As we head into a new year I thought I would post a few of my personal favourites from 2011. In no particular order.
A huge thanks to all clients, friends and collaborators. Here’s to an even better 2012!
I recently did a promotional shoot for Red Dragon IT Rally Team. This Blue Oval Beauty is a rebuilt ex works rally car.
Hopefully to be appearing as a feature in a Ford type magazine soon!
I’m a sucker for panned shots I just love them. So when a few weeks ago now a fellow photographer Ross Ianson (you really ought to check out his work on www.speedhunters.com as its very good indeed. Particularly his British Drift Championship stuff) posted a shot of his on Facebook where he was trying, and very nearly succeeded to achieve a 1 second panning shot.
So the challenge was set just how long could you go to achieve a usable panning shot?
Shot one
ISO at 160
Focal Length 70mm
Apeture f/29
Shutter Speed 1/40 second
Which gives a sharp usable image, very nice. But I still feel I can go slower. However I have one problem which I am up against. I am shooting in the middle of the day on a pretty sunny day. But never the less lets see how far we can go.
Shot Two
ISO at 100
Focal Length 81mm
Apeture f/25
Shutter Speed 1/30 second
Now there’s not much difference here as the ISO and aperture changes has balanced out the shot its the shutter speed that is really starting to make a huge difference as now we are fairly and squarely in tripod territory. I’m not sure I like it as its neither here nor there in my opinion. But I still wanted to see how much slower I could go.
Shot Three
ISO at 100
Focal Length 91mm
Apeture f/32
Shutter Speed, 1/6 second
Now this one has an altogether different feel, almost a dreamy other worldly look to it, yes its all blurry but you really get the feeling hes moving fast and that’s what its all about. These settings were basically as slow as my kit would allow me to go given the environment. The only way I could have gone slower would be to use ND filters or welders glass. One bit of advice when you start going this slow forget looking through the camera instead practice holding the camera in front of you it will a lot steadier.
So there’s the challenge guys if you take pictures why not give it a go and see just how slow you can go I’d be interested to see what people can do.
Thought I do a quick review on my new Think Tank setup. I own and still use my fantastic and much loved I hasten to add Kata reporters bag. However, I find myself getting more assignments that require me to be mobile and still need to carry a fair amount of equipment and get fast access to it.
After some initial research, two brands offerings quickly presented themselves as possible solutions. Lowepro’s new S&F range and Think Tanks component systems. Both systems offering pretty much the same belts and harnesses and pouches as the other. However availability and cost were obvious factors in any decision. My choice was made for me as Lowepro in their infinite wisdom have decided not to make their range available online that and nearly everything is pretty much twice the price as the equivalent Think Tank item. Also nowhere seemed to have any stock.
So Think Tank it was to be. Now all I needed to do was to decide what components! (all these decisions were starting to get to me) I normally take a couple of bodies with a lens on each body plus another or one body and a couple of lens. I nearly always like to have a strobe close to hand as well as numerous widgets that I use in the course of working e.g. notebook, lens cloth, spare batteries and cards somewhere to put some money and my phone as well as somewhere safe for my car keys!
So I made a list of Think Tank components that comprised of the following:
And to hang it all off:
BUT WAIT! ALL THIS STUFF WILL BE NOT ONLY EXPENSIVE BUT HEAVY!
OK so a slight rethink. On reflection I must be able to carry one lens, one strobe and some junk. My 100 – 400mm is pretty much the same size as my 70-200mm and everything else is smaller so why not use just the Changer 75 pop down which will hold any glass I own? Pair that with the Skin Strobe and everything else goes in the All The Other Stuff that’s the bags sorted.
Now at this point I wasn’t sure about the harness so I decided to put that on the back burner for the time being.
OK so that was decided. So how did it perform? Which let face it is the most important thing.
The first weekend of proper use for the new setup was on the Saturday to cover The Trailblazer 10km run at Bedgebury Pinetum organised by Rat Race Adventure Sports. The on the Sunday a world record endurance attempt by the Red Wheelies at Fowlmead Country park in the morning then high tail it over to Lydden Hill race Circuit to cover a SEMSEC race meet.
So on Saturday I must have covered what felt like in excess of 10km fully loaded up with 2 cameras the setup held up well and from this the thing learnt is that I don’t need to lug 2 bodies around with this setup as it’s all right there at hand. Oh and make sure your t-shirt is tucked in as even with the very padded Steroid Speed Belt a middle aged photographers saddle bags can rub and chaff like mad!
Sunday saw me shooting in two places so I decided to only go with one body this worked much better. One of the things I like about the Think Tank system is that you can opt to have elements ‘slide’ on the belt. Basically without seeing one it difficult to explain but it’s like having the bags on a rail that you can bring simply slide forward to use then push away once done.
So off to Fowlmead I went where the Red Wheelies were finishing off their 24 hour mobility scooter endurance challenge. Again having a pouch to stash the strobe when not in use rather than a pocket is just bliss as you know is its safe. Also I found here that actually running with the setup is easily doable and fairly comfortable.
I must just pass on my congratulations to the new World Record that the ladies set for the farthest distance covered in 24 hours a staggering 154 miles! verified by the Guiness Book of Records!
Then a quick dash to my second home, Lydden Race Circuit. I must admit I was most interested in how the setup would be while covering motorsport. Again pass with flying colours I walked a full lap round the outside of the circuit as well as clambering and dodging gravel splashes on the island and it all felt part of my body exactly what I wanted from it.
So conclusions are that for me there’s no looking back from a belt based modular system. Only getting the 75 Pop Down has seemed a good idea as I have used it as a drop in pouch and it fits all my lens including the larger ones with hoods one! I may well add to the setup and I think the harness might be on the way pretty soon. The 100-400mm is pretty heavy if it’s in the pouch and spreading the load over your shoulders should minimise that. That and having something to attach a media vest to without having to wrestle myself into knots would be a bonus!
The only thing I found uncomfortable was when I had to use 2 bodies on straps no matter what strap I used, I used both my Optec straps and Sunsnipers ones and a mixture. However one solution that does interest me is the option for a SpiderPro (http://www.spiderholster.com) attachment but at time of writing its over £100 in the UK! So that’s a luxury buy (come on guys does it really cost that much?) If I can wrangle a test run I may be persuaded otherwise.
I’d like to hear peoples thoughts on this so if you have a Lowepro setup and think its better or you have a different Think Tank combination I’d be interested to hear what you think.
Now I haven’t blogged about any of the motorsport work I am doing as I want this blog to reflect the variation in the work that I do. However motorsport is becoming a sizable chunk of what I am doing so I have had a little rethink.
So as the official photographer of the Lydden Hill Race Circuit here in Kent I thought it about time I wrote a little something about what I get upto.
I don’t want this to become another in depth dissection of Rally Cross, there are other sites around that can offer you that, albeit you have to subscribe to their services! Instead I want to portray what it’s like to shoot a variety of motorsport from bikes to cars.
Of course the first motorsport blog could not come with much more pedigree than a FIA European Rally Cross event! a full on spectacular.
15,000 spectators flocked to Lydden to watch the weekends racing
The Easter weekend of 2011 saw 68 competitors from all around Europe including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England, Scotland and Ireland. And over 15,000 spectators converge on the Lydden Hill Circuit to watch this year’s highly anticipated opener to the European campaign.
Americas Tanner Foust was also back for a second year to pit his skills against some of the very best in Rally Cross.
Tanner Foust very fast in practice on day one
If you have never seen or even heard of rally cross here’s a very quick rundown thanks to Wikipedia
But all this apart it’s very fast some race meetings can have over 20 races in a day! Add to the mix that the super cars are as fast as F1 cars from 0 to 60! And you have an explosive mix and an entertaining spectator sport that features loads of action. The guys at Codemasters also think so as they have included Rally Cross in the new Dirt 3 Playstation and X-Box game.
So there’s all the background now onto how I spent my Easter!
My first thoughts were just of the variety of amazing cars in the paddock; Ford Fiestas and Focuses, Skodas , VW Golf’s, Volvo C30’s, a Renault Twingo, an insane Mitsubishi Colt a bio fuel powered Saab and not forgetting the awesome Citroen C4’s.
Toomas Heikkinen from Finland in his bio fueled SAAB 93
Bert Theunisse in his Toyota Yaris
I spent 2 days in dust shooting load spitting simply insane cars race. I had a plan of writing a blow by blow account of the weekend but you know what I’m just going to show you some images!
The British hopes for a victory in the super cars were with local sensation Liam Doran. Unfortunately his weekend was marred by engine troubles. He eventually finished a very respectible 4th
Kents own Liam Doran although dogged by engine troubles finished 4th
Norways Gunnar Hunsbedt pushing his much anticipated Volvo C30 to its limits
Kent's Pat Doran in his Ford Focus kept fans on the edge of their seats
Norway's Sverre Isachse picked up where he left off last season dominating the weekend
Norways Andreas Bakkeru on his way to an emphatic win in the Super 1600 class
Sussex based Julian Godfrey was the best placed Brit finishing a well deserved 2nd in the Super 1600 class
Lars Oivind Enerberg winning the Touring cars gave Norway a clean sweep for the weekend
Ireland's Derek Tohill the defending touring car champion could only mange 6th place in his eye catching Ford Fiesta
Many more images from the weekend can be seen at http://lyddenhill.rubberduckdoes.com.
An image from the first round of the British Rally Cross Championships 2011
I am constantly amazed at what work presents itself. Until recently motor sport wasn’t even on my list of things I’d like to photograph in my spare time let alone be part of my working life. But now when theres an event or a track day you will now find me cameras in hand, press vest on at Lydden Race Circuit.
It really can’t be further from some of the editorial I do everything happens quite literally at 100 miles an hour, light is a law unto itself. And after a days shooting I have in excess of 2,000 images to reduce down! There are loads more images from a couple of tracks days I have covered on my website http://www.rubberduckdoes.com/lyddenhill/ all of which are available to buy.
I have also started doing a lot of work with the nice people over at EK One Magazine, with plans for future full blown fashion shoots in the near future. So watch this space.
I also met up with Eddie Craven again earlier in the month and this time Charley Boorman was joining him for the day. It was a great day and so good to catch up with Eddie and what he has been upto since I saw him at the beginning of October.
I have also been doing the usual amount of portraits.
Over the next couple of weeks I will be selecting my top 10 images that I have taken this year, I am going to create a nice year book using Blurb a little like my project 52 book. If you want to suggest any that you think I ought to include please feel free to mention them here. They can come from here, my website (www.rubberduckdoes.com), my Flickr account (www.flickr.com/photos/rubberduckdoes/) or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RubberDuckDoesPhotography) If you haven’t already why not join the fan page.