Skip to main content

The Beast


'The Beast', a brand new, very out of the ordinary cross country race which should be here for years to come. Now although it is the last thing I would ever sign up to take part in myself, having been up close and personal taking the photos I can see why so many would find this a great race. If getting dirty and wet while having a real work out is your thing then you would love the Beast. For more details on this race and to keep posted of future similar events check out http://www.purepersonaltraining.co.uk/index.php?page=pure_corporate. The Beast is just the first of many to come.

When I was asked to photograph this race jumped at the chance to photograph something different from the usual and to get out of the studio for change. This opportunity presented me with the challenge of capturing a great moment while making the most of the backdrop available to me, which at this location was beautiful.

I woke up that morning at first thinking, great its not sunny so we will have good, even light and I'll be able to get some good people shots. I'll just miss out on the brilliant blue sky that can make the surrounding landscape really stand out. Then when we arrived it started to rain and the sky seemed quite dark, so I started to worry about slow shutter speeds and rain spots on my lense. But by the time the race began, the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and the sun came out, unfortunately just in time for the first water obstacle, placing the sun at precisely the wrong position, completely throwing off the camera's light meter and forcing me to act very fast to make the necessary adjustments in order to still be able to capture my images accurately. Luckily the race includes several obstacles, many of which in very different positions to the sun allowing me to capture a variety of artistic shots worthy of publication and this blog.


When I agreed to photograph this event it never occured to me that I might actually need to be nearly as fit as the runners. I was told that I could position myself some where in the middle as there are several obstacles all quite close to each other. And to a runner, which the organiser of this event was, I'm sure they were all quite close. To me though, they were miles apart, and one of them up a steep hill. On more than one occasion I felt out of breath and wishing I had done some training myself.
Still, I found myself unable to resist the temptation of seeing what was at the far corner of the course. I didn't want to miss a potential photo opportinuty. So off I trekked. And to my delight the sky was full of definition and the light was perfect. I just sat back and waited for the runners. I am so glad I did as I captured several images I am very proud of, particularly this next image which is my favorite of the lot. It just goes to show you that when at times you feel like you can't be bothered who knows what you could be missing. I toyed with the idea of missing this out but I'm ever so pleased I didn't.

Well I'm off now to get in some training. With less than a year left until next years race I must get started as soon as possible.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fine Art Portraits of a Beautiful Young Girl

So this is really becoming my thing lately. I am having so much fun working with children individually where I can direct and interact in ways that bring the best out of my subject. This has certainly become a process now of creating rather than taking photographs. And its what I have always wanted to be, a portrait artist rather than a photographer. I cannot put into words fully just how rewarding this is. For each of these shoots (as with nearly all of my shoots) we begin with a consultation where we discuss what we would like to achieve in the shoot. Here we will consider the type of clothing and any possible props. We will look at both the clients clothes and my ever growing collection so we can pick what will work best. In all circumstances we are heavily guided by what the child in the portraits wants to wear as I see this as vitally important. If he or she is uncomfortable its going to show and the portraits won't work. But most are happy to play dressups and wear a com

Never Work With Children or Animals

Or so the saying goes. But I have to say that working with dogs has been so lovely. They have been almost entirely a dream to work with. I say almost entirely because we have had a few moments where a dog has needed to settle. And one moment where the dog had settled but one of my cats decided to have a look through the glass door which, as you can imagine, rather quickly unsettled the dog. Still, that didn't stop us from creating incredible work. In fact it was during that shoot with the cat instance when I created two of my favourite pieces, shown below. (It was while sitting on the couch here when he noticed the cat peering through the curtain) I don't know if I've just been lucky or all dogs are just easy to work with. I photographed a french bull dog puppy and I thought that would be tough as he hadn't had time to be properly trained yet. But he did everything we wanted in no time at all. And this included the props we used here (below), which to me

Family Portraits with Fine Art Flair

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vani

Introducing Claude - Another Fantastic French Bulldog

I know this breed is becoming very popular, I believe even set to take over the top spot for most popular breed from the Golden Labrador, but I never expected to get quite so many in my studio. Can't say I'm complaining though. They have such a wonderful character and I love to capture those adorable squished up faces. This client came in not just for personal portraits though. Instead she is developing a line of homemade all natural dog treats called Claude's Little Doggie Bag  and these portraits are to be used in her labels. Which is partly the reason why these images differ quite drastically from my usual style. This client had a very specific idea for what she wanted on her labels. But again, this is perfect for me because I just love variety. I don't really want to be creating the same work over and over again. This gave me the opportunity to revisit a style I've not used in some time. This little guy was just 14 weeks old so as  you can imag

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

  Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe