As I hadn't been out early to shoot any sunrise images recently I decided that this morning would be a good opportunity to do just that. It was cold but worth it!
Killiney beach, Dublin, Ireland. December 31st 2008. Happy New Year!
Some windmills near Crosby beach, north of Liverpool (I guess technically it's Bootle). There is actually a large offshore windfarm in Liverpool bay (which you can see in this shot).
It was a windy day in that part of Merseyside!
I've had this idea of taking more shots of neon signs around Dublin. We don't really have an impressive array of these signs like you might find in other cities but there are a few nice ones so I'll try to find some of them & get them up here.
This is the International bar & comedy venue on Wicklow Street, Dublin.
I'd been meaning to get out to see Antony Gormley's 'Another Place' installation for some time, so on a recent trip to Liverpool I managed to get a quick trip out to Crosby beach.
It's impressive - something like 100 of these statues strung out along 5 kilometres of the shoreline. My visit was on a windy december day, but it was definitely worth making the effort.
Playing around with the whole home developing thing again. This was an old-ish roll of film (from february this year) that had sat in an old Olympus OM10 I was given, but for some reason I had managed to break the roll of film & it got stuck in there, forgotten about for months.
Of course I now realise that my bathroom makes a perfect darkroom, so no more messing around with a changing bag :)
Shot on Fuji Acros 100, developed in Rodinal (1:50) and scanned. Film fans may recgonise the location as the scene for the prison sequences in the movie 'The Italian Job'. I posted a shot from here back in february.
Here's a Gnome for your viewing pleasure. He looks more like a clown, which apparently scares a lot of people.
Now here's a funny thing. this photo has sat on flickr for a few weeks, got a few views, nothing unusual. Until today, where it's had 100 views in a little over 12 hours. Apparently it's been posted to a shoe forum! Bizzare!
Well I don't think it is.
I guess there are some people - carnivores among them - who might find the sight of skinned rabbits & offal somewhat off-putting. While I like a nice steak or some pork or chicken I don't usually go for some of the 'weirder' varieties myself, but I do think that stalls like this make for an interesting image. And anyway, it's part of the sights of a new place, this one being the Agora Market in Hania, Crete.
Agia Pelagia, just west of Heraklion in Crete. This area seems to be home to a lot of new resorts & holiday homes, with a lot of ongoing development. It was a nice place to stop off in, if only briefly...
Back to Dublin, Killiney Hill again. I'd forgotten to switch the lens back to auto-focus so it didn't work out as expected but in a way it made for a more interesting shot. The colours are pretty much as they were at the time, a little bit of saturation afterwards, nothing major.
As seen in the Creteaquarium near Gouves. This took a bit of effort - iso at 800 to keep it stable & get a relatively fast shutter speed. Luckily the 30D handles noise quite well, I still had to to work with a 1/6 speed though! Of course, Jellyfish don't move too quickly :)
A variety of chili peppers, hanging from the ceiling of a restaurant in Rethymno. Nice spot, great fish although it was one of a number of tourist traps near the harbour. Still, the food was good so I won't complain (and in fairness it was still cheaper than home!)
Funny story...on the way out of the Creteaquarium I spotted a couple of newlyweds getting their photos taken. Having asked permission of them & their photographer they posed for a quick shot... :)
I went looking for the perfect Greek sunset - like the kind of thing you might see in Santorini. I didn't find it, but I did get this one instead, and while it mightn't have the classic 'white building and blue sea' mix that is seen on a thousand postcards, it still had something special for me.
Rethymno really was a great place...
Taken from the walls of the 16th century Fortezza fortress in Rethymno, Crete.
Rethymno is a lovely city on the northen side of Crete, as well as the fortezza there is an old Venetian Harbour which is lined with a variety of (mostly) seafood restaurants. Definitely worth visiting!
Still in Glendalough, the ridge of trees going from the middle of the shot to the right side makes a nice sight in the afternoon light.
Back to Glendalough, Co. Wicklow for another series of images. This time I felt much more comfortable with my 30D than on my last visit in May 2007.
This photo took a bit of work to get it looking right, the light on the day was a little harsh & becuase of the high ground on either side of the valley it was a lot brighter on the right side of the image. I don't see the point in bringing up the details on the left too much anyway, and at least that nice hazy light on that side is still visible.
Anyway, I really do have an aversion to HDR, I guess it's becuase of the amount of fake looking images that result from the process, but in this case I was happy with the final file. It's merged from two version of the same RAW file, one correctly exposed & the other over-exposed by half a stop.
As for the location itself, well on a sunny day it's hard to be anything but inspired by this place.
But I really should get there early some day for a morning shoot...
People's Photography came around again a couple of weeks ago. This year I decided to be a little more organised, so I printed most of my stuff at 7 X 5 inches & mounted them.
One image proved very popular, it was this one that I posted in the blog last year. It was funny watching people walk up & look at it in some kind of confused state! But I did sell a copy of it...
There was a rumour going around that People's Photography might not happen next year. This would be a shame, OK so it's not as if the exhibitors are making a load of money out of it, but it is good fun & an enjoyable weekend.
Trying to be experimental for a change. There's nothing particularly ground breaking about this, it's just a long exposure (well, 3 seconds) with me moving the camera around while the shutter stays open. Something different (for a change).
Spotted this at Dundrum LUAS station & thought it was amusing... ;)
Hello people who may or may not be reading this. I've not posted anything for a while so here's something in BW, moody & 'arty'.
Alledgedly ;)
Another street scene, I think this is Aungier Street in Dublin. I stress the *I think* bit becuase I'm not sure that it is! Put it this way, there's a street which is pretty long that has various names depending on which bit of it you happen to find yourself on. Camden Street, Wexford Street, Aungier Street, South Great George's Street...it's pretty much the one street, just different bits of it.
Anyway, I'm a little uninspired at the moment, the great 'wait for the cheque to come from the bank' boredom has kicked in...
Yep, Howth again, only this time with the rest of the meetDublin group from Flickr.
I guess you could describe the weather on the day as 'challenging'! But it did improve in the evening.
I'm not sure about the sky here, I think it needs more work, but I'm not sure what to do with it...
Another shot from Crumlin, I like this one. Two of the bowling balls, waiting to be used...
Wandering around Dublin 12 with the rest of the meetDublin folks we found this secluded little green space. Home to Crumlin Bowling Club, some games were taking place & there were no objections to us gatecrashing & firing off a few shots.
This is Lawn Bowling but I don't know anything about the sport. I do remember my Grandfather being involved in an indoor version of the sport when I was a child though.
Yep, bored again so I took a photo of my stuff! Not all of it gets used, the OM10 has a roll of film stuck in it that I'll need to remove in a darkbag or darkroom. The Flexaret is broken but makes a nice ornament :)
Some 'bridesmaids' at last weekend's Dublin Gay Pride Festival (the theme of which was 'always the bridesmaid never the bride', a comment on the current unavailability of civil same-sex partnerships in Ireland).
It was wet, grey and dull on saturday so the participants added a touch of colour to Dublin's streets.
Space Cowboy was the winner of the 2006 & 2008 Street Performance World Championships and has become something of a legend at the event. Unicycle riding, machete juggling, sword swallowing - it's all good clean fun in a 'don't try this at home kids' kind of way!
Alas, there was to be no 'hat-trick' for the Space Cowboy, the title going to The English Gents.
I spent last saturday (June 14th) at the Street Performance World Championship on dublin's Merrion Square.
This is the third year of the championship which seems to be getting bigger, both in terms of the number of acts and the crowds. It's very popular and a lot of fun.
The were a lot of photographers, one even brought along a ladder to get a better view of things!
This shot was taken during the performance of a Japanese act, Senmaru who entertained us with feats of traditional Japanese juggling.
Another shot from Grafton st last saturday, this time a busker with a slightly unusual (but nonethless very effective) style of playing guitar.
Stolen title, from a band I've admired for many years!
This guy was preaching on Grafton street yesterday, and I couldn't resist firing off a few frames in an effort to get some kind of 'classic street image' or 'decisive moment'. Of the shots I took, I liked this one best, the old guy ranting away & the little girl looking at him with a somewhat puzzled or maybe just curious expression.
It's one of those images that I like to think can be left up to the viewer to interpret...
The figurehead of the tall ship Kaskelot as seen on Dublin's River Liffey during last weekend's Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival.
Another shot from last weekend's Maritime festival, trying to capture some of the dynamics of the funfair alongside the static elements (i.e. the people watching). Or something like that ;)
One of the ships that visited Dublin for the Maritime Festival last weekend.
The crowds were pretty big, helped by the fine bank holiday weather. And the public was able to gain access to the boats.
I'll get more shots up from this. Taken today at the Dublin Docklands Maritime Festival, the weather was great & the crowd was big.
Taken in my parent's back garden last night, I looked outside to see some amazing colours in the evening sky and grabbed the camera & tripod before shooting off a few frames. It really did look fantastic last night, I'm glad I spotted it!
Still, I can't help but wonder how cool it would have looked over the city if I'd been up at Howth or Three Rock...
As well as the usual photographic pursuits of the meetDublin crew in Ballymun last saturday, we also managed to eat some cake (courtesy of Wolf). A strange but nonetheless pleasant experience!
And, none other than Lizzy Windsor managed to make an appearance (long runing joke amongst the group!).
Aside from the pictures of sheep, castles, Blarney stones & other assorted cliches that the local & visitor get to see there are some parts of Ireland which the tour books tend to ignore.
Ballymun, in North Dublin, was an attempt at a mass housing project in the late 1960's which was then blighted by terrible social problems. At a time when most of the western world realised that high rise complexes didn't necessarily work, we were busy building our own.
Most of the tower blocks have now been demolished & many of the remaining blocks have been left derelict.
It's not all bleak though, whilst in the area we did encounter some very friendly people who seemed interested in a bunch of people wandering around with cameras. And there is a lot of rengeneration going on in the area, new facilities planned, new transport links going in as well.
As for the treatment here, it's just a 'sixties slide' conversion, nothing special!
Back to Marlay Park & it's the same waterfall as before but from a different angle, a bit further back & no tripod this time.
But...I'm not sure about it. I like the composition, I just don't know about the colours in this shot. Maybe it needs more work in post-processing or something.
Ahhh...life was easier back in the film days! I'd just shoot something & let the lab figure it all out for me ;)
I've been busy with other things lately, so it was nice to get a run over to Dublin Airport this evening with my camera.
No unusual activity, just the regular flights to & from Dublin. BMI fly from the UK to Ireland several times a day.
I liked this close up of one thier Airbus A320's departing from runway 28.
Back home to Portmarnock again & another early start to catch the sunrise down at the beach.
The 'Eccentric Orbit' monument celebrates the exploits of Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who flew his aeroplane 'The Southern Cross' on the first westbound transatlantic crossing from this beach in June 1930.
The needle points directly at the North Star (pole star), reflecting the aeronautical nature of the monument.
I shot this just after sunrise on a very cold saturday morning!
Another trip to Marlay, this time to try out my new tripod. It's heavy but it was worth it, and should hopefully be a very useful tool in the future.
It's funny though, I don't think there's any great technique in these shots: find a spot, figure out the composition, set the ISO down low, fire off a few shots at different exposues until you figure out what the best shutter speed is (in this case it was 1 second at f/11). But that's it, nothing complicated or complex for anyone that can work a camera on manual.
So...why do these shots get so much attention on sites like Flickr when the ones that take some real thought or hard work (usually B&W street images) tend to get ignored? This one got lots of attention in what semed like no time...
Anyway, there are far too many of these long exposure/water images floating around the various sites. My excuse was that I was giving the tripod a good workout ;)
The peak away off in the distance is the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain in Co. Wicklow, and this shot is taken from the 'Military Road' that runs through the county, over the top of the Wicklow Mountains.
The mountain is actually quite low at 501 metres, but it's got what I consider to be more of a classic 'mountain' shape than the domed hills of the Wicklow Mountains (which are generally higher, Lugnaquilla being the highest point in the county at 925 metres).
I'd been meaning to get up here for a while to take some shots, I'll come back some evening to get the sunset colours :)
Another duck photo, I think it's becoming an obsession ;)
Actually this one was difficult enough, the weather & light on the day kept chaning, add in all the trees in the Botanic Gardens and it all makes for a bit of a challenge to get exposures right.
Of course, the Squirrels were harder work again, they just don't stay still long enough!
It was freezing up there last week, the lingering winter weather sending some cold fronts our way. At least the huge glasshouses were warm (although the camera lens & lcd screens got steamed up...)
A grey Squirrel in Dublin's Botanic Gardens. These Squirrels aren't native to Ireland but were imported from North America and have displaced the native Red Squirrel.
The Squirrels in the Botanic Gardens are fairly cheeky & don't seem to have a problem approaching people!
This is an old shot from last year which I'd been thinking about because I relaised that I hadn't processed many of the photos I took on a trip to Glendalough last year.
One of the advantages of digital photography is the fact that you can take a lot of images, often far more than someone using film might normally take, but of course that then becomes a disadvantage as you end up with (in my case) hundreds of images to sift through after even a single day's worth of shooting!
In this case I'd even gone as far as printing the image before I uploaded recently. I like it, although now I want to go back & try it again :)
Actually I did take some B&W 35mm shots down there too, I must scan them...
I went on another meetDublin outing with fellow flickr users today, this one being a trip to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.
This was the scene of the excecutions after the 1916 Easter Rising during which Padraig Pearse, James Connolly & the other leaders of the rising were executed by the British.
It's an important place in terms of Irish History, yet I found it odd to see an entry in the guestbook, written by someone Irish, which said 'less politics, more history'! But for me, it's impossible to have one without the other in a place like this...
A waterhole at the base of Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock), Northern Territory Australia.
It's a fascinating place, well worth a visit.
A friend once told me that she thought this photo had an 'erotic' quality to it but I don't get it myself. I won't argue though :)
It's an oldie - and unfortunately it was taken back when I would have had the camera set up to record as many shots as possible, rather than try to get high quality images, so printing it is pretty much out. I've got another version taken on 35mm film but it's not as good...
Back to Howth today. The wind finally died down this morning so I took a walk up further than the harbour itself.
I like this viewpoint, I'm just not sure about the post-processing, I was messing around with a polariser & a neutral density filter to try to avoid over exposing the sky whilst getting the rocks just right. In the end it took a bit of work on the PC to get it looking right (or almost right). All part of the experimentation & learning process I guess...
I'll come back up here again some morning to get the sunrise...
