Richie Jenkins is not a name that will be familiar to many people at Lanharan RFC but for the last 50 years or so he could be seen running up and down the touch line with his trusty camera in hand taking some of the best photos of Llanharan players you will ever see. A lot his photos were taken years before Social Media existed, therefore they are an historical record of Llanharan RFC over the last 50 years or so. He's finally decided to call it a day and everyone at LRFC would like to thank him for his brilliant photography over the years.
I asked Richie some questions about his photographic work over the last 50 years. these are his answers:
"My first photo of Llanharan RFC was taken in September of 1968. This was a disaster , but set me on the road to learning about photography. I had been given a camera for my 21st Birthday and had taken it to Spain on holiday. The photos coming back were good as they had been taken in Sunshine. Because of the photos and being on the Committee I was asked to take a team Photo, in the September. As is usual with every team photo I have taken Llan or any one else not everyone turns up on time. By the time everyone turned up the light had gone and I did not have the knowledge to deal with the situation. So I learned a lot of lessons."
"The best cameras over the years for sport and wildlife is the camera I have now and for the last 5 years , a Canon7D Mk2. All cameras did their job at the time, but the advances with digital photography have been huge. What is important with sports photography is not the camera but the lenses. I used a Canon 100 to 400mm Zoom lens with some others for back up."
"My Golden Shots", there have been a lot over the years, depending on the game and the players. The one, which I think is the best is of Mitch in the Silver Ball game against Bridgend Sports, in Maesteg in 1979. This was taken on a manual camera Zenith E with a pre set lens . For me it has everything a good sports shot should have. It fills the frame. It has the eyes and the ball, and the action is obvious.."
"Taking photographs and following Llanharan RFC over the past 50 years has been a big part of my life, and I cannot single out any period of time , when it has not given me pleasure and excitement.."
Richie has kindly sent me a montage of what he considers to be his best photos. I have split them in to rugby and other, as unknown to me he has taken many photos of people etc not connected with rugby. These can be seen on the next 2 pages.
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