CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

This weekend is the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone and the all new Audi R18 will take on the all new Toyota TS050 and the evolution of the Porsche 919 that won the world title in 2015. This morning the Audi R18 was going through the pre event technical checks and I was able to grab some detail shots of the LMP1 class car that looks rather different than its predecessor that won the world titles in 2012 and 2013 and also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The images were taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and the XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 at 1/60s @ f5.6 ISO200.  All of the images were taken handheld and the OIS was essential in keeping the images sharp in the dark scrutineering bay. For more information on the FIA World Endurance Championship CLICK HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT TH...

I am always on the look out for interesting patterns, colours and textures and during my time on Thursday photographing in and around the Breedon Priory Church Yard I was drawn to an ornate, but very rusty and broken, iron railing surrounding a grave on the edge of the church yard.  This provided a great photographic opportunity which I captured on the X-T1 and 56mm f1.2.  I set the camera to electronic shutter to enable me to use the 56mm at f1.2 to give a shallow depth of field and concentrated the focus on a small part of the frame. Here are some of the results from my short 10 minute photo shoot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Today is the start of three days of track action at Silverstone for the opening round of the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series.  I am here in my capacity as the Media Delegate for both championships but, of course, I have my Fujifilm cameras to hand. This shot was taken earlier this week as the sun set behind the Wing building at Silverstone.  I managed to get into position so the sun was framed by the segments of the Wing using the Fujifilm X-T1 and the XF55-200mm telephoto zoom. For more information on this weekend's events at Silverstone visit the WEC website at www.fiawec.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

I have been delving into the archives once again and re editing some of the shots from previous photoshoots on the new Apple iMac. This shot was taken two years ago on 14 February 2013.  The image is of a farm house up in the Peak District with a dusting of snow on the fields. a quick edit in Photoshop CS and then converted to mono in Silvers Efex Pro2 software and this high contrast image is the result. The image was taken on a Nikon D800 and Sigma 50-500mm f3.5/f6.3 lens, with the zoom set at 230mm.

I love looking through the MacLean Photographic archives to see what little gems I can turn up that were missed the first time around for whatever reason. Take this shot from our trip to Berwick on Tweed in November 2012.  The shot that got used was the panoramic shot below but the colourful shot of the person in the orange coat standing in front of the red and white lighthouse at the end of the harbour breakwater was passed over for some reason I can't remember why. I put the image into Photoshop CS and tweaked the levels and vibrance and the shot at the top of the page was the result.   The images were both taken on the Fujifilm X100 using the standard 23mm f2 Fujinon lens.

The road between Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace is called The Mall and on Sunday's it is closed to traffic allowing visitors to walk along one of  the most famous routes in London. The Queen Victoria Memorial is immediately before the gates of the Palace, whilst Admiralty Arch at the far end leads into Trafalgar Square. The length of The Mall from where it joins Constitution Hill at the Victoria Memorial end to Admiralty Arch is exactly 0.5 nautical miles (0.58 miles). St. James's Park is on the south side of The Mall, opposite Green Park and St James's Palace, on the north side. Running off The Mall at its eastern end is Horse Guards Parade, where the Trooping the Colour ceremony is held. I started my walk outside Buckingham Palace and headed towards Admiralty Arch.  On the left hand side half way down The Mall are two statues to their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the parents of HM Queen Elizabeth II.   Queen Elizabeth, the ...

While walking around London yesterday afternoon I noticed a sculpture in Berkeley Square so I wandered over to take some pictures.   The large head is called Earth / Cassandra II by British artist Emily Young and is acclaimed as 'Britain's greatest living stone sculptor' by the FT.  Weighing over two tonnes, this enormous carved head of volcanic rock will reside in its impressive surroundings from the beginning of October until the end of March 2015. CLICK HERE for Emily Young's website All the images were taken on the Fujifilm X-T1 + 56mm f1.2 lens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE ...

Yesterday afternoon I arrived in London after a seven hour flight to Doha as I will be attending this evenings Autosport Awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House hotel.  After checking into my West End hotel I decided to go for a walk down to the shopping area to have a look at the Christmas lights as I haven't seen the displays in the UK capital for many years.  I certainly wasn't disappointed. Each street has its own unique display and many of the big stores also have the shop front lit up.  It certainly makes you feel Christmassy.  There was even a snow machine on top of one of the buildings in Oxford Street! All of the images were captured on the Fujifilm X-T1 with either the 14mm f2.8, 35mm f1.4 or 56mm f1.2 lenses.  I didn't use a tripod, preferring to handhold the camera down to 1/8th second using lampposts or shop fronts to hold the camera steady. Here are some of the displays in London for Christmas 2014. ...

Last month I posted some images of a feature I was writing for the FIA WEC Silverstone programme on the Aston Martin Vantage S V12.  Eight pages of the programme were dedicated for this feature and now that it has been published I can now share it here on the blog. Two days with the Vantage S was spent near the Aston Martin HQ at Gaydon, Aston Martin Racing HQ in Banbury and then up to Silverstone.  Day two was spent in the Malvern Hills getting some great dynamic shots of the car on some magnificent country roads.   John Rourke of Adrenal Media was taking the images while I was composing my prose while I drove the car around, but all of the shots here are ones that I took during a wonderful two days with an Aston Martin. THE BEST OF BRITISH Italy has Ferrari, Germany has Porsche and Britain has Aston Martin; these manufacturers are very much part of the national identity for each of these countries.  The Aston Martin brand, which celebrated its 100th anni...