Saturday saw me venture back to the home of the Hampton Rovers AFC. I’ve been shooting the action of the senior team for a couple of years now and it has turned fruitful come finals time with me covering various games for the VAFA.

The day was cold and bleak – perfect for suburban football some would say. The Rovers were taking on Old Hailerbury which has the likes of ex-AFL starts Robert Harvey and Brett Voss. Harvs wasn’t in the action for this game but Vossy was and it was great to see the ex-Saint running around the paddock again (bias of being a St Kilda supporter I guess!).

The Rovers put up a great fight and came out victors in the end.

I had the good fortune on Sunday to tag along with my good friend Peter (from Panos Photographics), who was shooting for Goal Weekly magazine, to the soccer. I’ve spent a couple of years taking photos of the Aussie Rules version of football but have never peered down the lens at a game of the round ball. Grabbing all the necessary gear we headed down to Bob Jane Stadium in Albert Park for the clash between South Melbourne Lakers and arch rivals Melbourne Knights.

There were a huge amount of police present for this game and their presence was seen very early on with Knights supporters asked to move to the other end of the ground away from the South Melbourne supporters. Everyone behaved from a spectator point of view which was good.

With the game underway I quickly got to shooting anything and everything. Whilst understanding the rules and knowing the general flow of the game I find myself struggling to stay up with the action in some cases. I guess I was trying to liken it to AFL shooting where I can predict the flow of the game and each play is a bit more smooth than soccer. I found the game would suddenly take off and I would miss a header or a kick that would have proved a great shot. Lessons well learned though which is all part of being a good sports photographer – understanding the sport you are shooting.

I eventually got into the swing of things and even managed to try out one of my newer lenses – the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8. I’ve had this lens for a little while now but have not really had much of a play with it. I must admit I was very impressed. The focus was fast and the zoom dial very smooth and easy to turn. I was able to zoom into action as it moved away from me and keep the players framed without getting too much background in and the constant f2.8 is just awesome for keeping up the exposure the way you want it when zooming in and out. Highly recommended if anyone is in the market for a mid range zoom.

In the end I couldn’t let my trusty Sigma 300mm f2.8 prime go unused. The light began to fade but still some good action was played out right in front of me (one of the downfalls of a long prime is this type of action is hard to capture).