Sunday 8 December 2013

I gatecrashed an autotest today to fill a few hours, this was part of the HERO LEJOG rally 

what is HERO?
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basically anything over 30 year old is allowed in

what is LEJOG
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entry starts at £2500 so it should come as no surprise that something like this is was the first car through
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add in a few of these 
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and that many of these I haven't counted them all
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how about some big old mercs11272871375_536a2ce798.jpg

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I liked this SAAB
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there were about 3 or 4 golfs
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a one headlight wonder
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proper mini
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a much more down to earth porsche11272930206_c46e3dcc8b.jpg

some old rovers
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a few random others
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So, are these cars rare enough for you? No, then get ready to say "epic fucking spot" a few times.....

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enjoy



Monday 28 October 2013

Clayton-Le-Woods Service Reservoir

Clayton-Le-Woods Service Reservoir was originally built in 1883-84, this reservoir was built to provide water for the Leyland area in Lancashire. The Reservoir was taken out of service back in the 1940's but remained as a backup until the 1980's. It's now about to be demolished to make way for some new homes. Before it gets pulled down they have opened it up to the public so I took a wander around with my camera. Here are some of the photographs.
Clayton-Le-Woods Service Reservoir by GaryDavidson

Clayton-Le-Woods Service Reservoir by GaryDavidson

The whole set of photos are available on my flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyd155/sets/72157636729458594/with/10367378815/

Saturday 29 June 2013

Lego Camera

I'm a member of Leyland Photographic Society and we have 5 themed competitions, one of them for next year is 'shadows', this could be my entry unless I take something better.

Lego Camera by GaryDavidson

Lego Camera, a photo by GaryDavidson on Flickr.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

SALT 7 - Soviet Auto Luxury Tours - Cheshire




This weekend I hitched a ride along in a Trabant for the SALT tour around Cheshire, visiting both Hack Green secret nuclear bunker and Jodrel Bank telescope.

here are a few photos all taken with my Lomo lens
Trabant and Jodrel Bank Telescope by GaryDavidson


The lineup by GaryDavidson


Skoda Octavia by GaryDavidson


I've still got a load more photos to process that I'll get put up soon.

Thursday 18 April 2013

getting out and about and shooting.......at last

It's been quite a while since I last updated my blog, I've not been out much with my camera so that's my excuse. I've mainly been sat in my living room hunting cars down on the internet for my project instead. But this weekend I'm off for the first shoot, I'm going to a Porsche 924, can't wait.

Tuesday 29 January 2013

My Next Photography Project - 50 'Crap' Car


I’m ready  to launch my latest photography project, this one I’m basing it on a book called ‘Crap Cars’ by Richard Porter (link - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0563522100) In the book he lists 50 cars that he believes to be the 50 worst cars ever made. Now this is this opinion, but I think there are many others who disagree with him and love these cars.

So my project is to meet 50 people who love these cars, one for each car and tell their story, I’m hoping they’ll be quite interesting. I’ll find out why they love them even though for others they aren’t exactly their dream car.

Some of the cars on the list are going to be quite difficult to track down – according to the website howmanyleft.co.uk, there are no Alfa Romeo Arnas left on the road in the UK. Also there are only four Subaru XTs left and I’m a bit worried about finding a Hyundai Pony – there must be somebody out there who loves this car enough to have looked after one? The scrappage scheme will have taken quite a few of these off the roads making the whole job that bit harder.

 This is the list of cars
50. Lancia Monte Carlo
49. Porsche 924
48. Ford Scorpio
47. Cadillac STS
46. Renault Safrane
45. Jaguar XJ40
44. Ford Escort MK1V
43. Yugo Sana
42. Mitsubishi 3000GT
41. Rover 800
40. Volvo 340
39. Delorean DMC-12
38. Vauxhall Belmont
37. Triumph TR7
36. Rolls-Royce Carmargue
35. Talbot Tagora
34. Suzuki Wagon R
33. Volvo 262C
32. Subaru XT
31. Nissan Sunny Coupe
30. Skoda Estelle
29. Renault 9
28. Maserati Biturbo
27. Daihatsu Move
26. Alfa Romeo Arna
25. Hyundai Pony
24. Fiat Strada
23. Subaru Justy
22. Austin Maestro
21. Toyota Space Cruiser
20. Fiat 126
19. Daihatsu Applause
18. Ferrari 400
17. Austin Ambassador
16. Yugo 45
15. Datsun Sunny 120Y
14. Aston Martin Lagonda
13. Susuki SJ
12. FSO Polonez
11. Seat Marbella
10. MGB
9. Trabant
8. Reliant Robin
7. Bond Bug
6. Nissan Serena
5. Lada Riva
4. Morris Marina
3. Suzuki X90
2. Austin Allegro
1. Volkswagen Beetle

I’ve setup a Facebook page for this project - http://www.facebook.com/garydavidsonphoto. Since everybody is on Facebook, it will give me quite a decent platform for explaining the project to people.  Also it might help me track down some of the rarer cars.

I’m also setting up a Kickstarter project to raise funds for a self published book – here is a link to the Kickstarter project - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1228736198/1918719728?token=133b23dc- it’s not gone live yet so this is just a preview

Friday 4 January 2013

Canon Pixma MG2150 printer review

I have bought this printer for use at home, basically for general use at home rather than photo printing. I normally send out for my prints but I've decided to run a few off and compare the quality I get here versus lab prints.

I bought the printer for £25 so it really is a budget choice. 

Ink cartridges 
It takes two different cartridges, black & colour. These are available in two different sizes - standard and XL. The cartridge codes are 
Colour CL-541
Colour CL-541XL
Black PG-540
Black PG-540XL

on the first print I have two issues

issue 1 - the colour is off - and I mean way off, this is a photo of the output and the lab print, the lab print is the larger of the two. This can be fixed by getting the printer colour calibrated, I didn't expect it to be spot on but I thought out of the box it would be better than this.

issue 2 - there are marks being left by the printer on the print - these look like they are being caused by the rollers in the printer as it feeds the paper through. This is a deal breaker for me, Canon in their marketing blurb claim the printer can produce lab quality prints - if any lab sent me prints with these lines on I'd return them demanding re-prints or a refund.

I'll upload some photos showing these issues when I get a chance.

So for £25 does it do the job I need it to? Yes - I only need it to copy things and for general printing. If you want to do any photo printing then don't get this printer.

Thursday 3 January 2013

Michael Freeman's Digital Photography Reference System

I have bought myself Michael Freeman's Digital Photography Reference System. It is a set of 7 different items that are aimed at helping an enthusiast photographer improve.

the items are
a book covering the Art of Digital Photography - this is the main book. it contains 4 different chapters - composition, colour, light and subjects & styles. this is where I feel I'm learning the most from this.

a digital camera handbook - a handy little guide to digital cameras and what the different functions are used for.

digital photography workflow - I'm always interested in different peoples workflow, not just for tips on how to do things easier but also how they make sure everything is backed up. Also, how they keep track of their files so they can find them again easily.

a book on image editing and special effects - a very handy book that covers the basics of digital photo editing and some more advanced things to try as well

a shooting tips pocket guide - worth a read but I found that I knew most if not all of this already. It's probably more suitable for a beginner.

a shooting tips wallet guide - contains an exposure table and an ISO table plus some basic hints and tips. I would have liked a hyper-focal distance chart as well in here.

a DVD with 50 mins of video

It all comes in a metal presentation case and the RRP on this is £59.99 but you should be able to pick this up a bit cheaper.

I have learned quite a lot from this so I can quite happily recommend this to somebody who has progressed beyond a beginner and still wants to learn. It will also make an excellent gift for somebody, it's very well presented in the case and the books have that quality feel to them.

366 challenge day 366 - 31st december

This is my final photo from my 2012 photo a day project, a self portrait.

366 challenge day 366 - 31st december by garyd155
366 challenge day 366 - 31st december, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.

Hahnel Triad 90PG tripod review

I have been bought the Hahnel Triad 90PG tripod as a Christmas present, i'm not sure what was paid for it but they are selling for between £75 and £100, I'm reviewing it as a £75 tripod.

The basics
It's a three legged tripod (you can get 5 legged ones, and I know tri = 3)
There are two adjustable centre columns - long and short
It has a pistol grip ball head - you squeeze the trigger when you want to move the head.
It also has a hook on the bottom of the centre column that you can attach a weight to increasing stability in windy conditions.
It also comes in a fairly robust case with shoulder strap

I have used this with a Sony A450 and a variety of lenses. the heaviest so far being the Tamron 10-24, the tripod had no problems with this, it's rated at being able to hold 7kg and this camera/lens combination weighs about 1.5kg. 7kg is quite some weight, considerably more than I will ever need to put on it and more than most tripods in this price bracket are rated at.

Overall I'm very impressed with this tripod, it's very well built, sturdy and holds the camera very still. I would very happily recommend this tripod, not just to those on a budget.

I'll add more to this review over the next few months including some photos.

Wednesday 2 January 2013

december 2012 mosaic

Here is my last mosaic from my 2012 year in pictures project
december 2012 mosaic by garyd155
december 2012 mosaic, a photo by garyd155 on Flickr.