Ox Stones – Throwback Thursday

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Last August I went on a Peak District photography workshop, with James Grant. I had a great day, and took some images I was really happy with. The only problem was that it was only a few days before we left for our summer road trip, so I did not get round to processing the photos. Fast forward to the present day, and I am arranging a bike ride with Partho, and I notice that we would be passing close to the Ox Stones, which reminded me about the unprocessed photos in my Lightroom catalog, and I processed them.

The portrait version was my first composition, and I think it is my favourite of the two, despite the sky in the landscape shot being better. In the landscape composition I had tried to use the clumps of heather as a leading line, but I feel the foreground works better on the portrait shot, with the nicer light on the heather. Hopefully I will be able to share a few more processed photos from the workshop soon.

New Camera – Fuji X-H2S

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After trying a Fuji X-H2S last year, it was inevitable that I would end up buying one, I just was not expecting it to be so quickly… After buying a XF 50-140mm lens last year I was mostly happy with the performance upgrade over my old telephoto lens and was enjoying photography. Thoughts of upgrading my camera had been pushed to the back of my mind. When Owen was frustrated with the performance of “his” camera at the Dukeries Rally, I started looking at options for either a cheap Fuji body to use with my old telephoto lens, or even a Canon lens to use with my very old Canon Eos 20D body, an upgrade for me was not on the radar. However, the more I looked the more I realised that there was not really such a thing as “a cheap Fuji body”, and then that my X-T2 was probably the best of the “cheaper” Fuji bodies, and that I would be as well upgrading my body and letting Owen use the X-T2, but the idea was filed away for later in the year.

Then over the Easter holidays we visited Leeds Castle in Kent, and I figured it was as good a time as any to let Owen try the X-T2, to keep things simple for him I fitted the FUJINON XF35mmF1.4 fixed lens, whilst I used my X100V. Not only did Owen absolutely love it, he was careful with the camera and took some good photos. My plan would work. When we had guests round over the Easter weekend, rather than taking photos myself, I handed Owen the X-T2 and put him in charge of photos, once again he did a great job, capturing some lovely photos of his cousin. He had proven himself, but a camera purchase still was not on the cards.

What tipped me over the edge was learning that the price of the X-H2S was going to increase by £500 from April the first. Now I had three reasons to buy the camera, on their own better autofocus performance for shooting action sports, being able to have a spare camera for Owen or avoiding a £500 price increase would not have been enough to get me to buy the camera, but all three together was a compelling case. The only catch was that it was Easter Sunday, and the price rise was the next day. Usually I would buy from London Camera Exchange in Leamington Spa, as they have always provided good service, and I feel it is important to support bricks and mortar camera stores, but I had to settle for ordering from LCE online.

The camera arrived in the middle of a busy week at work, so I did not have much opportunity to try it out and work my way through the multitude of settings, although Owen and I did get out for a brief, muddy, walk on Coundon Wedge, where I took the photo above (of course Owen had the X-T2). From a photography perspective it was not the most productive, but it was nice to get out with Owen.

It was not until the weekend that I got to really try the camera out properly, and even then it was only a quick walk around the War Memorial Park, whilst Jen did Parkrun. I only had about thirty minutes, so did not want to waste time switching lenses, so fitted the 50-140mm and went to see what I could find in the park. First I found squirrels, and being park squirrels they were used to humans, so even with a relatively short lens, I was able to get close enough to them for some decent photos. More importantly it was a good opportunity to experiment with the animal detection autofocus, which worked really well.

Over the next few days I was able to take photos of the boys at Junior Parkrun, and also Henry at Cycle Speedway. In both cases the improved autofocus over my X-T2 was noticeable, and I was pleased with the photos. After each time using the camera I continued to tweak the settings to my liking, which I feel will be an ongoing process. I may also have made a mistake setting up the custom modes too early, as now if I want to change something globally on the camera, I then need to change it eight times, once as the default, then once again for each of the seven custom modes. I have got a busy few months ahead, and will have plenty of opportunities to put the X-H2S through its paces, so hopefully there will be more photos appearing on this blog soon.

I Won a Photography Challenge

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Most months I enter some informal photography challenges, mainly to force me out of my comfort zone and encourage me to do some photography. And last month I won one! The theme was “Backlit”, and as we were able to use old images, I knew the backlit jogger I took on the War Memorial Park Sunrise Photo Walk last year.

It is only a bit of fun, with the prize being to set the theme of the next challenge, and judge it, but it is nice to see one of my favourite photos getting some recognition from a third party.

Dukeries Rally With Owen

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One of my goals for 2024 was to photograph a rally, ideally one in a forest. The Dukeries Rally, was not in a forest, it was a single venue tarmac rally at Donington Park, but it was a good opportunity to get some practice in. It was also an ideal rally to take Owen to, as it is fairly local and at a venue with good facilities, rather than in the middle of a muddy Welsh forest. I was not sure if he would want to join me, but was pleased with his excitement when I suggested it to him. As such the day was more about Owen’s first rally experience, rather than a pure photography mission, but we both managed to get some shots we were happy with.

We had a later start than normal, which was a good move, as it meant that we avoided the morning rain, and timed it perfectly to arrive at the Craner Curves viewing area just as stage three (of six) was starting. During the stage with worked our was up from the Craner Curves to the end of the start/finish straight stopping at various points to photograph the cars. As the last few cars were completing the stage, we went back under the track, and got an ice cream whilst waiting for the crossing to Redgate to open (the cars were entering the track next to the hospitality units at Redgate), as Owen had spotted the grandstand and wanted to watch from there. Which worked for me, as I wanted to see the part of the stage on the large asphalt area behind Redgate.

As stage four started, we watched the first few cars on the coned area behind Redgate, but with high fences it was not really ideal for photography, although it was good to be close to the cars as they accelerated away from a slow corner. From there we climbed up into the grandstand, which gave us a good view of most of the circuit, so we watched most of the stage from there. I spotted a gap in the fence which would give a nice view down the Craner Curves, so we went there next. I think it would be a good angle on a busier race weekend, as you would be able to see cars all the way from Hollywood corner almost all of the way to MacLeans. We did not have the cars for that shot, but the light played nicely, highlighting the cars that were there.

As the stage layout was being reconfigured for the fifth and sixth stages, there was going to be a long gap before any more cars came out, so we decided to call it a day after two stages. Owen really enjoyed himself, but struggled a bit with the shutter lag on the camera he was using, my old Canon S90 compact camera. Worryingly I think it might be time to have (another!) camera upgrade, as he is really enjoying photography at the moment, and has already outgrown my old camera.

Bricktastic

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When Owen was in hospital last year, he was given some LEGO sets from the Fairy Bricks charity, which really cheered him up when he was feeling rubbish. So when we learned that their main fundraising event of the year was Bricktastic a big LEGO show in Manchester we had to get tickets. Spending the day with LEGO whilst supporting a charity dear to our hearts was too good an opportunity to miss!

We decided to make a weekend of it, travelling up to Manchester on the Saturday, before going to the show on Sunday. After checking into the hotel, we went for a swim – it was nice to be able to swim with both of the boys. Owen even managed to swim the full length of the pool! At his swimming lessons, they only use a third of the pool, so he rarely gets a chance to swim longer distances. Having worked up an appetite in the pool, we met our friends Rich and Anna at their local Hickory’s restaurant. We always love a trip to Hickory’s, and it was great to catch up with Rich and Anna.

On the Sunday morning, we drove into Machester, via a McBreakfast stop, and parked under the venue, Manchester Central. Jen and I had parked there quite a few years ago when I had my mk3.5 my mk3.5 MX-5, it is one of my favourite car parks as I really like the old brick archways and would be a great location for a car photoshoot.

As we entered the venue we were greeted by a lifesize Bugatti Veyron and a mermaid, both made from LEGO bricks. True to form, Henry was more excited by the mermaid! Behind these were a few sections displaying LEGO artwork, both recreations of famous paintings and original works – this was just a taster of the various interpretations of the Lego hobby that we were about to see.

Behind the art was a large LEGO trains display, with multiple trains running around a track, this was one display that we probably should have spent a bit longer at because it was really impressive. But something else had caught the boy’s attention – a big pool of LEGO bricks, all turquoise in this case, so the boys had a quick play in there.

Whilst the boys played I stuck my head around the door into the main exhibition space, and realised just how big the show was! There seemed to be a good mix of small exhibitors, and traders with plenty of opportunities to do some building too.

The Fairy Bricks stand, right in the middle of the show, had a LEGO tombola, where we each won a minifig, mine was a “punk shark man”, but the centrepiece was a huge LEGO mosaic, made up of hundreds of tiles, each consisting of 256 2×2 LEGO bricks. And visitors to the show were able to grab some bricks and a pattern to complete a tile! We did two, between the four of us, we were just given a grid to copy and roughly the correct bricks, but it was trickier to follow than I expected. It was a proud moment adding our tiles to the main mosaic though. The completed mosaic can be found on the Bricktastic Instagram.

After adding our tiles to the mosaic we looked at more LEGO creations, I liked the lineup of customised Star Wars AT-AT Walkers, each based on a different theme. Each builder had customised the set uniquely, one was a cinema projector, another dressed as a sheep, one was a botanical garden etc. I think having the lineup of different interpretations of the same set was more interesting, as you could really pick out the little details that the builders had added. Henry liked the Disney Princess Avenue display, especially as he had some of the characters in his own LEGO collection. It was a row of houses, each inhabited by (and themed around) a Disney princess, it was fun spotting them in the houses. Owen’s favourite display, which I also thought was impressive, was the Great Ball Contraption, a huge collaborative display, consisting of probably over a hundred smaller mechanisms, all passing LEGO footballs to each other in a continuous loop. We followed the balls around the tables, marvelling at the ingenuity and variety of ways balls could be moved from one to another. Some sent the balls individually, others collected them and then sent them in a batch, there was even one that sorted them into colours, releasing the balls in coloured groups. Owen and I are going to have a go at making our own ball contraption during the school holidays.

Of course, we could not visit a LEGO show without bringing back something to build. Fortunately, Grandma had given the boys some pocket money to spend. Owen bought a large Minecraft set, Henry bought a Disney princess set, with Belle and Cinderella minidolls and I could not find the Speed Champions Toyota Supra that I was after. So all I came away with was some inspiration, so stay tuned…

Henry’s Fifth Birthday

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Today was Henry’s fifth birthday – one that he has been excited about for a long time. I think the planning for his birthday party started last summer! He is really developing his own personality, which is completely different to Owen! Henry loves princesses and Barbie, but also bikes and cars. He likes dressing to impress, be that dresses or dungarees. Since he started school in September, his reading and writing has come on leaps and bounds. That first year of school is amazing!

We actually had his party at the weekend, and I think it lived up to Henry’s expectations! There was a bouncy castle, dressing up, a soft play pirate ship and Henry’s choice of music, which is surprisingly good for a five-year-old! He seems to have chosen a really nice group of friends, and it was a good opportunity to meet them, and their parents. Henry’s cousin Sienna, who is eighteen months old, also came to the party and loved it. After the party, we had a small “after party” at home with Jen’s family.

Unfortunately for Henry, he had to go to school today, but we had a small family gathering at home after school, with one of Jen’s homemade chocolate cakes. I had the day off work, so I managed to sneak off for a bike ride. Henry was a very lucky boy and got some great presents from his friends and family, although by far his favourite was the Princess Belle dress, that he is wearing in the photo at the top of this post. He saw it in the supermarket just before Christmas and has asked about it pretty much every day since. He also got the Orbea mountain bike that Owen has recently grown out of – Owen also got it for his fifth birthday, but it looks way too big for Henry at the moment. There is no rush for him to move on from his current bike, so we will see how he gets on.

Final Round of Racers Guild Winter Cup Series

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I have enjoyed shooting the Racers Guild Winter Cup Series downhill races at Stile Cop this winter, it is good to see grassroots downhill thriving in the Midlands. This is just a quick post to share a few of my favourite images from the final round in February. Somehow the Racers Guild managed to arrange for good weather, which has been rare so far this winter. I got to Stile Cop during the practice session, so took the opportunity to shoot something a bit different to my usual race images. I used my little Fuji X100V camera to do some slow-shutter-speed panning shots. I really should have put a wider lens onto my main camera, but it was a nice change to use the little camera for some action photography. I managed to get a few good shots, but the one above, of Fletcher Gallagher, was my favourite. Especially after I had converted it to black and white. I feel like it captures the speed and madness of downhill racing.

For the first race runs, I chose a rooty section, which seemed to be where most of the riders were gathering after their runs, it was a great atmosphere, but the light was not ideal for photography.

When there was a gap i the racing, after a crash, I walked up the track to a better view point and stayed there for the rest of the race.

I have thoroughly enjoyed shooting the winter cup series, and am already looking forward to the next races planned at Stile Cop.

Top Five from 2023

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The PistonHeads.com Photography Forum had a thread to share your favourite photos from the previous year, in this case, 2023. As it is usually your “top five” photos, I chose five and also decided to share them on my blog, as I have done in previous years.

This was my favourite photo of Henry, taken when we were in Peebles on our Summer Road Trip. Owen had not been feeling very well and did not want to go out, so I took Henry for a walk to the park. The colours on this rocket worked well with Henry’s t-shirt.

I could not have a favourite photo of Henry without one of Owen too. I took this one at a friend’s barbeque in the summer, whilstt is not technically perfect, I liked how the colours of the bubbles work with Owen’s shirt and draw your eye through the image.

I do not do much “street” photography, but enjoyed the Coventry Photography Meetup group photo walk at the War Memorial Park. This was the only photo I was happy with from the morning, but I am still really happy with it and it made it worth it. Even the 5:30 alarm!

Another photo from our summer road trip, this time from our final stop in Saltburn-by-the-Sea. As we were finishing up our dinner, I could tell that it was going to be a good sunset, so I rushed back to the flat we were staying in, grabbed my camera kit and headed back down to the beach. This was my favourite photo from that evening – and I took a lot! It was almost totally dark by this point, but that meant I could use a long shutter speed to blur the sea.

I managed to shoot more mountain biking last year, including three downhill races at Stile Cop, this was my pick of the images that I shot at the most recent race, in December. It was the first outing for my Fujinon XF 50-140mm f2.8 lens, and it was a good job I had it, as my old lens would have really struggled in the woods on a rainy December afternoon. Of all the shots I got during the race, this was my favourite, you can tell that the rider is fast, and their red kt stands out from the dull background.

Bike Check – Owen’s Vitus Nucleus 24

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Owen has outgrown his trusty Orbea MX-20, at least it has lasted two and a half years, unlike his previous bikes which only lasted twelve and five months respectively. Owen got the Orbea for his fifth birthday, so Henry should be upgrading to it soon.

We wanted a hardtail for Owen’s next bike, and I got a good deal on this Vitus, which is the smaller version of the bike I started my MTB journey with, in 2014. I swapped on Owen’s SDG saddle and pedals but figured that the bars that came fitted to the Vitus would fit him. I also moved his mudguard and bottle cage across. I did try to set up the Maxxis Snyper tyres tubeless, but they did not hold air, so I have left the tubes in. Owen was excited to have Maxxis tyre, like me and Brandon Semenuk, mostly Brandon Semenuk though. The tyres are not particularly grippy either, so we will likely swap them to the classic Minon DHF and DHRII combo, which I run on my Four. Hopefully, we will be able to set them up tubeless. The other main upgrade we have planned, once Owen has done some growing, is to fit a dropper post. We will also have to see how the Clarke brakes and Box drivetrain fare, I usually only fit Shimano.

Owen got the bike for Christmas but has only been on a few rides so far, as he needs to take it easy for a few months. We had a good ride at Hicks Lodge on New Year’s Day, and he seems to be getting on well with it – including conquering his fear of riding up kerbs. We are looking forward to more bike adventures later in the year.

2024

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Happy New Year!

Owen and I started 2024 as we mean to go on – riding mountain bikes! We saw in the new year at home, my best friend Partho, his wife Marilena and their two sausage dogs, Otto and Leo, who came round to our house for a dinner party. We had Pastitio, a Cypriot meat, pasta and béchamel sauce dish, similar to lasagne. Jen was going to make it, but Partho and Marilena offered to make it and bring it with them, as they had the correct pasta from Cyprus. Instead, Jen made a “Burnt Basque Cheesecake” for dessert. It was one of the tastiest dinners of the year. It was a low key evening, but really nice to spend some time together. Henry did not quite manage to stay up until midnight, but Owen did, just. He was flagging by 23:30, but we kept him going.

Thanks to their late night, the boys gave us a lie in this morning. After a late breakfast, Owen and I loaded up the van to drive to Hicks Lodge, for a first proper ride on his new bike. Everyone else had the same idea, so it took us a while to get parked up. When we eventually got to the trails they were wet, but still running well. Owen seemed to take well to his new bike – I need to stop giving him such long head starts, as I struggled to catch up with him on a few sections. He has lost some fitness whilst recovering from his recent illness, and could not keep up his initial pace, and we only managed one lap. It was great to be back out together though. Hopefully we will be doing much more riding together later in the year – one of his new years resolutions is “not to say no, to going for bike rides”.

We have not got any riding trips planned yet, as Owen still needs to take things easy. However he is looking forward to our trip to Manchester for the “Bricktastic” Lego show. We have a few other trips planned: Jen and I will be going to York in a few weeks, we hope to repeat our trip to Weston-Super-Mare for Cruise to the Prom and we will be joining my parents, brother, sister-in-law and new niece, for a week on the South Coast, near Brighton, in the summer holidays. Jen and I also have a trip to Rome to rebook. Hopefully we will also be able to squeeze in a few more trips.

As in previous years, I have set myself some goals for the year ahead:

Spend more time with my friends

Life always seems to get in the way, but this year I am going to make a more concerted effort to spend time with my friends. I saw a couple of my best friends, separately, yesterday and it was really nice to spend time with them. We all just need to be a bit more organised, especially as the lads all have big birthdays coming up, which we should probably celebrate.

Make my blog more robust

My blog went offline for a few months last year, and the replacement I deployed has not been great either. Last year I focussed on making what I had more robust, e.g. failing health checks triggering an AWS Lambda script to reboot the server, but I think I need to start from scratch and get something more reliable.

Refresh my photography portfolio website

A goal carried over from last year. My original plan to do customise the skin I’m using in Adobe Portfolio failed, because that option is not available. So all I need to do is choose some new images, hopefully it will not be a big job.

Photograph a rally

Rallying is my favourite form of motorsport, and it has been over ten years since I last saw one live. So I would really like to get to a forest and see some rally cars sliding around on gravel roads. My dad has also said we should go to a rally this year.

Complete a 50km bike ride

My goal last year was to do three 50km rides, I did not even manage to do one. This year I have set myself a more achievable target. Fitness wise, I am sure I could do three long rides, but it is more having the time in the summer, and what else I would have to miss.

Ride 25km with Owen

Like last year, this is more Owen’s goal, as he wants to beat his longest ride to date, which stands at 20km – his goal last year. I will have to think of somewhere we can do a long ride, without too much climbing. Sherwood Pines was a good bet last year, but it would be better to ride somewhere else this time.

Ride at Bike Park Wales with Owen

Another goal carried over from last year. We had booked on to the Little Rippers Halloween ride at Bike Park Wales, but had to cancel, as Owen was in hospital. He needs to get his bike fitness back before a big day at a bike park.

Ride at 417 Bike Park with Henry

I had completely forgotten that we rode the pump track at 417 Bike Park last year, Henry had been keen to ride the bike park trails, but we had not paid for that and I promised him that we would come back. Henry must also have forgotten about it, because usually he would keep reminding me. This will likely be one for later in the year when Henry has moved on to Owen’s old Orbea.

Ride at Bwlch Nant yr Arian

Another goal carried over from 2023, Bwlch Nant yr Arian in Mid Wales has some great looking trails, and is also known for their daily Red Kite feeding – which is enough of an excuse for me to go for a ride. It also seems like somewhere that might be worth visiting with Jen and the boys as part of a Mid Wales trip.

Ride one more of the “10 of the best XC trails in the UK” with Partho

In 2022, Partho shared an article with me called “10 of the best XC trails in the UK“. I have ridden a couple of the trails, and parts of a few more, last year we planned to try and ride a few more together, but it did not happen. We discussed it last night and decided we would aim for a more realistic “ride one of the trails”.

Sort out the boys toys

Last year we redecorated our lounge, and have kept it mostly free from toys, and it is lovely. There is so much more space. The downside is that the toys are piled up in their room, so we need to sort them out – ideally maintaining the nice “grown up” lounge. We need to sort out some storage and to be be ruthless, as realistically there are only a few toys that they play with regularly.

Tidy my garage

I did not get around to this last year, if anything, the garage got messier, as more bikes arrived. A thorough sort out is needed and I also need to be ruthless.

MR2 jobs

Last year marked ten years since I bought my MR2 Roadster, for the most part it has been cheap motoring, and very reliable. Last year I planned to tackle those little jobs that will prolong it’s life, things like cleaning the drain holes. The wheels could also do with a thorough clean and a good coat of wax. However, I’ll need to get the garage tidied first… There are also a few blemishes on the paintwork that I would like to get addressed.

Make sure that my pensions and investments are working for me

When I changed jobs a few years ago, I made sure I could access my old work pension, but other than that have just left it sitting there. I had a work pension with my new job, and set up a SIPP to boost my work pension, but other than paying in to it monthly I have not checked how it is getting on. I think some sort of of “health check” is needed, and maybe some consolidation. It is a boring job, but one that keeps getting put off, having it written down as a goal should mean I am more likely to do it.

Get my weight down to 90kg

For the last ten years, at least, my goal has been to get my weight down to 85kg, which has clearly not happened. 90kg is more achievable, but if I get there, I will try to keep going to 85kg. My plan is more riding and less pizza.

Hopefully 2024 will be a better year than 2023, it has got off to a good start, so I will do my best to carry on with these positive vibes…