Sunday, 2 September 2012

367-50 Week 42

Lets hope for a rant free week this week. In contrast to last week, I received a comment this week from a lady who is interested in buying one of my shots from the blog. That is a little bit of a contrast from last weeks comment. The print was duly ordered and looks really good, so it's heading off on a journey to Canada.

Here goes with week 42.

27/08/12

A romantic scene, or a warning on the perils and evils of drink? Make your own mind up on that one my friend.

28/08/12

I'm not sure what draws me to taking pictures in old graveyards. I always pass this very old one going to and from my house, but have never (in many many years) actually noticed it being open. It's very small and very overgrown with headstones dating back to the early 1800's. Everything seems broken and at some kind of a slant. Having ventured in today, there is really nothing much of great interest, but at least I've managed to get inside.

29/08/12

This is last night's shopping from B&Q (DIY/Hardware Store). These rather fine items are for a photo project which I was hoping to do tonight, but have been stymied by the rain and general bad weather. The metal whisk, chain and caribiners were made by my own fair hands. I'm not saying too much right now, but stay tuned for the results. As soon as I get the right weather, I'm out there.

30/08/12

Took my own advice and got on my feet and went walkabout in Ballyhackamore with my camera at lunchtime for half and hour. Snapped away and found that I quickly switched on in terms of my concentration. I was looking specifically for detail shots and this one presented itself pretty easily (and pretty early in my walk). A single untouched strawberry sitting on a bare table outside a cafe in the sunshine? I couldn't resist. And then I had lunch with my eldest, her treat. A pretty good afternoon all round.

31/08/12

First experiment with burning wire wool as per the photo posted earlier in the week. That's if you don't count trying it in the back garden and setting fire to the neighbour's hedge. I chose this stone bridge because I knew there was nothing that would catch fire and there was water on each side. I set up my camera on a tripod, manually focused on a torch at the spot I was going to stand on and used a ten second self-timer to trigger the camera. Settings were 30" exposure, f11 and 100 ISO. I got around four burns completed before I started attracting attention and had to quit. Either that or I had stumbled into a dogging hotspot, given the cars that started appearing out of nowhere on a dark and previously deserted country road.

1/09/12

Chanced upon the opening of the Art in the Garden sculpture exhibition in the grounds of the Culloden hotel this afternoon. I'd heard about this on Radio Ulster's Arts Extra programme a couple of nights ago and made a mental note that it might be worth checking out. And worth it it was. Some lovely pieces (around 150) set within beautiful gardens. A huge range of sculptures which I had great fun photographing. The exhibition runs until the 23rd of September and I'd recommend a visit for anyone who is looking to spend an enjoyable hour or two. I've posted a few more pictures and a short write up on the Demotix news site and you can check them out here:

2/09/12

"The Blue Orb" was a result of an expedition last night. I wanted to try out some of the wire wool shots from earlier in the week in a tunnel or somewhere closed in. This was taken in a set of cycle underpasses in East Belfast late at night. The orb was made by swinging a set or battery-operated fairy lights (£4 from Ikea). Settings were the same for the wire wool shots (30" exposure, f11, ISO 100) and the focus was set on a torch placed where I was going to spin the lights. A 50p coin on the ground was sued to centre the swings and give a relatively consistent orb shape. I used a 10-24 wide zoom here to get as much of the underpass in, particularly the graffiti on the walls. Slight cropping in Lightroom and an adjustment to the white balance, setting it to tungsten to get the blue tone to the picture.

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