Sport

Rooni Siraj - Weightlifting Champion

I had the pleasure of photographing my good friend Rooni Siraj yesterday. Rooni is a weightlifting champion who represents England - but above & beyond that he’s a really nice guy. I met him on a weightlifting project I started 18 months ago and he’s the first Pro sportsperson I’ve got to know well. The dedication & sacrifice these people display is awesome. I photographed him at the British & the UK Championships last year & it really adds an extra dimension when you are rooting for one of the competitors. This image conveys how I see him - a real sporting hero (of mine).

Haroon Siraj, Weightlifting Champion

Haroon Siraj, Weightlifting Champion

Table Tennis - at last I get an opportunity!

I first approached Table Tennis England two years ago to seek permission to photograph at high level competitions. They were happy to give me a press pass but it turned out I’d just missed the once a year Nationals. Once the dates came out for the next year I discovered I was away on holiday! Anyway, finally yesterday I got my chance at the Mark Bates National Championships held at Nottingham University. Access was amazing, just a few metres from the players, but as always with indoor events lack of light was the main problem to overcome. I think I’ll get a few to work up though.

Table Tennis.jpg

Platform diving shoot

I did my third platform diving shoot at Ponds Forge last Saturday. This is the most technical shoot I’ve organised to date & involves me triggering 4 remote flashes from 70m away in the stands. I shoot at 1/2500s to freeze the water droplets so I need to use High Speed Sync for the flashes. I’m an engineer by background so if I’m honest the technical side fascinates me - I think I almost get as much pleasure from sorting out the technical issues as I do from taking the photographs! Anyway, all went well. Massive thanks to the girls & boys (& parents) of Sheffield Diving Club.

New sport lecture delivered at Bolsover

Sport is my favourite photographic genre and I’ve really enjoyed putting this new lecture together. It covers tennis, whitewater canoeing, horse jumping, athletics, squash, boxing & speedskating plus brief details on nine other sports that I’ve found don’t suit me (photographically that is). It’s a roadmap of how I’ve got the ‘in’, technical issues, camera settings and some processing examples. It seemed to go down pretty well, I certainly enjoyed delivering it. More details here.

David Keep Sport Lecture