Sydney Kings v Melbourne United Semi Final Game 3

Here we are, Game 3. The winner goes through to the Grand Final.
There is definitely some uneasiness in the crowd before the game.
Which Sydney team will turn up? The one that went onto forming one of the greatest ever fourth quarter comebacks in Game 1? Going 18-2 in the last few minutes to steal victory. Or the Game 2 Sydney which headed to Melbourne and were down by a massive 50+ points during stages of the game?
Only time will tell, and the 8000 fans in the arena and many more at home will have to wait til the final minutes to know.
Both teams came out strong, no slow start this time for the Kings. They couldn’t afford to be.
Melbourne’s a tough team, full of stars. No bigger than Chris Goulding. Watching him play makes you think you should’ve spent more time in the driveway.
When he is on it’s more art than sport. The man can shoot!
By the end of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter there’s nothing in it. No crumbling from either team when it’s game 3.
I’ve been to many sporting events over my 3 decades in photographing sport, but the noise that the Kings fans can produce when the games on the line is up there with any home crowd I’ve seen.

The pressure they put on Melbourne is insane, trying to keep my own nerves calm so I can shoot well in the dying few minutes in one of the ultimate challenges as a photographer. You feel the crowd, the noise and the pressure of the players.
Trying to keep your cool in amongst the madness is not easy, but you breathe, focus on the score, see whose winning, keep an eye out for the star players, follow the ball the best you can and fire at will when the game is decided.
You’re always going red or black when you’re shooting sport, trying to put the odds in your favour. You never really know which team, which players or which angle will give you the best pictures. But through some, research, thought processes, experience and a little bit of luck you can jag the best pictures possible when the madness goes down.
When it comes off you are King of the World!! But if you miss it you’re the joker in the circus.
Kings win by 2, Bogut and his men are off to the Grand Final, greater glory awaits. And a little bit for me too!

Til next time!

Chris

Sydney Kings V Melbourne United Semi Final Game 1

In what was probably the best game of Basketball I have ever seen live, the Sydney Kings came from 16 down in the 4th quarter to go 1-0 in the best of 3 NBL 2019-2020 semi finals.

I almost missed all of the fun pictures as I was up the Melbourne end in the 4th. But with 3 min to go I took the gamble that the home team would make a late run and headed down the Kings end. During the game you are always making decisions on where to go and try to put the odds of some cool pictures in your favor. And in times like this it feels pretty good when that call is a good one.

Til next time!

Chris

Grand Canyon Walk, Blue Mountains NSW

As I’m just discovering the beautiful Blue Mountains in NSW, it was awesome to make the trek yesterday to the Grand Canyon Walk. It’s around a 2.5 hour drive from Sydney and if you follow the signs to the Grand Canyon or the Evans lookout you’ll hit it pretty easy.

I left home pre sunrise so I arrived around 7am, I’m not sure if it’s like this all year round, but the walk was covered in a eerie mist til around 9am. Which made for some pretty cool pictures and even more dramatic due to the recent bush fires.

Once into the forest a little deeper, the burnt our remains from the fires started to turn into the lush green of the rain-forest. To make the crossover from the blacked out bushland to the beautiful greenery on my own in the middle of the woods was a experience I’ll never forget.

It is definitely a awesome track and it took me around 2 hours to make the loop back to the car and due to the crazy amount of stairs, I was quite knackered at the end so I ready for a trip to the bakery.

I can’t recommend it enough, and my only regret was taking so long to make the trip out.

All pix shot on my Canon and 16-35ml lens, and there are so many opportunity’s for cool pictures you will love it all.

Til next time

Chris