367-50 Week 34

It's been a strange week in many respects for me, and I've found myself doing some things I would never have imagined doing. None of which are going into the blog this week, because it's beard removal week here on 2nd Shooter. People have commented in the past about how they think that my beard or lack of it reflects my mood. I think I can say that this is the first time I've grown a beard and then shaved it off for purely photographic purposes. So, here's the plan. Having spent a month growing a full beard, I'm going to shave some off each day until I'm clean shaven by the time that Sunday rolls around. In other words, seven self-portraits all taken and processed identically. This is either going to be spectacular, or incredibly dull.

2/07/12

So we start with the full beard. The Rolf Harris, or The Gerry Adams depending on your point of view. This had to go, mainly because the sides start itching like mad when it gets to a certain length and shocking amount of grey (who an I kidding -white) on my chin makes me look and feel like I'm in my 90's.

3/07/12

I have to say that I'd never tried this look before, probably with good reason. Tuesday's facial hair was a challenge to wear all day, and my youngest daughter was quick to point out that I looked like Wolverine. Which I took as a compliment, until she explained that it wasn't. I did discover, however, that this looks really good with my buff/bandana on. Very redneck.

4/07/12

This is me in my natural bearded state. I've had this goatee for a couple of years now, and have worn it on and off over the last god-knows how many years. Maybe a bit bushier than normal, but that's what will probably be growing back once this project ends.

5/07/12

The Buffalo Bill look was something I kinda enjoyed, and it was fun sporting it to my ex-partner's graduation at Queens. As noted above, that was something I'd never envisaged happening, but it all worked out quite pleasantly and my youngest seems to have enjoyed the day, which was why I did it in the first place. I kinda like this look, strangely enough and kept it for as long as possible before shaving and heading towards my least favourite look of all, the moustache.

6/07/12

You didn't realise that there was another Chuckle Brother? I really don't go for the solitary 'tache at all. It reminds me of police officers or something. I was a little embarrassed to go out of the house like this but stuck it out. Avoided public places and didn't go anywhere were people might have recognised me though.

7/07/12

This was rather fun. My attempt at a Clark Gable moustache ended up making me look like a 1940's/1950's wide boy - George Cole in the original St Trinian's movies perhaps. I did try to throw in a "dodgy geezer" expression for this one - it seemed appropriate.

8/07/12

And here's a picture of my da. I'm not sure how I feel about looking in the mirror and seeing my dad looking back every morning. On the plus side, it makes me look a few years younger (I know I'm deluding myself there, but hey) and requires much less maintenance that any sort of facial hair. Bare face for a little while, I think and then welcome back goatee beard.


Technical details? Usual Nikon D90 with a Nikkor 60 mm f2.8 lens. ISO 200, shutter speed 200 and f 5.6. One flash above and left on half power, one below and right on one quarter power. Both flashes at 45 degrees to the subject and shooting though umbrellas. Post processed in Lightroom4 using a black and white/yellow filter and given a dark vignette.

367-50 Week 33

A relatively busy week this week. Photo trip arranged for Monday, go karts on Thursday and over to Nottingham to visit my son on the weekend. Shouldn't have a problem filling this week.

25/06/12

After deciding to just get the hell out of Belfast for the day and drive north, I ended up at Mussenden Temple and The Dark Hedges, two of the most photographed places in Northern Ireland. I came away with very few good shots, but this is my shot of the day. I've seen better pictures of The Dark Hedges, but at least this one has a story to go with it. Standing in the middle of the road, camera on tripod, neutral density filter attached and so on. A little Nissan Micro drives up and stops; out get Pearl and Margaret, both elderly ladies and absolutely charming. We talked about the hedges and they offered to walk up the road to give the photo "a sense of perspective." Those of you who know me will know that that is something I've always lacked. Off they went, up the road to the bend you can see in the picture and then back again. And then Pearl produces her e-mail address and a book of oral history stories from Rathcoole which she had worked on. That was absolutely golden.

26/06/12

This week's cucumber update - there it is - a little cucumber. I've now quite a few of these growing although I was fairly sure I spotted a mouse darting away from the plants when I went in to take this shot. Do mice eat cucumbers? Was it one of the frogs that live in the greenhouse pretending to be a mouse? Bugger.

27/06/12

Ok, it's been months since I've had to wear a suit for work. Court today and a suit that fits me. This was my excuse for a self portrait. Something old, classy and sharp. The photo, not me.
Again, set up in the back bedroom with the bare minimum of kit and shot with cable release/timer delay and using tethered capture via Lightroom on the Macbook Pro. Tethered capture with Lightroom 4 seems to work a lot better on the Mac than on my previous windows-based laptop. Used the aged photo preset in Lightroom, dodged my face to lighten it and applied a little dark vignette. And got a haircut. Jesus - you'd think I knew what I was talking about.

28/06/12

Thursday and the work "end of term" outing. This year it was karting in Broughshane. I know it doesn't sound too attractive, but I couldn't recommend this highly enough. Nice staff, good equipment and pretty fast karts. These are two of my female colleges. Number 1 is Clare who started off slowly and gradually got faster over the morning. Number 7 is Fiona who just flew from the beginning. She was somehow able to zip around the track without spinning, sliding or screeching the tyres (all of which I did). However, for sheer mindless stick-the-pedal-down-and-sod-everything-else I think I came out on top. I am somewhat sorry to report that I lost out on the last lap to a man who gave up psychology to become a Presbyterian minister. One can only assume he had god on his side. Or in his petrol tank

29/06/12

Evening flight out of the City Airport over east Belfast, travelling with number 1 son Conor to visit number 2 son Rory in Nottingham. There's a aerial view of Forestside Shopping Centre for you.

30/06/12

That's Rory - the last of my kids photographed for this project. We had an interesting afternoon, doing a photographic scavenger hunt around the Market Square in Nottingham. Three of us armed with cameras and a list of shots to get. I was very impressed with some of the pictures that both Rory and Connor came up with - we need to find some way of posting them up for everyone to see. On a more personal note, I find visiting Rory difficult in many ways. We haven't spent that much time around each other and I feel that we're pretty much strangers to each other. More recently, even getting to talk to him on the 'phone has been a challenge. Having Conor with me is a bonus though - he's good company and an excellent travelling companion.

1/07/12

Sunday morning, up too early again and walking round Nottingham with the camera. I love being somewhere different in the mornings, before every one is up and about. I took some shots of buildings in the morning light, which turned out OK. But early morning photowalks also mean coffee and smokes. This was the most welcome cup of coffee in a long time. Big, black and strong and accompanied by a Marlboro Light.

Cheers and thanks for reading this far. If you like the blog, feel free to share if with the Facebook button up above and on the left.

367-50 Week 31

Boredom, ennui and lethargy are my enemies as I start this week. Routines are what's keeping me going but days are starting to feel the same - I need to find something to lift me a bit; something to get lost in for a while. Gotta keep looking for it - I'm sure it'll turn up eventually.

I'm supposed to be going to Donegal at the weekend and am not really feeling like it but have been being bullied mercilessly by my friends to go, regardless of how I'm feeling. Damien and Colin, my two closest friends have been very good with me over the last month and I guess I feel that I owe them something. Still not looking forward to it.

On a different note, I've added a button on the page (lower down and on the right hand side) that allows anyone reading this to share the blog via Facebook. If you like what you see, please share it - you'll be making an old man very happy.

11/06/12

 More by luck than design I had booked a place on a workshop at Townhouse Gallery in Belfast - my first time shooting with a "real" model. Met some really nice people at the session and it was pretty good fun although I'm still not convinced that I can't get the same lighting effects with two speedlights, wireless triggers, stands and umbrellas all within the confines of my back bedroom. Anyway, Sandra was a fantastic model and George was an excellent host. This is my favourite shot of the evening; mainly because I did a sneaky bit of homework beforehand on the model and on different poses.

12/06/12

So, Sister Mary Agnes - is the hereafter what you'd imagined it to be?

No, Sister Assumpta, I hadn't thought it would be so feckin' dull

Ok - it was late (10pm by the time I got round to taking a shot today). I have just come into possession of an ex-hospital lightbox (Ta, Coly - you're a star) and started playing with it tonight. A box of miniature nuns was at hand - it's complicated - and voila. Sister Mary Agnes and Sr Assumpta in the afterlife. Again, apologies to any of my religious readers, but it's not as bad as the wee nuns entering a beach volleyball tournament.

13/06/12

This my daughter Ellen doing the same pose as my picture from Monday. The only difference was that this was taken in my spare bedroom. I set up a pop-up studio in exactly 15 minutes. The gear was as follows:

Backdrop: 1 Tesco double bed sheet, white - £4.97
Lights: 2 cheap flashguns with manual settings (total cost £100)
2 light stands and umbrellas - £20 from Amazon
1 set of Yongnuo wireless triggers - £45 from Amazon

Total = £169.97

14/06/12

This is one of the pair of cucumber plants I've grown from seed in the greenhouse. It looks like they're starting to flower, so I'm hopeful we might get to see some cucumbers in a month or two. Having never grown cucumbers, I'm not sure what I should or shouldn't be doing with them.

15/06/12

Friday night, the Lobster Bar in Burtonport. Alex attempts to lift my spirits by strangling Colin. Having spent four hours travelling with Colin, I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill myself or just give him a hug. This is turning out to be the wettest gentlemen's weekend ever. I have to return to Belfast tomorrow for what can best be described as "personal reasons" and the guys were very understanding. Even to the point of two of them offering to break my legs if I didn't go.

16/06/12

9.30 on a very rainy Donegal morning. Packed and ready to head back to Belfast, stomach in knots and nerves jangling. Three hours in the car like that isn't going to be fun. Colin surfaced just as I was getting ready to leave. There's some thing quite surreal about your best friend hugging you while he's wearing blue stripy pyjamas as the rain pours down.

17/06/12

Woke this morning (4.30am) feeling wasted and drained. Getting out of bed was an achievement and even a fag and cup of coffee didn't perk me up. After wandering round the house aimlessly, I went back to the lightbox. I bought a bag of fruit yesterday and got stuck in this morning. I found that it was tricky getting sharp shots, but the colours are really nice. I also forgot to set my white balance for the fluorescent lights but was able to correct it later in Lightroom. Might play some more with this later. There's a watermelon and a grapefruit that might be pressed into service.

367-50 Week 30

Silence descended this week, a silence I can only best describe as "uneasy." It's strange, but when you're shouting/being shouted at you yearn for silence and then when you have silence you yearn for shouting.

What's that you say - this is a photography blog - get on with it? OK. I've made a slight change to the look of the blog over the last couple of weeks. I think that the black background works better with photographs? Double Bank Holiday this week for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Guess I should get out there and record it. My arse. As a fervent anti-royalist and republican (not the IRA-type, the not having a Queen type) the whole thing just seems like a monumental waste of time, money and energy.

4/05/12

I did however take the dog for a walk this morning to discover the Family Fun Day at Stormont. Lots of families, very little fun. They'd even wheeled Uncle Hugo in to present his show live just to make sure that no-one enjoyed the day. Had a nice walk, met a an old friend from University days and we had a bit of a natter and a cup of coffee. I still can't figure how she looks twenty years younger than me when we were in the same year at Queens. Damn. Anyway, I started thinking about doing something with the wee men - it's been a while. I also started thinking again about Slinkachu's approach where he creates "installations" of a kind by gluing the figures in place and leaving them there. That evening, armed with a box of random wee men and a tube of superglue, I returned to Stormont, a plan hatching in my little brain. I set about six scenes up around the paths and they turned out really well. I also made sure to take the type of establishing shot that shows the placement of the pieces a little more. I love the depth of field in this shot, but I got some other pretty good shots too. Shall we try to make it a wee men week? I think so.

5/06/12

I visited Stormont this morning, to find that five of my six set-ups from the previous evening were still there. On the way home I saw the empty bus shelter and had this idea. I waited until it was late afternoon/evening and the light was dimming before attempting this shot - the car headlights are a nice addition.

Later that evening, on my way home around 8pm, I passed the bus stop and there were two people waiting for a bus. And the wee men were still where I'd left them.

6/06/12

Took the box of wee men and my tube of superglue to work today. At the side of our wonderfully named office ("The Chalet") is a wall which is in the process of falling down. There is a line of bricks standing out from the main wall, and it looked perfect for two little walkers to stand on an survey the landscape. I sort of envisage the lady saying "one day son, all of this will be yours......." of maybe "I can see your house from here."

7/06/12

Ok - it's not a whole week of wee men, my apologies if you're devastated. I was working in Slemish College, Ballymena this afternoon when the whole school emptied at 2.30 because the Olympic Torch was coming along the Larne Road. It was raining and not the warmest, but I took my camera and took a few shots. One of the school staff (bear in mind I've only worked with the school for four years) asked me what paper I worked for. Every bloody togger in Northern Ireland seems to have taken a photo of the torch on it's travels, so I guess I didn't want to be left out. Once in a lifetime opportunity and all that.

8/06/12

Damn if I'd didn't sidetrack myself from more wee men shots. Went off to shoot the Fresh Meat intake session for Belfast Roller Derby this evening. Fresh meat means new recruits, by the way. Great fun was had by all, and coming from someone who does Aikido, falling over has never looked like so much fun. There's a real family feel to BRD and seeing daughter number 2 giving it a crack this evening was amazing. The session was run by the extremely able Lil' Miss Guttersnipe, who even had a hug for me at the end of the evening. BRD travel to Dundee tomorrow for a bout - how I wish I was going with them!

9/06/12

Back to my photographic desecration of Stormont. This slightly germanic-looking mom-and-pop set up has lasted the longest. It was still there today, and this must be due to them being placed under a barbecue stand on a picnic table. The fact that it's rained all week might also have something to do with it.

10/06/12

This guy has a certain something - the confident stride, the way his head is turned, the path bending and fading out of focus behind him. I'm not sure what it is but I do like this this shot. The colours work quite well - greens and blues seem to be quite pleasing for some reason. I've enjoyed getting back to the wee men this week. The idea of actually putting them somewhere and then leaving them has also been an interesting exercise. By today (i.e. Sunday) of my original seven pieces, only two remain in place. What happened to the others? Guess thats why it gets interesting.

Post-script
I think that one other thing that I've learned from this week and the wee men shots is that my previous preferred macro lens (Sigma 105mm f2.8) is not as good in terms of sharpness and colour rendition as the second hand Nikkor 60mm f 2.8 I picked up about a month back. Anyone interested in a second-hand Sigma 105mm give me a shout (michaelbarbour902@btinternet.com). It's in a nice zippy padded pouch and hasn't see much abuse. Pretty good condition all round - make me an offer.

367-50 Week 29

I'm going to take a break from self-flagellation this week. If your not sure, look it up. Looks like I'm off to the Pigstock music festival at the weekend (against my better judgement and after being effectively bullied by my children) so don't be surprised if a few shots from there turn up.

28/05/12

I went on a spider hunt this afternoon in my newly acquired greenhouse. I was amazed at how many different types of spider I saw in there. I was hoping for a shot of a zebra jumping spider, the extremely aggressive little striped spider. I'd seen a couple but sadly none came out to play today. This fine fellow was sitting happy as a clam on the inside of one of the glass panes. The old Sigma 105mm macro was pressed into service but the shallow depth of field doesn't quite work for me in this shot. If he had stayed still long enough I'd have liked to try focus stacking. He didn't.

Kids aikido class as usual this evening with the amazing Lance attempting his 8th kyu grading. I'll let you into a secret - when Lance started aged 8, he was dreadful to teach. Poor concentration, never listened, always looking somewhere other that where he should have been. That and doing head spins when my back was turned. So, I had a quite word with him, of the "health and safety" type. Since then he has been the model pupil and tonight turned in one of the best 8kyu demonstrations I've seen in almost 14 years of practising aikido, either from a child or from an adult. I know my own wasn't that good. Excellent attitude, posture, balance and timing. I was well chuffed for him. He's a great kid. As his his older brother Daryl - the one on the end of the arm lock.

30/05/12

I promised no self-flagellation this week but I end up having to do some work in Carrickfergus today. Those of you who know me will know that I have some history with the place, having lived there for just under two years. I make no secret of the fact that it's a place I could never warm to and moving back to Belfast was one the best things I ever did, particularly in terms of being geographically closer to my children. I did feel oddly compelled to take some sort of photograph today while passing through. In the end, I went for a very dull black and white shot of the castle. My creative juices have shrivelled up right now. I need something to come along and give my photography a good kick up the hole.

31/05/12

Out with some of the Aikido club tonight for dinner. I had taken to the camera to get a group shot, but that went on Facebook, This was the keeper - and taken almost accidentally while trying to get the light levels right. Daphne is the club's first ever lady/female/non-male black belt and she's really rather good and very dedicated. She also takes a good picture - it's the bone structure in my humble opinion. Now to persuade her to do a proper portrait shoot. This shot was taken at way too high an ISO so it doesn't bear close inspection, but it's not bad for all that.

1/06/12

So, after a long day working in Dungannon and the most expensive half hour of my life to date in Kwik Fit at Ballyhackamore I got home and opened a solitary bottle of beer that had been hiding in the fridge. While opening it, I noticed this little chap lying on his back. Being the good Samaritan that I am, I naturally tried to poke him with my finger to get him the right way up. The little fecker clicked and leapt a good foot into the air, making me spill the solitary beer and scaring the crap out of me and the dog. Next time, he can stay on his back.

2/06/12

I spent all of today shooting bands at the Engine Room Stage at Pigstock, yet this is my shot of the day - these two guys just summed up everything that's great about the festival.  It was strange this year not being there as part of a couple, but I have to say that it was great to meet some old friends and make some new friends. Katie and Conor were fabulous craic and there was a smidgeon of beer and red wine consumed. I also think that the crowd seemed smaller this year that last - especially around the main stage. Recession? Or maybe it was that the Download Festival is next week and people have chosen to go to it. Anyway - more pics from Pigstock can be found here:

Pigstock 2012

3/06/12

A spider at the start of the week, a beetle in the middle and a snail to finish it off. Saw this wee fellow this morning at around 7am as I was having a smoke at the back door. The light was just lovely on the leaves and the background blurred really nicely at f2.8. 

367-50 Week 27

Over the half way mark this week in terms of this project. Frankly, things still suck. I'm still up and down in terms of my thinking and my moods. Highlights of the week? I'm trying to cut back on the sleeping tablets to see if I can manage anything like a normal night's sleep. I'm going to have an initial assessment appointment for counselling this week and will be resigning from the presidency of the City of Belfast Photographic Society as I am not fit to offer anything to the club.
As an opening paragraph, that beats "it was a dark and stormy night."

14/05/12

Three objects on the mantlepiece. Tacky carriage clock which was here when I moved in last Thursday. Little fat Buddha has been with me for over ten years. He's my lucky money buddha - rub his belly when you need it and he will bring you money. Trust me, it works. Just don't use him too often. The little Coco taxi was picked up by my wife and I on our trip to Cuba and was one of the many things she handed back to me when I was moving out. I got handed every little thing that was to do with us - yet I just want to hold on to everything that reminds me of her, from the little coco taxi to the passport photo in my wallet and everything in between.

15/05/12

Did a shot like this a few years back, in the last house that I rented. I stole the idea from my wife. This is a more direct steal than the last one - or at least in my memory this is more like her original shot. An homage perhaps.

16/05/12

Today was difficult and stressful with a morning visit to the doctor and finding out my car was sicker than I thought. Out of the blue, my best friend Colin rang and announced he was coming to visit me as he had gotten wind something was up. The fact that I've been ringing him twice a day for two weeks with no success - it didn't seem like the time to bring that up. Colin is an honest and decent man, and my oldest friend. He tells it like it is while reminding me that he loves me. And he did both today.

"No matter how bad you think things are or what the problems are, there's no excuse for what you did." He's right

"You're standing there looking at all the broken stuff lying on the floor and don't know what to do." Right again.

"I still love you and think you're a good man" 

That's harder to either believe or understand right now.

This was by far one of the harder conversations I've had and it was made harder by Colin's poor memory at times and by the fact that he didn't seem to really grasp that I was now living by myself. I found this incredibly distressing and it left me flattened. I hadn't thought it was possible to feel any worse than I had been feeling, but after Colin's visit I did. He'll ring tomorrow again, just to see how I am.

17/05/12

Having time on your hands is both a good and bad thing. You can get things done (good) or you can sit around with thoughts running through your head that make it feel like a washing machine on a fast spin cycle (bad). I have to admit to doing both over the last while. Today I got around to having the grinding noise in the front wheel of my car fixed. Good stuff included it not costing as much as I thought, getting it back the same day and meeting Roger who runs Milford Motors in Ballyhackamore. Bad thing - the customer toilet. I'm not going into detail but I should say that it was the filthiest toilet I have ever been in and this photo really doesn't do it justice.

18/05/12

I got up early this morning and in an effort to keep myself occupied (which is frankly becoming more difficult with each day that passes) I took myself off to the Balmoral Show before it up and moves to The Maze. Have to say thanks to my wee sister who was on the gate and let me in for free. I could be unkind and say that it was wet, cold and full of culchies but I actually managed to put in a good few hours of wandering about taking photos. The sheep shearing competition was good fun and the Bulldog Lings motorcycle display team were worth seeing. These two old lads were just looking over the half door of a horse stall beside one of the show-jumping rings. I couldn't resist.

19/05/12

This picture is a bit personal (I apologise to anyone who is offended by my torso) and I took it for two reasons. Having been trying to lose weight since January I had dropped from 16 stones to just under 14 1/2 stones. Over the past two weeks due to stress, not sleeping and not really feeling like eating I dropped another stone. Yep - I know, I brought it on myself.
I think I wanted to see what I looked like at this weight and to be honest the person looking back at me is a stranger.

Connected to this was the fact that my wedding ring started to slip off my finger and I had a couple of panics when I couldn't find it. Yesterday at the Balmoral Show being a case in point (it had come off in my pocket). Again, I know that I'm leaving myself open to charges of hypocrisy, but my wedding ring means something to me. It's a physical connection to someone that still means the world to me and  it reminds me of happier times. I had a look through some boxes and found a white gold chain and thought I would try to wear it with my ring, as in the picture. It only dawned on me when I looked at this shot that my dad has been wearing his wedding ring on a chain round his neck since my mum passed away. I'd always known he did this, but didn't connect it to what I had done. I'm hoping this is temporary and that once I put some a little weight again I can put my ring back on my finger.

20/05/12

Crumlin Road Car Boot Sale, Sunday morning. I plucked up the motivation to tackle doing a car boot sale and thought we'd give this huge one a try. Went with every intention of selling some unwanted stuff which I don't have room and which has been boxed up for over a year but arrived too late to get a pitch. Apparently you need to there at 6am to get a pitch - they had been turning people away since 7.30am. Having dragged Vonnie and Conor along, the decision was made to have a walk around. This meant watching Vonnie buy loads of stuff, and we went home with more stuff than we came with. Chatted to a few people about cameras, photography and stuff. The stall holder who owned the above articles was pretty quick to point out that it was the first time anyone had ever asked to take pictures of his pig's ears. Is this an analogy or an allegory? What's the difference?

367-50 Week 18

Don't ask me why but out of the blue I decided to declare this week "50mm week" on the blog. I have attached my trusty Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens to the camera and will only be taking shots with it this week. I haven't discussed this with Trish yet, and we're shooting a wedding on Saturday. Might have to take the boss's instructions on board for that gig and then get back to the 50mm afterwards. Highlights of this week will be the wedding on Saturday plus the walk up Slemish mountain in the morning to celebrate St Patrick's  Day.

12/03/12

12th March is my number two daughter's birthday, and she was 21 this year. That's Katie in the middle, with Sarah and Ellen on either side after I had cooked dinner for everyone. As Trish pointed out, Katie will be 33 when Sarah celebrates her 21st birthday - that wasn't very well received. Mind you, I'll be 61. If I live that long. The 50mm f1.8 is a cracking little lens for portraits. Sharp, great colours and excellent depth of field.

13/03/12

This is the basil growing in my kitchen, against the kitchen window. This does show off the excellent colour reproduction of the 50mm lens (especially when attached to a Nikon camera) and the superb depth of field. Look at the bokeh on that shot!

14/03/12

Saw this as I drove through Antrim. It's along Stiles Way and there are three of these little bunches, all identical and tied to the fence. Shot this through the car window. I think I had been dealing with death and dying too much in work this week - hence the pre-occupation with this. Although I now realise that I'm, assuming it is some kind of tribute or shrine to someone who died when it might not be. Although it would be my experience that people in Antrim rarely put up flowers on fences for fun.

15/03/12

This is the kind of shot that the 50mm was made for. As in the past few weeks, I took my camera along to Aikido training and the 50mm coped with the low light better than any other lens I own. Again, sharp where it needs to be and nice fall-off in focus into the background. Love the colours, even under fluorescent lights.

16/03/12

A wee bit of cheating/time travel required here. This was taken tomorrow, at the top of Slemish mountain in County Antrim. I knew I was doing the Slemish walk and shooting a wedding on St Patrick's day and wanted to use both in my 367-50 project. We left Belfast at 8am, got the shuttle bus from Buckna to Slemish and were standing on top at around 10.30am. There was heavy, low-lying fog the whole way there but the top of Slemish was bright and clear. This is St Patrick's cross at the very top, looking down onto the fog below. Another advantage of the 50mm - it was light and easy to carry up a mountain. In bright sunlight it gives fantastic depth of field - shot this at f22, 1/125 and ISO 200.

17/03/12

Straight off Slemish, home and shower, bite of lunch then off to shoot a wedding at Ten Square with Trish. As usual, I was doing some shots with the groom's party before Trish arrived with the bride. This is the standard "Reservoir Dogs" shot. It came out well (apart from a slightly grumpy looking best man) and I included it because I was able to clone out a road sign above the heads of the two people on the right using nothing but Lightroom. I surprised myself. It was a lovely wedding shoot - nice couple, lovely guests, a really eccentric priest, great staff in Ten Square and we had dinner laid on for us. Cracking.

I'm heading off to Cuba on Thursday of this week, camera in hand. There may well not be an update on this blog for a couple of weeks, but I'm hoping to have some good shots of Havana to post when I return. Stay tuned!

367-50 Week 16

Into week number 16. Nearly forgot to take at least one shot this week and ended up coming up with something in something of a hurry - can you guess which one it is?

27/02/12

So, I put my camera on the floor near my feet, pulled it put to a nice wide angle (24mm) and used a cable release to takes pictures of my socks. This should confirm two things for everyone; I have big feet and I have terrible taste in socks.

28/02/12

I had read about camera tossing a while back and tonight I decided to give it a try. After some experimentation, I found that setting the camera on shutter priority and using a shutter speed of 0.5" gave me some nice shapes. The camera was set on a 10" self timer and the trick seemed to be getting the camera in the air and spinning just as the shutter opened. I would like to point out that I wasn't using my big camera and the really expensive lens. Instead I was throwing my daughter's second-hand D-60 in the air. Over a tiled floor. With no safety.

29/02/12

Shadows round at the City of Belfast Photographic Society. This is the one that I didn't produce during my week of table-top shots with my desk lamp. Taken in the holiday chalets at Cloughglass in Donegal, this was a grab shot of my friend Damien sitting inside the house, with the sun sinking and his shadow projected onto the white wall of the fireplace. Damien's face is sharp, as is the shadow. His nose is really that shape.

1/03/12

Welcome to March! Busy day today and I ended up at Aikido training without having taken my photo for the day. I took my camera into the dojo (it's actually a scout hall) in the hope that an opportunity might present itself. At the end of the class, I grabbed Shihan Millar for a quick portrait. I love taking Davy's picture as his face has fantastic character. It's also worth noting that 14 years ago when I started out on my own Aiki journey, Davy was the man who had patience with my inability to learn anything. Many a Saturday morning was spent with Davy trying to teach me how to stand, never mind move or do a technique. 74 years young and still has it on the Aikido mats.

2/03/12

This would be the empties after Friday night's debauchery. Two bottles of Whiskey (the Crested Ten was superb) and a bottle of wine each. I have a serious blank in my memory between the hours of midnight and 3am.

3/03/12

I think I made Colin look almost angelic this shot. After our walk and couple of pints in an empty bar in Glen we repaired to The Rusty pub in Teelin. The sun was going down and was shining through the windows of the bar. The light was lovely.

4/03/12

Sunday morning - up early to fall on my arse at Muckross and return with no photo's worth talking about. I took this out the back of Damien's house, looking towards Slieve League. The right-of-way along the side of the house has recently been cleared and the removal of the old trees and bushes has improved the view immensely.