Alinghi on Lake Geneva

This morning I had a quick flight from Barcelona to Geneva for the Evian Masters Golf event which starts on Thursday. I had just arrived at the hotel in Evian Les Bains when I noticed the Americas Cup yacht Alinghi undergoing sea trial on Lake Geneva. The yacht itself has been a source of controversy recently as it is the first Americas Cup yacht to have an engine, albeit one not used for powering the boat but for powering the massive winches for the sails. Anyway I thought I would grab a shot or two. I used the 70-200 f2.8 and 400mm to try and get the best framing. There is a bit of a mist on the lake so you I had to boost the contrast a little in photoshop. I also used a polariser to boost the sky but that not in the shot on the left. Tomorrow the Evian Masters begins in ernest so back to golf photography.

Spanish Open.

Last weeks' tournament at Panoramica Golf and Counrty Club in Spain gave me an opportunity to top up the tan/ burn in the 30+ degree heat. Becky Brewrton of Wales proved to be a popular winner. She claimed her second LET title in the heat and in doing so qualified for the Evian Masters, one of the two flagship events in Europe. The shot on the left was taken with the 400mm f 2.8 and 1D MkIIn at 1/1250 f5 The shutter speed allows the club and ball to be frozen whilst the aperture gives just enough depth of field to the image. It can be fun to play with shutter speeds when taking shots of bunker play as you can capture some really cool effects with the sand club and ball with motion blur.

Dorset Diving.

With a week or so away from golf photography, I have been able to slip into the water for a dive or two. The water here has warmed up considerably from the 7 degrees C we had at Christmas time. A balmy 18 degrees signaled it was time to don the 5mm wetsuit and spend some quality time with the creatures under Swanage Pier. I did a couple of solo dives under the pier and then persuaded my girlfriend to venture into UK waters for the first time. This enabled me to get someone to model for me for some wide angle shots under the pier. This in itself was quite challenging as the visibility was not at its best but I managed a couple of shots. I also went for another dive with Alex Mustard who wanted to get some shots of Tompot Belnnys for an article he is writing for a diving magazine.

I also spotted my first flatworm on this dive (pictured right) as well as 2 different species of pipefish and a scorpion fish.

I have uploaded some more shots of the other creatures that I found here. It always amazes me how much life can be found in UK waters and I would highly recommend it. I was using my Canon 5D with a 100mm macro lens and occasionally a 500D dioptre for the smaller stuff. I was also testing out two Sea and Sea YS 110 Alphas that I have just bought. These are a lot lighter than my other strobes, (YS 250 Pro), but still pump out enough light to be hitting apertures of f22 at 200 ISO.

Next week off to Spain for the Open de Espana Femenino 2009.

After a rain soaked week in Ireland last year I arrived at Portmarnock Links only to get sunburnt. Portmarnock is a typically picturesque Irish links course with sand dunes and a view across the sea from a couple of tees. It was a busy week as I was shooting for the promotor as well as the LET so early starts and late nights were in order. The Vagliano Trophy team, the best Amateur girls from the UK & Ireland. were practicing before the tournament so I managed to get some shots for the Ladies Golf Union which can be viewed here. The good weather continued for the first three days of the tournament but the famous Irish weather returned on the last day. Not rain as you may be thinking but a sea mist that delayed play for about 3 hour in total. Diana Luna claimed her second LET victory, her first LET victory in 5 years. There is a break in the schedule for a week now so hopefully I will be able to get some diving in and increase my UK underwater portfolio.

ABN Amro Ladies Open 2009

The ABN Amro Open took place in Eindhoven, Holland. Eindhovensch Golf Club is about 15 minutes from the centre of Eindhoven and the layout is such that you feel like you are the only players on the course as each hole is shielded from the others by the woodland through which the course is built.

After three days of competition, Tania Elosegui of Spain claimed her first Ladies European Tour victory.

Sadly the weather was not the best and plenty of rain fell on the last day.

Next stop on the LET for me is the AIB Ladies Irish Open at Portmarnock Links just outside Dublin.

An overnight journey from the Ladies German Open took 20 professionals and myself to the Sudtirol Ladies Pro-Am 2009, A one round pro-am in Morano, Italy. Fine weather and a fantastic hotel and wellness centre was the perfect accompaniment  to the beautiful scenery of the Italian Alps. I could have spent a week or two there but sadly only had the one day's shooting with no time to really get any scenic shots. The photo on the left shows Denmark's Amanda Moltke-Leth teeing off on the 5th hole. The tour continues to Eindhoven in Holland this week on a tight tree lined course for the ABN Amro Ladies Open.

Last week the Ladies European Tour moved to Munich for the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open. The crowds were good and the weather was warm with blue skies that made using a polarising filter a must. The tournament went down to the wire with a final playoff hole between Jade Scheaffer of France and Spain's Paula Marti. Jade took the title with a 3 foot putt to seal her first Ladies European Tour win.

Polarising filters are incredibly useful bits of kit to have in your camera bag. They can be used to create a number of effects but are most commonly used to control reflections on shiny surfaces such as water of glass. Most useful for my however is the ability to create contrast between the white clouds and a blue sky. You can create some beautiful dark blues using a polariser and it is an easy way to enhance your landscape photography. It is also difficult to replicate the effects of a polarising filter in photoshop especially when dealing with reflections on water.

I have experimented with several makes of polarising filter over the years and have settled on a B&W for its optical quality and solid construction. A quick word of caution before buying a filter, make sure that you get a circular polarising filter not a linear one as most cameras metering / focusing mechanisms may be affected by a linear one. If in doubt, check the manufacturers guidelines.

The Ladies European Tour got underway this week with the first full field event of the year in Switzerland at the Deutshce Bank Ladies Swiss Open. Sadly there was only one day with decent light and the rain gear was tested to the full. On the positive side, the town of Ascona was just a few miles from the golf course and it wasn't long before camera crew, players and caddies alike were sitting on the shores of Lake Maggoire enjoying pizza and pasta. The tournament culminated with Norway's Marianne Skarpnord winning the event coincidentally on the Norway' National day. She took home just under €79,000, an Omega watch and some champagne, not bad for four days of golf Tomorrow sees the us off to Munich for a week at the Hypoveriens Bank Ladies German Open. If last year's event is anything to go by, blue skies and wide angle photography will be the way forward next week.

VCI European Cup

Last week saw the VCI European Cup take place at La Sella Resort in Near Alicante, Spain. It was a four day tournament comprising teams from 18 European countries plus two invites, USA and Australia. So it was back to lugging the 400mm f2.8 round the golf course. It was good to shoot a tournament as it had been a few weeks since the last one and it makes a change from underwater photography. 

The Dutch team, Christel and Marjet (left) were victorious, narrowly beating the French, Italian and Australian teams.

Underwater in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

For the last few weeks I have been in Sharm, training as a PADI Divemaster, so there has been little opportunity for shooting. I did have a chance to get one day off so the camera was in the water and take some shots. I also managed to spend a couple of days with guests helping them to improve and get the most out of the cameras and improve their underwater photography. Taking photographs underwater is something that is now accessible to more and more people, as the cost of buying the equipment necessary has dropped considerably and the range of cameras that now have housings has increased dramatically. The technology of the cameras themselves is also getting better with more megapixels, RAW format capability in many cameras as well as low noise at high ISO so taking photos should be easier than ever. However, any people are disappointed with the results that they get from their cameras, but, following a few simple guidelines along with a some insider tips, you can take some really fantastic underwater images. The image above is of one of the guests with her compact camera and external, slave, strobe, it was a new setup and she was struggling to achieve accurate colours throughout the image, by the end of a couple of dives she produced some really strong images of a turtle that, I am assured will be printed off and hung on the wall. If you have any questions about underwater photography, feel free to contact me via my website, here