Posted by Cleggy on Apr 12, 2010 in
PR
Portadown Motorcycle racer Chris McAloran is a die hard fan of Two-stroke race bikes. The former Irish ‘Two-Fifty’ Champion now mainly competes in England in the ACU 250GP National Championship, but because of Government emissions laws the two-stroke racing classes have been on the wane and as a result Chris, David Craig and others who compete regularly ‘across the Water’ find it a real struggle to even get a mention in the bike racing press let alone the local and national newspapers.
Chris McAloran – 1/160th f1.6
Chris managed to win one of the Two races at the opening round of this years championship but it went laregly unnoticed in the press and so, having known Chris many years now, I offered to do a shoot with him so that he could have some high quality images fit for publication in the hope that it might raise his profile and command a few column inches.
Chris McAloran – 1/800th f1.6
We started off shooting some images, in a few grungy locations, with just the available light as we waited for the evening Sun to get lower in the Sky.
Chris McAloran – 1/640th f1.6
Chris McAloran – 1/1000th f2.5
I then introduced some artificial light in to the images, courtesy of Nikon’s excellent SB800 flash guns, to achieve something a bit more creative. The flashes and the falling ambient light levels added to the mood of the images.
Chris McAloran – 1/640th f4
Chris McAloran – 1/250th f13
Chris McAloran – 1/250th f11
Chris McAloran – 1/250th f11
Tags: Chris McAloran, David Craig, flash, flash gun, Motorcycle racer, Nikon, Nikon SB800, Portadown, race bikes
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 30, 2010 in
PR
Issue #93 (April 2010) of Irish Racer Magazine hit the Shop shelves this morning. Hot off the press it includes features on Neil Hodgson, Stephen Thompson, Cameron Donald and Gerard Kinghan along with news on the North West 200 and all the usual monthly columns from riders like Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty. Go grab a copy now while stocks last.
This has been another kind issue to me with Nine of my images published including all of the images in the Gerard Kinghan feature which includes an image used for a double Page spread.
I was aiming for a double Page spread when I shot the above image of Randalstown Motorcycle racer Gerard Kinghan, deliberately placing him in an off-centre composition so that editorial could be placed on the other side, whilst taking care that he wouldn’t be too central in the frame, otherwise the fold and Staples would be running through him.
Tags: Cameron Donald, Eugene Laverty, Gerard Kinghan, Irish Racer Magazine, Jonathan Rea, Motorcycle racer, Neil Hodgson, North West 200, Randalstown, Stephen Thompson
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 28, 2010 in
Location shoot
An early phone call, whilst I was still lying in bed catching up on ‘the lost hour’ from the change of the clocks to British Summertime, saw me having to hurriedly get up, get myself ready and head out for a quick shoot with a Motorcycle racer which might make a future issue of Irish Racer Magazine.
The racer in question was in full Cycle gear and out on a Sunday run for fitness training. I must admit I got tired just at the thought of what this guy does on a regular basis for fitness training. Anyone who knows the Glebe Hills near Tandragee knows how steep they are, yet this guy cycles up them as many as Five or Six times in succession.
Later this week we will again meet up some evening to do some more shots of him and this time he will be out on a Motocross bike. Hopefully between this mornings shots and the ones later this week I will have captured enough images to provide the Editor with a decent selection for a feature on this rider. The name of the rider………….wait until next month’s issue hits the shelves!
Tags: Cycle, Glebe Hills, Irish Racer Magazine, Motocross, Motorcycle racer, Tandragee
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 21, 2010 in
Location shoot
Last weekend Clubmans Motorcycle Racer and I.T. Guru (aka Geeky Nerd) John Shearer contacted me with regard to me doing a shoot with his Race Bike so that he could obtain a good Photo to hand back to his Sponsors as a thank you.
My people spoke to his people (yeah right) and the plan agreed was that we would shoot it on the track at Bishopscourt either in the morning before the racing started or in the evening when the racing had been completed.
Due to overnight rain the day dawned a bit dull with flat, uninspiring light and the track itself was wet, so I decided to do the shoot in the evening as the Weather forecast was for the showers to die out and drier warmer Weather moving in. That is exactly how it panned out and when the racing was over we got down to business.
I decided to make use of all Three of my Nikon flashguns for this shoot, and there was also the remnants of a nice Sunset to work with. Whilst I was shooting the bike my good mate Derek Wilson shot this image of the lighting setup.
Below is the selected image that I delivered to John, I’m sure he will be well pleased with it.
Yamaha R1 in evening sunset. AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
It would be great to own a nice big, long, custom built studio for this kind of shoot where you can control the lighting exactly how you want it. But I don’t have such resources at my disposal and so the most of the lighting shoots I do are outdoors working on location. Working on location has its challenges eg Wind blowing over light stands etc, but the results are always worthwhile.
Tags: AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Bishopscourt, John Shearer, Motorcycle racer, Nikon, R1 Yamaha
Posted by Cleggy on Feb 28, 2010 in
PR
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