East Coast Cyclones vs Waterford City Viqueens

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of travelling to Greystones on the outskirts of Dublin to photograph the bout debuts of the Cyclones and the Viqueens. I'd already seen some of these skaters in action in Belfast as part of the all-Ireland rookie Blockopussy bout and was looking forward to testing out my new and improved derby set-up in a new venue. Accompanied by my favourite little photo assistant we had a great day out courtesy of the East Coast Cyclones and received a very warm welcome. In contrast to my first visit to photograph derby in Dublin last year, I was allowed fairly free access around the track and benches and the Refs and NSO's who travelled from Belfast had taped out two "Barbour boxes" in centre track, which were well used by both myself and another derby photographer. Anyway, the Viqueens edged out the Cyclones 212 - 167 in a well deserved victory in what was a pretty close-fought bout. Here's a few shots..........

Last Derby Bout of the Year

Sadly, Saturday was the last roller derby bout of the year here in Belfast. It's been almost exactly one year since I first approached the team and asked to come along to take some shots at a bout, purely out of interest. One year on and I've now covered six bouts, done the photography for a video shoot, taken two sets of head shots, taken special effects shots for bout programmes, got pictures published in the local newspapers, came second in the roller derby pub quiz with my kids and generally had absolute shit-loads of fun.

Roller derby has taught me a lot in terms of photography and given me the chance to swap ideas and pick the brains of similarly inclined photographers from all over the world through Flickr and Facebook groups. I've also had the chance to meet and work with a great bunch of ladies who seem to like what I've done and are always very complimentary and kind, even when I mess things up.

Saturday was notable to a couple of reasons. Five minutes into the bout my 32Gb CF card died on me. Just died with no warning and demanded to be formatted in the camera. Thankfully I had spare cards (as always) and was able to shoot the bout, with a loss of about 40-50 shots out of a total of 450. The second remarkable thing was that the team presented me with a thank you/birthday present at the end of the bout - a lens mug (Canon, but it didn't stop me drinking out of it) a cracker bottle of Green Spot Irish Whiskey from the Middleton distillery and my own BRD t-shirt with 2nd Shooter printed on the back. I've been after one of those for ages and am secretly very pleased to have been given one.

I'm looking forward to next year. More bouts at which to improve my skills at shooting and processing action shots. Some ideas for more arty stuff using slow sync/rear curtain flash and lighting. I also want to pitch some ideas for a calendar for this time next year - roller derby meets boudoir style. Bring it on.