“A Sporting Win” (by Kev Robertson PPSA EFIAP BPE1 APWF)
I bought my first camera which was second hand in 1995 and it was it was a Minolta digital and then I started taking the usual holiday snaps, and for the next few years that was all I used the camera for.
Then in 2019 after being retired for a couple of years and family and friends telling me my photos were really good I decided that I would like to take my photography further and as such I joined Bridgend & District Camera Club.
After joining the club, it did not take me long to find out that my photos were not as good as family and friends led me to believe.
Unfortunately, we then went into COVID lockdown during March 2020.
During lockdown the club laid on Zoom presentations by skilled and knowledgeable photographers from around the country. We regularly held weekly comps also via zoom and we regularly held photoshop training sessions via zoom given by the more knowledgeable club members.
I also signed up for various online photography courses learning how to use my camera and photoshop. So, in general, I used the lockdown period to increase my skills, knowledge and confidence both in photography and in using Photoshop.
One of our more experienced members suggested that to improve my photography I should enter Salons and/or go for recognition and that is what I have done. By entering Salons I see what everyone else is entering and hopefully learn from them.
At that time, I did not even know what a Salon was, and I did not have a clue who the WPF, PSA or FIAP were. So, I made up my mind to find out who they are and what they do and started to enter Salons and between 2019 and now I have been quite successful in getting Salon acceptances and a few awards and medals.
I still do not have a particular genre of photography that I favour, so I am still at the stage of trying anything and everything.
Since being a youngster, I have disliked all sport and, in our house, whenever sport comes on the TV it is time to change channel (my wife doesn’t like sport either). When doing my apprentice training with the Royal Air Force we had to choose a sport to do every Wednesday afternoon which I dreaded but I did find something and that was Sub Aqua diving which I did do for 25 years, progressing to Advanced Diver and leading diving expeditions in this country and abroad. Unfortunately, I wasn’t into photography then plus buying a camera and housing or a waterproof Nikonos IV would have been out of my reach.
Many years later whilst working in Cardiff, several opportunities arose to be invited to corporate sporting events, but I never got invited. I then asked my boss why I never got invited and he said it was because it was known how much I disliked sport. So, I said I would like an invite to a rugby match because I had never been to one, and as promised in 2015 I was invited to the Millenium stadium for a Wales/England match where the score was Wales 16 – 21 England which was good for us but it didn’t change my view on sports.
Now you may think I am going off track here but what I have found is that by trying as many different genres as possible I have found that SHOCK, SURPRISE – I do like sport photography – the games still bore me to death, but I do enjoy getting a decent photograph.
Your die-hard sports photographer will no doubt say to get a good photograph you need to anticipate the next move or action, which is something I can’t do, because I don’t know the rules or what usually happens next which means my sports shots are pure luck, by being at the right place at the right time.
Since trying sports photography, I have had a go at photographing, Rugby, Wheelchair Rugby, Football, Ice Hockey, Athletics, Point to Point Horse racing, Show Jumping and even Grey Hound racing.
My most successful image so far is the one at the top of this article which I call “Aberavons Ball” which I took at a match between Aberavon and Carmarthen Quins and has managed to get me two Gold Medals in International Salons.
The moral of the story is even if you don’t like a genre give it ago, you may just be successful in salons or competitions.