Community Football Wins

 

There were no winners or losers in the WAFFL second tier clash Swan Athletic vs. Kalamunda Saturday 18^th June, only the Community and the amateur game of Football won as the two sides fought out a memorable draw.

In an Emotional day that supported the “Luke Adams respect and responsibility Foundation “and  combined with the annual “Back to Ath” Past players day saw a crowd of 500 people descend on the McDonald Street oval and they were not disappointed.

On a day that saw rain in the earlier colts match and on a perfect playing surface the game pitted 3^rd against 4^th on the ladder and both sides knew full well the importance to their season in going home with a win.

Kalamunda seized the initiative and kicking with the aid of a 2 goal breeze bounced out by kicking the first 4 goals of the match, to lead by 23 points at the end of the first quarter.

Their clearance work was of the highest order and quick ball movement put the Swan Athletic defence under enormous pressure.

The second quarter saw the home side settle and begin to pick up the tempo and as a result the score had closed to 5 points by the time the half time siren sounded.

Kalamunda began the third term in the same fashion as the first and bounced out with determination and drive. At the 20 minute mark of the third quarter the visitors had opened a break of 36 points before the local boys hit back with two late goals that gave them some momentum and the big crowd some hope for a comeback with the breeze in the last stanza.

With a huge crowd around the Swan Athletic huddle urging the boys on, the last quarter began with Steve Qualigia and Jamie Pollock combining in the centre to set up a goal in the first minute of the quarter.

With Damon Pavlinovich in and under and Ben Kerr marshalling the defence the momentum had swung in favour of the home side.

A series of behinds then a fantastic long range set shot from Jeremy Polich saw the home side on the scoreboard 7 points in front with seconds left on the clock. A 50 m penalty in favour of Kalamunda saw late goal before the siren sounded sending the Swan Athletic team and home crowd into raptures thinking a 1 point victory was in their favour.

However a hush fell when the two goal umpires conferred and stalked to the scoreboard demanding an adjustment to the score by one extra points in Kalamunda’s favour.

Both teams finishing on 10 Goals 15 behinds each (75)

Best Players

Ben Kerr led from the front when his defence was being swamped in the first and third quarter.

Damon Pavlinovich: In only his second game of league since returning from injury was strong all day

James Sharman: does what James does best in defence strong on the tackle and committed to the contest

 

The colts suffered from inaccuracy and went down to a very good Kalamunda side

The reserves bounced back from being smashed by Kalamunda in the first round to record a solid victory.

 

This week’s fixture vs. Willetton at Burrendah reserve in a season defining game

Colts 10-30

Reserves 12-00 noon

League 2-30 p-m

One of the best parts of our work is being able to photograph the wonderful families that we meet. Families like the Brennans.

The Brennans are a beautiful family from the country town of Calingri (sort of around the Wheatbelt region if you are wondering). They requested a portrait session from me and I suggested that they do it on their property, which has some magical scenery. As the family was about to be separated for some time and they were unsure how the dynamics of the family would change, they decided now was the time to invest in a family portrait, and also since they hadn’t had one together for many years.

The Brennan’s farm is a couple of hours drive north of Perth, and in the lead up to the busy season we decided to go up for an overnight trip so we could fit in with their hectic work life. I took my wife and family with me and used the opportunity to introduce farm life to my children, who had a ball up there and absolutely loved it. I also did some documentary filming and photography around the property to document the lifestyle that this family leads. I will post the video soon so you can see they way they live on the farm.

Later in the afternoon we ventured down through the paddocks with Fiona (the Farmers Wife, as my kids call her) to look at some locations for the portraits. Then, once the workers had made their way in, we headed out for our portrait session. Unfortunately, because of the weather the canolas hadn’t quite taken off, and we missed out on those gorgeous yellow fields, so we tried a variety of other locations. As you can see, it was a wonderful idea to take the portraits on the farm. The background compliments this amazing family completely and they look so relaxed and at-home in their farm environment.

After a session in the wild radish and the surrounding area we decided to make a dash up the hill amongst the wheat as the sun began to set. The final images truly did not disappoint – they really captured the spirit of this beautiful family and we were able to get some fantastic images of them being themselves and living in the moment together.

Long before I started my career as a Professional Photographer I was a imaginative yet hopeless amateur photographer. Recently while helping my Dad clean out his shed I stumbled across some very interesting memories. One of these stored away with cobwebs and who knows what on it was my first and original SLR camera. yes this was the beast that started it all for me. Well kind of anyway. I'm not sure how old I was when I took my first photo or had my first camera, I could have been as little as 3 or 4, and I remember taking photos with a polaroid owned by my brother and with my point and shoot disposable 24 exposure camera on school camp. But this camera I guess was my beginning. I bought this Ricoh manual SLR camera for a modest $35 from a friend, thinking that it would turn my little passion into brilliance. I was 16 at the time and had no experience with SLR photography (This had a great deal to do with me mucking around in photography at school and being kicked out of the class – I will save that story for another day).
The first thing I did with my new camera was to get up before the sun one day. I rode my bike to a paddock in the swan valley which had an open view of the distant hills and where the sun would be rising from. As the sun came up I fired off a whole 18 shots of my 24 exposures. The final prints would be quiet mussing to look at compared to now as I had no idea of how to manually change the settings on the camera – That would come in time.
I persisted with Film for some years and when I began my plight as a professional photographer, and photographed my first wedding it was with a Canon film body. I think from memory I used 6 rolls of film for about 120 odd photographs. Wow how things have changed.
I was an early mover into the digital era. My first digital love was a Nikon with a HUGE 1.3 megapixel sensor. I later got myself a canon with a 4 megapixel sensor and thought it was the absolute stuff. My 6 year old son owns a 8.2 Megapixel Digital SLR and is proving himself to be a handy little photographer. he will have no idea of the massive shift we have seen since I first became involved in the industry. It will become folklore and legend.
Anyway I have posted a couple of images of what is remaining of my first SLR camera. If you still have yours post some images up so we can see where it all began for you.

Over the long weekend I had the chance for some much needed R&R (as shortlived as it might be). Even then its not a time to leave the camera behind. We gathered together as a family a couple of times over the weekend. My sister and her family came up from Bunbury and held a little birthday bash for their soon to be 3 year old son. At parties there is a lot of cameras around and plent of photographic opportunities. What I try to look for is those special, candid moments of expression and emotion that can illustrate the event and what people are feeling and experiencing. As my sister was rounding up her family to leave I caught this magic little moment when she kissed my baby goodbye. Our baby was being held by my Dad the proud Grandpop, and I hope you can see in this image the magic little moment they all shared. To me this memory is absolutlety “Priceless”PRICELESS”