Richard Amor Allan Photography: 'Tis The Season...

It's now well into September, and I've been remiss in my postings - I've not posted in over a fortnight, and there are only two reasons for that: it's the start of the new academic year, and it's the start of the hockey season. In terms of photography, it's the latter which has had me indulging in more shutterbuggery than usual (it's a word, trust me)...

Things have changed considerably in the Phoenix Photography department. Firstly, we have said "fare thee well" to my bench buddy Lauren Freeman, who has taken up a position with the Sheffield Steeldogs (photographing, not playing!). Shooting alongside Lauren last season was a tremedously fun experience, she's a very talented snapper and I wish her well in her new job.

Secondly, the policy on photo distribution has been tightened, and as a result my photos of the Phoenix are now published on the team website and also via the newly created Official Phoenix Flickr Page. But I still get to post some of them on here, which can't be all bad!

The weekend of the 17th and 18th September saw myself, Yol and Vicki clocking up some serious mileage as the Phoenix took on the Steeldogs in the annual home-and-away War Of The Roses pre-season 'friendly' tournament. The away leg in Sheffield was first, so I had the joy of shooting through the netting again.

The game itself was a corker! For a friendly, it was one of the least friendly games I've seen in years. If the Phoenix play the whole season with the passion and fire that they showed in that game, we're in for a treat! From a photographer's perspective, the Sheffield home rink presents plenty of challenges, not just the netting but also the different colour tints to the lighting - one end of the rink has a green tint, the other end a red tint! It makes colour balancing the shots a challenge and a half!

Sunday night was the home leg, back on familiar territory, back on the Phoenix bench for the warm-up and back in the stands for the game!

I'm not just saying this because it's our home rink, but the lighting is so much better at the Altrincham Ice Dome than at any other rink I've shot at. It has its faults, it's not evenly illuminated throughout the ice surface, but it's bright enough to help me get the shots I need to get. In the Ice Dome I can shoot at 1/250th of a second, ISO 1600, f5.6 with my 300mm lens, and still get results that are good enough to be used once processed. Shooting RAW means that I can utilise the tools in Photoshop in get the best out of the exposures, and when shooting with my 18-55mm lens I can get some lovely shots!

Monday the 19th saw me shooting Phoenix related material for the third night on the trot, this time at the Phoenix Press Conference and the Meet The Players event. From shooting in great indoor light at the rink, we moved to shooting in low indoor light at the Cresta Court hotel, which necessitated a slower shutter speed than was usually comfortable. I shot a lot, and to be honest I didn't get many usable shots, but the ones I did get I'm fairly chuffed with.