JONESMRJONES MEDIA: Blog

New job update and info

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:05:48 GMT

Sorry I have neglected this!

I have been stupidly busy with work this year as well as concentrating on aiming to get a new job as a firefighter!

I will try my best to update this as often as possible!

Here is a bit of a roundup to what I have been doing recently.

I left the Army in May to become a Firefighter for Avon Fire and Rescue.

Check out what I get up to on their Twitter (I am on Blue watch)

I won British Army Videographer of the year 2018 with this video-

Photos by Dan Harmer danharmerphot

I still shoot photos for Tribe of Frog and have done a bit of video for them as well.

Picture by Seb at IlluminartyimagesUK

Filming a bit of stuff at home trying to get to grips with the new camera.

Our second son Sonny has turned 1.

Jasper had to have his eye removed due to Glaucoma.

We went on Holiday to Turkey.

I am now using Canon camera equipment.

And Stan is growing up stupidly fast, he is FOUR at the end of this year!

So thats it, a bit of an update.

Check out my other social media stuff for updates and the like-

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PEACE!

Jagala Waterfall, Estonia

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 12:52:05 GMT

I recently went to Estonia and after running around filming The Royal Welsh for work (more on that soon), we stopped off at this waterfall on the way back to the airport.

It was pretty impressive! It is the highest natural waterfall in Estonia with height about 8 meters!

To be honest I had no idea what I wanted to achieve or what I was going to do.

I came up with this though.

The Ice was thick enough to walk on.

Sam taking pictures right underneath the falls.

We didn't have a still tripod with us, so Dan had to use our video one.

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Eat Sleep Drag Repeat 2018

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 12:31:34 GMT

So my first job out in Bristol was covering Eat Sleep Drag Repeat.

Here are the highlights of the night.

The last flight of The British Army's Army Air Corps Lynx Helicopter.

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:42:19 GMT

Didn't realise that this was such a big thing.

I was along for the ride in the back of a Chinook to cover the last part of the day as the Lynx flew over London. I also did a little rough video before they took off. It was a cold long day but a good one!

So many people turned up to see them all over the country.

I guess people had a genuine connection to these aircraft. From being flown around in them to keeping them in the sky.

I also managed to drop a Psy-Trance tune into this video...

Here are the photos I took.

Me just before takeoff.

Where have I heard this before an emotional response to music

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:28:26 GMT

I love music. I will have something playing constantly if I can. Hip Hop is probably the main genre that I enjoy listening to. I read an article recently that some people have no emotional response to music, its called Anhedonia.

Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. exercise, hobbies, singing, sexual activities or social interactions.

I love how Spotify just 'knows' On this week's discover weekly it played me this-

I think, where have I heard this before...?

Here it is-

I love listening to tunes and finding out where all the samples come from. J-Dilla samples some tunes that you would have never even know existed.

Also from films. Me and Stan were watching Antz. I think where have I heard this before?

Then it clicks, Jedi Mind Tricks sampled it! Some of the darkest hip hop, sampling a kids film.

Not Photography related but I may start using this blog for more content like this. See if people are interested and actually read it.

Stanley and Jasper friends for life 2017

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 14:23:02 GMT

So it's that time of year again. Stan has just turned 3 and Jasper 8 in May.

I have kept up the project and its still going strong. I love seeing Stanley grow in these pictures.

I have had a busy year deploying all over the world with work (post to come on that soon) and we had another boy, Sonny.

Hope you all had a great year and that 2018 is going to be a good one for you!

Here are 2017 pictures-

Check out previous posts here- The Beagle and the baby Stanley and Jasper friends for life, Jasper and Stanley, friends for life 2016

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

Across from me at meal times and update

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 16:11:08 GMT

I have been lazy on here, haven't I?!?!

To be honest I have been mega busy since my last post. In work, I have mainly been doing video jobs, I have been training to pass the recruitment process to become a firefighter for Avon Fire and Rescue (I was successful), travelled to Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and spent 3 weeks in the Caribbean for Operation Ruman for the disaster relief from Hurricane Irma and Maria. Oh and we had another child, Sonny.

Anyway, I was scrolling through my phone recently and released that I take a lot of pictures whilst we eat our food at home or out and about. Not sure why I do it, maybe because it shows them in a completely natural way, no posing, doing something that they do everyday. It also captures some great moments between them both.

Here are a few,

It's a funny little glimpse into our life!

Anyway, till next time!

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

Eat Sleep Drag Repeat | Bristol | SWX | RuPual's Drag Race

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 17:30:08 GMT

Eat Sleep Drag Repeat (ESDR) is the original & authentic home of RuPaul's Drag Race artists in Bristol.

I witnessed Sharon Needles come out of a coffin, Willam give themself a beer enema, JohnSmith shave hair off their breasts, Disgrace Jones grind sparks into their face and Alfie Ordinary dressed as a Teletubby

Here is a taster of what I captured at their recent event at Bristol's SWX Nightclub.

Good show people!

Check out the pics.

More photos here https://www.facebook.com/pg/eatsleepdragrepeat/photos

British Army Bushcraft | Filming the new 'How To' series

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 21:09:36 GMT

Earlier on this year, I and another Army Photographer spent a couple of days down in Newquay shooting the new 'How To' series of videos for the British Army.

This was filmed in one morning using a Canon C500 and Nikon D5 on a DJI Ronin stabiliser. It was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CC and the graphics were created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

Keep an eye out for more coming soon from us and we hope you learn something!

British Army CRIBS | FOXHOUND | OPERATION SHADER | IRAQ

Sun, 30 Apr 2017 12:23:36 GMT

Earlier this year whilst I was in Iraq covering 4 RIFLES on OPERATION SHADER I had two days to kill before my flight home.

I decided to do another 'MTV Cribs' style video, this time the Foxhound would be the vehicle.

I had and Idea of how I was going to shoot it. From shots to the style of edit including the music to go with it. I shot it all on the Nikon D5 using only stills equipment as I was not out there to capture video.

I have already started planning the next vehicle!

Hope you enjoy it!

A few weeks in Iraq with 4 RIFLES

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 08:03:41 GMT

So I recently went to Iraq. The last time I was there was in 2007 for OP TELIC 10. If you would have asked me back then If I could see myself back there I would have laughed.

I was in Al Asad Airbase west of Baghdad to cover 4 RIFLES on OP SHADER.

I spent two weeks there altogether covering everything from the Royal Engineers fitting out the new LAD, members of the BPC (Building Partnership Capacity) team training Iraqi soldiers in the fight against Daish and even a visit from the Secretay of State for Defence!

Scroll down to check out the images.

On this day 6 years ago (2011) we landed in Afghanistan

Sat, 07 Jan 2017 11:36:37 GMT

On this day 6 years ago (2011) we landed in Afghanistan.

These are some of the photos I took onOPERATION HERRICK 13/14 whilst in Kabul working as a Multiple 2ic within Souter Force Protection and Transport Company. (This wasn't us but gives you an idea what we did)

I really enjoyed my time out there. It was hard work at times but I got to see some amazing things experience some good and bad things and captured some great pictures out there.

The rest can be found here- Kabul, Afghanistan

Jonesmrjones

Afghanistan

I also talked a lot about the tour on this thread- http://www.hijackbristol.co.uk/board/the-forum/afghanistan!/

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

More Army Phot stuff- check out our Facebook page.

The Beagle and the Boy, Jasper and Stanley friends for life year 2

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 20:00:54 GMT

So here we are again. Another year down and Stan is now 2 and Jasper is clocking in at the grand old age of 7 later on this year.

It's been a busy year for us as a family. We moved home, got married, I won Army Photographer of the year Amy set up a business (A baby sensory and story telling class in Bristol)- Story Stars and Stan went 'viral' with this story- Stanley takes some pictures with a Canon g12.

Between all this we have kept up the 'Beagle and the Boy' project. Every month we take the photo. As you can see the location of the chair changed a few times and we even lost the chair for a month when my Nan reupholstered it for us.

Here are the images from 2016.

Enjoy!

Check out last years post here- The Beagle and the baby Stanley and Jasper friends for life.

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

From the jungles of Brunei to inside the Arctic Circle of Norway, my year in pictures 2016

Mon, 26 Dec 2016 17:07:10 GMT

So here is my annual round up of 2016 in pictures!

This year has been pretty busy to be honest. I've travelled to a few countries, seen some amazing things, met some great people, won professional photographer of the year and experienced some pretty groovy stuff!

Some of these pictures have never been seen before. Some you will have already seen from previous blogs.

Same as last year its pretty picture heavy, just keep scrolling.

Enjoy

The first Job of the year was jet setting to Brunei. For more info on that trip check out this blog post- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2016/2/up-to-my-neck-in-water-in-the-jungles-of-brunei

This goat was being taken off to be slaughtered, skinned, cooked and eaten.

Soldiers eating ants.

The guys were shown how to gut fish.

The goat being slaughtered.

The team out in the jungle.

Some of the places that we stumbled across looked amazing.

This was one of the entries into this years phot comp.

Another entry into the phot comp

Some of the guys chilling off in a river.

Me working on a boat in Brunei.

The next job was covering female members training in a local boxing gym in Stafford. It was pretty cool meeting the girls. I just observed them training for a few hours, got to know them and got some good shots.

This shot was another that I entered into the phot comp.

I spent a few days on Otternburn training area with 26 RA, more on that job here- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2016/2/as90-self-propelled-gun Another image from the phot comp.

I love this shot it shows the size and power of the AS90

This job was down in London for the Operation GRANBY memorial service in the guards chapel.

Inside the guards chapel.

I travelled all the way up to Carlise castle to set up a few photos that Army Phots had taken late last year for the response to the flooding up north.

The images were on show to the public and local dignitaries

This job is always fun. It's a regular task up in the Midlands, the final training before soldiers deploy on Operation TOSCA to Cyprus. This shot was put into my winning portfolio for this years phot comp.

I always like to get involved with stuff like this. I got hit a few times but its worth it for the shots.

A little pic of me at work. I took a potential photographer with me on this job and he grabbed a few of me at work.

I was off to Tidworth to cover the boxing for 1 RRF against 13 RLC. It was my first time covering boxing it was pretty hard but cracked how to do it in the end.

Another boxing night, this time at Bramcote Barracks for the Royal Signals champs. They had much better light at this boxing event!

This job was an odd one. I had was tasked to follow a US General round for a couple of days while he did visit to the UK.

Back down to London for this job- www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2016/9/tea-and-medals-meeting-a-bunch-of-actual-heroes

And for the HAC open evening.

I would never though I would see a 105 light gun fire in the centre of London.

Off to sunny Cyprus for a couple of days for this. I was on video so didn't take any stills apart from this goat in a tree.

Shrewsbury for this next task

The first church in the UK to sign the Armed Forces Covenant.

I was off to HQ ARRC for their annual music festival. I enjoyed this job as nightlife and festivals was where I first got into photography.

The Bootleg Beatles.

A couple of days in Birmingham city centre for Armed Forces Day. The flag raising and the actual day itself. I feel that this event gets less and less attended every year.

Off to Northampton for a job with the Police and The Royal Anglians.

The Brigade Commander of 11th Signal and West Midlands Brigade was doing a sponsored bike ride to France.

I covered this job last year, it was the annual Brigade reception. I positioned myself at a different viewpoint this year and got some different shots. It worked pretty well as you don't really see events like this from this point of view.

202 Field Hospital had set up a field hospital in a real hospital in Shropshire.

This was a model of the field hospital set up in Iraq.

I had covered this job the previous year. It was the Raksha Bandhan festival at a Hindu temple in Birmingham. It was a pretty groovy event, we got to see the whole temple, listen to members of the Armed Forces Hindu Network and eat some lush food that the temple had cooked for us.

Another training exercise before a unti deployed for Cyprus on OP TOSCA. I didn't cover the public order bit this time just the helicopter emergency drills. There was a lot of fake blood and some great acting by the amputees.

Next trip was off to Germany for a few days to cover a big NATO exercise. 14 nations were involved with a hell of a lot of armour and people!

On the way back from Germany we did a short stopover in France to cover a ceremony involving HRH The Prince of Wales and The Royal Tank Regiment.

Shortly after the Germany job I was posted to Andover as part of a 3 man Combat Camera Team (CCT)

My first week there was a busy one. This was the first job I was on. At Copehill down covering FIBUA

Back down to London for the state visit of the President of Colombia.

First job on Salisbury plain in a while. Went off with one of the new Phots Ben to do some stuff with the HCR.

This was a long old night. The Army Sports Awards.

London for Remembrance Sunday. More pictures from that job here- https://www.facebook.com/jonesmrjones.co.uk/posts/10153950681156053

In the afternoon I went off to Wellington Barracks for the Black Sunday remembrance parade for the Welsh Guards. It was The Prince of Wales's Birthday the day after and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him in Welsh.

And to my penultimate job of the year, EX ICE READY in Norway. More on that one here- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2016/12/the-hardest-conditions-i-have-ever-taken-photos-in

My final job. Pretty shite to be honest. Was just a grip and grin in the Headquarters for a sports comp. This was the only interesting shot I got.

Well that was it for 2016. Pretty busy. got up to some groovy stuff and got named British Army Photographer of the year.

Back to work in Jan and a few more jobs lined up already. Hoping to get a few more passport stamps and to go on some amazing adventures.

Hope everyone has had a great year!

PEACE!!!

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

More Army Phot stuff- check out our Facebook page.

The hardest conditions I have ever taken photos in

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:47:03 GMT

Without a doubt, working in Norway was the hardest conditions I have ever taken photos in - 4 hours of 'sunlight' a day, -10 in the daytime and -22 at night!

We were off again as the Combat Camera Team to cover EX ICE READY an exercise to prepare Five British women to become the first all-female team to ski coast-to-coast across Antarctica in November 2017.

We set off from Andover to Heathrow at 3AM to catch 3 flights into deepest darkest Norway; literally. We had 4 hours of 'dusk' each day we were out there. I didn't see The Sun once...

The sun rising at Heathrow as we took off, this was the last time I saw this, until I got back to the UK 4 days later.

Our first stop was Oslo, the capital of Norway, then on to Tromsø and then one final flight to Lakselv where we would pick up our hire car (a lovely Suzuki Vitara). There we drove onto Porsangermoen, our home for the next few days. We made a stop off at the local Co-Op and grabbed some supplies for the week.

We were staying in a nice little chalet just outside of the Military training area that the girls were working in. When I say 'chalet' it wasn't like your Center Parks style. It was not quite Butlins, but not as bad as a Pontins! It was a place to edit, eat, sleep, wash and charge our batteries. That's pretty much all we need as a camera team. Well that and a set of wheels, but we had already picked that bad boy up!

This was the view from out the back of our window.

We were up early the first morning, so we could get up into the training area to capture what was going on - in good conditions it would have taken 45 minutes. The Suzuki Vitara was supposed to be a 4x4, but we got stuck in the snow. The digger that cleared the roads had not been out before we left and the snow was bad. The first hill we came to we go stuck (I wasn't driving). Luckily, a BV was bringing someone in off the area, they chained us up and pulled us out of the verge. We were on our way again, until 5 metres up the hill we lost control and ended up in a ditch. This time the digger that cleared the roads had made it to us and actually dug the car out of the snow. We had discovered that the 4x4 was not that good in snow, so we switched all electronic ESP and other gadgets off and managed to trundle up onto the training area.

The BV pulling us out.

So we got to the training area and began to work. Fuck me it was cold! I was wearing layers and layers of clothing and I still felt it! As I have said before, we did not have much light to work with, so I knew I was going to be using some high ISO's. I started snapping away and covered them practicing crevasse rescue drills and moving across the training area.

BK.

This was the type of terrain that they had been living and training in.

I didn't notice until after reviewing this photo, that there was a old tank in the background.

We finished that day as the light dropped below what our cameras could cope with, and before the snow really set in and we got stuck for the night. I drove us back down from the area and to say it was a ropey drive would be an understatement. The snow was as deep as the bonnet at some points. I don't think I got out of second gear the whole time. We made it back and realised that it was 3 in the afternoon and it was pitch black outside!

The next day, we waited until it was light and we could get up to the training area. We didnt get up until later that day, as it was snowing hard and the car would not have made it. We waited until the snow had stopped, and the digger cleared the roads and made our way up. By the time we got up there it was already getting dark. We got to the area where the girls were stopping for the night and waited for them to arrive.

Camera set up for a timelapse in the snow while waiting.

It was this dark at 1PM.

Once the girls arrived, they went straight into their routine to set up camp for the night. The only light we had at this point was the torchlight from them and myself.

Cleaning off the ski's to be used as 'pegs' for the guy ropes.

Hot water was heated on these fuel stoves.

The only way to get water was to heat up and boil snow.

The living conditions in the tents.

The steam filling up the tent. This made taking pictures hard as it would often fog up the lens. I combated this by putting the lens in the snow to cool down and wipe it off after.

Foot admin was key in the conditions that they were working in.

As we were packing all the gear away, I noticed that there was a massive break in the clouds and you could see the stars. On the off chance of getting some nice star shots, I whacked the camera on a tripod set the shutter speed to 25 seconds and waited to see what came out on the back of the camera.Checking it out there was a green smudge across the screen. I instantly knew it was the Northern lights. I told Gaz and we started unpacking all our kit again.

We both set our cameras up to capture a timelapse but using the interval mode in camera so we could tweak the images before making them into a timelapse afterwards. We then sat in the car with the heater on for a few hours and waited...

This was the exact shot I had in mind that I wanted to capture before I went out there. You can just about see The Northern Lights. The three shooting stars were just a bonus!

Happy with what I got we headed home. As it was an early start in the morning so we went straight to bed.

Up and ready for the last day of shooting we met the girls where we left them the night before. This day was by far the coldest, it was -14 when we got up there and it got colder by the hour. It was so cold my jacket was starting to freeze and I could only work for about 20 mins before I had to put on a set of mittens over my thermal gloves for my hands to warm up. I worked my way round what was going on and captured their morning routine doing both video and stills.

Stepping out of the warmth of the tent into -14.

Selfportrait, you can see the ice forming on my jacket.

I realised that I needed to drink more water and less brews after having this wee!

So cold you had to defrost your bindings with your breath!

The views were pretty spectacular.

As the girls set off we spent the next couple of hours of daylight running alongside and ahead of them to capture them travelling back to camp. I shot the stills and Gaz did an interview on the move. It was hard work running up and down the line as I had to get ahead of them enough to get shots on the long lens and then wait for them to come past me to get shots on the wide. I struggled with reviewing the images on the back of the camera as well due to every time I breathed on it the condensation froze!

The training area looked amazing that morning.

If you look into the distance you can see the Boss and Gaz running ahead.

Anyone have a guess to what the blue funnel is?

Gaz after filming, his eyelashes and hair had frozen.

After shooting for the day it was back to the chalet to download our images and footage and start the edit. The girls had to hand back in their kit and sort themselves out after being in the snow for 9 days. That evening a big meal was cooked for everyone and we had a few beers with everyone. Before I went to bet I thought I would check out the sky to see what it looked like. This time you could see the Northern Lights with the naked eye. It was hard to frame it up as I couldnt see anything through the viewfinder so it was focus to infinity, set shutter speed to 25 seconds, f 5.6 and ISO 3200 and hope for the best. After a few shots I got the framing right and took a few snaps. After I was happy I set the camera to timelapse mode, set an alarm for a few hours and went to bed.

This is what the camera looked like at 1230AM and at -25.

Camera set up in the middle of the night near the lake.

The front of the lens. Happy to say that none of the ice came up on the exposures and the camera still works just as fine!

This was out the back of our chalet. I would have been gutted if I did not come back with a picture of the Northern Lights.

And that was that! 3 flights home and back in Andover for 1130PM on the Sunday. A great trip, did some great stuff and got to meet some inspiring girls. I wish them all the best on the rest of their adventures and I hope to work with them again soon! Big up yourselves ladies!

To keep up to date with the Ice Maidens exped keep an eye out on their site and follow them on Twitter.

Here is the finished video that Gaz filmed and shot. With one shot in their from me and the last bit of music made by me using garage band.

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

More Army Phot stuff- check out our Facebook page.

Peace!

Keep an eye out for a new blog post from Norway

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 09:08:47 GMT

Without a doubt Norway was the hardest conditions I have ever taken photos in 4 hours of sunlight a day and below freezing temps all the time.

Kabul through my eyes

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 17:01:03 GMT

I spent 6 months in 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan before being selected to transfer to be a British Army Photographer.

Here is a video I whacked together at the time.

There are hardly any pictures of the guys I worked with it mainly focuses on the people of Kabul.

Sorry its not hi-res as I did it a fair few years ago now on IMovie.

A lot of the images from this video are here in this album- Afghanistan

I will do another post soon explaining a few of the stories and what I got up to over there.

For now check out this link, I pretty much documented my time there on the Bristol music blog Hijack

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

More Army Phot stuff- check out our Facebook page and Instagram

Peace!

Looking up at Wesontbirt Arboretum

Sun, 06 Nov 2016 19:29:23 GMT

So I went to Westonbirt Arboretum a few days back. We only spent a few hours there due to Stan stacking in after two hours of running around in the leaves. To be honest he did well to go for that long. I took the camera along with me and grabbed a few shots of him running around and what we saw there.

I have been a few times before and wanted to get something different to the usual 'autumnal' shots you see at Westonbirt. I decided to 'look up' and get a different perspective.

Take a look;

They have built this groovy walkway that takes you right up into the trees

Some great textures and shapes to be seen

Stan was loving the trees

I just love the different perspective of the place, it's something different and looks amazing when you are there! We are planning another visit and we will be taking Jasper next time!

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

While you are at it check out Stans Instagram

Peace!

So I won something in this years British Army Photographic competition 2016

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:10:56 GMT

So I entered few categories in this years British Army Photographic comp. This is the second time I have entered the annual phot comp in my four years as being a phot.

I entered some of my stuff into these categories- Portrait, Sport /Adventure Training, ‘Soldiering’, Telling a story Portfolio (4 photographs), Portfolio (6 photographs), Best Online Image voted by the public and Online short form video (Social Media). You could enter twice into each category.

As professional army phots we could enter into the pro category. If you were in the Army, Cadets or employed by the MOD you could enter into the amatuer catagory.

I only went and won the best portfolio category with this lot! This was my second of the two portfolios that I entered.

The portfolio was split into individual categories-

PR Soldiering

Black and White

Sport

Equipment

Portrait

Here are a few others that I entered-

Telling a story Portfolio (4 photographs)

Portrait

Equipment

Soldiering

Sport

I also put in two entries into the online social media short video category-

Inside an AS90

The Band of the Brigade of Ghurkhas

Hope you like the pics and be sure to take a look through my past blogs to see how some of these shots were captured!

Brunei

AS90

While you are at it go click these links-

To see more work from other Army Photographers check out our Facebook page and Instagram

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Bristol Fog pictures fail!

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 12:19:02 GMT

A fair few years ago I took these photos-

You can purchase them both HERE

Well this morning I noticed it was foggy in Hanham and thought it may be worth a shot at getting some more pictures of Avon Gorge in the fog.

Me and Stan jumped in the car at half six in the morning and he fell asleep within 2 mins! The traffic was a bit of a mare going through Bristol as it always is but we managed to get up to Clifton before the sun rose. We waited a bit for it to get lighter and realised it was way too foggy to capture anything!

This was as good as it was gonna get.

Stan had his Canon G12 with him and snapped away with me.

Stan taking a picture of my while I take a picture of him.

Another one of my leg!

Stan seemed pretty interested in this light on the side of the wall. It took a few attempts before he got a shot in focus.

Not sure what was so interesting about this drain.

A few shot I grabbed while he was snapping away.

I knew that I wasn't going to get anything good from the fog so we soon left for the park.

Stan kept asking for my keys to open the lock.

Hope you like the further adventures of Stan! Check out his Instagram he has managed to amass more followers in a week than I have in 6 years!

If would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Peace!

TRiBE of FRoG celebrate their 16th Birth day at Lakota, Bristol

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 08:51:33 GMT

Tribe of Frog celebrated their 16th Birthday at Lakota this weekend by opening up 6 rooms of awesomeness.

This is a usual gig for me and I always enjoy covering it. The place always looks amazing as the crew put so much effort into the venue. It usually takes them a week to set it all up.

I had a bit of trouble as soon as I got in there due to humidity on the front of the lens. I usually keep the camera bag in the footwell of the car to warm it up before hand but forgot this time! It just meant that I had to wait a bit before shooting.

All these were shot on the Nikon D5 with a 14-24mm lens and SB700 flash. With this lens I can get up close and personal with everyone and get some great shots.

Check out the colours, people and atmosphere in this little teaser of what I got up to.

Make sure you keep an eye out for the rest over on the Tribe of Frog Facebook page. They will be up soon!

Also check them out on Twitter and Instagram. To hear all the music that is recorded at Tribe of Frog check out Soundcloud

Read my last blog on how my Son took some pretty groovy photos with a old Canon G12

If would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Stay Safe!

Stanley takes some pictures with a Canon G12

Fri, 23 Sep 2016 20:19:21 GMT

Stan has learned how to use a camera and to shout out cheese as he presses the shutter.

He has a few of my old crappy point and shoot film cameras in his toy box to play with, but today I gave him my Canon G12. To be honest it's a pile of shit and it doesn't get used at all. It was probably a tip top camera back in the day but by today's standards it's not the best.

He wandered round the house and garden snapping away saying 'cheese' at everything. He even managed to switch the settings to 'sepia' at one point. I'm guessing he was feeling a bit pretentious and wanted to change the style of his shots. He looks through the viewfinder as well rather than use the LCD screen on the back.

After he had finished and started to press all the buttons to see what they did I whacked the memory card in the MacBook and had a look at the pics. He did pretty well!

What do you think? Is he any good? Is the dude a phot in the making or should he hang the camera up now and get back to watching Paw Patrol and colouring in?

As he walked around, I grabbed a few on my iPhone as well.

EDIT for the FAQ: The grass is fake it's a brand called Tiger Turf. The dining room table was from Habitat. (2509016)

EDIT: Here is his Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/stanleyrjones/

Here they are.

Here are a few more of him at work

Hope you enjoy the photos and I will keep you updated on his progress!

Stay Safe!

British Army Cribs: The Challenger II Main Battle Tank

Mon, 19 Sep 2016 13:28:27 GMT

After thinking of this idea a while back and not having the ways and means to carry it out I found myself in the perfect situation to get it done. I was half way to Germany as part of a Combat Camera Team covering EX VENERABLE GAUNTLET when I started talking to Sgt Kendall and Capt Kendall (no relation) about it.

As it was the 100th anniversary of the first tank going into battle and we were on our way to a training area that would be dripping in heavy armour this was literarily the right place and the right time.

We all came together and got some ideas in our heads. We would find someone who was pretty articulated and a bit of a character to take us through there tank (The Challenger II MBT) in the style of MTV Cribs. We found the perfect guy from The Queen's Royal Hussars and got him to speak to a few of his mates and come up with some ideas for the shoot.

The whole video was shot on a few different camera systems. A DJI Osmo, Nikon D800, Nikon D4 and a DJI Inspire Drone.

Sgt Kendall did most of the filming and editing as he knows the score when it comes to that! /

Hope you like the video and we will hopefully make some more just like it!

Find out more about British Army Photographers here- facebook.com/BritishArmyPhotographers

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

Peace!

Tea and Medals, meeting a bunch of actual heroes

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 12:48:30 GMT

A while back I was off down to London District for a few days to help out with Sgt Rupert Frere with a few tasks and this was one of them.

The Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall attended a service and tea party in support of the Victoria Cross and George Cross association.

There were a few different working parts of this event Rupert was on the first part at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church and I was on the group photo afterwards.

I went down about half hour ahead of time to set up my gear. I used two SB900 Speedlights with Lastolite softboxes fired by Pocketwizards.

The settings were-

Focal Length- 28mm
ISO: 1000
Aperture: 8
Shutter: 1/125
Speedlights: 1/4 power each

I was happy with how the exposure was and waited for everyone to arrive.

This is the final group shot.

It was surreal being in front of all these people. Actual heroes and Royalty. Prince Charles even came up to me and shook my hand!

I had heard and read stories about these people before and it was a honour to be in their presence.

Later that evening we had a few drinks with them at the Union Jack Club.

Prince Charles and Camila speak to the recipents during the tea

Sgt Bill Speakman VC

To see more work from other Army Photographers check out our Facebook page and Instagram

If would like to see more of my stuff check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Stanley inherits one of my toys.

Mon, 15 Aug 2016 19:22:33 GMT

My Mum has recently moved out of Bristol into a little village called Lydney near Gloucester. As they were having a clear out of all their stuff she came across a few of my old cuddly toys with a few photo albums and other bits and bobs. She bought it all round and we had a dig through it all.

Looking through one of the albums I came across this photo of me and one of the cuddly toys that Mum had bought round. This teddy was the one of the first cuddly toys I ever had.

As you can see below this toy was still alive and kicking today! To be honest it could do with a bit of a clean and a few stitches in his arms as it is over 30 years old.

Stan has already decided that this new cuddly toy is to be his. He now takes it to bed with him and carries him around the house a lot. We have not thought of a name for it yet but Stan tells us that it is 'Daddy's'.

As you can see from the photos that Stan loves this teddy already. This could be the start of a little adventure with this!

Read my last blog on using my own Lightroom presets- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2016/7/Using-my-own-custom-Adobe-Lightroom-CC-presets

If would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Instagram or Twitter

Using my own custom Adobe Lightroom CC presets

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 20:53:54 GMT

This post will be a small insight into my editing process using Adobe Lightroom. I like a lot on contrast in my images and I achieve this by using these presets that I have created.

I use Adobe Lightroom CC to edit all my images. The user interface is great and I know my way around it as I have used it for a number of years now.

After selecting, renumbering and adding metadata to my images in Photomechanic I drop my selected images into Lightroom to edit. Upon importing I use the develop setting preset to get a base level that I can work from.

I always shoot in RAW so if I was to import and not apply a initial preset I would start with a flat image. By using a preset on import I can save a lot of time in the whole editing process.

The preset only adjusts these items in the develop module on my standard colour preset.

Camera calibration- Vivid
Lens correction- Remove chromatic aberration. Enable profile corrections; default
Detail- Sharpening; 55. Masking; 81
Noise reduction- Luminance; 13. Detail; 50
Tone Curve- Medium contrast
Presence- Clarity; +10
Tone- Highlights; 0. Shadows;+38. Whites; 0. Blacks; -18
WB- As Shot

The results;

The 'flat' unprocessed RAW image converted straight to a JPEG

The image with my 'Standard' preset added

The Black and White Preset-

Camera calibration- Standard
Lens correction- Remove chromatic aberration. Enable profile corrections; default
Detail- Sharpening; 55. Masking; 83
Noise reduction- Luminance; 13. Detail; 50
B&W- Red; +11 Orange; -11 Yellow; -34 Green; +3 Aqua; -16 Blue; +3 Purple; +12 Magenta: +2
Tone Curve- Linier
Presence- Clarity; +10
Tone- Highlights; 110. Shadows;+6. Whites; -42. Blacks; -42
Contrast- +100
WB- As Shot

The results;

The 'flat' unprocessed RAW image converted straight to a JPEG

The image with my B&W preset added and sign in background removed.

The Portra Preset-

Camera calibration- Vivid
Lens correction- Remove chromatic aberration. Enable profile corrections; default
Detail- Sharpening; 52. Masking; 79
Hue- Red; +20 Orange; 0 Yellow; +15 Green; +10 Aqua; 0 Blue; +10 Purple; +15 Magenta: +40
Noise reduction- N/A
Tone Curve- Custom
Presence- Saturation; -10
Tone- Highlights; -73. Shadows;+48. Whites; -10. Blacks; +25
Exposure- +1.41
WB- As Shot

The results;

The 'flat' unprocessed RAW image converted straight to a JPEG

The image with my 'Portra' preset added

So there you go. A little insight into my editing process and how I achieve 'my look'. These are just a 'base' level of editing. If needed I will tweak each image a bit more to finish them off like all presets.

To download the presets and use them check them out here

Hope you get some use out of them and if would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Twitter

Nikon D5 and 50mm f1.4 review. Looking for Pike and jumping in puddles

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:09:38 GMT

So I got issued the brand new Nikon D5 for work the other day. Along with a big bag of goodies that included the Nikon 50mm f1.4.

I used the D5 on a work job a few days after getting it and figuring out how to set it all up. I knew that if I could get it to act the same as my D4 I would be happy. I went through all the settings and sorted it out. I'm happy to say that it is bloody ace!

The task I did for work can be found here. It was Armed Forces day in Birmingham.

I will talk about the camera and lens combo as I go through the images. Scroll down to view the results.

When I was back home in Bristol on the Sunday I got a phone call from my old man saying that he was taking his Dad, my Grandad Pike fishing. We were just about to take Jasper out for a walk so we thought we would join them. We jumped in the car and headed off to Keynsham.

We met them at the carpark and took a walk along the river looking for pike and puddles.

Amy and Stan. The camera handled the difference in the shadows and highlights well. Not sure of the exact figures when it comes to dynamic range but its pretty sweet!

My Dad and Grandad.

Stan has a thing about planes at the moment and he always points to the sky when he hears them. I waited for Stan to walk into an area of light to get this shot.

This was shot at f1.6.

This next lot of pictures I tried out the AF-C mode (AF continuous, sometimes called continuous servo) mode while Stan jumped about in the puddles. He was walking up and down the lane in the puddle and splashed about. I used 'back button focusing' and shot in single frame mode and started snapping away.

As Stan was walking up and down the camera kept focus on point.

As we walked a bit further along we came to a field full of cows. Jasper was not too sure of them as they all came up to us to say hello. Stan on the other hand wanted to go along and say Hi himself.

This one came right up to us both and gave my hand a sniff. I've never seen cows act so inquisitive before.

I have no idea what they were all doing here? They all seemed to group together and rub against each other. Maybe one of them had an itch?

My Dad, Stan and Grandad. I don't actually think they caught anything that day!

I love these two pictures. All three of them wearing their wellies just finishes it off.

To be honest I didn't put the new camera through its paces to its fullest with these. I guess that will come when I take it on a big job for work. So far after a few days of having it, it has done well! I'll just keep playing about with it and figuring out what new things I can do with it.

More will come from this camera I'm sure of it till then,

Stay Safe and thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed the blog and if would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Twitter

My 'ASK ME ANYTHING' on Reddit about being a British Army Photographer. Hanham photographer

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 17:55:00 GMT

I recently did a Ask me anything on Reddit about being a British Army Photographer,

This is the description for those who are not sure what it is-

"Basically, /r/IAmA is a place to interview people, but in a new way. "IAmA" is the traditional way of beginning the description of who you are; "AMA" is the traditional way of ending the description; the acronym means "Ask me anything." The interviewee begins the process by starting a post, describing who they are and what they do. Then, commenters leave questions and can vote on other questions according to which they would like to see answered. The interviewee then goes through and responds to any questions that he/she would like, and in any way that he/she prefers."

I got asked over 250 questions about what it was like to be a British Army Photographer. Some of them are really good and interesting questions.

Go check it out here- ASK ME ANYTHING

Me on a recent trip to Cyprus with work. Taken by Paul Shaw

Hope you enjoyed the blog and if would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Twitter

Brunei street photography

Sat, 14 May 2016 12:54:03 GMT

So here is the follow up to my last blog about Brunei.

First things first is if you have come across this post without reading this one (Up to my neck in water in the jungles of Brunei with the The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers) please head over there and take a look to get a bit of a background story.

Me (on the right) and Gaz in one of the shopping centres.

After the exercise had finished we had a couple of days downtime before we left the country. The unit let us borrow one of their cars and we headed off to the capital of Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan. It was about an hour and a half drive there after stopping at the British Army Garrison in Seria to fill up with fuel.

As we were driving into the city we saw a market that was bustling with activity. That was to be or first port of call. Ee parked up and headed off into the market.

These fish were sold all over the place.

For about 30 Brunei Dollars you could jump in one of these boats and have a little tour of the islands surrounding the harbour.

More fish, shrimp and who nows what else on sale.

You cant get much fresher than this fish!

I loved the selection of chillis they had on sale. I wish I bought some and kept the seeds to grow at home.

These guys were preparing coconuts, one guy cut all the husks off and the other pushed them onto a machine that scraped away the flesh inside.

I love the colours in this one.

This guy stood there and posed for this shot, he saw me taking photos then nodded at me and struck this pose.

No idea what shelfish was.

This guy was chatting to us for a while. He was in the Brunei army as an engineer.

The locals all seemed pretty proud of their produce and happily showed it off to us.

Always love a good black and white conversion.

One of the many ferrel cats in and around the market eating scraps of food.

Once we had walked round the market for a bit we headed into the centre of town to see the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. The mosque is often considered as one of the most beautiful mosques in the Asia Pacific.

This was a sight to see! I knew what sort of shots I wanted for this so I whacked on my 14-24mm and shot away. Unfortunately we were not allowed inside on that day so we walked around the outside and had a look.

The main gate heading up to the Mosque

I was hoping to get a shot of a load of shoes on the steps here but it was not that busy there.

The Mosque from all angles.

This shot was taken from the ceremonial barge across the water.

The Mahligai Barge outside of the Mosque

One of the boats that took you out to Kamong Ayer- the "village in the water" which you can see in the background.

Once we had a look around the site we headed off to do a bit of shopping. After a wander round the shops we headed off to the Brunei arts and handicrafts training centre. Another lovely looking building that had loads of cool stuff inside! We were not allowed to take photos in there though, only in the front entrance was pretty grand anyway!

After taking a look in there we headed off to get some food and head back to Tutong before preparing for our flight back the the UK from one of the best ttrips I have been on with the Military!

I really enjoyed my time in Brunei and I would definitely go back there wether it be on holiday or with work.

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed the blog and if would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Twitter

Brunei capital street photography blog post coming soon!

Sun, 08 May 2016 11:25:40 GMT

Keep an eye out for my Street Photography in Brunei post soon!

I forgot to make the post live.

Here are a few teasers-

TRiBE of FRoGs ~ Beltane Spring Finale at Lakota, Bristol

Sun, 01 May 2016 19:11:35 GMT

So I was back at Lakota for Tribe of Frog again this weekend. As usual the place looked amazing and so did the people.

I like to get to the venue just as its starting to get busy as I have covered a few nights in the past from the start and its hard work to make the club look busy. I tend to only stay at venues for a few hours because people dont look their best after a couple of hours of dancing and enjoying themselves a bit too much. I like to get in there, do what I need to do and head back home.

I like to wait till the evening to start editing the pictures. Gives me a chance to look at the images with a fresh set of eyes and I like the surprise of seeing some of the images I forgot that I took pop up on screen. I use PhotoMechanic to dump down my images, rename, do metadata and select the images I wish to edit. Once that it done its off to Adobe Lightroom to the edits. On importing the files to LR I have a preset that I use for my clubbing images that is automatically set. I then go through each image and, if required tweak a bit more.

Oh and if your wondering what kit I was using then it is a Nikon D4 with a 14-24mm and SB700 flash.

Anyway, here are the images-

To see the rest check out Tribe of Frog Facebook page

Enjoy the colours and people!

If you get this far dont forget to check out this little vid on my facebook page-

Stay Safe.

Tim

First video released working with Beatfret

Wed, 27 Apr 2016 19:27:36 GMT

I have been working with Beatfret a lot lately. I've been doing a lot of video for them for there site.

I shot this on two cameras. A Nikon D4 on a tripod recording the static shots and a D800 for the others. It was all put together in Premier Pro. This is really my first 'real' go at venturing into video.

Here is A alfresco cover of Ne-Yo's So Sick performed by Natalie Holmes for the BeatFret Sessions! A beautiful take on the popular track.

Hopefully you like it and come back fro more when the others get released!

Let me know what you all think!

Tim.

A Great Bustard at Stonehenge

Mon, 18 Apr 2016 14:18:16 GMT

I was on a private visit of the historical site and this little one came along for a look as well.

This bird was extinct in the UK after the last one was shot in 1832. In 2004 eggs from Russia were hatched to reintroduce them onto Salisbury plain.

Pretty groovy!

Update-

i sent this image to the Great Bustard Group and they sent me this;

Dear Tim,

What a great shot. This is a female we released in 2011. She is the only bird we have ( of about 40 ) who is tame. We are not sure why, as she was reared the same way as the others at the time, and they are all as proper wild birds.

Despite being so tame, so has managed to survive and not come to grief with dogs or people trying to catch her. She also nested two years ago.

What a great story!

Picture of the Day: All moved in at Hanham

Sat, 02 Apr 2016 06:30:00 GMT

Well we have fully moved into our new place in Hanham, Bristol now.

The boy and the hound have settled in brilliantly and all the boxes are unpacked. We have a few ideas for the new place and a lot of stuff to buy!

I've noticed how good the light is coming through the main window in the living room so I may take advantage of this at some point.

Just need to a new spot to put the wingback chair to continue my The Beagle and the Baby project. As he is over a year old now I will rename is The Beagle and the Boy project.

Here they are for now in the living room

Keep an eye out for more stuff soon and Stay Safe.

Tim.

Busy at the moment

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 12:00:14 GMT

Sorry I have not posted in a while.

I have been busy moving home and working out a project with a subscription based record label Beatfret- http://beatfret.com

Keep an eye out for some stuff soon!

PetaPixel interview

Wed, 09 Mar 2016 18:39:49 GMT

So I forgot to mention I did a interview with PetaPixel a while back.

Here it is- http://petapixel.com/2016/01/11/an-interview-with-british-army-photographer-tim-jones/

The AS90 Self Propelled Gun

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:58:48 GMT

The whole time I was in Otterburn it did not get above 0º. It was bloody cold! There was a tiny bit of snow on the ground from the previous week but nothing substantial.

I was there to cover 26 Regt Royal Artillery also known as the "Midland Gunners". these guys had already been up there for a week and were about to spend a few more fun filled weeks up in Otterburn. They had travelled all the way from Gutersloh, Germany as well!

Usual stuff from me. Whack the old wide angle on and get involved in everything.

I had never seen these fire. I had only heard them fire in Iraq against the bad guys who fired Chinese rockets at us everyday for three months solid. I had seen the what they did though. I worked in the main Ops room for a while in Iraq and all the live feeds from the Predator drones were on screens in there. I can remember seeing two guys set up a rail and point it in the direction of our camp. As soon as they started to put the Chinese rockets on the rail the signal was given and a few seconds later there was a loud bang and on screen a puff of smoke and these guys were wiped of the face of the earth.

I finished off the day with a night shoot. I wanted to get all four guns firing at once with big, baddass flames shooting out. If I used a long shutter speed they would all fire within 5 seconds of each other and I should get that effect. I set all my gear up and waited. I worked out pretty soon that these huge, powerful guns didn't emit any flash at all. Just a massive boom and a puff of smoke. That was that picture out of the game. So I just waited and waited and waited, till a break in the clouds and the stars came out, with this the moon came out behind me and smashed a bit of light on the rear of the guns.

This is what I came back with. Pretty groovy I think!

The next day was capturing the guns being used in the 'direct fire' method. When the guy who was taking me round said they used artillery guns in the direct fire method I thought it was crazy. But I guess if there is a tank coming towards you, your gonna fire back with what you got and the GPMG on the top wont cut it against a tank!

That was it from that job. Only spent two days up there. It was good to see the guns in action and to chat to the guys and girls there. Another insight to what else the Army does. The worse bit about it was the seven hour drive back home after. Motorway traffic on a Friday afternoon is not fun!!

Here i also a little video of inside when the gun in firing.

Anyways, until next time.

Stay Safe.

Up to my neck in water in the jungles of Brunei with the The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:10:49 GMT

Recently I went to Brunei to cover 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers whilst they were on EXERCISE ULA RAJAH.

This is how it went and what I got up to.

I was travelling with out team leader for the trip Captain Rich Williams who works at HQ Land in Andover as a team leader for one of the Combat Camera Teams (CCT) there. We were to be joined by Sgt Gary Kendall a few days later on the Saturday. We left Heathrow Terminal 4 on the Thursday ready for the 18 hours of travel to our final destination.

After a long flight, a stop off in Dubai and another hours drive to the camp we were staying at we made it to Sittang Camp in Tuttong, Brunei. We would be working from this camp for the next 16 days. Going into the jungle everyday to cover the guys out in the trees.

Our first task was just a bit of a recce to see what we were up against. We tucked our trousers into our jungle boots, whacked on a lot of mosquito repellant and jumped into the Hilux for the 20 minute drive to the edge of the jungle.

We spent the next couple of days covering a few survival lessons. The Jungle warfare instructors were teaching the troops about survival in the jungle from what they can and cant eat or touch. The light was lovely and warm in the jungle clearing giving some nice colours. Other times I struggled with the wight balance due to there being so much green around. The camera was adding too much magenta in Auto WB. I always shoot in raw so it was an easy fix after in Lightroom.

You cant get fresh coconut water like this in the UK

You had to eat the tail end of the ant and spit its head away.

Termites for a few extra calories to your dinner.

The next stage was learning how to start fire using different methods, then killing and cooking your food. Using fire steel and a striker to set a coconut husk alight.

The Jungle Warfare instructor blowing the coconut husk to get it going.

A jungle warfare instructor talks about the different types of wood suitable for fire.

These next few images are graphic so if your squeamish scroll past!

How to gut a fish

Killing, skinning and gutting a chicken

The slaughter, hanging and skinning of a goat ready to be cooked and eaten.

After all this is was time to eat!

On the menu was Goat, chicken, red Snapper, some small unkown fish, rice in bamboo, Ubi Kayu (a root vegetable like sweet potato) and regular potatoes. The selection of meats and veg cooked over an open fire in the jungle.

After spending 3 nights in the trees it was time for the troops to come back into camp for a few days of 'admin'. I went over to where they were staying to get some photos of them turning their kit around.

Rifle cleaning is the first port of call when coming back in off the ground. Once you have cleaned your weapon you can make a start on cleaning yourself!

This is where the guys were sleeping when not in the jungle.

Up nice and early for this tasking. We got up before hand and went for our own run down the beach whilst it was still dark. By the time we came back Y coy were ready to set off to do their own PT on the beach. I grabbed my long lens and got involved.

The water was pretty warm and I struggled to keep my camera above the waves sometimes! This D4 has had its fair share of water though.

A bit of wrestling in the sand.

The guys spent one more night in real beds then it was back into the trees for 9 days straight. 3 days going through patrolling methods, 3 days practicing Close Quarter Battle (CQB) and 3 days doing Close Target Reconnaissance (CTR)

The cam cream had to be thick enough so it would not be removed by the sweat quickly

The amount of kit carried when out on the ground. Roughly 25kg

A quick tab before heading off.

We spent the next few days going in and out of the jungle covering the guys working. This next set of images are from the live firing phase.

I also helped Gaz with his video acting as his second shooter for a small piece he did.

Ammo being loaded into magazines.

Moving into the 'jungle lanes'

This is the new Virtus body armour and helmet.

It can be a struggle to make live ranges seem exciting due to the safety aspects involved. You have to make sure you are not on the front end of a rifle at any point. This leads to most of the shots being 'over the shoulder'

We didn't get to see the patrolling or CTR phase as we where pretty busy with the live firing still and video.

I did get a few portraits and some general shots of the goings on in the trees

Anyone guess what these are used for?

The guys hand washed their clothes when they could

Mushrooms grew in the oddest of places.

Lizard feet

A soldier attached from the REME tucks into some instant noodles

The Padre who also got involved in the exercise chats to some of the guys after coming off the ranges

The next task was just to get out and capture what else was going on in the trees. We travelled to a few different locations. While Gaz was doing his video thing I took a few more shots.

Prickly heat can be a problem in the jungle. Especially when only having two sets of uniform to wear. Your wet kit to wear in the day and dry kit to wear in your hammock.

A section commander gives orders before setting off on a patrol

A few shots of the type of terrain and landscape out there.

This was a great little extra number I wanted to capture out there. I was determined to get some photos of a river crossing. I had not seen an up to date one and thought this would be a great opportunity to get it! One of the fusiliers had came across a suitable river that was just the right depth to do it in. It was about 5K's away from our location. We grabbed our kit and went down there.

Here are a few shots of me at work. Another outing trying to keep the D4 out of the water!

Some of the guys stripped off and went for a dip after we had finished in the water.

Another day and another pretty groovy task! This time we were speeding up and down the river outside of camp with the Royal Ghurka Engineers.

Thats about it for the Military side of things in Brunei. Keep an eye out for a blog post about our day trip to the capitol and another about the 35mm film I shot out there.

All else I can say is that I loved it out there. We did some great work and the unit were great to work with. The country itself was amazing and I would love to go back there one day in either a military or civvie context.

Thanks for reading and Stay Safe.

If you like this and would like to see more check out my Facebook page or go follow me on Twitter

Keep an eye out for my blog post on my recent trip to Brunei.

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 08:57:42 GMT

Heading out into an opening of the Brunei Jungle.

What's in my bag in the jungles of Brunei.

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 06:48:35 GMT

I always find it interesting to see what other people carry on their person and in their bags.

This is my take on "what's in my bag"

I am currently in Brunei on exercise covering Y Company, 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Every day we go out into the trees to cover the tasks they are doing.

This is what I take:

1. Jungle boots. These are essential as they offer spike protection in the soles and have holes for drainage for water.

2. Jungle hat. A must to keep the sun out of your eyes and the rain off your head.

3. Sweat rag. You sweat a lot out here as the temperature is on average 29° and the humidity is over 75%.

4. Machate or Parang. For clearing your way through vegetation, preparing food or protection.

5. Nikon D4 with 24-70mm lens. This is a workhorse of a camera and copes well in these conditions.

6. Camera strap. This is an adapted rifle sling I have made into a camera strap. It's easy to carry that round your neck and if I need to drop it to the side to use my hands at any point I can easily.

7.F-Stop Guru camera bag. This is a brilliant bag, it will take almost anything you chuck at it and the modular ICU system inside is great.

8. Mosquito repellent. Speaks for itself. Keeps the bugs away which are of their thousands out in the trees.

9. Climb on balm. This is a new item I have just picked up. It's a all natural balm that you can rub into cuts, abrasions, bites, dry skin and all sorts. It basically helps repair your skin from the beating it gets.

10. Electrolyte tablets. For when you need that extra bit of stuff in your water. These are cherry flavour.

11. Snacks. Just a few bits of food to snack on. Mostly peanut butter based as chocolate does not cope well in the heat.

12. Olympus trip 35 and 35mm film. I still like to shoot the odd roll of film so I keep this in my bag as well.

13. First aid kit. This contains basic first aid stuff with added bite spray and savlon antiseptic spray to.

14. Maxpedition admin pouch. This has pens, pencils, note pad, ear defence, torch and a few other essential items packed into it.

15. Head torch. Another item that speaks for itself.

16. Nalgene water bottle. It holds a litre of water and glows in the dark!

17. Think tank memory card storage. Contains all my spare memory cards including CF, XQD and SD. Kept in ziplock bag.

18. Spare D4 battery. I always carry a spare and the heat saps the batteries power a lot faster out here. Kept in ziplock bag.

19. Dry bag with phone, money and ID. This keeps the important stuff dry and secure.

20. GoPro Hero 4 Silver on 'chesty' strap. In case I want to make and short videos on the fly.

21. Nikon SB700 speedlight. I prefer this smaller flash as it's lighter and just as good as its older sibling the SB900. Kept in a ziplock bag.

22. Nikon 14-24mm lens. My favourite lens! Kept in ziplock bag.

23. Nikon SU800 commander for wireless control of my flash.

24. Three legged thing lightweight tripod. This is another new addition to my arsenal. I picked this up a week before coming out here. It's compact enough to fit on the side of the bag and strong enough to support the camera.

As it is so hot out here I also carry a further 2 litres of water with me squeezed into the front pouch of the bag.

Hope you like the insite to what I have been carrying with me when out on task. I like to travel as light as possible all the time. As you can see it's still a lot of kit! If anyone has any questions about any of the kit please ask and I will do my best to answer them.

Keep an eye out for more of the work we are doing out here on our British Army Photographers Facebook page -

Stay safe,

Tim

The Beagle and the Baby, Jasper and Stanley friends for life.

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 15:06:53 GMT

Let me introduce Jasper the Beagle and Stanley my son.

This is an ongoing project I have been working on. Every month since his birth I have taken these portraits of Stanley and Jasper.

This is the first year.

Hope you enjoy them, look forward to next years!

http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/thebeagleandthebabyjasperandstanleyfriendsforlife

My time in Cumbria for the British Army's response to the flooding

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 08:57:35 GMT

Halfway through December I got called out to go up to Cumbria to cover the British Army's response to the flooding.

The 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's regiment elements of 21 and 22 Engineer regiment had been tasked with helping out in the local areas of Keswick, Carlisle, Appleby and Penrith.

I travelled up to Penrith to a Fire station wear the main headquarters for the military was based.

The first tasking there was to take over from another Army Phot, Cpl Pete Brown. He was on the A591 with The Royal Engineers whilst they cleared the road from the landslip caused by the heavy rainfall. They had been working through the day and were about to finish for the evening. Before I left I wanted to get some pictures of them working at night. Because of the road closure it was about a 45 min drive from the location we were at.

The location that we moved off from to the landslip site. Across the road from this pub was the hotel that the soldiers clearing the roads were staying at.

The Engineers at work clearing the road.

After getting these we headed back to the Fire station to see what was happening in the morning.

This day was to be a busy one! To start off with we went round with a few of the guys from 2 LANCS to go and visit the rural areas to see if anyone needed any help.

This driveway to a farmers home had been destroyed by the heavy rainfall.

Moving back to Keswick for our next tasking we went to see some of the soldiers clearing out a school of all the mud and debris from the overflowing river nearby.

Toys strewn about the streets from the school

Our next task was to team up with a group of people from Team Rubicon and Serve On. These guys are disaster response teams that deploy all over the world. Groups of Muslims had come from all over the North of the UK to help out with the flooding.

We made our way down into Keswick town and started to work. I captured the shots below then slung my camera behind me and helped out with the guys on the ground. I believe that you get respected more if you get stuck in with everyone else rather than staying in the background taking pictures. I would feel the same if some guy was just stood there not helping out. I know I was there to capture all this but I got what I needed and got my hands dirty with the rest of them.

Team Rubicon and Serve On's HQ

This is how high the water level had risen in the houses.

Soldiers moving to help out clearing the rubbish.

This was a children's playground that had been destroyed. It had to be taken apart and taken to the road for disposal.

It was great to see everyone working together. Things like this can help change perception of others.

Whilst on this task I got chatting to these guys. One of them said to me before they had left for Cumbria one of his Elders said to him; "When we came to this country we were fed, now it is our turn to feed"

This was my final job whilst on task. The main route to a village had been cut off from the landslides that the Engineers had been clearing leading to what was a 20 minute journey to a 2 hour journey. The local school wanted to invite the soldiers into their school to say thank you with a cup of tea and some cake.

This was a great story to finish my time off in Cumbria. It was great to see the people still getting on with everything even though some of their lives had been turned upside down. The spirit of the people of Cumbria really shone whilst I was there.

The year in pictures as a British Army Photographer

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 17:09:25 GMT

This post will be picture heavy as it is my favourite images from all the jobs I have been on as a British Army Photographer this year (2015).

This is my first year as a 'media' photographer since leaving the Defence School of Photography (DSOP) as I spent the first two years as a photographer instructing photography to Tri-Service personnel. I started at the Army Press Office Wales and West Midlands in March this year. I cover all aspects of Army life in the West Midlands and its soldiers whether it be training in the UK or abroad.

This was my 2015.

Scroll down and enjoy!

This was my first job at AMC WMIDS. It was a VC stone unveiling at the National Memorial Arboretum in Stafford. Pictures is Sgt Johnson Beharry VC with Bill Speakman VC waiting for the Prime Minister David Cameron to arrive.

A week later I was at HQ Land to do some refresher training. Whilst I was there we went along to the Combined Arms Demonstration on Salisbury Plain. In other words it was a capability demo.

Whilst the Brecon phot was in BATUS (Canada) I was tasked on a few jobs to cover for him. This is Thomson’s Battery The Royal Gibraltar Regiment fired the 21-Gun Salute at Cardiff Castle to celebrate the Queen’s birthday.

I spent a few weekends at Swynerton and Nescliffe training areas covering Exercise GRIFFIN SPANNER for the REME. I was up to my knees in mud at some points but got some great shots from the exercise.

This shot is from a service or remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum for those who lost their lives on duty.

11th Signal & West Midlands Brigade posted a reception of local civilian dignitaries, military VIPs and Brigade personalities at the officers mess on Venning barracks.

Another trip down to Wales, this time to the Millennium stadium in Cardiff for the presentation of the new colours the The Royal Welsh.

Prince George with his Dad, Mum and Grandparents.

One of the highlights of the year was photographing The Queen's Birthday parade in London. I was positioned on the QVM right outside of Buckingham Palace.

Another job in Wales to cover a community covenant tasking for 160 Brigade. This was at St Faggins, a lovely stately home with beautiful gardens.

I spent one Sunday afternoon at Leek training area. My time there lasted 20 minutes. at the end of the first serial I fell over in a river and submerged my Nikon D4 and 24-70mm. They went in a bag of rice and got sent back for repair. I was back to using a D3 again after that.

For Armed Forces day I was tasked to take pictures of Reserves in their workplace in uniform. BAE Systems was only down the road and a willing volunteer I was good to go with this shot of Crafstman Luci Smitheman.

Uniform to work day was renamed to 'Reserves day' this year. The event was in the Council buildings in Birmingham city centre. Members of the public offered a taste of Army life from presentations to team building activities outdoors.

Another Job for 160X. I was at The Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells. Here is The Band of The Royal welsh getting to playing live on radio.

Another trip back to The National Memorial Arboretum this time with over 200 Army Chaplains for the dedication of their new memorial.

Another Job in Wales this time for the Army in Scotland, where 2 Scots were carrying out their final exercise before deploying to Afghanistan for OP TORAL.

Three Soldiers chilling out on the Hesco

The CO. I like the lighting on this image, It was all natural lighting as well. Just the right time of the day I gues

This was the final part of the training. A simulated public order serial where the soldiers had to deal with a RTC in a highly populated area typically found in Kabul.

This was a good job. I was covering for Army East Midlands for the homecoming of 1 Royal Anglian from OP TORAL in Afghanistan.

It was great to see all the loved ones welcoming the soldiers home.

I entered this image into the Army Phot comp for the online category. It came in at second place.

This job was at Europe's biggest Hindu temple, The Shri Venkateswara Balaji Temple in Birmingham.

I did a blog post on this event- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2015/8/armed-forces-hindu-network-host-raksha-bandhan-festival

My next job was to head off to Croatia to cover 4 MERCIAN on EX SAVA STAR 15

More info on that trip here- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2015/9/soldiers-snakes-and-stars-my-time-in-croatia-with-4th-battalion-the-mercian-regiment

Another job for The Army in Scotland 4 Scots were off to Cyprus for OP TOSCA. They were in Nescliffe taking part in public order training.

EX FLYING FALCON on Salisbury plain. It was the biggest Royal Signals exercise in years. I do miss driving these things.

Another overseas trip, this time to Gibraltar covering 202 Field Hospital who are based all over the West Midlands. This shot was deep inside the rock where the soldiers were training.

The Soldiers preparing to go into the village on the final assault.

Two soldiers giving covering fire during the FIBUA phase of the EX

Whilst I was there the APTC football team were training. I thought it would be rude not to grab a few shots.

Back in the UK and it was for Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited MOD Stafford.

The Band of The Royal Signals.

Cambrian Patrol was next on my list of tasks to do.

This is one of my favourite images from the exercise. Got a nice double page spread of images in Soldier magazine with this.

We visited an old mental hospital. http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2015/10/urban-exploring-talgarth-mental-asylum-mid-wales-hospital

Lieutenant General James Everard, Commander Land Forces, places the wreath at Pte Lewis' grave.

One of the many portraits I did whilst working on Cambrian Patrol. More info on them here- http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2015/10/cambrian-patrol-2015-portraits

http://www.jonesmrjones.co.uk/blog/2015/10/cambrian-patrol-2015-portraits

A quick job in London to help out the LONDIST Phot Rupert Frere for Poppy Day.

The Penultimate job of the year was the first 11 Signal and West Midlands Brigades Christmas cake competition.

I started off the year with a VC stone unveiling and finished off with one. This time it was in Birmingham and HRH The Duke of Cambridge was in attendance.

The Duke of Cambridge at the stones.

The Duke of Cambridge signs the guest book.

This was an interesting story that I picked up on there. This gentleman had the front page of The Daily Mirror dated Feb 19th 1919. On the front page was his second cousin who was a posthumous recipient of the VC.

Not a bad year to be had to be honest!

Onwards and upwards to next year which is looking like a trip to Brunei for a few weeks. I'm sure I will tell you all about that when I am back!

Till then have a good time over the holidays!

Peace!

Eat Sleep Drag Repeat presents MILK at The Queenshilling, Bristol

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 13:36:21 GMT

So I was booked to cover Eat Sleep Drag Repeat at Bristols Queenshilling.

I had worked with the promoter in the past and he asked me to cover this event for him as he needed a quick turnaround for the pictures. I had never covered an event like this before so did not know what to expect. It was brilliant! Very entertaining and the crowds loved the acts. So much that during the 'meet and greet' afterwards some of them were shaking and getting really emotional.

I got to the venue early so I could get some 'behind the scenes' shots. I wanted to get the artists getting ready and generally chilling out backstage. I spoke to them for a bit and just asked them to carry on as usual and I would work around them trying to keep the shots as natural as possible.

Just before the show started I spoke to the lighting manager to see what he had in plan. I always like to do this to know a little bit of what I was getting into to.

Alfie Ordinary

The Virgin Extraviganzah

I nearly missed this set of shots. I was thinking throughout the whole act 'why have they got that plastic cup? Get rid of it it's ruining my shots'

Then half way through the act this happened.

MILK

Urban Exploring at Talgarth Mental Asylum (Mid Wales Hospital)

Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:13:52 GMT

My job takes me to some strange places sometimes.

Whilst covering Cambrian patrol I visited one of the sites the exercise is being run on. It is set in a old mental asylum in Talgarth. I was tasked to cover a wreath-laying ceremony behind a derelict church to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of a soldier. Private John Lewis died on October 20, 1915, while being cared for at a military wing of a hospital in Talgarth in mid-Wales. However, his grave was left untended to for years until a soldier stumbled across it while walking his dog. The wreath was laid by Lieutenant General James Everard, Commander Land Forces.

Lance Corporal Koen Jacob, 1 Rifles bugler, plays The Last Post

Lieutenant General James Everard, Commander Land Forces, places the wreath at Pte Lewis' grave.

The headstone of Private John Lewis

For more on the story see here

Once the service had finished I spoke to one of the guys who was staying in the church there for the duration of the exercise. He had a key to get into the hospital grounds and asked me if I wanted to have a look round. I jumped at his offer and we went through the gates.

One of the hallways leading into the hospital

Most of the stairs leading to the upper levels had collapsed

The main auditorium

A ouija board in the auditorium

"The Bar"

I looked for a sell by date on this can but it was too rusty to find one.

Wonder what sort of entertainment went on here?

I love doing this urban exploring sort of stuff. It's great to find out about the history about the place then go and see what it is like now. I have visited a few different places over the years including mental hospitals in Bristol, an old quarry in the Midlands but the highlight was getting into the Tajbek palace in Kabul in 2011. I may do a post on that soon.

Thanks for looking!

Cambrian Patrol 2015 portraits

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:54:03 GMT

Usually I am based in the West Midlands but my job takes me all over the place, I was asked to cover Exercise Cambrian Patrol whilst the 160 Brigade Photographer was in Canada.

Exercise Cambrian Patrol, an annual event organised and run by 160th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Wales, is both physically and mentally demanding and is a highlight in the British Army’s training calendar.

Internationally, it is regarded as one of the toughest tests facing the modern-day soldier can face and some foreign entrants have to claim the right to take part by winning through their own domestic competition.

I started off every morning at 0700 at the assembly area in Crickhowell to meet up with the Wales Press Officer Gavin. We go into the woods where each team prepare their models before the patrol commanders give out their orders before the 55km march across the Black Mountains. Gavin interviews a member of each team for their local paper and I grab a portrait to go with it.

Usually I am not a portrait man and don't really tend to do them that much unless required. I like uncontrolled stuff, things that keep me on my feet and constantly thinking. After the first day I got into it and was enjoying doing the portraits.

At first I went for the bog standard, stood up, long lens, shallow depth of field shot. I used a Nikon D4 with a 70-200mm lens Nikon SB900 speedlight on a stand with a Lastolite EZYBOX triggered by the Nikon SU-800 commander. It is said that that for portraits you should try to use a lens that compresses the subject and keeps them in proportion. Using a lens with a focal length of 85mm+ usually does this.

These have been done millions of times before and the never seem to inspire me.

Portrait at 160mm

After a few of them I changed to a wide angle lens, the Nikon 14-24mm. It is probably my favourite lens. Here are the results from using that lens. I like this style of portrait because you can get the subject in their environment, showing the viewer what is going on, telling more of a story.

The patrol commander Chilean Army.

The patrol commander from the Australian Army

All these images were all shot with just one light (23 inch EzyBox with SB-900) with the shutter speed around 1/20th-1/30th sec at f4 and ISO 640.

update with Cambrian Patrol 2015 results/winners-

Congratulations to those patrols who were awarded the top award, a gold medal:

2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment
The King’s Royal Hussars
7th Infantry Battalion, Irish Defence Force
2nd Engineer Regiment, New Zealand
82nd Airborne, United States
8 Azad Kashmir Regiment, Pakistan
Bristol University Officer Training Corps

Silver medals were awarded to:

102 Logistic Brigade,
14 Signal Regiment (EW)
47 Regiment Royal Artillery
The Royal Lancers
The Second Battalion The Parachute Regiment
2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles
1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment
The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
Royal Dragoon Guards
2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, two teams achieving silver medals
2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment
3rd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment
32 Engineer Regiment
The Grenadier Guards
Kazakhstan
Poland
1st Mechanized Brigade
The Royal Army of Oman
41 Mechanized Battalion, Czech Republic
11th Infantry Battalion Air Assault, Netherlands
Support Operations Brigade, Chile
Montanha Commando, Brazil
3/4 Gorkha Rifles, India
The Army Training Regiment Winchester
12 Regiment Royal Artillery
Wales UOTC

Bronze medals were awarded to:

1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
3 Logistic Support Regiment
9 Regiment RLC
104 Logistic Support Brigade
3rd Battalion The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment
2nd Battalion The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment
Lithuania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
1st Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment
Army Training Centre Pirbright
Infantry Training Centre Catterick
Aberdeen UOTC
Cambridge UOTC
London UOTC
Northumbria UOTC
Oxford UOTC
Queen’s UOTC
Southampton UOTC

Certificate finishes were:

10 The Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment
103 Battalion REME
4 Logistic Support Regiment
4 Armoured Medical Regiment
6 Regiment RLC
63 Close Support Squadron RLC
1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment
29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery
The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
26 Engineer Regiment
Georgia
Nepalese Army
French Officer Cadet School, Ecole Militaire Interarmes
16 Regiment Royal Artillery
Canterbury UOTC
Edinburgh UOTC
Leeds UOTC
Sheffield UOTC

A total of 41 patrols did not finish

Emba and Flower Fellow for Circus City Records

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 18:39:03 GMT

I have been working with Circus City Records for a while now. They are a record company based in the heart of Bristol. Their mission is to "find the best in new music and bring it directly to your ears".

It was time for some more photos for a new artist and a current artist who needed some updated photos. We looked into booking a studio but trying to keep costs low and sticking to a budget, therefore we decided it would be best to do it 'on location' or at someone's house. It so happens that my front room is pretty big with a massive bay window that light poured through at the right time of the day. I also have a few good items for props lying about the house. All I had to do was move some furniture around and we were good to go.

We have this really old chair that I picked up from a reclaimers ages ago and a bar globe that would suit the style of the shoot for both artists, so after moving the sofa out of the way and putting the old chair in its place with the bar globe in the background we ready to get started. I wanted to just use the natural light coming through the window for the whole shoot.

Emba

Whilst the chair was there Flower Fellow jumped in and did her thing.

Flower Fellow

Whilst Flower Fellow was getting changed, I took the mirror off the wall and sat it in front of the fireplace. I got Emba to sit in front and try a few poses. I wanted to get the back of her head and some of her body in the shot so you could see that it was taken in the reflection of a mirror. With the light coming through the window and textures from the frame it made a great shot. I added the globe into the background for some added interest.

When I was happy with the shots from this it was Flower Fellows turn in front of the camera again. This time we left it plain and simple, using nothing but the wall and floor. A nice natural pose from a low down point of view.

The final few images of the day were done outside in the street. Just across the road from me is an old brick wall. It was the perfect backdrop for the final part of the shoot. We decided to take the chair outside to add something else to the image. The contrast between the denim and Embas hair with the oranges of the brickwork and reds of the chair worked brilliantly.

The last shot we ditched the chair and just went for a simple pose.

I enjoyed the day of shooting and it just goes to show that you can pretty much turn any space into a makeshift studio if you want to.

To find out more info on either of these artists have a look at these links.

http://www.circus-city.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialFlowerFellow

https://www.facebook.com/EmbaMusic

If you like these images please check out my facebook page and give that a 'like' as well.

https://www.facebook.com/jonesmrjones.co.uk

Soldiers, Snakes and Stars. My time in Croatia with 4th Battalion The Mercian Regiment

Sun, 06 Sep 2015 13:26:41 GMT

I have recently come back from EXERCISE SAVA STAR 15 with 4th Battalion The Mercian Regiment, the reserve element of The Mercians. It was a 2 week exercise with the first week comprising of training and the second with either a patrol based exercise or a Potential Junior NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) cadre course. I was only there for the latter part of the exercise.

I flew from London Heathrow to Zagreb. I was picked up at Zagreb and it was a good 1.45 to get to the training area. Once there, I was introduced to my bunk bed in the tent. As I was not going out till the morning I prepped all my gear for the next few days.

It got dark pretty quickly out there and on a trip to the loo I realised that there were a lot of stars in the sky so I thought I would give a bit of 'Astrophotography' a go.

I knew that the D800 and the 14-24mm would be perfect for the job. I had a small Joby 'Gorillapod' with me so I just whacked the camera on that and pointed it at the sky. I had read once that you need to keep the shutter speed below 30 seconds due to the movement in the stars. I took a wild stab in the dark and set shutter speed to 25 seconds at f2.8 and ISO 3200 and pointed it pretty much straight at the sky. When I looked at the back of the screen I realised I had captured what looked like either a satellite or meteor/comet. I was happy with the results and did a quick edit.

The large black object bottom left is the tent I was staying in.

I posted the photo on a critique group and someone on there pointed me in the direction of a site that explained the correct colours of space should be like (http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/color.of.the.night.sky). So I went back and did a re-edit.

I read that "the galactic centre is a rich golden colour spotted with purple nebulae" and tried to edit to suit

The following night I went out again into an open space and tried again. Here is the final image

The Milky Way

Right, now onto what I was really in Croatia to do. The first morning I was tasked to go to the PJNCO harbour area (a military term for a occupied secure area where the troops were staying) and take a few shots of what was going on and to grab some portraits. After waiting over an hour for our lift to arrive we set off into the training area. It was dusty as hell and sitting in the back of a open top Landrover was not the best situation for the camera kit.

Here are a few images of what I came back with that morning.