The Open 2012 – Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
A general view of the 1st hole flag at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Yoshinori Fujimoto of Japan at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Sergio Garcia of Spain looks dejected as his shot fails to make the 18th green at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Tiger Woods of the USA at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Dew sits on flowers in the rough at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Tiger Woods of USA tees off on the 11th at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Tiger Woods of USA strikes the ground with his club in anger as his tee off the 11th strays off target at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
A general view of golfing attire at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Tiger Woods of USA in action on the 2nd fairway at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Brandt Snedeker checks his alignment for putting on the 4th green at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Graeme McDowell and Adam Scott pictured at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Carlos Tevez of Manchester City acts as caddie for Andres Romero of Argentina at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Tiger Woods of USA escapes a bunker on the 15th at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Adam Scott of Australia escapes a bunker on the 15th at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
The scoreboard confirms Ernie Els of South Africa’s victory at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Ernie Els of South Africa poses with the trophy at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Ernie Els of South Africa poses with the trophy at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club
Champions Manchester City parade the Premier League trophy
The press focus their cameras on the Manchester City squad
Vincent Kompany of Manchester City holds up the Premier League trophy
The Manchester City side begin their bus parade through Manchester
Manchester City fans surround the parade bus as it makes it's way through Manchester
Vincent Kompany of Manchester City leads celebrations as the bus makes it way through Manchester
A Manchester City fan holds up an 'RIP Fergie' sign, which later ended up with Carlos Tevez of Manchester City
Leeds remember Gary Speed
Leeds had been the career starting point for the young Welsh man, and played a pivotal role in developing him into the man appreciated and loved by most football fans. The first game to be played at Elland Road following his untimely death was always going to be a poignant one.
Outside, tributes had been left at the Billy Bremner statue from the first few hours of the story breaking. A week later, and the tributes were still pouring in. Inside Elland Road, his family had been welcomed to the club and were in the old directors box. As the players came out of the tunnel and the remembrance minute began, the emotion was clearly too much for many of his relatives.
The entire stadium rang to the sound of applause, and a chorus of ‘There’s only one Gary Speed’ soon followed. The match turned out to become a side event, with the crowd vocally active throughout the 90 minutes – indeed, ‘Ohhh Gary, Gary Gary Gary Gary Speed’ echoed heartrendingly around for a good constant 10 minutes. The atmosphere was respectful and emotionally charged, and served as an excellent reminder as to how much football can touch thousands of peoples’ lives. Money and scandal does not come into it on days like today, football for the love of football.
Fittingly, Robert Snodgrass scored a second half brace to seal a 2-0 victory over Millwall on this most sorrowful of days.
Fans crowd around the Billy Bremner statue at Elland Road, to remember the late Wales manager Gary Speed
The Billy Bremner statue at Elland Road is covered with flowers, shirts and dedications to the late Wales manager Gary Speed
The Billy Bremner statue at Elland Road is covered with flowers, shirts and dedications to the late Wales manager Gary Speed
Tearful fans pay their respects to the late Gary Speed with a silent vigil by the Billy Bremner statue at Elland Road
Wales v Australia – 4 Nations Championship
Wales' Gil Dudson at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Australia's Darius Boyd scores a try at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Australia's Greg Inglis scores a try at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Wales' Lee Briers conducts a team talk at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
Lancashire v Nottinghamshire – LV= CC
Only a dramatic turn in events in other games, could have possibly given Nottinghamshire a chance at the title – but come they did! Results elsewhere meant that reaching 400 runs, and taking 3 Lancashire wickets would secure the title of champions.
Once the 400 marker had been reached, the sides quickly swapped around and Lancashire came out to bat, but their heart was clearly not in it, and the 3 required wickets fell in quick succession!
Helen & Richard’s wedding
Some of you may recall the pre-wedding shoot I did with Helen and Richard a few weeks ago, for those that don’t, you can see it here. Well, today was finally the day.. their wedding day.
It’s been a long few days, so I’m not up to writing much more than to say that the day turned out better than could have been expected, and it was great to see them finally tie the knot with such splendid surroundings! The ceremony shots will require a little bit of work, a nightmare to get the right white balance and exposure but right now… time for bed…
Lancashire Lightning v Northants Steelbacks – FPt20
A grey, damp Wednesday evening in Manchester (nothing short of the norm there!) was to play host to a Friends Provident t20 match between Lancs and Northants. The grey clouds had threatened a downpour all day but thankfully managed to hold off on the whole, with just a few small showers. Nothing that ever endangered the cricket though! Lancashire strolled home with this one, winning comfortably.
England Lions training
I attended a media session for the England Lions cricket team, which gave the opportunity of photographing the team training. It meant a drive down to Derby’s County Ground, but it was good to prepare for the Summer’s cricket at Old Trafford, and also to get up to date on some new faces!
Leeds Rhinos 10 v 18 Melbourne Storm – Gillette World Club Challenge Cup
I was lucky enough to be at Elland Road (home of Leeds United FC) for this promising tie between two of the world’s best rugby league teams. What a tie it turned out to be! With Rhinos taking the early lead, Storm fought back and easily managed the win in the second half.
Sedgley Park Tigers v Manchester RUFC
The following photographs are from the Sedgley Park v Manchester tie on 05/12/2009. Geoff from the club also asked if it’d be possible for me to take a team photo in front of their advertising board, which I was happy to oblige to!
