Sports Sports Sports

Sports have always been an integral part of my life. Whilst I can usually be found Swimming, Cycling or Running these days, I do still like to participate with any sport that's going. (Quokka soccer being the weirdest! but that's a story and pic for another time should I ever get back to Perth one day). The one sport that has been a part of my life since I was eight years old is Golf. It is the one sport that I actually can win at. I guess all of those long days in the school holidays doing nothing but hitting golf balls has left me with a relative competence that I am really pleased about.

There are a number of quite remarkable things about golf. For instance we all know what the ultimate goal of the game is, but how often do we ever question just how monumental the task is. In no particular order of importance here are a few facts and figures. The golf ball is 43mm in diameter, The hole is just 108mm in diameter (which means that you have the size of the ball and 3/4 the size of the ball on each side should you hit the hole in the middle). We now must consider that the ball has to be hit from anything up to 690 yards away for a par 5 (that's well over a third of a mile!) Finally you have to hit this tiny ball to a tiny hole a very long way away with a club that is approximately the length of your leg and weighs half a kilo give or take. Oh and there will be undulating ground, trees, water and sand traps in your way! Talk about hand eye co-ordination, strategy, tempo and control. I think I'm starting to understand the appeal to conquer.

And eventually to todays picture. Sport Sport Sport requires practice practice practice. People who PLAY golf will never really master it. People who PRACTICE at golf will reap the rewards. My advice has always been, and will always be to practice frequently and play occassionally. OH! and the sooner you start the better!

Today's pic is a junior at The Warwickshire golf club staying till the floodlights come on and the sun sets. It reminded me of my youth and was a pleasant trip down memory lane. The pic has been doctored in photoshop and that's why some of it looks blurred or painted. I like the contrast of clarity and art. I hope you enjoy.

Comments on this blog are welcomed and any suggestions for future picture projects are gratefully received.

See you in a week.

A mixed week of joy and woe

This week has been a really strange one in the sammy house hold. On one hand a new lease of life and on another a lot to think about. The importance of real friends was realised when a couple of my greatest friends came over to visit this week. It didn't matter that we simply went for a curry and a beer (it's probably been 5 years since the last time we did this simple act) The importance was the support, encouragement and general feelgood factor that only occurs when you know that you are completely comfortable with your surroundings, and are truley looking forward to the company that you will be sharing. Thanks to Tom and Charly for being there.

Well 2009 has started fairly poorly and as an eternal optimist I decided to get out of bed at 5.30am on Saturday morning and headed out to TAKE this weeks blog pic. I say take because I literally stole the moment. The day was glum, rainy and I was extremely tired. I hunted around the usual pictureque and well photographed areas of L'Spa and couldn't find any inspiration. I then started to head home when I refused to admit defeat and found this scene awaiting me. I hope you like it. I have since decided to test my photoshop skills and I'm going to compose a compendium of shots like this to create a complete L'Spa montage. Piece by piece to create a large image encompassing houses, businesses and the tourist areas. I'll post it up when it's complete.

Cheers,

Sam.

HDR Trial

Here are my first attempts at combining images to create "Art" from a photo. Like most things artistic in nature the results draw highly subjective conclusions from different people. HDR (High Dynamic Range) see here http://www.vanilladays.com/ are the marmite of the camera world. Love it or hate it they are here to stay. I'm still practicing, but I like what I see in some of the examples. More practice and I may just get one right!