Photography
BBC Article About Me
Aug 20th
I was interviewed about two weeks ago by the BBC for an article about my photography and Urbex in general, but due to the interviewer being seconded to radio for a short while the article has only just gone up on the site now. The reporter found my pics through a photography site which I post on, and contacted me to ask if I would be interested in doing a short piece about the pictures and Urbex, to which I agreed on the proviso that I got final say on the article text before it was published.
Unlike some people I was careful not to compromise the integrity or access information of any sites just to further my own photographs. Just by being careful with what you say in the interview and making sure you have final read of the article text before it goes live, you can avoid so many problems.
Anyway, if you want a look at the article it can be found here
~Shepy
Modlock V0.5 Released
Aug 19th
I have just released ModLock Version 0.5, which brings:
- Added option for up to 4 extra customisable buttons
- Added ability to check for updates manually or automatically
- Filename name back to modlock.exe to prevent problems updating
- Added double click support to tray icon
As usual, it can be downloaded from the ModLock page by clicking ‘modlock’ at the top right of this site.
As it now has update checking in, I wont be making any more blog posts about new releases, so you’ll either need to use the built in updating or check the page every now and then.
~Shepy
ModLock v0.3 Released
Aug 14th
The latest version of ModLock has been released, with the following features:
- Added transparency support
- Added auto run on startup option
- Added minimize to tray functionality
ModLock now has its own page on the site, where you can dowload it from. That page can be found by clicking the ModLock link in the top left, or by clicking here
~Shepy
ModLock V0.2 Released
Aug 13th
Modifier (Alt, Ctrl, Shift) Lock for Tablet PC
Aug 12th
Recently i bought myself a Tablet PC / notebook, which I have been using quite a bit with photoshop to modify photographs when away from my main desktop PC.
One problem i stumbled into however with this is the need to use modifier keys, such as Alt or Shift to change the way in which a tool behaves. When the computer is in tablet mode rather than notebook mode i have zero access to the keyboard, which made this a bit awkward to use the clone tool, for example, as i would have to half unfold the tablet to get to the actual keyboard, or use the huge standard on screen keyboard.
I had a bit of a search about and was unable to find software that suited my requirements, namely a small app that sat on screen and provided just the three modifier keys and more importantly, was free.
As i couldn’t find anything, and i was getting bored, i decided instead to just knuckle down and code it, and thus Modifier Lock for Tablet PC (ModLock) was born. A quick screenshot:
Laser AF Assist How-To
Aug 6th
Following on from yesterdays post, and the load of comments asking for a how to, here it is. Unfortunately I wasn’t thinking of making a how to at the time while I was making the mount, so I don’t have photographs of the various stages, so instead I’ve rendered it in a 3D app.
Needed items:
- Laser Pointer from here
- Dremel rotary tool (Cutting discs, griding stone, sanding)
- Nail varnish or model paint
- Pliers
- Ruler
- Pencil
If you order the laser pointer from the link in the required items list, it comes with a barrel mount already provided, this is what you are going to modify down to fit to the camera. Ok, on with the guide;
Home Made Laser DSLR AF Assist
Aug 5th
I just finished making a laser sight for AF Assist for my Canon 400D that mounts on the flash mount on the top of DSLRs, using a £5.70 little laser pointer. Should make focusing in dark urbex situations much simpler.
If anyone is interested in making one of these themselves then leave a comment saying so, if there is enough interest ill make a little how to on making your own one of these.
(Click for enlarge, and please excuse quality as obviously couldn’t use my regular camera to take pic)
~Shepy
Nürburgring 2008 Round Up
Jul 30th
Well, I have finally gotten round to sorting out all the pictures from the Nürburgring and uploaded them to my gallery.
Thankfully this year all of the cars that went out came back in the same condition as they went out in which we were all happy about, especially Martyn. He has had the misfortune of crashing on the ring in the last two years we have been out there. The hotel where we stayed is the Ringhaus, which has the hotel rooms named after corners on the circuit rather than being numbered. In 2006 Martyn was in the Hohe-Acht room and managed to crash on Hohe-Acht on his second lap out around the ring. Last year he was staying in Brünnchen and managed to crash on that corner as well. It had become a bit of a running joke that we were either going to make him stay in a tent, or ask Frank the hotelier to make sure his room was an easy corner or a straight. Thankfully there was no crash at all this year from our group, though there were plenty on the ring during the time we were there, partially because of the number of cars on the track for the BF Goodrich race on the Saturday and partially because of the wet conditions on some of the other days the general public were out on the track.
There were still a few strange goings on while we were out there, such as the decision not to go back to the Ringhaus again next year after a meal we ordered one night took nearly an hour to arrive and wasn’t even what we asked for. Also finding that the linen closet was wide open with a board with all the room keys hanging on it unattended means we will be looking for new accommodation for next year’s trip.
Also in the hotel at the same time as us was a bunch of other U.K. guys who were Audi fanatics, and as Glenn and I rounded one of the corners we spotted one of their cars pulled over at the side of the track with a guy projectile vomiting over the barrier. Thankfully I had camera in hand and managed to grab a quick snap or two of it for mockery purposes back in the hotel later on.
More >
Pet photography
Jul 17th
I always try to keep my hand in at other types of photography, not wanting to become stuck in a rut just doing urbex pictures. I’ll often try to arrange model shoots, band shoots and gig photography whenever the chance arises, so when the opportunity presented itself lately to do some pet shots for a couple of friends of mine I jumped at the chance.
There are a few things i could have done better, and i only wish i had found the Digital Photography School post about photographing pets before i had done the shoots, but I guess that this just means I have to go and get more practice at it and put some of those principles into practise. I’m pleased I managed to carry out some of them without having read the article, but I could definitely do with trying some of those other hints.
A couple of examples of shots taken in the two shoots so far, the complete galleries of which can be found at the bottom of this page of my gallery.
I’m off to the Nurburgring soon to do some shooting out there, so ill get some practise in shooting cars both stationary and while racing, so that should be an interesting challenge. I had done this about a year previously as this is an annual trip to the ring, but i was only just starting to get to grips with my camera last time, so im looking forward to seeing the results this year.
If you have anything you would like me to shoot for you, as I said I’m always happy of the practise, so please give me a shout and we can arrange something.
~Shepy
Hunted by police helicopter
Jul 4th
A couple of friends and I were out exploring last night, a magnificent old building constructed in 1808 as a college and seminary in County Durham. After having explored the site for a little over two hours we headed towards our exit and heard a helicopter flying above.
Quickly we ducked back into the building and decided to wait it out and have a cigarette while we waited for the thing to pass overhead so we were not seen exiting the place. After a bit of discussion we agreed that it was unlikely they would send out a helicopter for us, a couple of trespassers and after waiting for 15 minutes and still no signs of the helicopter moving on any, we decided to just exit anyway. One set of ninja manoeuvres to get out quickly and we walked clear of the building and started taking our external shots of the place. The helicopter was hovering close to the place, but not quite over it so we assumed it was perhaps there for something going on over at the road nearby.
After we had our external shots we walked over to exit the fence surrounding the place to find two police officers waiting, and it hit home rather quickly that indeed the helicopter was there for us.
Luckily it was just a case of us explaining to them that we were just there taking photographs, and to back this up i always carry a little printed 12 page booklet with some examples of my previous urbex pictures, and showed the officers the pictures in our cameras to show we had just been doing the same. They took our details and carried out a couple of quick PNC checks whilst having a chat with us about the dangers inherent to the hobby etc and then sent us on our merry way, at which point we saw two police vans sitting over at the end of the building around the corner.
Now I’m used to police attention whilst exploring, often security or a busy body in the area will call them out and we will be questioned, which has lead to me being arrested on a couple of occasions and then being released after questioning. I can understand this entirely, and in a way am quite thankful for it as it helps to prevent the pikies from stealing the lead from the roofs, the copper from the floors and generally just trashing these places that we like to visit.
I do however think that the helicopter was a bit excessive, especially as we had parked our car about a quarter mile from the site, and it was the farmer near to where we had parked who had called in the incident to the police. They knew where our vehicle was, they had the name and address of the owner from a vehicle check no doubt, so why then would they need to send out a helicopter to look for us as well as the two vehicle sand four officers? Whilst I appreciate that they will not have been able to find or see us due to the fact we were in the building, they knew exactly where we would head once we left the building, so they could have simply caught us at that point.
A quick search of google turned up the following information for the cost of a police helicopter for one year; £1,216,542 for 1294 flights, but unfortunately due to the varying nature of the duration of these flights these figures can not be used to calculate the cost per hour of a helicopter to the force. I did manage to find however that if a helicopter is called in by a neighbouring county’s police force then it would be charged at £1,500 per hour. These figures are also based on 05-06 data, so presumably due to increasing fuel charges this figure is now much greater. Working on that figure though, and the half hour stated by one of the officers that they were at the site, they have spent at least £750 to keep a helicopter in the air to look for us at a site no bigger than a football field, and could have easily stopped us for questioning or whatever else they pleased when we returned to the car. It all just seems a little wasteful and keen to use the helicopter to me.
Anyway, we were let go without arrest or charge, and the explore was really quite enjoyable and turned out some nice pictures, so ultimately it was quite a good explore for us. Pictures to come soon.
~Shepy