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:

Art in the Garden on Demotix

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.

367-50 Week 17

Survived another weekend in Donegal (just) and am now back to porridge. Highlight of this week should be shooting the Belfast Roller Derby ladies as they take on a team from Cardiff on Saturday night.

5/03/12

Came out this morning to find Sooty sun-bathing on the roof of Lynsey's car. Sooty has begun behaving strangely since Lynsey went on holiday to Australia. She has taken to sleeping on the settee in the back room, sitting on my knee and climbing on the table to bump heads with me. Perhaps she is developing a liking for me or perhaps she's missing Lynsey.

6/03/12

This is an old graveyard on the Old Glenarm Road in Larne. It sits halfway between the two schools in Larne that I work with, so I drive past it quite a lot. I've always thought about trying to get a shot of the little building in the middle of the graveyard and today I deliberately took my camera with the intention of getting my shot. I wanted to get the path leading to the building, but keep the focus on the building. The sky was darkened a little in Lightroom before I applied a tilt-shift effect in Topaz Lens Effects.

7/03/12

Sarah arrived home from school with homework on the subject of lines of symmetry. Homework came complete with a mirror for testing symmetry. I couldn't resist.

8/03/12

Same story as last week - gets to Thursday evening and no picture taken today. As with last week my excuse was the amount of work I had to do today. Therefore, take camera to Aikido. This is my aiki training buddy Dave being nearly struck on the head by my son Conor with a wooden sword or Bokken. I hate shooting in the Courtney Hall due to the fluorescent lights. That has to be my least favourite type of lighting condition to shoot under.

9/03/12

This is  a bit of a weird one. Everybody kept telling me I should watch "Breaking Bad" as I would really like it. I started with the pilot and found it.......strange and slightly unsettling. Most unsettling of all was the lead character, a chemistry teacher who finds out he has lung cancer and who decides to make as much money as he can making and selling crystal meth. He was played by Malcolm in the Middle's dad and that really freaked me out. I will persevere through series one and make my mind up after that. This is a shot off the screen of my MacBook involving a bunsen burner.

10/03/12

Saturday was Roller Derby Day. The Belfast Banshees up against the Cardiff Roller Cooperative and no prisoners were taken. Exciting and very physical - this ended up in a very close bout with Belfast closing Cardiff's huge lead down in the dying minutes, with Cardiff just holding on by a handful of points. I love shooting the Roller Derby Ladies and I couldn't pick out one picture that would sum up the evening. Therefore, I've taken the cowards way out and put in the picture that has absolutely everyone in it. Here's a link to the finished set of shots on Flickr:

Belfast Roller Derby Set on Flickr

11/03/12

Belfast's Holi festival today and it was moved from St George's Market to the Kings Hall. Not a good move in my opinion; too cramped, less atmosphere. Too many bloody photographers - was there a sale on in enormous lenses that I missed? Holi is great for getting striking shots at - you can't really go wrong. The new venue was a lot darker than St George's so I ended up shooting with flash. Cons were I was limited to a narrow range in front of me and I ran the risk of getting too harsh a light on people's faces. Pros were low ISO and higher shutter speed. It worked out pretty well. You'll find a few more here:

Holi Festival Set on Flickr

Good week of photography for me. Also bought a book on portrait photography which I'm going to start reading before heading off to Cuba at the end of the month. I'll let you know how I get on with it. Ciao!