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.

Golden Greats -By Drew Gardner and Lucinda Marland

On the 'Nikon D800 is no competitor to Medium Format' post last week.

I posted a portrait shot on my Phase One DF with a P65+ back.

That was part of a project Lucinda and I have been shooting for the past two years.

Titled 'Golden Greats'

We have photographed every senior British Olympic Gold medalist (Individual) it has taken us all over the world and occasionally pushed us to the limit of physical endurance as you will see....

The idea behind the project was to celebrate the often overlooked if not forgotten sporting heritage of Great Britain, of sometimes towering sporting achievements from a different generation.

The media with its obsession with youth often fails to pose the question of 'How did we get here?'

The first portrait I'm posting is of Allan Wells who won Gold in the 100m at the 1980 Moscow games.

He won in lane 8 by getting a greater proportion of his head over the finishing line than the runner who came second....it was that close.

A friendly and affable bloke, Allan gave us some time to shoot this portrait.

We shot it on the Phase One DF P65+ with a Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm at  f/2.8 1/200 sec, rated at 50 ISO.

If you want an idea of the detail this delivers check out this screen grab of his truing shoe and the 5p coin I used to position him

Getting medium format sharp wide open is, shall we say a challenge...it can be so hard that you can think the picture out of focus.

But the rewards are worth it .....

Shooting straight into the light just to make the task in hand even more difficult...and the angels sing.

Lit with Elinchrom Ranger 1200, with a Chimera Medium soft box, on a Manfrotto stacker stand.

I will be posting extensively about this projection the run up to the exhibition which starts on 5th March in the Stadium Suite of John Lewis at the Westfield centre, Stratford.

Manfrotto are sponsoring the show and I will be speaking about this project and much more besides at 'Focus' on Imaging'

I'm printing the show right now on Canon IPF printers, with their latest and greatest media.

God knows how I have time to post this...have to dash