Category: Uncategorized

Ziggurat Sponsored Cycle

by phil hutchinson, posted in Uncategorized

Very happy to support this cause for Action Medical Research and sponsors BDG architecture + design by photographing them and other riders and on day one of their 311 mile cycle across northern France over 4 days. The team of 10 from BDG raised £20,000 – We followed the team from Epsom to the edge of Portsmouth. Photo credit for the last photo to the talented Bella Bertoni

Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For 65 years it has helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of children.

https://www.bdg-a-d.com/
https://action.org.uk/events/corporate-events/ziggurat-2022www.bdg

Sidecar Motocross

by phil hutchinson, posted in Uncategorized

Another outing to test how the micro four thirds Olympus can measure up to photographing fast moving action, and personally missing sidecar motocross. This was my first opportunity to catch a round of the British Championship this year. This event was round six at staged at Milton Malsor in Northamptonshire, a compact, interesting and accessible track. Previous visits have all been to Canada Heights which is a wonderful woodland setting with lots if elevation, Milton Malsor looks like a good contender for more visits.

For the photographers, I partnered the Olympus EM1 with the 40-150 zoom and 300 f4, both performed better than I expected, excellent focus tracking and lens stabilisation meant no need for a support and made shooting much simpler allowing me to test out a wide range of angles and approaches.
Shutter speeds between 1/1600-1/2000 to capture the action and 1/40 for the panning shots. I also set a couple of the custom modes beforehand to easily switch between shooting styles whilst at the track, I recommend this so as not to miss shots
After a few races to check the best vantage points, I found on almost all locations a lower viewpoint* offered the best approach and the opportunity to get level with the sidecar passengers eyes. The abundance of wild grasses and flowers provided a further element of interest to the foreground.

* with any fast moving sports, make sure your shooting position is safe and only ever one knee on the ground.

Maunsell Forts

by phil hutchinson, posted in Uncategorized

The extraordinary Red Sands Maunsell Forts in the Thames Estuary have been on my list to visit for some years. These were designed by the civil engineer Guy Maunsell and built during WW2 to help protect London from air raids against enemy aircraft flying up the Thames estuary. On a clear day these are visible from the north Kent coast, and just under an hour away by motor launch. For a little more information try https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2020/06/16/maunsell-sea-forts/

Very fortunate with the weather, not so many challenges from a photography perspective. My favourite travel lens the 12-100mm Zuiko performed exactly as expected. Not so much need for the image stabilisation due to light levels though welcome to manage the boats pitching in the shots from a distance. A polarising filter was used on all shots.

Olympus 300 f4

by phil hutchinson, posted in Uncategorized

I’ve owned this lens for a little while and not truly recognised its capabilities, sharing here after 9 months some examples, mostly bare some with the 1.4 2X extenders . Its quite an extraordinary lens, well done Olympus!

This photograph of a squirrel was shot a few days ago and is the equivalent of 1200mm (35mm style) using the 2x extender and stopped down to f10 and shot at 1/400 hand held with just a bean bag for support. I’m more than impressed it can deliver images like this.
For context the shot below this one is from the same vantage point using a 35mm equivalent, with a keen eye you can just make out the squirrel half way up the tree trunk.

  • 15mm (35mm equiv) view

Haringey Huskies 2021

by phil hutchinson, posted in Uncategorized

Its been a year now since the Huskies took to the ice. In March their ‘elite status’ gave an invitation to the EIHA South Cup to play teams a division or so higher than them. Sadly no supporters at the Palace, and a slightly strange atmosphere where the home crowd certainly add an edge. The six match series ended with a deserved win for Huskies away at MK Thunder. So looking forward to what they can achieve next season!

https://twitter.com/HaringeyHuskies

More photographs from the 2021 EIHA South Cup series are here;

Huskies vs MK Thunder https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVaPCcK
Huskies vs Solent Devils https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUZkGW5
Huskies vs Slough Jets https://flic.kr/s/aHsmURzwei

These photographs are free to use for anyone promoting the Haringey Huskies, please do credit me as photographer. For all other uses please contact me before use

I am including a few technical notes and hints for photographers like me, who have found ice hockey and indoor venues a challenge, and learnt through practice (these are all specific for Alexandra Place though should help at other venues)

Set a white balance for the lighting and venue – this is so important to keep the ice naturally white
Exposure compensation – I normally use +1.0 again to balance the amount of white in the frame.
Check the lighting – at Alexandra Palace it’s definitely 1 stop brighter on one side on the rink
800-1/1000th sec is what you will need to capture the action, slow to 1/500th or less for celebrations and best quality.
Shoot wide open f2.8-3.2 due to shooting through nets and use auto ISO, for most this all means shooting in MANUAL.
Shoot in RAW where you can to help balance the lighting variations in post
If your kit means you are pushing your ISO so high the grain is a problem, consider investing in Topaz DeNoise or similar
A fast 70-200mm lens or similar is my go to, and all you should need to get going

Shooting locations vary so much and always need to be governed by SAFETY especially shooting through nets (the puck can travel as up to 100mph), also respect for the paying supporters, though my experience is a polite request to swap places to get the perfect aspect generally works.
My favourites are (i) 45 degree angle focusing on the goal action though also covering attacks (ii) behind the goal though well to one side (out of the line of stray shots on goal) to capture attacks upfield and goalmouth incidents where you will get the attacking side front on and (iii) directly aligned/perpendicular to the goal for shots of the goal tender and goalmouth action.

I’ve not covered a multitude of other approaches such as panning shots to emphasize the speed etc. As always you will want to capture what is unique to your approach and stands out to best represent your team or subject. Do contact me with any questions