I love the north-east coast - and this serves as a reminder that it's far too many years since I went for a ramble around Bamburgh. Lots of people write favourably about the 18-135 and this is further testimony to its worth. I often muck about with mono conversions and the results fluctuate between acceptable and appalling, but you've done a very good job here and I agree with Nigel about the suitability of textures and tones.

A fine start.

As previously threatened... With the exception of #5, shot from the press gallery close to the chicane, these were all taken from public areas. Goodwood is just about the only circuit at which a media armband confers relatively few photographic advantages...


1 - David hassling Goliath (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm)


2 - Medicine garden (K-5, Sigma 50-150)


3 - Sky sports (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm, 1/250)


4 - Arms and elbows (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm)


5 - Former BTCC champion Robb Gravett: from Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth to... (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm)


6 - Poised (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm)


7 - Sussex appeal (K-5, Sigma 50-150)


8 - Frustration (K-5, Sigma 50-150)


9 - Pep talk (K-5 IIs, DA 300mm)


10 - Lean machine (K-5, Sigma 50-150, 1/160)

I think everything that needs to be said has already been said: that last shot is a glorious finale at the conclusion of a most enjoyable week. Thanks for all your efforts, Maria, and I look forward to seeing what Stan conjures from Monday.

Thanks, all.

Ditching the motorsport was definitely the correct call. It was overcast all the way from north-west Kent until I was about two miles from Arundel - and conditions were exactly the same on the return leg, so I got the best deal in terms of light.

The Goodwood Revival now beckons, so cars and bikes are likely to be more prominent than Hawaiian geese in my next mini-gallery. Be warned...

Charming, Maria, in terms of both composition and content. Child portraits tend towards a head-and-shoulders format, so it's nice to see something with a bit of context. I'm not sure how many kids go rambling around the countryside nowadays, but it's reminiscent of the world in which I grew up.

With regard to shot #3, I acknowledge the technical imperfections cited by others but quite like the 'soft' effect. I would perhaps crop some of the greenery from the right-hand and bottom edges, but overall the concept doesn't require a great deal of fine-tuning.

The dandelion remains on pole position, though, for now...

I can but echo Nigel's comments, Jules. Stickle Tarn has particular appeal, but they're all lovely.

Nice thinking, Maria. I suspect the mono conversion improves the ambiance, although for curiosity's sake I'd also like to see the original.

I like this a lot, Maria - it has a very natural feel and, as with David Storm's wifely portrait last week, I'm not worried about the peripheral 'distractions'. Cloning them out wouldn't harm the shot, but to me it wouldn't improve it significantly, either. I also like the DOF effect of the bricks, fore and aft, and the choice of mono. That might be a result of growing up with Kodak Tri-X, mind.

A flying start and I look forward to the next four.

I'd set off with every intention of going to Brands Hatch (or possibly Snetterton), but the Met Office foretold of cloudy conditions... and identified a pocket of sunlight towards the south coast. As a result, motorsport was for once cast aside and instead I took the DA300 to the WWT centre at Arundel. These were all shot with the K-5 IIs and DA1.4 TC. Once or twice the combination struggled to lock focus - not something I'd previously experienced - but it happened mostly in darker, wooded areas, so might just have been a trick of the light.


1 - Female chaffinch wins obliging avian award for perching in just about the only available sunshine pool


2 - "If I lift my leg, will it help draw one's eye from that distracting reed?"


3 - Non-distracting reed


4 - "Bloody paparazzi..."


5 - Do not disturb


6 - Rush: Canadian rock band, F1 movie and grass-like plant


7 - "Bloody hell, a Pentax! And I thought we were rare..."