Marks Wasted Time: Great Dorset Steam Rally 2015

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Great Dorset Steam Rally 2015

Some black and white photos from this years GDSR a few weeks back.

I've photographed this very photogenic and diverse event quite a few times and it's very easy to either go trigger happy or get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff going on, so this year I tried to focus on people, rather than shiny (or rusty) machines and have a go at sticking to my new 135mm prime lens instead of the usual 16-35 & 100-400 juggling act I usually perform. Plus we were with friends this year, so I just snapped along the way, rather than cherry picking my wanderings from a photographers point of view.

Top shot is probably my favourite, two .. very experienced .. gents, carving on a steam powered lathe. Great characters, amazing craftsmanship .. along with some selective angling for sunlight on the sawdust (lathe-dust?), composition and a clean (crowd free) background.

Second shot is of man and machine in harmony: tweaking, feeding, watering, tweaking again .. engineered to last centuries chugging along, this one cutting stone blocks with a giant reciprocating saw blade and water pump for cooling (hence the mud). Almost a clean background, but lots of interest in the frame anyway.

Third image is maybe my joint favourite and token female subject, since it really is 80% male dominated outside the craft tents and show horses (old fashioned stereotyping is part of that generation I guess). Always a sucker for hands with a history of hard work, with the corn sculpture giving interest & story and even the texture of the table top adds texture.. a nice image.

Last up is a night shot of the engines powering the steam fair, along with the many onlookers. A bit of a snap shot, but it's reasonably clean, for such a busy image, with interesting shadows and pools of light and detail. It completes the mini collection of shots nicely anyway.

ISO100, 135mm, f/2.5, 1/1250s, -0.3ev, levels & curves

ISO100, 135mm, f/2.5, 1/250s, -0.3ev, levels & curves

ISO12800, 35mm, f/2.8, 1/250s, dodge & burn, noise reduction

1 comment:

Paula said...: Really good mix of shots and the black and white is a triumph considering how colourful the subject is...nice one!; 1:41 pm

Post a Comment

Whos wasted time?

My name is Mark Coombes, I live in the South of England, near the City of Bath. I'm 42 and have a deep passion for all things photographic. I always had some artistic talent, but never had the patience for most art forms, so digital photography suits me down to the ground.

I was given a Canon 1000F for my 18th birthday with some old Sigma lenses, but really only got serious in 2006 when I bought a 350D. My equipment went from 17-85mm, 100-300mm IS and Sigma 105mm Macro, to a 16-35mm II L and 100-400mm L thanks to some serious saving and in 2010 I upgraded to a Canon 50D, before finally investing in a Canon 5D mark III in 2013. Since then I've added various flashes, flash modifiers, filters, polarisers, tripods and a Canon 135mm f/2 lens.

I tend to photograph anything and everything that I find photogenic, combined with my passion for adventure and exploration most of my photos are happy coincidences, rather than the odd planned or staged effort. If I was to pick one specific area to specialise in it would be wildlife photography, especially now I'm getting out for less sunrise landscapes. Only time will tell where it leads and if anything productive ever comes out of it, or if I am just wasting time..