Coming home to Nikon

Friend and fellow Photographer, David Anderson, has had enough of the issues surrounding his Canon Cameras and Lenses and is returning to Nikon (Davy why did you ever leave!). As a result he is selling off some of his existing Canon lenses, grab yourself a bargain now and be sure to say I referred you.

For sale Canon EF 300mm F2.8 IS Lens, lens is in mint condition and I’m asking £2500. I am also selling my Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 IS for £950

Davy can be contacted on dj.anderson25@btinternet.com

Tags: Canon, EF 300mm F2.8 IS, EF 70-200mm F2.8 IS, Nikon

Bishopscourt Race Bikes Test day

The annual Pre-Season Race bikes only test day at Bishopscourt was held yesterday in bright Spring Sunshine giving the Bike racers a chance to adjust to new machinery or run in Engines prior to the first race of the year at the same venue in just Two Weeks time.

Some die-hard racers made the long journey North from as far South as Cork, so it was fitting that the Weather for once ‘played Ball’ and provided everyone with ample Track time. There was a dire lack of Marshal’s present on the day so it was fortunate that there were no serious incidents.

For me the bright Sun was an opportunity to get some practice with my Nikon TC-17E II AF-S Teleconverter. Using it in the past I have come away with mixed results, but this weekend I nailed it and came away with lots of really sharp images despite the long focal length (750mm in 35mm terms!)

Michael Pearson at Bishopscourt on the Morrell Racing Kawasaki ZX10

Newry Schoolgirl Karen Hadden #21 at Bishopscourt

Josh Cunningham at Bishopscourt

2009 Irish Road Race 750 Support Champion Benny Smith was at Bishopscourt on a new Ducati 1098

2008 Irish Superbike Champion Brian McCormack

Jamie Johnston crashes after contact with another rider

A great days Weather and some cracking images means all the Pre-season shooting Motocross etc has paid off and left me ‘Camera sharp’ ready for the racing action when the Season starts.

Tags: Benny Smith, Bishopscourt, Brian McCormack, Cork, Ducati, Jamie Johnston, Josh Cunningham, Karen Hadden, Kawasaki ZX10, Michael Pearson, Nikon, Nikon TC-17E II AF-S Teleconverter

2010 Faugheen Road Races cancelled

Following on from the recent announcement of the cancellation of the Tandragee 100 the Faugheen 50 Supporters Club Ltd., have now also decided not to run the Faugheen Road races in 2010. Below is the statement issued by the club.

“
It is with great regret that the Faugheen 50 Supporters Club announces that they will not be running a motorcycle road race in the village of Faugheen, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary this year, 2010. Unfortunately, due to the current economic climate the Club does not have the funds in advance of the road race weekend to meet expected bills.

The Club’s Committee would like to thank the residents and landowners in and around the village of Faugheen for their continued support and hope that this support will continue into 2011, additionally we would like to thank our sponsors, local companies, South Tipperary County Council, Denis Landy Counsellor, Carrick-on-Suir Garda Station, the local Ambulance Services and Volunteers for their support and we look forward to working with you all in 2011.
“

Faugheen was one of those race meetings that I rarely went to for various reasons and whilst its cancellation is a bitter blow for all concerned, I’m sure the racers themselves will be glad of the free weekend.

Tags: Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, Faugheen, Road races, Tandragee 100

Michael Pearson PR day

Motorcycle racer Michael Pearson and the Ballygowan Road Race Supporters Club held a PR day today at the La Mon Hotel and Country Club. The purpose of this event was to announce Michael’s plans for the incoming racing season to the few people and press that bothered to attend.

Michael will ride a superbike Kawasaki ZX10 for Ivan Morrell (Ryan Farquhar’s right hand man in recent seasons) with backing from the Ballygowan Road Race Supporters Club.

Tags: Ballygowan Road Race Supporters Club, Ivan Morrell, Kawasaki, Michael Pearson, Motorcycle racer, Ryan Farquhar, ZX10

CW Racing Photo shoot

Bushmill’s CCTV Engineer Coyles Wright sounded me out a few months ago about doing a few Photographs of the new Race Team that he was putting together to contest the Irish Motorcycle racing championships. All the pieces of the jigsaw fell in to place and a date was set to do the shoot.

The evening before the shoot (last night) Coyles sent me a text message panicking about the heavy Snow that was falling up his part of the Country but we agreed to go ahead with the shoot and luckily the next morning (today) dawned without a major fall of Snow. With the forecast for a bright afternoon I was confident the shoot would go ahead as planned.

Coyles choice of location for the shoot was the famous ‘Dark Trees’ near Armoy which have been Photographed my numerous Photographers over the years. I immediately started thinking about the location and whether to try and shoot it all available ambient light or to introduce some flash light to the Photographs and whether or not everyday traffic would be an issue. If using flash I knew I would need to be able to hide the flashes and light stands so that they did not intrude in to the scene.

Coyles assured me it was a quiet Road with very little traffic, but on the day we were constantly having to push the bikes to one side to allow the free flow of traffic. I initially fired off a few frames using just the available light, but I soon realised that it was not illuminating both race bikes and riders evenly which was then my cue to extend the light stands and power up the Nikon SB800 flashes.

1/250th f5.6 AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED

The addition of some artificial flash light and a tighter composition made for a much stronger image.

Because these images were shot specifically for a press release to be sent to the Biking press I knew that a ‘mugshot’ of each racer would also be required.

Coyles Wright

Michael McKinley

Below is a lighting diagram explaining how these images were created.

Tags: AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Armoy, Bushmills, Coleraine, Coyles Wright, Irish, Michael McKinley, Motorcycle, Motorcycle racing, Nikon, Photographs, SB800

Irish Racer magazine issue #92

It feels like ages since the last issue of Irish Racer magazine was published as the staff at Careva Publishing took a well earned Christmas/New Year break.

Today the latest issue of Irish Racer magazine hit the shelves of all good Newsagents and inside its pages are interviews with World Supersport star Eugene Laverty, Road racing legend Ryan Farquhar, Josh Brookes as well as regular monthly columns from World Superbike star Jonathan Rea, Road Racer Guy Martin and of course the ‘Wee Wizard’ Alastair Seeley and Kirk Jamison.

I recently met up with Alastair one bitterly cold day in January and shot some Photographs of him on his new Relentless Suzuki RMZ250 Motocross bike putting in some Winter fitness training. Two images from this session have been published in this issue of Irish Racer magazine along with another eleven of my images getting my Photographic year off to an excellent start.

Tags: Alastair Seeley, Careva Publishing, Eugene Laverty, Guy Martin, Jonathan Rea, Motocross, Photographs, Published, Ryan Farquhar, Suzuki RMZ250, World Superbike, World Supersport

Front cover of BSN

In the very latest issue (255) of Bikesport News on sale right now, one of my images of Michael ‘Micko’ Sweeney on his R1 Yamaha at the 2009 Killalane Road races has made the front cover. Inside the issue is a full feature on Micko and I have three more images published, all of these images have accidentally been credited to my mate Derek Wilson, no doubt he will give me plenty of stick over that!

This issue also features a 2010 season preview for Irish racing written by Irish Racer magazine’s Roy Harris and it features two more of my images.

Tags: Bikesport News, Irish Racer Magazine, Killalane, Michael Sweeney, Published, R1 Yamaha, Road racing

Omagh Motor Club, Spring Rally

With the start of the Irish Motorbike racing season still some weeks away and no Motocross on this weekend, myself, Derek Wilson and Brian McNeill decided to travel to Fivemiletown for the Omagh Motor Club’s opening Motorsport event of this year the Spring Rally. The popular clubman event is based at Fivemiletown with a familiar format of challenging stages through the Mullaghfad, Crocknagrally, Jenkin Hill forests and the entry list included Subaru Imprezza’s, Mitsubishi Evos and of course a Car rally wouldn’t be a Car rally without some old MKII Ford Escorts.

Cars, aka four wheeled tin boxes, just don’t do it for me, I’m just not in to them. So long as a Car gets me reliably from ‘A’ to ‘B’ in a modicum of comfort thats all I ask for. Maybe it is because im not in to the whole Car scene that I rarely Photograph them, or maybe its because there are so very few good Carsport Photographers/Photographs around, either way I knew this event would be a Photographic challenge because February in Ireland is a struggle for light levels, throw in the light sucking canopy of a Forest for good measure and its fair to say I anticipated coming away from this event with only a handful of decent images.

A heavy overnight frost left lingering Fog to add to our Photographic woes and although the Sun threatened to burn through a few times, it just didn’t quite manage it. Whilst a bit of warm sunlight would have helped the Photos, the flat even light that we did get was easy to expose for and I managed to capture some pleasing images.

MKII Escort, sideways on the gravel track Forest roads during the Spring Rally near Fivemiletown hosted by the Omagh Motor Club.

1/500th f8 AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED

This MKIII Escort cuts the corner a bit too tight during the Spring Rally near Fivemiletown.

1/500th f6.3 AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED

Drifting round the corner this MKII Escort sprays Stones and Gravel out behind it.

1/500th f6.3 AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED

For the below shot of a Mitsubishi Evo drifting round a bend on the gravel tracks of the Forest, I used some subtle fill flash to enhance the photo.

1/250th f13

Again I used some subtle fill flash to enhance this Photograph of a MKII Escort during the Spring Rally near Fivemiletown.

1/250th f13

First stage of the Twelve scheduled stages and this MKII Escort came to a sudden heavy stop having drifted wide and broken the front steering/suspension.

1/400th f11

The competitors in the Spring Rally got Two runs over each of the Six stages, this gave us a chance to capture some images from different locations.

1/1000th f5

1/800th f5.6 300mm

The unmistakable style of a MKII Ford Escort, ‘Tail’ out drifting sending stones everywhere, rear suspension compressed and the ‘Nose’ of the Car high in the Air as the driver accelerates hard.

1/1000th f5 300mm

1/800th f4 300mm

As always you can purchase from a selection of my vast Photographic Library by selecting from my online galleries.

Tags: AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Fivemiletown, Forest, Mitsubishi Evo, MKII Escort, Motorsport, Omagh Motor Club, Photographs, Spring Rally

Desertmartin Motocross Photographs for sale

I have uploaded a selection of over 80 images from Saturday’s Motocross action at Desertmartin to my online shop.

Desertmartin Motocross practice day

My third trip to Desertmartin in less than one month for some Motocross photography and this time it all came together perfectly. The first trip saw good light for Photographs but I was a ‘noobie’ to Motocross that day so didn’t know what equipment was best suited, or which angles/locations worked best. The second trip was a bit of a disaster in that it was one of the dullest days I’ve ever tried to photograph any form of bike racing.

But yesterday it all came good, a bright day made it much easier for photography, and the whole week leading up to the weekend had been Rain free which meant that the track conditions were ideal for Motocross.

I got to the track good and early as I had pre-arranged a Photo shoot with Jason Martin and his KTM 250 Motocross bike. Then when I had wrapped that up it was time to work the angles and make use of the good warm Winter sunlight hitting the track to capture some great Motocross Photos. On previous trips to ‘the Desert’ I shot with nothing bigger than a 200mm lens, this time though I also used the 300mm which helped me to get some different angles and images.

For the above image the 300mm helped give me the reach I needed for a tighter crop on this action shot.

Again the 300mm was used to capture these action shots (above).

It is very easy to get stuck in the habit of using big glass for Motorsport Photography, but there are other images to be had with much smaller / shorter glass, the below image was shot at just 70mm.

160mm on my Nikon 70-200 lens allowed me to capture the below image.

A wide angle lens was used to capture this image whilst making good use of the warm tones of the soil and the light and shadows.

A slow shutter speed (1/30th) and good panning technique was used here to impart a sense of speed and motion in to this shot below.

As always you can purchase from a selection of my vast Photographic Library by selecting from my online galleries. I have not yet uploaded the Photographs from this blog posting but I will do so over the next few days.

Tags: Desertmartin, KTM, Motocross, panning technique, Photographs, slow shutter speed, wide angle lens