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I managed to get a nice set of images from the British Touring Car racing at the Thruxton. Being able to wander round the pits, chatting to the drivers and mechanics was great. I also learnt a lot about 'panning' or to put it another way, I'm not very good at it. I need to practice.

My annual pilgrimage to Rushmoor Arena near Aldershot for the huge outdoor Wheels Day motorshow. Hundreds of cherrished, vintage & custom vehicles salivated over by thousands of people. A real car enthusiasts haven and I go every year:-)

Several churches in the Yateley area of North-East Hampshire came together over Easter to produce a contemporary version of a Passion Play, a re-enactment of the crucifixtion of Jesus. Roman soldiers were played by members of the local Airforce Cadets, the local church ministers played the part of the Pharisees (religious baddies of the time) and even the papparazi were there (me and a few others). Best of all though was Jesus, portrayed by a guy called Derek, who not only has his own real beard, but is also a carpenter by trade. Type cast?, possibly; but still brilliantly acted.

I wish all pet photography was a easy and as enjoyable as the one I did with Jack. The light was fantastic, the owner was a joy to work for and all Jack wanted to do was play. We even got muddy for the sake of art. Result.

Managed to rattle off a few nice pix of some of my favourite cars at the Volksworld Car Show at Sandown Racecourse, before having to return home with an dodgy tummy afer buying a rather suspect tasting lunch. I think I'll take sandwiches next year.

Tried my hand at vector illustration today, or drawing with a computer rather than a ink to put it very simply. I took some of my airshow images and the painstakingly added hundreds of reference points around the main outlines. Then you fill in the gaps with black and Bob's your Uncle. There is an easier way called auto tracing, but the idea was to learn a skill, not just push one button and be satisfied with a less than average result.

I somehow managed to get left alone in a hanger full of aircraft engines. I couldn't resist a chance to take some creative & stock images.

Funk, soul, rock band The Lost Tangerines taken at the Royal Oak in Yateley as part of the monthly M:Touch music/community event. A very talented bunch of young people and a pleasure to work with.

I actually got asked to photograph a wedding recently, something I've never really fancied doing. Taln & Mayk, the bride and groom like my arty stuff, so that's what the got. I believe I made a good job of it.

Zoomed off to Southampton docks to photograph the new Cunard Queen Elizabeth ocean liner setting off on her maiden voyage.

Took the first of what will be many pictures from this year's Farnborough International Airshow. This picture of the joint Chinese/Pakistan Airforce JF-17 fighter prompted a couple of emails all the way from Asia wanting to know how I got a photo of such a fairly secretive plane.
Well hello guys. I have news for you; it's on public display at the Farnborough International Airshow. It's hardly a secret anymore is it???

If someone buys a licence to use an image they are not obliged to show you how they use it. So, it's nice when you do find what they've done with it; especially when it's the main image on the front cover of a book. Engineering, Mechanics & Dynamics by R.C. Hibbeler.


*See the book on Amazon.

I thought the best way to test out my new camera (Nikon D700) was to see if there were any gigs on locally and offer some freebie gig photos. As luck would have it, Buddy Whittington, guitarist with John Mayall's Blues Breakers (one of Eric Clapton's old bands) was in town. He, and his band said yes to some photos, and the D700 performed like a dream.

Found one of my images on the front cover of the Manitoba Historical Society magazine. I''ll give them a call and see if they''ll send me a copy.



*See the magazine.

This was a nice surprise, an image entry into the Encyclopaedia Britannica. How cool is that? I placed my camera placed exactly on the equator line near Quito, Ecuador and although it's not much more than a holiday snap it still got used.



*See the article here; it's the 4th image down - the one with the big E.