Mercedes Benz S Class

Car of the moment, or car of the year? When it comes to being at the forefront of technology, Mercedes Benz's S Class could easily (in my opinion) lay claim to being unsurpassed by any other manufacturer. 

Step inside the car and a single bulb won't be found. Over 300 LEDs make up this lavish interior, with a 43.5 degree reclining rear seat boasting hot stone massage options. 

Mercedes made a pretty bold statement by naming one of their functions 'Magic Comfort Ride'. It's probably something you should experience first hand, as it literally is mind-boggling. The ability to seemingly eradicate speedbumps from the road in front is extremely surreal!

Packed full of cutting-edge technology, to catch a glimpse into the future of motoring, pick up septembers issue of CAR Magazine and read Ben Oliver's article on what sets this car apart from every other. 

Portfolio update: DB9, S3, Caterham 7 and a 512BB

In June's issue of CAR Magazine, a Cobalt Blue Aston Martin DB9 joined the fleet of long termers. I challenge anyone to think of a better way of welcoming a car than heading to the hills of North Wales:

Collecting the car from Aston Martin's factory in Gaydon, the production line filled was with a plethora of expensive metal. Not to mention this menacing Vanquish which sat in the final inspection bay:  

Will the 2013 Audi S3 make it into the hot-hatch hall of fame? The 300bhp Quattro packs enough punch to keep up with a 911, how will it fare against the Fiesta ST or Renault Clio? Pick up Issue 611 to find out. Photographed on location in Munich:

Ben Oliver gives us seven reasons why we love the Caterham 7, as the iconic car turns 40. Great to photograph in this lurid colour:

Lastly, in between shooting for CAR Magazine i've been back in the studio, shooting various marques for Studio434. One car in particular stood out, the Ferrari 512BB (Berlinetta Boxer) and it's 12 cylinder engine:

All of these images are now uploaded into the portfolio 'cars' section of my website, be sure to check them out large!

Renaultsport Clio 200 Turbo EDC

Last month I flew out to the Sierra Nevada in Southern Spain for CAR Magazine to photograph the launch of the new Renaultsport Clio 200 Turbo EDC.

With both Ben (Road Test Editor) and I being a fan of it's predecessor, how would the new Clio RS fair with it's paddleshift dual clutch gearbox and turbocharged lump?

Find out in May's issue of CAR Magazine (Issue 610) as it's challenged by Peugeot's long awaited 208 GTi.

On Your Marks...

​Get Set, Go! Finally, a long overdue facelift to the website. This time, focusing around the majority of my workload, automotive subjects.

​The new design brings with it a whole range of advantages;

• Clean and responsive layout. ​Images automatically resize to your screen, meaning the focus stays on what's important.
• ​Tablet and mobile ready. Images look great at any time, any where. 
• Protected galleries for clients to access their individual images.
• Offline applications. Less useful for you, but this allows me to take an offline version of my website/portfolio to visit clients.

What's more, the very blog that you are reading has now been migrated within the site. Makes sense don't you think?​ With that in mind I aim to blog regularly with what I'm up to.

Have a browse around, let me know what you think and leave a comment below :-)

Catching up with Tearsheets...

I've been pretty slack in keeping up to date with my latest tearsheets, however I count myself very fortunate lately to be featured in a whole host of different publications. In an effort to catch up, i've created a tearsheet folder on my facebook fan page with all the latest additions including tearsheets from; Professional Photographer, World of Photography, Digital Photographer, Photography Monthly, BBC, Daily Telegraph and several calendars.

Feel free to check them out and leave me a comment :-)

Facebook Fan Page - Richard Pardon | Photographer

Yet one more way to keep up to date with all of my photography related antics, the Richard Pardon | Photographer Facebook Fan Page will aim to feature a whole host of unseen and behind the scene shots.

If your interested in following my work or getting in contact, feel free to 'Like' the page and say hello. With 17 likes on launch day receiving 980 post views, Facebook makes a great platform to reach large audiences in a short space of time. As such I hope to be updating my fan page consistently with various reviews, links and photography related ramblings. With this post being rather short and sweet I thought it was best to include a silly picture of something I couldn't be without, my sparkling iPad!

Published - Hertfordshire Life Magazine

If you're local to Hertfordshire then why not grab yourself the latest September issue of Hertfordshire Life, containing two of my landscape photographs in their "Beautiful Hertfordshire" section. I'm thrilled to have some more of my landscape work published as it means those early morning wake up calls for sunrise are worth while! Included in the magazine is "Sunset over the fields of Hertfordshire at Studham" and "Purple Haze at Hitchin Lavender, Ickleford" :)

I've been doing alot more landscape work recently and if you'd like to keep up with the latest then check out my FlickR account here or follow me on Twitter.

Published - Western Gazette: "Snapper Richard discovers inspiring shots on trip home"

You may recall recently that I blogged about Sherborne Abbey and the fact Hannah and I had the great opportunity to see some of the unseen sights it has to offer, mainly the panoramic view from the bell tower. I was thrilled when a BBC Dorset Journalist published some of the images on their BBC News In Pictures section, however never did I expect that a fleeting visit to the Abbey would result in the local newspaper asking to write an article about me. The Western Gazette, founded in 1737 and having a circulation of 31,000 is a newspaper spanning the areas of Dorset and Somerset. Growing up in Sherborne i've often read this paper, so to have them contact me and request an interview for the upcoming edition I was both shocked and excited to say the least. The article touches on the beginning of my photography career, the experience we had at Sherborne Abbey and includes a rather scary picture of myself (credit to Hannah for taking that!).

Thanks to my mother for the above scan, who managed to purchase the paper in a local supermarket and glance over it before even realising it was me! All of this just goes to show that opportunities such as photographing the Abbey should be grabbed with both hands. It's an approach I always try to adopt with my photography and personal projects as you'll never know where things might end up! If your local to Dorset or Somerset then why not grab a copy and take a look at yourself on page 4 :)

Domke Bags

I'm no stranger when it comes to Domke's products as i've been using the F-2 Little Bit Bigger Bag for a couple of years now. From being placed on cliff edges one thousand metres high to scraping along chemical factory floors, this bag has seen it all and is testimony to the great products Domke produce. I'm thrilled to announce that i've teamed up with the brilliant guys at Domke who make what can only be described as photographic necessities.

Not only do Domke offer great products which last, and last, and err last...the research and development they put into their products is second to none and that's why they've asked me to team up and help test their products out in the field. I'll be blogging regularly both on here and their website over at www.domkebags.co.uk so be sure to keep an eye out. Click here to read their news post about the collaboration.

I'd like to thank Domke for this opportunity and look forward to working closely with them in the near future.

Published - BBC News In Pictures: Inside Sherborne Abbey

Commented as one of Dorset's most historic and ornate buildings, the BBC have just published my images of Sherborne Abbey as part of their 'In Pictures' section of the Dorset News website.

After a brief conversation with a BBC Journalist, five images and suitable captions were chosen to publish on their website. If you'd like to take a look, please feel free to click the following link: BBC Dorset News - In Pictures: Inside Sherborne Abbey