Goodwood Festival of Speed – Saturday Sunshine and Showers

I am farther up the M1 now than hitherto, so the journey to Chichester for the Good Festival of Speed this year means a very early start if I am to arrive early enough to take a wander amongst some of the Super Cars before climbing the hill to reach the Forest Section and to watch the cars navigate the Rally circuit, so I had set the alarm for four-thirty before heading for bed on Friday night. I had also showered and shaved beforehand so that I could allow just half-an-hour to be ready from bed to car fully-packed. Unlike many of these trips I knew I faced inclement weather, so packing was more comprehensive with a complete change of clothing and a towel in case I was so soaked as to need a complete change before getting back in the car for the journey back.

I had company for my day this year, my son-in-law Tim who lives near Aylesbury, so my trip to him was familiar but from Westcott to the M25 was not. I made good time to reach him, but Lizzy and Tim had not had the best of nights with their two children and they had been up since five, so he had had a short night and was still in the shower upon my arrival, so I settled down with my second cup of tea of the day to wait patiently. It was not long before we were on our way and having company means the journey never seems so long. We made good time till we reached Midhurst, but as we neared Goodwood the journey slowed to a crawl, which we eventually learned was due to an accident, which also meant we had to be diverted through one car park to reach our designated one, so the day’s programme was well under way by the time we arrived near the House where we met further congestion due to Guests trying to get Courtesy vehicles along some of the pedestrian routes.

Our plans changed from a visit to the Super Car Paddock to heading straight to the Forest section, as we wanted to get up the hill as soon as possible, it proved to be a good move as we got to see some rally action before the rain slowed that up, and it also meant the trees saved us from at least some of the rain! Our journey down had been without rain, but our day would be a mixture of sunshine and showers, and the climb up the hill was sticky due to the heat and humidity. The track has changed over time and so we found we needed the programme’s map, but the print was very fine so we explored rather than navigated!

Most of the visitors to this area now seem to be those with cameras, so first choice was always a compromise as we waited for the earlier arrivals to get their fill of actions before we could use the best standpoints, then we would move on, and so the routine would continue as each group moved on to the next area. Naturally, the moving slowed when one arrived at the jump, however the rain did limit the level of action, because it became difficult to navigate some of the corners at all due to the treacherous conditions once the rain set in.

I had made a conscious decision to attempt the photography almost exclusively with primes rather than zooms, so had researched past metadata in Lightroom from previous visits to Goodwood. I took note of what distance I had focussed upon when using my 70-200mm on my 7D MkII and whether or not I had cropped the images. I concluded that I could operate very satisfactorily using my 5D MkIII with my 85mm f/1.4 when shooting in the Forest Rally section. I knew from past experience I would need a very wide lens for the installation at the front of Goodwood House, but had not reckoned on just how wide and high this year’s feature would turn out to be! Even my 12-24 was too long!

However my 85mm and 100mm Macro proved to be absolutely correct for the areas where I had expected to use them, so being able to access the metadata from my use of zooms in the past was excellent to decide which primes would be ideal, and now I can further hone this knowledge when I look at what cropping was necessary when my choice was too short. Certainly the margin of quality meant on this occasion I didn’t really suffer due to my choice of specific primes. It also meant Tim had a choice too, so I hope he got shots he was pleased with the lenses I brought along. Neither of my two long lenses ever came out of the car – as the Red Arrows flew over and then presumably went on to their next venue as our cloud cover was both almost complete and had a very low ceiling!

Tim and I really enjoyed the day, and I really enjoyed having company on the journey down and back, it makes such a difference. Our journey back was uneventful and remarkably clear, traffic-wise.

ISKB Celebratory Dinner at the Apothecaries' Hall

A fellow member of the Hertfordshire DigiCluster Group, Mike Benjamin, kindly asked me to help him out by covering the Dinner to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's 90th Birthday by the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor being held in one of London's ancient halls; the Apothecaries' Hall near Blackfriars.

Nowadays travelling to the metropolis by road is not one of life's joys if you need to stick to a timetable, so I set off very early, having decided to drive only to East Finchley where the latter part of my journey would be completed by 'Tube' – the London Underground rail service for which I could be reasonably certain of the duration.

The last part of my journey would be on foot with my camera bag and selection of lenses and electronic flash equipment and since I intended to arrive fresh wearing a suit, it was taken very easily, but despite my best efforts I was very glad to take my jacket off upon arrival! Later I would ask my host, Simon Doughty whether I could shed the jacket whilst shooting and was relieved that I was allowed that informality so managed to keep a tad cooler.

I used the time waiting by taking a few shots of my surroundings in case these would be of use to the client, and after half an hour a couple of guests arrived who had taken similar precautions to myself and allowed time for any mishaps, so took some preparatory shots of this surgeon and his good lady. They then went in search of cool refreshments in a nearby hostelry.

The next arrival was the client, Simon Doughty and so we entered the building and he gave me a rundown of the photographs he needed, and I took advantage of getting shots of the prepared tables in the Dining hall, and was introduced to some hidden narrow steps at the end of the room which fortuitously gave me a high level viewpoint and thus a better chance of my covering more of the entire gathering.

Guests began arriving, and much later than they had hoped and the main topic of conversation was of interminable delays caused by heavy traffic – I suspected this might well continue till they were seated in the main hall! However for the present there was music from a quartet playing in one of the ante rooms away from the throng in the main reception room which was crowded with small groups in animated conversation being threaded by waiters and waitresses plying them with welcome drinks as it was a very warm evening.

The guests were greeted at the top of the staircase and announced from the landing by the Master of Ceremonies, and since space was tight I often could not take shots of the Greeting, so interspersed my shooting with photos taken as they came up the stairs after their titles and names had been given.

Whenever there was a lull in arrivals, I dashed elsewhere covering some of the informality of the evening, but soon that became difficult for me to do on three counts; one the time taken to reach the furthest reaches of the room, and the second was avoiding taking the closest groups many times due to their being the easiest, and lastly I had to keep returning to the top of the stairs for the arrivals.

It was soon time for the guests to take their seats in the hall and for me to take some overhead shots and a few more views at various angles at table level and naturally the Top Table dignitaries.

My evening officially concluded once the guests were all seated, so I double-checked that I had covered all that was required and begun the return trip which was mercifully slightly less long than my inward travel, then began the task of ensuring that the shots were crisp, correctly exposed, level, balanced and there were no shots with bad blinks, or poorly-focussed, and I made a start on that process while everything was fresh in my mind.

Stockwood Discovery Centre – Largely Deserted

I needed to get my eyes tested again as the cataract in the right eye had progressed further, and due to heavy traffic caused by roadworks, I was running late and turned back out of town once clear, to search for an unrestricted road to park then hasten to the opticians. Fortunately my chosen slot was not illegal! But at this stage I was just hoping.

Due to my fairly specific needs for spectacles this took a while longer than originally planned, so since I had my camera and 90mm Macro with me I decided to pay a visit to the gardens at Stockwood  before returning to Marston Moretaine and see how the season was progressing there.

There were very few visitors, presumably due to the overcast sky and threat of rain from the dark grey clouds overhead, so at least parking here was no problem! Once within the gardens I soon founds subjects that lent themselves to being photographed and I soon spotted Jan Tyson and her laden barrow and somehow she had gained a willing volunteer to help in weeding and passing the time chatting, who spotting the camera, struck a pose and invited me to take a shot of them – I hastily acquiesced and fortunately she was happy with the result, so it joins the leaves and flowers that I later captured.

It was soon to be the end of the day for Jan, but she spotted me again and suggested there was a splendid foxglove round the corner from where I was, so I headed for it. My only disappointment was that when I really need the sun to get a shot of a line of lavender, it went behind a cloud never to return, in fact Rain stopped play a short while later.

Lauren Lucille Gig — Mill Hill Golf Club

Brogborough Lake's windsurfing club has been quite good to me — I came across it a few years back and the spectacle of the skills being honed there appealed to me from a photographic perspective and during the tenure of the past owner Tony Wratten, I gained permission to enter and photograph those taking to the water. I needed to keep my hand in, and the challenge of improving my success rate at capturing the split second that embodied the windsurfer's skill kept me returning to the lake. The new owners Sam and Emma were equally welcoming, and I have met several of those who frequent the lake when the wind gets up. All this was when I lived further away in Caddington, near Luton. I felt that destiny was playing into my hand when the second house that I showed an interest in buying, having sold the ex-marital home turned out to be affordable and located close to two locations with which I was familiar, offered photographic opportunities and was equidistant time wise from both my daughters.

I have always felt welcome at the lake, and have met some really nice people, and a short while back I took a trip when the wind at Marston Moretaine was what I thought might be strong enough to tempt some of the windsurfer's, but on arrival just two miles from home the wind had dropped away completely and instead finding anyone on the water, I became witness to a gentle jamming session with a pair of the sailors with guitars and a girl singer. I started recording the serene scene before me and later put together a small gallery of pictures. 

Whilst taking those pictures, another windsurfer Colin Hill invited me to do some photography at his casino in Chinatown and I am due down again this coming week.

Later, the singerLauren hailing from Brisbane, invited me to a gig she was holding at Mill Hill Golf Club. Some of the photos I shot on the evening of June the first form the gallery of that thoroughly enjoyable evening listening to a group of very talented musicians that can be viewed by clicking on the header at the top of this narrative.

Here is a list of those providing my evening's entertainment of Ballads, Bossas and Blues:

Piano:                              Andrew Noble
Bass:                               Loz Garratt
Drums:                            Matt Fisher
Electric Guitar:              Ian Lewinson
Alto Sax:                        Pete Grogan
Trumpet/Flugal Horn:  Sam Warner
Flute:                               Iain Cameron
Bossa Guitarist:             Clive Blass
Tenor Sax:                      Nick Newell

And thanks go to Valerie O'Doherty, who was very welcoming.

So altogether, I am very grateful to the windsurfers of Brogborough!