Another game, another milestone

On monday July 20th 2009 Nathan Hindmarsh played in his 250th career game.

Over his years as a Parramatta Eel, Hindmarsh has been the face of consistency. Every single week, no matter how bad the Eels are playing, you can count on him to have a stat line of 45 tackles and 15 hit ups ... easy. If an opposing player was on the fly to score a try, he'll be there. If an opponent is trying to barge over the defensive line and score from close range, he'll be the one lying underneath the ball to hold it up. There was nothing spectacular about the game he had against Melbourne, but guess what, he had 48 tackles and 13 hitups while inspiring his team to a hard fought victory. If every player on the team played with the same commitment that Hindmarsh does, Parra would be a much better team.

Did I also mention all 250 games were with the Eels? In this day and age where club loyalty isn't a big thing, that kind of milestone is just unheard of. I'll throw in some examples:

- Craig Wing signing with Japanese RL (wtf?)

- When Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley went to the roosters (cmon now .. )

- Tahu to union

- Brett Finch (enough said)

I'll just say that not too many of these deals went down too well in public opinion, except maybe for Tahu, only because he's such a cool guy.

Let's not forget Hindmarsh is only 30 years old, there's plenty more mileage left in those legs and I have no doubt that he will make it to 300 games AND end his career with the Eels. When it's all said and done, Hindy will go down as one of the greatest forwards, second rowers, Eel to ever play the game.

Yes, he still hold the record for most tackles in a single game: 75 tackles vs ... Melbourne Storm in 2007. What kind of monster finds the strength to make 75 tackles? He has got to be the most underrated player in the league right now, he's so good that people take him for granted. The last 2 years he's been snubbed from Origin for players like Laffranchi and Learoyd Lahrs (how many people even know him?), yet he continues to play like a man inspired night in night out.

Good on ya Hindy, the way you play the game is a testament to rugby league.

And another thing ... he blogs too

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Parra Eels vs Melbourne Storm (18-16)

In what was advertised as Parra legend Nathan Hindmarsh's 250th game for the Eels, this game quickly turned into a showdown between 2 of the best full backs in the league. Whenever one would pull off something brilliant, the other would answer back with a show of his own.

Jarryd Hayne continued his brilliant form sparked mid-season by State of Origin, and proved a handful for the Melbourne defense whenever he got the ball. On offense he continuously got involved in set plays and made half breaks to keep the Storm on their toes. On defense he ran down Billy Slater multiple times (which isn't easy) and saved a number of tries with his excellent positioning.

As always, Billy Slater looks dangerous every time he touches the ball and if it wasn't for some hard nosed Parra defense the score line would read a Melbourne victory. Slater played an important role, along with Greg Inglis (origin center) and Cooper Cronk to lead a late rush after being down by 10-0 at the half.

Don't worry I haven't forgotten that this was supposed to be Hindmarsh's game, I'll elaborate more on that in tomorrows post with some more photos from the game.

Both photos were taken with the EOS 50D and EF 70-200 f2.8L IS USM.

Settings: ISO 1600, 1/320, f/2.8

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Featherdale - More Photos

This is more or less a continuation of the last post, with another example of the ability of telephoto lenses to take great photos of subjects behind fences. Sometimes at places like this, we think that if I was to be an animal, I'd like to be one in a zoo/national park etc.

Sure you don't have the luxury of being completely free, but you're not exactly a prisoner either. It would be a life of free food, drinks and accomodation, with people at your service everyday.

This photo is an example of the type of food certain animals are given in an attempt to make life as normal as possible. Only in this case, the animals don't even have to hunt their food, it's served to them on a golden platter.

As easy as it seems, you can never have enough space to fly, so the next step is to expand the area.

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Featherdale!

If there's one type of photography I like more than sports, its wildlife photography. If you live in Sydney, and you want to try it out then I really suggest you head to Featherdale Wildlife Park at Doonside.

It's better than being at a zoo in several ways:

- its closer for most people

- its cheaper ($18 for students compared to $28 at Taronga)

- less crowded

- wallabies, emus, and some birds are allowed to run free and be fed

As a result of all this, the photos that you get are generally more intimate, closer cropped, and more natural.

When you get there, you'll notice many of the exotic birds are within cages, and for good reason, some 0f them are birds of prey ... capable of ripping people into shreds if necessary. Here's how to successfully take a good photo of a bird (anything really) behind a cage/fence with an SLR:

- Use telephoto (100mm or more)

- Put the front of your lens as close to the fence as possible

- Try to use highest telephoto setting

- Use flash (preferable external) to increase contrast

And there you have it! By putting your telephoto lens as close to the fence as possible, you're focussing past the fence, rendering it almost invisible. Sometimes you still get a slightly hazy effect in the photo, so that's why you use an external flash to increase contrast and subsequently reduce that haze effect. And finally some finishing touches in Photoshop for more contrast, colour, cropping and you'll get something like the photo above.

Both photos were takne with the Canon 50D and EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM, but you can just as easily do these photos with most camera gear as long as it's fairly telephoto.

Will post up more photos in the following days :)

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Hydrurga Leptonyx

Common name: Leopard Seal, Sea Leopard

Type: Mammal

Diet: Carnivore

Lifespan: 12-15yrs in the wild

Size: 10-12ft

Weight: up to 380kg

Some things you may not know:

- They are the only seals that eat other seals

- They are the Antarctic's equivalent of polar bears, top dog

- May not be too obvious from the photo, but they are one of the more aggressive seals and will likely go after humans (possibly by mistake) if given the chance. There's a fine line between curiosity and predatory behaviour, they may "play" with other animals that they do not intend to eat.

Finally, despite their alien appearance, they ARE mammals, just like how Michael Jackson is indeed human. Theoretically speaking, somewhere along the way humans and leopard seals were not so different.

Thoughts?

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A rare victory

After editing so many photos from the Wentworth Falls trek, today seemed like a very ordinary day. Wake up, shopping, work, home. The day took a drastic turn when I switched on the TV and saw the Parra Eels leading 4-0 against the Brisbane Broncos. It was a great game to watch, with a grand stand finish and resulted in a 21-14 Parra victory. You can get the recap here.

It was a game dominated by sons and newphews of past rugby league greats and current electric in form players. The first try featured an off-load by Joel Reddy (son of the great Rod "Rocket" Reddy) to Eric Grothe Jr (son of parra great Eric Grothe Sr).

The second try involved Grothe Jr breaking multiple tackles before off-loading to Reddy for a sprint to the finish line.

The last, and perhaps the most unexpected try came from young Daniel Mortimer (nephew of Steve Mortimer) slicing through some tired Broncos defense to seal the deal. As with any other Parra game, we can't ignore the work of Hayne (267 run meters) and Hindmarsh (47 tackles, 13 Hitups).

In another match, it was the nephew of another great that sparked his team to victory.

And that, of course, is none other than Canberra's Terry Campese (nephew of Rugby Union great David Campese). So far this week has been a round full of upsets, and hopefully the Eels will keep up the recent improvement in form to make the top 8 for finals footy.

The photos were all taken with my Canon EOS 50D + EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM

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Snow Leopards

Things you may not have known about the snow leopard

- It's nickname is "ounce"

- It can jump 25ft in a single bound

- Actually doesn't live in snow all year round

- It doesn't actually raw

- The coat changes to brown-gray colour in summer

- The snow leopard's teeth are over 4in long

BUT, the most important thing ... there are only about 3500-7000 in the wild and about 600 in zoos. This makes them one of the most endangered species ever.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM

Settings: 1/200, f/4.5, ISO 800

Location: Sydney Taronga Zoo

There are a variety of ways you can help with preventing the extinction of snow leopards. It's not always a donation, sometimes it's as simple as raising awareness about this issue. Either way, I hope these big cats stick around for a bit longer. If these photos don't change your mind, then maybe this site can, click here.

Camera & lens: Same as above

Settings: Same as above

It is easily one of the most graceful animals on the earth, and if you don't like them ... you can go jump off a bridge :)

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