The Silver Arrows at the Goodwood Revival Meeting

1934 heralded the arrival of the Mercedes and Auto Union to GrandPrix motor racing. It was a wonderful era and these two makes affectionately known as 'The Silver Arrows' dominated top level racing. A year later in 1935 they made their UK appearance at Donnington. 75 years on and to mark this anniversary the 2012 Goodwood Revival Meeting brought this famous racers together once more.

The attention to detail at this annual event is so special that the cars were housed in an authentic recreation of the pits at the Bremgarten circuit which staged the Swiss Grand Prix in 1938.

As well as recording these magnificant cars in camera, there was an artist doing a superb pencil drawing of one the Auto Union racers.

All the photos were taken using an Olympus EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into  black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

The Silver Arrows lined up in the pits
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f9 ISO 400

Goodwood Revival Meeting this weekend

It's mid September so once again its time for the Goodwood Revial Meeting which starts tomorrow and finishes on Sunday. I have photographed this event in the past, so on this occassion I shall be concentrating on capturing the historic 'vintage' flavour of the event. Black and white will be the order of the day and I shall be exploring new areas of the circuit and of course people watching. I will be there for two out of the three days, so the Olympus OMD memory card could be quite full by the time the last chequered flag is waved on Sunday. I will post a selection of images in the weeks to come, but in the meantime here is the Ferrari 250 GTO taken in 2010.

'People and Places' - Littlehampton Seafront

This is the second post which relates to Jacqui Hurst's 'People and Places' course I attended at West Dean College earlier this summer. In complete contrast to our visit to Glorious Goodwood we spent a day at Littlehampton; a typical and relatively small seaside resort on the south coast.

Whilst a colourful location I stuck to the brief I had imposed on myself at the begining of the course, i.e. choosing monochrome for all of my images. I tried to concentrate on textures, tones and good composition whilst trying to capture the 'feeling and atmosphere' of the seafront. Fortunately the weather was dry and bright so there were a fair number of people around. At times though it was overcast, but this helped from a photographic point of view as I did not have extremes of contrast to worry about.

Some of the group felt uncomfortable photographing people. I very enjoyed the experience and the Olympus EM5 certainly allowed me to be a little more discreet. Had I been using a substantial DSLR with a large zoom lens and I am sure I would have felt very different as I went looking for suitable subjects.

Once again the kit lens stayed in the bag and I switched between three primes lenses. 12mm, 20mm and 45mm which equate to 24mm, 40mm and 90mm if using a full frame 35mm sensor.

All the photographs were taken in RAW with an Olympus OMD EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro2. I have to say that Silver Efex Pro is a joy to use when converting images to monchrome. The contrast and structure adjustments can really bring the image to life, increasing tonal range and texture. I am still very much learning about black and white but for me there is a certain something about the results which pleases me.

Unusual bench seating along the promenade
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/160 f11 ISO 200

'People and Places' at Glorious Goodwood

The end of July/beginning of August is traditionally the time for one of the most famous race meetings in the country - Glorious Goodwood. Situated on The South Downs the race course enjoys wonderful views of the countryside to the north and to the south, distant views of the sea and even the Isle of Wight on a clear day. I am not a seasoned race goer and definitely not a gambler buts its hard to resist the allure of Glorious Goodwood which attracts the famous, the not so famous and those that are simply there to win some money or have a good day out.

My reason for going this year was as part of a 'People and Places' photography course I was attending at West Dean College which is just down the road from Goodwood. I would thoroughly recommend West Dean College to anyone interested in an arts or crafts course held in a beautiful house set in quite superb grounds. The course was being run by Jacqui Hurst and in addition to myself there were five other participants. I will say more about Jacqui and the course in a forthcoming post.

At the outset of the week I set myself the objective of 'seeing' in black and white. We had to produce a portfolio of work by the end of the course, so however good some of the images might appear in colour the final selection would all have to be in monochrome. At Glorious Goodwood I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the place and its people, and whilst we were not in the 'posh' Richmond or Gordon Enclosures, the Lennox Enclosure would provide just as many photo opportunities.

I should just mention that a couple of weeks before attending the course I made the decision to buy the Olympus OMD EM5 with the 12mm to 50mm kit lens. The body and lens are weather sealed and having enjoyed the E-PL3 so much together with the three prime lens (12mm, 20mm and 45mm) I couldn't wait to see how this new camera performed. Being on a photography course for a week was the ideal opportunity to find out. I can tell you now, I was not disappointed, to the contrary the results are quite fantastic and I am now wondering when the Nikon D90 DSLR will get its next airing?

Here are a selection of the images taken at Goodwood. They were all taken with the OMD and one of the prime lenses. Shot in RAW, imported into Lightroom with minor adjustments before converting to black and white in Silver Efex Pro2; a dedicated B&W plugin by Nik Software. 

Racing to the line
Olympus OMD 20mm f8 1/500 ISO 200

Festival of Speed 2012 - The Last Post

This is the third and last entry about the Goodwood Festival of Speed which took place at the end of July this year. The two earlier entries were about the Art of Design and The People respectively. This entry completes the series and is simply intended to show an overall picture of the event. There is no particular theme other than trying to capture the true essence of this remarkable event which draws thousands of spectators every year.

None of these images would win a photographic competition, but they were not taken for that reason. They are a record of the event itself which I enjoy visiting as often as can. It allows me to combine my interest in photography with my love of motor cars.

In a couple of weeks time I will be at the Goodwood Revival Meeting so expect some more images from that event but in the meantime here is my final selection of shots from the Festival of Speed.

Above each image I have added a short description and my customary Exif data. All the shots were taken with either a Nikon D90 or Olympus E -PL3.

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The custom built display which is constructed on the front lawn of Goodwood House every year is always something special and can often be seen from miles around. This year the theme of the display celebrated Lotus racing cars through the years.
Nikon D90 35mm f6.3 1/1250 ISO200

Festival of Speed - The People

This is the second post relating to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It's been a busy summer so it has taken me a while to complete this entry and there may still be one more to come!

This event is wonderful for its cars but also for the people who drive them or indeed simply spectate. Hopefully these images give a flavour of 'the people' at Goodwood.

Its twenty years since the Festival of Speed came to Goodwood, courtesy of the Earl of March. It's grown and grown, year on year, but one person who has regularly been invited but never come, made his debut appearance on this occasion - Alain Prost or 'The 'Professor', the great Formula One champion of days gone by.

Alain Prost and the Earl of March
Olympus E PL3 45mm f2.5 1/400 ISO 200

First exhibition

Its sounds rather grand, it wasn't at all really, but on Saturday 11th August I staged my first and modest exhibition of photographs at the Bizarre Bazaar in the grounds of Fishbourne Church, near Chichester. Any profits (I should be so lucky) would be donated to The St Peter Project (A new church hall for Fishbourne and the wider community - www.stpeterproject.org). I gave a lot of thought to the images I wanted to include. I felt the work should have a broad appeal but also showcase my eclectic tastes. The only thing I did want to do was major on black and white, as this is my preferred style at the moment. The only two prints which were in colour were deliberately chosen as these directly related to Fishbourne Church, so were more likely to appeal to those attending the event.

Prior to the event I built a large stand or easel which would display eleven 20" x 16" framed prints, in landscape and portrait format. On the evening before I was still cuttings mounts and framing. I shouldn't have left it until the last minute but having only recently returned from a week's photography course at West Dean, time was limited.

As well as receiving a number of favourable comments,  I was delighted to sell five prints which was five times as many as I had expected. Its strange to think that people have now parted with their hard earned money to display my work on their wall at home.  As and when opportunities arise it has certainly given me the confidence to stage other exhibitions of my work.....particularly if the profits can go to a good cause. It has also made me realise that I need to press on with my own website which will incorporate this blog.

Below are the images I displayed. 

Firstly four landscapes.

Sand Waves on the Isle of Eigg
Nikon D90 10-24mm @ 10mm f11 6 seconds ISO 100