It’s hard for …

It’s hard for me to believe but it’s been roughly 5 months since I last photographed a roller derby bout, so I’d been looking forward to last night for ages. It’s so easy to become absolutely obsessed with and when home bouts are quite rare I look at photos of other leagues/ bouts being added on facebook and get quite jealous that I’m missing out on the roller derby action. I’ve thought about contacting other leagues to take photos but when it came down to it, I couldn’t. Tiger Bay Brawlers is where it’s at for me. If I photographed anyone else I’d feel like I was cheating on them.

 I haven’t felt the need to do a lot of photography this year so far. I mean that in a good way, it’s all about the quality, not quantity. Capturing moments. I’ve done an unusually small amount of gigs this year (for me, at least) and when I have done them I’ve taken a lot less photos than I previously would. I’d like to do more but it’s about doing the right ones from now on. I’ve got a few weddings lined up assisting/ second shooting for Eleanor ( www.eleanorjane.co.uk ) which I can’t wait for, and we did our first one of the season on Friday in Oxwich Bay which was absolutely lovely. Barely a cloud in the sky and right next to the beach – we couldn’t ask for much more for the first wedding of the season!

Anyway, yesterday was finally bout day. Tiger Bay Brawlers vs London Rockin’ Rollers at Tal-y-Bont. We arrived just in time, after going to the pub down the road for some food and drinks and a catch up beforehand. I got off to a bit of a shaky start with my photos, but soon pulled myself together. Roller Derby is such a fast sport to photograph that it requires a slightly different technique to most of the stuff I do, and I always use two bodies with different lenses, both of which have slightly different methods of control. There were at least another four photographers yesterday too, so I really had to be on the ball. I don’t know about the other photographers, but I want to be the best in whatever situation I’m in. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to be, so I’m sure they’ll feel the same.

 Whatever the outcome with their photos, I’m really pleased with mine. I took less than half the amount of photos I’d taken at previous bouts and still came out with as many that I’d be pleased with. Less duplicates, more moments. There were a few that weren’t quite as good as I’d hoped, but I still feel I’ve made a massive amount of progress. I guess the way to judge will be the amount of Facebook comments and other feedback they get. In the meantime, all I can do is keep working at it.

As for the bout itself, Tiger Bay Brawlers were in control all the way, winning 254 -84. Standout performances (for me at least) came from Hello Reeshii, Bloxie Blackout and some killer hits from Kid Block, though it was a great performance all round.

Dear the next bout,

PLEASE HURRY UP,

Thanks,

Simon