Currently shooting for the Sussex Thunder American Football teamIf you would like your sporting event photographed then please send message As you might guess from the title of the website, my name is Andy O'Neil, I live just to the south of London. I was first bitten by the photography bug when I was at school, although I never really took things that seriously. I would snap away, taking picture
s of absolutley anything with very little thought, eventually I lost interest and the camera sat in the cupboard gathering dust. After a few years I decided once again to pick up a camera, this time I was more determined. I wanted a camera that was easy to use, and produced good results every time, I had often heard that Olympus made extremely good lenses, so knowing the most important part of the camera was the glass stuck to the front of it, that was the way I was headed. I went out and took some rather pleasing landscape images, I would often take a trip around the lanes of Cornwall where I was living at the time but if the truth be known I didn't really have a clue what I was doing. I would go out and snap away, and rather than look for the pictures I would go through film like it was going out of fashion (without realising it actually was!). Move forward about 10 years, and the digital SLR started to look an attractive option. I could carry on doing what I do best and snap away at all and sundry, without the added expense of getting films developed! I was hooked. thinking back to my earlier attempts at photography I remember that one thing that was missing, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. So I enrolled in a short course at college, and learned the most important thing, courage. I followed up the short course (it was in architectural photography) with a BTEC, and through that I found one thing that I enjoyed taking pictures of, sport. So I would head off to club motorsport events at weekends and snap away and as things progressed I would end up keeping more and more of the pictures I had taken. There was one problem though, motorsport isn't cheap! so I needed something else. I had been along to a couple of baseball games at taken pictures, giving the team the opportunity to use them on their website. About the same timeI was introduced to American football, so a decision on my direction needed to be made. I had spoken to the guys at Sussex Thunder and they were happy for me to attend their games to take pictures, just like the baseball they had free use of any pictures I had taken. One thing that struck me was how welcome I was made by the management and players. I'm just about to start my second season as official club photographer, and I am truely looking forward to it. Between seasons I was at a loose end, I could take the time to improve my landscape and art portfolio, it is sadly lacking, but landscapes don't move so I contacted a couple of local rugby clubs figuring that it would be an easy transition, but while I was waiting I discovered the wonders of arena polo, I had enjoyed taking pictures of horses before - so it seemed like an ideal challenge. I'm now looking forward to next season
