Goodwood nostalgia

While I love the cars at Goodwood, one of the things which makes the Revival so atmospheric is the way most of the visitors come wearing clothes appropriate to the period between 1948 and 1966, when the circuit was in active use. This creates a wonderful feeling of nostalgia and I love lurking in the paddocks, people watching.

There are always familiar faces to be spotted in the paddocks - in this case former rally driver and broadcaster Tony Jardine, looking very dapper.

The rain at last year’s Revival made added some variety and made for some interesting scenes.

For the 2024 Revival I made a change to the camera kit I used. Normally I’d take a selection of prime lenses, but this time I spent most of my time using my 35-100mm f2.8mm zoom lens. This gives the look of a 70-200mm lens on and was perfect for capturing candid shots of people without being too intrusive.

I’d love to know what these two chaps were discussing!

This was snapped during a downpour when everyone dived into the paddock shelters. It’s one of my favourite photos from the weekend - so timeless and atmospheric.

I had to dodge the rain and the puddles to capture these two mechanic with their “don’t get in our way” expressions!

Motorsport fans are getting younger and younger!

Looking to the skies during one of the early morning air displays.

The work never stops for the Duke of Richmond…

A very stylish young lady.

Photos taken 6-8 September 2024

A moment of calm

During my busy working life there are times when I just need to slow down for a moment and pinhole photography is a great way to make that happen. Back in April I headed over to St John’s Church in Duxford and spent an hour or so chasing the light. I’ve photographed here many times before but the light is never the same as the seasons change. On this occasion I started in the churchyard where the cowslips were flowering. Of course my photo doesn’t capture their vivid yellow tones, but I decided to shoot from a low perspective to catch them in the foreground anyway.

Inside the church, the light was as glorious as ever, creating pools of illumination around the building.

This was one of my slower shots (an eight minute exposure) but I couldn’t resist the textural details of this door and its latch.

Two different perspectives of the nave…

More pools of light, this time from the west window.

The light in the porch was very contrasty, creating some very graphic lines.

My final photo of the afternoon, taken from a higher perspective beside the pulpit.

Photos taken 11 April 2025

West Dean Gardens at a leisurely speed

When I teach at West Dean College I have a couple of hours to myself on the Saturday and it’s always an opportunity for me to head out into the gardens, camera in hand. On this occasion I took my pinhole camera along, with no particular agenda and simply photographed what caught my eye.

An ancient sprawling tree, waiting for the warmer spring weather to arrive along with its leaves.

A perfectly espaliered fruit tree in the walled gardens.

It may have been early in the spring, but there was plenty of blossom to be seen in the glasshouses.

Magical light falling through the folly…

Photos taken 15 March 2025

The remains of a Liverpool landmark

One of the places which remained tantalisingly out of reach when I visited Liverpool in 2019 was St Luke’s - a church in the city centre which was no,bed during the Blitz. On my latest visit I was delighted to find the railings were unlocked and I could finally take a look inside. Of course, with pouring rain and no roof I got rather wet, but it was worth it!

Photos taken 16 April 2025

People watching at Goodwood

When I went to the Goodwood Racing Revival last September I knew it would be a little while before I was able to sift through my photos, edit and share them, but I never intended it to take nine months! Better late than never, I’m going to begin sharing them here, but rather than arranging them by day I’ve filtered them into different themes - for today’s post it’s my colour photos of the people I saw around the circuit.

Dolly and Gracie are regulars at the Revival, dressed up as two cleaning ladies from the 1950s. They can always be relied upon to act up for the cameras, and on this occasion I caught them planting some red lipstick prints on the roof of Nick Swift’s racing Mini!

There was a western theme around the entrance in 2024. I have to confess I’m not entirely sure what the connection with Goodwood was but it made for a good photo opportunity!

Of course, there were also plenty of opportunities for people photography around the paddocks…

Photos taken 6-8 September 2024

Baby Bluetit season

Every spring a pair of bluetits takes up residence in our garden bird box to raise a family and around the beginning of June we hear the incessant calls of young fledglings demanding food from their harassed parents. This year’s brood appeared a couple of weeks ago and today I finally found an hour to sit in the garden with my camera to capture some of their activities.

When I’ve done this before I’ve always had a battle with my camera’s autofocus to catch the birds among the branches of our buddleia bush. But since I updated my camera about 18 months ago the new autofocus system has made this so much easier. It was even able to pick up birds deep in the branches and focus on them and that make such a difference when you’re dealing with small creatures who move so quickly!

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

A couple of years ago we bought a new bird bath, which is raised off the ground and placed closer to our bird feeding station. It’s made a huge difference to the number of birds who use it, and I was surprise how many came for a drink, even though I was only sitting about five feet from it!

Although the garden is dominated by bluetits at the moment, we had plenty of other visitors too…

A rather tired looking Great Tit

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Photos taken 23 June 2025

Brooklands Mini Day

One of the first trips we made after I bought my little half frame Pentax 17 camera was the Brooklands Mini Day - a gathering for Minis, large and small, at the museum in Surrey. I decided to travel light, with a roll of Kodak Gold loaded into my camera and an open mind about what I might photograph.

A quartet of Rover Mini Cooper 35 special edition cars - ours is the second from the left.

Mini noses in silver and red…

The odd non-Mini shaped interloper was allowed in too!

Minis as far as the eye can see on the old Brooklands track, and a few modern Minis too.

Minis of all sizes were welcomed in - even ones made from crochet!

Minis everywhere - even beneath the wings of aircraft.

We also took a look around the bus museum on site but it was a little too dark for my chosen film for many successful photos.

And finally, a triptych, created from an old petrol pump I found a corner of the museum

Photos taken 23 March 2025

From the South Downs to Birling Gap

Way back in February we’d planned a short trip to Eastbourne to be part of a podcast recording, after which I was then heading west for work. I had a free day in between though, and there were two locations on my photographic agenda.

The first was the Church of the Good Shepherd in Sullington, up on the South Downs. I learnt about this tiny little church from the YouTube channel of a fellow pinhole photographer, Will Gudgeon, and it’s been on my list of places to visit ever since. Will was kind enough to give some tips on where to park and how to find the church was it stands in the middle of farm land, some distance from the nearest road.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is genuinely tiny, with perhaps room inside for a dozen people. It originally formed part of a larger church, but all that remains of this larger structure are a few fragments of wall.

You wouldn’t expect the weather to be wonderful in February, but with the church’s exposed location on the South Downs it felt even more blustery and cold. To top things off we then had a hailstorm, so I was very grateful the door was unlocked. While I waited for the stinging hailstones to peter out I made the most of the opportunity to take a slow photo inside!

A small slit window in the stub of one of the walls from the original church.

After I’d meandered back to the car I headed once again towards the coast and stopped of en-route at the church in Litlington to finish off my roll of film.

My second destination for the day was Birling Gap. After a warming lunch in the cafe I loaded up a fresh roll of film and braced myself for an hour on the beach below the chalk cliffs. By now it was blowing a hoolie and keeping my tripod stable was a bit of a challenge - sometimes I had to place my body strategically to create something of a windbreak!

The beach at Birling Gap is a mix of chalk and flint which made for some very striking patterns. I’d timed my visit for low tide, just as the sea was beginning to return so I kept my eyes peeled for places where the water was running back in between these stony ridges.

Capturing the ridges of chalk and flint as the waves came in took a good sense of balance and timing. As I stop atop the larger rocks I waited for the waves to come in and hoped I didn’t lose my footing or find the water had inundated my return path to dry land!

Photos taken 7 February 2025

Chester Cathedral

The last time I visited Chester was in April 2003, when I was teaching on a course in the city and it’s long been on my list of places I’d like to return to. As we prepared to drive home from Liverpool last November that moment finally came as it was a fairly easy detour to Chester via the Mersey Tunnel. We spent an hour or so in the Cathedral and I was thrilled when the sun finally appeared, creating some beautiful play of light on the stonework.

Photos taken 22 November 2024

Museum light

There are certain buildings which never fail to get my photographic juices going. Sometimes that’s down to the architectural lines; on other occasions it’s because of the way the light falls within the space. The Museum of Liverpool falls into both these categories, and when we visited last November I found some new angles on a space I thought I’d already explored pretty fully.

Photos taken 21 November 2024