With Rugby Union's season spanning over the Winter months you expect it to be cold and layer up with clothing.  This weekend, it was worse, with five layers on I stepped out the house in between showers and hoped for it to brighten up!  A couple of minutes later, another shower hit and once again I was left cold and wet, it also began to turn into heavy sleet.

At kick-off the showers continued and I decided a location sheltered by the trees surrounding Morriston playing fields and near the Moray RFC tryline.  Ten minutes in and Moray had scored their first try with conversion.  Soon after Garioch began to dominate and fought back with a try - unconverted - to pull it back to 7-5 but a Moray penalty scored had the game at Moray 10-5 Garioch when half time came.  The second half saw another try from Moray and the game ended 17-5.  Fortunately, during the second half the weather brightened up and the showers decreased but it stayed as cold as ever.

Read more: Rugby: Moray vs. Garioch

A few days old now but I haven't had much time to upload the pictures and write a few words so they've had to wait till now.  These are just a set of photos taken on a short walk to and from town, I was only going in for something small and it was a lovely day so I took my time.  Mainly to find more experience and usage with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D I recently bought as it is a light small lens so its nice to carry about.  I was mainly using low apertures to test out the bokeh and play about.

Read more: A walk with the fifty!

Second time out with the camera this year, went with my school to one of their cup final rugby matches.  On arrival it was very dark and spitting rain with the sun hanging just behind the shower cloud - typical!  That said, the Elgin school strips really brightened the scenes up.  The game started quite slowly with a lot of play in the middle of the park, and with me just behind the try-line I barely pressed the shutter in the opening twenty minutes.  Elgin schools did continue to push and eventually got the try they had deserved, the conversion narrowly missed and with the opposition - Garioch schools of Aberdeenshire - clawing the margin with a penalty the scores at half time were Elgin schools 5-3 Garioch schools.  The second half started with two tries from Elgin schools in the space of a few minutes and again both were unconverted.  A lot more middle ground play before another pair of tries were scored - this time both were converted - and the game finished Elgin schools 29-3 Garioch schools.

Read more: School rugby cup final

Elgin City started off the year poorly, with a 3-0 loss away to bottom side Peterhead who then moved up placing East Stirlingshire in last place.  This left Elgin City in sixth position - albeit with a few games in hand - after being in the top three for a lengthy period of time!  Their first home game of the new year was at home to now bottom side East Stirlingshire and they were keen to regain their form.

Read more: Elgin City vs. East Stirlingshire

Having stumbled upon music photography at the beginning of September when I went to The Wall of Rock (a youth music festival in Lossiemouth, Moray) to photograph one set as I had a family member in the band.  That was the intention anyway, it didn't stay that way and I ended up at the small Marina Park it was located at for about 9 hours of that day!  I loved every minute of it and it really kick-started a drive for more.

I kept in contact with a couple of bands, namely Be Like Pablo and Team Kapowski who were involved in the 5x5x5 project.  This led to my attendance at the 5x5x5 music launch event back at the end of September in the Cowshed of East Grange's 'The Loft' venue.

Next up were a couple of gigs at Cafe Drummonds in October which Entrosolet were playing.  This was a small venue in Aberdeen which regularly has gigs played at.  The lighting was very tricky, especially trying to photograph anyone on the left side of the stage as the lighting was pretty much solely dim red.

So I sent a hopeful e-mail off to Kassidy hoping for a pass to shoot their gig at Inverness-Ironworks for experience and to add content to my portfolio.  I was overjoyed when I received a reply informing me that I they were happy for me to do it.  This was going to be my first major venue gig so I was quite nervous as to how it would all work out.

 

 

Read more: Kassidy play Inverness-Ironworks