CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Welcome to the first day of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Texas. The colourful run off areas are painted in the national colours of the United States and Texas. Today is the first of three days of track activity with the WEC cars on track for two 90-minute Free Practice sessions starting at 12:00 CT / 18:00 BST. This shot was taken during my track inspection yesterday morning on the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF16-55mm f2.8 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 (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE...

This weekend I am in Germany for Round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship and after the thrills and spills of Le Mans, the WEC returns to the 6-hour format at the Nurburgring. I went trackside during the first two Free Practice sessions yesterday in my capacity as the FIA Media Delegate to shoot some images from various locations around the circuit to check that the access was OK for the other photographers.  I also had to get some images for FIA.com, the official website for the world governing body of motor sport, who I work for on the WEC. I decided that some of the images would look better in black and white so I convert them in NIK Silver Efex Pro2 in post production. All images were taken on a pair of Fujifilm X-T2 using various lenses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS P...

One of the major sponsors of the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the French tyre company Michelin.  Their branding is everywhere around the track and includes the massive electronic scoreboard at the end of the pitlane at Le Mans. Bibendum, the mascot and face of the Michelin company is also present around the track on posters, on the signs, painted on the pitman concrete and there is even a man in a Bibendum suit parading up and down the pitlane during the public autograph sessions and appearing on the podium during the driver celebrations. The 56 competitors on the grid at Le Mans use either Michelin or Dunlop tyres, with all of the LMP1 manufacturers using Michelin rubber on their hybrid sportscars. Here are some images featuring Michelin branding at last weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans.   All images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 + 50-140mm f2.8 --------------------------------------------------------------------...

This is a shot taken just after sunset at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from the top of the main grandstand.   The light was just perfect for a slow pan shot using the Fujifilm X-T1 and the XF10-24mm f4, the exposure was 0.3 seconds @ f4.5 ISO400 and it took several attempts to get one shot that was good enough. This shot of race leader Nick Tandy in the no19 Porsche Team Porsche 919 hybrid works really well and the very slow shutter speed gives a real sense of movement.  

Here are a couple of images from Le Mans using the Fujifilm X-T1 and the new XF50-140mm f2.8.  I am beginning to love using this lens, it is very flexible and is so sharp across the frame, even when used wide open at f2.8. My favourite lens when I used Nikon was the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D I bought new for £1600 in 1996.  This was my 'go to' lens and despite Nikon bringing out subsequent versions of this superb lens I kept the 80-200mm f2.8 for 18 years. When I switched to Fujifilm last year the one regret I had was selling this superb lens, so when Fujifilm announced they would be producing an equivalent lens, 50-140mm f2.8 (76mm-213mm f2.8) with image stabilization then I knew I would have to try one.  And with a RRP of £1200 it is £400 cheaper than I paid for the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 19 years ago!  Last October Fujifilm lent me a pre production copy during race day during our trip to Japan for the World Endurance Championship race at Fuji Speedway but...

Yesterday was the opening race of the 2015 World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, which was the culmination of a lot of pre season work by everyone involved in the world championship.  The result was a weekend of entertainment that we are all justifiably proud of. In my capacity as the FIA Media Delegate I headed to the grid for the pre race build up and the sun was shining.  I decided to take a few colourful images on my X-T1 with the 56mm f1.2 lens before going back to my office in the media centre to report on the race. There was a party atmosphere on the grid as the teams and drivers prepared for the 6 hours race and in the warm sunshine the drivers were relaxed and the colours around the grid really stood out. Here are some of the images I took in the build up to the 6 Hours of Silverstone. For more information on the World Endurance Championship visit the official website HERE ---------------------------------...

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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

This weekend in Bahrain I have the Fujifilm XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS telephoto zoom on test and I have been walking around the paddock taking some test shots for a review I am preparing to be published on this blog next week. As part of this review I headed out this evening to take some shots trackside as the sun was setting.  I have to say I am impressed how the camera and lens combination handled the difficult conditions.  The AF was snappy and, with the camera set to aperture priority, the exposures were excellent.  I had to push the ISO to 800 to get a fast enough shutter with the slower maximum aperture but the X-Pro1 handles this relatively low ISO extremely well. Here are four of the shots I took this evening. Images taken on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 and Fujifilm XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Yesterday was set up day for Round 2 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.  I was walking down the pitlane when I spotted the light falling on the nr2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, which had won the opening round of the season at Silverstone two weeks ago. I headed over to the garage and under the barriers (one of the advantages of being an FIA Official) to get this shot of the Audi. The shot was taken on a Nikon D800 with a Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 lens. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our  Facebook  page and click 'like' MORE IMAGES CAN BE VIEWED ON  FLICKR  AND ON OUR  WEBSITE

Fujifilm Finepix X100 - 19mm f2 (WCL-X100 fitted) - 1/750 @ f2.8 - ISO200 Most of us drive to our place of work but when Allan McNish climbs aboard the Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the FIA World Endurance Championship he is at work and the cockpit of the car is his office. This was taken on the grid for the opening round of the FIA WEC at Silverstone last Sunday, a race that he and teammates, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval won putting them at the top of the leader board for the 2013 world title.  The next round will take place on the 4 May at the awesome Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, the last test before the 'big one', the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 22/23 June. I took this shot as I made my way off the grid on my trusty Fuji X100 with the WCL-X100 wide angle converter lens fitted to the camera.  The shot was then converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro 2 with some dodging and burning in Photoshop Elements 11. ---------------------------------------------...

After the paddock was relatively quiet yesterday it was all hands on deck today as the trucks arrived at Silverstone to deliver the 31 cars that will race in this weekend's 6 Hours of Silverstone, round one of the FIA World Endurance Championship. I took the opportunity to get some shots of the cars being uploaded for the FIA WEC Facebook page and so I took the Fuji X100 for a walk around the garages. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our  Facebook  page and click 'like' MORE IMAGES CAN BE VIEWED ON  FLICKR  AND ON OUR  WEBSITE

After months of preparation, testing at Paul Ricard and launches in Paris and London the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 2013 European Le Mans Series gets underway this weekend at Silverstone.  I arrived this morning to help with the set up and the teams and cars will start to arrive tomorrow morning. Today everything was very quiet in the paddock, with just a couple of hospitality units being set up but I did get chance to take some shots around the paddock before it gets busy tomorrow. It will be a busy season for me this year with twelve events in eleven different  countries including, UK, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Brazil, USA, Japan, China and Bahrain from now until the end of November. For more information visit www.fiawec.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PUR...

This shot is of the Porsche Motorsport gantry in the FIA WEC pitlane and it carries the air hoses for the wheel guns for the pitstop crew.  Each gantry has the name of the team and number of the car so the drivers know where their pit box is located. This was taken on Saturday morning at Paul Ricard while the track was still fogged in and the moisture in the air left lots of water drops on the sign and on the gantry boom. Fujifilm Finepix X100 - 19mm f2 - 1/680 @ f4 - ISO 400 The second shot was taken as the Porsche engineers prepared the car for the start of the four hour morning test session. Fujifilm Finepix X100 - 19mm f2 - 1/140 @ f4 - ISO 400 The two images were taken on the Fuji X100 with the WCL-X100 wide angle converter fitted to the standard 23mm f2 lens, making the lens a 19mm f2 or 28mm equivalent angle of view on a full frame camera. The shots were converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2 software in Photoshop Elements 11. --...

The sunshine in the south of France brought over 5000 people out to attend the FIA World Endurance Championship test at Paul Ricard.  Not only did they get to see the cars that will compete in the 2013 world championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, they also enjoyed unrivalled pitlane access when they were invited into several of the team garages during the lunch time pit walk. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION If you like what you see on this blog please visit our  Facebook  page and click 'like' MORE IMAGES CAN BE VIEWED ON  FLICKR  AND ON OUR  WEBSITE