I’ve been luck enough recently to have started doing some work for the Associated Press out here in Moscow. All the photographers, in particular Ivan (who’s cracking picture of Putin crying you might have seen recently) and Sasha, have been incredibly kind in helping me with absolutely anything as well as trusting me to do a bit of work for them. I covered election day in Moscow, including the big pro-Putin rally that I’ve blogged about here and then last Monday night I covered the Dinamo Moscow vs. Anzhi Makhachkala football game. The match itself was unimportant but it was Guus Hiddink’s first game in charge of Anzhi so I needed pictures of him as well as a few star players. Since being bought by a billionaire oligarch Anzhi have spent a ridiculous amount of money on players such as Samuel Eto’o, Yuri Zhirkov, Roberto Carlos and Chris Samba to name a few. The city of Makhachkala in Dagestan is so dangerous that all the players live and train in Moscow and then they fly down to Dagestan for home games. It was a pretty boring game (Anzhi won 1-0) but the atmosphere was great. There were enough police to invade a small country and at one point the game was stopped for a few minutes because smoke from flares in the crowd was so bad. Pictures of the actual game looked awful as the backgrounds were crap but below are a few frames I like.

 

 

 

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I finished the 2018 WC cities trip about a week ago now and since then have been back in Yaroslavl as well as spending an awesome weekend in St. Petersburg. No pictures to share from that just yet I’m afraid as I only took a film camera so it’ll be a while before anyone sees the results! Below is a set of pictures I shot back in October at the gym right next to the school where we’re studying. Every afternoon kids from the area come and do gymnastics classes, a sport thats taken very seriously in Russia (and which accounts for their huge medal haul at the Olympics). The lady in charge wouldn’t stop telling me how many competitions and awards the children from this gym had won. I wasn’t particularly happy with the pictures I came away with but the set below has grown on me over time. I’m hoping to go back to the gym before we leave at Christmas so hopefully I’ll be able to build upon this body of work.

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So the Sunday after the T20 Finals I drove from Birmingham to Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales to photograph the 2011 Bog Snorkelling World Championships. They take place every year and next year Llanwrtyd Wells will host the inaugural Alternative Games after the Olympics has taken place in London. I haven’t really found out much about it yet but it’s basically a collection of weird and wonderful sports which should be great fun to photograph. Anyway back to the bog snorkelling, which itself was pretty funny to cover. Each competitor has to do 2 lengths of the bog if you want to go for the world record or 1 length if you’re in fancy dress. No swimming strokes allowed so lots of kicking and doggy paddle. I’ve put up a black and white selection here as I just prefer them but there is a colour set here on the BBC.

Last Sunday was my final assignment for Getty Images of the summer as this Saturday I am off to Russia for my uni year abroad. I will be in Russia from September to December on a language course in Yaroslavl and then from January to May working on various assignments for myself and for Getty. Should be a lot of fun!

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Had a good time covering the Friends Life T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday. It was a long long day and there must have been at least 5 rain breaks but all the matches took place with Leicestershire winning in the final. I was pleased to be covering the finals as I’d done a lot of the earlier games and it was good to get back to 20/20 cricket where stuff actually happens!

The 1st match of the day was Leicesterhsire vs. Lancashire and thankfully I was all set up as Glen Chapple (above) took a wicket with the first ball.

Above Sean Ervine and Dominic Cork react in different ways as the match goes to a super over after the last ball of the game. There hadn’t been any super overs all season and then both semi finals were drawn at the end of each match. Each team then has 6 balls and 1 available wicket to get as many runs as possible.

Above Alfonso Thomas celebrates after Somerset beat Hampshire in the super over to secure their place against Leicestershire in the final.

Paul Nixon celebrates winning the final above; this was meant to be his last game as a professional but, after their victory, will now help Leicestershire try and qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

And that wrapped up a fun but very long 15 hour day at the cricket. Stay tuned for my Bog Snorkelling World Championships blog!

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Had a fun day photographing India in Hove yesterday. It was my first time covering India and great to see Sachin Tendulkar in action. Busy weekend ahead with T20 finals day on Saturday and then bog snorkelling on Sunday. These will be my last 2 assignments of the summer before I head off to Russia next Saturday.

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