autofantasia's photos

Another beautiful Mk2 Golf as seen at VW North West 2011 . Can't confirm the precise year for this one as official records now show the registration assigned to a Vauxhall Combo van, but the plate at the time would suggest it was either 1987 or 1988. Hope the car is still around though as it was an absolute stunner.

Off and running then ... time to start another album showcasing another of the many car shows I've attended over the years. Staged within the grounds of Tatton Park on the outskirts of Knutsford, VW North West is one of the best VW related events to be staged in the UK as I hope my photos will show. First to be uploaded from when I visited it in 2011 is this very tidy looking Mk2 Golf, which I think must be from the North of England as I've also come across it at some of the smaller local shows in recent years.

I'm pleased to say that I've finally finished uploading photos to my Newby Hall 2013 album and it can be viewed by clicking the link. Nearly 80 photos (none of which you'll see on flickr) are to be found within this one. Organised by NECPWA (North of England Classic and Pre War Automobile Club) and held every year at Newby Hall on the outskirts of Ripon, North Yorkshire, this is a show I only discovered in the last couple of years.

The instantly recognisable Sprite quickly became affectionately known as the "frogeye" in the UK and the "bugeye" in the US, because its headlights were prominently mounted on top of the bonnet. The car's designers had intended that the headlights could be retracted when not in use, but cost cutting by BMC led to the flip-up mechanism being deleted, therefore the headlights were simply fixed in a permanently upright position, giving the car its most distinctive feature. This is the last car shot from the 2013 Newby Hall event. I still have a few more photos which I might upload at a later date, but they will most likely be added into my Dogs & People At Car Shows album.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the theme was anywhere you can receive or send mail . Royal Mail painted more than 100 of its iconic and much-loved red post boxes gold to celebrate each and every gold medal won during the London 2012 Olympic Games and subsequent Paralympic Games. The post boxes are to remain permanently gold to mark the achievements of the athletes and the historic Games. There's even a dedicated website which shows where the Gold Postboxes are to be found across the UK. This particular one located in Ingleby Barwick was painted to celebrate Katherine Copeland winning gold in the women's lightweight double sculls. Kat Copeland, as she's more commonly known, had only been in the senior GB Rowing Team squad for two seasons when she and Sophie Hosking won their historical medal, the first Olympic title ever for the GB lightweight women’s squad. The look of wide-eyed disbelief on Kat’s face at the end of the race has become one of the most memorable images of London 2012. And although after the Games Sophie Hosking retired and Kat herself took a break away from the sport she soon returned to competition and went on to win several major events with new partner Charlotte Taylor. Sadly though they did not do well at the recent Rio Games where they were knocked out at the repechage stage. However, the look of sheer joy and disbelief on her face after winning gold in 2012 has forever earned her a place in the heart of the nation. If you didn't see the race, or simply want to watch and enjoy Kat's reaction once again simply click here . As for Kat's gold post box I've included an overall shot of it in the Notes for those who may never have seen one of them before. Also, belatedly for Sight and Sound , what else but Spandau Ballet and Gold ... youtu.be/ntG50eXbBtc youtu.be/gSq8ZBdSxNU youtu.be/VQ4qrcHyYj4

Seen this lovely old Jag at a few shows now and it always looks exceptionally clean ... that colour is so understated and suits the car really well.

Yet another lovely line-up at Newby Hall in 2013, this time of old Austin's starting with one from 1967 nearest the camera.

Lovely collection of extremely old cars lined up at Newby Hall back in 2013 with a rare Swift from 1904 in the foreground. The Swift Motor Company was based in Coventry, England from 1900 until 1931. It grew from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. The Cadet of 1930 was their last vehicle though as they couldn't compete economically with volume manufacturers such as Ford.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the theme was twins or similarity . I remembered recently seeing two very dark coated sheep, almost black, up on the moors by Cod Beck Reservoir on the outskirts of Osmotherley and immediately thought they'd make a cool subject. Sadly, when I went back up there last week with my camera I was unable to get close enough to them due to the fact that they were grazing on the wetter boggier parts of the moor. However, I did manage after several cautious attempts to get close enough to these two. Not sure if they're twins, but ewe wouldn't be surprised. Also for Sight and Sound . Who remembers Sam The Sham & Pharaohs singing 'Wooly Bully' ... youtu.be/K6P7g_qz2OU youtu.be/uE_MpQhgtQ8 youtu.be/GzNNE8JKX10

For this week's Sunday Challenge , which was entitled The Writing's On The Wall . Although it can mean that there are clear signs that something will fail or no longer exist, I decided early on to go for the phrase in it's most literal sense. However, I only had an hour spare last week to wander around Northallerton looking for something to shoot and despite going up just about every alley and ginnel l could find there was a real absence of anything suitable. In fact, there was very little graffiti and most of what there was I decided might be, how can I put it, inappropriate for the challenge. So in the end, the best I could come up with was this close-up shot of something sprayed onto an old brick wall after all nobody said you needed to be able to read the writing. I liked the colour of the paint and the bricks lent themselves to some strong processing to bring out the colours and contrasts like I've tried to do here. Not great, but the best I could do this week. I wasn't even going to post it, but have decided at the last minute that something is better than nothing ... so, here it is!

A 'nearly ran' for this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we were asked to photograph a bird or birds . After struggling to get close enough to a group of village ducks on the river at Great Ayton, or to get many decent shots, this particular duck's actions summed up how I was starting to feel. I'm also not entirely convinced that it was just diving for food. I tell you, being mooned by a duck isn't all it's quacked up to be!

I was trying to get a shot of these two little cuties sat in front of their owner's lovely Austin-Healey, but they just wouldn't stay still long enough. So, in the end I had to settle for this photo of their owner doing her utmost to get them to pose for me, which I think makes for an amusing shot even if it's not the one I was originally after!

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which we were asked to get out and photograph a bird or birds . Now that may sound like an easy challenge to many of you out there. I mean as one of our 'leaders' pointed out everywhere in the world has birds: you can visit a lake, a woodland, a wetland or even take pics of the garden birds from the comfort of your own home. They can be flying, up a tree, in a bush, on the ground, in the water, or a budgie in a cage. Yes indeed, all true. However, I quickly came to realise that much of what you can achieve in this area is down to the equipment you have at your disposal. Now whilst I am lucky enough to have a Nikon D90, I only have the 18-105mm kit lens that came with it and although it's proven to be quite sufficient for most of the photographs I take it does have obvious limitations. For this particular challenge I found it very difficult to fill the frame with my chosen subject even when I'd zoomed in as far as I could. And when I tried to get closer to the subjects to compensate for this I found most birds flew off before I could get close enough to get the shot I was after. So, accepting the limitations of my equipment and my poor field craft I decided to pay a visit to nearby Great Ayton. This small village, a few miles from Northallerton, has a large duck population and so I thought they'd be more used to people and so might be more tolerant of any would be photographers. Once again though what sounded easy became more complicated on the ground and taught me much not only about my camera, but also ducks in general. For example, I thought with it being a sunny day they'd be on the village green or sunning themselves on the river bank meaning light wouldn't be an issue ... no such luck! No, it turns out that when it's warm and sunny these ducks prefer to be in the water underneath the shade of the densest trees they can find. And whilst I might normally try to overcome that by shooting at a slower shutter speed I couldn't do that because these pesky birds rarely seem to stay still for a second: constantly moving, flapping their wings and doing anything they can to make getting a decent shot of them nigh on impossible. This meant that in the end, from literally hundreds of shots (yes really), I only managed to get a handful that I was happy with ... proving that shooting birds isn't all it's quacked up to be!

I really do hope those burgers were worth the wait!

Another previously unpublished shot taken at Newby Hall back in 2013. Only first registered with the DVLA in 2012, so I'm guessing it was imported from overseas around that time. Amazing to think this car is now over 100 years old.

What might be described as a 'nearly ran for a recent Sunday Challenge , the one which asked us to read through the challenge ideas thread and pick yourself a challenge that hasn't been ... done . This one was pulled from the archives and would have gone under urban decay .

For this week's Sunday Challenge for which we were asked to create a triptrych . However, it was made slightly more difficult because we were also instructed to shoot something from 3 different angles and then to convert those images to monochrome before then using them to create the final triptych. Now, I've got to be honest a triptych for me would have been challenge enough, but to find a subject that I felt I could shoot from 3 different angles, which would work effectively in mono left me pulling out much of what little hair I have left. And I quickly came to realise that my mind's eye is clearly better suited to seeking out photo opportunities in colour than it is those that will work in mono, be that black and white or otherwise. In the end, after many, many trials, this is what I ended up with. It's a series of shots of a shower hose which I tied up into a knot before shooting it from various angles. Initially, I was struggling, really struggling, to get a series of shots without capturing the ends of the hose, but eventually I decided to work with them and try to use them in the overall design to create the effect of a pair of eyes. The final triptych was then processed in Photoshop and instead of going down the black and white route I elected to convert it into cyanotype, which I thought just lifted the design somewhat and gave it a slightly more sinister edge ... that's if a shower hose can ever look sinister!

For this week's Sunday Challenge , which asked us to read through the challenge ideas thread and pick yourself a challenge that hasn't been ... done . So I've elected to submit this one under either urban decay or walls neither of which appeared to have been set as topics before. Spotted on a wall in Northallerton during one of my many walks around town looking for things to shoot ... with my camera that is of course! Best viewed large on black if you have a moment to spare.