Aldershot Town FC

Photos from Aldershot Town FC 0-3 Boreham Wood, National League 13/4/24, at the Recreation Ground (Aldershot). Full set HERE. Ten below:

Road to Wembley: Semi Final

For the semi final's, we decided upon Tottenham Hotspur Women v Leicester City Women. This was the first time both of these teams reached this round of the competition, therefore in my opinion this was the more interesting fixture of the two (the other being last years finalists: Manchester United against Chelsea). Making this game even more appealing was the fact it was staged at the all shiny and new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I was fortunate enough to gain pitchside access to photograph this tie- now the biggest stadium I have photographed in!

I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy photographing in such a big stadium and I didn't know if my kit would quite be up to it: I don't have the longest lens and I only have one camera body. But it was actually a thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable experience. All the photographers were situated very close to the pitch (I was worried that we'd all be miles away), so it turned out my kit was perfectly fine and I'm super pleased with the set of photographs I took. The stadium is extremely impressive and definitely lives up to all the hype. Would highly recommend a visit if you haven't already been there. Spurs Women actually play there again towards the end of the season for their last home WSL fixture against West Ham.

Stadium praising aside(!), back to the FA Cup fixture: Leicester scored early and held on for the majority of the game, until Spurs equalised in the 83rd minute. Neither team could break the deadlock in the remaining minutes, so 30 minutes of extra time followed. Before Spurs faced another penalty shoot out like in their previous round, Scotland international Martha Thomas hit the back of the net in the 118th minute in front of 18078 fans, sending Spurs to the FA Cup Final for the first time in history! They will face Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 12th May and I am so very excited!

You can view my full set of photos HERE and as usual, 10 below:

Road to Wembley: Quarter Final

Almost 4 weeks on from the match we attended for this round, I finally got round to editing my photos: ta-da! The match was Brighton & Hove Albion Women against Manchester United Women, with the hosts losing four goals to nothing. This was the second time seeing both clubs in this season's FA Cup and I feel the result was rather predictable...

Ten below as usual and you can view the full set HERE!

Latest Embroidery

My most recent creation out of thread:

This cute little Totoro: a birthday gift for my Mum. I'm extremely pleased with how this one turned out. I went for a pretty abstract background, because I didn't want to take the attention away from the character and feel this really focuses the piece on Totoro, without the background being too plain or empty. Absolutely loving embroidery at the moment!

Recent 35mm Photography

Last week, I got a couple of rolls of 35mm developed. One had been hanging around at 70% full since October, which I finally finished off earlier this month and the other, I managed to start and finish within about two weeks.

I tend to reserve my film camera for trips away/ holidays as I usually find more interesting things to photograph- or at least different to what I'm use to seeing day to day. And with the weather getting nicer and 'better' light, coupled with a two week holiday this month, it made for a perfect way to finish these 35mm rolls.

I'm really pleased with how a lot of these came out actually as I honestly wasn't too sure that they'd be any good. Film photography isn't exactly easy and using this camera has been a bit hit and miss, but in my opinion something seemed to have clicked of late and I'm not just talking about the shutter noise! Now I just need to buy some more film- let's hope it's a bit easier to purchase this time around...

Below are a few of my favourites, which I used Photoshop to enhance. A few needed cropping/ straightening, plus wanted to reduce some of the highlights/ fix the exposure and colours/ white balance.

Feature Film: Set Back #1

As the title may suggest, I had my first set back in getting my feature film made. In November last year, I applied for the BFI Early Development Fund, which would give me the money to write a treatment for my film. I found out last week that my application was, unfortunately, rejected. I am not trying to garner sympathy in writing this, by the way: merely just describing the current landscape of film funding in England. And this recent rejection has just emphasised that applying for funding is essentially a lottery. The fund had over 900 applications and they stated they were only able to fund 3% of these. I’d be interested to know how many of these were animation.

I have applied for many film funds over the years and have been only successful on very few occasions (and often only for ‘micro commissions’ which rarely even cover the time spent creating). I am not unique in this: many of my cohort have also had little success with funding. It’s just that it’s so over subscribed. This recent rejection has really made me think carefully about my future career as a filmmaker: what if I keep applying for funding and am never successful? With my track record, I wouldn’t say that thought is as hyperbolic as it sounds and potentially a reality.

I am a filmmaker and want to make films. I do not want to wait months or even years for people to grant me permission to be able to do so (which is no guarantee). So, I have decided for the time being, I am going to ‘self fund’ my projects going forward. I am going to make stories which I can create within my means (both financial and creative skillset). I did this with my most recent film ‘Bear’ and much of my previous work, too. The results might not be as slick if there was funding behind my productions, but at least I’m making work, which is when I am happiest. In three years time I could still be waiting for a film fund to say ‘yes’, or in three years time I could potentially have a finished rotoscope feature film. I think I know which option I’d rather pick (spoiler alert: it’s the second).

So, I am going to make a feature film next (I feel the ‘right’ time for when you want to make your debut feature is when you feel you want to, rather than having completed x number of shorts or garnered x amount of festival/ industry recognition). Luckily I work in rotoscope animation, which perhaps gives me a little advantage than working fully in live action, because you can make the locations where you want them to be as everything gets drawn in post production. Audio can also be recorded at a later date. But then again, I still need to do hundreds and thousands of drawings, so perhaps I don’t actually have much of an advantage, but quite the opposite!

I am not going to use the idea I applied for funding with, because it does need a budget due to the sensitive nature of the content (themes of sexual assault and mental health) which I’m not going to go anywhere near without hiring an intimacy coordinator. So, instead, I have started outlining something I can make within my means. This will involve one lead actor and will be set using locations and scenes with props which I can easily get hold of. I am very excited about the prospect of making the film and can’t wait to get properly stuck in. When I’ve created all the visuals I might attempt to apply for some completion funds, so I can pay the voice cast, composer and sound design people, but that’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it.

I’m not under any illusion that it’ll be easy- I felt my eleven minute short film was difficult, so this one, being eight times as long, is likely going to be (at least) eight times harder! But I am so motivated and keen to make it, hopefully the fact that I’m making a feature film should push me through when the project feels too difficult. Either that, or it’ll scare me even more and cause me to give up! Though hopefully it’s the former…

Of course I’ll be keeping you updated on here of my progress as and when it feels necessary, so look out for those posts as they come. They’ll be on the ‘feature film’ tag on the side bar.

Think that’s all for now, wish me luck and here’s an unrelated picture of me on holiday!

Feb/ March Update!

Hey hey! How's it going? Just a quick check in/ update post as I have not been blogging much lately (though I assure you normal service will resume in the not so distant future)!

So, what have I been up to? I have been busy- but it all feels like stuff that doesn’t especially merit a full blog post, hence this more ‘round up’ style one. So the big one: a little over two weeks ago my 16+ month contract finished on ‘The Rubbish World of Dave Spud’. I had a brilliant experience working on the show and worked with some genuinely lovely people. And I’m super proud to say my name is on the credits and I have contributed to such a fantastic show. There are currently 12 episodes up on ITVX of this series- go check them out! …And you can watch the trailer (if you haven’t already) here.

I am now more than ready for a well earned break- which I have been fully embracing! I have mostly been skateboarding, bowling, watching football and watching lots of films (though not simultaneously)- I actually treated myself to an unlimited cinema pass, so I’ve been getting to the cinema a lot recently. Which is really, really great. Honestly, there’s nothing nicer than a solo trip to the cinema in the afternoon! It all feels very indulgent, but in a good way. I’m trying to practise enjoying myself and not feel guilty about it. Some recent cinema highlights include ‘The Holdovers’, ‘All of Us Strangers’ and ‘The Zone of Interest’- all of which I expect will turn up on my end of year film recommendation list. We’ll see…

I have also been working on a couple more embroidery pieces, which I cannot share as yet as they’re gifts for people and do not want to ruin the surprise! Though as soon as I can, I will be posting them on here.

Football photography has slowed down, though not for lack of trying: a combination of poor weather and clubs not replying to emails kind of kills the vibe! Though as spring seems just around the corner, I’m hoping this will soon pick up. We have been going to some great games recently though and having some brilliant days out. I also reached my landmark 650th football ground on Sunday: ta-da!

Lastly, I have started working towards my feature film. Yes, you read that correctly. I often mention it in passing on here (and IRL), but to actually have started fleshing out my story idea has made it real. Since beginning this process it has felt extremely daunting (more so than what I had imagined), because as I’m writing scene ideas/ plot points, I can just see me never being able to obtain funding to make my vision a reality. I know that’s a very negative way to think about things, but like many, I have rarely been successful gaining funding for even short films, let alone something of this scale. I know it’s going to be a mountain to climb, but I am not going to give up. It might take longer to get the project off the ground than I hope, but I’m going to make it happen. It’s a project I’m extremely passionate about and a story I feel is important to tell. I’ll be blogging about the whole writing process in more detail as and when I complete each section and of course give updates on any production ups/ downs/ funding wins/ rejections etc! I’ll attempt to be as candid as possible on here about getting something like this made.

I think that’s about it for now- pretty sure that covers everything! See you next time, stay safe, stay hydrated xo

Road to Wembley Continues...

At this point my attempt at photographing a game from each round from the Women’s FA Cup is a distant memory, but my plan is still to attend a game from each round (something I have been keeping up with)! Admittedly, it’s pretty frustrating that clubs don’t answer their emails regarding photography requests. Though maybe I’ve just been unlucky and not had the correct email addresses or they aren’t checked very often. Whatever the reasons, my photo challenge will have to wait until next season then, eh? It’s something I still definitely want to do!

Attending a game from the Third Round Proper was looking like it might be where this journey would come to an end (due to other commitments/ location). BUT, the bad weather did its thing and actually enabled me to attend a fixture a week later: I would have been unable to make one from that round should any of the games not have been postponed.

So it was a trip to the ‘Easy Buy Stadium’ (home of men’s side Barton Town FC) to watch Hull City Ladies take on Wolverhampton Wanderers Women. The winners of this tie would go on to face Championship side Reading FC in the Fourth Round. Spoiler alert: this opportunity was gifted to Wolves who actually went on to win the game 2-1!

Hull, who play in the FAWNL Division One North, a tier below Wolves, who (at time of writing) sit 5th in the FAWNL North, were always going to be up against it playing a side in a division above. But this is the FA Cup and anything can happen (and sometimes does)! Unfortunately that wasn’t to be in this case and the game ended 4-1 to Wolves. There was a good crowd (229) who turned out for this one and overall, despite it not especially being that near Hull, there was a great atmosphere.

The next round (Fourth Round Proper) produced some excellent fixture choices, though the one which was most appealing to my partner and I was the lowest ranked side left in the cup: Luton Town Ladies, who were to face WSL (women’s top tier) side Brighton & Hove Albion Women. This is why the FA Cup is so exciting- matches like this don’t come around that often and it’s always great for the lower side to draw a team like this. Providing it doesn’t end up a cricket score, of course. I must admit, I was mega excited for this day in the lead up!

Luton Ladies play at Sharpenhoe Road, home of men’s side Barton Rovers: a 6.6 mile trip away from Kenilworth Road (Luton’s main stadium). And located in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Which to attend this fixture, you would have to make a bit of an effort. And that’s what exactly 1,234 spectators did. I love when there’s a big crowd and a buzz around matches like this and perhaps deep down no one really thought Luton would actually win this game (they didn’t: they lost 0-6), there was still some hope and belief- myself included. Luton played extremely well and didn’t make it easy for Brighton, but by 90 minutes it really came down to fitness/ strength. Regardless of the result, this day will live long in my memory.

And finally, to get us up to date: the Fifth Round Proper. The most appealing match in my opinion from this round was Women’s Championship side Southampton FC Women pitted against high flying WSL team Manchester United. At the time of writing, both sit 4th in their respective divisions. Yes Southampton is a bit of a trek from Sheffield (especially as a neutral), but as previously stated, there’s nothing quite like an exciting FA Cup tie, so we made a weekend of it!

I was fortunate enough to be back pitchside with my camera for this one: an absolutely unforgettable experience. Manchester United’s squad contains several Lionesses players, including the legend that is Mary Earps. It was also a sell out game, with the attendance announced 4,554. The game was played at Eastleigh FC’s Silverlake Stadium, which was almost full one hour before kick off!

There was no cupset in this round either: Manchester United won the game 3-1, quite predictably, although for a short spell Southampton looked like they could turn it around. Manchester will now face WSL side Brighton & Hove Albion Women in the quarter finals.

You can view the full set of photos on my Flickr HERE and the usual ten are below for good measure!

If this blog has got you all excited for the Women’s FA Cup, fixtures for the next round are on the FA website, which you can view HERE.