Military Vehicle Trust Weekend - Halfpenny Green 2013

Tight Lunchtime Circuit - A 22 Photo Sandwich

Just going through some old folders on the computer and came across the image which is displayed below from 2011.

Like my previous post 'BTCC Thirty Photo Sandwich' this is also a composite of a number of images, in this case twenty two. The original composite contained  a further ten images but they ran off to the right putting the photo out of balance, plus a number of the shots had fencing and poles in the way.

Anyway the results of a little bit of fun with an obliging C42 owner, fixed camera position, manual setting and some time in photoshop...



Ikarus C42 - Tight Circuit



Last Chance Tempete

Although we had chatted for some time about doing some aerial photos of G-ASUS, one of only two Jurca MJ-2 Tempetes on the UK register, we only finally achieved it with minutes to spare.

Roy, owner of the Tempete, had stated in mid 2011 that whilst he really enjoyed the MJ-2 the time had come to sell it, so that he could buy a two seater that would enable him to go flying with his son. Like alot of things with distant deadlines, though we talked regularly about doing some Air to Air photos there appeared to be no urgency as there was plenty of time!

As the second half of the summer of 2011 passed by, the non existant nice evenings were replaced by shorter days and less opportunities to get airbourne. Everytime we tried to arrange a sortie either the poor weather, pilot or aircraft unavailability put a stop to the proceedings.

Before we knew it, we were in late May 2012, Roy had just struck a deal to sell the Tempete but had already been invited to display the aircraft in the static at the RAF Cosford show. The new owner had kindly agreed to let Roy honour the Cosford booking, but would be collecting G-ASUS on the Monday after the show.

With time now rapidly running out we tried to arrange a flight on the Friday before ths show, but busy diaries meant that this wasn't going to happen, there was only one thing for it, Roys last flight in the Jurca Tempete back from Cosford to Halfpenny Green on the Monday following the show.

The weather wasnt the best, but, at last everything else fell into place and Roy enjoyed a fitting end to his association with G-ASUS, a photographic sortie on his last ever flight in the aircraft.

Light It Like Daylight !! (Frustrations Of A Night Shoot)

2012 had been a busy year with very little time for 'leisure' photography but following on from previous visits to the Severn Valley Railway Autumn Gala I was determined to pop along in September to do a little bit of after dark photography.

Unlike 2010 and 2011 my 2012 visit would be limited to a shorter single night trip, so I decided that I would probably stick with one location, Bewdley Station on the Friday night, at least there was always the chance of an engine or two being parked up on the rock sidings.





' The Rock ' at Bewdley Station SVR

 

Arriving around 9pm, later than planned three things struck me, there seemed to be less passengers / general enthusiasts present, there seemed to be a lot more photographers around and it was pretty overcast and damp compared to previous years.





A Quiet Bewdley Station Taken In 2010

 

Making my way across the footbridge to the centre platform many of the photographers were busy shooting the two engines that were already parked on the sidings. Now there were obviously quite a few different techniques being used, flash, long exposure with flash, painting by flash and painting by torchlight but my personal choice over the last two years has been to simply rely on ambient light, be it artificial or natural and long exposures.

As the number of flashes diminished I had a quick walk along the platform to get a feel to see if people had finished for now, most had or at least they indicated they had.




'Hot Spots Galore'

 

Right, set the camera up and lets get on with it. Bang, forty seconds into a two and a half minute exposure and I suddenly feel like I’m in the middle of an electrical storm as the 'mad flasher of Bewdley' races past me apparently firing his flashgun off in any and every direction feasible. I close the shutter early and review the image, as I suspected the engine in question has a number of hot spots along its tank, like white polka dots where the undiffused flash has reflected.



Well I thought, its a free world, everyone to their own and at least its only pixels and not film I’m wasting.

So I waited for a good ten minutes to see if there was any repeat activity, nothing, so I tried again. This time it felt like the shutter had only been opened a few seconds when a torch came on and started to sweep across my subject. This wasn't so bad as the torch appeared to be moving across the engine in even sweeps, quick guesstiamte and I thought Id simply close the exposure about 20 seconds earlier than intended, a bit of painting by torch wouldn't hurt. With about 15 seconds of the exposure left to run the 'mad flasher of Bewdley' made his return, another one ruined.





I don't know if I was now starting to get paranoid and feel I was being targeted or if my timings simply coincided with these other photographers but over the next hour a pattern seemed to emerge, no activity, then as soon as I started an exposure, pop, and the flashes would go off. Despite getting quite frustrated I didn't say anything as I had no more right to be there than anyone else and in fairness I did manage a few half decent exposures, but I think this was simply because 'Hot Spot Billy' had run out of batteries.



Bewdley Platform In 2010



Sitting on the platform taking a break and waiting for everyone else to get bored I noticed the group who had been using the flash were putting their kit away, an opportunity at last. As I was getting the tripod into position my viewfinder was filled with goods wagons, a train was now parked between myself and the rock siding, blocking the view of both the parked engines and an engine taking water...ahhhhhh. To make matters worse the mist was dropping and condensation was now starting to form on the camera, at this point I decided to call it a night and head back to the car.

As I headed back to the carpark I got into conversation with a guy who was obviously a train nut as well as an enthusiastic photographer. After a comprehensive lesson on what the different engines were he asked me how I had got on with my photography. I explained that it was the night photography that was the attraction for me and told him my frustrations of long exposures and the number of missed shots.

"Well, you know the answer to that" he said, "get your ISO as high as it will go, fire a flash off on its maximum setting and like it like daylight, you won't miss any shots then"

My scream was silent but I bet it could still be heard in Bridgnorth.

With the lack of reaonable shots in 2012, Ive added a further three from a moonlit night in 2010.... 

Sparklers & Orbs

Its not Christmas Eve, its not New Years Eve night and for once its not raining, so I deceided to head out with the camera for an hour or two after dark.

After much messing about and driving around (I hadn't scouted a location in daylight) I finally found a point where I thought my antics with the camera and steel wool wouldn't be disturbed. I know its all been done before but after a couple of hours up a dark country lane miles from anywhere, I came away with a couple of results I'm quite happy with.

There Is Something Hot Down The Back Of My Neck !!!





Ghosts Of December Past - Well 2010 At Least

Two years ago this month, 15th December 2010 to be precise, is now firmly etched in the minds of many aviation enthusiasts as one of Britain’s finest aviation achievements made its last flight in British military service.

I suppose we need to thank the previous Government for screwing the economy to such an extent that Defence cuts of such a scale were required, but one of the actions identified from the Strategic Defence and Security Review of May 2010 was that the Harrier fleet was to be scrapped.

It wasn't until October of 2010 that we found out how quickly the axe would fall, with all Harrier operations to cease by the end of the year and a fleet of nearly 80 aircraft to be withdrawn from service.

Like a lot of enthusiasts I intended to get and see the Harriers a few times before they were finally withdrawn, but before I knew it, we were in mid December and I hadn't ventured to Wales, Wittering or Cottesmore.

Despite the many rumours circulating, the planned last day of operations was to be Wednesday the 15th December with a 16 ship of Harriers flying over several locations and RAF Stations before arriving back at Cottesmore and shutting down infront of the gathered press for the final time.

I was fortunate to have an invite for the 15th, but unfortunate that I had a previous non transferable engagement for that day...!!!

At Cottesmore the plan was for a practice of the formation on Monday the 13th with a fall back / reserve day of the 14th. This in theory provided two opportunities to catch the Harriers for one last time, but of course, stupidly I only had one day free, there was no option, I had to gamble on 13th.

For most of my 100 mile journey over to Cottesmore the mist hung low until I got to within about 10 miles of the airfield and then it got even thicker, just my luck. After meeting up with some friends who'd made the journey up from South of London we elected to head off to the 22 threshold end of the airfield. With visibility dropping even further and mist becoming freezing fog, we stayed put in the cars with little prospect of anything taking to the air. Then, just after 11am, five hours after arriving at Cottesmore I received a call off base, probably what I was expecting but not what I wanted to hear, the 16 ship had been cancelled.

That appeared to be it, but as we said our goodbyes the phone rang again, unbelievably the met for late afternoon had changed and there was a slim chance that a short window of reasonable weather would present itself. The plan on base was now to fly the four specially marked jets with a two seat acting as camera ship.

 

 

 At just after 2pm the distinct sound of a Harrier winding up could be heard and the rest of that afternoon, well, it provided a little bit of history as we were treated to an hour and half or excellent Harrier action topped off by the most amazing sunset.

Just to complete the story, they did manage to carry out a 16 ship rehearsal the next day but come disbandment day the weather once again closed in and the Harrier crews were restricted to flying fourship formations in the vicinity of Cottesmore only. OK I hadn’t seen 16 Harriers on the Tuesday or Wednesday but my hour and a halves viewing of sunset action with the specially marked jets was simply magical.

Bitten By The Bittern

I don't profess to know anything about Steam trains, other than bits I've looked up on the internet. But with the Severn Valley Railway being on the comparative doorstep I do admit to spending the odd Saturday afternoon on the platform at Bridgnorth with a pint in hand, sitting in the sun taking in the whole 'steam thing'.

During one such previous visit some years ago, I remember being fascinated by what turned out to be an A4 class locomotive. I can't remember which one of the A4 survivors it was, but I do remember I didn't have a camera at the time.

Anyway returning from Wales after working on a recent rally I popped into Bridgnorth on my way home only to find that the SVR was in the final two hours of its Spring Gala and there was an A4, Bittern, running. Not only was Bittern running but it was shortly to leave Bridgnorth for its final run of the day to Kidderminster, so a decision was made to try and catch Bittern on route. As I passed the numerous cars littered around the Shropshire countryside along the route of the Severn Valley Railway I decided that trying to park, walk and get set up for a photo was too risky, so I would play safe and head for a station. The station of choice became Hampton Loade as I knew at both Highley and Arley I would have to park away and walk back to the stations risking missing Bittern.

Once I'd got to Hampton Loade, the station was of course bustling with people and after pacing up and down the platform several times I just couldn't get comfortable with the location. Time was now tight so there was only one thing for it, a quick walk back up the lane and shoot Bittern crossing the road as it enters the station. Once in place I made the decision to shoot Bittern a little early, it meant that I lost part of the tender behind a building but I kept the GWR sign out of the picture and kept the engine away from the heavy shadows of the adjacent trees. Anyway after a little bit of work in photoshop I'm quite happy with the result....

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4464 Bittern is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 steam locomotive. Built for the LNER in 1937 at Doncaster Works as works number 1866, it was originally numbered 4464. It was renumbered 19 on 16 August 1946 under the LNER 1946 renumbering scheme and after nationalisation in 1948 BR added 60000 to its number so it became 60019 on 10 October 1948. It is a Pacific 4-6-2 locomotive to the same design by Sir Nigel Gresley as the more famous A4 Mallard and one of the 35 strong class. It is one of six to survive into preservation and is one of two currently certified for mainline use.

Tonemapped Stralis

A recent through the night job provided the opportunity to capture this Iveco Stralis of Volker Laser in a setting which I thought would lend itself quite well to a touch of HDR and tonemapping.
As I have said in the past, tonemapping is not to everyones taste, but Im quite pleased with the result.

Cracks In The Blog.......

For the occasional person that may be following this blog, an apology for the lack of recent updates. Historically the start of the year has proven to be a quiet time for myself, due mainly to a combination of adverse weather, projects not coming online until the new financial year and general quite periods in construction.
The start of 2012 has proved to be an exception to the rule with a number of ongoing projects continuing to require monthly progress photos, some old clients looking to build up portfolios of new images and a number of different clients requesting photographic dilapidation surveys.
The latter may not be the most interesting form of photography, but it does take up a lot of time and requires real attention to detail particularly during the photo cross referencing stages.
Due to the number of dilapidations that we have been carrying out, there has been little spare editing time and so the blog has become a little stagnant.
As a result I have a number of items to update but don't be surprised if they appear out of chronological order !!

Clee Hills Trial - 'A Classic'



The 'Captain'

 It had been a number of years since I last attended the Clee Hills Classic Trial, but with a fine day forecast and a friend offering to carry out driving duties in his little Suzuki 4x4, aka Black Beauty, plans were made for an early departure to Craven Arms.

Alas my mate, we shall simply call him 'The Captain' still hasn't got to grips with the concept of an early start, so come Sunday morning, with a departure 45 minutes later than planned, we gave the event HQ a miss and headed straight for one of the tests, Flounders Folly.

As luck (and a bit of good navigation) would have it, we arrived 10 minutes before the first car so we didn't actually miss any of the action. Unfortunately this only convinced 'The Captain' that early mornings aren't required, and it was infact only a conspiracy to get him up earlier than necessary!!

 

Following a successful morning on Flounders Folly we moved on to Priors Holt, The Slab and Enterprise for the afternoon. These are a series of tests located fairly close together on the top of the Long Mynd in an area of forestry beyond the gliding club. At the end of an enjoyable days motorsport I have to say, classic may only refer to the type of trial, but for me, it was the entries in the classic class that stole the show.

NOTE - Although called the Clee Hills Classic, classic trials are not just for classic cars or bikes, they are for all sorts of cars and bikes, what is "classic" is the format of the events. For more details please take a look at Association of Classic Trials Clubs