Mallory Park

09-07-22

My old buddy gave me a call last weekend to see if I wanted to go to Mallory Park motor racing circuit, they were having a display of cars, bikes, and memorabilia at the museum, and the tea and egg cobs were really good, how could I say no. The racing circuit isn’t very far away and my buddy said he would pick me up. Weather wasn’t brilliant, a bit dull and the odd spot of rain so I took my Olympus EPL1 with me. In the late 1960’s I used to ride to Mallory on my Triumph Thunderbird with a sidecar attached (an interesting driving experience) The main event on the racing calendar was the the “Race Of The Year” I was fortunate enough to see the late great Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini (still going strong) racing together.

Chevy Pick up.

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Minarelli and Cimatti, lovely small Italian motorbikes.

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Panther (sloper) used a lot for sidecar work.

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1967 Lambretta.

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An Early 1964 Ford Cortina with peace rear lamp clusters, I had one of these in the 1970‘s

This one is a rare automatic version

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Memorabilia

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A lovely Elva Formula Junior racing car, wouldn’t mind a go in this myself.

A great afternoon out, the Tea and egg cob were really good, and a lot of great memories came flooding back.

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Adrenaline Buzz

23-04-22

I have been feeling in a low mood since my lovely cat Fleur had to be put to sleep, I miss her presence around the house so much. Her daughter Mimi is a great comfort, really glad she is with me. So when my best buddy phoned on Thursday and asked if I fancied a trip out in the country for a bite to eat and a walk, I jumped at the chance. Get your crash helmet and jacket ready, we are on the Triumph Tiger today. It must be about 4 years since I’ve been on the back of a bike.

Triumph Tiger

Wow, the Triumph certainly has some get up and go, my feet lifted off the footrests a few times under acceleration, felt very safe though, my buddy has been riding bikes since the late 1960’s.

Our destination was Thornby Hall in Northamptonshire, it’s a meditation centre that is set in beautiful grounds, the house is built from a lovely warm coloured stone and dates back to the 17th century. I took my little Olympus EPL1 digital camera with me and a 1956 film camera (more on that in another post) took lots of images of the grounds and house, but I like looking for the unusual, often tucked away round the back.

Waiting for Christmas

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I just liked the window and wall with the old Hall in the background

Felt better for the adrenaline rush, the walk around the grounds, and some good food and coffee in the café. As I’m writing this my cat Mimi is asleep on my lap, she’s lovely and warm, dreaming, and snoring quietly.

Scanning 35mm Black & White Negs And A Sunbeam

“Warning” this post contains some technical stuff, if this causes you to experience yawning or a mild case of narcolepsy just skip to the last image.

The screenshot below shows the interface for the Nikon Scan software that I use for scanning in 35mm film, Pentax MX and Fomapan 100 in this case.

It looks a bit daunting at first but I find it quite intuitive, and it’s easy to turn all the enhancements on or off.

a) Histogram Black & White Points Unadjusted

This is the histogram display with a straight scan from the negative. I scan my Black and White negatives as a positive and invert the image in post processing. It seems to capture all the tones a bit better doing it this way. The small spike on the left is before adjusting the image size where it has picked up a bit of the area outside the negative frame.

This is the cropped and inverted straight scan of the image. I’ve noticed on various social media sites some people make a thing about the fact it’s a straight scan, but to my eyes at least, it looks too flat.

b)Histogram Adjusted to Black & White Points

I’ve adjusted the Black & White points (circled in Red) to just touch the histogram, this is the useful information captured by the film and scanner..

To me it’s starting to look more like the scene I saw when I took the shot.

c) Nikon Scan Image Enhancer

By selecting Nikon Scan Image Enhancer (SIE) from the scan menu it cuts into the histogram a little and gives a bit more contrast to the image.

It does a really good job on some images, but a touch too contrasty for me.

1930’s Sunbeam – The Final Image

Using scan b), Cropped in a bit tighter, some sharpening added, a small amount of clarity and a touch of vignette.

 

Triumph

08-03-18

An old buddy of mine suggested that we visit the Triumph motorcycle museum at the factory, it’s not very far away and I’d never been before. I took my Olympus EPL1 with me but it was quite dark inside the museum and I had to set the camera to 1600 asa, the Olympus is quite an old model and not too good in low lighting.

Early SpeedTwin

Bonneville

Marlon – Wild One

I had a Triumph Thunderbird in 1970 with a sidecar (purple painted box) attached, it contained a heavy duty battery and a bag of cement to help keep the sidecar on the road when going round corners. I sold it to buy an electric cooker !!!!!!

Bonneville Record Breaker

Steve McQueen – The Great Escape

This is the actual bike Steve McQueen used in the film.

Custom

It was a great day out, I would love to see the production line but it’s booked up until August. The cafe was good, served excellent coffee and eats.

 

Stanford Hall Founders Day

24-07-17

An old friend of mine (whom I’ve known since I was 8 years old) and his wife very kindly took me me on a visit to Stanford Hall, Leicestershire for the annual Founders Day motorcycle event on the 23 July. It must be 20 years or more since I last visited, and that was for the Classic VW show. I had a thing about Beetles at that time, wish I still had one. The weather has been a bit patchy over the last week or so but we were lucky yesterday, it kept dry and we even had some sunshine. I took my Olympus EPL1 with me to get a few shots of the bikes, didn’t take too many as it can be quite boring for people who aren’t taking photo’s.

Stanford Hall

BSA Golden Flash

BSA V Twin Sidecar Outfit

The BSA was immaculate

3 Wheelers

I would love one of these !

Indian

All in all a great day out with good company.