Landing Gear Down

Kegworth is an unassuming village on the Notts/Leicestershire border, but it became famous in a sad way when a plane crashed on the M1, near there in January 1989.

The Boeing 737 belonging to British Midland had to make an emergency landing, and aimed for the East Midlands Airport close by. Unfortunately Flight 92 never made it and so it landed by the motorway, with the loss of 47 lives, and only a short distance from one of the airport's runways.

We had stopped off in the village, as we were on a Sunday afternoon drive out into the country, and I managed to get this Jet 2 airliner from a hotel car park, as it was approaching the airport.

The British Midland airline is no longer around, as it disappeared a few years ago. It did become BMI Baby, and did some really good cheap flights. Gail & I went on one to Switzerland a few years ago.

Leaving On A Jetplane

Well what a difference in the weather today. Three torrential rainstorms. I got soaked twice!

Still warm though.

After so much photography recently, I didn't take anything today, so here's a photo that I took last week of a Boeing 737-500 belonging to Thompson Holidays, that was coming into land at East Midlands Airport.

Be great to be on a flight somewhere sunny for a few days. But we haven't got any time off until the middle of next month

Battery Life

Motor racing took a new turn today at Donington Park. Although not as high profile yet as Formula 1 racing with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, electric racing cars are the new kids on the circuit, and go by the name of Formula E.

They look the same, go as quick, but they are a lot quieter and obviously don't use petrol. You just plug them into the mains and an hour later you can go racing again.  As it's a pretty new sport, there are only about 20 cars in existence, and they are all the same model. But no doubt the teams will be able to tinker with them in the future.

The first ever official race is going to take place in Beijing on the 13th of September. If you want to learn more about this exciting new motorsport, then here's a WEBLINK to the Formula E site.

Review Of The Year - July & August

The summer wasn't too bad with the sunny weather. Although it was rather cloudy when I went to London for the day in July. Besides taking my favourite 45mm lens, I took along my Samyang fisheye lens. It worked very well on this unusual shot of the BT Tower.

August saw me spending the day at Tank Mania in Leicestershire, with some other photographers and a load of models. It was quite a muddy day, and three of the models decided to get down and dirty in a large muddy and very deep puddle. I prefer my models to be armed and dangerous like Kat here.

Tank Mania

I took a day off work today to drive to deepest Leicestershire to do a model shoot with a difference, as it would involve tanks, armoured cars and other military vehicles.

The place I went to was called Tank Mania, and you can pay to have rides in the tanks around a very muddy track. They also restore old army machines and do team building days.

There were about seven of us photographers and five models to make the most of the hardware on offer. Unfortunately Gail couldn't join me as she couldn't get the day off. I had met a couple of the models before at Donington recently, so that was pleasing to know.

As I said, there was quite a bit of mud about and some very big puddles. More like lakes in some cases. All the models were wearing army fatigues that the company had provided. So three of them decided to get down and dirty, by walking into a rather deep and muddy puddle.

Then then started larking about and posing for the togs who had all lined up at the water's edge. I thought that if I did that, then I would just end up with the same photographs as everyone else. So I scrambled up the side of the bank, and shot a few photos, just to get a different angle. Here's Jade posing for the cameras whilst up to her waist in muddy water. Who said that modelling was a glamorous profession!

One of the models called Katerina didn't want to get her or her clothes wet, and so had gone off back to the portacabin for a cup of tea. I decided to find her as I had got a bit bored with the 'water babes' and wanted to ask her if she wanted to do something with just me. She said yes, and so as she was dressed in her own khaki outfit , I saw her as an action girl; Emma Peel or Purdy for example. We had got hold of a replica gun, so we spent an enjoyable 20 minutes or so, walking about looking for little scenes that we could act out, such as this sandbagged area.

Camping 1960's style

Besides the old motorbikes on show at Donington Park, I came across this 'domobile', belonging to one of the bike owners.

I have never slept in on, but I know the roof lifts up and there a little bed appears. I don't think that I would feel that safe up there, especially if I were to roll over and fall out.

Bicycle Fun

While we were wandering around Donington Park with our two models Sophie and Caroline , Gail and I were constantly looking for things to shoot the girls with, that might make for a good photo.

One of the girls spotted the big black motorbike, which you can see, but there was lots of stuff around which we couldn't move, but I did see this kids bike, so thought it would make for a couple of fun photos, considering all the speed machines on show there.

Motorbikin!

Just got back from a grand day out at Donington Park, thanks to Paul Lush and his girls. This time it was models and motorbikes.

I must admit that I'm not that excited by motorbikes. Give me classic cars or aircraft any day.  But it was fun all the same; especially as we got to work with some different models.

All the girls had dressed as though they had stepped out of the 1960s.  The plan was for the models to pose by some vintage bikes, but for some reason it didn't quite turn out that way. That was a shame, as I was planning on messing around with the photos in Lightroom to give them an aged feels. Still I am quite happy with this shot, which is more or less out of the camera.

Two highlights of the day was seeing the RAF Memorial Flight fly over the circuit, and this George Formby lookalike, who had recreated a scene from the 1936 film 'No Limit', in which our hero wins the Isle of Man TT race.

Lushhh...

This is Helen, one of the models that we shot at Donington Park the other week.

She's sitting in a Porsche. I like the reflection of the two guys, one of whom is the owner looking on.

I just thought I would post this, as sadly, I didn't take any shots today.

Models And Motors

Gail and I have just spent an exciting day at Donington Park shooting models and motors, separately and of course together.

There were plenty of Ford cars on show, as it was geared towards Ford owners, but there were others, like these Caterham 7's, waiting for the checkered flag.

I came across a message on Facebook for asking for 'togs' and models to walk around and interact with people who were there.

Here's Lucy posing with a Ford Escort from the 1970s. The weather wasn't brilliant, and it did rain a little bit, but not enough to deter us for enjoying the day.

Donington Park is close to the East Midlands Airport. So every so often jets would scream overhead, either taking off or landing; just like this Ryanair Boeing 737.

Au Réservoir

On the way back from Rockingham Castle, we stopped off a Rutland Water, which is near Oakham in Leicestershire.

Rutland Water is a reservoir that supplies water for the region. It also doubles up as a nature reserve and water sports centre. Fishing and picnics also take place.

We had not been before, so it was a pleasant to have a walk around and take a stroll to the waters edge. There were loads of people there; mainly families having a bit of quality time together.

I took some photos of the birds flying around, which I thought about using for my Headbanger photo.

The village of Normanton was lost when the lake was constructed. The building you can see is St Matthew's Church and is all that remains. Sometimes though when the water is low, you can see the submerged buildings; lost in time.

Damsels In Distress

As it was another lovely sunny day, Gail and I went to visit Rockingham Castle in Leicestershire.

The castle was built over 900 years ago & decendants of the original family still live there.

The insides were full of wonderful things to look at; furniture; paintings; works of art. The kitchen was amazing and full of cooking utensils and realistic looking foods. The staff were very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions.

The castle grounds are exceptional and are well laid out and full of interest. I especially like this hedge of different shaped and sized hedges that run the length of one of the gardens.

Some of you may have heard of, or seen a BBC drama series from the early 1980s called 'By the Sword Divided'. It was about a family caught up in the middle of the English Civil War. Well the castle was used extensively in the show as a backdrop to the action. So if you do fancy a day trip out somewhere, and want to pretend to be a Cavalier or Roundhead, I can personally recommend a visit, as I don't think you'd be disappointed.