Firemonkeyphoto

Korfball looking kool0
neil posted in Travel on January 28th, 2008

Almost!0
neil posted in Photos, Neil, Sports on January 24th, 2008

Shooting the Scottish Universities league qualifier, Edinburgh vs St Andrews. First half the Sports Union’s video camera was taped to the top of my 70-200mm. Second half was trained tight on Edinburgh goalie. The aim was to merge stills and video so that the video would roll but freeze to the image I made of the keeper in action. A Canon strobe was snooted and placed left of the goal to cross light the water, set to over expose one stop.

I did’nt QUITE get it. It should be good enough for a proof of concept though. More here.

Pictures from the Strathpuffer up0
neil posted in Photos, Neil, Sports on January 22nd, 2008

We survived0
neil posted in Travel on January 20th, 2008

Los cinco Hombres vs le Strathpuffer0
Alicia posted in Travel on January 19th, 2008

Tonight, in the cold dark polar north beneath the stars and ufos sleep five men with a mission. Five men with a passion. Five men, one of whom is due to get married soon. (y esta noche, en la ciudad magnifica de Jackson Hole.. un intruso intrépido steals neil’s blog.. YOINK! waaaiiit.. ¿cuándo aprendí hablar en lengüetas?)

(let us ask ourselves: if the men are on a mission.. when do they plan on sleeping..? especially when taking into consideration the vast quantities of whisky packed along.. ich habe Beweis!)

The riders/key players of the weekend (otherwise known as: los monos locos, die verrückten, les imbéciles — waaaait.. that does mean fools, right?… so long as son tontos seguros y felices)  … and their prescribed roles..

George: (un trompé!!!)

Stag of the moment, tree branch collector, starting racer, lead programmer, pointer outer of the obvious and secondary van driver, el sabio, das hohe, l’un qui devrait poser des questions, el betrothen ein..

Bertie:

Head whiskey taster, French translator, head full suspension rider, Strathpuffer lacrosse team manager, master of abuse absorbtion and water mangament expert, el verletzt, le preneur de beaucoup de risques, l’une douleur cherchante? — given that he follows neil and crew? yes.. most certainly.)..   

Dave:

 
Head of hair, German translator, beer management expert, tequila administrator, bearer of the lucozade, Serbian brandy specialist and defender of the south coast from possible French invasion. (this one says so much already.. ich kann keine Gerechtigkeit tun.) 

Fraser:

Chief van driver, head of singlespeed (development, testing and control), mud management consultant, owner of most expensive suspension fork, ice climbing expert, movie critic and weights and measures representative, encargado de los calcetines, das wer nach Kälte sucht, le célibataire et disponible du groupe — die stattlichen Junggeselledamen?)

Neil:

Baldness mangagement consultant, master of boxes, inventor of swear words, chief of photography, head box marker, builder of boxes, filler of boxes, stacker of boxes, moose bearer, head elastic strap provider and fire consultant, Mina! , Wächter des gnome, el mono loco supremo, Sucher vom verrückten… and the first one to get yelled at by the bride-to-be if the groom is damaged in any way.. (wie der beste Mann sein sollte)

As you can see, every role is filled. Our team is complete. We are entered under “Last ride of the Stag”, team 253, tracking may be posible via the sportident website here, either by name, number or individual (8882, 8883, 8884, 8885)
Strathpuffer 4somes (who doesn’t know how to count..? herm..) here we come. KAMPAI!!!

Running on empty0
neil posted in Photos, bikes, Alicia on January 15th, 2008

Alicia and I ran for the airport bus this morning. We were 15 minutes early. Currently she is travelling home via Frankfurt and Denver equipped only with books by James Heriot book and John Simpson. In the meantime, she agreed I could share these images of three of us removing the pedals from Bertie’s bike. The fight took over half an hour, involved three people, two door frames, two pairs of gloves and a great deal of sweat. Fraser swore he saw the cranks bend at one point. I’m glad she could document this epic battle between man and machine, the world will hopefully never see the like again.

Enjoying big band jazz…0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on January 15th, 2008

You cannot sing the blues if you are in office or mall, the lighting is wrong….0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on January 14th, 2008

Essay party!0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on January 9th, 2008

David Alan Harvey has put the final selection of his essay competition up here. Go enjoy them now! If that link breaks go via his blog here.
There are photos for all tastes from out of focus abstract black and white (Bob Black) to contemporary reportage from China (Sean Gallagher)

Mine did’nt make the cut so here’s my submission/consolation prize:

D70 synch speed test0
neil posted in Neil, phototech on January 9th, 2008

AKA: The worst exposed pictures you will ever see on this site!

Flash synch speed is the fastest shutter speed you can get flash output at. This is VERY important for shooting with flash in daylight as the higher the flash synch speed, the more control you have over the daylight exposure level. Your flash only cares for aperture and ISO (its a FLASH) wheras your daylight exposure cares about aperture, ISO AND shutter speed. This article on strobist suggests the Nikon D70 has a hidden talent. With a Pocket Wizard or non TTL off camera cable, it is capable of synching with a flash well above its normal flash synch maximum of 1/250th of a second. David Hobby notes that the D70s can make it with a PW up to 1/1600th of a second and with a cord up to its shortest possible exposure.

I performed a quick test using pocketwizards and a SB800 aimed at my computer monitor to see if the D70 could match its newer cousin. You can see clearly the output falloff with faster shutter speeds but it still WORKS which is good to know in a pinch. With some care you could set the power/distance/aperture to give you a decent exposure. You could also snoot the flash using shutter speed, how cool is that? (tests to confirm this later!). The other conclusion that can be drawn is that I need to clean my monitor. Tests with a 1D mk2n reveal that only part of the frame is exposed at higher than 1/250th.