olympus OMD EM5 | alan frost photography

The Silver Arrows at the Goodwood Revival Meeting

1934 heralded the arrival of the Mercedes and Auto Union to GrandPrix motor racing. It was a wonderful era and these two makes affectionately known as ‘The Silver Arrows’ dominated top level racing. A year later in 1935 they made their UK appearance at Donnington. 75 years on and to mark this anniversary the 2012 Goodwood Revival Meeting brought this famous racers together once more.

The attention to detail at this annual event is so special that the cars were housed in an authentic recreation of the pits at the Bremgarten circuit which staged the Swiss Grand Prix in 1938.

As well as recording these magnificant cars in camera, there was an artist doing a superb pencil drawing of one the Auto Union racers.

All the photos were taken using an Olympus EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

The Silver Arrows lined up in the pits
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f9 ISO 400

An Auto Union Silver Arrow with the ‘artist’ in the background
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/60 f2.8 ISO 200

The artist and a superb pencil drawing
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/20 f2.5 ISO 200

An Artist drawing one of the Silver Arrows

An Auto Union being rolled out for action
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/500 f3.5 ISO 400

An Auto Union - one of The Silver Arrows

Magnificent machines all in a row. An extraordinary sight
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/60 f16 ISO 400

This is the first entry about the Goodwood Revival Meeting. When time permits more will follow.

‘People and Places’ – Littlehampton Seafront

This is the second post which relates to Jacqui Hurst’s ‘People and Places’ course I attended at West Dean College earlier this summer. In complete contrast to our visit to Glorious Goodwood we spent a day at Littlehampton; a typical and relatively small seaside resort on the south coast.

Whilst a colourful location I stuck to the brief I had imposed on myself at the begining of the course, i.e. choosing monochrome for all of my images. I tried to concentrate on textures, tones and good composition whilst trying to capture the ‘feeling and atmosphere’ of the seafront. Fortunately the weather was dry and bright so there were a fair number of people around. At times though it was overcast, but this helped from a photographic point of view as I did not have extremes of contrast to worry about.

Some of the group felt uncomfortable photographing people. I very enjoyed the experience and the Olympus EM5 certainly allowed me to be a little more discreet. Had I been using a substantial DSLR with a large zoom lens and I am sure I would have felt very different as I went looking for suitable subjects.

Once again the kit lens stayed in the bag and I switched between three primes lenses. 12mm, 20mm and 45mm which equate to 24mm, 40mm and 90mm if using a full frame 35mm sensor.

All the photographs were taken in RAW with an Olympus OMD EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro2. I have to say that Silver Efex Pro is a joy to use when converting images to monchrome. The contrast and structure adjustments can really bring the image to life, increasing tonal range and texture. I am still very much learning about black and white but for me there is a certain something about the results which pleases me.

Unusual bench seating along the promenade
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/160 f11 ISO 200

Well wrapped up, to see what’s on and where to go
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/400 f8 ISO 200

Simple pleasures
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200

Cycling along the promenade
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/500 f8 ISO 200

An extraordinary piece of design – it is in fact the East Beach Cafe
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f8 ISO 200

I think the image says it all really.
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/640 f7.1 ISO 200

Littlehampton pier – but where are the people?
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f11 ISO 200

“If we hurry I’m sure we’ll catch the train!”
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/400 f7.1 ISO 200

If we hurry I'm sure we can catch the train

Ready and waiting……..
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/320 f8 ISO 200

Scooting along the seafront
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200

All the fun of the fair
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/100 f22 ISO 200

Quite simply … a buggy on the beach
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200