Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

Short course season means that it is not so far to run from one side of the pool to the other. I guess it is not very safe to run but as the ultimate people pleaser, I feel compelled to get the shot for my client. Alas, I am going to have to learn to slow down before I end up in the pool! The lighting was horrid as usual. Even worse this time because it was it was hampered by clouds and the majority of my light is natural. Of course, when the sun finally came out, the officials, understandably, ordered the blinds down because the reflection off the water means they cannot see the strokes and turns. We did our best as usual. Canon have promised the use of their new  1D X camera  and  70-200mm lens  which both promise amazing quality in low light so we will see. We may have some new equipment for the Long Course Season...stay tuned! The portraits were a lot of fun! LOVE shooting portraits...I don't have to run anywhere! ...

A great meet for young swimmers as the qualifying times are very generous. It's lovely watching the high fives all around for the little medal winners!  It's also a good meet for the older kids chasing State and Metro times.. AND the relays are a BLAST! You can see the rest of the photos on my swim site. Just click here .

Kenneth To Kenneth To Normally racing around the pool getting portraits of little swimmers, this time I had a little more time to photograph the big guys! A good practice run for the Open Champs which begin March 15th this year, where we expect 80% of The Australian Olympic Team . One such big guy was  Kenneth To . An amazing IM racer, who has many swimming accolades and achievements in addition to famously finishing right behind the legendary Ryan Lochte at the FINA World Championships in 2010. Matt Abood I am also a big fan of Australian and Commonwealth record holder and all around nice guy, Matt Abood.  My son commented that he is also "very funny", as he was photographed here by him receiving his award for the 50m Freestyle along with his other Sydney University Team Mates. There were also loads of aspiring "little swimmers" in top form. Making PB's and breaking records. Witnessing the kids having fun and the sportsmanship d...

This was my first long course State meet so I was a little in awe. We even had an Olympian, Jarrod Poort .   What a beautiful swimmer to watch. Easy to photograph because he had perfect, consistent rhythm! Also new to me at the event, a DJ! The lovely Mr Ian Lovegrove presented all the music as well as juggle requests from swimmers for the relays and listen to me babble in between races! Ian encouraged me to try some more creative shots when I wasn't photographing for parents. I did enjoy this. Normally I don't get very much downtime as I'm running around the pool trying to get every possible shot. We had lots of visitors. This year, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Team Canada. A fabulously enthusiastic team that reminded me a lot of our swim family back in Oregon. It seems colour co-ordinated fingernails were the fashion statement of the day! Some people ask if I have a favourite swim stroke to phot...

The SMNE Summer Championships were a blast. There were lots of records and some great photos which were helped along by a new faster, sharper 300mm lens. It was difficult to choose but here are a few favourites. You can view the entire set here   on my swim photos website.