The smell of Castrol R...

Another quickie post, with a couple of pictures from my first photographic specialisation, motorsport.

I let it go for a few years, when I went pro full-time, but have been getting back into it again over the last couple of years (a back story I won't go into). Here's a nice image from last week at the Brands Hatch Formula 3 and GT meeting...

Caterham Superlight R300 championship race on Sunday 19th July. The cars are leaving the Indy circuit
behind as they race onto the GP circuit, and No32, Paul Wilson, fended off his rivals to win.
Nikon D3, 300mm f2.8 + 1.4x converter, 1/800th @ f8, ISO 250, - 0.3 compensation. Trick here is to keep
enough spin in treaded tyres and a little motion blur in the background , yet keep a high enough shutter speed
that fast racing cars stay sharp when they pass through the plane of focus; even here with the excellent D3 AF
doing follow-focus right up until the shutter opens

The "tilt' is applied after the event in Aperture, because I forgot to get one here in-camera (doh!). I think I could get some better angles in the pic if I'd done it then - told you I was still trying to get back into this! Having said that, I do like the original and so it's up on the study wall as an inkjet print at the moment.

More after the break...

Help, I think I may...

...have a bit of a problem brewing!

I became interested in photography early enough that black and white was still “the done thing” though, like many people, found the lack of any darkroom was a big problem. Colour Neg had begun to take over by the time I had professional aspirations, and I learned to shoot colour transparency in any event, as it was the best medium for the market where I made my first sales.

The arrival of digital technology changed everybody’s outlook on processing their pictures. With easy access to even the most humble personal computer, people who would never have considered getting their hands wet in dev and fix were able and willing to work in the new Light Room. For enthusiasts who previously had no darkrooms, processing and creating was now just a matter of kicking their kids off the PC of an evening :)

More after the break.

Dark, and yet smooth...

Been a bit light on the blog front lately, folks - sorry! Here's a quickie one about a picture from a job on last Saturday's list...

The pic request was action from a Darts Tournament, during the practice sessions early on Saturday. It was to include some of the local regulars at this annual tournament, and at its usual venue at a leisure complex at the "Holiday End" of Sheppey.

Here's the request:

DATE: Saturday, June 4

TIME: 10-11am for practice. Event starts at 12pm.

PLACE: Merlins, Leysdown, ME124RB (01795 xxxxxx)

EVENT: Sheppey Darts Classic

CONTACT: Organiser Tony Cox 077xxxxxxx

CATEGORY: Darts

SLUG: SP CLASSIC

REQUIREMENTS: Pics of players in action. Maybe best to do when practicing, as no flash during play.

Local players pls, names such as Paul McDine, Geoff Harkup. Norfolk defending champ is Andy Belton.

Tony Cox will help if need any.

More after the break...