Stevenage Lights Xmas lights Switch on

Christmas is here with some local celebrities entertaining quite a large crowd lot bigger then last year.  

Then with some fireworks	And Snow

The lights came on	and after a bit of playing looked quite good

  

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Stev_Lights

Web Site updated

I’ve updated my alternative website it’s definitely NSFW so if you at work best wait till you get home.

In the Studio section are shoots with Sarah Arnold and Kelly May

In Location are some pictures from a trip to Wales with Paul from Pauls Studio

Models were

Ashlea (again)	Sophia
Janine	Maria

In the Car & Bike shows the are pictures from the UKSC Southend Cruise

In Club shoots the latest from the F8 club

Mary Louise	Sarah

 

Click on the picture to go to the web site

Extreme Performance Bike Weekend

It was persisting down when I got on Sunday. So I went over to Santa Pod in the car the weather forecast was to brighten up. Lucky once I got the other side of Hitchin the roads were drying out nicely and I wish I’d taken the bike .

They were still drying the track by the time I got to Santa Pod every time they finished there were a few more spots of rain so they had to do it again.

I went and took some pictures of Stunt Riders definitely a case of don’t try this at home kids

Then the racing started so I went down to get some shots of the people riders queuing

round the corner for a bit of warming the tyres

Then on with the racing

 

Favourite picture of the day.  Shows there is a class of motor sport I could compete in

Click on the link below for more

Extreme Performance Bike Weekend

National Finals 2009

It was a nice day on Sunday so I went over to Santa Pod for the National Finals. Wish I could have gone on the bike but it needs a new exhaust & MOT so its off the road at the moment.

I got into to the pod at 10:30 before I could get the camera out someone in a Ford Pop rolled down the track. I thought this is going to be an interesting day. The guy got out the car okay so while they were cleaning up the track I took a wander round the pits.

 

Then the racing started

Then is stopped again when someone sprayed oil down the track. This time I went to the queuing area.

 

Then it was back to the racing again

 

Favourite picture of the day

More pictures here

National Finals 2009

The Fuzz & the Furious

I went to Santa Pod on Thursday. They had an event to promote the latest Fast and Furious film being released on DVD. The idea behind the event was to try an persuade people to race on the track where its safer rather then the streets where its decidedly not safe.

Lt Tom Brown came over from the States where they have being running races between “the kids” and the “Cops” for a couple of years.

We saw a couple of videos promoting the scheme. Then interview for Radio 1 and on with the racing.

 

This is the "Fuzz from Texas with James the Organiser and being interviewed by Debbie from Radio1

The_Fuzz_and_the_Furious

RAF Bentley Priory

Bentley Priory was the headquarters of RAF Fighter Command during WWII. The RAF recently moved out and there are plans to turn it into a museum

They had an open day over the weekend I went along on Sunday to take some pictures.

Spitfire Guards the entrance

Pilots wait to “scramble”

Simulated air raid

Re-enactor as Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding in his office

Home Guard display

 

Was all the pain and suffering worth it  …… stupid question

 

The Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust website

More pictures on the link below

Bentley Priory

Trax 2009 at Silverstone

I went to Trax on Sunday with my good friends at UKSC. It was a bit weird driving in Silverstone surrounded by cars I followed the monster trucks ‘cos I wasn’t sure where I was going.

I did try to help with the marquee but I kept looking at my watch thinking I got up 3 hours early to put up a tent ?

But it was worth it got some great pictures of the UKSC models

Swainny	Chloe
Aimee	Cassie
Steph	UKSC Models

 

Tried out the ultra wide angle lens got some interesting shots of the monsters

And my bike

Then it was off to take a wander round the rest of the show

 

I went out on pit lane with Colin from Model Antics

This is Colin is on the right and yes he’s doing what every book on glamour photography book tells you not to do

I tried out the D300 on continuous shooting on the sprint track. Still haven’t got the hang of the focus options. Need to practise panning at 5 FPS couldn’t  do that with the S5

Spent ages trying to get this shot with no one around the car in the end I gave up

 

Favourite picture of the day I think I like the sultry look in this one

More pictures below

Trax UKSC

Trax Cars

Trax Models

And if you are into modified cars click here

Hahnel HN-D300 Review

Before I bought this I was hunting around for a review but I couldn’t  find one so I thought I’d write one for anyone else interested in this battery grip

First the disappointment the information on Hahnel’s website is completely misleading it has a picture of the battery grip having 2 batteries in a tray and through out the PDF file it talks about 1 or 2 Li-Ion batteries. This is wrong only one battery fits in the grip the other stays in the camera in the same way as the Nikon grip. The reason I went for this grip is I don’t want to keep breaking the camera in half to change batteries. It’s is half the price of Nikon grip so I’ll probably keep it anyway.

On to the review. I’m comparing this grip with the MB-D200 on the S5 as I don’t have a MB-D10 I’ll update it if I find someone who’s got one and lets me use it

Build & Design

It feels more solid then the MB-D200 and I like the way its sculptured for the fingers and thumb Although it is all plastic you can still get a good firm hold of the camera .

The battery tray latch and the tripod screw are metal so should be no problems with them wearing out or breaking. The base has a rubber coating which should stop it slipping around.

The on/off switch locks out the controls on the grip unfortunately it is at the top end of the grip and is likely to get full of water when it’s raining. Might need to get some tape to fit over this.

The joystick is actually very good and I like the textured stick should make it easier to use with gloves.

The manual

Is okay everything you need to know is covered by pictograms The battery charger is not mentioned anywhere in the manual

Extras

The grip comes with a Infra Red remote which I haven’t tried yet and a car charger the manual doesn’t mention the charger so I’ve no idea how to use it. Would be nice to know if the grip should it be disconnected from the camera or in fact do I need the to have the battery tray in the grip to charge the battery ?

Summary

The grip is solid and fits to the camera very well there is also no play in the locking wheel like there was on the MB-D200.

All the controls work as expected although the control wheels seem a little stiff I’m sure they will loosen up with use.

The IR remote may be useful to some people. I think a mains charger would be more useful then a car charger apart from the fact I normally use the bike in the summer I can’t imaging leaving the camera lying around in the car while the battery is charging.

Since the D300/D700 are weather proofed my main concern is the weather proofing of the grip I don’t think there is any and the placement of the on/off switch looks to be in the worst place for letting rain in.

Conclusion

The Hahnel grip is nearly half the price of the Nikon grip and does the same job unless you are regularly out in wet weather I would recommend it.

Update 3rd Sept

I can’t get used to this idea of “breaking” into the camera when the battery needs charging so I was going to keep the spare battery in my camera bag. Its a bit fiddly to get the battery out of is plastic cover in a hurry so I emailed Hahnel to ask if they sold a spare tray. I was a bit surprised when they said they would put a few in the post. And completely gob smacked when one actually turned up this afternoon. So its still 6/10 for documentation ( pdf file on the website still shows 2 batteries in the tray ) But 10/10 for customer service.

Website update

I’ve updated my alternative website it’s definitely NSFW so if you at work best wait till you get home.

In the Studio section is a shoot with Ashlea ( you probably going to see a lot of her as I’ve got another 2 shoots planned )

In Location are some pictures from a Jon Gray Workshop at the Foundry

Models were

Ashlea (again)	Charlie	Poppy

In the Car & Bike shows pictures from Ultimate Street Car which you may have seen already there are few extra ones of the Fuel Girls with their strategically placed electrical tape

Furious Angels	Fuel Girls

In Club shoots the latest from the F8 club

Roxanna	Tindra

 

Click on the picture to go to the web site

SPS BBQ and D300’s 1st outing

I got a new camera ( well 2nd hand ) on Monday it’s a Nikon D300.

Not sure its getting the white balance right on AWB this look okay but I’m not sure the colours are right

The colour shift in this one’s caused by a file corruption I need to get some faster memory cards

1600 ISO is great and the flash gun still works

AWB in doors is rubbish but set the camera to tungsten you can adjust it’s not all bad

Now just need to find some decent models to point it at Reeoooww

More Here

SPS BBQ 2009