Aleksandr Popov
"The water is your friend. You don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move..."
Gallica Swimming Club  ...view work in progress gallery

Another mad morning underwater and on poolside with the camera. I have to admit I never knew there were another TWO pools under the main competition pool in the Manchester Aquatics Centre, I guess you learn something new every day.

My thanks to all of the Gallica swimmers for making me feel so welcome and for their patience during the many different set-ups. I have no idea what training Louise their coach gives them or what cereal they eat for breakfast, but their physiques were incredible. Almost made me want to get back in the gym - I say ALMOST...

Anyway, lots of photos to develop so keep checking this gallery...

           
City of Sheffield Swim Squad  ...view gallery

Yep, more photos of my favourite club at Ponds Forge.

Good luck to them and everyone else taking part in the British Championships later this month.

    








Stockport Metro Intensive Training Centre  ...view gallery

As a photographer you have to be prepared for anything and everything to go wrong. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best... But I could do nothing about the one thing totally out of my control - the speed of these ITC swimmers. Sean Kelly, their coach (who by the way I awarded double Brownie points for kindly getting me a cup of tea when I arrived at the pool at a stupidly early time on Saturday morning), had warned me they would be doing a sprint session that morning. But I thought 'OK, 50m pool so lots of room and time to get in the pool for the underwater photos - frame, focus and shoot'. Ah yes - well maybe with club swimmers, but this was an ITC and these guys are the elite... Olympic athletes, World Champions, the best of the best.

So picture the scene: I jump into the pool with my underwater gear in the middle of their full-on sprint session. I'm lugging the camera and I'm wearing ankle weights to help keep me underwater, so I'm not exactly Mr Speedy Gonzales in the water. I turn to face the ITC swimmers in the nearside lane tearing down the pool towards me, I raise the camera to my eye ready to frame, focus then take the shot and... HOLY $%&*! It was like I'd jumped onto a Formula One racing track during a race. I saw each swimmer for a fleeting second then I was left for dead in their backwash. Not only were they going at an unbelievable speed but they were making no allowances for me being in their lane. They were focused on the job at hand and if I got in the way then it was tough £$%! Which I guess is fair enough if you're an elite athlete and every second of every training session counts (which it does). After a few attempts and near misses I gave up and got out the pool, so I'm sorry to say there are only a few underwater photos in the gallery. A lesson learnt.

Despite this near death experience I really enjoyed meeting some of our country's top swimmers. It was a privilege to meet athletes like Michael Rock, Keri-anne Payne and James Goddard and I was only sorry I could not have photographed more of the ITC swimmers that morning.

    
Trafford Synchronised Swimming Club  ...view gallery

Wonderful club and really nice people.



GB Synchronised Swimming Team  ...view gallery

A photo shoot with the team - all except Jenna Randall - at their training pool in Aldershot.

I can't feel my legs from having to do so much 'egg beater' kick in the water as I was taking the photos... although the GB girls did give me a few polite (but not entirely truthful) compliments about my technique. Less of an egg beater, more of an egg whisker :)

I witnessed some pretty amazing and very intense training. For example, 25m butterfly immediately followed by 25m underwater swim, then the same again, and again, and again..! Now I know I'm no elite athlete, but I'm usually searching for the pool-side oxygen tank and defibrillator after just a few lengths of normal butterfly - so the thought of having to swim 25m underwater in between lengths of butterfly is terrifying... Do these girls have gills?!


     
Duel In The Pool: USA versus E-Stars, Manchester 2009   ...view gallery

Some of the photos from day one, Friday, during the morning training session/warm-up and evening competition in which 5 World Records were broken.

Well done to 'Rocky' (alias Michael Rock) for beating Phelps on Saturday - an amazing effort - and to all the other GB team.  My thoughts on the event are now in the COMMENT section of the website.
   
Kingston-upon-Hull Swimming Club   ...view gallery

Kingston-upon-Hull SC as you've never seem them before...  A fun - albeit very rushed - photoshoot focusing on the 'mean and lean' look with lots of moody lighting and new race suits.  We also tried some new underwater set-ups which seemed to work well.

The words on the posters are from the swimmers.

                                  
'Snow Frills' Swimming Gala 2009  ...view gallery

The best photos of the City of Sheffield Swim Squad in action at their 'Snow Frills 2009' competition in Ponds Forge.  I was only able to attend one of the many sessions over the course of the weekend, so apologies to all the COSSS swimmers I was not able to photograph - your time will come!                       
City of Sheffield Junior Development Swim Squad  ...view gallery

Apparently the junior development squad is the second best squad in COSSS - after the Masters of course ;)

They have gone from strength to strength led by their head coach Dave Naughton and the best of luck to them in 2010.

The posters can now be seen in another gallery ...VIEW POSTERS.  The kids provided all the words and I will use one or two of them in the forthcoming GBswimstars photo exhibition in February ...VIEW DETAILS.
       
Sheffield Diving Club  ...view gallery

Here are all the photos from the monster two day, two hundred photo photoshoot I did for their 2010 calendar - mainly in black and white.  Diving is extremely difficult to photograph - the hardest of the aquatic sports - and I'm only just beginning to get the hang of it.  Why's it so hard?  Because everything happens in about two or three seconds, they hit the water from the top 10m platform at 35 miles per hour, they spin around all over the place and above all I hate heights! 

Having said all that, it's one of the most beautiful sports to photograph because of the wonderful shapes they make in the air - and shape is a very important thing in photography.  I guess that's why you need so much strength and flexibility to be a good diver, because in a stupidly short amount of time you have to power yourself into the air, get your body into some totally unnatural and what looks like very painful shape, twist or turn around doing some really clever stuff, then straighten yourself into an arrow just before you enter the water.  I think I'll stick with the swimming - although I am having a diving lesson soon, gulp!
South Yorkshire Swans Synchronised Swimming Club  ...view gallery

The Swans is a small club based in Rotherham with big ambitions.  I went to photograph them in action at their new swimming pool and saw some very unusual land training not normally associated with synchronised swimming - boxing!  They told me it builds fitness and teamwork... and I'd add self-defence to this having seen how hard these girls were hitting each other!

The best of luck to them as they continue to grow and develop their club in an area not exactly overflowing with synchro resources - one of the key problems from what I was told being a lack of pool time.
City of Sheffield Mini Water Polo Club  ...view gallery

Water polo deserves more attention and recognition than it gets in this country, and you'll see in these photos just how much fun the kids (and coaches!) have.  The sport reaches out to children across the UK of all ages and ability - giving them action, teamwork, competition, friendship and fun!  Most of all Water Polo gives children in this country somewhere to go if they want to do build on what they've learnt in swimming classes or in clubs.  Every year we spend millions trying to get children into swimming and teaching them how to do it - which is great.  But what happens next?  Not all children like the high pressure world of club swimming, preferring instead team games.

Earlier this year the sport was hit by a funding crisis and the GB men's team was all but sacrificed for the women's team in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic games - there just wasn't enough money to fund both teams.  But this funding crisis comes at a time when as a country we're trying to get our kids off the sofa and computer and into sport... hmmm...

Megan Sylvester, Monique Gladding & Ben Swain  ...view gallery

Photos from the photoshoot with the GB team divers Megan Sylvester, Monique Gladding and Ben Swain.  Monique and Megan compete together in the 10m Synchro diving event and came 6th in the World Championships in Rome this year - an amazing result considering they've only recently started competing together.

Ben Swain competes with Nick Robinson-Baker in the 3m Synchro diving event and they were at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing - coming a very credible 7th.

There are also some action shots of Megan (mainly) and a couple of Ben.  Unfortunately Monique was injured that day so I was unable to get any action shots of her.

By the way, if you look very carefully in the close-up headshots (image 33, 34 and 35) you will see a little GB flag of light in their eyes!
Putteridge Piranhas Swimming Club  ...view gallery

I couldn't believe how many young brothers and sisters swim in the club together - you'll see them in these group photos taking a rare moment away from the family fighting - which was wonderful to see.  Enthusiasm, dedication and pride oozes from everyone and they really do the ASA and British Swimming proud.

I wish them the best of luck and continued success for the future.
City of Sheffield Swim Squad Underwater  ...view gallery

Some fun underwater action with senior swimmers from the COSSS Elite squad.  Lots of experimentation and trial and error, but we came away with some interesting pictures.
Reading Royals Synchronised Swimming Club Posters  ...view gallery

Best wishes and good luck to the Reading Royals and especially their GB squad girls.

The Royals have put together this fantastic video clip using images from the GBswimstars photo shoot  ...VIEW VIDEO
 
Trafford Synchro will be the next synchronised swimming club I photograph in January next year.  I have some new ideas I want to try, involving not just their senior squad but also their 'Little Mermaids' (children) and some Masters (those like me who are just a little advanced in years!)  ...VIEW WEBSITE

 
Reading Royals Synchronised Swimming Club  ...view gallery

All the photos from the photo shoot are now in this gallery.  I did a lot of portraits because I wanted to show the people underneath those 'fixed synchro smiles'... and I also wanted to try out different lighting set-ups!  My new underwater camera gear worked well and allowed me to develop the underwater photos with some very unusual lighting effects.  Many thanks to Sian Kent for helping me out with the lights and to Kate Coupar, head coach, for her kind hospitality - the sandwiches went down a treat after about 2 hours stuck on the M1 during the journey home!
Posters from the National Championships 2009  ...view gallery

Here are the posters I've designed to date using photos from this year's Nationals.

At the end of the gallery you will also see some mock-ups of ideas for swimming club recruitment posters - rather different from the usual posters you see in swimming pools and schools.
National Youth Finals on Friday, 31st July  ...view gallery

More photos from the Nationals last month.  I also enclose a couple of poster mock-ups at the end to show what can be done with the photos; as I'm willing to make each club a poster of their favourite photo(s) for use in recruitment (e.g. put them in schools next term) or recognition ('well done XXXX').  Please contact me for more information.  Since the Nationals photos were published I've been contacted by quite a few clubs about a photo shoot with their swimmers, which is great.  So watch this space because your club could be next!
National Youth Finals on Thursday, 30th July  ...view gallery

Photos from the British Gas National Youth Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield (ordered from the first to the last race).  This is one of the biggest competitions of the year for GB team hopefuls and present were the very best 14 to 18 year olds in British swimming - including GB's top young multi-disability swimmers.

This was my first time at the Nationals and it was a privilege to watch these athletes compete.  You could see the 100% total commitment and determination to win oozing from the swimmers, and I tried to capture this by getting some pictures of the swimmers psyching themselves up just before they walked up to the starting blocks.  I hope these photos provide a glimpse of what must have been going through their mind as they prepared to race in the finals.
National Age Groups Heats & Finals on Sunday, 26th July  ...view gallery

I was there to take pictures of the incredible 14 year old wonder-boy Matthew Johnson winning his 10th gold medal.  I also took action shots of swimmers from clubs including; City of Sheffield, Plymouth, Nova, Ipswich, Dartes, Millfield and Stockport Metro - plus some others I couldn't identify in all the excitement.  I witnessed some amazing swims and many of these kids really are the GB swim stars of tomorrow... and for a few of them maybe the stars of London 2012..?!  Where possible in the gallery I've tried to group the photos by club. 
Doncaster Dartes Posters & Portraits  ...view gallery

Posters and portraits of the Doncaster Dartes senior swimmers and the club's coaching and management team.  A Podcast recording of an interview we did after the photo shoot is coming soon.  I've started putting together a number of different ideas for recruitment posters aimed primarily at boys.
Doncaster Dartes Underwater & in Action  ...view gallery

Here are the underwater and action photos we took of the Doncaster Dartes.
GB Water Polo Team in Action at the LEN Women's European Nations Trophy in the presence of HRH Prince William  ...view gallery

These photos show the GB girls in action against Slovakia and the VIP guests who attended the match.  They won the match 17-5 and went on to win the championship.  Congratulations to all of them and the coaching team!

You'll see; the VIP guests arriving and meeting HRH Prince William, then the girls lining up to exchange gifts with the Slovakian team, then the match (including the half-time synchronised swimming entertainment), and finally the VIP reception afterwards. 

Present were some of the great and the good from swimming, including Dave Sparkes, Laszlo Szakadati and James Hickman.  The very lucky lady seen next to Prince William is not his latest girlfriend, but the World Class Performance Manager for water polo, Joanna Wray.
City of Sheffield Swim Squad National Qualifiers Posters   ...view gallery

So far the City of Sheffield have had a great year - one of the highlights being Ellie Faulkner winning the Open Water gold medal at the Junior Europeans in July.  These posters were presented to the juniors who were successful in getting their national times this year and maybe some of them are the GB swim stars of tomorrow...

The photo shoot was great fun but it didn't go to their heads, because 5.30am the morning after we took these photos these young swimmers were back in the pool doing a gruelling 10 x 800m training set (swim 800m then have a quick rest, swim another 800m, another rest etc.)  Now that's got to hurt!
Sheffield Diving Club Juniors Posters   ...view gallery

These are the posters we made for the junior diving team ahead of the British Elite Junior Championships at Ponds Forge in May this year.
Sheffield Diving Club Juniors in Action   ...view gallery

Until I photographed these junior divers I had absolutely no idea what diving was about, and having seen it up close I can tell you it is incredible. The flexibility, skill and strength of those who do it is astounding and I see now why British Swimming has been poaching gymnasts and getting them into diving; because you need to be a cross between a human rubber band (flexible) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (strong!).

I went up to the top high board (10m) to take some photos and made the mistake of looking down... After I'd prised my shaking hands off the railings with my teeth and inched backwards down the stairs I realised you also need tremendous courage to do this sport - because the kids were running up the stairs past my quivering body and diving backwards off the top board without any hesitation. If you want to see what I mean then take a look at THIS VIDEO - wait till the end of the video when he shows off the bruises on his bum (ouch!!!). These photos include shots of James Milton (European gold medal winner) and Megan Sylvester (one of GB's top junior divers).
GB Women Water Polo Team Portraits   ...view gallery

Individual portraits of the GB women's squad taken over two sessions. The 'wet and wild' photos were done with a very high tech set up - a bucket of water poured over the head in the shower...!  I wanted to get a really natural pose - and not the sort of thing you see so often in sports/swimwear ads - so I grabbed them as they got out of the pool after morning training and took these photos.  The fashion look photos with the black dresses were done during the BBC 1 Sport filming day in Manchester Aquatics Centre.
GB Women Water Polo Team in Action   ...view gallery

The GB women in action at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.  Thanks to Joanna Wray from British Water Polo for helping me out by holding the camera flashes on the poolside (and getting very wet in the process!).
GB Men Water Polo Team Portraits   ...view gallery

Here are the photos from the BBC photo shoot I did in April in the Manchester Aquatics Centre. I sprayed the polo balls we used silver to try and get a different effect (and polo balls are a nightmare to photograph because they are so brightly coloured!). I think it worked well.

I wish the GB men the very best of luck and look forward to seeing them at London 2012.
GB Men Water Polo Team in Action   ...view gallery

I have no idea how fast these guys can throw a polo ball (I've been told nearly 40mph!), but all I can say is I never want to be hit by one.  The speed and power combination is simply MIND BLOWING!  There seems to be lots of technique required to; (a) pick the ball up and handle it properly - how DO they pick up something the size of a football in one hand?! (b) swim flat out around the pool then hold your breath underwater (imagine swimming a 800m race then being immediately dunked underwater for 20 seconds!), and (c) lifting yourself out of the water above the waist to throw the ball .. when you can't touch the bottom of the pool!Are these guys human?!
City of Sheffield Swim Squad Paralympic Swimmers   ...view gallery

Two of the City of Sheffield Swim Squad's Paralympic swimmers, James Crisp and Rachael Latham.
City of Sheffield Swim Squad Star Swimmers   ...view gallery

Some of the rising stars at the City of Sheffield:

James Kirton (200m Breaststroke ) - GB team Podium level swimmer; with Rebecca Turner (Freestyle), Jack Dunn (Freestyle) and Max Partridge (Breaststroke) - who are all GB Development level swimmers.

Also two junior swimmers, Ellie Faulkner (Free) and Braxston Timm (Fly).  Both qualified for the Junior Europeans this summer.