Behind the picture:Tszyu 2, Father like Son

On a warm September 2019, Rockdale PCYC was the location to announce the fight between local Shire hero Jack Brubaker v the son of a legend Tim Tszyu.


Tszyu senior made this place home during his illustrious boxing career and like father like son Tszyu 2 followed in his rather large footsteps.
As we the media waited in the gym for the arrival of Tim as Jack was already in the gym at this point. There was talk that Kostya was also coming which added to the buzz in the room as we waited for the arrival.
As Kostya spends much of his time in Russia these days the uncertainty of if he would be there definitely added to the drama of the morning.
The Tszyu family arrives including the former world champion and proud dad Kostya.
Everything in the press conference went as expected then it was time for the father and son to entertain the media.
With a good 5 minutes of sparring and working on techniques it was a privilege to be there to see the bond between the two.


I purposely put myself on the far side of the famous Tszyu Boxing Academy sign and hoped to capture and cool image of the boxing family together.
Grandad, Dad and the prodigal son all in the one frame. The even more famous Kostya haircut slotted in too.


It’s moments like these make me fall more in love with sport photography every day.

Especially now as the world waits for moments like these to entertain all of us again.

Til next time

Chris

The Beautiful Hyams Beach, NSW

In around about 2 hours drive from Sydney, you can hit one of the best beaches I’v ever seen in.

Hyams Beach is apart of the Jervis Bay coast and the City of Shoalhaven, it also has some of the whitest sand you could ever come across. I took a trip down the coast in the Winter of 2017 and looking back at these pictures I can still feel the icy chill of the water as I stepped into the ocean.

But with the shallow depth of the shore and the deep blues skies it made for some awesome shooting, made even better by the early light and low hanging sun.

I wish I was there a little earlier to make more use of the sun and shooting back into the morning sunrise with some nice clean waves coming through. But I still had some great opportunities there as the conditions were just perfect.

Also being a weekday and in winter I had the whole beach to myself and could really make the best of the location as far as getting some cool landscapes shots, added by not having to shoot around other beach goers.

If you haven’t been to this most beautiful beach I can’t recommend it enough, it’s a pretty short drive from Sydney so close enough. It’s well worth adding it to the list that’s for sure.

Til next time

Chris

Coffs Harbour and the Commonwealth Games 2018

This time 2 years ago, Australia and the Gold Coast hosted the Commonwealth Games.
It was always something that I wanted to photograph so in April 2018 I headed up the Coast from Sydney on a road trip.
The end goal was to hit the Gold Coast in time to shoot some events, but the road to the GC was always about the journey there.
Around halfway from Sydney is Coffs Harbour so that was my pit stop for the night after leaving Sydney in the afternoon.
I arrived at the hotel at Coffs around 10pm, slept off some weary road trip legs and hit the beach at first light.
A short walk across the road to the beach and in perfect morning light and a sky that was full of blue.
No one in sight and it couldn’t have been better. The coast line is just beautiful, this beach is called Park beach, and with some cool looking rock islands just off the shore it made for some awesome shooting. I also had time to hit the water with my GoPro and with some early light shooting back into the waves it gave some dramatic light that comes with aiming into the sun.
Shooting on the shore with my 70-200ml lens the in the water with the wide angle GoPro gave two quite different looks of the same beach.

I regret not waking up a little earlier to get a better sunrise picture, but after working all day and driving for 6 hours the day before, those tiered eyes Coast me a few minutes on the snooze.
I’m really happy with the series of pictures all the same and made it back to one of the cool cafes opposite the beach for the customary coffee and bacon and egg rolls.
Job done and I was back on the road to the Gold Coast.


As always sometimes the road to the mission is equally as good as the final destination.
I can’t recommend enough a trip to the beautiful beaches at Coffs Harbour and I’ll get back there one day myself. Hopefully I’ll make it for sunrise too!

Til next time!

Chris