CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Jabberwocky is a French electropop band that became well known for their 2015 hit 'Photomaton' featuring Elodie Wildstars.   They have been playing at the WEC events in 2016 and at the 6 Hours of Mexico one of the trio of talented producers,  Camille Camara, played a set during the public pitlane walk from above the pitlane on the podium. I took some shots from the podium on the Fujifilm X-T2 fitted with the XF50-140mm f2.8 and the X-Pro2 with the XF10-24mm.  The images were then converted to black and white in post production using NIK Silver Efex Pro2.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...

Race day at a FIA World Endurance Championship event is always lots of work and pressure but also extremely enjoyable, especially when we visit a new country for the first time.   On Saturday 3 September the first running of the 6 Hours of Mexico saw drama and excitement, with the enthusiasm of the Mexican fans really adding to the party atmosphere despite two periods of rain during the race. The day started early with the traditional pitwalk, where the fans have the opportunity to get close to the drivers, get an autograph and a selfie, followed by the gridwalk before the race.   The race itself is a six hour sprint with no let up in the action. It was won by the no1 Porsche 919 of  reigning world champions Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard ahead of Audi and Toyota.  The Mexicans had a home win when the no43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier-Nissan of Ricardo Gonzalez, Bruno Senna and Filipe Albuquerque took the chequered flag in LMP2.  The a...

While I have been working at the  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on the latest round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Mexico City I have been in contact with Fujifilm Mexico.  On race day we invited the top people from the Mexican division of Fujifilm to come along to the race to see the first WEC event in their country for themselves.   When they arrived they brought a little present for me, the new Fujinon XF23mm f2 lens for me to try for the day.  As it was race day I had only a small window of opportunity to try the lens and that was on the grid during the build up to the race.  I have tested the 23mm f1.4 on two  occasions  and love the images it produces (see review HERE ) but the size of the lens means it isn't one I would put in my camera bag. The 23mm f2 is about the same size as my 35mm f1.4 and is the same focal length and maximum aperture as the fantastic lens I have on my X100.  The 35mm equivalent focal length is ...

On Tuesday during our tour around the historic quarter of Mexico City we stopped for a drink on the terrace of the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico which has some great views over the Zocolo, the main square in the centre of the city. While the view of the square is impressive it is the roof of the hotel that is jaw dropping with the entire glass roof in a multitude of colours with three domes in the middle. Originally built in 1899, the building was home to one of the first department stores in Mexico City, designed with its luxurious Art Nouveau architecture (fashionable in Paris at the time). Today, inside the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico it has been carefully preserved, from the grand staircase and the elevators to the incredible stained glass roof designed by renowned French artisan Jacques Gruber.  The hotel and the Zocolo featured in the opening sequences of the latest James Bond movie 'Spectre' . CLICK HERE for more information on the Gran Hotel Ciud...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 + 2x Converter - 1/500s @ f11 ISO1600 - Focal length 800mm Last May I did a review of the Fujinon 2x converter that I had been testing for Fujifilm.  My conclusions were that while the converter was a good fit with the XF50-140mm f2.8, the combination of the 2x and the XF100-400mm lens was a bit more of a considered purchase because of the limitations in use.   CLICK HERE to read the review.  Fast forward to day two of the 6 Hours of Mexico and I found myself trackside with the 100-400mm attached to the X-T2.  One of the corners needed some extra reach on the lens and I reached into the camera bag for the 1.4x converter which works very well on the long Fujinon.  However I had left the smaller converter back in my office by mistake so I had to fit the 2x to the 100-400mm to fill the frame with the fast moving race cars. The camera's AF was set to AF-C and the combination worked adequately in trackin...