It was this week one year ago that the final of The Rugby World Cup took place, it marked the end of a great adventure for me.

I was working on behalf of a New Zealand photographer friend of mine (Dave Lintott) who lucky for me couldn’t make it over for the tournament & I was more than happy to try & fill his shoes.

It was my biggest & best learning experience to date, alot of what I thought I knew was wrong.

Preconceived ideas about how press photographers worked & treated each other was probably my first lesson, as almost everyone I met was willing to help, guide & encourage. There was no paparazzi style pushing & shoving, everyone was there to do a job & let you do yours.

The first session I was feeling like a kid at school on his first day but with the help of the guys on site, the media staff & encouragement from New Zealand via email I soon settled in.

I had 17 games to cover throughout the competition & enjoyed them all, even if it was England’s worst result in the RWC.

I did go in a little naive, as my belief was that if I sold a single shot I would have reached a personal goal, however the number of photographers for so many different newspapers, websites and companies soon brought me crashing back to reality & I realised the dream of getting a shot in the Times was roughly zero, I believe 1 or 2 did sell in New Zealand through Dave which made me feel a little better although I’ll have to wait to make my fortune with my camera.

Thanks to Canon Professional Services I could loan plenty of kit, like the 1DX and the 600mm prime, both of which were fantastic.

Given the chance again I would jump at the opportunity to work like that again & it is the end goal, as sports photography is my major passion.

I have however let things slide this last year & I need to get everything back on track in 2017, time for a major push.

I will endeavour to keep you posted in the blog so please follow along.

Cheers Woody