CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Stefan Mucke - no66 Ford GT As part of the build up to any weekend on the FIA World Endurance Championship calendar six drivers are invited to the pre event press conference. The drivers could be invited because they are from the host country or they are leading the championship or had a good race in the previous round.  For the 6 Hours of Nurburgring three German drivers were there - Timo Bernhard (Porsche), Stefan Mucke (Ford) and Marvin Dienst (Dempsey Proton Racing).  The other drivers were Anthony Davidson (GBR) from Toyota, Vitaly Petrov (RUS) from CEFC Manor TRS Racing and David Cheng from Jackie Chan DC Racing. As usual I record the press conference on the Fujifilm X-T2 fitted with a 10-24mm f4 lens due to the fact the press conference room is an awkward shape and the camera tripod has to be sited near to the drivers.   The press conference video is streamed on the FIA website via the world governing bodies YouTube channel. I also use the second X...

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...

On Sunday the Carter family headed to the west coast of Scotland for a 3 hour Sea Kayak adventure with the Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre.  This would be our first experience of sea kayaking so we had our fingers and toes crossed for calm and dry weather. Sea Kayak Trip - Arisaig from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . We had a comfortable night at the Lochailort Inn about 10-miles east of Arisaig. The  overnight  weather was not promising with heavy rain and winds but we know from experience it can change quite quickly. The next day the weather was looking better as the wind had dropped and the clouds were breaking up - perfect! We arrived at the Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre the next day and checked in.  We were greeted by our guides Suzie and Rory and after getting kitted out we drove to the launching site on the other side of the bay.   After unloading the kayaks from the trailer and a quick run through how to get in and out of the kayak and the safety...

Some more edits from the P1 PowerStock event in Greenock a couple of weeks ago.  While I concentrated on the powerboats at the event as they were the main focus for the Fujifilm X-Treme project, I took the time to get some shots of the Aqua Cross competitors who were out on the water just before the first P1 SuperStock race. This was a good test run to see what I could get from the back of the bouncing RIB that I was shooting from and adjust my shooting position and exposure before the main event. I got my eye in quite quickly and was able to come away with some nice shots of the jet skiers racing on the Clyde. All action shots were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 lens from the back of a RIB at the side of the course. For more on the Fujifilm X-Treme project at the P1 Scottish Grand Prix of the Sea CLICK HERE For more information on the Aqua Cross series visit the official website HERE   --------------------...

While out on the Woodland Exploration Workshop last Saturday we came across a couple of random objects that had been placed near to the beach at the River Tyne estuary here in East Lothian. The first object was an old Singer sewing machine that had been painted pink with the word 'LIFE' on the side and placed on the top of one of the World War II anti tank concrete blocks that line the woodland area just off the beach. The second item was an old draw front that had been had been painted bright blue with black metalwork and the words 'black' and 'submarine' had been written in black on each end. The draw end had been placed on one of the fallen tree trunks on the beach. I don't know the story behind why these objects were painted these bright colours and placed in this location, or to the meaning of the words written on the, but I have to be honest to say that I quite like this type of 'Guerilla Art'.  It certainly makes for a sligh...

The P1 Superstock Panther powerboats had their pits at the James Watt Dock Marina a couple of miles up the coast from the P1 Scottish Grand Prix of the Sea race course just of The Esplanade in Greenock. Built in the late 19th century, there are still signs of Inverclyde's rich ship building past with the giant cantilever crane standing tall over the dockside that used to be home to many of the worlds big merchant ships. James Watt Dock is now being developed as a leisure marina but the building and the cranes have been left in place and are protected as listed monuments.  These rusting monuments, along with the warehouse buildings that are now used as storage sheds, are a great source of material for photographers. I didn't have much time during the weekend due to my commitments with the P1 PowerStocks but I did manage to grab a few pictures for my records.  I feel another trip to record this wonderful record of the history of the Clyde is in order. For more i...