The Deer

I had long wanted to shoot one of my forest pictures in a bluebell wood.

This year was particularly difficult though as the unseasonably cold spring made the bluebells late, and somewhat stunted.

I was still determined to press on as I knew it would be my one and only chance to shoot the image before the Pingyao International photography festival in September.

   

The forecast was a little iffy to say the very least, and for this shot I needed the sun, something you cannot count on in the UK, so I bought something along which would give the sun ‘look’ for the back light.

Lighting out put is not the problem but height and angle of the light is, I needed a tall light stand, an exceptionally tall light stand.

I ended up using a stand which is not actually a light stand but a camera stand.

The Manfrotto 269HDB-3U a truly spectacular stand which extends to over 7.3metres(24 ft) in height which with a small amount of tweaking(using a brass spigot which screws on top) will take a Elinchrom Ranger flash head. I used the light stand at its full extension and held my breath(It actually does ship with guy ropes but I had a small crew for the shoot so be didn’t get round to using them)

The key light, camera left, was an Elinchrom Ranger too with a Chimera medium soft box.

I originally was going to do the shot on a longer lens, a Phase One Schneider 240mm LS on a Phase One IQ180, to get some degree of compression on the bluebells but the way the trees and the blue bells were it did not work out and I ended up shooting it on a Phase One Schneider 55mm LS.

I never cease to marvel at the quality from a Phase One back.

Here is a 100percent crop.

I mentioned the unseasonably cold weather and that on the day was the very biggest challenge. Katie really was an exceptional model but she struggled with the bitterly cold weather as you might see in the video, all very well for the rest of the crew who were warmly bundled up in many a layer.

To get every element working together, the deer, the light, the smoke and the model was particularly challenging this time and in the end it came down to one frame where everything worked out.

In the frame I chose the deer is spot on with just a a little wind in the models hair.

The shoot was over in a relatively short period of time, well under an hour, there are limits when working with live animals and cold weather conditions.

Stay tuned for the grand finale which will be posted just before I depart for China to hang my work at the Pingyao International photography festival.

I'm very happy with this!

When you have a sponsored event, coverage is King.

Not only to get better attendance numbers but giving sponsors the exposure after they have supported you.

It gets no better than this.

The exhibition and project was featured on the Team GB website.

Videos to follow soon, along with more tales of our adventures.

We did it! Olympic Golden Greats opens at John Lewis Stratford City

It took Lucinda and I two years to pull it together but we made it.

Last night we had our private view of the exhibition which is on show at John Lewis in the stadium suite at Westfield Stratford City until 20th March.

With the passing of my Dad it meant that I had not seen the installed show until I walked through the door 15 mins before the party started.

It was only possible as Lucinda took the helm and with the help of my good friend Justin Sutcliffe, the show was hung in record time.

They did a fantastic job.

Never underestimate how long it takes to hang a show......

After Andy from John Lewis introduced us, I gave a short speech thanking all the people and companies who made it happen.

Manfrotto have sponsored the show and without them it simply would not have happened.

At all.

The images were printed on a Canon LFP printer by Velmex, if you are wondering why Canon LFP you could do a lot worse than have a look at the installed prints.

My good friend Brian mentioned on twitter that this show is a great place to see the difference between medium format and DSLR's

I will be posting specifically about this later this week, but if you go to the show before I do you might like to play a little game.....one of the images is shot on a DSLR, can you tell which one? I was surprised to note that EVERYONE got it right!

Not only are there prints on display but we have 4 videos on giant screens where some of the medalists talk bout their experiences and what it means to compete and win gold.

You will be able to see these on my blog next week.

Lucinda and I were also lucky enough to have 3 Olympic Gold medalists there too.

Judy Grinham, who won Gold for backstroke in Melbourne 1956

Terry Spinks, who won Gold for flyweight boxing in Melbourne 1956

Ann Packer who won Gold for the 800m in Tokyo 1964

Ann also came along to the press call where she spoke to kids from the local school about her achievements.

I will be blogging all this week as time allows, I'm in Holland speaking at the Professional imaging show along with Dave Black, Frank Doorhof and many others too.

I could not think of a more fitting way of closing my speech at the private view than by dedicating it to my Dad, he would have been so very proud.

What next after this two year long adventure?

Well, I have already done it, it's just a matter of when it will see the light of day.

This time I did not sell a car to make it happen, but a house.

The stakes are high, but the glittering prize is worth it.

Sights and sounds from Focus on Imaging

A somewhat smaller show than last year.

With a whole hall closed off, no presence from Sony or Panasonic after their large stands last year.

Sunday was a little subdued but Monday was busy.

I had a somewhat hectic schedule on the Manfrotto and Phase One stands so I did not get a chance to look round a great deal, so consider this a snapshot.

I popped along to the Fuji stand to see the X1 pro.

Once again for sheer feel and build Fuji have hit the target, but then again they needed to at the price point, which is quite high.

I'm pleased to report that the autofocus is better than the X100 but by how much it is difficult to gauge just messing about on a show stand.

I am somewhat concerned but the time it seemed to take to write a RAW image to card though.

Perhaps I had it on some obscure setting, but it seemed to take an age.

Because of its interchangeable lenses Fuji has opted for a focal plane and not a leaf
shutter which gives the X100 it's stealthy abilities.

I did consider this to be a deal breaker but it was actually pretty quiet.

I can't see myself buying one of these but that is what I said about the X100 and then I went out and bought one.........

Speaking of quiet Camera's I did get a short amount of hands on time with the Canon 5d MKIII.

And my impression is WHAT A CAMERA!

Ok, followers of this blog will know I haved used Canon forever and know it is my DSLR of choice but from my very brief hands on time with it I did get the idea that this camera is a cut above.

Firstly build quality is in my opinion better than the MKII and that was never bad anyway, it felt a little 'tighter' with no flex whatsover around the memeory card door.

I tried out the AF in both oneshot and AI focusing mode and it was a revelation compared to the MKII or any other AF system I have used. It did not struggle focusing on low contrast and solid black objects, tracked moving objects with great precision. Not that this should come as a surprise at all as it utilises the AF system from the 1D X, but good to see all the same.

I tried the 'silent' setting too and it was really very impressive, not silent my any means but some people will buy it for this feature alone.

Overall one can only be impressed by the sheer responsive nature of this camera, somewhat reminiscent of a 1 series, dubtlessly down to the big fat Digic V processor.

One small demerit point,in some people's books at least, will be the weather sealing which though improved is still not the same extreme spec as the 1DX.

To be clear I have used both versions of 5d's extensively and have never encountered any water ingress issues at all, but I do know people who use the 5D in extreme situations and they would welcome 1 series weather sealing for peace of mind more than anything.
Canon have relaxed a little and finally let 1 series features to be used on the 5D (such as AF, Metering and a decent frame rate.
I just wish they had the confidence to let full weather sealing make it to the MKIII.
Doubtless they were concerned that it could steal sales from the 1dx, but I think they need not have worried, the 1Dx will never be used for the same type of photography.

But Canon should consider that due to its great form factor and sheer versatility the MKIII will see more extreme action in harsh conditions than the 1dx ever will in my opinion.

Drifting by the Olympus stand I saw the OM-D and it looked a tidy little package, though I'm not sure if the styling is quite as sweet as the original.

Finally another product which I have been eagerly awaiting is the Gitzo Systematic GT5562LTS tripod.

Why is that?

It is a Carbon fiber light weight but substantial tripod which will take all the really big lenses so beloved by bird watchers and wildlife shooters with ease.

Nothing special about that I hear you say, but the really clever part is just how small it is thanks to the 5 section legs which means it is a full sized heavy duty tripod which will fit in my small backpack, meaning amongst other things that when you fly you will not have to check it into the hold.

Film makers take note, as it is from the systematic range it will take the Gitzo fuild head (probably others too I suppose) and you will be able use a substantial full sized tripod in places you never have done before.

A game changing tripod like this does not come cheap but it well worth looking at as it could pay for itself in a few flights where you do not pay excess baggage for that tripod bag.


I have had to leave the show a day early due to a family emergency and my very good friend Justin Sutcliffe will be standing in for me on the Manfrotto stand, if you are interested in World Class photojournalism look no further. I'm sure his presentations will be riveting.

Olympic Golden Greats Exhibition Dates

Anyone who knows me will know how important personal projects are to me.

This one more than others as it is my very first joint one, with my partner Lucinda Marland.

Our society is so obsessed by by youth, and we wanted to celebrate the achievements of the often overlooked senior citizens.

So we set out to photograph every British senior citizen who has an Olympic Gold Medal, that is anyone who will be 60 and over this year.

It has been a wonderful experience and we have leaned so much from these remarkable individuals.

The show has been sponsored by Manfrotto to whom I'm eternally grateful.

Please come along and visit the show.

It is running from the 9th-20th March in the John Lewis store stadium suite overlooking the site of London 2012.

It is a spectacular location.

Here is a panorama of the location shot by Lan Bui on an iPhone....

If you would like to know more about the project I will be talking about it at Focus on imaging on the Manfrotto stand.

You can also meet me at the Phase One stand where I will be talking about the benefits of medium format.

Focus on Imaging 2012

I'm at Focus on Imaging nearly every year.

But this year is my busiest ever, on the Manfrotto stand AND Phase One, where I'm more normally seen.

Perhaps see you there?