A Summer of photography in 2012

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

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Since finishing the first year of my FdA Commercial Photography course at the end of May, I have spent my time over the summer trying out new techniques, locations, and formats. I want to look back on the places I’ve been to and the photographs I took over the past few months.

Harewood Vintage Hillclimb

One of the first events I went to was the Harewood Vintage Hillclimb. I have been photographing here all year for Speedscene Magazine, and I was really looking forward to the VSCC event. The weather was a bit cloudy, but I still managed to get some decent shots both out on track and in the paddock.

This photograph of the GN Jap engine cover on Ilford FP4 125 ISO, developed in Ilford DD-X, was one of the highlights of the event. I loved the tones and textures from the engine and bodywork.

The Napier Bentley is always a highlight at the Harewood round of the VSCC championship. With 25 litres of displacement, this engine creates huge amounts of wheelspin off the line. I photographed the car setting off and producing billows of tyre smoke as it charged away.

Napier Bentley accelerates from the start at Harewood.

Large amounts of tyre smoke are typical of the Napier Bentley. I used a slow shutter speed to capture the excitement of it racing away from the line.

Despite the dull weather conditions, I still tried out some interesting cameras. I used an Ensign Mayfair box camera with the push on portrait lens to photograph cars up close, and I was amazed with the colours and detail that it managed to pick up.

The Ensign Mayfair camera produced surprisingly good images. After taking it to Silverstone earlier in the year, I realised that using it close up would work better.

VSCC at Cadwell Park

I’d always heard that Cadwell Park was a picturesque track, but nothing could prepare me for the reality. This was one of the highlights of the summer, and with the combination of sunny weather and beautiful vintage race cars created a great subject to photograph.

I’ve taken my Lomography La Sardina camera around with my to many events this year, and some of the best results were from this visit to Cadwell Park. Using Kodak Colour Plus 200, I got in close to the details of the vintage machinery.

The closeup setting on the La Sardina, combined with a colourful subject captured lots of detail on Kodak ColorPlus 200.

I also tried some action shots using black & white film, including 35mm FP4. I was impressed with how the subject and format created appropriate and exciting images.

The GN/Ford Special 'Piglet' at Cadwell Park

The FP4 film, processed in Ilfosol 3 created exciting black and white images from the action at Cadwell Park

Another format that I tried out was 6×6, as I had acquired a Rolleicord 1A. I was exited to see how the 6×6 format would work, and tried it out both in the paddock and on track during my visit to Cadwell Park.

A Bugatti taken on the Rolleicord as it races through the trees

6×6 was a format that I was really interesting in. This photograph of a Bugatti has an oil painting feel to it, with the panning blurring the background as the car passes through the shot.

Illustration of the VSCC GN Wasp

I took one of my photographs from the Harewood Vintage Hillclimb event and created a stylish illustration from it, purely to see if it was possible to do so. I used Photoshop to make shapes and outlines based on the photograph, and some simple typography to create the artwork.

The ‘final’ GN Wasp illustration poster, with simple typography and no background.

I also worked on a poster of the GN/Ford Special ‘Piglet’ driven by Dougal Cawley, again based on a photograph from the Harewood event.

One of my favourite VSCC cars, the GN/Ford Special ‘Piglet’ driven by Dougal Cawley.

Bob Gerrard memorial Trophy at Mallory Park photography

After less than a year since I went to my first VSCC race meeting at Mallory Park, I was back armed with a selection of film cameras along with my digital. I really got into the 6×6 format while photographing in the paddock at this event.

The GN Jap photographed in Black & White in a 6x6 format

The Rolleicord made another appearance at Mallory Park, here using FP4 in Ilfosol 3.

With my digital camera, I was experimenting with wide angles to capture the action on track. I found that this could add a great sense of scale to the environment, while still giving a sensation of speed.

An F2 car at Mallory Park, taken using a wide lens

Wide photographs create exciting landscape style shots, and retain the sense of speed with a slow shutter speed.

I tried processing FP4 35mm in DD-X at this event too, and was impressed with the results. The high contrast, highly detailed and low grain shots captured the vintage cars well.

A Morgan car in the paddock at Mallory Park

The fine detail and great variety of tones really stood out with the Ilford DD-X and FP4 in 35mm format.

Photography in Paris

The opportunity to go to Paris presented itself during July, and I simply had to go. Despite the baking 30 degree heat, I still lugged around several film cameras along with my digital. This included the Rolleicord 1A, which took some great photos.

The paris Skyline in colour taken on a Rolleicord 1A

The Paris skyline, on Kodak Ektar 100, taken on the Rolleicord 1A. I’m really enjoying the 6×6 format, and the beautiful images from the Zeiss Tessar lens.

I took the Polaroid 103 camera with me too, mainly to take photographs of the key landmarks around the city.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, taken on a Polaroid

The Arc de Triomphe was one of the main landmarks I took on the Polaroid 103.

Again, the Lomography La Sardina came with me to Paris, and was a great little camera to capture the essence of the city with.

The La Sardina worked well close up in Paris. Here, loads of padlocks are attached to the railings on a bridge.

Coys International Trophy at Donington Park

A visit to Donington to photograph classic touring cars was too tempting to resist. At the Coys International Trophy meeting I wanted to capture iconic racing car shapes. I had been working on ‘superblur’ style shots all summer, and continued to experiment at Donington.

A blurry photograph of an Alfa Romeo at speed

An Alfa Romeo heading through the Craner Curves, just about keeping enough of it’s distinctive shape at 1/6s.

The Rolleicord 1A had worked well with colour film in Paris, and trying it at this event proved to produce great results too.

A Fiat Abarth bootlid taken on a Rolleicord

The eye popping colours of the Kodak Ektar from a Fiat Abarth bootlid. This was one of the few to survive the bright conditions

The Mamiya C330F

My enjoyment of 6×6 was increased greatly when I picked up a Mamiya C330F. This professional grade medium format camera has a fantastic 80mm f/2.8 ‘blue dot’ lens, and I was really impressed with the results. The first outing was to the Genius Division birthday party where I took a roll of Ilford Delta 400.

A photograph of Richard Keys and Sarah Gorringe at the Genius party

Rich and Sarah at the Genius Division 2nd birthday party. The Mamiya C330F’s first outing proved just how well the camera worked. Excellent tones, detail and sharpness from the 80mm f/2.8 Sekor lens.

The camera worked equally well with colour too, especially when using the excellent Kodak Ektar 100 film.

The C330F was just as amazing when photographing with colour film too, seen here using Kodak Ektar 100.

BARC at Cadwell Park

Another trip to Cadwell Park to photograph the BARC championship was one of the last events of the summer. I wanted to try photographing using the depth of field style shots as opposed to panning.

Two legends cars entering the Hall Bends section at Cadwell Park

I used these team mates to create a photograph with narrative. f/4.0 allowed the following cars to become progressively more blurred. For this style of shot, image construction is the real key to generating a decent photograph.

I took the Mamiya to it’s first motorsport event, and it did not disappoint. Great sharpness and detail were inevitable, but learning how to frame proved to be a challenge.

A Legends racing car tyre from the Mamiya C330F

Superb detail and tone from FP4 in DD-X when used with photographs taken on the Mamiya C330F. I really like using this camera, and want to do more black and white with it in the future.

Then end of summer

I’m really glad that I did so much over the summer. Admittedly, I could have done more, but I’m glad that I went to so many different places and tried out some new techniques and formats.

Over the next few months, I hope to continue experimenting with photography. I want to get the 1920s Zeiss Ikon Nikie working with paper negatives, so that I can produce some portraits with it. This is something I didn’t get round to during the summer, so I’m determined to sort it out before the end of the year.