Been working on a little project the past few months. I’m in the process of setting up an online store/gallery dedicated to the stereographic images I make.

Click below to read the rest of this post..

To start off with I needed a name for the site. Calling it Stereographic Projections wouldn’t be very catchy. Thinking of something that would work and hasn’t been used before, turned out to be harder than I originally thought. I spent about a month trying out different names. I decided I wanted the word ‘pano’ to feature in it somewhere. I played with various combinations and eventually settled with Panodrop. Pano being short for panorama and drop describing the feel of the images. The way the logo looked was important too, with it being eight characters I could stack the two words on top of one another and it looked right. Also each word has an ‘o’ in it which works with the rest of the theme. The circle to the left derived from a combination of a lens and the shape these images produce. I wanted the logo to look clean, simple and bold.

Working with Paul and Stuart at Tribe we developed the logo and made a start on how the site could work. After a couple of brain storms we came up with a plan for the lay out. Above is the initial design of the home page. It has come on since this photo was taken. Developing our own ecommerce system has turned out to be quite a mission so the look of the home page may be entirely different to this..

Currently there is a simple holding page on the panodrop.com domain.

One of the things I was keen on doing was getting stickers made. I would use these every time I took a stereographic projection in the hope that people would see it and wonder what it meant, then check out the site. Above is the initial concept I had. I effectively wanted to get two stickers out of one. As far as I know this hasn’t been done (but it probably has). I thought having a donut shaped sticker might be quite unique therefore stand out, also it ties in with the logo nicely.

I did a bit of research, to work out who would be best at getting them produced, and eventually found out about the company awesome merchandise. I got in contact to see if it was possible to create a sticker of this sort. They said it was, so it was all systems go. I sent off the final designs and the stickers arrived the following week.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this one develops. I’ve been wanting to start this project for a long time and its good to finally get it going. Ill try and keep the blog updated with its progress.

I’ve known about this place for about 2 years and have been meaning to go check it out ever since. It’s one of the few remaining train tunnels in Nottingham, not filled in or blocked up..

Click below to read about this little adventure..

To start of with, here’s some copy pulled from Wikipedia about the location..

Mapperley Tunnel is a 1,132-yard-long tunnel, built for the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension of the Great Northern Railway. This line ran from Colwick Junction in Nottingham to Egginton Junction in South Derbyshire. The route planned took the line through Mapperley via the Mapperley Tunnel built to avoid attempting to get the railway over the ridge. The tunnel was in use by 1875 but suffered a roof collapse due to mining subsidence on January 23, 1925. A length of roof about 12 yards long collapsed blocking the line with approximately 150 tons of rubble. Whilst repairs were undertaken traffic was diverted along the Nottingham Suburban Railway. The tunnel was repaired but the continuing effects of subsidence resulted in speed restrictions in the 1950s and closure on April 4, 1960. The Eastern Portal is still open and accessible and the tunnel itself is open to a point just West of the second air shaft (counting from the East). Beyond the second air shaft the tunnel has been filled with earth. The tunnel portal is on private property and permission should be sought from the owner before entering. A large quantity of rubbish has been thrown down the second air shaft creating an unstable pile in the tunnel which may collapse in the future causing injury to anyone present.

Train going through the old tunnel on the last day of operation.

View Larger Map

Here’s the location of the tunnel if any one’s interested.

Me and my mate Greg rode out towards Mapperley and along Arnold Ln. We walked across a couple of fields eventually coming to the old train route. We walked along where the tracks would have once been and came across this old bridge.

A bit further on we walked down into the valley leading to the tunnel entrance. There was this old burnt out car slowing being taken back by the elements.

Arrived at the tunnel entrance. The crumbling brick work was slightly worrying. I sent out a couple of texts, just to let people know where we were, in case this thing collapsed and we got trapped inside…

We used my 160 LED camera light to lead the way. It was pretty cold down here.

Ahead of us we could hear a strange noise, we discovered it was only a stream running under us.

Water coming through the old brick work.

A bit further a long I set up my tripod and got the Spyder Laser out.

We then came across an airshaft leading to the surface. Standing under it you could get a sense of how deep under ground we were. I finally made use of my Panosaurus 2.0 and took a stereographic projection. Using the LED light I ‘painted’ the tunnel while the shutter was open.

Eventually we came to the end. Someone had used the other airshaft as a bottomless pit. Although it wasn’t bottomless and the crap built up, until reaching the roof. The way it stacked up in such a neat pile was quite odd.

On the other side of the rubbish was a huge mound of rubble that led nearly to the top. I climbed up and walked along the narrow gap until reaching a dead end.

We then turned around and headed back out towards the light, which by this point (535 meters away) looked very distant!

Over all it was a fun adventure. I’m glad I finally got round to checking it out. If you fancy going here I recommend you bring a bright torch and expect to get your shoes muddy

This summer I finally made it to Outlook festival in Croatia. This post is a collection of photos and video I took while out there. There wont be much chat, as it’s hard for me to explain in words what it was like. What I can say is, it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life..

Click below and hopefully my photos and videos can do it some justice..

Above is the little video I put together from footage captured on my GoPro, iPhone and D90.

I wanted to put something together that showed that its not just a festival of night time party times, but in the day you can have fun with your friends in the amazing clear blue sea and 30 degree heat.

This video was spotted by the organisers of Outlook, they loved it, posted it their Facebook wall where it received massive positive feedback. Not only that, they said that I had won a prize for it. Turned out I have two press pass tickets and a backstage photo pass for next years event! A little overwhelmed with that outcome. Cannot wait to do it, I have already started thinking of ideas I can try out there.

Most of the festival is located in the old 18th centaury Fort Punta ruins. This makes the atmosphere feel quite special. The deep, dark, heavy bass music and the deserted fortress seem to go hand in hand.

On the last night there was a pretty spectacular storm. The sky was like a strobe light. I have never seen anything like it. Luckily I had my time-lapse equipment with me so I set it up and captured the above video.

I also put this little stereographic projection video together. I’ve been meaning to try this for a long time. This photo seems like a good one to test it on. The results are rather interesting.

So this was a pretty shot post, there’s soo much I could have gone into..

If you want to see more pics I recommend heading to my Outlook 2011 Flickr Set

If you want a more personal and detailed account of events head to my daily photo project.

This summer I decided to embark on little project. I wanted to build a fixed gear bike. I’m familiar with bikes and how they’re put together and have spent a fair bit of time upgrading and replacing parts, but I’ve never built a complete one. My original plan was to take my old Create Fixie and replace the frame and a couple of other components. This is what happened at first but it soon escalated with me buying a completely new bike and spending a small fortune. The result however makes it all worth while. I now have my very own unique machine.

Click below to see close up shots and further detail about the build..

The first thing I purchased was the frame. I spent a couple of weeks searching though many different styles and brands. I decided I wanted a modern design, light weight aluminium frame. I came across this, the Cinelli Vigorelli, a track frame from an Italian company. The tubing is triple butted meaning its thinner in the middle and thicker at the joints, so its rigid and light. When the frame arrived I couldn’t believe how light it actually was. The forks were even more surprising with them being super light carbon fibre.

Shot looking at the front forks of the bike.

Choosing the right peddles was important. I did quite a lot of searching and couldn’t make up my mind. It was on the Amsterdam trip with the 5th floor guys when I noticed a couple of them had the new BLB pedals and straps. Once I was home I had a chat with Peter, one of the guys that works there, and he sorted me out with a set. These peddles are great because they’re super deep, holding your feet in tighter, so it feels like you have more control over the bike. I went for plastic cages because the metal ones I had before were destroying my shoes and dug into my feet.

Before I was riding the gear ratio 44:17. That was getting way to easy, and made going down hill a little mental. So I upped  it to a 48:16. This means I can go faster but the down side is it produces only one skid patch on the back tyre, therefore I will need to rotate it round so I don’t wear a hole through it. I picked up this light weight, 165mm, Miche crank set for around £100.

Choosing the saddle was a bit of a mission too! There’s so much choice and I wasn’t really prepared to fork out mega bucks on it. I ended up getting this, the Charge Spoon. The reviews seemed really good and for the price (£25) I didn’t have much to loose. I actually find it rather comfy. Not as good as my MTB seat but better than the one I had before.

The Seat post is a Cinelli Vai XL that I got for £20.

Right.. this stem was a real challenge to get! I ordered it four times (from different places) online only to later receive emails saying it was out of stock. One order on eBay went through but it was lost in the post! So while I was on the Amsterdam ride I spotted it at one of the bike shops we visited. So I got it there and then. I wanted this particular stem because it was short and its named ANT! very fitting with the DigitalAnthill theme .

I was going to buy a set of Profile Design Airwing OS handle bars online then luckily I found that my mate was selling his old pair. Still in pretty good nick and only £10. They kinda remind me of ant feelers…

The brake lever is one of a pair of Tektro RX4.1 Aero leavers I got off eBay for about £15. Having it in this position is fairly odd but it means there’s more room on the handle bars. The bar tape is just black Easton Cork.

The bird is the Colu
mbus tubing logo. As for tyres, on the back I went for a harder wearing Continental Gatorskin and on the front I have a Blue Continental Ultrasport.

The wheel set was the last thing I got for the bike. I didn’t want to spend a fortune on these either, I ended up getting a very good deal. I spotted this set of Navigator Pista wheels for around £180. I liked them because of their deep V profile, light weight, black but also have a fixed, fixed flip flop hub on the rear, meaning you can have two different gear sizes on either side. I saw that on the Dolan site they were selling the set for £99, I thought it must be a mistake, so I ordered them expecting an email the next day saying there’s an error on the site, but nope they arrived the following day!

Shot of the rear drop outs.

Shot looking from the back of the bike.

I purchased this blue half link chain in Amsterdam for around £15. Although it looks nice and allows you to get the back wheel super close to the frame, in reality its not very practical. I’ve been riding with it for about a month now and its rather noisy and is heavier than a regular chain. I’m going to be looking at getting a new one soon.

For the front brake I got a Sram Apex for around £25. Very high quality and gives quick responsive braking. I was a little worried because the rims are not machined and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when braking on them. So far I haven’t noticed any difference. I haven’t been out on it in the wet however.

And finally the smiley face on the down tube. Basically this was the deciding factor for me buying this frame .

So to recap here’s a full list of components:

Frame: Cinelli Vigorelli

Wheel Set: Navigator Pista

Pedals: BLB Track Pedals, Double Strap, Double Cage

Crank Set: Miche Primato Advance Track 48T 165mm

Bottom Bracket: Miche Primato Bottom Bracket

Seat Post: Cinelli Vai XL

Seat: Charge Spoon

Stem: Cinelli Ant Stem

Rear Tyre: Continental Gatorskin

Front Tyre: Blue Continental Ultrasport

Innertubes: 48mm Presta valve

Rim Tape: 700c 14mm Wide

Bar Tape: Black Easton Cork

Brake Leaver: Tektro RX4.1 Aero

Brake Caliper: Sram Apex

So over all its been an interesting project, I’ve actually learnt quite a lot from it. I was very fortunate that all the components I bought fitted together and I didn’t have to send anything back. The bike rides beautifully, its so light and responsive. So if you have a spare grand lying about I recommend giving a custom build a shot!

Any questions feel free to right a comment, Ill try to get back to you promptly

Video I made using footage captured on mine and 5th Floors GoPro’s. Excuse the music. It became the theme of the trip!