[JohnOB]

February 23, 2009 at 9:06 am

Nice set again Ray.

Whats your feeling for the season ahead? Do you think we can get a run going this year?

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

February 22, 2009 at 9:51 pm

Hi Aindreas, I’m using a 300mm 2.8 VR, Nikon. Your right about the softness. It happens from time to time but I would have normally thought that was down to the speed of focus by my camera which is the D200, not particularly designed for sport! Do you think it’s the lens?
This was the result a couple of frames later with the Mark Vaughan image:

The results from the lens are usually good.

Vaughan was very good. Scored some great points and the goal was a beauty. I think they have their work cut out in the final, Cross are such a great championship side. You never know I guess.

Had a look through some of your images on flickr, very impressed. You’ve definitely got a great eye..

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

February 22, 2009 at 10:51 am

I love it. I would love to have a second body at games to capture this kind of image. I always shoot with my 300mm on the body. I think they can tell so much more than the general action images. Great to see the players expressions and reactions as the guy goes for goal. Great shot.. Well done..

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

February 16, 2009 at 10:50 am

2 and 4 are my favourites, especially 4. Dont you just love when you see a piece of action like that happening in front of you!

Where’s your preferred location for Rugby matches? From these images your shooting from the side

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

February 12, 2009 at 3:36 pm

I love it….

Maybe something to consider, crop from the bottom of the shorts up, also take away the space from the head up.. This will get you right in there, capturing the emotion a little better. I’ve done this edit and I think it adds something!

Well done

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

February 8, 2009 at 9:08 pm

Alan, I love the idea but I think it needs a ball to be complete! Maybe an old tattered one to fit the sceen.. a couple of metres from the goal

[JohnOB]

February 8, 2009 at 9:02 pm

I agree that Winter conditions dont do hurling justice but I actually enjoyed this game as a contest… The transformation in the speed of the game between league and Championship also adds to the whole thing..

Ken, you looked as if you really enjoyed this one. Some great images. All very sharp.

Looking at these you were shooting with the sun. Is this something you always do when its low? I was talking to an Inpho guy at a game last year and he was saying he always tries to shoot into the sun if its low. Just wondering what your opinion is!

[JohnOB]

February 5, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Dont think I’ll be getting to go to any of the Internationals coming up. Always try to get to the ones in Athlone but I’ll be away that Friday.
Those matches can be a real joy to go shooting at. The young lads try to play as much on the ground as possible which can lead to some nice action!

[JohnOB]

February 4, 2009 at 10:19 pm

Well captured Damien.. I didnt really see this incident. From where I was sitting it looked like O’Donoghoe was play-acting. Cullinane was asking for it all day. No surprise he eventually was red!
See you at the next one hopefully..

[JohnOB]

February 3, 2009 at 10:04 pm

Thanks for the feedback Paul, your right about the light not being too bad but I’m used to better conditions for day matches and I dont like going past 800/1000 ISO as my images get pretty grainy (shooting with the old Nikon D200). I used the curves in photoshop after to brighten them up. I like to get my images as sharp as possible and I found that if there was any lateral movement on the lens I was coming up short!
I know all about poor light at night. The 6 nations under 20 rugby international have been held in Athlone over the last couple of years and the light at Dubarry Park are a good test! My expectations are allot less for those matches I guess. From your website it doesnt look like you ever find the night matches to difficult. Some great results from games. Well done..

Damien, I was the guy either on the left hand side of the goal on the apartment end or along the line on the terrace side. I was moving a bit to get some action. I usually like to stay on the end and capture the action coming towards me but the game on Sunday was tight and there was allot of mistakes made in the middle which meant the ends probably didnt see as much as usual! The guy in the corner was Paul Mohan from Sportfile. He was shooting with a 600mm F4. Some piece of gear, he could have coverd the Roscommon Offaly game in Kiltoom at the same time :)
If your at the next Westmeath home game I’m sure we’ll meet up. Not sure when it is but I like to make all the home matches. You did very well with your images shooting at 5.6! Would love to be able to shoot at 1600….

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

January 7, 2009 at 9:36 am

I sell to the Advertiser every week, anything from 1 to 3 images. The Christmas edition was great, they printed 10 which was nice. Its mainly GAA images which are relevant to Joe Fallons article on the back page.
The Voice will get me to cover games from time to time when their main photographer is unavailable. I’ve also covered a couple of games for the Westmeath Indo and the Topic but that was a while ago.

I think I know you, you shoot with a Canon 70/80-200 2.8. I was looking at your images from the Ireland Poland game and was very impressed. I very seldom sell my images from the Athlone Town games. The local papers usually have their main photographers at them. I’ll always try to get down if I can and take some snaps. The games are on at a nice time and I just love shooting sport…

I hope everything gets sorted with the club. I long for the days where we are competing for promotion, Mels back when Buckley was there was good. I was over at Gordon Bretts (ex player) last week and we were watching highlights of the AC Milan game back in the 70’s. Great stuff, lets hope theres many a great game to come…
I’ll introduce myself the next time I’m down at a game…

/John
http://www.johnobrienimages.com

[JohnOB]

January 6, 2009 at 4:57 pm

Very good, great selection. What settings are you using? They look very sharp..

John

[JohnOB]

January 6, 2009 at 8:43 am

Cheers guys, was sitting in a corner where there was loads of action… its great when that happens!