Flickris Photo Blog: 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Pavement Studio

Pavement Studio
Originally uploaded by Nirun Dowlath

Haha! Me caught in action! :o)

Monday, December 27, 2010

Diesel spinning round

Diesel On The Roundabout
Originally uploaded by Chris Bloom

I took this picture of Diesel on the roundabout in the childrens playground behind our house. I used a slow shutter speed to show the motion of the roundabout going round with on camera flash to freeze my subject.

The fight in-flight of the Yellow Billed Kites

Air Combat
Originally uploaded by Chris Bloom

While at Tracy's parents on Christmas Day, we spotted a Yellow Billed Kite in a tree obviously with some (unidentified) prey it had caught. One of his mates decided we wasn't going to allow his friend to enjoy his meal in peace and swooped down on the lunch session. The result was this airborne tussle, it was over really quickly but miraculously I had the camera pointed in the right direction at the right time.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

My best photographs of 2010?

Using Flickr's Interestingness as a guide but not a judge and jury, I have compiled my top ten pictures from 2010. I have stuck to what Flickr has classed as amongst my most interesting but have excluded images which I dislike or I think are pointless. I have also tried to choose a variety of shots so if there were two similar scenes I have chosen the one I prefer.

10. Anybody in South Africa in the immediate period leading up to the World Cup would have witnessed a sea of SA flags flying from vehicles.

9. During a trip to the Drakensburg in August I took advantage of the low light pollution and clear cool skies to capture these star trails. A thirty minute exposure.

8. Getting up at an unholy hour of a Saturday morning to capture a sunrise that doesn't happen can be a tad disappointing. It does though encourage one to look for other things to capture, such as this Pigeon fly past.

7. The added police presence for the World Cup was very welcome. Not only did one feel more secure about carrying a camera around town, it also offered some photographic opportunities.

6. An early morning beach front shoot. The pier outside uShaka with the new restaurant under construction. Holding my D300 precariously close to the Indian Ocean.

5. Street vendor pushing his cart down Smith Street towards the beach front in the early morning.

4. Diesel walking towards me. Very difficult type of photograph to take. Firstly one has to lie on ones stomach to get the right angle and secondly, camera auto focus systems don't seem to like Black Cats especially when they are moving towards the camera

3. World Cup Fan Fest on Durban Beachfront. This pic wasn't necessarily a favourite of mine but it was selected for a Flickr Blog article on the World Cup so I guess it deserves a mention here.

2. Candid street portrait taken on the Durban Beachfront during the FIFA World Cup 2010

1. Moses Mabhida stadium at night taken from the top of the Old Mutual building in central Durban

Sunday, December 19, 2010

France 1986

In 1986 we went to Western France for our summer holiday. I have no idea where most of these pictures were taken as I didn't take any notes at the time. From what I remember we drove from Calais down towards Bordeaux and then back again, I'm not sure the exact routes or where we stopped on the way.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Tom Walkinshaw 1946-2010

Brands Hatch 1000km 1986
Originally uploaded by Chris Bloom

Sad to hear the news that Tom Walkinshaw has passed away today. He gave an incredible amount to motor sport. His TWR team fielding Jaguar XJS's in the European Touring Car Championship in the early eighties before moving with Jaguar into the Group C endurance championship. Later on he was involved with the Benetton F1 team and then famously hired the reigning world champion Damon Hill to the Arrows team in 1997. Pictured here is one of the TWR Jaguars at the Brands Hatch 1000km in 1986.