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!

Events - BTCC and Support Races at Rockingham

Ten years of planning, two years of construction and Rockingham became Europe's fasted banked oval circuit opening in 2001. With a variable layout it hosts many events throughout the year, and on it's 10th Anniversary it was turn of the British Touring Car Championship to dominate the Northamptonshire tarmac. Having just completed a photoshoot with Team Parker Racing and their number '70' Porsche Carrera Cup driver Stephen Jelley, we were very kindly invited back to watch the race action unfold. I for one do not need an excuse to attend any motorsport event, and happily at 7am on Sunday morning we headed to 'The Rock'.

All of my motorsport coverage in 2011 has been from a spectator's point of view, and at Rockingham that certainly makes things difficult. Circuits have safety fences to protect the public and unless you are able to get relatively close to these fences, it is near on impossible to shoot through. The circuit is able to host cars capable of reaching speeds of 200mph, and these safety fences are relatively large/difficult to get close to. As with all of my photography I want to put my own perspective on things, and at Rockingham this made it very hard with the limited access to different vantage points.

Nevertheless, with access to the pit lane and paddock thanks to Team Parker Racing we made use of the pit garage roof tops, using slow shutter speeds to pan like crazy as cars teared down the start/finish straight:

Left in the above picture we have Jason Plato storming past his pit crew to victory in Race 1. To the right we have Frank Wrathall who along with Rob Austin this weekend proved that the NGTC cars are on the pace providing exciting racing all weekend which had the crowd cheering. Team Parker Racing had a fantastic set of results with Euan Hankey taking home first place in both races:

Stephen Jelley in the fantastic looking number '70' 911 GT3 had two lightning starts which placed him 4th in both races. It was great to catch up with TPR on Sunday and run them through a few pictures from thursdays editorial shoot using my iPad.

If your a BTCC fan then the next round is less than two weeks away at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. With championship standings in the BTCC and Porsche Carrera Cup being incredibly close at the top it's all to play for in the last two rounds. The finale is held at Silverstone on October the 16th and CarBuzz.co.uk have teamed up with with the circuit to offer a lucky subscriber two free weekend tickets, simply like their page and you'll be in with a chance of winning!

Photoshoot - Team Parker Racing; Stephen Jelley

Team Parker Racing are a household name when it comes to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. With many trophies and records of championship wins under their belt, this Leicestershire based team currently run 6 cars across the various classes. One of their drivers, Stephen Jelley of previous BTCC fame is in clear contention for this year's title in the number 70 car. This weekend will see the BTCC and Porsche Carrera Cup GB make way to Rockingham, the only US-style ‘oval’ circuit in the UK. The amount of work and dedication that goes into these events behind the scenes is simply amazing. Yesterday we travelled to Rockingham near Corby for an 8am start, ready to spend the day with Team Parker Racing. Let me start by saying that we both Han and I were blown away by the hospitality that Stuart and the team showed us.

In just under 2 hours, 10 dedicated members of Team Parker Racing had built what you could only describe any racers dream. Everything is worked out with precision, each car has it's own position allowing engineers to work quickly and easily. Race lorries are like the tardis, relatively normal on the outside but each house 3 cars, work benches and a driver's lounge! With free reign about the cars to produce an editorial shoot on TPR we decided to first concentrate on some interior/detail shots before Stephen Jelley arrived.

Working around the cars, we felt like part of the team. It was great to chat to engineers about the team and the cars they run, lots of interesting stories to be told! Shortly after lunch time Stephen had arrived, and after a quick chat with him we knew what we wanted to achieve. I'm not sure everyone can say this, but our claim to fame can now be that we've been driven around a race circuit by Stephen Jelley, albeit in a golf buggy......slowly working on our chances in the Porsche ;-)

If anyone knows Rockingham, then you might know that to gain access to the circuit you need to pass through two rather large 'Exhaust Appreciation' tunnels. Before we had even arrived at Rockingham I had planned to use this for a shot. As a photographer it's crucial to have a plan mapped out enabling you to work quickly and efficiently, maximising your actual shooting time with the client. I attached a Speedlite 580EXII to a light stand and had Hannah hold it high over the nose of the Porsche. A second Speedlite 430EX had a full red gel behind the car, and using PocketWizards as my trigger we got the shot in a matter of a minutes before continuing onto the infield.

With Rockingham granting us access to the infield and start line it made a great setting for any race car and quickly the shots started to flow. Huge admiration for Stephen, as he was more than up for doing anything I had in mind. A true gentleman, both a pleasure to meet and photograph. The first shot below is lit with two speedlites, 580EXII camera right as key and 430EX camera left with a red gel for rim. The second shot below is taken using a 70-200 F2.8 at 130mm. Wanting to keep the aperture wide open this is a composite of two shots. The first of all was taken of the car, lit with a single 580EXII Speedlite camera right. All strapped down on a tripod, the focus point was then changed to Stephen. 430EX Camera left in a softbox my VAL (Voice Activated Lightstand, thanks Han! ;-) ) walked parallel to Stephen. All triggered via PocketWizards I made the most of their fantastic 'Hypersync' functionality by using a shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second to kill ambient and still keep recharge times to a minimum:

Unlike other circuits, at Rockingham you have the ability to ascend on top of the pit garages and obtain a higher view point. What better way than to put my new wide angle to the test with this next shot. The lens really excelled it self in every aspect and will always have a home in my kit bag:

What's a race car without speed? In between towing the car around the track with a quad I jumped on the back to try and capture some motion. Some cloning in photoshop to remove the strap and again my wide angle came to the rescue. I love this shot, taken at 1/13th of a second handheld!

Just before the British Touring Car Teams started to setup their garages ahead of race weekend, we quickly borrowed one for a few dramatic shots. Most striking of which has to be this one, lit with two speedlites camera left and right.

All of the lighting setups were simplistic in the fact every photograph has a maximum of two speedlites, triggered via PocketWizard Flex's. The wide angle lens has seriously impressed me and I would recommend it to anyone, hopefully the above photographs speak for themselves! You'll be able to check out higher resolution images over on my website at www.richardpardon.co.uk. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below, the day was a huge success and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A huge thank you to Stephen Jelley and all at Team Parker Racing, best of luck for the weekend. We'll be there cheering you on! :)

Kit Bag - Canon 17-40 F4 L Wide Angle Lens

Thursday the 15th of September will see what is probably the biggest shoot of my career to date. I'm not wanting to give anything away just yet, but I wanted to take a step back and look at the wider picture ;-) I'm really surprised I haven't seriously looked at this lens sooner. Taking into account that the Canon 17-40mm F4 L Wide Angle Lens is one of the cheaper 'L' glasses around, it certainly packs value for money. Not only do I need this lens for a shoot on Thursday, but with the recent increase in my landscape photography it's going to be a handy addition to my kit bag. Being surprisingly light and quick to focus it's very versatile and easy to use meaning i'm very unlikely to leave the house without it.

Canon aren't best known for their wide angle lenses with many photographers critising them. It's not uncommon to see a Canon body fitted with the Nikon 14-24mm lens via an adaptor plate, but as the saying goes "It's not the equipment, it's how you use it". This lens provides me with the focal length that I require and unlike it's bigger brother (the 16-35 F2.8L) it still allows me to use my current accessories due to size of it's filter thread.

I recently had the pleasure of using a Sigma 17-35mm F2.8 out on holiday in Mallorca. As great as it was with it's monsterous filter thread size of 82mm (much like the 16-35 F2.8) I had no accessories that would fit it?! The Canon 17-40mm has a 77mm filter thread which means all of my exisiting filters slot in or screw on just fine. I'm really looking forward to putting the lens through it's paces and will report back as soon as I have!

Review - iPhone App: Photo Stats

If you own an iPhone and enjoy photography then there's a possibility you could be like me and currently have 1,763 photographs sitting on your phone. Chase Jarvis said that "The best camera, is the one you have with you" and it couldn't be more true. Carrying large amounts of photographic equipment isn't always suitable, and as such taking photographs on whatever device you have to hand is key in capturing the moment. Besides, sometimes shooting with the most basic of equipment can be the most fun as it makes you think creatively. I love taking snapshots with my iPhone4 and using various apps to edit and share on twitter/facebook, there's something quirky about it and if you follow me on twitter i'm sure you'll see the random uploads.

Part of the fun in iPhone photography is geotagging; seeing geographically where your images have been taken. I've almost made a habit of it now, that when visiting a new location i'll take a snapshot to get a pin in the map. DFANewYork have just launched their latest app called Photostats, which produces funky info-graphic renditions of how, when, and where you took your shots.

As it stands, 929 of my images were taken in the UK and 863 were taken at ISO80 according to their metadata. At £0.69 it's a cheap download and worthwhile if you find this sort of information interesting :)

Events - DTM, Brands Hatch

DTM or Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is the fastest touring car series in the world with 470bhp rwd fire breathing machines tackling various circuits across the globe. It's this weekend that sees the British round of the DTM series and Brands Hatch plays host to these dramatic cars. For as long as I can remember i've been interested in the DTM series, having owned various models of the cars as a child. With my thirst for motorsport photography being greater than ever I headed to the Kent based circuit for 8:30am, ready for the 9:00am practice session. From a photography point of view the qualifying and practice days are fantastic not only because of the lower ticket price, but the ability to freely wander between vantage points without too much hassle or overcrowding. Brands still remains to be one of my favourite circuits to photograph at, and once I heard the rumble of these V8 monsters fire up in the pit lane I felt all giddy!

These cars certainly don't disappoint, from shredding sparks to breathing fire and the immense noise they produce as they thunder around this 1.2 mile indy circuit it's a spectacle to witness:

With free practice one lasting 90 minutes it gave me plenty of opportunity to use different vantage points around the circuit (much to my foot's discomfort!):

I'll have to admit that I immediately took a shine to the Red Bull liveried Audi's, a fantastic looking car but as the day went on I grew increasingly fond of Green's chromed Mercedes:

This round of the DTM was certainly no stranger to famous names, having David Coulthard racing in the actual series itself and various support races (such as the Scirocco R Cup) boasting legends like Tiff Needell and Mark Blundell. You'll be able to see a full gallery of saturday's DTM and Support Race action at the end of this blog post. Earlier I mentioned that Brands is a fantastic circuit to photograph, especially when you can incorporate elements such as elevation. All of my photographs are shot from a spectators point of view, perhaps one day i'll be able to get media accreditation! Below is a triptych showing a few different vantage points you can obtain:

There seems to be a greater element of spectator involvement with DTM, and although i'm still not sure what you have to do to be lucky enough to find yourself in the passenger seat of one of the DTM cars for a few taxi laps it's now a dream of mine!

I think this blog post contains more images than any previous posts of mine, but I had such a great time shooting the DTM today i'll be certain to return to next years hoping for that passenger ride! ;-) For a 200picture+ gallery from today's races/qualifying/practice sessions and various support races, please feel free to click this link. If you have any specific request for shots, or would like to use any of my images please contact me here.

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.

Events – BTCC Snetterton and Support Races

Norfolk based circuit Snetterton has recently been redesigned to incorporate a new 1 mile infield section of further twists and turns. Adding extra technical difficulty to the circuit it also improves track safety and boasts better vantage points for spectators. Last year I drove the original Snetterton layout and had huge amounts of fun, so naturally I was slightly dubious as to what the new Snetterton 300 layout would have to offer. With the new improved spectator viewing areas, it provides plenty of new photographic opportunities to tryout. Lap times from the BTCC series are now nearer the 2 minute mark but still provide action packed close racing, as the below photograph shows the grid entering the new 'Palmer' left hander.

This is the first round after a lengthy summer break which saw changes to the grid, now boasting 27 starters! Welch Motorsport made an appearance in their NGTC Proton, as well as Martin Byford taking a drive in the AmD Miltek Golf. Over the summer break teams were able to make developments to the cars, most impressive of all was seeing Dynojet's Frank Wrathall place 4th in Round 16, the highest this car has ever placed. Sadly, due to an incident in Round 17 Wrathall's radiator was damaged and caused him to retire for the remainder of the day.

Weather during the week didn't look promising, with intermittent showers up until the weekend. Early race day and the sun was out in force as Jason Plato stormed to victory in Round 16 (picture above).

Never having photographed at Snetterton before, we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of vantage points you could obtain as a spectator. Snetterton is certainly one of the more friendlier circuits to shoot at as its lack of chain fences and access to plenty of corners means great opportunities. The above shot is a wide angle panning shot of a Porsche 911 Carrera Cup GB Car passing through newly named Brundle left hander (originally 'The Esses').

With an exciting Round 17 and Shedden leading from Lap 2 we headed to the pits to capture the podium presentation. Needless to say we'll be sending Shedden a bill for the camera clean! ;-)

Lastly, Round 18 saw a reverse grid and Mat Jackson lead from the front to another victory for the Airwaves Ford Focus. Here he is below pushing hard through Nelson and clipping the kerb sending that Focus soaring:

The photographs in this post are a brief selection of the day, if you'd like to view the full gallery including all of the support races (Renault Clio Cup, Formula Renault, Ginetta G50/G55, Porsche Carrera Cup GB) please feel free to click this link.

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.