In the studio again

My favourite picture, simple elegance.

It’s been a while, nearly seven months in fact, since I worked with a professional model in a studio. I  have completed a number of very successful shoots with Janayah. Looking back as I did last month. I can see we have gotten better with each one. And I am looking forward to the next one in February. An evening shoot along the Thames.

This shoot was to enable me to experiment with lighting. The studio had a number of sets, and four lights. Each with numerous modifiers. So plenty to play with.

It was also an opportunity to work with Anna. Something I had wanted to do for a while.

But first we had to wait for the studio to warm up. Why do some studios not invest in good heating? One small fan heater was never going to do it. So for the whole shoot the heater followed Anna around. And I kept the cups of tea coming.

We kept moving from set to set, with me changing the lighting regularly. Big soft boxes, strip boxes, a beauty dish and reflectors. Using two, three or all four lights.

After about three hours I ran out of ideas. That’s when Anna came to the rescue. She said a lot of her shoots included dance.

So a new challenge for me, capturing dance movement. Anna suggested lighting, and I continued to experiment.

I really like the results of the whole shoot. It was a difficult task to reduce the number of shots to process down to a reasonable number. There were so many good ones. It's a sign of a successful session when I have so many to choose from.

Here are two more, cause I just can't help myself.

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130118

My bike lent against some moss covered tank traps, or maybe they are just bollards to stop vehicles driving in the woods.

I'd like first to apologise for the lack of a creative title for this blog. When you cycle every weekend, you will be presented with two problems as I am. Where to cycle, and what to write about. Having to think of a creative title as well, it's all too much.

So here dear reader is a post, titled with today's date.

Matt has been away this week so for today it was just me. I choose a route we hadn't cycled for years. We use to cycle to a cafe, have breakfast and then ride home. But it is a longish route and the food stop means a late return home. So we have avoided it. There is also a steep, long climb, which might also have something to do with it.

The Enterdent near Godstone is the hill in question. It was a lot longer than I remember. But a worthy challenge. Bested with only a little heavy breathing. I didn't make it to the cafe though. I ran out of time due to a late start. When my meandering journey came close to home I gave up on the cafe and headed towards my house.

This meant I had to travel along Whitehill Lane. It's one of my nemesis hills. It comprises three climbs. Each one a little steeper than its predecessor. The last 20 yards of the third one is very steep. It's the last climb when I cycle to Brighton and back. So it always causes a sense of dread when I know it's close.

Below is the cyclemeter readout. Not sure how I managed to climb more than I descended and still end up back home.

A route with some big climbs

Cycling with Matt tomorrow, wonder where we will go.

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Another cold, and this time muddy ride

A muddy, and icy lane.

Second ride of the year. Less foggy and slightly warmer. The wind was less bitter and not as strong.
I'm was on my own, so where to go?

There is a route near me that can either be completely on road or include a little off road. This time I chose the the mixed route.

As you can see above it was muddy, with plenty of ice covered puddles to ride through. The only trouble with the mud is that when I get home and want to get into a warm shower ASAP. I have to clean the bike first.

The pictures in the post are all from my GoPro clamped to the handlebars. I have it on time lapse mode so it can record the whole ride. For this reason the quality isn't as good as I like for my blog. It's normally okay, but the light was fairly low and was bounced around a lot. Using the GoPro means I don't have to stop to get my camera out. A good thing when it's cold.

It records evidence of close passes by other road users.

I get pictures I wouldn't normally be able to.

Another ice covered puddle. Thanks to GoPro.

And occasionally it reveals something I missed. 

I was reviewing the photo stream and realised I had twice cycled past someone's aircraft collection, and not noticed.

And one more use for the GoPro. Selfies; or is that the bike taking my picture?

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First cycle of 2018

First ride of 2018, and it was a cold one. The last few days have been warm, but the rain had too frequently made an appearance. This morning however dawned grey and cold.

The standard route was agreed when we met at the green. The slow way to the bus stop. On arrival tea and biscuits were consumed and the recent celebrations discussed. We both agreed the fuss and stress from the build up put a dampener on the event.

The cold hadn't been an issue, except for the cold bench we sat on.  The ride home was a different story. The wind had risen and it really started to bite. We choose the long way home due to the fog, and the hope of some shelter from icy blast. But it was not to be. Riding down hill the speed had to be kept low. Such was the chilling the extra speed caused. We saw a lot of cyclist, bidding good morning to them all became almost constant. I do find winter riding elicits more replies to my greetings. It must be because we are all a little surprised to see others out on bikes when it's so cold, and seek to acknowledge it.

Anyway I'm home now, showered and warm. So the pain of a chilled face are forgotten until the next ride.

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