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.

Dave Spud- NEW EPISODES!!

Mid February already?! Apparently so... But I guess that's only good news because 6, yes SIX, new episodes of the show I'm currently working on as an Assistant Editor have landed on ITVX. The show is 'The Rubbish World of Dave Spud' and despite the title, the show is anything but rubbish! Don't believe me? Well take a look at the brand new series 3 trailer, which I cut together:

Enjoy!

January Embroidery

First embroidery piece of 2024! Really like how this one turned out and love the colour scheme I used- the colourful background really makes the black and white bird stand out. I made this as a gift for a friend, the bird is based on one of her lino prints: check out her Etsy shop here (spoiler alert: she's really, really good) to see her work.

This was made in a 6 inch hoop, and I used satin stitch for the background, with a combination of satin, long/ short and back stitch for the bird.

'Bear' Short Film- Now Online!!

My short film 'Bear' is now available to watch on YouTube. More detailed writing about it on the Animated Short tag on the sidebar, if ya want to know more. But basically: an ambitious project, learned a LOT, was not funded and animated entirely by myself. Total budget was around £1.5k, along with countless hours (12 months) of work which I did for free, with no exterior sources to motivate me etc. Yes, it's far from 'perfect', but proud of what I achieved with it (making a project from start to finish is hard, let alone one of this length and solo). I'm using what I learnt from this one to take with me into my next project, which I'm already developing. Watch this space, hope ya enjoy xo

Full credits: Bear: Peter Stone The Manager: Anthea Carpenter Procter Director of photography: Alan Livesey Score: Jason Williams Storyboard ref/ runner: Ben Fuller Director/ animator/ writer: Flora Martyr Additional audio/ foley: ADOBE SFX iLIFE SOUND EFFECTS FREESOUND.ORG

2023 Film Recommendations

Like last year, here are my top 25 film recommendations out of all the feature films I watched during 2023. In total I watched 91, up from just 78 in 2022. Despite having watched more than the previous year, I was a little disappointed I didn’t quite reach my target of 104 (meaning two ‘new’ watches a week) and if it wasn’t for Sheff Doc Fest or Manchester Animation Festival, the number would have been even lower.

Contrary to how I present myself on this blog, I appreciate not everything in life needs to be counted or end up on a spreadsheet (it’s all arbitrary really isn’t it and in the end none of this actually matters), but as a filmmaker myself, I do appreciate the importance of watching feature films. I also don’t think two ‘new’ watches a week is too big of a task, although apparently it is!

This list was extremely hard to compile- I basically removed anything less than what I scored a 4 out of 5 and I was still left with about 50% of films watched! So some very good films have unfortunately been left out. To help me whittle it down further, I wanted to highlight some of the more independent films and/ or debut features, as I feel those are the ones which need shouting about a little more (so apologies Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, everyone already knows you were very good)!

These are listed in no particular order. The title of the film is in bold, followed by the the date which it was made according to IMDb (in brackets) and then the name of the director(s).

Hope you enjoy and I’m always open to any recommendations of what to watch, so write ‘em in the comments.

1. Aftersun (2022) Wells, Charlotte
2. Wildcat (2022) Frost, Trevor; Lesh, Melissa
3. Actual People (2021) Zauhar, Kit
4. The Quiet Girl (2022) Bairead, Colm
5. Songs my Brothers Taught Me (2015) Zhao, Chloe
6. Reprise (2006) Trier, Joachim
7. Belfast (2021) Branagh, Kenneth
8. Scrapper (2023) Regan, Charlotte
9. Ninjababy (2021) Flikke, Yngvild Sve
10. Return to Seoul (2022) Chou, Davy
11. Eternal Beauty (2019) Roberts, Craig
12. Rye Lane (2023) Allen-Miller, Raine
13. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023) Craig, Kelly Fremon
14. Name Me Lawand (2022) Lovelace, Edward
15. Chicken For Linda (2023) Laudenbach, Sebastien; Malta, Chiara
16. Time Bomb Y2K (2023) Becker, Brian; Mcdonald, Marley
17. Much Ado About Dying (2022) Chambers, Simon
18. The Killing of Two Lovers (2020) Machoian, Robert
19. Blue Jean (2022) Oakley, Georgia
20. The Father (2020) Zeller, Florian
21. Barbie (2023) Gerwig, Greta
22. Ordinary Love (2019) Barros D’Sa, Lisa; Leyburn, Glenn
23. The Arbor (2010) Barnard, Clio
24. Pretty Red Dress (2022) Edwards, Dionne
25. Past Lives (2023) Song, Celine

Have a great 2024, stay safe, see ya in the cinema!

2023 in Football

2023 was a year in two halves in football for me in all honesty. My enthusiasm was low after the first few months of the year and my football photography had ground to a halt- I even wondered if it was something I’d ever get back to. This was down to a number of reasons which I won’t go into right now, though after a house move in April and after a two month break (yes, two whole months) my passion for the sport was well and truly back. As was my photography, thankfully! I’m assuming the break was definitely needed, as coming back to to it, I’ve felt extremely enthusiastic about it again. This is definitely something I intend to carry through into 2024.

This can’t be a groundhopping post without stats really, can it? So stats you want, stats you get. In 2023 I visited 81 ‘new' (previously unvisited for me) grounds and watched 81 matches (35 of those were women’s). I watched 3 international fixtures (including the Lionesses twice). The highest international attendance was 41,947 for England Lionesses against Scotland and the highest domestic attendance was 24,092 for Newcastle Women vs Bradford City Women. The lowest (approximated) attendance was 5, for Thurgoland Welfare vs Fox Glen FC in the Sheffield and District Fair Play League Division 2. Total goals seen was 303, averaging 3.74 a game. And my most seen team was Barnsley Women’s FC (3 times).

And now, for the eagerly anticipated top 10! These are not just the ‘nicest’ grounds I feel I visited, but I’ve also taken into account enjoyable days out/ great clubs/ good overall football watching experiences. These are in the date order I visited.

Bridge End Ground

Settle United FC 4-0 Padiham Juniors Community FC, East Lancashire League Presidents Cup

View full photo set here.

Often mentioned amongst England’s most scenic football locations, Bridge End met my expectations and then some. Set within the Yorkshire Dales, you can really see why this ground gets its reputation.

Gronant Playing Fields

CPD Gronant 4-3 Overton Recreation, North East Wales Football League Cup semi final

View full photo set here.

A ground overlooking the sea, hemmed in by hills and views of a skatepark in the background- I think this might be the ultimate venue!

St James' Park

Newcastle United Women 6-1 Bradford City Women, FAWNL Division 1 North

An impressive looking 52 thousand capacity stadium on the edge of Newcastle city centre, this ground is not to be overlooked. But what really made this visit even more spectacular and memorable though was the 24 thousand plus crowd for a tier 4 women’s football match. It’s a sign that things are progressing in the right direction and definitely falls under the ‘things you love to see’ category! Must admit that sitting amongst that crowd made me feel pretty emotional. Keep it up please Newcastle, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it well.

Oakwell Stadium

Barnsley FC U21 2-1 Swansea City U21, Professional Development League

A lovely, traditional stadium and still with some of its original 19th century wooden seats in the West Stand, this one is not to be missed.

Welfare Ground Moorends

Thorne Colliery FC 3-1 Holme Rovers, League Cup

They don’t make them like this anymore. A stand far too big for a team playing at their level (at non league step 7 in the Humber Premier League), but I ain’t complaining! Super friendly club too. And the ground is also home to Donny Rovers Belles.

View full photo set here.

Christchurch Meadows

Belper Town FC 3-4 Dunston UTS, Northern Premier League Division One East

I think this is everyone’s favourite ground, isn’t it?! Pictures will be able to say it better than I will, (full set linked below). But if you haven’t been, then go and if you have been, then go again! An extremely welcoming and friendly club too, making this match day experience hard to fault.

View full photo set here.

The Proctor Cars Stadium

Matlock Town FC 1-0 Bedford Town, FA Trophy

Another absolute gem of a ground in Derbyshire, this is another one where the pictures will say it better than I ever will! Picturesque from all angles and just as friendly and welcoming as the aforementioned Belper Town, you’ll be glad-iator (get it?!) you came.

View full photo set here.

The County Ground (Swindon)

Swindon Town Women FC 1-2 AFC Bournemouth Women, Women’s FA Cup Second Round Proper

Proper floodlights, with 4 interesting stands, all for an exciting second round Women’s FA Cup fixture, it was definitely worth the 306 mile round trip.

View full photo set here.

Craven Park

Hull City Ladies 6-0 FC United of Manchester Women, FAWNL Division One North

Predominantly used as a rugby venue, us and several other football ground enthusiasts were amongst the 1,017 strong crowd to witness FC United of Manchester Women get mauled by Hull City Ladies. Unusual venues such as this are always great grounds to ‘collect’, especially when they’re as impressive as this one.

Brisbane Road

Tottenham Hotspur Women 0-4 Manchester United Women, Women's Super League

Home to Leyton Orient alongside Spurs Women, I watched the latter take on Manchester United Women in the Women’s Super League. I was positioned in the Justin Edinburgh stand, right opposite the aesthetically pleasing East Stand (the oldest in the stadium, brought in from the now demolished Mitcham Stadium in 1955), which made for a nice backdrop to the action on the pitch.

Special mention: Glanford Park

Scunthorpe United FC 6-1 Bishop’s Stortford FC, National League North

Not the most exciting pick in terms of stadium architecture (though there are plenty worse), but this was where I feel I took some of my best football photographs in 2023. View the full set here.

Right, that's that done! See you at a ground in 2024 xo

2023 in Bowling

Hello hello! Merry Christmas and all that! I know I've significantly slowed down on my blogging towards the end of the year, but I've not felt like I've had anything all that relevant to write about on here. Admittedly I like to try and aim for one post a week, but simultaneously I don’t like to post if I have nothing which I feel especially warrants one.

Now, onto the good stuff…

I said in my last post on bowling, that hopefully it won’t be that long before I write about the subject again and that was just over two months ago, so yep, I’m pleased I’ve been able to stay true to my word! Because I went to 22 different bowling alleys this year, I feel there’s enough to create a top 5. So, without further ado (and in no particular order) I present my 5 favourite bowling establishments visited this year:

Gorilla Bar and Bowling Newcastle

Having visited in April this year, it’s actually hard to cast my mind back to what made this one so good- the main thing I can actually remember from here is that I was unable to get a printed receipt (I like to get one at each place) as the printer was broken! Though, I do remember the lanes and equipment being especially good and a nice ambiance to the place. I was also having a lovely day, so I’m guessing that might have had something to do with it, but I gave it a solid 9/10 on my spreadsheet, so it must have been doing something right…

Riverside Bowling Sunderland

This one stood out as it was visited after a spate of several chain bowls, all with pins on strings. This was not only an independent venue, but also the first ‘free fall’ (traditional) bowling alley visited for some time. It felt anything but generic. From the exterior it honestly did not look like there would be bowling inside and to be honest it didn’t even look open. Though, these places are the ones I find most interesting and there was no shortage in character.

Pavilion Bowl Clacton-on-Sea

This was one of three bowling alleys on the Tendring Peninsula- an absolute gold mine for any fellow bowling enthusiasts out there. Each centre had not yet “upgraded” to pins on strings and each oozed character. This one was the best of the three by far: good prices, well maintained lanes, excellent ball selection and friendly staff- it’s hard to find fault. It was also my 150th bowling alley visited. Oh, and did I mention the free jukebox?

Airport Bowl

This one had been on my ‘to bowl’ list for several years and on a recent trip to London, staying in a hotel conveniently close to this place (oh, what a coincidence), meant I was finally able to visit it. I took advantage of their £1.50 per person per game weekend special offer and treated myself to several early morning games. It was everything I wanted it to be and more- lanes in great condition (it often hosts tournaments), a good variety of house balls, great looking building and a brilliant atmosphere, this place has got nearly everything right. The downside to this one was the pins on strings- if only I’d have visited a few years ago before they changed them. Airport Bowl is definitely among my all time favourites and it will be one I’d gladly visit again. And again. And again.

Ashby Bowl (Scunthorpe)

One of two bowling alleys in Scunthorpe, this independent establishment definitely came across as the friendlier one. But perhaps I was alone in that thinking as for pretty much the whole hour we were there, the place was deserted bar three staff members and an arcade game technician. Despite one early equipment/ lane fault, it was all smooth from there. The lane was in great shape, though the only drawback was the selection of house balls which left a little to be desired. Perhaps this is a sign that I should start using my own ball again- I think I’ll try it out next time I bowl… Also of note here, the front facing exterior wall boasted a large (and quite fantastic) ‘Support UK Steel’ mural, which was only painted early December.

So that concludes my top 5 for 2023! If you do end up visiting any of the above, then I’d love to know if you felt the same (or different) to me. Hopes for 2024 would be to visit at least 25 bowling alleys/ stay healthy enough to do so and to get back into the habit of using my own ball again. A new bowling alley has recently opened in Sheffield city centre, so that’s an easy one to start with…

Road to Wembley #4 + #5

OK so just quickly on my ‘Road to Wembley’ #4: this one, my photography plans fell through again unfortunately (please reply to your emails football clubs!!), but I still attended a game from the First Round Proper, so my run continues: Lincoln City Women 1-5 Derby County Women. The game was played at Moorlands Sports Ground in front of 100 or so spectators…

And now for #5: one of the ties which really stood out in the Second Round Proper was Swindon Town Women vs AFC Bournemouth Women, which was to be played at The County Ground (main home of Swindon Town FC). I’ve recently really taken a liking to photographing at medium sized stadiums, so this match especially appealed (and the ground did not disappoint)! FAWNL Division One South West table topping AFC Bournemouth have not lost a league game all season, while Swindon, situated third, have only lost two. It was always going to be a close game and Swindon lead most of the match, though Bournemouth showed their strength towards the latter half and ended up winning two goals to one.

As usual, I’ll stick a few photos below and head HERE for the full set.

The next round of the cup where the Championship sides are added takes place on Sunday 10th December. You can view the fixtures here.

Embroidery Animation

Hey hey! Long time no post. But, there is good reason: I have been working away at a hand embroidered animation. And yes, I am a little mad. As I’ve been really into embroidery of late, I thought well why not combine that with animation to create something using two of my favourite art forms? So I did just that.

I decided to use a straightforward concept: just a 12 frame walk cycle, which could be looped. I wanted to keep it fairly simple in order to be able to complete it and not make it too hard for myself, especially as this would be my first one. I mean the task is ambitious enough itself, without needing to complicate things further with an intricate design.

I had a load of footage of people walking left over from my ‘Bear’ project, so chose someone who didn’t have too much detail on their clothes and also so you couldn’t really see their face. I then made a walk cycle from the footage and rotoscoped the frames once I was happy with it. After that, I just treated them all as if they were separate embroidery pieces. I used a 6 inch hoop, as I didn’t want to be working too small or I’d have been at risk losing some detail. But I also didn’t want to make it too big, or each frame would have taken too long and any bigger wouldn’t have added anything anyway. I think the size I decided on was right for this project.

I wanted each clothing section to contrast with one another, so I used a mixture of stitches to add more texture. Plus if they were all the same, I think it might have looked quite odd. Which I obviously didn’t want! So I went with back stitch for the outline, satin for the trousers and long and short stitch for the hoody. I also used satin for the shoes, socks and skin, but in different directions than the trousers, to add further contrast.

As I was sewing the project, I was pretty nervous as to whether it was actually going to work or not, but not knowing this kind of gave me the drive to keep on going and to finish it. I was curious about the result myself, which really spurred me on- I was very excited to see how it would turn out! I think because it was 12 frames it made it more manageable, whereas if there were any more, I might have been less enthused throughout because it would have felt like I was sewing frames upon frames and thinking in the back of my mind it might be a little pointless if it doesn’t work. But now I know that this technique works, I would happily do another, possibly with more frames. I do have a few ideas, but I also have a few ideas for other projects, so we’ll see!

As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, on the whole, I am happy with the outcome. And I am super proud of it. It’s by no means perfect, but I also kind of like that about it- I have created it by hand, so why not play to that? I always think if something is hand crafted it’s a little pointless if it’s too smooth, because then it might as well have been CG or something…

I think doing this project has definitely upped my embroidery skills, especially in certain stitches and I think my next embroidery project is going to feel very weird when I don’t need to sew another similar one straight after! Oh and just a side note before I forget as if you’re reading this and feel you want to make something similar, then just a little bit on how I digitalised each frame. I decided to scan them in, because to photograph them you would really need the use of a studio, or else the lighting would differ frame to frame. Scanning was also a good way of keeping each image flat and getting a similar result each time.

Regarding the hoop marks and any creases in the fabric, I used the ‘spot healing brush’ tool in Photoshop to paint them out. I tried it without any smoothing and the result didn’t look as good until I used this brush. Here’s a side by side of the ‘raw’ version (on the left), versus the smooth:

And finally, I’m guessing you want to see it?! Here you go:

Scunthorpe United FC

My photo taking continues..! Saturday (28th October) was Scunthorpe United FC 6-1 Bishop's Stortford, in the National League North. Ten below and as usual, full set on my Flickr- click here!