Football Crazy, Football Mad

MY first love – family excluded – is photography and I adore football so, when given the chance to combine the two with a visit to Yeovil Town’s Huish Park on a Saturday afternoon, it makes me a happy bunny!

It’s one of those jobs where forward planning is key. The first thing I do as I walk through the door after finishing work on a Friday is to put my batteries on charge – even before a well-earned cuppa!

Then it is just a case of assembling all the kit I need for the game. This comprises a 300mm Nikon lens – which I affectionately call my baby – a camera body, a monopod, plus all the gear I usually carry with me and all my lenses cleaned to within an inch of their lives.



Ideally, you need two bodies, to save the constant swapping of lenses, from long to wide, when the players get too close for comfort. Always use a monopod with long lenses, as it keeps unwanted movement from spoiling your pictures.

In winter it is always useful to pack foul weather gear, wellies, hat, gloves, scarf and a flask of piping-hot coffee. This is a lesson I learned on a cold, wet evening at the old Huish Park in the late 1980s when I was soaked to the skin and couldn’t feel my fingers or toes.

I have many great photographic memories from covering Yeovil games, but my favourite was probably capturing Mickey Spencer’s 100th goal and that famous evening in Nottingham when the Glovers beat Forest.

My tips for photographing sporting events are to select the fastest shutter speed possible, always shoot too much, anticipate the action before it unfolds and fill the frame.

But the best piece of advice I can pass on was that I was given by local photographer Nigel Andrews. He told me, that on a cold day, always have a snack of beans on toast before leaving home keep you nice and warm on the touchline!