Shot and awe

Got wood(s)?

Despite my last episode photographing an enduro proving to be painfully pricey, the time had come to get the monkey off my back, dust myself off, get straight back on the horse and see just how many clichés I was able to cram into a first sentence about finally going to shoot another one - in this case the Corinium Enduro held on the picturesque Bathurst estate, situated right in the heart of aga country in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Although better known for playing host to prestigious polo matches, the ‘smaller’ 3000 acre half of the estate also has an abundance of woodland trails perfect for two wheeled tree dodgers to enjoy, with a die hard bunch of them signing up in droves to do precisely that every year. Unlike that camera killing monster dawn to dusk where the idea is pretty much just to survive, the Corinium is a time card enduro, with the aim being to complete a predetermined number of laps of the approximately 22 mile course which includes two special tests; with your time from each being added together along

Ello ello ello, what's all this then?
Number plates?!
And trials tyres?!!

with any penalties incurred for taking longer than the specified time to complete a lap. As you might imagine, with such long distances involved, enduro isn’t exactly the most spectator friendly of sports, though with events invariably taking part in stunning countryside the surroundings often provide a none too shabby alternative source of viewing pleasure if there are no bikes to be seen.
Given that there’d been rain for most of the week leading up to the event I suspected the conditions were going to provide a bit of a challenge, which was swiftly confirmed about 2 minutes in when I fell flat on my ass whilst simply walking down a not particularly steep but nevertheless super slippy section of the course. And as if the terrain wasn’t enough for them to contend with, somewhat unusually, all riders competing in the Corinium are required to run a trials type rear tyre on their bike, which arguably offers only slightly more grip around the course than the wellies I had on, but (despite what the photo below might suggest) ensures the venue isn’t left looking like the battle of the Somme after 160 weekend warriors have had their way with it.
Not long after all the riders had blasted off 3 or 4 at a time at one minute intervals, the glorious weather gave way to a not so sunny Sunday stroll in the park, shortly followed by some of April’s famed showers; but hell, the whole point of enduro is to find your way over challenging and often changeable terrain in rapid fashion, so a bit more water wasn’t about to stop play. Despite managing to remain upright for the rest of the day, I too encountered my own difficulties along the way, fighting an ultimately losing battle to keep the rain off my gear whilst also trying to maintain the use of my digits and cursing myself for not bringing any gloves. Mercifully, unlike last time out, there was no threat of feral sheep lurking within the woods, though I did run into some trouble in the shape of a rowdy northern monkey who had come to spectate, turning the forest air blue with tirades of predominantly potty - mouthed abusive banter as he did so. Though usually making sure I give every bit as good as I get in a verbal joust, my desire for retaliation all but disappeared after being introduced to his canine companion however, as ultimately, everybody knows you can never truly respect a man who can carry his dog with one hand, eh Mossy?

Anyhoo, the riders continued to find their way around the park and after 3 lengthy laps Gary Standen took home top honours in clubman class with Ben Gwyther doing likewise in sportsman class. After completing the required 5 laps Steven Biddle topped the expert class, becoming the overall event winner and firmly securing bragging

rights for next year in the process. An impressive 34 years after the Swindon and district motorcycle club somehow convinced the Bathurst family that letting a bunch of mud loving mentalists race around their estate would be a good idea, the small but perfectly formed Corinium enduro seemingly remains as popular as ever, which I suspect is thanks to it essentially offering something for everyone who takes part - whether they’re fighting for the expert class win or more concerned with enjoying the scenery on the way round; and as I drove out of the park the old maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ popped into my head, which seemed particularly appropriate, in the case of both evergreen enduros and my (still functioning) camera. Happy days.

Here's one I made earlier...

Despite the fact that I’ve always thought illustrating the passage of time in one image is easily one of the coolest aspects of photography, I don’t actually tend do it that often, so thought that photographing the construction of a new grainstore on the family farm last spring would be the perfect opportunity to change that. It all started with one of the sheds being dismantled and relocated from its original site at the top of the farm drive before being combined with a slightly smaller, newly made barn to make somewhere which was now actually big enough for Daddy dearest to store the mini mountains of grain which his new combine was spewing out before providing somewhere for it to hibernate over the winter. Simples.

The structure was actually finished months ago, but as we had to wait for the two sliding doors to be made and fitted I really had to hang on until they showed up to get proper closure (boom boom!) on the idea.

Moving swiftly on, my work doesn’t tend to flirt with the abstract very often, so see if you can make out some of the numerous different stages of construction involved as well as some of the Diggers, Rollers, Forklifts, Ladders and various other toys in the image which I got to play with whilst helping build the Behemoth, as well as the body of one of the workers who ‘accidentally’ fell into the concrete whilst we were laying it (what can I say, it’s not wise to annoy me...)

Upon its completion, I suggested the new structure should be named the ‘New new barn’ (following on from the one that had been reconstructed originally being called the new barn), but instead, Popsicle decided to employ a wee bit of Irish logic by using what are basically complete misnomers to name each of the 3 barns, starting with the Sheep shed (the north wall of which is visible on the right hand side of the frame and which has mercifully been devoid of any of the dumbass bleating bastards for over 10 years), the New barn, (which really isn’t), and the Lean-to (which erm, doesn’t).

Still, guess there’s nothing like being unappreciated in your time, eh?

The trials of life

I really can’t recall many situations where I’ve found myself photographing a bunch of grown men wearing Spandex. The Sheffield Trial, however is one such exception to this rule, pitting 8 of the world’s best log hopping, gap jumping, Spandex clad warriors against a course which at first glance almost looks like someone stole the entire contents from the yard of the nearest branch of Travis Perkins and dotted them around the Sheffield Arena floor, with various sections made up of Skips, Rocks, Railway sleepers and - unique to Sheffield - a big fuck off waterfall smack bang in the middle. For those new to the Trials game, the aim is basically to ride through these invariably bowel looseningly scary sections cleanly (i.e. without putting a foot down for balance), with one point being added for each ‘Dab’, two points for two, three for three and five points for falling flat on your arse (or equally as likely, face). And as if that wasn’t enough,

Don't shoot!

each section has to be completed in less than 60 seconds, with 1 point being added for going over the time limit and 5 for taking more than 90 seconds; all of this on bikes which weigh about as much as a Jack Russell wet through, have near flat tyres, a hole where the seat should be, and as I think I’ve mentioned - whilst clad in Spandex. Got all that? Groovy. Having given birth to the sport back in the 60’s, Britain has - at least where Trials is concerned - forsaken its habit of inventing a sport only to proceed to suck at it happily ever after; with Yorkshire’s own Dougie Lampkin (Pictured, left) standing as the most successful Trials rider on the planet, with a total of 12 World Championships and 99 Trial wins to his name and receiving an MBE for services to his sport, despite receiving the square root of bugger all in the way of mainstream recognition for his efforts, unless you count being felt up by Rory McGrath and his merry men in a round of BBC 1’s They Think It’s All Over waaaay back in the day, or more recently giving geordie nutcase Ross Noble a bit of a riding lesson on Fifth Gear. Although now in the twilight of his career at 35, having ridden in every indoor trials event held at the Sheffield Arena since it began in 1996 (taking victory a record 8 times), the undisputed ‘King of Sheffield’ showed up for one last shot at getting his victory tally into 3 figures before bowing out of the event for good.

The King enters the arena...

and brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'turning on a sixpence'.

After the opening ceremonies, in which each rider was introduced to the crowd whilst wheelieing along the concourse of the arena before riding down the stairs onto the arena floor, the qualifying lap got underway, with each rider being first to tackle their assigned section whilst the rest of the field looked on, keen to observe exactly what would - and more importantly, wouldn’t - work when attacking each section. Despite many a mutter that the sections were somewhat easier than in previous years, they still threw up thrills and spills aplenty, with Japanese rider Takahisa ‘Fujigas’ Fujinami living up to his name, revving the knackers

off his 4 stroke Montesa machine before attacking every section with commitment that’d put a Kamikaze to shame, though this almost proved to be his undoing over the giant oilcans, when trying to scrub off some speed after getting up onto the first one, he stalled his bike. Perched motionless atop it a good 15 feet above the arena floor, he calmly reached down for the kickstart and kicked it back into life, all the while keeping his left boot on the footpeg and off the floor, going on to finish the section cleanly. Skills, Fujinami – san! A few dabs later and it was already looking unlikely that Lampkin would add that elusive 100^th win to his career here, as he struggled with an ankle injury and was surely feeling no little pressure at his last ever Sheffield. Spain’s world numero uno Toni Bou however quickly assumed his usual position at the top of the leaderboard with a big fat 0 score after the first lap of the course, showing the rest of the field an enviably clean pair of heels heading into the Final…

Youtube’s favourite son Danny MacAskill was scheduled to perform during the halftime show, but having recently spammed his knee was sadly unable to ride, so instead Red Bull stepped in and organised a round of their ‘Red Bull Rivals’ series, which pitted King Dougie head to head against a plethora of two wheeled talent, which included Isle of Man TT, World superbike, British Superbike and World Downhill Mountainbike Champions over a scaled down course which provided plenty of comic relief, as each of them decided the only way they’d come out on top was to blantantly jump the gun off the start, leaving Dougie to play catch up every time, which he invariably did, eventually winning the challenge by a single point; though I couldn’t help thinking a far better way of demonstrating just how difficult the sections really were would have been to allow a couple of testicularly challenged premier league footballers to attempt them, though I’m guessing that inbetween bar brawling and cheating on their spouses on a Saturday night, none would have been available anyway… Ho hum!

"And so I asked her for a double entendre...
then she gave me one".

Anyway, with the original 8 riders now having been whittled down to 6 for the Final, things really got serious, with each section being designed to be even more gnarly when ridden the other way, as well as 2 additional sections which raised the bar to a new level which would most likely have had a Ninja Squirrel shitting bricks. Lampkin had the serious disadvantage of running first on all of them after losing out to James Dabill in their head to head race, and a five score on his first section more or less set the tone for Dougie, who by his own admission was trying too hard, and would need a miracle to repeat his past Sheffield successes. Unlike many a brit, I don’t crave disappointment, and would have liked nothing more than to see Dougie do the business and pick up his 100^th win, but sadly, despite the encouragement of his adoring crowd, he had no answer for the new wave of Trials gods and ended up a distant 6^th, as Toni simply shone as the sections got progressively more difficult, putting on a proper Bou (oh yes!) display of bike skills and literally putting a foot wrong only once whilst he completed the most difficult sections of the Trial, a number of which saw everyone else picking up 5’s in often spectacular fashion. A total of just 2 marks (one for a dab and the other for going slightly over time) saw Bou take yet another win at Sheffield, with Adam Raga and Jeroni Farjardo tying for 2^nd place with 15 points apiece to complete a Spanish 1-2-3 on the podium. Ay carumba!

I’ll steer clear of clichés about the King being dead and his position being usurped (so I got a Thesaurus for Christmas, deal with it!) as Dougie still has a full season ahead in which to reach the epic milestone of 100 Trial wins. And even if he doesn’t, I’ll be sure to have a Cadbury’s flake on hand to go with an immensely well deserved 99…

Fujigas does the splits...

Whilst James Dabill goes over the top

That was the year that was...

I'm still not sure quite how it happened, but another year has been and gone, and as I can barely remember half of what I did in 2011, I felt a little browse through the archives was called for...

And she's buying a stairway to... somewhere a little south of Heaven.

BANG! And the berm is gone!

Don't tell the kids, but even Santa's been forced to take on a second job these days...

Now THIS is what I call a self portrait!

Same shoot, different corner. Nearly had my head run over whilst getting
this shot, though sadly it wouldn't have been the first time!

Some unlucky dude taking a soil sample at the Dawn to Dusk Enduro. Or as they're renaming it for 2012, 'The Camera killer'. Eek.

They called him Whitey Johnson. Though I never did figure out why ...

Happy New Year!

Pah rum pum pum pum...

As you may remember, not so long ago I decided I was going to check out more of the sights in and around my backyard. And whilst said quest continues, the merciless murk of midwinter had obviously slowed its progress somewhat; until, that is, I discovered a little Gem just down the road.
Whilst I knew that the village of Bourton on the Water holds an annual Football match in the river Windrush which runs through the high street (which I presume is made just about watchable by the novelty factor), up until about two weeks ago I remained blissfully ignorant that they do in fact put their Christmas Tree in it too, which I figured would definitely be worth seeing, so here it is. I was hoping to experiment with some HDR processing for a little extra zing, but sadly ran out of time. Hopefully Santa will bring me some more tonight like I asked for - unless of course it's too late to start being good...
Merry Christmas everyone!

A revamped Revolution...

It’s been waaay too long since I last shot a live gig, and even longer since I shot the sonically stupendous prog metallers The Divebomb Revolution. So long, in fact, that the lineup had actually changed after two of the original members’ departure, leaving Guitarist/Vocalist Tom to find two new cohorts to provide Drum & Bass, which, given the considerable prowess of his former bandmates was no doubt something of a mammoth task. However, as Yoda would say, found them he has, in the shape of Dave Clydesdale and Ian Bostic; now all he needed was some shots of them at work, which is where I came in...

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t initially a little concerned that the two newbies might not be able to deliver the goods to the same level as their predecessors, but any doubts I might have had were put firmly in their place before the new lineup had even finished ripping through their intro when I first saw them in action back in the summer – nothing like being put back in your box by a spot of flawless musicianship! Happily, as before, each of the trio adds their piece to the prog puzzle to devastating effect, with Dave’s driving Bass work providing a key component of their ‘tight but loose’ groove and locking in tighter than a Gnat’s whatsit with Ian’s devastatingly dynamic drumming (try saying that 3 times fast) - the ferocity of which would put Animal from the Muppets to shame, and is made all the more impressive by his using a cocktail (i.e. Jazz) kit, plus the fact that as I understand it he essentially learnt to play the double bass drums under duress… The ever unassuming Tom picks up Guitar and Vocal duties, handling both simultaneously with a seemingly almost nonchalant ease, and a vocal range which alternates seamlessly from impassioned dulcet tones to Banshee - bothering screams; all the while laying down wicked ridonculous detuned, intricate riffs interspersed with finger melting fretwork which far from simply being self - indulgent fretwanking instead adds yet another layer to their monster sound, packed full of monolithic melodies which, I find in contrast to many other prog bands, stick in my head for ages - often providing welcome relief from the oompa loompa song in the process - double bonus!

Anyway, with a new demo currently online and a load of new stuff in the pipeline, I for one can’t wait to hear just what the remodelled Revolution will be indulging my ears with next – chop fucking chop, boys!