On Sunday at the MCN Motorcycle Show at Excel, London, this years MCN Babe of the Year contest came to a close. Out of the 6 finalists there could only be one winner, and quite a crowd gathered to await the result. As with the past 3 years the announcement took place on the MCN Live! stage and where better to get good shots of the contestants than right at the front – even despite the myriad of obstacles blocking the way.

Georgia Graham – MCN Babe 2010

The winner of this year’s MCN Babe of the year contest was Georgia Graham who clearly was shocked at being announced the winner as of course you would be!

Georgia Graham – Reaction as she was announced the Winner!

Of course, nothing is done without motivation, in an interview with MCN Motorcycle news, Georgia said; “I was bullied as school for being ugly, so I want to prove the bullies wrong by winning” – something that she certainly has done now.

Georgia Graham – MCN Babe 2010

After being announced the winner Georgia posed for photographers with her MCN crown and outfit, something that she will now be doing quite regularly. She is now the public face of MCN Motorcycle News for 2010 and as part of winning she also won a year’s modelling contract.

MCN Babe Finalists

Runners-up Emma Watts from Leicestershire

Hayley Sams from Bedforshire

To see more photos head on over to my MCN Babe 2010 Photoset

The Autosport International Motor show at the NEC in Birmingham promised to be a fantastic opportunity to get some good shots of Cars, Celebs and Showgirls – and to a certain extent it was.

Brawn GP 2009 Car

The cars on display were a mix of old and new, from vintage F1 cars to the latest 2009 models, old and new Rally cars and even some super cars thrown in for good measure!

Brawn GP 2009 Car

Among the diverse range of cars were special appearances from Jenson Button, Martin Brundle, Alan McNish and Johnny Herbert accompanied by the inevitable crowd of fans and followers.

Showgirls

Having said that, it wasn’t all good, the “pit pass” tickets that I got were rather pointless, backstage access to the stunt show which really was a load of cars parked in a dimly lit warehouse with 6ft high fences around, and the “sideline viewing area” was no better, certainly not if you were there to take photos of the action.

Porsche Stand

A few weeks ago, for the second week running in fact was a trip up to the NEC in Birmingham to attend the Carole Nash Motorcycle Show, for no real reason other than a combination of spare time and a need to photograph something.

Stephanie Inglis

At these kind of events I tend to switch between my two most favourite lenses, the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, as a result a lot of my bike shots more resemble macro shots.

Ninja

You can see all of the photos that I took in my Carole Nash Motorcycle Show 2009 Photoset

The 2 week long Carole Nash Motorcycle Show was obviously a must see event, packed with everything you could hope for in an event.

Despite the really early start and the really cold weather it wasn’t a bad journey up to Birmingham, the road were quiet which was a great relief, upon arrival it’s hard to believe how huge the NEC is! It’s Earls Court – but 5 times bigger (and with better car parking)!

Carole Nash Motorcycle Show 2009

No show would be complete without the customary Girls sitting on the Bikes, unfortunatly though it’s a very hit and miss game, you never know where or when they are going to take a seat, meaning that throughout the entire day you could be missing so many shots.

Carole Nash Motorcycle Show 2009

Overall the whole day was good, because of the size there was plenty to see and do, and of course plenty of photo opportunities to keep you interested.

You can see more of the photos that I took in my Carole Nash Motorcycle Show 2009 Photoset

More will be coming this weekend, as I once again make the journey for hopefully another great day of photography!

It was only by a stroke of luck that I discovered the Leeds Castle display, thankfully I got there before the tickets for Sunday were sold out (at this point Saturday’s tickets were already gone).

Originally being born in Kent and visiting Leeds Castle when I was a young child I obviously jumped at the chance to go back. On the way there seeing all the road signs for places that I remember from my childhood brought back all the memories, it’s surprising how many places you can remember, I haven’t lived there for nearly 13 years and I was only 10 when I moved to Torquay, so to remember place names and even remember what some of the towns look like is quite a strange feeling.

Leeds Castle Fireworks Display 2009

Leeds Castle itself has always been a fantastic place to visit, not only is there tons of history, but it’s also a nice place to go in the summer and sit field overlooking the castle and lake.

Given that, both the Castle and the lake provided the perfect setting for the display, not only did it provide a fantastic atmosphere, but the reflections in the water only served to add to the overall effect of the fireworks. From a photographers perspective it was a dream.

Leeds Castle Fireworks Display 2009

The Fireworks display itself was without a doubt the best one I have ever been to. The entire show lasted just on 30 minutes, which is longer than most of the ones that I have been to previously. What made it even better was unlike most shows, it was done in synchronisation to music, and done very well indeed, each song had it’s own unique set of fireworks, creating their own unique colours and patterns.

Leeds Castle Fireworks Display 2009

Overall the Leeds Castle display was just outstanding, in almost every way, if you can make it to Kent next year I certainly would recommend going to see it, I know I certainly will be checking out what other event’s they have planner until then!

You can see all of the photo’s I took in the Leeds Castle Fireworks Display Photoset

With the year coming to an end and given how busy it has been, I thought it was about time I went to another Motor Show.

I missed the MPH Motor Show last year so I was looking forward to seeing what it was like, it all seemed quite promising as tickets for the exhibition on Saturday had already sold out, leaving Sunday as the only option.

Upon arrival it didn’t seem to live up to the hype, yeah there were the usual array of super cars, the Lamborghini Gallardo, Pagani Zonda and the Bugatti Veyron were all there on show but the whole event was geared more towards selling cars rather than admiring their design and engineering.

Lamborghini

Shelby

Alfa Romeo

Personally I preferred the London Motor show and the MCN Motorcycle Show, but you can’t have it always!