Location: Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas, September 2010

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm EFS USM

Exposure details: 1/200 sec @ f/10 ISO100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: 3 exposures merged into 1 HDR image via Photomatix Pro

The Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino was located next door to the Luxor where we spent the first 3 nights of our stay in Vegas. When  I was wondering around looking at the wealth of inspiration outside the front doors of the hotel I turned from my viewpoint of the Luxor and took a few steps towards the Mandalay Bay. The most amazing golden glow immediately caught my eye with the warm desert sun glinting of the detailed metal work on the hotel. I adjusted my stance a few times until I managed to get the sunburst on the corner of the hotel. The Mandalay Bay Casino opened in 1998 and is connected to the Luxor hotel via a monorail and shopping centre.

I cant wait to go back to the states. I really want to travel across the country in an open top car for a few weeks. I expect I could do it for a few years and still not see everything I wanted to. I’m really thankful my dad took me on this little adventure, showing me some of the sights he had come across in his travels. I’ve really been bitten by the travel bug and he’s fully to blame.

Right so what does 2012 have in store photography wise? Well I’ve booked a little boys trip to Barcelona with the skaters from  Yorkshire and I’m already giddy as hell about it despite the fact that we dont fly until April! I’ve already started my bucket list for Barcelona and I’ve been researching the area both for photography opportunities and the night life which sounds amazing in itself. Really glad I’ve got that to look forward to. Otherwise no immediate travel plans but I do hope to get out and about a bit more around the UK this year.

The plan tomorrow is to get up early and try and catch the sunrise on the east coast. Most likely a revisit to Flamborough Head near Bridlington. Hopefully if I can tear myself away from my cosy Bed at 6am in the mo0rning there will be some shots to follow

Associated posts:

Luxor Hotel & Casino

The Grand Canyon Panoramic

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Luxor Resort Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, USA

Location: Luxor Resort Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas, September 2010

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 8mm Fisheye

Exposure details: 3 exposures merged with Photomatix 1/200 sec @ f/9.0 ISO 100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: Merged with Photomatix 3 thats about it few tweaks with lightroom.

The Luxor Hotel and Casino where we spent our first 3 nights in Las Vegas. Certainly a noticeable hotel with a prime location at the end of the strip the Luxor has a pyramid design with an iconic bright light that shoots directly up into the sky at night from the top. I had wanted to try and capture a shot of this in the dark but with limited time available over the 3 nights I never managed to bag one. This shot was taken one morning before we set out up the strip. I dashed out in the morning with the tripod and set up the shot favouring this angle. snapped 3 exposures before moving on to the Mandalay Bay (Photo to follow). One of the best thing I found about Vegas was the diversity in the design of the different hotels, each so individual and all so photogenic. I’d certainly recommend staying at the Luxor if you Visit Las Vegas whilst the décor is now a bit dated the rooms are reasonably priced and appeared recently refurbished.

I love looking back on these shots from 2010, and I’m still stumbling across the odd one or 2 that need processing . I’m looking forward to this years trip though, Barcelona with the boys. A skating / photography trip for 7 days in April. Barcelona is one of those places I’ve always wanted to visit with its unique architecture and lively culture.

Associated posts:

The Grand Canyon Panoramic

Zion Nation Park

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

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Renault Formula One

Silverstone Race Track August 2011 – The Renault World Series.

This was my first visit to Silverstone and I can clearly see the attraction and draw of this place. The public areas are pretty good for viewing the track and close enough to grab a few good shots. I’d love to go back again and get a bit more access but I expect its a little more difficult to get that at places like this.

The first shot above is of the Renault Formula One Team car which was doing a demo in between races which culminated in the driver doing doughnuts burning out the tires in a cloud of smoke. This shot he was doing a few laps of the track and I managed to snap a clear shot of him waving at the crowd. Minimal processing on the raw image some clarity increase and a bit of fill light but thats about it. Not sure who was driving the car that day.

Next up is a shot of one of the Megane drivers. God knows what was under the bonnet of these things but they sure as hell weren’t standard! This particular car was driven by R. Kressner.

Another Megane, this time driven by R. Unzurrunzaga I loved the colours on this one! Slight tweaks using Nik HDR Efex and lightroom.

Next up is a shot of the Formula Renault cars before they hit the track. Again minimal processing.

The Formula Renault car driven by C. Ledogar zooming around the track.

Podium

Another shot of the Renault Formula One car in the Garages.

An old Renault 1963 Monte-Carlo Rally Car, Had to snap a few exposures for a HDR on this thing

Ok that’s it for now hope you like the shots. I hope to get some more motor sport shots this year at some point. Click any image for a larger version (always best viewed this way)! Comments always appreciated.

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Denbigh Asylum

1st January 2012 – My 2nd and probably last trip to Denbigh Asylum. The first visit back in 2010 went without a hitch, it was a random unplanned visit as we were driving through Wales so I was unprepared and not carrying my SLR. I bagged a few shots with the compact and we pretty much had free roam of the entire site, not really struggling to access any areas. This time around was much different, the area we had previously entered the site was now occupied and the site itself was much more tightly sealed off. I managed to get into the main compound but found every single building that I checked to be recently reboarded and very well secured. Heavy plant vehicles are on site and notices confirm that restoration and conversion into flats is currently underway.

Before being escorted off the site by the local security guards (the white haired farmer) to anyone that has met him. He was extremely aggressive and confrontational despite me calmly offering to leave the area and proceeded to threaten me driving beside me as I walked out.

This beautiful built in 1848 was originally known as the North Wales Lunatic Asylum and was the first psychiatric institute built in Wales. Closed in 1995 it has been abandoned ever since awaiting redevelopment.

A few more external shots from my visit of the Church and Nurses quarters:

Denbigh Asylum Church

Denbigh Asylum Nurses Quarters

The final shot above is the only none HDR of the bunch and was taken as my submission for a little mini photog competition I have running with my father. We are each submitting a single shot every week for the whole year and mutually deciding on a winner each week. I’m incredibly jealous though because whilst I spent the first day of the new year in Wales my father was living it up travelling in Sri Lanka. So unbelievably jealous and I think its a given that he’ll be winning the first 3 weeks

Next up I have a bit of a shout out to friend and fellow Yorkshire Photographer Peter Marfleet. Please check out his site, titled Photographer York | Family & Commercial Portrait Photographer and the sooner the better as he is currently running a competition to win a free Nikon Coolpix S9100 camera

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed their New Years celebrations. All the best for 2012.

Oooo one last thing for anyone who enjoys a good Urbex story check out this link from the daily mail about some girl who managed to get into a missile plant!!!: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083556/Meet-girl-blogger-sneaked-inside-Russian-missile-factory–security.html

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The Grand Canyon Panoramic

During my 2010 trip to America we covered 3 states in 2 weeks, the whole vacation was captivating from start to finish but one of the most unforgettable stops was Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Location: The Grand Canyon – The Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States of America

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 1/250 sec @ f/11 ISO100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: 9 exposures merged via Photomatix into 3 HDR photos processed into a Panoramic via PTGui then processed in Nik HDR Efex Pro via Abobe Lightroom.

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States. Although first afforded Federal protection in 1893 as a Forest Reserve and later as a National Monument, Grand Canyon did not achieve National Park status until 1919, three years after the creation of the National Park Service. Today Grand Canyon National Park receives close to five million visitors each year – a far cry from the annual visitation of 44,173 which the park received in 1919.

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Location: Chatsworth House – Peak District, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 8mm Fisheye

Exposure details: 10.0 sec @ f/10 ISO100 +/- 2 stops

Processing: 3 exposures merged via Photomatix no further adjustments

The photo above was taken using my Sigma 8mm fish eye lens of the ceiling at the top of one of the many staircases in Chatsworth House. The saturation looks to have been increased alot but other than merging the 3 exposures I haven’t fiddled with it much at all! It was a little tricky to get this exposure on the day as the security were being over fussy about my bag insisting I could take it in with me but I had to carry it by my side rather than over my shoulder as it was designed. This proved to be a little irritating and I swear it was more likely to damage something being dragged along beside me! Anyway I digressed, the house was really busy and as always it was really quite dark inside the house with only the natural light providing any sort of substantial illumination. The base exposure was 10 secs and with people constantly flowing up and down the stairs it took a few attempt to get a clear shot! Glad I waited

It’s been almost 2 months since my last blog post! I’d like to pretend that I have a good reason such as a lavish holiday but I’m afraid that’s not the case I’ve just been working my 9-5 job through the week and seeing my friends and family at evenings and weekends. What limited time I have had on the PC has been consumed by google+. One thing I have had chance to do however was a little bit of a redesign of the splash page of my website www.benscamera.com I’ve added one of my favourite photographs to the background instead of the plain black and I’ve added a few more links to social networks and my wedding blog as well as rearranging the ones that were there already.

Well since I haven’t posted in a while I think it only appropriate I give you a bit of an update as to my photography endeavours over the past 2 months…

August

20th – I visited Chatsworth House again with Rachel for a picnic and to grab a few more internal shots of the house. The main photograph in this post was taken there along with the others below.

21st – Renault World Series at Silverstone race track! a great day, not quite as entertaining as the British Touring Cars but still a great wealth of photography opportunities! I bagged a few good shots of the Formula Renault cars and the Megane series. Photos will follow I promise, I haven’t got around to sorting and editing through the 850+ shots I took.

September

4th – The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, I didnt take loads of photographs here but there was a good exhibition on that focused on a Liverpudlian photographer who shot alot in the 1970′s with Black & White film. Very inspirational, so much so that after the trip to the Museum I revisited the area where some of his photos were taken and met with a Local woman Carol who lives on Cairns Street in Toxteth. Photos and write up to follow but it was an eye opening meeting on such an interesting photogenic street considering it was in a run down area.

Other than that things have been a bit slow with the camera. My 580ex flash head (the only external flash I have) broke and I had to have this repaired via My Photoguard Insurance cover. I must admit although I was without my flash for a few weeks I was impressed with their service and the flash is back fully repaired and it didn’t cost me a penny . I’m planning on going walking in Malham today if the weather holds out and I’ll be taking my camera. If that fails I have a couple of nights booked in a hotel near Loch Ness in Scotland towards the end of the month and I’m sure that will yield some nice shots. Right that’s it from me for now, I’ll leave you with a couple more photos from my Chatsworth visit and I’ll be posting again soon…

Location: Chatsworth House – Peak District, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 30mm F1.4

Exposure details: 1/50 sec @ f/1.8 ISO1600

Processing: Lightroom +32 exposure +25 contras+100 clarity and some white balance tweaks

Location: Chatsworth House – Peak District, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 30mm F1.4

Exposure details: 1/100 sec @ f/2.5 ISO1600

Processing: Lightroom +78 exposure +43 contras+61 clarity and some white balance tweaks

Location: Chatsworth House – Peak District, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 8mm Fisheye

Exposure details: 1/60 sec @ f/5 ISO800+/- 2 stops

Processing: 3 exposures merged via Photomatix no further adjustments

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House of Knowledge - Statue by Jaume Plensa

Location: Chatsworth House – Peak District, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm

Exposure details: 1/15 sec @ f4.0 ISO400

Processing: None except increased clarity in Adobe Lightroom

Another shot from my November 2008 Visit to Chatsworth House. This shot is of Jaume Plensa’s House of Knowledge statue, Jaume is a Barcelona born sculpture and artist who specialises in large installations which have travelled the globe. This particular statue was the reason for my visit to Chatsworth as I had heard about it on the web and thought it would be great to photograph. Now for the technical details, I placed my 580ex speedlite inside the statue and fired it with the ST-E2 transmitter from Canon. It took 3 shots until I managed to get on without the flare from the flash being visible through the statue but I’m glad I persisted with the concept. I love the way that the statue is lit by the flash, the photo was taken at 5:10pm and so it was already starting to get pretty dark which helped make the shot stand out. Anyways hope you like it! Stay tuned for more shots!

Associated posts:

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

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Location: Cala d’Hort, Ibiza

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: 1/1000 sec @ f/5.0 ISO 100

Processing: PTGUI Software used to join the 3 exposures, processed via Adobe Lightroom then converted to B&W using Nik Silver Efex Pro

Es Vedrà is a Balearic island approximately 2 km off the western coast of Ibiza, in the area of Cala d’Hort. The island is a nature reserve and is uninhabited. As the main island Ibiza, Es Vedrà consists predominantly of mesozoic limestone without any larger (magnetic) metal accumulations. The esoteric claim of being a “special magnetic place” therefore is a mere urban legend without any scientific, i.e. geological base.

I made this photograph on the third or forth day of the trip to Ibiza, The sky was particularly cloudy and very hazy, possibly worsened by the raging forest fire at the other side of the Island. This was shortly after the first time I had seen Es Vedra, there is something really breathe taking about it when it suddenly comes into view just off the coast line. There is no denying the sheer size of it when seen with the naked I is quite intimidating. I took literally hundreds of frames of images of the Islands and this turned out to be one of my favourites. The strange low hanging cloud which hovered over the island isn’t something I had seen on other photos from around the interweb and the atmosphere just felt right. After sharpening and vibrance changes in Lightroom I decided to try for a Black & White view which I felt really emphasised those clouds so I opted for that one as my finished product.

Off on a complete tangent now, I’ve managed to get myself signed up for GooglePlus googles new social offering. I must say having played with it for about 24 hours now I am very impressed. As with google wave the social aspect cannot really be fully tested at this stage with it still being in closed public beta testing but I can say that I am really impressed with the simple UI and some of the core features. For me one of the key features are the Photograph sharing tools. I’m not sure if they will cap the amount that you can upload… (I’m hoping not) but for the moment its great the albums it produces are sleek are really how off the photographs well and with easy sharing options it will be a great way to show off my latest snaps. I love the whole circles group element and I already have a decent group set up for friends family photographers who I’m already having fun sharing things with. I’m always looking to build my circle of Photographers on there so if you have a google plus account or if you would like an invite leave me a message in the comments section below using your gmail address (dont worry no-one will see it except me from the admin back end).

As well as Google Plus I intend to stay reasonably active on 500px and I’ve recently discovered their banner creator which I’ve used to stick a badge at the bottom of the blog

I often wonder if people want to know what the colour version of the image looked like? well here it is anyway for those of you who are interested:

Associated posts:

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/bentucker

Follow me on 500px: http://500px.com/TuckerPhotography

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Location: Newlands Estate, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM

Exposure details: HDR 3 Exposures – 1/125 sec  @ F/10 ISO100

Processing: Merged with Photomatix, Some minor edits to vibrance and clarity in Adobe Lightroom

This odd little abandoned village on the outskirts of Normanton  was probably my first Urbex Experience. My old Landlord asked if we wanted to join him for a walk and he showed me this place just a mile or 2 from the main road accessed via a small dirt path next to some woods! While trolling the internet looking for information on this place i found links to several UK Urbexing websites and there began the addiction .

The Newland estate was a small township on the outskirts of Normanton and lies on the north bank of the River Calder. Existing since 1213 when it was established by King John of England as a preceptory of the Knight’s Templars, it was later transferred to the similar organisation, “The Knights Hospitallers” in 1256. The property belonging to the Hospitallers was dissolved by King Henry VIII who bestowed the property upon himself. The earliest known preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers was Simon Paccable in 1313. Newland was once held by the Levett family, and William Levett, who was lord of the manor, was admitted tenant of the Knights Hospitallers on October 2, 1447.

The estate changed hands of ownership a number of times since King Henry VIII sold the land in 1544, with final ownership landing on The Warmfield Company Limited in 1926, who ran brickworks until the mid-20th century.

Newland today is kept as a nature reserve, with the crumbling remains of the Estate overgrown with shrubs and plant life. A small fishing area just outside the Newland Estate remains popular with local fishermen.

Here is an external shot of this particular building where the picture out of the window was taken. I’m not normally a heavy sepia user but I liked this preset on Nik’s Silver Efex Pro. This building is not one of the older buildings on the site but a Farm House a stones throw away from the old stone town buildings

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

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XXP

Location: Newmillerdam – West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Camera: Canon 40D

Lens: Sigma 30mm F1.4

Exposure details: 1/30 sec @ F/1.4 ISO100

Processing: Processed with Nik Color Efex Pro via Adobe Lightroom

Its been a while since I last took advantage of the meta data filter field in Lightroom to check how many photographs I’ve been taking with which lenses. For anyone who doesn’t know already Lightroom automatically grabs the focal length details lens details from the photo’s you make on your Digital SLR. I noticed a significant lack of shots with my Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens only 3 this year!! I told myself I was putting the lens on my camera and making sure I didnt take it off the next time I was out! Always a fun challenge. After a trip to Harrogate we stopped of at Newmillerdam while on our way back. First shot I got was of a carving on one of the trees which lead into the forest! I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to crank the aperture wide open the result is above. I continued around the lake shooting several images and ultimately I’m happy I gave the lens some use!

Off on a slight digression I’m an avid listener of Martin Baileys Podcasts and this week he’s interviewed David duChemin the author of Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision an excellent book on Photography which has really helped me a lot and is currently top on my recommended books list to any photographers. I would strongly suggest that you buy Davids book and listen to the Martin Bailey Podcast whenever you get chance, you wont regret it!

I’ve updated my list of “other great photographers” on the right hand menu with both of their websites along with a couple of other inspiring photographers and fellow bloggers! I plan on adding lots more photographers sites to that link section over the next few weeks!

On my to do list at the moment is finish processing some of the remaining photos from Ibiza and to have another looks through and re process my shots from New York in 2008! watch this space!

Here are a few more photos from Newmillerdam (click to enlarge):

Caught in the Grain

Wood Mushrooms

The Boat House - Newmillerdam

As I Lay Dying

All rights reserved full copyright please contact me for licensing and prints are available on request.

Please visit my flickr profile to see more of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuckerphotography/

Follow me on twitter:  http://twitter.com/bentucker

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