Photo Finish

New Beginnings

September 20, 2010

tags: Carte de Visite, photography, university

Woah, I did it, I moved to university. All the struggle with Alevels, university interviews and exams is over and I’m currently living what I fought so hard to get. I’m an actual university student! I’m sure part of my still thinks that I’m going back to school soon, after 15 years I’ve broken free from the mundane repetition of a school week and I’m finally starting to settle down to learn about something I’m really interested in. Fresher’s week is over and we can now knuckle down to some serious photography study. We’ve completed our mobile phone project (a photo which sums up our first feelings about going to university – photo below) and got our semester time table, eeeek!

©Lou Johnson

So what next?

Well, we’ve got our first and only mini, non marked, project based on Carte De Visite photography. Our brief details we’ll need one colour and one black and white print, giving us the perfect opportunity to profect both types of dark room techniques and learn about how a typical project can be set up. I’ve done my research which included finding my own Carte de Visite photographs of my own family ad shooting two rolls of films. It’s safe to say I’m eager to get started for real with our first project ‘The photograph as a Document’ – it’s going to be awesome! I’ll try to keep you all updated with the happenings of my life at uni and what I’m learning photography wise.

I’ve finally got a darkroom at home too, so I predict much more analogue work from me for a bit!

A Taste of Independence

August 14, 2010

tags: Agatha Christie, Aquarium, Beach, Burgh Island, Devon, Greenway, Plymouth, Stonehenge, Totnes, Tudors

Last month was a bit of a step forward in my life. I officially finished school, marking the close of 15 years of my life and as cheesy as it sounds the opening of one huge, new and daunting chapter. Okay it’s a bit exciting too. Next week I get my A level results and with them a clue about which direction my life will take. Uni.. or gap year? Obviously I’m keeping my fingers crossed for my university place but we’ll see. Uni seems like such a huge leap from where I am now, thank goodness most people go through the same thing!

While last month marked the end of my school life it wasn’t all bad. I got to go on two holidays! (yes I count Goodwood as a holiday). Aside from Chichester and the festival I also found myself going on a mini adventure down to Devon with two of my oldest friends. Just the three of us, no parents (unless you count their aunt whose house we stayed at), looking out for ourselves. To be honest we all just needed a break, to get away from Kent and everything, just to relax and be somewhere else. I’m making such a big deal out of this because it was almost a taste for future life, no parents, teachers etc.. we could just be ourselves, being independent… and you know what? We survived, and even had a great time. We could do what we wanted, cook what we liked and just have a laugh. No Alevels no.. nothing. Just us and their Aunt’s dog Jed. The perfect break.

It wasn’t the typical ‘let’s fly somewhere, go get drunk every single day and maybe get a tan’ teen holiday.. cause well.. we just wouldn’t enjoy that, although a tan would have been nice. It was quiet, we went for long walks, explored some of the local villages and towns and just relaxed. We’re not really the partying type.

I’m not going to share with you a day by day account of our holiday because a lot of our time was spent reading or just wondering around enjoying the view. Instead I’ll share a few photos and a few highlights of the trip.

Totnes Tudor Market

Children dress up and demonstrate tudor dances

Yep that’s right Totnes has a market where everyone dresses up in Tudor costumes. At first it was pretty surreal seeing people buying anything from jewellery to meat from Tudors but we got used to it, children from the local school even gave a demonstration of a traditional Tudor dance. Not what you expect to see every day!

Greenway

Home of the famous Agatha Christie we took a taxi boat across the river Dart to explore her grand abode and the interesting art installations within the grounds.

As a great lover of tea the idea of mugs hanging from a tree which gently ‘clinked’ together in the breeze is an appealing one, I wonder if mum would notice if used some of her mugs…

.. what does this remind you of? It reminded us of Alice and Wonderland, what a beautiful old, rather large clock!

Plymouth Aquarium

I love aquariums, it’s something about the bright colours, and the calm I associate with water just makes them such an amazing place. They can be a great place to take photos too!

Aren’t Jellyfish awesome?!

Living by the beach

We were staying in the little seaside town of Bigbury on Sea, and wow it’s beautiful. The flat had the most amazing window in the lounge overlooking the sea. I could have watched the wind surfers, fledgling seagulls and incoming rain storms (yep it rained …alot) all day.

Of course living that close to lovely sandy beaches meant we just had to go for a walk.. and a bit of a paddle.

Even the dog liked it.

Burgh Island

Burgh Island (another Agatha Christie connection – not planned I promise..) is only accessible when the tide is out and you can cross the causeway, but if you even find yourself in the Bigbury on Sea area you really must climb the Island. We wondered down from the flat on our last day and headed across the causeway and up the Island. It didn’t take long, and the views were magnificent.

The Sea has got to be one of my favourite places to visit, where ever I am.

Stonehenge

We decided to break up our long 6 hour journey back with a stop off for lunch at the mysterious Stonehenge in Wiltshire. While it’s a great place to walk around and from an artistic point of view there is plenty to inspire you, but other than that it was a tad disappointing. My first reaction was ‘oh.. It’s smaller than I thought’, in reflection I’m not sure what I was actually expecting. I’m not sad I went at all, it’s one of those places I think you should try and visit but I’m not sure I’d make an effort to go there again.

There you are, a little glimpse at our holiday. If you want to check out more of my holiday snaps they can be found on my flickr.

My Own Goodwood Test Drive

August 13, 2010

tags: Goodwood Festival of Speed, Nico Rosberg, Panasonic Lumix, review, touch screen

This is my last Goodwood 2010 related post, I promise. This time I want to take a closer look at a camera I was privileged enough to have an experiment with.

You’ve probably seen the advert on TV, or read a review on the internet but in case you missed it – Panasonic have launched and brand new camera. The Lumix G2 is marketed as being;

‘the world’s first compact system camera with touch-screen controls’

Well it’s all very well and good being the world’s first touch screen D-SLR, but is it as good as they say?

Panasonic were so proud of their new camera they teamed up with the Daily Telegraph and various events/places around Britain to give the public a chance to ‘road test’ the Lumix for themselves. Of course being a keen Snapa and never wanting to pass up an opportunity to try out a new camera I was delighted when I saw this on the Telegraph website the weekend before we headed off to the festival.

‘The Panasonic event will allow visitors at the Festival to hire a Lumix G2 digital camera free of charge for a couple of hours to try to capture the best images of the day. There’ll be plenty to choose from so feel free to take as many photographs as you like. Whether your subject is the latest supercars of one of the many celebs or racing drivers who attends the festival, you’ll have plenty of space on your 2GB SD memory card.’

The chance to hire over £600 worth of new camera for free?! Brilliant!

It took us a day, but we tracked down the Lumix stand eventually – although by the start line it was pretty small and tucked out of the way, almost lost amongst the mass of stalls and flags. After exchanging some details and a quick demonstration the camera was mine.. well for a few hours anyway! Armed with my usual Nikon D70s round one shoulder and now the Lumix I felt ready to start our day at the festival. The Lumix came with a 14-42mm lens which made it the perfect compliment for my Nikon with it’s 70-300mm lens. The perfect camera set up for a productive day.

As we started to walk towards the F1 paddock and the other side of the track I was still fumbling around with the settings and getting used to the UI which was pretty easy to get to grips with. Everything is very self explanatory and within a few steps I took the following test shot…

Excited by this new gadget we rushed off to look for some more exciting subjects (yes.. F1 cars.. ) as you’ve probably already noticed from my other posts, I rather like taking photos of the cars as they return from the hillclimb. When we got to the paddock the cars had already gone out so while waiting for them to come back I wondered around trying out the camera. Here are some of my better shots,

While the first shot is ‘straight out of the camera’ this second one has been edited somewhat just by turning down the saturation of all but the reds of the photograph.

I then tried out the macro settings for the camera capturing the following…

I was really impressed with both the lens and the camera’s capability to adjust so quickly and how easy it was to set up the shot with it.

Before we knew it the cars were coming back and we lined up ready for the cars. Once the cars had pasted I turned and and started to quickly make my way through the crowd bumping into Nico accidentally, as he tried to quickly finish signing autographs and head out of the paddock. I don’t mean bump into the crowd surrounding him, no I mean him. I quickly grabbed the Lumix and pressed the ‘Intelligent Auto’ button before snapping a shot or two of him.

I was so thankful to have the Lumix on me at the time. I usually carry my smaller digital Nikon bridge camera (Nikon P90) for such occasions but having a fully capable, light DSLR with the smaller lens made the world of difference. I suddenly realised exactly why F1 photographers carry more than one camera with them! The ‘Intelligent Auto’ button helped me get the best shot possible for the conditions and I didn’t even need to think about it. Okay that’s not exactly what all photographers need, but sometimes photo opportunity appear without time to fiddle around with settings. Sometimes you just want to not have to think about it – and that’s what this enabled me to do. Great idea, thanks Panasonic.

Getting over my meeting with Rosberg I headed over to Karun and Sam Bird at the Williams awning and got to try out another feature – the adjustable screen.

To get the best angle I lowered the camera and tilted the screen up so I could compose the photo properly. This is a feature I’m used to on my Nikon P90 and it’s perfect for these situations where either you’re trying to look over or through the crowd, where the only clear air to place a camera is a position in which you can’t see what you’re shooting. I simply tapped the screen and it took the photo for me – how cool!

The Lumix also allowed me to get a bit closer to the main display,

The two hours passed very quickly and before we knew it we had to wonder back down to the Lumix stall to return the camera. I didn’t even get a chance to look at some of the features or have a proper play with the new gadget but the shots I did get were incredibly fun to take. While the touch screen made for easy navigation of in camera settings and tapping the screen to take a shot is awesome I’m not sure how much of a difference it made. The weight on the other hand was a much more notable difference. My D70s is pretty old now, and because of this also pretty heavy – but most Dslrs are. The Lumix on the other hand was small and very light I hardly noticed it on my shoulder and had I not been trying to be extra careful with it (I didn’t want to break it or anything!) I would probably have forgotten it was there. I’m incredibly impressed with Panasonic, both for the camera and their attendance at the Festival. What a perfect environment to try out a new camera for free! Oh and they let me keep the SD card too!

While I’m not sure if I’d buy the camera after just the two short hours, aside from the fact I don’t need a new camera, I’d certainly not hesitate to recommend it to someone who is either looking for a nice DSLR with a great auto function, or someone who is looking for something really simple to get to grips with. It’s not quiet ready to challenge anything Canon or Nikon can produce, but Panasonic have got alot closer with their latest camera.

I’ll leave you with the Panasonic video about the Lumix and just why it’s so great.

Don’t judge a car by its livery

August 8, 2010

tags: Brawn GP, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Liveries, Mercedes GP

I’ve already written about my experiences at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, but there was one particular part of my weekend I didn’t mention. I felt it needed its own post.

As you know I went to Goodwood with Lukeh, both being Brawn fans you would like to think that we’d both be overjoyed that Mercedes decided to bring and show off the BrawnGP001 again this year. Brawn GP brought their car and had it on static display last year to allow fans to get that little bit closer to the beautiful creation that was leading the Championship.

Just seeing it in static display knowing it would be racing a few weekends later was brilliant, and we both spent around half an hour just staring and marvelling at the car in all its white and yellow glory. This year, however, the team brought the car along to run up the hill (seeing as testing rules allowed them to run it as it wasn’t the current car) you’d have thought this would have been the ultimate experience for any Brawn fan who didn’t get the chance to actually see it race. Well it would have been, except for one tiny detail, it wasn’t white and yellow… it was grey.

It was bound to happen, new team, new drivers, and different sponsors, why wouldn’t you use your new livery? It would be a useless way of promoting your team, right? I’m not sure what I really expected, part of me knew this would happen the other part was hoping they’d have brought the Brawn in full livery and their Mercedes as a static display, just as a way of showing off both.

While disappointed I still loved having the Brawn there and knowing that beneath all that silver paint was the car we’d loved so much last year. A new lick of paint can only do so much to the car, you could still visibly see what it was, but out of the two of us Lukeh seemed the most annoyed.

It got me thinking, what were we so annoyed about? The fact it didn’t look the same or that it seemed like Mercedes were trying to hide the memory of the team? Surely a livery is just a livery, it doesn’t matter that much does it?

Well, yes, I think they do matter. It’s the liveries people tend to remember more, for example back at the start of the season many were very happy at the return of the green and gold lotus livery, similarly many hated the distinguishable ‘cream egg’ Renault livery and the ‘earth dreams’ Honda stickers. Liveries divide opinion and create conversation amongst many more people than a new aero part might (unless we’re talking about flexi-wings or some new innovation of course). Liveries are important for photography too, during pre season testing several Formula 1 photographers expressed their dislike for certain cars as they were incredibly hard to shoot. Liveries do matter.

I’ll admit, despite this, each time Nico drove the Brawn past us and into the paddock I did get goose bumps, it’s such a pretty car – you just can’t ignore beautiful rounded nose and that Mercedes engine is something very special, but I couldn’t help thinking that it had lost something… of course that might be because Jenson wasn’t driving.

I’m interested, what do you think?

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 – Sunday

July 25, 2010

tags: Clive Chapman, FOS, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Heikki Kovalainen, Karun Chandock, Porshe

My first thought was ‘wow how is it sunday already?’ the weekend really was flying by. We’d had great fun on both Friday and Saturday and having looked through my images I had a rough idea of what I wanted to get out of the day. We set ourselves a bit of a mission – meet Crofty and Ant from five live. You can see how we got on here.

We arrived at what had became our usual time decided to climb a little further up the hill than we had previously. We failed. There is just so much to do that it really wasn’t long until we found ourselves distracted by a rather awesome Porshe experience display.

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves back at our favourite place- we really did spend most of our weekend there. I did get a better shot of Karun though!

In our mission to meet Crofty we attended the lotus interview with Heikki Clive Chapman and Sir Stirling – not in a wheelchair and looking much healthier. An insightful half an hour was had by all in the fan Q&A and I think everyone appreciated the effort gone to. Brilliant Stuff.

We tried to watch more of the hillclimb in the afternoon too, we failed at that too so returned to the paddock for the final run of the cars. You really do need to turn up to the edge of the track early if you want a good position, some years you can be lucky and just find a place, other times not so much.

Now I know I said standing in the paddock was great but it can be loud! Especially when some drivers rev their engines whilst in the crowd- I’m looking at you Mr Jean Eric Vergne. My advice bring and wear earplugs.

What else can I say about Sunday? Well stayed until the end when all the prizes were given out just so we could lap up every single last moment. I even managed to get Heikki to do me a quick favour before he left. Oh and we even met Holly again!

Centre display in front of Goodwood House

In summary, Goodwood really is worth every penny of your money, truly brilliant, it doesn’t get boring if you go three years in a row, however it does take alot out of you – especially if it’s that hot! Can’t wait for next year though, who’s going to join me?

More of my Goodwood photographs can be found on my flickr

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 – Saturday

July 25, 2010

tags: FOS, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Jochen Mass, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Panasonic Lumix, Red Bull F1, Sam Bird

Given our experiences on Friday we felt much more organised heading into Saturday (we got on the right train and everything!) although we didn’t get there much earlier, I’m really not a morning person. However we still managed to fit a huge amount into out day.

My first task for the day was to track down the Panasonic Lumix stall that had done such a good job of hiding from us on Friday. It wasn’t very large, but my goodness it was humid in there! I’ll write in more detail about the new Lumix in the coming days but as an aspiring motorsport photographer the idea of getting to try out such a new camera (for free!) at such a great location seemed like genius! We were given 2 hours, so with the clock ticking we scuttled off to the other side of the grounds to try it out.

Waiting in the paddock again, we realised unlike Friday there were a large number of current F1 drivers present. With Jenson, Nico Rosberg, Karun Chandock, Bruno Senna, Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli, and Marc Gene – not to mention Adrian Newey we were a little spoilt for choice. Nevertheless as the F1 cars returned I made a split second decision to follow Karun’s car back to the Williams awning. I found myself caught up in the crowd though and as I rather hastily ran through to try to get to Karun, I literally ran into someone else I recognised.

Thank goodness I had the Panasonic, it being supplied to me with a 50mm lens made it the perfect second camera, allowing me to get a shot or two of Nico without having to step back or quickly change lenses in such a dusty environment. I now totally understand why F1 photographers carry at least two cameras with them while working, it’s so practical!

I did eventually make my way towards Karun, managed to let out a quick ‘you’re doing a great job!’, and got some snaps of both him and a fellow Goodwood regular (Sam Bird).

The afternoon was spent around the Drivers Club entrance, waiting to get some great shots. It’s amazing what you can learn and see if you spend a few hours around there. The waiting can pay off.

We watched and got some great shots of a very fan friendly Mark Webber.

He signed for the entire line of fans, I’m not sure anyone walked away disappointed. He must have spent a good half an hour chatting and interacting with the fans. He was a real gent, it didn’t seem like a chore and he seemed like a very nice guy. He did the same almost each time he entered or left the compound. Very impressive from him.

Equally impressive was Jenson who was again very welcoming and lovely to his fans. He signed for them all too, he even didn’t mind me asking for a photo with him!

Other notable experiences included coming across the very funny and until now unknown to me ex-f1 driver Jochen Mass,

and the ‘anti-fan’ behaviour of Jarno Trulli.

As a final point for the day, we headed back to the paddock for the final F1 run of the day and it was there I managed to get a some of the shots I am most proud of from the entire weekend.

The red bull really is stunning!

What was the highlight of my day? Meeting Holly Samos from 5 Live F1! She’s was so lovely! Ooh and seeing and meeting Jenson of course!! Goodness I love Goodwood!

yaaay for fan friendly people in F1!

More of my Goodwood photographs can be found on my flickr.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 – Friday

July 25, 2010

tags: Adrian Newey, Bruno Senna, Formula 1, FOS, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Holly Samos, Jack Harvey, Red Arrows, Red Bull F1, Sir Stirling Moss, Williams F1

The roar of engines, smell of burning rubber and the warmth of the sun beating down on your face – what more could you ask for? Goodwood Festival of Speed really is a stunning place for any petrol head. I’ve already written briefly about the Festival on Sidepodcast but I wanted to take a closer look at my weekend this year and just why it was so enjoyable.

It’s now becoming somewhat of a tradition for me to attend the Festival each year, and based on my experiences it’s not a tradition I’m aiming to break any time soon. Upon entering the gates, hearing the surrounding rumble of engines and seeing the impressive displays it’s easy to get lost in the moment wondering where to head first, what to see and who is next up the hill.

This year, Lukeh and I were there for all three days so we weren’t too pressed for time and didn’t need to plan our day so much – although that didn’t stop us from trying. I was worried I would maybe get bored being there for three days, how wrong could I be! We didn’t even get to see all of it!

We approached Friday as if it were a taster day, using it to get our bearings and wonder around some of the places we may not get to look at over the rest of the weekend. We were greated by a spectacular display by the Red Arrows, well 8 of them at least.

I’ve always had one complaint about the red arrow displays at Goodwood, it’s very hard to actually see the entire display from many areas of the grounds. The best place is by the house, but if you’re not there then it’s hard to get a good photos. However my complaint isn’t that you can’t see them from everywhere – the festival covers a huge area, it’s that I never seem to be in the right place at the right time.

Note for Goodwood 2011: plan more.

After the display we couldn’t resist the pull of the f1 paddock for any longer and we found ourselves heading over the second bridge in the direction of the f1 cars and drivers.
Those who know the festival well will be aware that there is a ‘scrutineering bay’ where the f1 cars are held before their various runs at the bottom of the paddock. We walked past this bay just as the f1 cars were being put into their holding positions. This of course meant that some drivers were around too. It was Friday so not many current f1 drivers or famous faces were around, except for a select few. Bruno Senna for example. Taking advantage of the slightly smaller Friday crowds Lukeh ran off to say hi, I on the other hand stubbornly decided to keep hold of my place at the front of the crowd. I’m very pleased I did as it was the best view point of the ‘scrutineering bay’ I managed to get all weekend.
…So what did I manage to snap from my position?

Capitalising on something I learnt from previous experience we headed to the f1 paddock… Yes the one that was now empty… And waited for the cars to return. In my opinion the best place to get photos of f1 cars at Goodwood is as they return from the hill climb. There is nothing separating you from the cars just the shouting marshals wanting you to ensure enough space for the cars. If you manage to get to the front of the crowd you are in for a treat! Following observations last year I decided once a car was to pass me I would run through the crowd and meet it back at its garage so I could get some extra photos, of both the car and the driver. For the Friday I decided to make red bull my focus. Adrian Newey was driving his very own red bull and I didn’t want to miss any reactions after his first run. I wasn’t disappointed.

I was defiantly going to try that again on Saturday!
The afternoon was pretty eventful too, we headed to the paddock again for some more f1 action, but before that we managed to catch an interview with the rather charming and alarmingly young Jack Harvey at the BMW stand by Jake Humphrey. It was a wonderful little interview with some great insight into the world of a 17 year old driver hoping to make it into F1.

It wasn’t particularly the interview that grabbed my attention, it’s more the fact that each time we passed the BMW stand (which was alot) he was there, mixing with the crowd, answering questions and just being nice. That’s what we like to see!
Other notable occurrences were my first experiences at just how assessable drivers are around the drivers paddock area, somewhere I’d never been before. We came across a rather tired looking, but still exceptionally kind and friendly Stirling Moss in a wheel chair near the media centre.

Not sure if you can have a better Friday!

More of my Goodwood photographs can be found on my flickr

An old friend returns

April 17, 2010

Remember Minty? The fox that occasionally wonders into my garden? Well, after a few months of just seeing him at night (and not having my camera ready) I spotted him again today near our pond.

He was there for some time pushing the dirt around with his nose and bathing in the warmth of the sun. As I continued to watch him I realised what he was doing… burying a rabbit.

I had never considered that foxes would bury their food and am totally puzzled by the whole thing to be honest, if anyone has any theories or knows why I’m all ears!

A Special Birthday

March 6, 2010

Today is a very special day that I fear may have gone unnoticed in the busy world that is the Formula 1 circus warming up for the first race of the season.

While today is the last weekend of the off season, the 6th March is important for a different reason. For a year ago today was the day that official confirmation reached us that Ross Brawn had bought out Honda and the bunch from Brackley were safe for another year. It marked the start of the Brawn GP era for Brackley, something that will line the pages of F1 history books for years to come.

Brawn GP001 at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Following the announcement, Jenson took the BrawnGP001 out for it’s first shake down and his verdict seemed positive. Little did we know the delights the team would bring us. I’m sure I wasn’t the only emotional fan that watched the final moments of Australian qualifying or race with pride and happiness for every member of the rescued team.

You all know the story, you know the figures, you can’t deny 2009 was an incredible year and Brawn GP an unforgettable team.

Happy Brawn GP Day everyone!

How to be a domestic goddess…kind of.

February 18, 2010

With half term upon us my good friend Emily and I decided now was the right time to bake some chocolate brownies. However they tasted so good we’ve decided to share the experience with you in the form of a photo-recipe-journal thing. Bon appétit!

As an aside, The recipe is based on a creation within Jamie Oliver’s cookbook ‘Cook with Jamie’.

You will need the following…

250g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
80g cocoa powder, sifted.
65g plain flour, sifted.
1 tsp baking powder.
350g caster sugar.
4 large eggs.

Before starting preheat the oven to 180°C and line a rectangular baking tin with greaseproof paper.

Step 1.

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over simmering water.

DSCN1789