Photoblog: Vulcan at the Shuttleworth Collection

A few weeks ago I visited the Shuttleworth Collection's WWI Commemoration Air show in Bedford. I went, as usual, with my good friend Neil. We were lucky enough to be treated to one of the last surviving Vulcan Bomber's final flypasts*, so I thought I'd dedicate this post to some of my shots of that, with the rest of the show being represented in a future post. Neil has put together a bunch of his Vulcan shots over the last few years in a tribute post here, and I recommend having a butcher's.

Act innocent.

Tell me that upon seeing that heading towards you, you wouldn't get the urge to stop whatever you were doing just in case it was the Wrong Thing and lie face-down on the ground with your hands behind your head, and I'll call you a liar.

Up close and personal.

I think that's probably Neil's hand.

It's a little-known fact that the Vulcan has the ability to command local avians to do its bidding**.

Vrrrooooom!

One of the Vulcan's party tricks is going fast...

... at you.

This is not a view of Vulcan that you'd be especially pleased to see in a combat situation.

The Vulcan bomber looks like a big slab of metal that shouldn't be able to fly. It overcomes this issue by staring God in the face and screaming "physics?! What physics?!"

Freeeow!

No, they're not eyes...

RumblerumblerumbleROAR

... but it is looking at you.

Another superpower that the Vulcan has is its remarkable photogenicity***....

Peek-a-boo.

... and it's a lot better at hide-and-seek than most people imagine.

I was standing on the ground. Really!

This is my favourite shot of the day, I think.

So long, XH558

And with that, she heads off into the sunset.

If you haven't had enough you can see my full album of Vulcan shots from the day here.



* Find out more about Vulcan XH558 and its future here.
** Though sometimes pigeons go bad.
*** As it turns out, that is a word.

Photoblog: Long Exposure at Peterborough Fair

O.k, so the words "exposure" and "Peterborough Fair" appearing in the same sentence sounds like a recipe for a failed DBS check, but rest assured the only exposure I'm talking about here involves a lengthy shutter speed. Another trip with my photobuddy* Neil, this time we headed off to a dark, secluded hillside together with our cameras and took pictures of people enjoying themselves very slowly. A couple of his, as usual, far more accomplished pics are here.

Shiny!

I think it's important to note that, yet again, I forgot to take an SD card with any space on it, so I was frantically deleting old images before I was able to take any more. Luckily enough, though, it didn't continue for too long because I had also forgotten to charge my camera.

More shiny!

It was quite difficult to catch these two rides spinning all the way round at the same time. When they did, they looked like massive lollipops. Here, one looks like a massive lollipop and the other looks like some sort of amulet. If you squint.

Cathedral!

Here we see Peterborough Cathedral queueing patiently for its go on the inflatable slidey thing. I quite like the effect of the street light, but at the same time I was tempted to shoot it out so I could get a better shot of the Cathedral. That's acceptable, right?

Look carefully...

Last but not least, an extended bout of shutter-opening is never complete without taking a turn for the spooky. After uploading this shot to my computer and fiddling with light levels I noticed this long-dead pair waiting for a bus that was never to arrive**.

The rest, such as they are, can be viewed on my Flickr profile.




* Not just a photobuddy; we're other buddies too: he's also a daughterdestroysmymegabloxdragonbuddy, but photobuddy is more relevant here.
** Or I wandered into my camera's field of view and posed for a bit to see what happened.

Photoblog: Duxford 2014

I found this small batch of photos from a trip with my friend Neil* and his family to Duxford in May last year - oops - and thought it was high time I shared some of them.

I didn't take many photos because I forgot to bring an empty SD card along. This is not at all rare. But here are a handful of images I'm not utterly ashamed of:

Concorde's Engineering Heritage award!

 A fabulous machine, sadly departed. Is there a modern commercial aeroplane with anything like the appeal of concorde?

Inside a plane. Possibly Concorde. It's been a while since I took it...

What can I say? I have a thing for tubes.

An engine-y bit.

This looks very much like it could be a part of the Millennium Falcon. Or is that just me? And last but not least...

The belly of the beast...

Could this be anything other than the bomb bay of a Vulcan? I got some cracking shots of the last remaining flying (and sadly not-to-be-flying-much-longer) Vulcan bomber doing its thing at an air show a few weeks ago. Keep 'em peeled for that post...

I'm not too impressed with these shots. I'm going to blame it on a combination of poor planning and forethought combined with a distinct rustiness, but there are some shots from more recent outings that I'm much happier with, so stay tuned! If you want to see the rest of this batch (there aren't many) you can check out the album on Flickr.



* You can see some of Neil's shots from the day here. He's a far more accomplished photographer than I am.

Photoblog: The Raptor Foundation

Finally I have managed to scrape together enough internets to get some photos uploaded and now I can write a post about my visit to Cambridgeshire's Raptor Foundation a couple of weeks ago.

Please don't expect me to remember ornithological details and names beyond "owl". Feel free to comment with interesting info about the birds you see if you know more than I do, though.

Raptors are birds of prey* including owls, eagles, hawks, harriers, buzzards, kites and vultures, and the Raptor Foundation provides medical care and rehabilitation or sanctuary for injured raptors as well as conducting research into conservation and related environmental matters.

Who you lookin' at?

The Foundation is open to the public (it costs £5 per adult to get in), and the birds can be seen at fairly close-quarters, tethered to stakes or secured in their enclosures. There are 2 to 3 flying displays throughout the day hosted by a team demonstrators who have a clearly identifiable passion for the creatures they work with.

Neil doing what Neil does.

They also have other events throughout the year, some of which happen at set times such as the twilight displays (I'd love to go to one of those) and others that can be booked in advance.

Being much more of a proactive photographer than I am, my good buddy Neil booked him, me and a bunch of folks he talks to on a photography website onto a photographic day. This costs more than a standard visit to the Foundation** and includes not only time to wander around the bird enclosures and watch the displays, but also some up-close-and-personal time with a selection of raptors in some nice, photogenic settings***. During the standard displays we were encouraged to position ourselves in non-standard positions, such as under the flightpaths of the birds, in order to get the most out of the experience as photographers.

At one point I completely failed to get an awesome shot as I was vaguely concerned that the enormous owl coming straight at me was about to carry me off into the trees where it could eat bits of me at leisure.

I think this goes some way towards showing just how up-close-and-personal we could get with these majestic creatures.

Whilst the birds themselves were fascinating, as usual I tried to push myself in a direction inspired by another friend's photography**** and include some candid shots of people doing people things.

Here are some of the shots I'm most proud of from the day. As usual, the only post-processing is cropping and a little bit of colour and brightness correction (largely done automatically by Picasa):

This kind of looks like a studio background, but it isn't, honest!

Peekaboo!

Watching, waiting.

Watching me like a... well, like an owl.

This guy was a poser and a half.

See?

I love this shot, but can't quite articulate why.

It proved tricky getting good in-flight shots - I had similar problems to the ones at Waddington (though not quite so comical)

Some of the up-close shots of the raptors getting their rewards were... disgusting.

Lift off!

We all had a chance to act as perch for these beautiful owls.

This is not a raptor.

Neither are these, though they remind me of someone...

Framed by foliage

As usual there are more shots over on my Flickr account. Please have a look and let me know which shots are your favourites, and why! It'll help me to become a better photographer.















* Not, as I'd hoped, particularly cunning and vicious pack-hunting dinosaurs.
** I can't remember how much as Neil very kindly paid for me as a birthday present!
*** Trees.
**** Carlos, of Oblique Exposure.

Waddington Air Show 2013

It's that time of year again - that time when my old uni buddy Neil and I high-tail it to RAF Waddington for their annual air show to geek-out with 'planes and 'tography.

Surely these guys need no introduction?

For a number of reasons I haven't really played with my D60 since October. Consequently, Sunday's visit to RAF Waddington was the first opportunity I've had to put my new lens through its paces. The lack of practise is one thing I'm blaming the quality* of these photos on. Another is the general shoddiness of the air quality: the hottest day of the year produced significant heat haze on top of an already hazy sky.

A ghostly Battle of Britain memorial flight.

Another issue that seriously affected the quality of my shots was luck. Or, rather, my habitual lack of it. As may be seen in these four snaps...

Doh!

Hide & Seek & Destroy!

Look out for the- !

This isn't just sky: look carefully...

Although amongst the accidentals, I was quite pleased when I noticed my traitorous shutter-button finger had managed to catch the one below:

Now try to get this one on purpose.

I almost forgot another complaint: the runway and airspace within which the aerial displays happen at Waddington lies unfortunately between the public areas and the sun which, on a day as painfully bright as Sunday, makes for a stack of photos that are little more than silhouettes. Unfortunately there weren't many that I could pass off as being artsy.

This one would have been great had the sun occupied a more thoughtful location.

Thankfully Lanc-y and the boys looped round for another pass, and managed to get the sun on their good side.

Here are a handful of miscellaneous shots that I'm fairly happy with:

Bend over, let me see ya shake a tail feather.

It's a chinook, but you can pretend it's part of some steampunk-y spaceship if you wish. I am.

I'm always struck by how pleased this plane looks to see me.

Penultimately, here are a couple of nutters:

Rather then than me.

And to finish with, a photo that's just dying for a caption competition:

Seriously, when I finally get around to writing Tom's Illustrated Compendium of Things You Probably Shouldn't Do, this is going on the cover.

You can see the other photos I deemed worthy of uploading on my Flickr photostream.





* Or lack thereof.