And the cold snap continues...

For the first time in my life I have experienced a 'White Christmas'. Sub-zero temperatures, heavy snowfalls and icy conditions persisting over the holiday period. It's so bad that I couldn't get my car out from where I live and had to get home to my parent's house by public transport.

Apparently a that is coming later today. Anyway here are a few shots...



An icicle hanging from the garden shed.



Snow down to the high water mark on Portmarnock beach.



Ice formations on the beach. I've never seen this before!

Boat

A fishing boat in dry dock at Howth harbour in Dublin. I used a 2-stop ND grad filter over the top part of the image (and a circular polariser). Dec 12 2010.

Still winter...

I'm starting to wonder if this is the beginning of the next ice age. Since I've been living in my current home (a little over two years) this is the third heavy snowfall that we've had.

It looks nice...but we really aren't able to cope with it at all. We need to learn!

Winter...

An early 'big freeze' in Ireland! Normally it doesn't get this cold in November/December...



That was taken on Monday, it has continued snowing while temperatures have dropped. Great fun on the roads! We just aren't prepared for this kind of thing despite the fact that it's the third big snowfall in the space of 2 years...

Protest

Some images from O'Connell street, Dublin, November 27 2010. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the planned bailout of the Irish economy & banking system that many feel will actually leave us worse off as the government will end up increasing taxes and reducing public spending. The cuts will impact quite severely on those who can least afford it:

Sketchy's again

Catching up on some old shots from july's dr Sketchy's session:

Sadistic Sedition:


Fizz Sedition:


Kept it simple for both shots with a single flash/brolly setup.

Lime Street Station

It had been a while since my last visit to Liverpool. There was a time when I used to joke that my 'local' pub was the one next to Anfield stadium, but those days are long gone. Responsibility will do that to you!

Anyway, it was with a slight degree of surprise that I exited Lime Street Station to see that the row of ugly shops and the dire towerblock that had been built in front of the old station had been demolished, replaced by a large 'plaza' of steps and ramps leading into the station. So one of the huge arches now fronts directly onto the street:



It's a great improvement, and nice to see the architectural mistakes of the past being rectified in this way.

Smashing Pumpkin

Smashing Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Pumpkin time!!! :)

Despair

Despair
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Sinking to the bottom...

Aftermath

For the final series of images we wanted to look at the idea of something bad happening on the night out. The plan was to show the girl as someone who had probably been in a fight after a night of drink & drug fuelled excess.



All that hedonism takes its toll and leads to the inevitable comedown:



I guess these images are open to interpretation, I don't see the character as a victim although I can see why someone might think that.

Excellent work by Irina Rai once again!

Into the night...

Continuing the recent theme...

Ready for a night out, glammed up and getting into the mood:



And something to help the night go well...



Don't worry, it was talcum powder! :)

More...

I won't go into huge detail on these, but its a continuation of the theme from my last post:





Some fake tattoos were required, Marie did the honours:

Early

It all started with a discussion with Irina about doing a shoot with some fake tattoos and other effects. It developed into a a concept showing a girl getting ready for a night out then leading to the aftermath of a crazy evening, fuelled by drink & drugs!



This is an 'early' shot - lunchtime, maybe even morning, but an early drink. Natural light for this shot.



Same idea for this shot, natural light and me playing around with the focusing on the camera. In both cases I was shooting at the widest possible aperture (f/1.8 for the first shot on a 50mm lens, f/2.8 ay 28mm below) so the depth of field is pretty tight. It didn't really matter for the lower image.

Metal On Metal

Another month, another Sketchys!

Now I have to declare a huge interest here. I love Heavy Metal and Hard Rock music. Love it, have done for years, ever since I first heard 'Animal' by Def Leppard and realised that this noisy hairy stuff was great. So, when the good ladies of Sketchy's told me the plan for September's Sketchy's session I knew I had to be there :)



Big hair, spandex and great tunes! The 1980's were a wondrous time, Iron Maiden topped the charts, the mullet was an acceptable male haircut and Liverpool won everything.

The models for this session were Dixie Sedition and Fizz Sedition.

In collaboration (once again) with Sedition Industries.

Available Light

My latest collaboration with Irina Rai came about after a discussion we had when setting up our recent beach shoot. Having shown her some of the work I've been doing with Sedition Industries and Dr Sketchy's she asked if we could take some of those influences and come up with an interesting theme, something different for her portfolio. So the challenge was set and off we went...

I'll be uploading more shots as I get through them but to start with I really liked this portrait/profile:



Rather than resort to using a flash I decided to take advantage of the soft, natural light coming through the kitchen window. A 'nifty fifty' 50mm f/1.8 lens was chosen (shooting at f/1.8 so the depth of field was pretty tight). And once again the title was inspired by Rush!

Makeup duties were once again provided by Marie Murphy.

On the Beach

Irina
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Back to Portmarnock and back to shooting models. After our last session Irina & I had planned to do a beach shot (one reason was that Irina was a bit bored of studio work!). So a plan was hatched and off we went to Portmarnock...

Of course, by the time we got set up to start working the weather had changed from a bright afternoon to a cloudy, rainy day.

The weather meant that using a brolly to diffuse the flash was pretty much impossible, so my 580ex was left bare. This does of course increase the risk of blowing out some parts of the shot (the details on Irina's dress are almost lost) but I like to think I've gotten a good shot here.

Makeup was provided by Marie Murphy who I've worked with as part of the Sedition Industries/Dr. Sketchy's work I've been doing recently.

End of the line...

...well for the travelogue for now anyway. A train in Singapore on my last evening there...



I'll come back to this trip later, as I have more phtoos to talk about.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Two images from the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Singapore's Chinatown district:



This one was shot inside during a prayer service. There were no particular restrictions during the service, and there were no objections to photography (something I'm often wary of in religious locations).



For the second shot I stood outside one of the entrances to the temple and focused on the people observing the scene inside.

Chinatown continued...

Still wandering around Singapore's Chinatown area. I think what really grabbed me was the mass of people, whether tourists or locals.



I'd always wanted to take a shot like this, well 'always' meaning as long as I've actually been thinking about photography in any kind of serious way. Which is about 7 years.

The gentlemen in the shot were busy playing draughts in an area adjacent to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the Chinatown Complex.

Chinatown

Singapore's Chinatown, a bustling busy area full of tourist stalls, interesting food shops and a few temples. I loved it.



I really liked the mix of colours, lots of red lanterns but mixed into a backdrop of light coloured buildings and in this case a huge yellow & green towerblock.



There were food stalls in amongst those catering for tacky tourist gifts, and also a wet-market (although by the time we got there it had pretty much closed up for the day). Lots to see & do!

Emerald Hill Road

Just off busy Orchard Road in Singapore is Emerald Hill road, an historic area which is now a conservation area. This area has many fine examples of Chinese Baroque architecture and provides a quiet contrast to the bustling shopping area just a few blocks away:



The lower end of the neighbourhood has some bars and restaurants (although I'm told that there's not as many as before). Further along Emearld Hill road it becomes quieter and considerably more residential. The architecture is really impressive, not just the design of the houses but also the little details, like this lampshade:



Traditonally this area was home to some of Singapore's Peranakan community.

More Neon

Working on without my regular lens I found the 50mm f/1.8 was more than capable at night, and let's face it, it's a lot lighter than the 17-85!

First up was the familiar sight of the Hard Rock Cafe. It's a little tradition I have, and I've been in quite a few of them over the years.



Later on we took a walk around Boat Quay which is home to many restuarants, a lot of which specialise in sea food:

Singapore Night

So with the SLR giving me trouble I turned to my trusty sidekick - a well used Canon Powershot! Actually it's a great little camera that I've had for about four years.



The view above is taken from the Elgin Bridge looking back towards the Central Business District and the Singapore River (Boat Quay is on the right hand side).



While my SLR was working with a 50mm lens it wasn't a lot of help when attempting to get a wide shot in the city. Always have a backup!!

Figures

Figures
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Taken in the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Hindu temple in Singapore's Little India district (Serangoon road).

At this point I was happily snapping away when something went wrong. I checked the camera and saw an 'error 99' message. In 3 years and 25,000+ shots I had never seen this issue. Changing the battery only gave me a few more shots before the camera locked up again. Luckily, a change of lens fixed things, but now I have a lens that's in need of repair...oh well...

Lizard

Lizard
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

On to Singapore. After a 5 hour drive from KL we made it to this island republic. I had my passport stamped by possibly the prettiest border guard I've ever seen (she was young, friendly & beautiful but I thought it prudent not to take her photo!).

My first port of call on the tourist trail was Singapore Zoo, it was certainly impressive and has a large array of animals in a pleasant setting. This specimen was not part of the exhibition, instead it seemed to be roaming wild on a path in the zoo.

Sunset

Sunset
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

So after a week in Malaysia it was time to move on.

This sunset shot was taken from the KL Tower a communications tower Kuala Lumpur with an observation deck which is about 275 metres above ground level (the tower itself is 421 metres high).

Brahminy Kite

Brahminy Kite
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Taken in Kuala Lumpur's Bird Park - we were lucky enough to arrive at the Kite enclosure just as the keepers were seeting up to feed the birds.

The Brahminy Kite is a bird of prey and is fed a diet of meat and in this case a dead mouse!

Pagoda

Pagoda
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Continuing the journey...

So after a night in Genting (Malaysia's very own Las Vegas) we headed back down towards KL but stopped off at the Chin Swee Caves Temple. It's a peacful place compared to the busy casino and entertainment complex above it at the top of the mountain.

Temple

Temple
Originally uploaded by petergriffin_1892.

Back to KL and a wander around it's Chinatown area.

This shot was taken in the Kwong Siew Free Temple, a Taoist temple. The coils are made of incence and are burnt as prayer offerings.