autofantasia's photos

Can't believe I'm running late again with this week's Sunday Challenge , but I am! Still, at least I'm posting it on Sunday albeit late in the evening, but it'll be tomorrow now before I get a chance to look at everyone else's work. Anyway, for those that don't know the theme this week was simply things that go together. So I've gone for blue skies and straw wheels because at this time of year you can be certain where ever the sun shines you'll find them and I just love them!

Time at last me thinks to start another automotive album, this time capturing some of the shots I took at CumbriaVAG 2011 . A cracking little show it was held at the Heaves Hotel on the outskirts of Kendal in Cumbria although I believe more recent shows have taken elsewhere. This was one of my favourite shots of the day as it summed up all that was special about this laid back event: a great selection of vehicles, all nicely laid out, and sunshine aplenty. Oh, and that kid taking the notes could well been me 30 or 35 years ago!

So folks, my late entry for this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of texture, features Howard the Hare . I’ve been looking to photograph Howard, perhaps for the purpose of a Sunday Challenge , ever since he was given to me by my wife as a gift. This cold cast resin sculpture is one of a series produced by celebrated artist Paul Jenkins. Many of his pieces are inspired from direct observations of wild animals in their natural habitat and I’ve been an admirer of his work, especially the hares, for quite a while so was delighted to be given this as a gift. As soon as I saw this week’s challenge was texture, I immediately thought of using Howard as he himself has a lovely handcrafted texture. Howard normally lives indoors, but for this challenge I took him out into the garden as I wanted to try and produce a photograph of him that would eventually look like a painting of a hare in the wild. I sat him atop a large boulder and carefully positioned some potted plants around him to give what I hoped would be a naturalistic backdrop. Once I had a shot I was happy with the next challenge was how best to process the shot and what textures to use to give the desired effect. I opened the photo in PaintShopPro X2, which is my weapon of choice in such matters, and used the posterize effect to make the image slightly less realistic looking. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to lose the definition on the plant leaves and so the overall effect was still to realistic. Howard was looking good, but the leaves were still proving problematic. So I created a duplicate layer of the overall photo and treated the top layer to some PSP brush strokes, which really started to make the leaves look like they were painted. Next, I deleted Howard from the top layer to allow the less processed hare to show through from the lower layer. All that remained was to try and do something with textures, an area of processing I have little experience. PSP does have a canvas effect, but I didn’t feel it looked quite right so I got an old bit of carpet down from the loft and photographed the backing. I then copied the image into PSP and used it as a texture on the shot of Howard. It took a bit of fiddling around to get the opacity levels right, but I think in the end I got what I’d set out to achieve … something that looked like a painting of a hare in the wild. Looks better I think when viewed large. Oh, and if you want to know more about Paul Jenkins, follow the link below to his official website where you will find examples of his latest ceramic and resin bronze sculptures: www.pauljenkinsgallery.co.uk

I shot this recently whilst walking through fields on the outskirts of Northallerton. Submitted for this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of 1 or 3 or 5 of something and left us wide open as far as subject and processing was concerned. Cropped widescreen to try and emphasise the solitary nature of the single poppy in what I believe was a field of wheat or barley. View large for best effect.

Another from the series of shots I took for the The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This was in the same window as the Victory Bears that everyone seemed to feel were too nice looking to actually eat and comes with added reflections and more traditional processing!

So, this week's Sunday Challenge was ground level ... camera no more than a few inches of the ground or at least as low as you can get. And it didn't matter what you shot once you were down there, so I decided to use this photograph, which I took at Ripon Old Cars last weekend. Interestingly, I'd sought out this vantage point because of the trouble I have getting up and down taking shots in the main arena due to having dodgy knees caused by too much road running in my younger days. Anyway, enough about my ailments, for this show I decided to try and capture the majority of exhibitors as they were arriving. Having them come to me so to speak once I'd got into a low down position greatly reduced the amount of times I had to move. Not only did it save my knees somewhat, but it also got rid of another pain I have to contend with at shows when trying to get clean shots ... visitors! The exercise proved so successful that I actually had to switch back to shooting only JPEGs to keep going and even then I filled the card before I'd taken all the shots I would have liked to take. Thankfully though, not before I'd captured this Lomax 223, which for those that don't know is a hugely popular three-wheeled kit car. Both the driver and his passenger looked so happy to have their photo taken I decided this had to be the shot I'd submit for the challenge this week. They both made me smile and hopefully they'll have the same effect on you too!

Another from the series of shots I took for the recent The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This beautiful bowl was crying out to be photographed, so I hid the price ticket and moved away adjacent items to try and create what I hoped would be a striking image. The shop in question was Origins on the High Street, which has loads of stunning and interesting items of homeware. If you're ever in Northallerton it is well worth popping in for a look around or check out their website: www.originshome.co.uk

When we first moved to Guisborough in 1993, I immediately fell under the spell of Roseberry Topping, a distinctive and iconic landmark with fine views across North Yorkshire and Cleveland, that is situated just a few miles away. At just 1,049 feet (320 m) high, it may not be the biggest hill you'll ever see, but it will certainly be one of the most distinctive. Its shape, caused by the combination of a geological fault and a mining collapse in 1912 has made the hill the most beloved landmark in the Tees Valley area. One of the few framed photographs we own is actually of a sunset at Roseberry Topping, so when I saw that the Sunday Challenge for this week was sunsets I immediately thought of using that as a subject. I spent a few hours one afternoon walking the area around it to try and find a vantage point similar to said framed photo and, having done that, returned just before sunset to set up operations. This is my first real attempt at shooting a sunset and that combined with an absence of much in the way of clouds meant that the finished product wasn't as colourful as I might have liked. So, I guess Joe Cornish won't be losing any sleep over my efforts. Some were too light, some too dark and many were spoiled by an abundance of noise, so I obviously have much to learn. However, I did get a few that I liked and this is possibly my favourite.

So this has been one of those weeks where I thought I had things sorted and knew what I was doing only to realise on Saturday that I was totally on the wrong path. You see the challenge, for those not in the know, was to create a collage of your favourite challenge so far, using new images ... not images already taken, which is what I've foolishly done here. My interpretation of what a collage is might also be my second big mistake of the week. You see I took a shot of coloured water in a glass and combined that with some shots I took of light passing through that glass onto the coals in our gas fire to form a single new image. Then, in turn, I've created an overlay that attempts to make it look as if the new combined image is actually made up of several smaller shots ... a sort of scattered image if you like in a style perhaps reminiscent of the David Hockney poster entitled "The Desk". To be fair though, despite my reservations about how I've approached the challenge, I actually kind of like the finished result. It might have worked slightly better if I'd had time to micro-manage the position of the individual snaps just a little, but I ran out of time so it is what it is. Like I say, I kind of like it, but as ever I'd welcome any comments or feedback you guys care to leave.

I'm pleased to say that the transfer of my Harewood House 2011 album from flickr to ipernity is now complete and can be viewed by clicking the link.

Well, would you believe it, I've finally got to the last shot from this show that merits being uploaded. Sorry it's taken me so long, but other things have kept getting in the way recently or at least have taken priority!

Detail shot of the great logo that sits atop the small-block Chevy engine!

Two very tidy Mk2 Golfs from the late Eighties snuggle up beside a Volvo Amazon ... don't you just love car shows?

Just in case the last shot of the engine on Stuart Turp's M1 Capri wasn't taken close enough for you, here's another ... this time taken from right underneath the bonnet!

As you can see from the showcard, this beautiful Mk1 Capri is owned, or at least was owned, by Stuart Turp from Barnsley ... lucky guy if he still has it!

Not sure what his owner was looking at in the other direction, but this one definitely thinks the action is to be had elsewhere!

Another from the series of shots I took for the recent The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market , but which also extended to cover shop displays. This is a photo I took of part of the window display in Bettys Tearoom on the High Street. As you can see these were specially made to commemorate the Tour de France coming to North Yorkshire. As some people overseas might not know much about Bettys or realise that these are edible, I've copied the following text from their website: Wearing the iconic yellow jersey that was introduced in 1919, the year Bettys opened, our adorable cyclist bear looks set to take his place at the front of the greatest bicycle race. Handcrafted from Swiss Grand Cru milk chocolate with marzipan decoration, he certainly leads the pack as a uniquely charming gift. “With our heritage, we thought it would be nice to do a vintage cycling bear, so we went back through archives to see what cyclists used to wear,” says our Product Development Manager, Lesley Norris. www.bettys.co.uk

This is one of a series of shots I took for the recent The Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of At The Market . Griffdel Signs regularly attend Northallerton Market to promote their business and take orders for personalised hand carved signs. Not only do they show off some sample signs, but the stall holder also sets up a small display so that people can see him working with wood. A really friendly and cooperative chap, he was happy to let me take some shots: some candid and some posed. I think though that this is my favourite from the series and the only reason I didn't submit it to the main group was that I felt it maybe lacked context.