Recently, I was asked by Professional Illustrator, Mark Mayers, if he could use one of these photographs for his latest Premium Tutorial on the PSDtuts+ website.

Having seen how good Mark is when it comes to creative digital editing, I was keen to provide him with whatever images he needed in order to create his latest vision.

Below, is the finished image which Mark has submitted. The methods which he used, including a step-by-step guide to create your own Advertising Style Sports Photograph, is available on the PSDtuts+ website.

You can see more creative work by Mark Mayers, on his website at www.markmayers.co.uk

I am a Professional Sports Photographer for a lot of reasons. Some of which, I simply cannot explain.

Firstly, I honestly believe to be a successful photographer in whatever you photograph, you must have a passion for your chosen subject.

As far as my sports photography goes, I certainly have this passion. I love what I photograph, and I often dream up new ideas, or new angles to shoot my subjects from. These ideas typically have one goal in mind – To capture the excitement, adrenalin and determination, which each and every athlete experiences.

Another factor which I feel is important as a sports photographer, is that you not only need to love the sports which you photograph, but you also need to understand them in great detail.

Sometimes, it may be enough to simply know the sport to the point where you can predict the next move, or moment of action. But, I like to take this a step further. I choose to physically participate in all of the sports which I photograph.

I do this not only because I love being active, but also because I want to experience how it feels when the sun drops off of the horizon as you wait for that last wave before dark. I want to know how much it hurts when you push hard, cycling up a Tour de France mountain climb. I want to understand what it’s like when you’re so focused, that all you can hear is your deep breathing, and all you can feel is your heart pounding in your chest.

I believe that these experiences provide me with a better understanding of the sports which I photograph, and in turn, this understanding helps me to better capture the emotion, the pain, and the glory within that particular sport.

I want my photographs to scream freedom, I want them to portray health and well-being, but most of all, I want my photographs to make others feel just like I do about sport. I want my images to inspire others to get out there and “live” in this great world in which we exist.

So, in answer to the popular question, “Why am I a Sports Photographer?”, I am a Sports Photographer because I love adventure, I love life, and I love sport.

For a while I have wanted to produce a series of surfer portrait photographs. A collection of images which weren’t just snap shots of surfers. I wanted to create something a little special. I wanted the shots to be dramatic, and powerful…

It’s a perfect time of year to photograph in Cornwall… The vast majority of tourists have just left, and the weather is still fine. So you can head to the beach and almost guarantee crowd free sand and sea. In order to take advantage of this, what better location for the photo shoot than Carbis Bay beach, with its stunning, picturesque sandy beaches, and gentle lapping waves.

The following photographs have been captured using a Canon EOS 5D MKII, Canon EF 17-40mm lens, and a Canon 550EX Flash.

After booking an appointment with Activate4 in order to get a few sports related injuries fixed for myself, Justin and I got chatting about all kinds of sport and photography. Soon, we had arranged a photo shoot.

Here are the results… Captured with a Canon EOS 5D MKII, Canon 17-40mm, and Canon 70-200mm.

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY IN CORNWALL – If you’re an athlete who lives in Cornwall, and would like a series of images captured of you in action, then please feel free to get in touch. You can see more of my athlete photography by visiting my Professional Photography Portfolios.

Alan is a Professional Wedding Photographer from Cornwall, who has started to tread his own, distinctive path, in the wedding photography market. He is a talented photographer, and is unique in the way which he captures his images – Opting for a relaxed, contemporary style, which results in naturally beautiful photographs, each and every time.

Alan has an ability to effortlessly capture all of the wedding day excitement, emotion and activity, and then mix it with a modern, fun and vibrant post production twist – Creating a collection of glorious wedding photographs which will be loved and cherished for many years to come.

You can visit Alan’s website at – www.alanlawphotography.co.uk

It’s been almost three years since I last pointed my camera in a surfers direction. My love for the sport simply vanished. However, sat here looking out to sea, sipping my coffee, I could feel my excitement, and love for the sport starting to shine once more.

Within minutes of deciding to plan a surf photo shoot, into the cafe walked Tom Lowe. Tom is a Cornish Surfer who has been getting a great deal of publicity over the past few years, surfing big waves all over the world. This chance meeting was perfect… I was being presented with the opportunity to photograph one of the best surfers in the UK, just minutes after deciding to plan a surf photo shoot.

Two days later, with small, lumpy waves, strong cross-shore winds, and dark stormy clouds, it was a case of “Make the most of it” as far as photographs go. So, here are a few of my surf photographs, captured today at Porthmeor Beach, St.Ives, Cornwall.

Featuring Tom Lowe, and Jayce Robinson.

My girlfriend and I have continued on our cycle tour around Europe, and have loved every minute of it – Taking in the scenery, the culture and some much needed rest as we went along.

After riding south across France, from Roscoff to the Pyrenees for the first 3 weeks, we changed direction, and headed east, towards Montpellier. Once there, we turned north, and pedaled our way towards Switzerland.

The scenery along the way was beautiful. We had the French Alps to our right, and the Massif Central to our left. We cycled though picturesque gorges, small alpine ski resorts, and rode into relentlessly strong headwinds, and thunder storms, many of which lasting for days at a time.

I’ve taken hundreds of photographs along the way, all of which will need to be sorted, edited, and adjusted. But for now, I thought I’d update you all with just a few of my favorites so far.

The following images were taken at a variety of locations as we progressed along our cycle tour route.

All of these photographs, and more, are available from my online print store, where you can buy photographic and canvas prints in various sizes.

Buy Canvas Prints and Photo Prints Online

SPECIAL OFFER – Save 10% OFF all orders placed online, by entering the discount code 10offwelcome when you checkout.

When we awoke at 6am, the mountain was still in the dark, illuminated only by the pale moon light, but as the sun started to creep over the peaks, it slowly but surely began to emerge.

The Tourmalet has a summit of 2115m, which is reached by cycling up its 19km road. Winding your way up the mountain side, past lush green forests, small towns and ski resorts, then looping back on yourself, as you enter the shade, where the road edge is still lined with snow.

On the way up, the road has been decorated by cycling fans, with the names of the some of the best cyclists ever to ride these roads. Riders such as Andy Schleck, Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador and Bradley Wiggins.

As we pedalled past their names, one after another, there was an amazing sense of achievement which began to grow in me. We were actually climbing to the top of a legendary Tour de France climb.

The scenery on the ascent was stunning, and the top, simply breathtaking…

Before we knew it, we were amongst them, surrounded by lush green trees, and snow capped peaks. The sky was blue, with light fluffy clouds drifting across the highest summits.

Yesterday, we cycled up the Hautacam, which is one of the mountain climbs used in the Tour de France. Two hours of climbing, with heavily loaded bikes, finally saw us arrive at its summit, at 1616m high.

The view was spectacular, and on the descent, I couldn’t help but to grab my camera and begin shooting.

We are currently sat in a cafe, enjoying a coffee, right underneath the Col du Tourmalet (2115m – 17km), which is tomorrows ride and photo shoot.

The following photographs were taken on the descent from the Hautacam – moments before a thunderstorm rolled in from the south.

It’s a difficult process, pairing down your camera gear to the bare essentials. I did a great deal of research into how other cycle tourers had managed to travel with professional camera equipment, and the answer was typically, that they just took a small compact digital camera. That was not an option for me.

Firstly, It was apparent that my trusted Canon EOS 1D MKII was not going to be up for the job, not because of its image quality, but simply due to its size and weight… The battery charger alone was the size of some SLR cameras themselves. So, I opted to buy a Canon EOS 5D MKII.

Next I had to choose which lenses I would take. If I was traveling in a car, they would all come, but I’m not, I’ve chosen to travel the whole distance on my bike, so weight and size is very limited. I managed to narrow my lens selection down to just two lenses – Once this choice had been made, it was then a case of estimating the amount of images which I would capture on the trip, and making sure that I had enough memory cards, and hard disk space to cope with the demand.

After days, weeks and months of planning, and changing my mind on what was the best option. I finally came to a decision. Below, I have outlined all of the camera equipment which will be coming with me on my cycle tour around Europe this summer.

- Canon EOS 5D MKII
- Canon EF 17-40mm f4 lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens
- 2x Sandisk 8GB compacy flash cards
- Gorilla Pod Tripod (Model – SLR Zoom)
- Memory card reader
- Lacie Rugged 320 GB portable hard drive
- Samsung Netbook portable computer
- Canon remote cable release
- Hot shoe spirit level bubble
- Various filters

The above camera kit fits perfectly into an Ortlieb front roller classic pannier bag, and with the added backpack attachment which is available, once I leave the bike, the camera kit is able to come with me. A fully mobile media kit bag…

Now… just enough time to fit another training ride in.