Goatfish & Diver Photograph Wins Blue O2 Competition

As you may have read in one of my earlier posts I won a weekly photo competition whilst diving in Egypt. The winners from all the weekly competition were then put into the final and I am really pleased to say that mine was selected by the Judges, Dr. Alex Mustard and James Dawson.

The prize includes a week onboard one of the BlueO2 live aboard boats on an itinerary of my choice .

More info can be found Here.

It will give me a great chance to get some more underwater shots as I did not get as many as I would have liked last trip due to catching the flu whilst I was on the boat :(

Happy New Year to you all

Hello to all of you and a Happy New Year.

With the golf season on a little break, I get the chance to indulge myself with some wildlife photography. A side project I am working on is getting some photographs together for my local wildlife trust for a book that should be out in a couple of years time. I thought it would be a good idea to get some shots that include the snow that has fallen over the last few days as we don't tend to get a lot of snowfall on the coast.

I shot this Goldfinch on a twig using my 400mm with a 1.4TC to give me 580mm effective length. I used one of my 1D MkIIn cameras as the 1.3 crop sensor allows for a little more magnification as compared to my full frame cameras. Shooting birds

this small I would love to have the canon 600mm f4 as it gives you more reach but patience is the best weapon in the nature photographers armory.

I was stationed in a hide and the birds were being attracted to a bird table laden with nuts and seeds, which I am sure the birds appreciated in these harsh conditions. Talking of harsh conditions, I only managed about an hour and a half sitting in the hide before retreating to the warmth of home.

LET Qualifying School

After a two weeks of rain and snow delays Caroline Masson of Germany won the 2009 qualifying school. The weather, once again, was not conducive to great photography but, none the less it was , as always, a tournament of 2 halves. We had elation from the girls who secured their playing rights for next season and the other side of the coin from those girls who failed to make the cut.

I have a break from professional golf now for a few months so back home for Christmas and New year :)

In-Kyung Kim Wins Dubai Ladies Masters

Korean In-Kyung Kim held on to win the Dubai Ladies Masters by 3 shots. The weather was a little disappointing this year so there was not really the chance to get any of the shots I was after. Still it was nice to get out of the cold winter for a week. :)

The wide fairways and general access to the course meant that I found the 1.4 xTC was a really useful addition to the 400mm lens, especially when trying to achieve the type shot seen in the previous entry.

Next I'm off to La Manga in southern Spain for the final event of the year, golf wise anyway, the Qualifying school for the 2010 season.