The Calendar will be sold to help raise some funds for Kirk’s racing and it will consist of only my Photographs; some from todays shoot, some from a previous location shoot on the shore of Strangford Lough and some of my Race action Photographs.

Today’s shoot was close to being cancelled due to the Wind and the Rain, but we persevered and managed to come up with some decent images despite the persistent Rain.

For this shot I used my Nikon Camera body, a Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens and Two remote strobes.

It was a low pressure trip where we went with the intention of working on a couple of features for issue #99 of Irish Racer Magazine due in the shops in early October. The Weather, Food and ‘banter’ could not have been better and it was just what the Doctor ordered!

Issue #98 of Irish Racer will hit the shops tomorrow and just like waiting for Buses, I have one of my Photographs of Keith Amor from the recent Armoy Road Races used as this months front cover image. Inside I have up to a dozen other images published in another excellent issue which this month features Keith Amor, Dean Harrison, Dan Sayle, Bruce Anstey and all the regular columns from Guy Martin, Jeremey McWilliams, John McGuinness etc

The Top Table stretched right across the width of the Room.

The Wedding Cake was adorned with the same Graphic as the Wedding invitations, Order of service etc With strong Window light from the left and behind, it was necessary to use fill flash to capture this image.

The detail in the Bride’s fabulous Wedding Dress.

The Best Man gave a very funny speech which kept all the guests amused and reddened the Groom’s face more than once.

The formalities were kept informal and most of all, fun!

Of Course where there are Girls, there are Shoes!

I used the Colourful fabric of one of the Hotel’s Chairs to showcase the Shoes of the Bride’s Sister.

“Girls just wanna have fun” or so the Song goes.

The lads were well up for a fun time partying the Night away.

There were plenty of shapes thrown around the Dance floor by the ladies……

……which proved to be thirsty Work.

The celebrations of the Beautiful game also made their way on to the Dance Floor.

Everyone was in agreement, the whole day was brilliant and I just hope that the images I created in some way do it all justice preserving happy memories for Years to come.

Here is my Brother Paul looking rather dapper and relaxed prior to the ceremony. I used the fantastic Nikon ‘Cream machine’ lens with a nice wide aperture (to throw the background out of focus) for this portrait Photograph of Paul.

1/1000th f3.5 85mm ISO400

Paul’s Bride to be, Lynsey, had bought him a nice new Watch for the Wedding and her Sister Janine had spoilt him by buying him shiny new Cufflinks, so it was only right that I should Photograph these as well.

1/200th f4 85mm ISO1000

1/100th f4 85mm ISO1000

Mother Hen fussing over her wee Chick’s appearance.

1/250th f5 35mm ISO200

A happy Bride, Lynsey.

1/250th f5 62mm ISO200

Inside the Church it was dark, as in very, very, very dark, darker than Midnight…..well almost! The policy of this particular Church is that you can not use flash and you have to Photograph from up in the Balcony. Tough conditions to capture some images of the Wedding Ceremony but my Nikon gear just laughed at the restrictions and delivered the Money, even at 3200 ISO!

1/50th f3.5 70mm ISO3200

Vows exchanged it was time to take care of the legalities by signing the register, I used bounced flash from a Nikon SB800 balanced with the ambient light that was coming in from high right and reflecting back of the White wall on Camera left.

1/50th f6.3 52mm ISO1000

No more pressure after the Wedding Service and the happy, newly married couple are all smiles as they Walk back down the Aisle of the Church as Man and Wife.

1/60th f4.5 34mm ISO1000

The hot dudes posing for a relaxed yet more formal Wedding Photograph.

1/320th f5.6 48mm ISO400

The Bridesmaids.

1/125th f8 50mm ISO200

A happy guest, Anna from Spain, is all smiles as she captures a memory of the big day on her Camera.

1/200th f7.1 200mm ISO200

The Bridal party walking along the Stone Street on Derry’s Walls, this has proved to be a very popular Photograph from the Wedding with those that have seen it.

1/100th f7.1 70mm ISO200

After the Wedding Ceremony the Guests returned to the City Hotel, Londonderry to relax whilst myself and the Bridal party travelled to the nearby St. Columb’s Park for some more Photographs.

1/200th f8 24mm ISO200

1/200th f7.1 24mm ISO200

1/100th f5.6 50mm ISO200

Paul had hired Two Vintage Cars to transport the Bridal party, here is an image of one of the old Cars. This image was lit with Two Nikon SB800 flashes controlled by the Nikon SU800 commander unit.

1/50th f7.1 34mm ISO200

A quick dash back to the parental home for a quick image of the Bride with her Dog ‘Finn’.

1/125th f7.1 55mm ISO400

By now it had started to Rain so we made the decision to return to the City Hotel, Derry, in good time for the Evening Reception, but more of that in part Two.

A fast, flowing circuit with great changes in elevation and some insanely fast ‘Balls out‘ corners is as popular with the competitors who Race around it as it is with the Media Photographers whose job it is to document the events of the Race day Photographically.

For this image of William Dunlop on the CD Racing Superstock Suzuki I used a wide angle lens to capture more of the landscape, for me the fluffy White Clouds and Blue Sky really make this image.

William Dunlop is always great to Photograph, here he is on the CD Racing Supersport Yamaha R6 and again I used a wide angle lens to capture this image as he skims the Kerbs.

On Thursday for the Dundrod 150 races, Manxman Daniel Kneen, Aussie David Johnson and Brian McCormack from Waterford in the South of Ireland served up a fantastic Race where Johnson set a new lap record. It wasn’t enough though as Daniel Kneen took the win with McCormack in Third.

All throughout this years Ulster Grand Prix Bike Week Two Men showed that they were going to be the Men to beat. Falkirk Flyer Keith Amor and Ian Hutchinson.

London based New Zealander Bruce Anstey has struggled for form this year on the Relentless Suzuki but boy did he find his mojo again for the Ulster Grand Prix! Anstey sat behind Hutchy and Amor keeping a watching eye on proceeedings and then on the final lap he ‘pulled the pin‘ setting a new outright circuit lap record with an average speed of just over 133.9 miles per hour to take the Ulster Grand Prix Superbike Race win and give the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing Team something to cheer about.

Next weekend sees an Irish Clubmans Championship Race at Bishopscourt on the Saturday followed by an Irish Superbike Championship Race at the same venue on Sunday. I will probably miss them both as I will be Photographing my Brother’s Wedding in ‘Derry.

For once Mondello was blessed with a Dry and sunny Day. The racing was excellent with lap records under threat, most notably by Glenn Irwin who bettered the existing British Supersport lap record. Glenn is a great talent and will go far in the sport.

Portadown’s Marshall Neill was beaten by Brian McCormack at a recent Mondello Race meeting when his Superstock machine had no answer to the Superbike and so Marshall got a wee bit of engine work done to release a few more ‘Ponies‘. The engine tuning worked a treat and Marshall took Three Superbike Race wins from Three starts and rarely looked troubled by the opposition. Marshall then took another win in the big Money Leinster Trophy race where Glenn Irwin led the first Four Laps on his 600 Honda before dropping off the Superbike pace and finishing 3rd.

Donna Lyons (L) and Orla Miller (R) were the competitors in the latest round of the quest to find the best Grid Girl of 2010.

When the racing did get underway at approximately Two O’Clock conditions were ideal with Dry Roads all round the undulating circuit and even some sunshine.

The Dunlop Brothers fresh from their boycott of the Mid-Antrim were back in action and Keith Amor took the opportunity to get some ‘Seat time‘ on his bikes with the Ulster Grand Prix just around the corner.

As is the norm now William Dunlop won both of the Two-stroke Races (125cc and 250cc) but there was at least a decent battle behind him for second. The Two stroke classes are slowly dying which is a shame as they are proper Race bikes, built purely for racing and a decade or more ago produced some of the best racing seen in Ireland.

Yorkshire’s Dean Harrison was back for more on the McKinstry racing machinery and he proved that his double victory at the Mid-Antrim was no fluke by once again taking Two Race wins in the Support classes.

Adrian Archibald fresh from a high speed crash at the Mid-Antrim was back racing and showing no ill-effects.

Yet again Ryan Farquhar showed his class and undoubted skills on a Motorbike as he took Four more Race wins in another dominant season, but Keith Amor denied Farquhar a fifth when when he took the Supersport class victory.

Also within the pages of this Months Irish Racer magazine is features on Simon Andrews, Michael Pearson, Sandor Bitter, David Haire, Ulster Grand Prix and Manx Grand Prix previews and the usual Monthly columns from the likes of Jonathan Rea.

It has been another excellent issue for myself in that I have Twenty of my Photographs published in the Magazine this Month including the front cover Photograph from a recent Photo shoot of the Laverty Brothers.

The first Two Races of the Day were the Junior and Senior Support Races. These classes are for the inexperienced Road racer and are usually the ‘hairiest‘ races of the day with many competitors being off the racing line, or getting in to a wobble.

One such inexperienced Road racer hails from good pedigree. Dean Harrison is the Son of Conrad Harrison a very experienced Sidecar racer who bagged a TT podium earlier this year. Dean was aquired by Billy McKinstry after Billy’s Antipodean racer Josh Trigwell disappointly left the McKinstry racing Team early in the Season. Dean in a very short space of time has shown that he is a great talent, a nice kid and if hes careful will have a great future in the sport.

In this image below Dean gets well out of shape over Alexander’s jump towards the end of the Senior support Race shortly after he had taken the lead. None of the other racers attacked the jump as fast as Harrison who went on to take the Race win having earlier won the Junior support on the McKinstry racing Kawasaki ER6.

Today was a showery day with poor light levels and a lot of the Mid-Antrim circuit has overhanging Tree canopys which meant that for Photography I was having to shoot at a much higher ISO than I would have preferred.

Back in October I blogged about a Photo shoot I done for Alan Bonner. This Season was Alan’s debut Road racing Season and here he is looking smooth at Alexander’s jump.

There was another shower prior to the GP250 Race, here Victor Gilmore heads the battle for Third place in damp but drying conditions.

The GP250 Race was won by local Man Barry Davidson, Barry has been trying to win this particular Race for a long time and today it all came good for the likeable Davidson. Here Barry plays up to my Camera having spotted me at the side of the Road.

The Mid-Antrim Road races have been good to Adrian Archibald in the past. The quiet Ballymoney Man has seen and done it all in racing and today he battled all the way with Ryan Farquhar, however in the Grand Final Archibald crashed out on the final lap but luckily he was not injured.

But the days racing was dominated by Ryan Farquhar who better mastered the treacherous conditions to take Five Race wins from Five starts all on Kawasaki machinery.

Thankfully there were not too many officials/Marshals on a power-trip this week and the various press Photographers were able to get on with their job almost hassle free.

Last week, as mentioned in this Blog posting, I shot some images for a feature in the new issue of Irish Racer Magazine. The hard work has been completed behind the scenes and the Magazine is now away to the Printers and will be in the Shops next Week. A teaser for the new issue of the Magazine is currently on the Magazine website and I’m well chuffed to see that One of my Photographs from that shoot has made the front cover! But more on that in a future Blog posting.