This year, I decided that I would spend it in Paris.
So here is the thing, I am a fan of Rugby and particularly, Rugby 7s. So around my birthday, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series final two legs (Paris and London 2017) happen in May right around my birthday. Last year, two things did not allow me to travel to Paris.
One – my visa expired the weekend before.
Two – I had deadlines.
So, I vowed to myself, that the following year, come rain or shine, I will find myself in Paris and here we are. A year later and I got to celebrate my birthday in Paris doing what I love most, travelling, photography and rugby.
This goes to show, with determination, you can make things happen.
Whenever I could, I documented my experience as a TWO-PART vlog for my YouTube channel.
Last year, I bought a Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 camera. My intention was to get kids at my son’s school excited about photography during the Winter Fair, but that was a bust 😔.
I guess, I was just too excited and I failed to do my photobooth homework well.
With more practice, I will definitely be back.
Fast forward to May, 2016, having not used the camera for a while due to other commitments, I decided I would actually make use of my Instax camera, but I needed a challenge. Shooting using film, instant or otherwise, in this day and age of digital photography is not cheap. Anyway, I dusted off my cool blue Instax Mini 8 camera, bought my film from Amazon UK and came up with an idea to shoot using the film.
The Kenya Sevens team were going to be in town for London 7s and I thought I would do my own version of the squad profiles using the camera. And this was the result…
I actually even used the camera to collect signed prints from a few people during London 7s which I will be posting on my Instagram feed in due course. One of which I kept from the Kenya 7s team – Collins Injera – as he became the ‘All Time Try Scorer’ of all time in the Sevens World Series.
What next? I have something planned for June using my Instax Mini 8 and I am so excited about it. My son even wants one now. So I may just upgrade to the Instax Mini 70 in Island Blue and gift the Mini 8 to him on his 6th birthday.
Sometimes I do wonder why I never print my images. After picking this print up from Metro Imaging a few weeks ago, to submit as part of my Practice Research for my Final Major Project, I was really pleased with the results. The feedback I got from my tutor was equally positive.
I am making this my mission to do a lot of printing this year. I find that images do have a certain feel of completion once printed.
More images from this series can be viewed in my website here
These are part of ‘test shoots’ for my FMP to do with Women in Sports which is still in working progress.
The final images will be exhibited in June as part of the University of Westminster Degree Show at Free Range.
Well well well…this was the week I was waiting for.
After all, I had tickets to the New Zealand v Namibia match at The Olympic Stadium and I wasn’t going to miss it. This is one occasion I was close to tears for sports sake. My childminder cancelled on me at the last minute and I had two tickets so that I could enjoy the experience with hubby dearest. It wasn’t to be the case.
As I am the rugby fanatic in our house (kids following suit), there was no way I was losing out on watching at least one rugby match with the World Cup literally at our doorstep.
So, I called a very close friend and we went to the game together. It was an experience I will never forget. For me, it was a bitter sweet match, because if Kenya beat Zimbabwe at the qualifiers, then I would have been there supporting two teams – defending champions All Blacks and my home team Kenya, but it wasn’t to be.
View as I approached the stadium.
Last time I was at the Olympic Stadium I was actually on the field of play 3 years ago opening and closing the olympic games. So it was nice to be back. It certainly looked different. To be honest, I can now see why West Ham want to move here.
View from where I was seating.
This was my first ever international rugby match and I didn’t know what to expect. The atmosphere was certain one I have never experienced and I can say that I have ticked this off my bucket list – watch New Zealand play live. Well the rest is history. New Zealand definitely won and I can now enjoy the rest of the world cup at the comfort of my sofa, but if I was to get a ticket to the final, I wouldn’t refuse.
Ohh…I had to sneak one or two pics with the Kenyan flag.
That random Kenyan rugby fan at the RWC 2015.
Anyway, this week saw 11 matches being played and here are the results.
I have to admit, I hardly watched all the matches this week as I was busy doing stuff, but I managed to catch a few either on the first or second half and of course going to watch the All Blacks live. The one that was interesting and still being talked about, is the England v Wales match. I think Wales has got to be the unluckiest and luckiest team this week. They have had the most injuries and yet, they still managed to come up tops and ruin England’s day with this awesome kick by MotM Dan Biggar:
And, there was a player from Romania proposed to his girlfriend at Wembley Stadium after their match against Ireland :
So my teams for this week are Wales and Ireland, with New Zealand still up there as tournament favourites. Again, let’s see if this will change next week.
