CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

After the FIA Awards Gala at the Lido de Paris had finished I decided to walk back to my hotel near to the Opera House so I could take in the Christmas lights on the  Champs-Élysées before I headed to the airport to catch the plane back to London a few hours later. The awards ceremony didn't finish until 1am so by the time I had walked from the Lido de Paris at the top of the  Champs-Élysées many of the stalls in the Christmas Village that line both sides of the avenue from the Grand Palais down to Place de la Concorde were shut.  But the lights were still ablaze and there were still people walking and enjoying the scene. Here are some of the pictures I captured on the Fujifilm X-T1 and XF16-55mm f2.8 during my short Christmas walk in Paris. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By click...

A couple of weeks ago, on Friday 4 December, I attended the 2015 FIA Awards Gala at Le Lido in Paris in my capacity as the FIA Media Delegate of the World Endurance Championship.  This is the end of year show where all of the world champions receive their trophies in front of the great and the good of motorsport. I wasn't attending as a photographer but as a guest but I decided to take the X-T1 and 16-55mm f2.8 to get some shots of the WEC drivers receiving their trophies and also some of the show. Our table was on the upper tier but it wasn't a bad position to capture some images of the evening, though the occasional head would bob up into the shot. The stage show was from  "Paris Merveilles"  and  was typical Parisian Cabaret, very colourful and flamboyant.  The different acts took place in between the different awards and certainly made for a spectacular evening, with live swans and a water fountain on stage during the performances....

As a Fujifilm X-Photographer I use the X-Series cameras and lenses exclusively for my photographic work and as such I demand a lot from the equipment I use.  I expect the cameras and lenses to perform faultlessly when I use them but inevitably things do go wrong and technical issues can occur. This is when a professional support service is vital and I am happy to report that this is what I receive from Fujifilm. The Fujinon XF10-24mm f4 is one of my most used lenses as it covers a field of view that is perfect for landscapes but is also very useful for motorsport and travel.   On Thursday I travelled along the East Lothian coast to record the final chapter in the demolition of the Cockenzie Power Station .  I reached into my bag to take some wide angle shots of the beach where I was shooting from and the LCD on the X-T1 flashed 'Lens Control Error'.  I did all the usual things - took the lens off and put it back on again, cleaned the terminals and even tried ...

Yesterday evening we got into the Christmas spirit by visiting the Virgin Money 'Street of Light' on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The Street of Light is a new event to light up Edinburgh’s Old Town this Christmas and runs daily from St Andrew’s Day (30 November) to Christmas Eve.  The Street of Light is a huge canopy of over 60,000 lights from City Chambers to the Tron Kirk and visitors can stand near or even under the structure during the 20 minute performance. The lights are synchronised to music sung by choirs from across Edinburgh, which yesterday evening was the Edinburgh's Gay Mens' Chorus. Here is a video of the final carol 'Deck the Halls' The images and video were shot on the Fujifilm X-T1 and the 16-55mm f2.8 or 90mm f2 Fujinon lenses. CLICK HERE for more information on the Virgin Money Street of Light ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

In September the first stage of the demolition of the decommissioned coal fired power station at Cockenzie along the coast in East Lothian took place. Today (17 December) the second and final stage of the demolition happened when the main building was taken down in a controlled explosion at 2pm. I went along to record the event that will transform this part of the coastline and set up my cameras in the same position as I shot on the 26 September. Here is the video from 17 December And here is the video from 26 September ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CA...

UPDATE: Fujifilm have issued a warning saying there is a problem with V4.2 which can cause the camera to lock up if using AF-C and this will be addressed by the end of January 2016.  UPDATE 2: 4 February 2016: Fujifilm have fixed the problem and have issued V4.3 which can be downloaded from the  Fujifilm  website HERE Fujifilm have a great reputation for updating their cameras on a regular basis to make improvements to the operation.  These updates are usually the result of feedback that the company receive and as an X Photographer I am pleased to be asked by the company for my feedback on how I find using the X-Series cameras and lenses. Already this year the X-T1 has received two important upgrades and I was involved with the testing of FW 4.0 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer prior to its launch which, amongst the may improvement the firmware offered, it significantly boosted the AF capability of the camera. Today we have  received FW4.2 ...

This is the final day of my 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge for which I was nominated by Tom Hodgetts of Skye Walks and Photography. This shot was taken in November 2011 of a Grey Seal pup at Donna Nook in North Lincolnshire.  The pup was lying just inside the fence that separates the public area and the breach where the seals are.  You have to be careful not to touch the seal pups because if the mother smells a human on the pup she may reject the pup and it will die. The camera was fitted with a wide angle lens and set down on the ground behind the double fence so there was no chance of the pup being touched.  I then used the wireless remote release to take some pictures of the pup as it got curious and went to look at the camera.  It soon got bored and wandered back to mum and on checking the pictures I found this shot. It has to be one of my all time favourite nature photography images and is a nice way to round off this 7-day challenge. The camera ...