Ripley Show 2012
Sunday the 12th August saw the Ripley show in all its glory. Overcast, yet hot the conditions where great to get out with my camera.
Chase the Boar race was the firsrt event I saw, a 10Km run around the estate, and not a easy 10Km either. The racers gathered for the off, in the sweaty heat of the day.
And their off by Michael Thompson
It was a good 15 mins before the first of the runners got back, with a commanding lead over the rest of the runners. It was such a long time, I thought he had disposed of the others.
Center ring is where they do the judging, mostly horse based events, and the crowds to the end of the day where centerd there, mostly around the beer tent strangely enough 
Feet tired, I sat down in the shade of the trees by the lake, and watched dogs chasing sticks and jumping into the water. Some very acrobatic dogs who clearly loved the water. Switched the camera to shutter priority and auto ISO, as it was quite gloomy and only having a 70-300mm f/5.6 on the camera. Minimum shutter speed at 1/800 of a second to try and freeze the dogs jumping. Didn’t quite work, as the dogs where moving faster than that and I got a little motion blur on a few of the images, but nothing to bad.
I love to watch people, hence my love of street photography, and the best people to watch are Judges at country shows, The sheer concentration on their faces, the concern, they cycle through a range of facial expressions.
One of the judges appeared to be teaching a young girl, on what to look for in heavy horses. His face said a lot, disappointment, disbelief. As if she should know what to look for as he explained it a million times.
From the heavy horses, we went onto the Carriages. Some classics round the ring, gorgeous jet black horses.
And that was about it for the day, and I decided to head home with a full memory card.
Snapping the snapper
I enjoy, for some unknown reason, when I see people taking images on the street, I have a urge to photograph them.
Its turned into somewhat of a mini project. Its quite surprising to see the amount of Canon DSLR‘s as opposed to Nikon. It does seem that Canon is the more popular brand. Alot of people are also using camera phones. I’m seeing less and less compact cameras.
Anyway, here is a selection of my favourite Photog on the street images. Maybe out there somewhere, is a image of me, taking a image
shh, canon user by Michael Thompson
Smile Please! by Michael Thompson
Another Canon User by Michael Thompson
Your In My Shot! by Michael Thompson
Always one that always looks. by Michael Thompson
Studley Royal
Studley Royal is a great place to practice photography. The Deer, while still naturally nervous of people are used to the many people that walk around the park.
Many times I have been up there, especially during the rutting season, always hoping to catch the mature stags tangling their antlers together. As yet, I am still to capture the moment.
The closest I came was a couple of immature Roe Stags play fighting. The sound of those antlers clattering, and the spooky Bellows of the Stags from the other side of the park give false hope of a fight.
One day, given enough patience, I may get that shot I want, but I am not holding any hope.
But the Deer are a pleasure to photograph all the same. Hyper aware, they are aware of you long before you are aware of them. Standing under the shade of a tree until they take less notice of you, or become more interested in someone else or their dog. You stand there ages, looking through the viewfinder, waiting, just waiting for them to raise their heads, or stand in line, or something. Then without warning, from behind the shreik of a child, louder than any fog horn sends the deer scattering all over. Quietly cursing, its time to find another tree and start it all over again.
Take a trip up to Studley Park if your in the Harrogate/Ripon area, its a great walk around the park.
At home in the Grass by Michael Thompson
Streets
Its been awhile since I wrote about street shooting, but I was out with a friend over the weekend doing some street. She had a huge backpack with every lens she owned.
Generally, for street work I carry three lenses maximum. They are
Sigma 30mm 1.4
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 85mm
Those three lenses are all I need. The 85 is rarely on the camera unless I need that extra reach. I much prefer the 50 for street. These are all kept in my Billingham Hadley, a bag I love for street work. I’d love to do this with a leica, but I don’t have one. 
so I use either a D90 or D7000. There is nothing wrong with a D90, and I love mine, and still use it despite having the D7000. My settings are normally
Aperture or P mode
Center focus point only (or others if more cross types)
Spot metering.
Auto focus single.
Don’t listen to those who sing that a dslr should always be in manual mode, photographing on the street can be over in seconds, and you may not have the time to fart around. Better getting the shot than mussing it. By all means, if your used to manual, and your quick, use it. Otherwise stick with aperture.
The other tip I give people is to learn the frame. See the frame before the camera is at your eye. Wait til your frame is there, camera up and expose, camera down. It takes some getting used to, but it is the best way.
We walked around the streets for a good few hours while she worked up the confidence. That’s something I struggled with, and still do in a way. But it comes with experience. When you realise everyone is wandering around in their own world paying no attention it gets easier.
One question that did come up, is what to photograph. That’s not a question anyone but the photographer can answer. I did however tell her next time to bring a smaller bag, and think what she really needs
Bed Racin
Last weekend saw the Knaresborough bed race trundle through the streets of in all its colour and noise.
The theme for the 2012 event was Olympic Nations. Teams can base their bed design and fancy dress on anything connected with that country. Teams used history, culture, geography, landscape, social or sport to get their inspiration.
There was some impressive beds. The poor girls on Float 36 had a bad day. The person building their bed had not turned up on the day, but that did not stop them. They ran around the local shops getting donations of paint, and cardboard boxes and built their float from scratch.
All in all it was a enjoyable day, everyone had fun, despite the occasional shower. I travelled light that day, just my D7000, 85mm 1.8D and a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. The combination of lenses worked well, 
but I found my self using the Tamron more than any other. Nothing wrong with that lense for the price I paid.
Sunday saw the same kit taken to the Valley Gardens in Harrogate for the 1940′s Open Day. Again I mostly used the Tamron 18-50mm which proved more than caperble on the D7000 body.
It was a fun day, with people walking about in 1940′s style clothing, and various re-enactments. It was a good half day looking around and seeing everyone enjoying them selves
Some of the shots, if I had taken them and given them a vintage look, would of passed for origionals 
Birds in Flight
This weekend I set a small challenge, of capturing some birds in flight. This can be the most futile element of photography.
So I sat on the shore of Swinsty, right where the Terns and Gulls always come in to bully and harass the local ducks.
I missed so many shots, birds not in focus, half out of the frame etc. It was one hell of a challenge to try to keep up with them dodging and diving.
I changed camera settings a few times until I found something that worked, but the challenge was a clear learn the habits of the birds, be aware of what its thinking about where its going.
I quickly began to understand their use of the wind, and where to expect them.
The trick was to prefocus, so that you’re not wasting any time focusing on a extremely fast-moving target, where you only have fractions of a second to start tracking, and to be aware of their glide path.
I started in aperture priority, and quickly realised that was just wrong. So over to Shutter Priority to try to freeze the action. Aiming for 1250th of a second, and with Auto-ISO helping keep the camera going I snapped away. Limited by how long I can hand hold the Sigma 150-500 which is a heavy lens.
Much happier with some of the results now, but this one of those projects, where you throw away a lot more than you keep.
Camera Settings:
- Continuous Focus (AF-C)
- Shutter priority (At least 1250th of a second)
- Auto ISO to suit
- High Frame Rate Enabled
- Evaluative metering
- 21 point Dynamic Area focus
- OS on the lens disabled.
- Some negitive exposure comp.>/li>
They are the camera settings that I found worked best. Practise will make perfect, but it will always be an exercise in knowing your target more than your camera.
Critique
I was browsing around Photocamel earlier and came across a thread (http://photocamel.com/forum/landscape-travel/145384-small-fall.html).
The poster placed an image that he had used a diorama style shot. Which, to be honest really does not work overly well with the subject. Some people critiqued this, and gave their thoughts on the image. In post 6, he rather sternly rebukes the comments made in earlier posts
Having been a photographer for 30+ years, I would like to think that I am fairly well versed in the do’s and don’ts with regards to f-stop, aperture and composition.
—-
FWIW, it’s bad form to critique a photograph without asking first,. This is especially true in a public forum and where there are certain artistic liberties at play that one may, or may not understand.
Now I take an interest in the thread. All postings to Social sites, be they forums, flickr, private websites etc are open to public critique. You have to expect that when posting in full public view. What would art be if people did not discuss it? It would be dull and boring.
I pointed this out in my post (Post 11)
I disagree. People are free to express an opinion, critique it if they wish. You consent to that by making it public display.
You dont have to ask. people will always critique. How boring would the art world be, if no one critiqued? Art Should, and always will promote discussion. Whether the artist wants it or not.
To which he posts rather a childish reply. He offers to go to the website I’ve linked in my signature and critique some of the photos on my website.
Truth be told, I’d love him to. To learn what others think, what the images say to them is what I crave. It makes me think, gives me ideas to improve on photography. And I fully accept that others will view my photography, discuss it, think about it. Is that not the purpose of all art? To promote discussion, thought and critique?
Would Monet’s work be what it is today without people discussing it? I think not.
I’ll repeat one last time:
Art Should, and always will promote discussion. Whether the artist wants it or not.
Related articles
- How Critiquing Other People’s Photographs Can Improve Your Own (photofocus.com)
- Giving a good photo critique How to help your friends become a better photographer (oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com)
As I’ve gotten a couple of emails asking what settings I use when out on the street, I thought it may be a good idea to make a post.
I use a D7000, so some of these settings may be different for your camera.
- Focus / AF
- 9 Point Dynamic
- Auto-Focus
- Continuous Focus (AF-C)
- Camera in A
- Matrix Metering
- Playback Menu:
- Image review: Off
- Shooting Menu:
- Image Quality: RAW
- Colour space: Adobe RGB
- Active D-Lighting: Off (Auto)
- Log exp. NR: On
- High ISO NR: Norm (Off)
- ISO: ISO 100
- Custom Settings Menu:
- a5 Focus point wrap around: On
- a7 Built-in AF-assist illumination: Off
- c1 Shutter Release Exposure Locking: Off (default)
- c2 Meter Off Delay: 8s
- d3 ISO Display: ISO
- f9 Reverse indicators: -0+ (Becaue +0- Just makes no sense.)
- 9 Point Dynamic
- Matrix Metering
- Image review: Off
- ISO: ISO 100
- a5 Focus point wrap around: On
- a7 Built-in AF-assist illumination: Off
- f9 Reverse indicators: -0+ (Becaue +0- Just makes no sense.)
York in manual
So I headed off to York, with one thought on my mind. To fully use my D7000 in full manual mode.
So, my standard street setup was put in the camera, and the dial put on M. Dont get me wrong, I’ve used M many times before, but nearly always found a excuse to revert back to more familiar ground in A mode.
Initially, my mind was more on the scene, than the camera and I overexposed / underexposed some of the shots. Quickly I rememberd to balance the exposure meter.
What surprised me the most, was how much more I was thinking of the overall image. Not just raise the camera to the eye and press the shutter, but actually look at the image. Where normally I’d come away with maybe 100 shots, I came home with under 50 as I was just so much more aware of the image.
I did however find that some of my subjects had finished what they were doing, and moved before I had set the camera up. No doubt it will become quicker the more I do it, but I did get rather annoyed that, in y mind at least, I was missing shots.
I did however enjoy shooting in Manual mode. And have no doubts that I shall not move it off Manual for quite a while.
I’ll post some more shots from my recent York wander as soon as I get round to processing them.
As ever, please feel free to take a wander through my York Gallery.
York, Again
Annoyed with my Linux server, as it just keeps rejecting all connections on a seemingy random schedule, and the logs showing nothing untoward, I sparked up my copy of Lightroom and edited a few photos.
York is a great place to photograph, plenty of tourists around, interesting streets, people and architecture. Theres nearly always street artists around, and the market is always there. Plenty of interesting subjects whatever you like shooting.
For more photos, feel free to view my York set.
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August favourites
Its been a good month for my Photography, and I’ve got many photos I liked. Picking three is no easy task for me, but these are the three that I’ve chosen as my August best.
1.) Man with Hawk
Not a ground breaking shot by any means, but the angle of the birds head, the look on the falconers face, really make the photo for me.
This is easy the photo that I’d choose as my number 1.
2.) Unique 
I think this shot just speaks for its self. The original was untouched. But I decided, to draw the attention in a complete way to this rather unique lady.
And last, but by no means least,
3.) Woah!
I liked this photo, and shortly after uploading it, I was contacted by the rider. Who explained her horse was being a little unruly. And thats what makes it special. The story that emerged, the personal touch.
So, thats my favourite three. Do you agree, disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Ripley Show 2011
I’d never been to the Ripley Show. So I thought I might bimble down to Ripley and have a little look round.
At £6 entry, free to leave and go back all day, its good value. I dont know if it was expected by the organisers to be larger than it was, but it appeared quite segmented and spread out over a rather large area. The rings where really small and crammed in front of the Beer tent, the sheep and pigs on the other side of the lake, a good 8 minute walk. And a long long way from anything else.
Let alone the gundogs, they where almost impossible to find, and the dogs where right up by the west wall of the grounds.
But despite that, it was a good morning wandering round, watching the various judging competions, not much jumping going on though from the horses.
As it was a lot less busy than the Yorkshire Show, I was able to get a lot closer to the action. I had gone with my Huge 150-500mm, but actually found my 85mm Prime to be more than adequate for the majority of the shots.
This image is Carved In Rosewood ridden by Lucy Morgan. I posted this to Flickr and Lucy commented that it was her. Its always nice to put a name to a photo, gives it a little more life.
I hung around the 3 rings watching the horses, but quickly got a bit bored with the same old happening with nothing to really gt excited about.
Then I found the Falcony display. He was’nt going to be showing the birds flying, but he did show off the birds to the audiance, and frighteningly close.
I love this photo, the look on the falconers face, the bird looking over its wing. The two just work really well together.
I listened to every word he said about his birds. His dedication and respect for these birds is intense, and he truly had a passion for them.
Shortly after he had finished his talk about his charges, I headed over to the Sheep and Pigs to see what was on the other side of the lake.
One thing I did notice, how many young people where showing animals. It was good to see the younger generation taking part in country life and enjoying it.
From beef/Dairy to Pigs and sheep and Horses, there was a good and wide age range showing.
All of them confident and proud of their animals.
This young lady for instance, quite sure of her pig, guiding it round the shabby built showing ring, and taking no piggy nonsense.
Then there was this young lady. The sheep she had, was being non to co-operative with the procedings, did it put her off? Not a chance. It took all her strengh to control that ram. But she did it, and was awarded 2nd Place.
The judge looked like a verified sheep guy, a obvious farmer. The ring was surrounded by weatherd farmers, alot in their 70′s by the look and as fit as a butchers dog. It looked like a local market had formed.
I enjoyed my time at the Ripley show. Unlike the Yorkshire show, it was a lot less commercial, and more like an Agricultural show should be. Local farmers highlight of the year. Not the huge farmers with their massive machines and hundreds of heads of sheep. This was a show for your average farmer, working every hour and pouring blood sweat and tears into their work.
I can honestly say, I enjoyed Ripley show a damn sight more than the Yorkshire show.
I was also impressed with my new D7000. It works so well with my 85mm prime. Just love that combination. Images crisp and well saturated even at 1.8. Love it. I don’t often do a lot of PP, and almost every shot came out of camera, and had absolutely no work. Every image on this page had no PP done, and was RAW shots. I took in excess of 500 images that day. A lot where on continuous drive, and a lot thrown out due to stupid mistakes on my part. I almost exclusively shot in aperture priority, several times forgetting to adjust aperture, giving some horrible DOF issues on some images.
But I simply cant fault the D7000. Pure quality.
Sigma 150-500
I got this Monster of a lense a few weeks ago, and hav’nt really used it proper, so I thought I’d head down to the Deer Park and give it a try.
I found a large mixed group of Fallow and Red Deer just off the road. So I set up under the cover of a large Oak. Added bonus was it protected me from the rain I was a good 70-80 meters from the Deer at this point and they where well aware I was there.
Snapping away merrily, they started to move toward me. They got into around 30 meters or so.
I was well pleased with the lense performance. It was almost every shot was acceptable in sharpness, even streched out to 500mm, where this lense is reported as soft. Not as sharp as a £1500+ nikon of course, but for this price, I cant complain.
It focused stupidly fast, thanks to Sigma‘s HSM motors.
Background blur was pleasing to my eye at least.
I certainly dont regret getting this lense, you just have to learn its moods, at what aperture it works best at, and its speed. ISO adjustments are definatly your friend with this lense. I had vibration reduction off for these shots, as I was shooting off a Monopod. But I did use it when I photographed at Leeds Airport. It worked well, but I would always tend to use a lense of this focal length on a monopod or tripod.
Its a very heavy long lense that gets very tiring hand holding incredibly quickly.
All in all, a great lense, and fantastic buy for a budget.
I called it quits when a group of kids came in from the left, making a hell of a racket, walking toward the Deer, which caused them to scatter.
Railways
I’d love to recreate this photo. However I’ve run into a couple of problems doing so
- Tripod is required. I’ve got tripods. But they are really heavy and bulky.
- I cant get into a railway station thats busy enough. I’ve asked in Leeds Station, and was told no, in no uncertain terms that any form of photography will result in BTP being called.
I did think of trying a shot of people getting on and off the Leeds Train at Harrogate, but this stain of a train station is a utterly crap location.
So until I can get permission to photograph at Leeds Station, this photo op is on hold.
