MAGICAL MYSTERY TORCH...

July 20th, 2012, and the Olympic Torch relay leaves Maidstone for the Medway Towns, bright and early for 07.50hrs in Gillingham.

Logistically, I understand this all was a nightmare to sort out, with much of the final detail being confirmed only as the day was going on. The paper had committed itself to a magazine-style special, to be on sale on Saturday morning, which meant a 2.00pm deadline that afternoon for the last day in Kent. Which sounds OK until you understand that the photographers were often also having to taxi colleagues as they leapfrogged from area to area, before then getting down to taking more pictures.

My own brief, evolving throughout the week, was as follows: at 07.50hrs, the torch would begin it's formal relay from Canterbury Street, Gillingham and I would be strapped to the media bus, running ahead of the bearers, from here until the relay left the towns on Gravesend Road, Strood at 09.34hrs. Then I would be picked up (by varying people until that morning!), ferried into Gravesend where I would be in the crowd as it passed, then meet a reporter to head to Brands Hatch together. At Brands Hatch there would be a photocall involving a Paralympic cyclist and a representative from the British Superbike Championship, racing there over the weekend. This was timed for 11.16hrs.

Now, as you can see, I was a long way away from my car, which worried me on two counts; one, that I was in the hands of others for transport from Strood to Gravesend to Brands and then finally back to my car at Gillingham, and two, I would have to decide, well beforehand, what I was carrying with me, as I would have to carry it with me...

On Boley Hill, Rochester, and probably one of my favourite images from the day.
Check out her expression...  D3S, 24-70 f2.8 at 60mm'ish, 1/800th f5.6, ISO 320.

More after the break...

Faces...

Don't forget the people.

It's men and women who race cars and bikes; they are the ones who give the machine heart and speed. Anything else is simply design and manufacture, no matter how fine.

Luciano Bacheta (GBR), FIA Formula 2 Championship 2012. The points leader
signing autographs at Brands Hatch, Kent, on Sunday 15th July. He seemed a
little awkward, looking around him as though he was uncomfortable to
be there.  And he is only 22, after all. I wasn't in his face here, either, when he
made eye contact - it was worth standing 15 feet away waiting for gaps in the crowd
surrounding the drivers just for the defocussed background.
 Nikon D3S, 300mm f2.8VR plus 1.4x converter (= 420mm),
1/200th @ f4.5, ISO160.

HOW LOW DO YOU GO?

RagSnapper had a rare Saturday available for a change so I went to the first day of the HSCC Historic Superprix at Brands Hatch, as well as the usual Sunday, with a view to creating some "art"on the first day. Working for a newspaper (especially a local one) can drag you into bad habits, one of which is you give up shooting certain images because you know "they won't run that..."

Playing around with the views and different focal lengths out on the GP circuit, it was good to just experiment again with tilts, leans and particularly, ultra-slow shutter speeds.

The secret weapon I now have to hand is a 2-Stop Neutral Density filter, in 52mm thread, which screws into the slot-in filter holder in my Nikkor 300mm f2.8. (ND filter - basically, just cuts down the volume of light transmitted through it). Straight away, even in sunshine, this means I can use 1/30sec at Lo-1 (call it ISO100) on my D3S bodies. Without the filter there's too much light and not enough small apertures available to give really slow speeds if the sun shines.

The downside is that you'll still get small apertures - f16+ - with the sun out, which means some diffraction degradation of image quality...

...and every last little dust spot on the sensor becomes very visible...!!

Peter Williams, March 78B, Historic Formula 2 qualifying.  Nicely sharp on the driver's helmet.
Nikon D3S, Lo-0.7 (ISO125),  1/30th @ f8, 300mm f2.8 + 1.4x converter (= 420mm lens). Shot out at Hawthorns corner. (not Westfield as I first posted - my fault, couldn't recall corner names!). This is a shot spectators can get without a media pass - I was perhaps 10ft closer, but there's much less fencing out on Brands' GP circuit. It is a bit of a hike, though...

The images made from here required some anticipation and learning, as the cars appear suddenly in sight and the lens needs to be swung smartly to keep them this tightly framed. I started on 600mm (300 + 2x), realised that I wanted the barrier at the bottom to show more and also that I was struggling to frame up that tightly, so went back out to 420mm. As usual, make sure you shoot a lot as this is not an exact science. Just to illustrate: I never did get one I was happy with of polesitter (and race winner) Martin Stretton from here. He was visibly travelling faster through Hawthorns and I just could not frame him properly!

More images after the break...