Postcards from Kefalonia

September saw us head off to the sunny Greek island of Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea, just west from the mainland. The reason for our trip? Aaron and Nicola had asked that I photograph the wedding and rather generously paid for Amy and I to stay with them in the incredibly fancy Tesoro Blu hotel. Now I have been fortunate enough to go to some nice places with family and friends but I am not sure I have stayed in a hotel as fancy as this! Providing luxury rooms and a relaxing atmosphere it seemed to dissuade you from wanting to leave. Me being me, I can’t stay put for more than 5 minutes so we did venture out and explore local beaches, ruined churches and mountain top towns. Being so small, Kefalonia means you are pretty local to everything. Local taverna’s had incredible food too. Couple that to the welcoming locals and gorgeous weather, this really is an ideal place to holiday. Here are some pictures from that trip.

 

Oh and if you liked this, why not check out;
Postcards from Scotland
Postcards from Amsterdam
Postcards from LA
Postcards from Salou
Postcards from New York
Postcards from New York II

SHOOTINGDAVE

Postcards from Scotland

May was the month where we took our annual family holiday. This time it was to Scotland. The road trip was fraught with car troubles which meant that I was starting the holiday on the back foot. That just meant I needed to relax even more. We stayed in 20 bedroom mansion called Ardlamont House, North West of the Isle of Bute in picturesque grounds with nothing but good food, good drink and amazing company to keep us entertained. There was no wifi, there was no phone signal, just good old fashioned fresh air and stunning scenery. Honestly, I didn’t know how I would get on without my creature comforts but it didn’t take long for me to stop caring about checking instagram and facebook every five minutes. This was, in a true sense, a holiday.

 

 

Oh and if you liked this, why not check out;
Postcards from Amsterdam
Postcards from LA
Postcards from Salou
Postcards from New York
Postcards from New York II

SHOOTINGDAVE

Postcards from Amsterdam

I am not entirely sure where this year has gone. I have been super busy with work that I have totally neglected my blog. To keep things short and sweet, here are some postcards I shot in Amsterdam whilst on a stag-do in March. All shot on my iphone and edited using VSCOcam. All I know is, I need to go back, this place is stunning!

If you liked this then why not check out;
Postcards from LA
Postcards from Salou
Postcards from New York
Postcards from New York II

SHOOTINGDAVE

Postcards from LA

Now I’m not going to pretend that I am anything other than lucky. I am not going to pretend to be one of these people that has a boat load of money and can pop off to the other side of the world whenever I see fit. No, I am lucky. Late November I got the message that there would be a possibility that I’d be heading to LA for a photoshoot with Honda for work. I tried to down play the whole idea as in our industry, these decisions have a tendency to be reversed. Quietly however, I was screaming like a little girl inside. I held my breath until the first week of December when things like flights, hotels and cars were being booked. Holy fuck, I was actually going!

Camera gear was the first thing I packed and repacked, then passport, then toiletries and then clothes. I was going from England where the average temperature has been around 12 degrees Celsius to LA where it was hovering around 22! NICE. I was also going to having a 2 and a half days down time whilst out there so it wouldn’t all be work. I was so stoked about getting the opportunity to drive around and explore. Like I said, LUCKY.

Like any trip, I always carry my eyefi card so I can ping snaps from my camera to instagram whilst on the move. I tend to use VSCOcam to edit the pictures and I liked them so much I made a new preset in Lightroom to mimic the look using Kodak Gold 200 as a base. Enough chat, here’s some pictures.

It is safe to say that in the 5 days that I was there, I fell for the place. I wasn’t that blown away from it when I first landed but after spending time, speaking to people, travelling around, trying out the food (and beer) that I loved it. I would quite happily move there. There is so much to see and do and having a beach, mountains, big roads, deserts and all the sunshine you could want, why wouldn’t I want to be there.

LA, I’ll be back.

Oh and if you liked this, why not check out;
Postcards from Salou
Postcards from New York
Postcards from New York II

SHOOTINGDAVE

Gatebil – favourites.

Sun, trees, tarmac, rocks, undulating terrain – add in the whiff of high octane fumes and the shrill sounds of a highly blown in-line 6 engine and you might be able to get close to picturing Gatebil.

Previously I had shown you what the human element of Gatebil was like, this time I want to show you the real reason people make this pilgrimage from all over the Globe to just south of Oslo Rygge. It’s for the cars, they are the stars of the show, exploiting every inch of real estate on track, pulverising tyres into carcinogenic smoke which washes lawlessly across the elevation changes in the Rudskogen Motorsenter.

To the uninitiated the internet hype and videos from Gatebil fill you with you both excitement and frustration, yet again you missed another event but you have just begun planning your trip across Europe for the next event. Well for the last few years I was in that camp, I was the uninitiated. That was until July this year when I made the trip with fellow photographer Bill. Both Gatebil virgins, both had had enough of watching videos and hearing stories, it was our time to go and see what the fuss was about. Writing these posts makes me feel reflective, I felt like I didn’t get what I wanted out of Gatebil, I felt like I failed in my duties as a photographer to effectively convey they emotions and atmosphere of the event, But a few months down the line, looking back through what I captured, I did ok, I did captured enough to spark memories and emotion looking through these photos, to me as a pretolhead, this is what I get excited about. The test will be, whether you like them. Here are my favourites from the track action. Enjoy.

SHOOTINGDAVE