CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Fast Castle is one of those places I have been meaning to visit since we moved to East Lothian in 2013 and is marked on my copy of OS Explorer Map 346 with a big pencilled circle.   Situated 3-miles north west of Coldingham in the Scottish Borders and 16 miles from Dunbar there isn't much left of the castle that was first mentioned in the 14th Century and was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th.  The ruins sit on a headland on cliffs 50 metres above the North Sea at the southern entrance to the Firth of Forth and are still an impressive site today, so the castle must've been spectacular back in the 13 and 14 hundreds. The ruins are reached by turning off the A1107 down towards Dowlaw Farm.  The road takes you 2-miles over two cattle grids before reaching the car park just before the entrance to the farm. There is a sign by the car park pointing the way.   The path leads you through gorse and heather and I have made a note to come back in late summer...

This is one of my favourite shots from last weeks visit to Paris.  I was walking down the  Champs-Élysées  in the bright winter sunshine, which was low in the sky behind the Grand Palais and caused a lot of flare around the statue of President Charles de Gaulle. Using the Fujifilm X100 I took several shots of the scene, underexposing slightly to saturate the colours of the blue sky and the Tricolour flying behind the bronze quadrica, one of four by Georges Recipon waging depicts Immortality prevailing over Time. CLICK HERE for more on the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées Image taken on a Fujifilm Finepix X100 with a fixed 23mm f2 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. -----------------------------------------------------...

My camera equipment is very important to me as I earn money with it.  I have invested a lot of money into my gear and while pro gear has a tendancy to get thrown about and abused, I try my best to keep it in the best condition possible.  Not only will this allow me to capture the best images possible it will also increase the resale value when it comes time to upgrade. One of the most vulnerable items on a modern digital camera is the rear screen and a couple of years ago I was asked to test out the Expert Shield screen protectors for my Nikon DSLRs and my Fujifilm X100.  I was so impressed by the quality and the price of these screen protectors for all my subsequent cameras. When I purchased the Fujifilm X-T1 the first thing I ordered was a screen protector for the large 3 inch rear screen but for some reason the soft screen protectors failed to stay attached. Yes they would apply OK but after a few weeks of use one corner would get lifted up catching on a pie...

Last Sunday I went to St Helen's Chapel which is situated on the cliff top along the coast near Pease Bay in the Scottish Borders, about 8 miles from Dunbar.  This is the second time I had visited the ruins of the 12th Century chapel that was abandoned in the 18th Century. There are a few gravestones still lying around in the grass and the whole site is very poignent and make for great mono images, especially with a Lee Big Stopper fitted to get some movement in the clouds that were scudding across the sky in the high winds.  After taking several shots I moved along the coastal path the take some images of the path and also the view along the coast towards the power station at Torness. The weather was extremely changeable and the rain clouds eventually reached us and we headed back to the car as the rain swept in from the south east.  The rain can be seen on the horizon in the shot below along the coast. CLICK HERE for more information on St Hel...

One of the great things about living in Dunbar is the harbour, which is a brilliant place for taking images.  Dunbar is a working harbour and when I was down there on Sunday afternoon the fishing boats had started to return with their catches.   Some of the boats had already tied up, but as I stood on the harbour wall beneath the ruins of Dunbar Castle, the Rockhopper came through the narrow entrance into the basin to moor up and land their catch.  I took some shots on the X-Pro1 and 35mm f1.4 as the Rockhopper went across to the far side of the harbour. While the harbour at this time of year is used by working boats, as spring approaches Dunbar will start to attract more leisure craft, either based here in East Lothian or visit from other parts of the UK and Europe. CLICK HERE for more information on Dunbar Harbour Images taken on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF35mm f1.4 lens --------------------------------------------------------------...

This is not the first time I have said this on this blog but why do some photographers never vary their point of view?  Why do they put the camera to their eye or hold it out in front of them standing up and take a picture at the same level as they are standing? By varying the view point by getting up higher or putting the camera on the ground, it can make for a much more interesting photograph. I took this shot of the shell on the beach while shooting the Barns Ness Lighthouse last night.  While I had the X-T1 on the tripod with a long telephoto lens fitted with filters, I used the X-Pro1 and the 18mm f2 Fujinon around the beach.  I put the camera onto the sand and focused on the shell just as the surf was coming up the beach.  I had to be careful because sea water and electronics don't mix, nor does fine sand, but by choosing a low shutter speed of 1/15s I was able to get some movement in the water. A panoramic crop has finished off the composition to my ...

After two days stuck behind my computer writing editorial copy, a beautiful still evening  had me grabbing my camera bag and heading out to Barns Ness for a bit of fresh air and photography.  The reward was a beautiful scene across the bay at White Sands as the sun set behind my right shoulder. Using a 3 stop ND filter and a 3 stop Lee ND Grad I managed to slow the shutter down to 8.5 seconds so the calm sea turned completely flat.  Placing the lighthouse in the top third of the frame produced a pleasing composition which is very simple and effective. I have plenty more images from the 30-minutes I spent out at Barns Ness and now I have recharged my batteries to continue writing for the upcoming FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series season which starts in a couple of weeks at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France. Image taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 + a Fujinon XF55-200mm f3.5/4.8R LM OIS with an exposure of 8.5 seconds @ f22. ...