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Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: better-late-than-never intro
Sorry it's taken so long to get round to introducing myself, but I've finally made it
Although the shots I've posted in these forums have all been landscapey shots, my main area of photography is equine sport, and point-to-point racing in particular.
My brother-in-law is an amateur jockey and not long after I'd started seeing my then girlfriend-now-wife, she took me along to a race meeting in early 2001. As I wasn't sure what to expect, I took along my 2mp point-and-shoot Kodak dc240 zoom, which was my pride and joy at the time (digital cameras were still something of a rarity in those days!) I quite enjoyed taking photos (even though they were terrible) so we went to 2 more meetings in 2001 before the foot and mouth outbreak stopped all racing for the year.
We went to 8 meetings in 2002, and I started to draw interest from some of ruth's friends regarding my photos. I stuck them into an online gallery and the word started spreading, I even sold a couple of prints!
To cut a long story a little shorter, that started my jouney. I'd always fancied trying photography when I was younger but was into so many things that it never happened. With each upgrade in equipment I've tried to become a little more proficient, and following a loyalty bonus at work in 2004 I bought myself a Nikon D70 (the only sub-£1000 body that did 3fps at the time) and decided I really should try to use it to its full potential and not just for racing shots. By December that year I'd saved enough for the Nikkor 70-200VR, just in time for the start of racing at the end of January 2005.
I've still got a long way to improve, but it staggers me just how much progress I've made in the last couple of years since getting the D70, and I really enjoy having such a creative diversion from the pressures of work.
Since getting the D70 I've tried to invest in quality lenses that get the best out of the camera and (hopefully!) last me for a decent amount of time. My current kit comprises of:
Nikon D70
3x 512mb Sandisk Ultra II CF
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S 'Kit'
Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8 AF-S 'Beast'
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR
77mm Hoya R72 IR filter
67mm Hoya Pro-1 CP (need a 77 now!)
Slik 400DX Pro tripod
Slik Mini Pro III tripod
Crumpler Ben's Pizza XL
Crumpler Geekstar
The silly-money glass has been bought purely as a result of the horse racing stuff. I spend a good proportion of the season shooting in very poor light and upgraded my Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 to the Nikkor 28-70mm in April.
I'm not making a mint out of my racing photography (I just about break even every year, equipt costs ignored) but I'm still growing in reputation, and my website gets plenty of traffic in the height of the season (nearly 18,000 hits, 1.2gb traffic per month in april & may 2006)
As for what the future holds in store, I've been given the opportunity to shoot a couple of meetings in the 2007 for a race sponsor (in principle, nothing signed yet) and I'm also planning on making regular submissions to newspapers and the horse & hound magazine. As a result of this I have just put in an order (today!) for Nikon's flagship DSLR, the D2Xs *gulp* I'm hoping the significant improvement in fps and autofocus technology will help me overcome the minor shortfalls of the D70 (when applied to low light action photography) and give me that extra level of consistency that I lacked this year.
Sorry it's been such a long post, but a lot's happened over the last 5 years! Hopefully I can carry on learning and growing and really make a name for myself in the coming years. _________________ There is nothing in life that cannot be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas NPU Member
Wow John sounds like a hectic 5 years. Just like to say hope it all goes well for you, they sounds like great opportunities.
As for the D2Xs lucky man, had a go with the old D1X and that amazed me at the time so i can only imagine what the D2Xs must be like.
Hope you'll share some of your pictures with us after you get your new toy.
nice one jon, good going, btw the link to your page didn't work for me?
Si... _________________ The sun cannot set,
Because you are not here,
To see it,
The day cannot end,
It can't be right,
That night will come,
Without you.
Good luck for 2007, its uber hard to break into an already established field so heres hoping you enjoy the D2Xs it looks like a fine beast to compliment your current lens setup. _________________ Sports Panner!
It just landed. I feel giddy! I hope it's not going to peg it down all weekend _________________ There is nothing in life that cannot be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas NPU Member
And the prize for digging out old threads goes to... chickenhawk! _________________ There is nothing in life that cannot be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas NPU Member
Thought this was the best place to post rather than starting a new one.. I've been away for so long I guess I should do another hello
It's been a hectic few months and I've not had anywhere near as much time as I'd like for photography or even slacking on websites, but hopefully I'll be able to swing by a little more often as the nights draw in
This has been the main draw on my time and energy: http://www.skysports.com Although I've not had an awful lot to do with the front end build of the new site, I've had to completely overhaul our content management system to cope with the demands skysports has placed upon it. It's easily as large as all of our other sites put together, and that's some feat I can assure you!
I have a few pics to share that have been taken in my absence, I'll try and get a few posted as time allows. _________________ There is nothing in life that cannot be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas NPU Member
Very good to have you back Jon, we missed you. That level of web design work is so far above my minimal html fumbling that it's entirely another world, but I'm glad the pressure has eased off a bit. _________________
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