Like most of my work, there’s always an embargo for publication, so I’m often writing about things several months after the shoot. This Total 911 shoot is one such, it’s just been published in the Jan 2010 issue and you can buy a copy here.
I owned a 930 Turbo a few years ago, but sadly finances at the time dictated that it was a heart-rather-than-head purchase and ultimately it had to be sold to release funds for other projects. It was a lovely car and I miss it dearly, Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes you see a shot that grabs your attention and this is one of them. Taken by NASA’s Modis Rapid Response Satellite, it show the United Kingdom this week in a way I’ve never seen it – covered in snow 100% I know lots of people are grumbling about the weather, the state of the roads etc, but just stop and take a look around you. My area in Yorkshire is simply stunning right now and sure, it’s a pain getting around but when did you last see the countryside looking like this? Thanks to Chris Garret for the heads up on the photo via Twitter. See the full size image here >>
I’ve been talking to myself for some time now about how traditional print media really shot themselves in the foot more than a decade ago by bundling web advertising in with traditional print FOR FREE. I could never get my head around it, as photographers often discussed it on various email lists such as EPUK as long as five years ago when publishers asked for rights to use content online while complaining that the website made no money. Well, now the website HAS to make money, see my post earlier this year about that.
Then a few months ago, we hear talk of Apple’s Tablet device as being a bigger iPhone style device and I start thinking, as I’m sure you will have been, about what a REALLY BIG deal this can be. Read the rest of this entry »
I was sad to see the passing of Borders Bookstores here in the UK. My local store always had a good range of photography books, plus there was a large shelf dedicated to international magazines, things like Excellence, the USA Porsche mag and some great film and photo mags. So my post-Christmas wandering took me to WH Smith where I found the silver lining for my cloud.
100 Best Pictures is published by the newly renamed “Aircraft’ magazine, formerly Aircraft Illustrated. It’s a good buy at £8.99 with some of the best known aircraft shooters in the world featuring, but when I was in store this week, it had 50% off, making it a no-brainer. Lovely and glossy, with that new-magazine smell, it proved to be a good read. There’s some well known names, but my favourite is Japanese shooter Katsuhiko Tokunaga with his killer shots and distinctive style.
If you don’t have a branch of WH Smith near you, grab a copy online at the publisher’s website I’ve only one grumble – the spine bound format makes it difficult to open out fully, making some of the full bleed, double page shots hard to view, but then, for a fiver, you can’t grumble!
I’m still catching up after a really busy October and finally got some time to clear the decks. Best day of the month without a doubt was the Shooting Supercars Workshop at The Yorkshire Air Museum together with Canon UK and The Flash Centre. The crew from Canon travelled from as far as Kent on the day and brought masses of Canon gear, including the stellar new Canon 1D Mk4, more of which later.
I’ll write a whole lot more about the day over on my Driving Images site, plus we’ve set up a Flickr group for everyone to add their shots and show their work from the day. I was so busy talking about technique and getting everyone shooting that I didn’t shoot very much myself. This shot was rigged right at the end of the day in just ten minutes before everyone left. Some superb assisting by The Flash Centre’s Graham Fox had the Elinchrom’s rigged and ready to go and we managed to get this one. It’s not perfect and the light at the rear sitting on the Manfrotto Hi Hat should really have been behind the Lamborghini, lighting the Ferrari and filling the DB9 shadow, but not a bad effort as a quick example of how to light dirty without a flash meter, just a Mk1 eyeball and a Voice Activated Light stand . More thoughts from the day later, plus my initial excited thoughts on the new Canon 1D Mk4
Using the intervalomter set to fire at eight second intervals on the Canon 5D Mk2, I set aperture priority, Jpeg low as the file size (which felt very odd for someone who always shoots RAW) and let the camera run for around 55 minutes. I’d like to have let it run longer but time was pressing and the cloud cover looked complete, only to reveal twinkling stars as I hiked back to the car! They would have been a nice finish.
The final file created in Quicktime is huge, but using ‘Export for web’ you’re able to create several file sizes to suit different viewers.
I’ll write again a little later about my thoughts on time lapse, as it’s looking curiously addictive and as well as being fun to make and watch, I can think of several ways that my existing clients might be able to use it. That’s always an exciting thought.
We’ll have with us a mountain of Elinchrom lighting kit from The Flash Centre, plus we’ve grabbed a Canon 5D Mk2 and the brand new Canon 7D to use. So if you have your camera, you’ll be able to mount the Skyport wireless trigger on your hotshoe and try out the Elinchrom lighting we’ll have set up.
For me, I’ll be saying hello to an old friend, the pretty Mirage jet fighter you see in the background of this shot. A couple of years ago, I used her as a backdrop for a car shoot, but this time, the sharp dart shape will be centre of attention for the Elinchrom lighting, lets hope we can do her justice.
The wonderful Victor tanker / bomber that lives there with have all it’s ground power and lighting hooked up, so you can get some great long exposures as the sun goes down. The museum have created a great schedule starting mid afternoon with some interesting talks by ex-Victor crews too, so it’s shaping up to be a great event. What we need now is a spectacular Yorkshire autumn sunset and we’ll have some great photography!
There are still tickets available, simply go to the website here and book, or give them a call.
It hardly seems like yesterday that I was writing on this blog about the convergence of stills and video photography and what the implications might be for magazines, their publishers and their websites and how the survivors would shape up. Now, up pops this great video by Alexx Henry of a Triathlon athlete shoot for ‘Outside Magazine’ in the USA and how they’re shooting on a Red One and stills to integrate it into the magazine. He talks on his blog about the future and interestingly how media outlets are actually starting to listen to the photographers & video creators again to look at ways of making this all work. Anyone who’s following the whole stills / video convergence will be interested to watch for the next five minutes.
You’ve got to watch this Behind The Scenes vid of director Richard Patterson shooting using a Canon 1D stills camera firing at 10 frames per second, coupled with a rack load of Profoto light strobes, Red Rock Micro and a cool Steadicam rig. Hoping that there will be more BTS video showing the post production and how the final item looked. Who says you need a video mode on your DSLR to shoot movies?
There’s been a lot of talk about EPaper disposable LCD’s recently and how they might be the saviour of the magazine industry. Some say that being able to enmbed video into a magazine will be revolutionary, others comment that the ‘disposability’ factor and apparent wastefulness in this age is unacceptable.
Like most of my work, there’s always an embargo for publication, so I’m often writing about things several months after the shoot. This Total 911 shoot is one such, it’s just been published in the Jan 2010 issue and you can buy a copy here.
Sometimes you see a shot that grabs your attention and this is one of them. 
I’ve been talking to myself for some time now about how traditional print media really shot themselves in the foot more than a decade ago by bundling web advertising in with traditional print FOR FREE. I could never get my head around it, as photographers often discussed it on various 
I was sad to see the passing of Borders Bookstores here in the UK. My local store always had a good range of photography books, plus there was a large shelf dedicated to international magazines, things like Excellence, the USA Porsche mag and some great film and photo mags. So my post-Christmas wandering took me to WH Smith where I found the silver lining for my cloud.
I’m still catching up after a really busy October and finally got some time to clear the decks. Best day of the month without a doubt was the Shooting Supercars Workshop at The Yorkshire Air Museum together with Canon UK and The Flash Centre. The crew from Canon travelled from as far as Kent on the day and brought masses of Canon gear, including the stellar new Canon 1D Mk4, more of which later.
. More thoughts from the day later, plus my initial excited thoughts on the new Canon 1D Mk4
A quick heads-up if you’re living in the north of England and love photography and old aircraft. This Saturday,
