#BringWater with the Surrey County Cricket Team

In these very lean photography times it was a joy to get a call from old friends at the charity, Water Aid. Invited down to the Kia Oval cricket ground, home of Surrey County Cricket, it was an opportunity to be out and about again, doing what I do and meeting a few sporting giants.

Along with the charity’s videographer we had a very tight time-frame, less than half an hour, to capture interviews, footage and, in my case, plenty of action shots as well as portraits of key team members. Big cricketing names like Morne Morkel, Rory Burns, Liam Plunkett and Hashim Amla were among those who gave their time to support the #BringWater campaign. The challenge for me focussed on getting perfectly lit portraits of the players on a ground with harsh sunlight sweeping in and out of cloud. That was accomplished at pace with a quickly erected stand, a Godox AD200 light and modifier to overpower the sun right there on the pitch. With only a few minutes before training had to resume, I also needed enough ‘in action’ images of the players attempting to bat with the quarter-sized cricket bat provided. Two in five healthcare centres globally have nowhere for people to wash their hands - not good at any time and certainly not in a pandemic. Struggling with less than full essential facilities was at least partially symbolised by the batsmen’s struggle with a ‘less than full bat’.

Job done, we cleared off the pitch and training resumed. It felt good to be holding a camera again in such circumstances. The images came out well (see if you agree, below) and before I knew it, I was home editing like old times. Here’s hoping for more days like it soon.

Photographing a Mud Run

Sometimes I get asked to photograph a Mud Run. For the uninitiated a mud run is a lunatic endeavour undertaken by people who enjoy fun, mud, challenges, the outdoors, mud, achievement and more mud. It’s a bonkers event that looks like a lot of fun. I say “looks like” as I, naturally, have never run in mud or dived into mud or even worn particularly muddy clothes that much. I am the poorer for that as it definitely looks like people love their mud runs when I watch them hurtling through water and muck from a safe distance with a fast, long lens.

I love the images you can get at a mud run. There’s a freedom and a fun to all the runners you don’t always see at regular running events. People genuinely having fun, knowing this is nuts and they’ll be washing mud out of every crevice (sorry) for a week. Smiles abound, team spirit and camaraderie is evident all over the course. The action can be spectacular, especially when it all ‘goes wrong’ and runners face plant or slide, fall from monkey bars or grimace up a muddy hill. Lots of opportunity for great muddy face photography. I just need to stay away from the splashes.

The Virgin London Marathon 2018 with the British Lung Foundation

Another Marathon in London. The hottest one. Incredible efforts from 40,000 people through the most difficult of conditions for marathon running. I was on the Embankment, crouched on the tiny part of the pavement on the road-side of the barriers, which I had clambered over earlier in the day. Not strictly allowed but gratefully left alone by the two coppers cycling up and down on security watch in my stretch by the 25 mile marker.

This year I was working with the British Lung Foundation and their Team Breathe runners, about 130 of them in all. Here's a tiny sample of the day's photography ...