Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2017

The Bournemouth Distinguished Gentleman’s ride took place on Sunday 24th September this year. Hundreds of motorcyclist put on their Sunday best to take part in this charity event that raises money to fund research into prostate cancer and mental health globally.

The Bournemouth event started at Poole Quay and proceeded to Sandbanks, Bournemouth with a 1 hour break at Boscombe Pier before continuing to Christchurch, Hurn and back to Bournemouth.

Over 450 riders registered for the event and at the time of writing had raised almost £20,000 between them and contributing towards the global target of $500,000

The featured rider here is my brother in law on his Harley Davidson. I managed to take over 200 images of the riders as they arrived at and departed Boscombe Pier and they can all be found here at ClarkePhoto.:

Many thanks for looking.

Pick Up A Penguin

I shot this picture some years back at Whipsnade. Not using the higher end kit that I use these days but still a shot that I like. The green background is actually the green water in his/her pool but using a telephoto lens has dropped this nicely out of focus and allowed the background to be anything but a distraction.

The Birds of Mudeford

 Food Fight! It was always going to happen with hungry birds and leftover food. Cleared for Landing!The Boss! Showing some serious attitude. Who are you pointing that camera at?Fish Supper!

A selection of images taken at Mudeford Quay. The starlings always seem to be showing some character so they make great models – apparently they make good pets too and can be trained to talk!

The guillemot, with a fish in it’s mouth, was a case of being in the right place at the right time and anticipating where it was going to surface next. The fish in it’s mouth was a bonus – both for me and the bird I guess, but not so much for the fish.

Aquilegia

I confess I am no expert on flowers, if I like it I photograph it but in terms of knowing the ins and outs and how to grow them…. well I leave that to others.

I had to reach to google to find out this is one of the Aquilegia family, columbine or granny’s bonnet. I just happened across it in the garden whilst experimenting with an mirrorless EOS-M camera and a Tamron SP 90mm macro lens.

I struggle with any camera that isn’t a DSLR, looking at an LCD screen and suffering shutter lag just isn’t for me.

Purple Allium

Two different views of the same flower, one using slate paving as a backdrop and the other, 180 degrees around, using grass as the backdrop. In both cases the depth of field is nicely rendering the backgrounds to the equivalent of colour cards. Shot from about 30 to 45 degrees above.

Dandelion

Dandelions are often photogenic – if you can find one that is still intact. The thing is that you have to get to them before the kids do!

Shot with a 90mm prime macro lens at f/2.8 on a Canon 5D mk3 and punched up in the new version of Lightroom CC. This was taken against a backdrop of some very unkempt grass so maximum bokeh was required to make the background a plus and not a minus.

Just a wallflower

Loved the very rich tones on this wallflower – which I spotted growing in a nearby church yard.

I had the 90mm f/2.8 macro lens on the Canon 5D mk3 and on this occasion I still came in close but at f/4.0 in order to get more of the leaf in focus than I might normally do. The colours were so rich and strong it would have been rude not to capture the image.

In Full Bloom (almost)

It’s that time of the year again and the weather is bringing out the very best that nature has to offer. Very early in it’s blooming and yet to fully develop, but very nice to photograph all the same.

Taken with a Canon 50mm prime f/1.8 fully wide open at 1/5000 second and ISO 100.

Perfectly Imperfect

Nature can be amazing, when perfectly symmetrical and unblemished but most of all when not so perfect. There were lots of perfect flowers when I took this shot but this one stood out for being just perfect for not being perfect. A bit like us humans, perfection can be dull you know.

Desaturation

I’ve never before used desaturation of colour as a technique but this shot made me want to have a go. I’d already created a creamy background through the bokeh produced by the lens and the f/2.8 aperture – but taking the colour out felt like the next obvious step. I had to use an adjustment brush on the stem as it shared some of the rich colours from the flowers but apart from that it was a straightforward task in Lightroom 5.