Nov 24, 2015 | Event, People |
Just got back from the Discovery Centre in Winchester where the good folks of the Winchester Photographic Society hosted a talk by the great Joe McNally. It was a inspirational evening with a person who truly deserves all of the accolades that have been heaped upon him. Joe is a warm and honest man, a seasoned photojournalist, now self created editorial and portraitist and it must be said very interesting and humerous. He took us through his early work as a Life Magazine staffer, Sports Illustrated shooter more interested in the crowd than what is on the field and National Geographic go-to photographer called upon when they had a problem to solve, and up to the present day with his last shoot which was barely out of the camera. If there is a person who defines the term “self-deprecating” then Joe is it. He started his talk by telling us he had taken many bad photos and a some Ok ones and would be showing us a few. All of his pictures had interesting stories attached and boy did he present us with a huge collection of amazing images from his career so far. The lighting, colour, composition and clarity of the shots were of course faultless but what elevates Joe to a higher level is his sheer creativity and ingenuousness to make the extraordinary to convey excitement, emotion, humour … the wow factor. Most images were on the screen for a few fleeting seconds accompanied by the stories behind the shot, mainly about the people shown and Joe’s connection to them. You definitely understood that his relationship to the...
Nov 10, 2015 | Animal, Event, People |
G has been mad about giraffes since she was tiny so Ness decided to book her a giraffe feeding experience at Marwell Zoological Park. We toured for a couple of hours in the drizzle and, following lunch, G and Ness made their way up to the gantry in the giraffe house for an up close and personal encounter. I stayed on the ground to grab some pictures of the event. All shots taken with D750 and 70-300mm at 3200 to 5000 ISO as it was dark inside the giraffe house and I was pleased how well the camera performed. Weirdly the ambient lighting varied between a pale green and a garish orange depending on position so colour balance was a challenge in post production. G was shaking with joy after her experience so it was the perfect present …. well done Ness! Click any of the thumbnails below to see larger images. Categories Animal (5) Art (2) Event (15) Food (1) News (2) People (15) Product (1) Recent Posts World Wide Photowalk 2016 AC/DC Flat Coat Walk Climping Henley on Thames Photowalk Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity...
Oct 26, 2015 | Event, People |
Late October and a beautiful warm and sunny morning for the race. The race waves were started from the podium by Lord Mayor Cllr Frank Jonas, Leader of the Council Donna Jones and double Olympic medalist sailor Iain Percy who also ran. The elite women’s race was won by Vivian Cheruiyot in 51:17 with Exeter Harriers Jo Pavey coming in second with a world record time for over 40s of 52:44 and Doris Changeiywo a close third in 52:51. The elite men’s race results were Moses Kipsiro 46:00, Emmanuel Kipsang 46:08 and Emmanuel Bett 46:11 in third. There was no headwind along the seafront to slow down the runners but the unseasonably warm temperatures did take their toll on race speed. Following the elite runners home were many thousands of club and fun runners including a lot of brave souls dressed in costume and fancy dress. I decided to focus attention on the weird and wonderful crossing the finish line. All photographs were taken with D750 and D7200 using the 24-85mm and 70-300mm lenses respectively. Exposing for the runners was particularly tricky with a bright morning low sun creating high contrast highlights and deep shadows. A takeaway for the next event would be to get lower with a longer lens and shoot up more at the fun runners to try and get a cleaner background. Click any of the thumbnails below to see larger images. Categories Animal (5) Art (2) Event (15) Food (1) News (2) People (15) Product (1) Recent Posts World Wide Photowalk 2016 AC/DC Flat Coat Walk Climping Henley on Thames Photowalk Queen Elizabeth Hospital...
Oct 11, 2015 | Animal, Event |
We spent another lovely morning at the beautiful Waggoners Wells, Grayshot, Hampshire with a fine group of flatcoats and their owners. The dogs enjoyed themselves immensely by leaping into the numerous ponds and water courses. Thanks to all who attended and made it fun. Click any of the thumbnails below to see larger images. Categories Animal (5) Art (2) Event (15) Food (1) News (2) People (15) Product (1) Recent Posts World Wide Photowalk 2016 AC/DC Flat Coat Walk Climping Henley on Thames Photowalk Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity...
Oct 3, 2015 | Event, People |
Headed up to Warwick for Scott Kelby’s annual Worldwide Photowalk, which is now in its 8th year; I had missed out on attending the walk in Bath last year so was pleased I had booked early for this one. On the photowalk website it had indicated that there were 1000 walks taking place so I was in good company. I’d set off quite early so arrived in Warwick a good couple of hours before the start of the event and decided to have a stroll around the town to get my bearings. I met up with another couple of photographers, Brian and Mark, as I was finishing my recce. As we walked and chatted I was more than a little surprised to find that Brian, who was one of the organisers, lives about two miles from my house and Mark lives in Gosport … small world. We headed over to the meeting point which was a walled garden at the rear of the tourist information centre where a wedding party had also arrived for their group photographs. The groom, an older chap, was unmissable in his luminous yellow suit. We watched and chatted while more and more photographers arrived and joined in until there were over forty of us. The wedding photographer came over to ask for the best of our group to stand as shooter in while he joined the wedding party, so he was clearly related to or a friend of the wedding couple. We volunteered Brian for the job after he had made clear that he had no interest in ever becoming a wedding photographer. ...
Sep 25, 2015 | Event, People |
I have literally been taken on a magical mystery tour as an early treat for my birthday. I had no idea where we were going as we headed up the A3(M) and onto the circular car park that is the M25. As we neared Watford I saw tourist signs for Warner Bros. Studios and began thinking that maybe I knew our destination. Shortly after we arrived at those studios for The Making of Harry Potter studio tour. We spent many hours touring the studios at Leavesden getting a very thorough and entertaining behind the scenes experience of the many varied and skilled departments work which contributed to the eight films in the Harry Potter saga. I had checked before we set off whether my surprise day out would be a suitable event to take my camera and as I had another early present, an ultra wide lens, it seemed an ideal opportunity to road test the new glass. All shots taken with the Nikon D7200 and my new lens, Nikon 12 - 24mm f4 ultra wide zoom; many of the shots were taken with off camera speedlight (Yongnuo YN-560 III) and some in available light (with high ISO). I was really pleased how well the camera and lens performed and really enjoyed the tour. Thank you Ness and G for a great day out. Click any of the thumbnails below to see larger images. Categories Animal (5) Art (2) Event (15) Food (1) News (2) People (15) Product (1) Recent Posts World Wide Photowalk 2016 AC/DC Flat Coat Walk Climping Henley on Thames Photowalk Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity...
