After 12 years working in the photographic  industry ironically it was the emergence of digital technology that proved to be the catalyst for me to pursue a long held ambition to work in the automotive product development sector,and in 95 i left to work for the Rover car company. Along with my old  career  , and the arrival of my Son James,went my hobby of photography and my equipment  was retired to the back of the wardrobe.

Many years ago i too represented my School ,City and County in Athletics and Football and i had many memorable experiences .I remember recieving a photograph of myself winning a 200m race whilst representing the School Athletics team.A rare thing in those days ,it was something i was tremendously proud of and is one of only two action images i still have in my scrapbook today to remind me of my own numerous sporting exploits whilst at school . Apart from that i have only memories.

Some 12 years later my Son's move up to Senior school saw him selected to play for the Woodlands School U12 rugby team and subsequently join local club Barkers' Butts RFC.This inspired me to take up photography again so that i could create a pictorial record of his sporting exploits ,so that in years to come he will have more than just memories to look back on.

Unfortunately i soon discovered that the electronics on my 2 Olympuses were no longer servicable and i was now forced to embrace the photographic digital age and invest in new Nikon equipment , i only wish i had done it sooner.Mastering new techniques and equipment proved challenging at first as did photographing a winter sport with it's low temperatures and light levels.In 2008 my initial mission expanded somewhat into photographing other teams at Barkers' and Woodlands   and with my ever expanding library of images and requests from players and parents i decided to set up a website in 2009 to make it easier for the images to be viewed and enjoyed by all concerned.

A few images used in local papers along with requests for use of images on websites gave me the incentive to push on find new sports and improve further.

In recent years i have branched out more and i now attend most home games of Coventry RFC as well as finding new less mainstream sports to photograph such as Windsurfing,Hovercraft racing and Powerboat racing.I travel many miles to cover the latter from the South Coast to the Lake District for various events throughout the year. Recently i was lucky enough to be able to photograph the installation of new engines into Cinzano , one of the most  successful offshore powerboats in the country.A timelapse video i made for a bit of fun even went viral on the internet.Who knows maybe video is a future avenue to go down.

I am lucky enough to own a 6m RIB and this has helped me capture many images of the Offshore powerboats at close quarter, it was recently stated that i had 'established a reputation for capturing airborne boats' . I have strived to find new vantage points ,both on and off the water, that will give me images that nobody else will have.I go to a lot of effort to achieve this ,using my own boating knowledge and by studying tides and forecasts prior to a race. Fortunately this has often paid off .

                                                                        Best Regards

                         Rob Clifford

Equipment list:

BODIES - D500 , D7000 x2                                                                                                                                                           

LENSES - NIKON  200mm-400mm f4  ,200-500 f5,6, 70mm-200mm f2.8  ,  50mm f1.4  , 18mm-135mm , ,  Sigma 10mm-20mm

FLASH - SD800

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