2013 365-3

Welcome to week three of 2013. I have had an eye infection for most of this week and while it hasn't stopped me taking photos, it's made working on a computer a less pleasant experience than normal.

14/01/13

This is a rather excellent chap called Dave. Dave approached me about doing the photos for a powerlifting competition that he is organising at the end of the month. Naturally I jumped at the chance, in the suspicion that it would provide massive amounts of photo opportunities. Tonight I visited the gym to check out the set-up and lighting and took a few snaps. Hard to decide whether to use ambient light or the speedlights. This was a quick portrait of Dave, which unfortunately gathered some very unflattering comments on-line. Wrong choice of lighting for this shot completely, even if I'd fooled myself into thinking I knew what I was doing.

15/01/13

This was titled "Missing flag found safe and sound - Belfast rejoices." I wish. Protests continue, violence is ongoing and everything now seems to be planned in advance. At times like these a bit of humour goes a long way, if you can find the humour of course. Maybe there isn't actually any in this current situation.

16/01/13

Yet another report in the newspapers this week about a photographer being robbed of his cameras and gear while covering the current street protests - by my count that makes three since this this started. It's hard to tell if this was a couple of opportunist scumbags spotting some expensive looking gear and deciding to take advantage of the situation, or whether it was something more sinister and connected to people not wanting photographs of the disturbances to make it into print on on-line. The "little scumbags" theory is maybe more likely, but who in the name of hell are they going to flog pro-level photo gear to? Don't see them trying to teach themselves the basics of photojournalism with their ill-gotten gains. 

17/01/13

The biggest moral dilemma a photographer can ever face. You're in the middle of a riot (or peaceful street protest to defend your cultural heritage) and you come across a car being burned out. What do you do - shoot on aperture priority or shutter priority? It's an old and well worn joke in photography circles, but worth another outing.

18/01/13

So the snow arrived this afternoon and it was certainly cold. Fairly heavy snow all evening, although in Belfast it wasn't lying that much. In the hills outside Belfast I heard some stories about cars being stuck and snow drifts. By the following morning, it was all but gone but I got one quick snap outside in the front garden while it was still falling.

19/01/13

Just in case you ever wondered where soup mix comes from - it's mined by teams of wee men. It must be some built-in instinct on my part, but as soon as the weather gets really wintry, I make soup and in particular, I make the same vegetable soup that my grandmother and mother made. Quick, easy, tasty - there's half of it in the fridge to be eaten over the weekend and the other half is in the freezer for use later this week.

20/01/13

I was crawling around on the floor this morning with my camera (don't ask why) when my dog Muffin decided to join me. This was a quick point, click and hope for the best shot, and it turned out pretty well all things considered.