ACN Event 2011 : Persecuted and Forgotten?

By Unknown on 14:51

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No, not forgotten were the words of Archbishop Vincent Nichols as he welcomed Archbishop Bashar Warda at Westminster Hall on the evening of Thursday the 17 March 2011.

The visit of Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in Iraq coincided with the launch of a report by Aid to The Church in Need on religious freedom which revealed that three-quarters of religious persecution that goes on in the world today is sadly against Christians. The day at Westminster began with a reception which was followed by a press conference at The Friary


A special St Patrick's Day mass accompanied by a full choir was then held at Westminster Cathedral



where both archbishops came together to give communion to the many who gathered


before convening at Westminster Hall where following a brief introduction by Archbishop Nichols, the proceedings were then chaired by Neville Kyrke-Smith, UK director of ACN 


who handed the floor over to John Pontifex, the  co-author of Persecuted and Forgotten? for an account of his experience when out in the field meeting Christians who are persecuted for their faith.


The evening continued with a speech by Archbishop Bashar Warda who then took questions from the audience before the evening drew to a conclusion.

Colour my world

By Unknown on 13:12

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In my day, school uniforms were a right drab. Sports colours were scarcely more inspiring either. It was my great delight to experience more than a splash of colour at the netball courts at SY12 9AB last week when Ellesmere's Netball 1st VII hosted the visit of Moreton Hall.

I think you'll grant me the indulgence of saying that these are the most exciting sports colours I have seen in years




And it's hardly surprising that feeling good is a great performance enhancer even when an abundance of talent is more than evident.









With skills amply displayed end to end, it was very much a cakewalk. 

Eventually as the final score closed at  26-7 to the home side,  it was definitely C'mon Ellesmere!!!





Keeping Up With The World's Fastest

By Unknown on 15:21

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My Friends

I am pleased to have found this





The Manfrotto Neotec Monopod.

To be able to have something that is capable of being set up so quickly is an absolute bonus, leaving me therefore to concentrate on the important thing - getting that shot.


Enjoy!!!

Opus One

By Unknown on 11:54

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Well as they say, ' There's a first time for everything '

Quite a busy weekend prior to which I attended a meeting in respect of a big event shoot next week, followed by an enjoyable telephone conversation when I caught up with my friend Carli who is quite the most exciting events, advertising, fashion and corporate photographer I know and more importantly, one of the loveliest people one could ever hope to meet. She had just added the finishing touches to her new site so when you have a moment, please visit Adby Creative Images

My Opus One in singlehanded video reviews is finally up. It was recorded on Saturday along with other pieces to follow and features my favourite shoulder bag, the ThinkTank Urban Disguise 40. Please take a look and let me know what you think.


My delivery sounded more polished as the afternoon unfolded but I'm quite happy with the first published attempt despite battling the wind and aircraft noise. Hope you like it or at the very least, please don't fall asleep :D


Have a good week ahead everyone.

A Spring Of Sorts

By Unknown on 00:55

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I was shooting some videos this afternoon and noticed a welcome indication of the first signs of spring which backed up the sunny start to the day and the first weekend in three in which I was able to shoot a whole afternoon uninterrupted.

On such a beautiful day it seems so unreal and one feels utterly helpless that many face real tragedy in Japan. Our prayers and thoughts must surely be with those who try to cope with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami and those who are helping them rebuild their lives.

The Japanese people have a long history of being very resilient. If ever they needed to be inspired by one of their ancient proverbs, it surely is now.




Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

Picture - orientaloutpost.com

What a blast and from the past

By Unknown on 02:10

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You don't see it these days. Not that there were many examples of it in it's heyday. It certainly wasn't something you could have placed into your basket at Amazon, Adorama, B&H or Calumet. Well, not at the $89,579 price tag which was the asking price of the unit when it was launched.


Measuring 32.9 inches without it's hood and weighing in at 36.4 lbs ( 16.5kg ), the Canon EF 1200mm f5.6L USM Super Telephoto is the world's longest and rarest autofocus lens.  Only available through special preorder arrangements,  lead times were being quoted at 18 months. It's hardly surprising that the lens took several months to construct since the growing time for  the large fluorite crystals which made up the third and sixth elements was around a year. Introduced in 1993, it was finally discontinued in 2005 with as you would expect, a very exclusive uptake. Sports Illustrated and Canon Professional Services are known to have two copies a piece, with National Geographic and James Jannard, the billionaire founder of Oakley having one each.

When shot with an EOS 1Ds MkIII, faces were said to have been recognizable at distances in excess of a mile. Mount this onto a 1.6x body like the 7D and you would have a field of view equivalent to a lens bearing a focal length of 1920mm. That would indeed have to be quite an L lens!!!

If you're looking to take a picture of that woodpecker in your back garden, get a 600mm or a 400mm with a teleconverter instead. This thing has a minimum focusing distance of 45.9 feet or 14 meters. Another reason why the Canon EF 1200L wasn't perhaps for everybody.



Picture - http://www.robertphotoblog.com

Further information and a review, look up http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/Canon-EF-1200mm-f-5.6-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

Getting by with a little help

By Unknown on 16:03

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Most of us have read good advice amounting to having a small table tripod as part of the accessories to have in one's camera bag. You never know when you are going to need a stable platform on which to mount your camera and the chances are that you don't have it when you need one and are then compelled to make do with something of a makeshift nature. Trouble with table tripods is that while not the most stable of mounts and perhaps suspect when you are using a heavy camera in portrait orientation, they are it seems to me, not solid enough to mitigate vibration. Well, possibly until now.

Manfrotto have just announced a selection of new items to their catalog which include two pocket tripods. Available in with black or silver  and in two sizes, they look to resolve the stability and transportation issues.

This is the small pocket tripod, model MP1-CO2 ( CO1 being the version in black )


and here is the larger unit, the MP3-DO1 ( DO2 in silver ). Yes I know it looks smaller but do please click on the image and it will zoom in ;)



They appear to be of fixed height. It would certainly be interesting to see them in the flesh as it were. Specs or prices not as yet released and I'm sure they won't be much less than £40 each. You have to admit they do look the part though.