Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

The stars of tomorrow were at this meet. It is so much fun to watch them swim. Some as young as 7 years of age swim with such style only seen with older swimmers. Some great dives and lovely strokes, all attributed to the quality coaching for certain as well as some definite natural talent. Though what I like the most about the District Meets - The SMILES!!!  You can see the rest of the images on my website. Just click here . If you would like to see more of my portrait work, just go to my here . Thanks for visiting my blog!!

This was a terrific meet. Firstly, I loved watching the littlest kids swim. Secondly, this was the first meet where I had a second photographer. It was fabulous because it was like there were two of me. He was able to get shots that I cannot possible get because I have to be positioned ready to take the action photo. He got some some terrific behind the blocks images, so close that you can see the anxiety in the swimmers face! He also has a different eye to me so he got some angles that I hadn't thought of...awesome! I had the loan of the Canon 1D X and it was phenomenal in the low light. In addition, I had rented the 300mm fixed lens. A big heavy lens but it forced me to use my monopod which my physiotherapist was delighted about! It allowed me to get really close without loosing any sharpness. It takes a while to get used to but it is worth it. Sadly, my Canon 5D Mark II stopped working...ouch! I was unable to take the presentation photos whic

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 .

Normally beside the pool, I decided that with James Magnussen, Andrew Abood and Matt Abood among other fine swimmers in such a short and close race, there was no chance of catching an action shot in the water so I decided to rest this one out taking a seat on the dias directly behind to watch. What caught my attention was the incredible focus of the swimmers...so I shot it. Here is the story. Planning the swim. When I watch younger swimmers behind the blocks. They fuss with their goggles, their caps, their suits and every other distraction you can imagine. No such agitations  for these professionals. You can see in their expressions, staring down the length of the pool, that they are running the race through in their heads...such focus! Matt Lane 3, James Lane 4, Andrew Lane 5 Bet you are wondering what happened next? James and Matt tied for second with 22.56 and Andrew made State Open Champion with an awesome 22.38. You can see more highlights from the State

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 photograph. Not reall