2013 365-23

Jesus, but summer seems to arrived in Belfast. Scorching hot weather all week and a trip to Donegal with the lads at the weekend? Yes please.

3/06/13

Taken and processed on my iphone 4. This scooter has been sitting in the street all week. Kinda spooky. Why? What happened to it's owner? Why has no-one stolen it (given that this is East Belfast)?

4/06/13

Bright sunshine isn't always the best weather for photos. Luckily I got my hands on a couple of sets of wee men from a tiny (and very weird) model shop near where I was working today. This is titled "Bob didn't know if it was the drink or the heat, but he knew he had to get Anges home."

5/06/13

"Jim's neighbours were a wee bit precious about their bins." I have on occasion taken the wrong bin, with far from hilarious results.

6/06/13

Travelling down the Ards peninsula this evening, armed with only my little Sony Nex-3 camera which I was getting re-acquainted with prior to heading off to Donegal. Had to stop and take this shot as the sun went down at Kircubbin pier and a few kids jumped into the water off the pier. The wee Sony coped well with the shot, although I did nearly cry when I realised that I didn't have my big camera with me. Thanks also to Maxie, another togger who'd stopped to take the same shot and ended up talking with me for so long, I was well late for dinner. It was great yakking about photography to someone whose eyes didn't glaze over when you mentioned white balance and ISO.

7/06/13

Colin, enjoying himself in Donegal. This was taken after he'd done his usual mugging for the camera and actually just relaxed. The sun was setting and the light was just as golden as I've ever seen.

8/06/13

Martin's mussels. I'm not sure I'd have taken this shot if I hadn't had a few pints and a wee whiskey, but I climbed up on a chair and zoomed my 18-55mm lens all the way out. This was the rather fetching  result.

9/06/13

When this is the sight that greets you when you walk out of the door, it doesn't half put a spring in your step and a bit of lead in your pencil. Taken before Alec went swimming and lost a tooth, but that's another story entirely. Donegal and the beach were not to blame.

2013 365-11

It's been a funny old week. I hit another low in terms of inspiration for taking photos and was giving serious consideration to jacking in this 365 project as I just wasn't enjoying it. Coincidence is a strange thing; I ended up having the chance to take some time away from work and spend it by the seaside with some very good company. This had the result of making me forget about taking shots and (conversely) allowed me to take some shots that I enjoyed taking and working with. Weird stuff?

11/03/13

Seaside it is then. Went out for a walk, took the camera and decided it would be a good idea to try to take some shots of the shoreline. Got this one and then it began to hail and snow which led to me legging it back to the house at top speed

12/03/13

Put this collage together today from a lot of shots taken at the weekend in Donegal. I think it works and might be a fairly good summary of the weekend. Way too much drinking.

13/03/13

This just leapt out at me today; a bottle of olive oil sitting in the kitchen with the light hitting it just right. Grabbed the camera, took one shot and this is the end result.

14/03/13

 Out for dinner this evening, to Saltwater Brig near Portaferry. Nice pasta, but made me realise that I could probably do every bit as well. Had a great evening though, and felt the urge to take something to remember it. Long exposure, with the camera set on the wall of the car park.

15/03/13

Beach huts along Portavogie beach. I was walking the dog here this morning when I saw these and had to return with my camera and tripod. This worked out well, although I actually liked a similar black and white treatment of the huts better. I might have a little wander further along this path next week when I get the chance and see what else there is to photograph.

18/03/13

Another shameless rip-off of someone else's idea. This would look so much better using a sparkler rather than a torch, but you get the idea. Need to work a bit harder at my Batman logo - it's just a wee bit rough in places.

17/03/13

I spent last night shooting a street art event and exhibition opening at R-Space Gallery in Lisburn, thanks to an invite from a friend of mine. By coincidence, my eldest daughter was also exhibiting some of her cross stitch work as well. I enjoyed this, nothing more so than watching this very talented lady produce a simply stunning portrait using a sheet of plywood, a couple of stencils and some aerosols. Simply breathtaking work all round. You can see more shots from the event on Facebook here:

2nd Shooter on Facebook

Dawn and Dusk

The plan for this Saturday was to get out and shoot sunrise and sunset shots. Therefore, it was up at 6am to get to Keel Point near Newcastle (Co Down). This involved a fair old walk from the car park to the part of the beach I was aiming for, in the dark and and cold. Reached the beach just after 7am and had time get set up. A big learning point was setting the camera's white balance. My first few shots were very "blue" in tone and setting the white balance to "cloudy" was crucial in bringing out the orange/red/yellow colours of the sky. Thanks to Debbie for that tip!

The tide was going out and from a previous visit to the beach I had noticed lines of wooden posts running out into the sea and had planned to use these as a focal point for some of the shots.

I've just re-read this post and realise that the two shots (above and below) need to be spaced out a little as I don't think they look right sitting so close together. Hence this inane but brief paragraph.

All in all, very happy with how these turned out. After being focused on the sunrise, I then had the wit to have a look around me and the beautiful scenery of the Mournes at that time of the morning.

So, sunrise worked well. After an enormous veggie fry and a spot of lying about, it was out again at 3pm to try to catch the sunset. The plan was to head up into the Mournes and shoot sunset somewhere like Spelga Dam. Sadly, the weather decided not to play ball and the clouds and lack of light defeated me. However, I did have my backpack full of filters and other gear from this morning and wasn't going home empty handed. This was taken at a little bridge near Rocky Mountain with two ND filters and an exposure of 1 minute. Came out very Zen in the end, with some nice detail in the rocks and that nice milky quality to the water. I think this is the first time I've managed this effect - quite pleased even if I didn't get the sunset.