Telford Away, and the advantages of height

This Saturday saw us taking a road trip to Telford to see Phoenix play against the Tigers, and the biggest challenge that anyone can face when shooting at Telford is the lighting. Telford's lighting is some of the weirdest in the league, not in terms of quantity but in terms of colour - it's orange!

To give an idea of the colour-correction problems that Telford's rink brings, here's a 'before and after' view of one of the shots from the game:




The original shot was taken after selecting the closest white balance setting in the rink, so even that shot doesn't give away how orange the lighting is. It's like shooting a hockey game just after all of the participants have spent two days straight on a sunbed, then taken a bath in a large vat of Tango. God bless Photoshop!

The game did give me a chance to cut my teeth shooting a fight, as Andrew Sharp took on Daniel Croft in what turned into a toe-to-toe slug-out. I'm shooting with a D40 from up in the stands, and when it all kicks off, everyone jumps to their feet. This is one of those times when being six feet five really helps!

(By the way, I'm not boasting about my height, I've always found it odd when people do that. Your height is one of those things that you have absolutely no say in, so when I meet someone taller than me who says something like "Oh I'm six feet seven" I always say "I didn't realise it was a contest". But that's by the by....)

So I'm lucky in that I've been blessed with a few extra inches (of height, get your minds out of the gutter) and also blessed in this case by Andrew Sharp dropping the gloves pretty much in front of our block, so I was able to get some shots like these:



A cracking scrap, more than a little luck helping me out along the way! My Phoenix Photographer 'partner in crime' Lauren Freeman was sitting on the same row as me at the game, but was cursed with having taller people sitting in front of her when the fight broke out. So hopefully Andrew Sharp will do the decent thing and whup someone else this evening in front of Lauren's lens!

Link to the album on Flickr: Telford Tigers v Manchester Phoenix

Three shoots in six days

It's been a busy week of snapping! First up was the EPL Cup Semi Final last Thursday against the Basingstoke Bison, and with it being a weeknight game it was a jaunt up the motorway straight from work in order to make it to the game. The game started with Phoenix already 3-2 up from the first leg, but the bottom line is that on the night the Bison wanted it more, winning the game 6-4 and taking the series 8-7 on aggregate. The mood in the rink that night was a weird one, with the Phoenix Faithful watching the game slip away from us with a sense of doom and gloom that far outweighed the scoreline. Perhaps it was a chance at silverware slipping away that bothered people the most.

Anyway, for me it was business as usual, doing my best to get some shots that summed up the evening.




The frustrations that were rippling through the fans were also being felt on the ice, with Marcus Kristoffersson having to be held back by a linesman after one too many dodgy calls from the referee. Phoenix calling a time-out is something that only really happens when we're rattled, and it's safe to say we were rattled that night.

A full set of photos from Phoenix v Bison can be found here.

Next shoot was the regular Sunday home game, this time against Peterborough Phantoms, and this one went all the way to overtime with the Phoenix squeaking a win. Performance of the night was Curtis Huppe, finding the net no fewer than five times!




But for me, the highlight of the night came with the post-game presentations, when I had the pleasure of shooting not one but two of my friends being involved in presentations. First up was my friend and fellow photographer Lauren Freeman, having her picture taken with Andrew Sharp:



Also having her picture taken was my dear friend Helena Barnett, who was having a birthday surprise from Marcus Kristoffersson:



I think we'll have to chisel that smile off Helena's face!

A few weeks back I got a lovely shot of Marcus leading the victory wave, and this week it was the turn of Curtis Huppe to lead the celebrations. The Marcus shot was a mid-shot, so this time I tried something a little wider and got this rather nice shot that summed up the relief of the team at the win, and served as a perfect counter to the mood that followed the defeat against the Bisons three days before:



A full set of photos from Phoenix v Phantoms can be found here.

The third shoot was an incredibly fun experience. At the Cresta Court Hotel in Altrincham on Tuesday night, the Phoenix Supporters' Club staged "An Evening With Dave Simms". For those who don't know him, Dave Simms is a long-time member of the Sheffield Steelers IHC, he's the presenter of the ice hockey show on Sky Sports, and he's one of the most controversial figures in the sport. He's also a very funny man with an excellent ability to entertain an audience.



The evening was a great success, with plenty of tales, laughs and opinions from Mr Simms to keep us all entertained. I'd asked Dave on his arrival whether he'd mind me taking a few snaps during the evening, and he was very gracious, very accommodating, and all too happy to indulge me!



A full set of photos from "An Evening With Dave Simms" can be found here.

Business As Usual, Player Routines, a Friend's Achievement and a Tense Ending!

This past Sunday saw the Milton Keynes Lightning come to the Altrincham Ice Dome, boosted by the recent addition of Blaz Emersic, one of the best players in the league (in my humble opinion!) Sunday also saw the return of Helena, complete with her hip sitting right where it should, which meant that for me it was a return to business as usual with the camera!

Shooting the warm-up alongside Lauren Freeman gave me more chances to experiment with the wide-angle lens, with some pleasing results. One of the benefits of shooting the warm up every week is that before too long you learn the routines of some of the players, you learn that repetition is the key, and that at some points you can pretty much guarantee where a player will be. For example, Stephen Fone will always do some leg stretches right in front of one of the doorways to the Phoenix bench, which meant that I was able to open the door, crouch down, and get this shot:



As well as Foney's routine, another player who can be counted on to do the same thing every game is Curtis Huppe. Without even asking him, I know that one of Curtis' superstitions is to be the last Phoenix player to leave the ice at the end of warm-up, and he will do this after taking a shot into the empty net, after standing in front of one end of the bench. This is why if you look through many of my Phoenix albums on Flickr, you'll see shots like this one:



I swear, taking a shot of Curtis is becoming as much of a superstition as Curtis taking a shot on the goal!

This past Sunday also saw a departure from the norm with the match night programme. Instead of the usual graphic design on the front cover, we were treating to a rather nice portrait shot of Greg Wood, and the shot was the handiwork of fellow Phoenix photographer (and all-round nice lass) Lauren Freeman:



Getting a shot onto the cover is a heck of an achievement, and I am incredibly proud of Lauren - you go girl! Nice work!

The game itself looked like it was going to be a bit of a slaughter once we'd run up a 4-0 scoreline, but the Lightning aren't a team to be taken lightly. Suffice to say that a total of five goals and a couple of bouts of handbags later, the Phoenix scraped through with a 5-4 win. Normally a win is a cause for celebration, but when I went down to the ice at the end of the game to get some shots, the mood down there was somewhat subdued. None of the players seemed to be in the right frame of mind for the usual levels of happiness and relief that follow a win, and in my opinion that mood was written all over their faces. I got this shot of Curtis Huppe at the time of the Man Of The Match presentations:



When you win a game and still look that unsettled, you know it was a heck of a game!

Link to the Flickr album of the game: Phoenix v Lightning

Shooting With An Occupied Mind, and Some Good News All Round!

This past Sunday saw the Bracknell Bees come to the Altrincham Ice Dome to play against our Manchester Phoenix, and as is now usual, I met up with fellow snapper Lauren Freeman to shoot the warm-up period before heading up to my seat to shoot the game itself. Where I shoot from depends entirely on whether my better half Yolanda is with me at the game or not - if she's there with me, I shoot from my seat, and if she's not with me then I shoot from on the stairs. There's pros and cons to both, but that's for another blog entry!

Whether Yolanda's there or not, I usually also bring to the game a couple of good friends of mine, Vicki and Helena. Helena is a wheelchair user and therefore both Vicki and Helena will station themselves behind the scoreboard end of the ice pad, giving Vicki (a fellow photographer) a lovely low angle to shoot from. So, this past Sunday, I'm up in my seat, Yolanda is sitting next to me (ready to jump out of the way should a fight on the ice kick off) and Vicki and Helena are in their usual spot.

Towards the end of the first period, I got a message from one of the stewards that I was needed at the scoreboard end. This sounded very ominous, so off I went.

Helena's condition means that every once in a while, her hip will dislocate of its own free will, and during the first period of the game, that's what had happened. She was in a great deal of pain, and needed attention. The Phoenix's medic, Dr Vickers, was on the scene as soon as the call went out, and Jason Moran (who sits near Helena) was quick to offer transportation to hospital. Helena needed to be moved in her wheelchair, and Jason's car was designed for that purpose. So off Helena went, along with Vicki. Yolanda and I were left with instructions to remain at the rink, and send score updates!

After the game Yolanda and I went up to the hospital to find Helena still awaiting treatment. In short, we were there until nearly half past midnight, but the good news is that Helena's hip is back in place and she will be with us next week for the visit of the Milton Keynes Lightning!

What it meant for me personally though, in terms of shooting the Phoenix, is that I spent the second and third periods in a kind of daze, unable to properly concentrate on shooting the game at all. It just passed by in a blur, Phoenix won six one and yet I barely remember anything that happened. Reviewing and processing the shots tonight, I've shot only about 400 images from the entire game - normally I'm well into the 800s! Here's a couple of shots that I got that I particularly liked, and I'm dedicating them to Helena's hip, and to the help that we had from all corners of the rink when one of our own found herself in need of assistance - thank you all, you know who you are!




Anyway, the link to my Flickr album of the game can be found here. Normal service will hopefully be resumed next week!

In other news, this week I'm pleased to be able to tease a couple of pieces of good news! My fellow snapper Lauren has a piece of her own news which I'm absolutely delighted about, it's her news to share so I won't blow it on here but suffice to say that I'm incredibly pleased for her and for what's about to happen with some of her photographic work. The other piece of good news that I can tease is that Richard Murray (the producer of the match night programme) has accepted my proposal for a feature which will appear in a forthcoming issue - watch this space!

Cheers all!

Rev

Learning from three masters, and a nice compliment!

Whilst shooting for the Manchester Phoenix, I get to work alongside three very talented photographers - Lauren Freeman, Nick Ogden and Richard Murray. I have the most contact with Lauren, we both shoot the warm-ups from on the team bench, and we both get to experiment with shots such as the on-ice 'player entrance' shots (like the one in the main banner for this page). Nick is the Phoenix's official club photographer, his photos have for a long time been a mainstay of the club's match reports, press releases and websites, and Richard is the editor and chief photographer for the match night programmes for both Manchester Phoenix and Cardiff Devils. I think it's safe to say that in my short time shooting for Phoenix, I have learned so much from all three, and for that I am eternally grateful!

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Richard in one of the intervals, and he was telling me that in all of the years he's shot ice hockey, he's seen so much, but every once in a while he sees a photo that makes him stop and say 'wow'.

Later that evening, I took the chance to head onto the ice and shoot the players as they celebrated the win, and whilst I was there I took this shot of Marcus Kristoffersson leading the victory wave:


Link to Flickr image: Marcus Kristoffersson

A couple of days after the game, Richard sent me an e-mail asking for a couple of shots of Tom Duggan playing the guitar, which I sent through along with the shot of Marcus, just to get his opinion on it. His reply was one I wasn't expecting:
"We talked on Sunday about after 20 years of ice hockey I still see photos and think wow that's good - your photo of Marcus is one of those."
Richard went on to say that he would put the photo into the next match programme. Needless to say, I was quite taken aback!

Fast forward to last Sunday's game against Slough Jets, and I eagerly get my hands on a programme to look for my photo, hoping to find it tucked away in a corner of a page next to a match report. This is what I found:



Richard had given my shots a two-page spread, to accompany the team stats. That's probably the biggest compliment my photos have received, and I'm both honoured and humbled by it!

Wide Angled Fun

This past weekend's home game against Slough Jets was my first chance to play with a new toy that I picked up for my camera - a 0.45 wide angle adaptor for my 18-55mm lens! (Nerd moment, I know)

The adaptor gives a wider image when the lens is at its most open, so at 18mm it gives a lovely wide shot with a fish-eye effect around the outside, and it gave me the chance to shoot images like this:



Link to the Flickr image: Stephen Fone

Whilst it's not very practical to shoot with it during the game (I shoot mostly from my seat, so the players would appear about half a mile away), it's a lovely little thing when it comes to getting alternative / interesting / artsy fartsy shots!

This past weekend also gave a chance to myself and Lauren Freeman (fellow Phoenix photographer) to shoot the players as they step onto the ice at the start of the game. Now, as a hockey player myself, I've stepped on the Altrincham ice plenty of times over the years, but for some reason the resurface that the rink staff manage to do before a game is pretty impressive. Mostly the ice at Alty is like skating on corrugated iron, but for the Phoenix they manage to achieve sheet glass. I daresay that skating on it is absolute heaven, but walking on it whilst carrying a camera?....

Getting back into Blogging

Back in the days when the Manchester Phoenix were getting started, I used to contribute regularly to a blog about the Phoenix back-room staff, but over the years the blog dwindled with the workload getting in the way and staff dropping off one by one. Now that I'm no longer running the match night entertainment, I've taken up the role of Photographer, working alongside some very talented snappers, and every match is a school-day for me!

So I've decided that it's time to start up the blog again, and share my thoughts, anecdotes, opinions and general stream of consciousness with the world (i.e. the one or two people who'll read this out of a sense of duty or pity).

Welcome, one and all, to the blog of R G Allan Photography!