from wishing I had a zoom lens with a massively wide aperture on it (not that such a thing even exists), and hope to be more comfortable with it next game.

I got home and spent about three quarters of an hour just getting the photos off the cards onto my PC, and backing them up took another hour.

I should be in bed now, but I had to have a look through them. I tried using Adobe Bridge, as I’ve just got Photoshop CS3, and want to eventually take full advantage of the Adobe workflow. They have this thing were you can label photographs, and I managed to label 91 of them ‘To do’. I need to wait to see what the calendar is going to look like, so I know what ratio to crop the photos to, so once I have that I will get cracking. Next game on the 23rd! Well, next home game. Not sure if I want to drive to the away games - Streatham, Oxford, Haringey, etc, etc!

So 91 potentially usable photos out of 1,264 taken……..thank god for digital photography!