X-it Images by Ville Vuorinen

Emma Kimilainen 2nd in Silverstone

2009-10-03T15:38:00.003+01:00

Good third race from Emma Kimilainen in Silverstone - which soon must be coming her favourite track - starting from 5th in the grid Emma stormed to take the third place after the first lap.

A little luck also came to Emma's way as Tristan Vautier spun off the lead to let few drivers past. This gave Emma the second place - and clear view of the leader's (Maxime Jousse) rear-wing.

Kimilainen initially gained on Jousse - but it soon became clear that Jousse was just that little bit too fast on the day.

With few hairy moments where Emma locked breaks - kept me on the edge until the final lap. When Emma comfortably kept her second place - by keeping Paul Rees behind her.

Emma's podium place lifted her once again to the fifth place in the over all standings - past Rees, who over took Emma yesterday.

So - all to play for in the final weekend of the championship in two weeks time in Snetterton.

Photos from Emma's win will appear on MTV3 website and on Emma's own website.

More... Motor Sports

2009-10-03T11:32:00.003+01:00

Friday was a long day - night.

With the early start from Birmingham at 6am - and arriving (this time nice and smoothly) to Silverstone.

Few early morning shots of Emma Kimilainen for her website - non-racing time of images. Then the couple of qualification runs and one race to cover during the day.

Hopefully I managed to get some good shots for the website and other stuff.

This being my first days shooting this type of motor sport - it was a steep learning curve

and I attempted to cover as many angles as possible, as there wasn't much racing to photograph.

This was due to Emma Kimilainen having a racing incident during the first lap of the race. Which meant that my images from the race were restricted to the grid, start and Emma driving to the pit-lane with a flat tyre.

Suppose photography-wise there was something different to capture - as Emma Kimilainen stood on the pit-wall with her broken down vehicle on the front. As well as Emma's confrontation with the 'culprit' for her retirement from the race - Paul Rees.

Emma herself was not best pleased about the actions on the track - and was exchanging some rather heated words with Rees at the paddock.

As if the eleven hours of motor sport wasn't enough - I then dashed off to Milton Keynes to cover MK Lions vs Scottish Rocks BBL-basketball match.

My first 'pro' basketball event (domestic) in the U.K - surprised by the Arena the game was played in. Lights weren't anywhere near the lovely and bright lights of the home arena on LaNMKY.. but still, managed with ISO3200/1600 to keep the shutter speed around 1/500 at f2.8 / f3.2

Traffic along the M1/M6 was surprisingly busy at 10pm on a Friday evening as I made my way back to Birmingham.. off to bed around 12.30am and back up around 6.30am - to once again travel the now familiar trip down the motorway to Silverstone.

Saturday's first race of the FPA (Formula Palmer Audi) started around 9.30am - with Emma Kimilainen starting from way back from 12th on the grid.

But as Emma was saying to me yesterday - she is one of the best over-takers in the series and she once again rose four places during the first round.

With the top 4 running away - Emma's main rival during the race was Adam Foster, who kept the fifth place until the last lap and third last corner. In the Priory corner Emma managed to overtake Foster - to complete a superb rise from the 12th up to 5th.

With a fast lap-time in the race - it promises good things for Emma in regards to grid position for this afternoon's race.

Finnish TV station MTV3 - has been using some of my images from Silverstone. They have also written articles based on information that I have provided for them from the races. The two articles - mainly interest to people understanding Finnish are located at :

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2009/10/966979

And on Saturday MTV3 put a report/photo right after the first race :

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2009/10/967163

Emma Kimilainen's own website has posted few photos from Friday to the Silverstone, so nice to see that the images are finding their way out to the Internet and Media. Link to Emma's Gallery from Silverstone :

http://www.emmakimilainen.fi/app/gallery/gallery/-/dir_id/17/limit/24

Another hour or so to go before the next race - here's for hoping for a Podium finish for Emma!!

Friday at Silverstone

2009-10-02T08:39:00.002+01:00

Good morning!

Early morning here at Silverstone race track - a chilly 8 degrees when I arrive here. Now the sun is slowly warming the air and it starts to feel like one can stay outside without getting chilled to the bone.

Off to prepare for the two sessions of qualifying for the FPA series.

And a race in the afternoon - it's bit of a long day as it goes something like this... (to the beat :-) )

Wake up : 6am

In the car : 6.30am

Arrive at Silverstone (no congestion at M6/M1) : 7.40am

Ready at Paddocks : 8am

Few early morning shots : 'til 8.45am

FPA 1st Q : 10.15am

FPA 2nd Q : 2.25pm (Qualifying sessions are about 20mins each)

FPA race 4.55pm (nasty time for the direction of the sun)

So, there is a lot of empty time in between the sessions. Lets just hope the Media Centre is open today and I get decent speed Internet over there!

The Formula Palmer Audi (FPA) race finished around 5.30pm - after which I hopefully get to photograph Emma standing on the podium!!

After the car racing - I'll dash off to Milton Keynes to photograph a BBL Basketball match, and hopefully arrive back home by 10pm.

It is a tough life when your back is bothering you and you can't perform your full-time job *sigh*

Long day at ... the carpark

2009-10-01T22:24:00.003+01:00

So - Silverstone it was today for me, rental car picked up at 11am from the friendly people down the road. Waited for SatNav to find its signal once again as I started my way out of Birmingham - through Spaghetti-Junction and towards M6.

No problems finding my way to Silverstone - but that's when things started to complicated. Thursday being a practice day, the accreditation wasn't all in place which meant that I waited around an hour and half at the Silverstone Car Park 49 for the accreditation to be brought from .. somewhere :-)

The staff was very friendly and apologetic that my name wasn't there when I arrived and did their best to get it sorted as soon as possible.

In the end I was in holding my parking permit - weekend pass and off I went.

Next problem was - where to my photo-vest.

Media centre was all empty (did manage to get to the F1 podium though.. another Finn who has stood at the podium. So add that to your list of Hakkinen's and Raikkonen's) and I was sent back to the main gate/reception to pick it up - who then in turn forwarded me to Race Control..

All in all it took me around two hours and twenty minutes from the time I arrived at Silverstone - to be parked and ready with all my gear. Which was good - as this left me 10 minutes spare before the FPA (Formula Palmer Audi) practice session started.

One thing that I would've liked a little more information was the places allowed to photograph from. No one was anywhere to stop me from photographing - so I pretty much went where-ever I wanted to. Of course keeping good sense and an eye on safety.

I did get some nice shots (IMHO) from the Finnish driver I was here to photograph (Emma Kimilainen) - but once again due to the 'Big World' rules - I am not allowed to post them in a public gallery. I will post a link to Emma's website once the photos go up there.

Back to Silverstone tomorrow - for more of the same!

Silvestone - here I come

2009-10-01T09:35:00.003+01:00

Been resting the back for few days - which has been nice. Although it still gives me a little trouble, but not much else I can do really - rest, be active, do what you normally do, don't sit, sit, walk, don't walk... that's what I should/shouldn't do :-)

Anyways, off to photograph Emma Kimilainen, A Finnish Formula Palmer Audi driver at the Silverstone GP this weekend (thursday - saturday).

First time for me doing this sort of sport, so really looking forward to it.

Although not looking forward to the noise of the cars - for once it'll feel silent on the way back from the shoot.

Today it is just the free practise sessions - so I am hoping for plenty of access to the pit-lane for some close-up shots and a chance to look around the track for good positions to shoot the race.

Races themselves only last for about 30 minutes - or 30 laps, so that's not many chances you get to snap a photo. I can see why many papers use agencies to cover these races (more photographers - more angles to get images).

But sometimes we 'little people' get the chance as well - which I am thankful for.

That is all for this morning - hoping to update tonight on how things went.

Saturday of Surprises

2009-09-26T22:30:00.003+01:00

After finishing editing images at 3am on Saturday morning, I was thinking about a peaceful day ahead with a good lay-in. I was all shattered when waking up at 9ish in the morning - and only managed to edit some more photos (about 150 or so) and return the rental car.

With the back still not good enough - I was not able to make it to the football game in Worcester, as I am not able to carry anything on my back yet due to the injury. Walking and sitting down are getting close to normal, with some pain when walking.

But then early in the afternoon, after a browse to basketball team's website - I noticed that they were playing season's opening game tonight. And with a ride to the game and back organised, I was off (with half empty batteries in my cameras) to the game.
Tricky light at the Leisure centre, and with the A's playing in dark jersey's it was not an easy task for someone half asleep :-)

Still managed to get few semi-decent shots at the game - of which you can see at : http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/birminghamathletics

This season promises to be exciting one for the A's - they have started to officially work with the BBL (professional basketball league) in an effort to be able to get a BBL team for Birmingham for the 2010-11 season. So, it should be exciting off the court and hopefully on it as well.

Tomorrow should hopefully be a day of total rest, so looking forward to that.

Sad evening in Manchester

2009-09-26T01:53:00.002+01:00

What can I say - I know that as Sports Photographer one should try not to 'live the event' and approach it from purely professional point of view. But personally I do find that difficult sometimes, and tonight was one of those times.

When you have followed/photographed someones career for few years and slightly gotten to know the person/team, you inevitably will feel sympathy for them.

It was only few hours earlier yesterday (it is past midnight now) that Asikainen was measuring the ring at the Manchester Velodrome - and I was having a short chat with him. And Amin has won much during his career - but as a person he is one of the most down to earth people I've had pleasure of meeting.

He seemed relaxed and full of confidence at 3pm when we walked out of the Velodrome into the sunny autumn afternoon.

Next time I saw Amin was as he was making his entrance to the Arena, to the beat of AC/DC's Hell's Bells song. (This song will always remind me of Asikainen's entry to the ring).

From my vantage point at ringside I caught glimpses of Amin getting final instructions from his manager/trainer Pekka Maki - after entering the ring Amin seemed ready to go and was suitably 'agitated' towards his opponent.

Myself and the other photographers all agreed that Asikainen needs to protect himself for the first couple of rounds and wear Macklin down. Sadly this was not the case - before Asikainen had managed to land a solid bunch on the Birmingham boxer - Macklin connected with Amin's jaw and Amin went down for the first time.

With the eight count the fight was allowed to continue, but Macklin was sensing an early chance of a win and was pressing on like mad - and only moments later another hit, this time to Amin's head, brought Asikainen crashing down to the canvas.

Asikainen looked dazed and seemed to even look into his corner (trainer Maki) and shook his head as he was sprawling down in the ropes. As Asikainen rose from the floor he did look fuddled and the Italian referee was quick to stop the fight.

Asikainen did protest furiously that he would've been able to continue - but in all honesty it was probably better that the fight was not allowed to go on any longer.

Photos from the night have been well used on the Finnish MTV3.fi website - this time their 'gallery' is taken from video footage which shows that punch that ended the fight. But my images are appearing in most of the articles related to the fight on their website - which at the latest count seems to be at least around 10 or so.

I will post my own Fight Night Manchester - Gallery later online. But now, at 2am - it is time to hit the sack and get some sleep.

Amin ! If this was your last fight, I have to say it has truly been a pleasure watching you fight and to get to know a little. I hope to see you as a trainer/promoter in the future and wish you all the best.

THANK YOU!

Asikainen - Macklin fight closing in

2009-09-25T15:59:00.003+01:00

Manchester - 4pm

Just come back from photographing Asikainen measuring the the ring at the Manchester Velodrome. Asikainen and manager Pekka Maki seemed happy enough with the size of the ring (around 7 meters).

Talking to Amin, he seemed on a good mood - and ready for the evening.

The night before (as could be guessed) was not the most peaceful one for Amin, early to bed but woke up around midnight and went for a walk to relax a little.

(not many people would say a walk after midnight in Manchester is the most relaxing :-) )

After that a good nights rest until the morning - Asikainen and Maki arrived to the Manchester Velodrome around 2.30pm, and spent an hour looking around, while Team GB cycling team was whizzing around the Velodrome at speeds which seemed to impress Team Asikainen.

Dressing rooms were not yet available for Asikainen to inspect - so that had to wait until the evening.

Maki and Asikainen then returned back to their hotel - where Amin will relax before his fight. Which is scheduled at 10.05pm local time.

Once again photos from the measuring are appearing on the MTV3 website at : http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/muutlajit2008/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/muutlajit/2009/09/961953?nyrkkeily

Nothing very special about these - but something that doesn't get seen always before a fight, so nice for fans to see how the boxers are preparing for the evening.

Two more hours for myself before the doors open to the Arena - off to ASDA (free advertising..geez). to get snacks for the drive back tonight. Late night ahead of me - and hoping for a good fight - with Asikainen returning to Finland with EBU-title!!

Boxing and the beautiful game

2009-09-25T10:06:00.005+01:00

Thursday saw me traveling to North West of England - Hyde and Rochdale.

First in the program was a weigh-in for the EBU boxing title-fight at Hatton House in Hyde. I've been photographing a Finnish boxer Amin Asikainen for a while now, and by a lucky strike his fight now is in Manchester - which nice for me after moving back here from Finland.

As well as the promoter P3 Boxing - the images went to a Finnish MTV3's website - link to the weigh-in photos : http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/muutlajit/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/muutlajit/2009/09/961133?nyrkkeily

Good fun to see the Team Asikainen once again - had a nice chat with the manager, Amin and Amin's dad - amongst others.

The big fight in on tomorrow evening at the Manchester Velodrome... look out for the photos!
The days second trip was to the Spotland Stadium (Spotland..funny old name for a football ground.) to photograph the emerging talents on the Women's football.

Final qualifier for U19's EURO 2010 in Macedonia - game that was to decide the group winner between England and Norway.

Photos from this one can be seen at : http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/englandvsnorge09

Norway had the slight edge going into the game, thanks to their 12-0 trashing of previous opponents. So a draw was good enough for them - England on the other hand are the reigning U19 European Champs, so they were confident of a result in the game.

The first half saw England dominate the game and scoring a goal - but the Norwegians took the game to the English in the second half and deserved their equalising goal.

For photographing conditions - both events were pretty good. Hatton House had good lights and wasn't needed to crank up the ISO too much. Also there was pretty free movement to get the shots needed, so a big thanks to the Hatton Promotions for making it easy !

Rochdale stadium was a pleasure to work with - compared to the darkness I usually encounter at Worcester. ISO 2500 was OK to keep me going through the game, could've upped it to 3200 by the end. But decided not to - Norwegian celebrations were nicely right in front of me,so good set of images from that one off to the clients!

Back problems are still there - taking things very easy and being careful with it. Still very stiff and not able to do lifting or bending down normally. But with photo-work this won't effect me so much - most of the time you get to sit pretty comfortably anyways :-)

Aston Villa 1 - Cardiff City 0

2009-09-23T22:02:00.001+01:00

Nothing to do with work really - not that I wouldn't mind photographing at Villa Park!

Went to League Cup game - which Villa scraped with another Gabby-Goal.

Nice set-up from Big John for the goal.

Second half was just hanging in there (with another missed penalty - it's two scored from the last four.

Cardiff were unlucky to have their goal ruled as off-side, in all fairness they probably would've deserved the goal. But, that's sport - bring on the next round!

World Cup of Judo - Birmingham

2009-09-21T20:32:00.002+01:00

Photos : Ville Vuorinen / www.xit-images.com (for Finnish Judo Association)
Photos : Ville Vuorinen / www.xit-images.com (for Finnish Judo / Press)
Photos : Ville Vuorinen / www.xit-images.com (For Finnish Judo/Press)

World Cup of Judo 2009 - Birmingham

Still suffering big time from the back injury - but more able to walk now, so decided to have a go at trying to photograph at the World Cup of Judo at the NIA in Birmingham.

Got my wife to carry the camera gear to the venue - as my back isn't taking that yet. But standing/sitting down was OK for the couple of hours of Judo over the weekend.

Judo was one of the sports that I had never tried to photograph before, so it was a big learning curve to try and get anything useful out of the weekend.

To be honest - I gained a lot a respect for people who do Judo photography (and do it good) - there are so many obstacles to consider with this sport.

You have the referee walking around the mat, players are facing this and that way, lighting is quite poor... the list would go on and on if I wanted it to.

But - as a photographer you are supposed to find ways to overcome these issues, and when you put your mind to it - it is quite possible.

First positive aspect was the angle you photograph from - with the mats being raised from the floor. Even standing up you will be looking up to the fighters on the mats, giving you a nice perspective of the action.

The poor lighting also worked to photographers advantage, with the mat lit so well and rest of the arena quite dark. You get the fighters nicely isolated from the background - sometimes the dark hair gets a little too much blended into the background. But in general it gives some striking images.

I hope you do spare a moment or two to visit the gallery to view some of the images - as Judo is a sport that does not get much coverage in the main stream media.

Good example of this being the local media in Birmingham which had nothing of the event in Monday mornings papers - despite some of Europe's best judo players being in town.

But - the fifth tier of English football still manages to find plenty of coverage - despite these games only attracting few hundred spectators (where as the Judo had thousands). This is what you have to fight against sometimes as a sports reporter/photographer.

BBC on the other hand did have short reports from the World Cup - but the photos they used were not from the tournament. I am sure one of the eight or ten photographers at the event would have been happy to provide them with up-to-date images.

Now - it is back to trying to get my back functioning so that I am able to operate normally - and also give a hand to the better-half with some housework... She has been working too hard to keep me happy for the last weeks.

Luckily she can escape me for few days as she hits Dublin for a long weekend at the end of this week.

Long Silence

2009-09-15T10:30:00.002+01:00

So - I was forced first to be without my cameras due to the cleaning, which ended up costing a tad over £400 (ridiculous money :-) ).

And what happens as soon as I get the gear back?

Well, of course I manage to injure my back...

Old injury which first surfaced about three/four years ago, when carrying a washing machine up the stairs and I managed to snap the back badly that time.

Since then it hasn't taken much to get it snapped again - and about ten days ago at work I felt it twinge a bit. But I was still able to keep working, and kept going for the next week or so. Then last Thursday at the end of the shift the back just felt very tight and I was having trouble walking - I did manage to get home and was about to go to visit a GP. When I started to get these really strong cramps/spasm in my back and wasn't able to move.

During the next couple of days I was stuck to bed/chair and every time I tried to walk - I just fell straight back to the floor with the cramps.

Calling the NHS helpline they told me it was 'mistake' to walk back from work that last day, and I should probably take it easy for a while.

Weekend went pretty much with minimum movement and lots of pain when I did move. On Sunday I've started to move around a lot more (relatively speaking) and am able to keep walking for longer periods, without spasms/cramps.

Today I've even been for a little stroll outside - and managed to keep walking for almost an hour. Now all that need to be resolved is the occasional cramps when walking and trying to be able to bend-over a little..

As to when will get to take some photos again...hopefully soon.

No cameras or lenses

2009-08-21T15:05:00.003+01:00

Very quiet week - after Monday took the cameras and lenses to be cleaned and checked up. Not wanting to leave smears or other stuff to the sensors, and I wouldn't even know where to start with cleaning the lenses..

Took them in on Tuesday, not trusting the Royal Mail took the train to Stoke-On-Trent about 40 minutes away from home and delivered them to the shop myself.

For the first time having some advantage of the CPS membership, as that provides a quicker turn-around time for the gear to be returned to me. Their aim is to do it three days, although today being Friday and not hearing anything from them yet - and them being closed over the weekend, can't see myself getting them before Monday/Tuesday next week.

Has felt very strange not to have the gear ready to 'go' in the back - so used to the bag being ready and full of camera gear.

This has been the first time in about two years when I am totally without a camera - and it has been refreshing.

Now that the weekend is getting closer - would be nice to have them 'just incase' something would turn-up. Luckily the teams I mostly photograph are playing away this week so I am not missing them.

Few things next week - so hope that there is nothing major wrong with the gear, otherwise I might without it for quite some time to come (not to even mention the cost of things.. :-( )

Birmingham City start the new season with a win!

2009-08-16T22:39:00.002+01:00

PHEW !!

What a weekend, it's been non-stop since Friday morning.

Here's a little re-cap of the weekend.

Friday :

Wake-up : 7am

Edit photos : 7.30 - 12.00

Train to London

Check-In at the hotel : 2.45pm

Catch the tube (Euston - North Greenwich) : 3pm

Arrive at O2 : 4.30pm

First game : 6pm

Break between games : 40 mins (editing time)

Second game : 8.30pm

Finishes : 10.30pm

Edit few photos and send them off

Catch the tube : (North Greenwich - Euston) : 11.00pm

Arrive at Euston : 11.45pm

Shower - Editing until :1am

Saturday :

Wake-up : 8am

Edit photos until : 9.30am

Breakfast

Catch train (no tube to O2) : 11am

Arrive at O2 (after 2mile walk from train) : 12.30

First game : 3pm

Break between games : 40 mins

Second game : 5.30pm

Game finishes : 7.45pm

Quick edit

Catch a taxi to Euston (50mins!!!)

Arrive at Euston : 9.05pm

Train to Birmingham (last of the evening) : 9.24pm

Arrive home : 11.45pm

Sleep : 12.20am

Sunday:

Wake-Up : 8.15am

Photo editing until 10.30

Catch a train to Stratford-Upon-Avon : 11.18

Walk 2.5miles to football ground

Game at : 2pm

Leave game two minutes before final whistle

'Run' 2.5miles to train

Train back : 4.28pm

Home : 5.40pm

Cook dinner ( First time I have eaten since Thursday evening!! - proper food)

Edit more photos until : 9pm

Watch crappy TV for an hour..

Write Blog :-)

Now - what did I achieve with all that rushing around :

Please, do make it worth my while and have a look at the photos (and leave a comment while you do).

Links to Game on at O2 : http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/f80633119

Links to Birmingham City vs Watford : http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/birminghamwatford

So, that is what my weekend was like.. hectic and not much food (lots of Krispy Cream donuts and Lucozade - that's what the press was munching at the O2).

Few thousand photos edited, one very bad migrane.

The glorious life of a Sports Photographer - but as with all the jobs, you only do it if it is something you enjoy! And I would not have changed a single thing from last weekend (maybe the migrane I could have done without).

Now - if you excuse me, I think I might have deserved an hour or two of sleep.

Tomorrow it is still more editing images - and another football match to attend in the evening!

Day 1 - Game On at O2

2009-08-15T14:09:00.004+01:00

So - first evening is behind me at the O2 event.

First of all, my little complaint about the lack of desks. There actually are plenty of them, and they are all court-side so photographers don't need to run back and forth - nice -

Lights at the O2 aren't the best I have seen, there is a lot of dark seats and curtains hanging around the Arena. So light gets sucked to them.

Honestly speaking there is more light in some Finnish school auditoriums...

The lights on the ceiling are also not perfectly positioned for basketball court - with the other end suffering from lights right above the rim. And also, not all the available lights were used on Friday's game.

Attendance (both press and spectators) was less than expected by myself. Only about seven photographers turned up for Friday - possibly more coming for today.

Spectators would've fitted into an arena 1/10th the size of O2 - but, with the Olympics coming here in three years it is good for Team GB to get used to the Arena.

Although yesterday evenings game Team GB - Poland felt more like it was being played in Poland. WIth the Poles turning out in force to support their team.

Uploaded photos to the Zenfolio galleries for everybody to see - also, few images on display in various foreign web-sites.

Game on at the O2 - photos/stories

2009-08-14T16:33:00.002+01:00

LONDON - O2 Arena

Return to the O2 arena after couple of years - last time here being the opening show of Bon Jovi's Lost Highway one night stand.

This time - Game on at the O2, a four team basketball tournament in preparation for Team GB's travel to EURObasket 2009.

Few initial observations to begin with, London's tube has decided that it would be nice to have engineering work on the 15th and 16th of August - the two weekend dates of the tournament. Which makes is rather difficult to travel to and from the games, but as always in Britain if it is not football - who cares ;-)

Media reception was very swift and easy process - but then again I have photographed Team GB before - and am one of the few who also covers the women's games.

Media room for photographers - even if I arrived about two hours before the first game (which does not even feature Team GB) the SIX tables were already occupied by media. There is room for a total of 10 people at the media room to work on tables. Not really enough considering the venue and amount of media attending.

Other than that - all well so far, and looking forward to two exciting days of photography at the O2. And if this Arena in England does not have enough light... I dread to think what it will be like at the BBL and EBL during the domestic season. But.. lets not speak too soon.

Photos of the Game on at the O2 will be posted here in the Blog as well as in the galleries at X-it Images and Zenfolio.

Hope you'll enjoy them!

Jussi Jaaskelainen testimonial - Bolton

2009-08-09T16:59:00.003+01:00

My first chance to do photography at a Premier League ground - as I photographer the Jussi Jaaskelainen Testimonial for Finnish press. Afternoon game, so didn't get to appreciate the numerous floodlights but very nice stadium and enjoyed a good afternoon.

Photographers press-room wasn't much to write home about, it had the space to work (could've done with chairs though...). No WI-FI access either, which meant editing photos at the press-room and off to McDonald's to send them onwards.

As a Finn it was great to see a Finnish player getting a testimonial in the Premier league - something that I personally doubt that will happen in a long time (if ever again). The fans really did seem to like Jaaskelainen, and I am sure the fact that he has stayed with Bolton - despite rumors linking him to bigger clubs - has something to do with it.
Photography wise it was more chasing images of Jaaskelainen - and less about getting good action images. The best ones (IMHO) were as he entered from the tunnel with his kids - got the full stands nicely framing Jussi in some of them (not displayed here).

The game being still pre-season, it never raised to the level I was expecting it to do. And to be honest, I probably took less images than in a conference game... which tells of the lack of action in the game.

Getting to/from the stadium by public transport was a slight hassle - no extra carriages in the trains from Bolton, so even the train three hours prior to the game was jam-packed with people. Coming back was easier, as it took time to edit some photos and eat a McD's - so most people had already disappeared by then.

Little argy-bargy with the Wanderers and Hibs fans at the game - by the end of it it was more of shouting match between the fans, than watching what was happening on the pitch. Hibs fans acknowledged Jaaskelainen well as he walked to the goal at their end - big plus for them for that!

Not sure what sort of planning it is to put the two opposing sets of fans right next to each other... but it did give something to photograph, so I should be thankful ;-)

Bit of Conference Football, International Basketball and Women's Premier League next week in the calendar..

Night view of Birmingham

2009-08-07T15:19:00.003+01:00

With the quiet week - this was something that I captured few nights ago.

After spending some time in the late evening watching boring TV - I was ready to head off to bed around 1am in the morning. As I went to the kitchen to have a last drink before going to sleep, and looked out of the window I thought to myself that the view in front of me just might be worth taking a photo or two of.

So, off to the office and get the camera and lens ready - prop the tri-pod to the window and experiment with the exposures.

Considering that the image was taken through the window - I was quite happy with the image. One of the biggest 'faults' is the double moon - but other than that the image is almost like it was taken without the glass in the way.

I also experimented with some zooming-images, which came out OK - but as it was the first time I experimented with zooming while taking the image. I do know that there is a lot to learn with the technique.

After taking the image above - the moon quickly moved higher and was soon out of the ideal range composition-wise.

Just shows that sometimes it is worth staying up late and you might get something special.

Worcester City - New Kit launch 2009-10

2009-08-05T15:33:00.002+01:00

Went to Worcester yesterday evening for the launch of Worcester City's new kit for the 2009-10 Blue Square Conference South season.

A typical rainy British 'summer' evening for the launch - so we photographers went to the stands (to keep our kit dry) to photograph the portraits/face-shots, before heading down to the pitch to snap the team photos.

Female beauty at the launch was represented by Miss Worcester - as is appropriate for a football team's new kit launch event.

Here is a link to the Worcester City Gallery - from where you will find the images of each of Worcester City's players in the new home kit for the 2009-10 Conference South season.

http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/f50496839

The season kicks-off on Saturday the 8th of August - and I will be at St George's Lane to photograph the opening match of the new season

During the season - do feel free to visit the Blog or the Photo-Gallery for the (hopefully) most comprehensive photo-coverage of Worcester City's season.

Another weekend of sports

2009-08-03T15:02:00.003+01:00

So - another weekend gone-by and more sports photographed.

On a Friday it was the second of the England - India field hockey test series at Birmingham University. At the end of a mainly sunny day - the rains once again seemed to find their way to University by the starting time of 6.30pm.

This gave me no chance to experience this sport at the 'ideal' photographic conditions, luckily though the rain was nowhere as hard as it was two days earlier and the focusing was slightly easier.

Seeing how the winter is shaping up - I do hope that I can plenty of chances to photograph the University's women's team during the 2009-10 season..

There is around 60 images in the www.xit-images.com gallery, as well as at the more popular http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/p14140766 gallery. I hope you'll enjoy some of the images over at the Galleries.

Funnily enough I did receive positive comments for my field hockey images while photographing on Sunday.

Sunday - which was the second pre-season match for the Birmingham City Ladies - and another convincing victory for the Blues. The contest was not as physical as the previous game against West Ham United. But there was still plenty of entertainment for the crowd to see.

Photos from the Sunday's football match can be once again viewed at the www.xit-images.com and http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/p256834872

Only 50 images from that game posted to the galleries - due to quite a few similar looking images. And for press' sake I always keep few of the 'better' images in private - incase someone wants to come and buy 'exclusive' images in the future.

Next week will be slightly more quiet for me - with only Tuesday's kit-launch of Worcester City and the Conference season opener on Saturday in the calendar (for now). But - will keep eyes open for any other possibilities of photography during the week. Then again - no sports photography will mean that I might get more time to do some other type of photography instead.

England vs India - Birmingham University

2009-07-30T18:13:00.003+01:00

RAINY EVENING OF FIELD HOCKEY.....

My first ever assignment to cover field hockey, was not favored by the weather as the Birmingham University pitch was hit by the summers hardest downpour. The crowd were forced to peek at the game from underneath their umbrellas - and the players were playing in a water filled field. The game itself was quite entertaining, and fast paced - especially the quickness that the ball hit was something to get used to and many of my shots were left missing the ball. Also the rain was something that made it very difficult to focus the images perfectly, as there was water spraying everywhere and it made the focusing not always hit the 'sweet spot'.

As a sport to photograph - I feel that field hockey was something that I feel could be something that I could easily get to enjoy photographing more in the future. But with the market for sales - I doubt it would be a money-spinner, but the images that you can capture in the game are something that really have something special in them. And the next chance for me to attempt to photograph field hockey - will be on Friday this week, when the teams face each other in the second of the three match series.

For more photos from the games - visit the link to my Zenfolio gallery.

Worcester City - Kidderminster Harriers

2009-07-29T13:38:00.003+01:00

Tuesday evening I went to photograph another one of Worcester City FC's pre-season friendly matches, this time against local rivals Kidderminster Harriers.

As I stepped off the train, there was a small group of Kidderminster Harriers' supporters, singing that they hated Worcester. Interesting choice to come and visit a city that they hate ;-)

The game itself was the first time I had photographer at St George's Lane under floodlights.

Initially the lights seemed 'OK' - despite the dark clouds and drizzle I could still keep the ISO to reasonable levels and have good shutter speeds of 1/500 or faster.

But as the game went on, and the light at the ground got gloomier, the real challenge hit me

with the dwindling light I was quickly switching the ISO higher and higher. And before soon I was forced to use ISO 3200 and f2.8 - and was managing with a reasonable shutter-speed of 1/320, which is still OK for football.

Around the half-way point of the second half, the light has reduced to levels that forced me to under expose my images by couple of stops, just to have any chance of catching something. And with the 300mm lens, even if it was on a monopod, you still would prefer speeds to be no less than 1/250 - 1/320 (to avoid the shake).

From the images in the Blog - the top two were taken when the light was getting to it's worse levels. They are slightly dark, but shooting the images in RAW format did allow me to save them a lot more than would have been possible had I been shooting in JPEG.

So, another night of learning the conditions in the English minor league grounds - perhaps in five years time I might get the chance to experience Villa Park or something like it.

How I yearn back to the well light Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland...

Links to the match images : http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/p877996799 or at www.xit-images.com

Footballing weekend

2009-07-27T12:41:00.003+01:00

Image (top) : Birmingham City Ladies FC vs West Ham - played at King's Lane in Stratford-Upon-Avon on the 26th of July 2009.

(This pre-season 'friendly' was far from it - with bloody noses, wind getting knocked out, and plenty of tough challenges. This game offered something for everyone.)

The pre-season of football is getting into full swing in England - and I photographed the matches of Worcester City FC and Birmingham City Ladies FC over the weekend.

Good thing about the weekend games is that they start nice and early during the day, so the light is normally very good for photography. Which was definately the case in Saturday's game Worcester's St George's Lane - where the light was brilliant, most of the time.

With Sunday's games at Stratford-Upon-Avon, the light was slightly poorer with the heavy rain-clouds hanging over King's Lane.

Photographing games for a certain team presents its own challenges, as mostly they will want images of their team attacking. With the bright sunshine, it is very difficult (sometimes impossible) to keep photographing into the sun. So, for one half of the match you will be mainly photographing the mid-field and defense. Which of course is nice for the fans, who can therefore also see images of the defenders, and of course sometimes a nice sliding tackle by your favorite defender is the 'different' image that you want to capture.

Another challenge that the lower league/women's football will be offering during the winter, will be the quality of flood-lights at the grounds. With the lack of resources (in the current financial climate) I am sure it will be a huge challenge to capture the games in mid-November gloom at 9pm. But, it would be boring if photography would always be hassle and challenge free :-)

Photos from the three games (Birmingham City Ladies and West Ham played first teams and reserves) can be seen in my web-galleries at :

http://googabuphotos.zenfolio.com/ (this gallery displays the images in max. 1100 pixels on long side and has a large watermark. It is also slightly faster than the other gallery.)

The other site where to view the images is :

http://xit-images.com (over here go to the 'Featured Galleries' - where the latest images are on display. This gallery shows images in max. 1500 pixels on the long side and does not have a water mark. Due to this being a Flash-site, the loading of this is a little slow on any but the fastest connections.)

The Beginning

2009-07-21T11:57:00.002+01:00

Hello!

With the changes in many aspects of work - and personal life. I thought to open my Blog, to accompany my new website - as the Blog will allow me to write more in detail about various aspects of the photography, that would otherwise seem out of place at the photo-site.

The Blog will not only be used to 'promote' the photography site, but will also share information about other aspects of my work and life in general.

I hope that some of you will find useful information on these pages - and that you will enjoy my little ramblings.

X-it