Green Point Stadium

I took this photo of Green Point Stadium on 23 February last year from a flat in Cape Town CBD. This is what it looks like exactly a year later. (Photo by Joanne.)

You'll notice two things from these photos:
1) The stadium is finished - hurrah. (No toilet bowl or white elephant comments, please!); and
2) Only mad photogs and Englishmen take photos in the midday sun - it really doesn't make the city look its postcard best.

World Press Photo Awards

A few years ago, I managed to get a photo pass for the London leg of the Tour de France. My behaviour in the Village Depart, before, during and after the Prologue, can only be described as stalker-ish. But I'm a huge fan of the race, and I really couldn't believe my luck. I can probably compare it to hanging around the locker room during a World Cup final (very exciting, but not always pretty!).

I captured this momentous occasion with a Nikon D40 and an 18-200mm lens. Unbelievable, really. Even Ken Rockwell, who loves this particular combo, would have to agree it's not ideal. 'Fortunately' I wasn't allowed on the prologue route, because that would've just caused way too much hilarity. Still, I was pleased with a few of the shots I got (some of which can be seen in this slideshow). And, more importantly, I was in Tour de France-nerd heaven.

At one point, I was hanging around the Discovery Channel Team's bus when I noticed a female photographer (there were probably only three altogether) who seemed to have a special relationship with the team. Unlike the majority of the male photographers, she also seemed to be having as much fun as I was (only, she wasn't doing it in a stalker-ish way). I remember thinking she must have balls, or a fantastic personality (or both), waving her camera around in their faces like that. Then I saw a photo of her afterwards and a bit of Googling revealed that she was Liz Kreutz, the Discovery Channel Team's official photographer. What a fabulous job! I was on a high for days after the first stage; she got to do it for three weeks, all over Europe. And that's just the Tour de France. But Liz wasn't just a crazy fan like me. She'd been friends with Lance Armstrong for 15 years. After he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 she got involved with his Foundation (as one of two full-time employees; they now have 80+), doing PR, fundraising and photography. She only got involved with cycling around ten years later, and last year she dedicated all her time traveling with Lance as his official photographer, documenting his comeback year, to raise cancer awareness.

On Friday, the winners of the World Press Photo Awards were announced and Liz won first prize in the Sports Features Stories category. Pretty cool achievement, and an amazing journey, for someone who started out as a volunteer at a friend's charity!

Love Britain Shortlist

Boasting about being shortlisted for a photography competition must be one of the top five ways of kicking off a brand new photoblog, don't you think? Winning would, of course, be the best way, but we can't wait for that to happen!

So, here it is, my entry for TNT Magazine's Love Britain competition.

I completely forgot I had entered the competition, so getting an email from the magazine this afternoon was a very nice surprise. And not only because it meant I didn't have to think too hard at all about what to put on this blog.
It also took my mind off the fifty-six million, eight thousand, one hundred and thirteen pounds and twenty pence I didn't win on Saturday.

If you want, you can visit the TNT website and vote for my pic. The winner of the Readers Choice Awards wins two weeks' campervan hire to explore Britain, and would I say no to that? No, I won't!

And although the first and second prizes won't make me the 980th richest person in Britain, they're not bad either. The winner gets £1,000 worth of travel vouchers and the runner up gets two eight-day national rail passes. With train prices being as expensive as they are, I'm not convinced this isn't worth more than the first prize.