On Location - Roundhay Park - Adam

First of all a BIG thank you to David (Cole) for choosing the hottest day of the year so far to go out on location. I think the weather should be done by photographers from now on as they seem to have a sixth sense.

I haven't been back long but I thought I would take a look at my pics and upload some today as I won't have a chance till next weekend.

Today the group was out in Roundhay Park (Leeds, UK) with a Brief to buddy up with another member of the group (selected by David) and shoot landscape and portrait shots within in the park for the next couple of hours.

The following takes place between 11:00am BST and 13:00 BST (Cue the '24' sound effect)

I took 137 pictures and all were taken with a polarized filter on the camera.

My lovely partner for today was Darren so I started off with a portrait shot of Darren whilst the rest of the Paparazzi where taking pictures of the local celebrity 'Teddy'

1/150s, F2.8, ISO 400, 24mm, Filter - Polorised

I have slightly cropped this photo but kept the same aspect ratio. If you zoom in on Darren's glasses the rest of the group including myself can be seen but you might need the original picture to do that.

Staying with portrait shots for the time being the next photo I would like to share was taken during a youths cricket game in the bowl.

Crowd Goes Wild

1/240s, F3.2, ISO 100, 36mm

The 3 gentlemen posed for me whilst watching the cricket match. I instructed them all to watch the game whilst I took this photo. It is a shame about the yellow tricycle but I like this shot as it seemed to portray each of the gentlemen's current mood. Oh and I had to make sure the Leeds United shield was visible.

Next I called out to the rest of the spectator if there were any lively actors in the stand and when for some shots with a little more emotion than the one above.

Nerves

1/250s, F3.6, ISO 100, 24mm

This was a photo of a Dad going for a nervous pose, I think he looks a little more like a magician conjuring a magic trick but hey still an interesting shot and random interaction with complete strangers

Mexican Wave Cricket Style

1/250s, F3.6, ISO 100, 24mm

By now I had injected some energy into the spectators who at first were half asleep in the sun, well they were watching cricket and there wasn't any beer around.

I asked the ladies on the front row to do a mexican wave and after a minute or 2 of peer pressure I got this attempt. 

I think with hind sight I would have liked to have shot this again at different angles including a head on shot.

The final shot of the spectators included taking photo of 3 individuals that seem to be attentively watching the match. Probably because they were keeping score.

Score

1/160s, F3.6, ISO100, 43mm

At this stage some on lookers were assuming I worked for a local paper or the club so I thought I had better take some shots of the actual match!

Below is a photo from a quick fire 8 frame shot. The sequence ends with the bowler jumping up and down as he bowls out the bats man.

Bowling

1/320s, F5.0, ISO160, 177mm

I wish I had my tripod setup for this shot as the photo isn't as sharp as it could have been but still pleased with the results. The white shirts are a little over saturated but nothing I couldn't fix.

With the Cricket Location behind us we went on down towards the lake. On the way I could resist taking another portrait shot of a couple enjoying a quiet picnic in the sun (well until I showed up)

Picnic

1/300s, F4.5, ISO100, 39mm

Nothing amazing about this photo but useful experience and helps me work out what I would do next time in a similar situation.

Next, Darren and I ran into a bit of trouble, Well what I mean is Darren got mugged at gun point by a 6 year old. I had nothing to do with it and it wasn't my idea, honest!

The Mugging

1/250s, F2.8, ISO400, 27mm

I liked the spontaneity of this shot. As the girl walked by I asked her to shoot Darren. The girl was so pleased to be asked and given permission to fire on a random stranger it wasn't difficult to set this up. Poor Darren was more shocked and expertly put his body between the water and his camera.

I have cropped out the girls face as I don't have the permission of a parent to take this shot.

Next I decided that a bottle of water was needed in this heat but unfortunately the kiosk wasn't yet open. I decided that the kiosk girl owed me something if I couldn't purchase water yet and she agree to pose for a portrait.

 Kiosk Girl

1/30s, F2.8, ISO200, 24mm

This is a tight portrait crop which removed a lot of clutter and vending machine in the background. I have a few ideas how I could improve this image and wouldn't mind having a play with her eyes and cleaning the back drop up some more.

Finally we made it to a spot in the park Darren had recommended.

I setup my tripod and started snapping using lots of combinations in manual mode and bracketing the shots. The landscape photo I would like to share is this one.

Tranquil Lake

1/320s, F4.5, ISO100, 34mm

The colour and light makes this shot my favourite. The sun kept coming in and out of clouds and eventually I had a nice shot with the light shining off the green fields in the distance. The calm water in the foreground contrasts with the water further out where it becomes choppier.

The large Cumulous clouds are also a pleasing 'cloud' shape and fairly striking against the blue sky.

After taking a number of landscape shots I returned to portraits.

This was a shot taken of a group of lads straight after a sprint finish to the edge of the lake.

Rowing for Fun

1/50s, f6.4, ISO200, 170mm

I shot this picture in colour and changed it to B&W. I have also removed a few people walking along the far bank. I have cropped this into a widescreen ratio 16:9 as the long rowing boat looked better in a widescreen cope than the standard 4:3 also as most TVs are 16:9 I tend to shoot a lot more in 16:9 these days.

The last few shots I would like to share are also portraits

Girl Power

1/250s, F6.4, ISO400, 170mm

I shot of two girls gently cooling down after a long race across the lake. I decided a close shot of the girls was a nicer image than trying to get the entire boat in and losing the detail of the girls' features

The next Ice-cream Girl

1/40s, F3.2, ISO400, 31mm

On our way back to the mansion I tried again to get a bottle of water. This time a very red headed kiosk girl happily sold me some water and two mint choc chip ice-creams mmm 

And finally 2 shots of a waitress called Frances working at the Mansion at a wedding. Frances relaxed after a minute or two of general conversation and started to pose for us

1/240s, F3.2, ISO100, 36mm

1/220s, F3.2, ISO100, 36mm

So they are my initial top 15 photos from the 137 I took today. I hope you like them and please post lots of comments. Like David has said. He has to shoot photos his clients enjoy and not just ones he likes so incite into other peoples likes and dislikes is really useful

Look forward to seeing everyone else's shots very soon!