2009 - Looking like a fantastic year

Well it seems everyone is talking about doom and gloom, but not here at Ultimate Images. we are looking forward to a fantastic year.

With lots of new events booked and all our old favourites running we have a busy year planned. Our new events are

Westcombe Park RFC Festival and u7's festival

RAF Halton Sponsored ride. This is the premier sponsored ride in the south east (possibly the UK) with over 600 riders taking part this promises to be a fantastic event, and we are proud to be associated with it

Milton Keynes unaffiliated 3 day event, this event runs to the long format and again we are very proud to be associated with the event.
In addition to the the MK 3 day event we will also be looking after all of the BE events hosted at the MK event centre.

Moss end show - this is another new event and we are really looking forward to increasing the number of premier showing shows we cover this year.

Finally we have been appointed the official photographers to the prestigious Side Saddle national championships that run for 3 days at Addington EC.

So all in all a busy year, so we look forward to meeting all our new customers and welcoming back our existing customers.


STOP PRESS >>>>>>>>>>>>>

With all the new events we have invested in a revamp of our event trailer and made it possible to increase the frontage at the bigger events with event more screens.

In addition to this, we have also purchased a second event trailer that will be fitted out in a similar way to our current unit

My week at Olympia

I had a fantastic week at Olympia, the atmosphere really was quite electric at times, and unlike HOYS you are right on top of the ring which is really quite narrow. The fact that I could get there in under an hour was also a bonus :)

From the outstanding FEI world cup dressage on Tuesday to the Puissance on Friday and the FEI world cup show jumping on Saturday it was a truly outstanding event.

So here are just a few of the 2000 or so images I captured during the week

Olympia - The London International Horse show

This is an event I've always wanted to attend and this year I finally get to go. I attended HOYS in 03 as an official photographer, and now this year i get to do the same at Olympia. I've been granted press access so I am really looking forward to the 5 days of competition.

I will (honestly) post some of the images from the event on this blog

Le Mans 24

I can't quite believe it's nearly a year since I went on my annual pilgramage to this historic race. I have been going since 1988, and have only missed one race in all that time (1989). So this is a mini milestone with it being the 20th visit.

I have been fortunate to have trackside access via a press pass for the last 12 years and will be posting some of my favourite images on my return

Liz Halliday, who competed three horses at Hambledon, has been ultra competitive in the last two years wont be competing this year as she is commentating for Eurosport on the race. Liz has had a super busy equestrian schedule this year and recently regained her CIC*** qualification, so all her hard work has been worth it.

If you want a preview of what goes on why not check out my posting after last years race

New Month - New challenges

May has thrown up some new challenges for me, that start of the month had me scheduled to attend the Chiddingfold Farmers Pony Club ODE at coomblands. The event as ever was a great success with over 200 entries in 3 classes. A great day weather wise and the course in superb condition.

I was then able to attend the Royal Windsor show for my own pleasure without the pressures of an event, which made a very pleasant change. I came away with some great portfolio images, one feature the queen in the Royal box watching the riding horse championship.

I then faced my first new event type in quite a while - indoor cheer leading!!. The event was held at the Chew Valley leisure centre just outside Bristol. Technically the event was a challenge, but not nearly as challenging as some of the routines the teams performed, there is far more to the sport and the competition than I ever imagined and would love to shoot another event. I will add some images from the show when I get a chance

The month of April

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last entry !! It certainly goes to show that the season is well under way now.

April turned out to be a month of mixed fortunes, with events lost to the snow one week, then running in glorious weather the following weekend (Plum park). The ground conditions were fabulous at Hambeldon Horse trials even with the extra day on the Monday. Some sun over the weekend, and the blue bells in full bloom would have been the icing on the cake, but alas it wasn't to be.

All in all it was a great event with over 1100 competitors over the 4 days and I'm already looking forward to going back next year.

The month closed with me back indoors at Milton Keynes EC for the 2nd round of the Trailblazers show jumping competition. There was some tough competition and all the winners deserved their chance to go to the finals at Stonleigh later in the year. good luck to you all, especially Rebecca Finn - as she used to work for me !!

Weather Checking

Well seeing as the weather has been winning hands down so far this year, I thought I'd add a link to my favourite weather website.

Metcheck seems to have the advantage over the BBC at the moment in accuracy*, and gives a far prettier page than the BBC. So why not give it a whirl.

*According to the BBC it should have been raining at my postal address, but it's been a rather glorious day so far !!