2013 365-1

Titling this post made me think for some reason of George Lucas's debut film THX 1138. A wee bit expressionless and cold.

I stopped my picture-a-day project on my birthday in November 2012 and took 6 weeks away from the commitment of taking a shot every day and posting updates every week. It felt weird and I really didn't like it - I missed the demands, the discipline and the commitment. It was a chore sometimes but it gave more back to me that it took. So, take a 6 week break and then kick off again, this time with a year long 365 project to document 2013 in all it's ups and downs. Lets rock and roll.

01/01/13

Not a tremendous shot to start off with, but I found myself standing at the top of Victoria Square with a hangover and a camera. Tried to frame the H&W cranes through the triangular windows of the viewing gallery and sort of succeeded. Pity about the dirty glass.

2/01/13

I was tidying up the junk room in my house and came across this old telephone handset. It sparked off a few ideas for the wee men and this was maybe the pick of the bunch. I entitled it "Ralph had a tough decision to make" but when I posted it on my Facebook page i inadvertently typed "touch" instead of "tough." No one corrected me - I'll assume anyone who saw it was either too polite or thought I was being cleverer than I actually am.

03/01/13

By day three I was getting into the habit of carrying a camera with me when i went out. This was a late afternoon walk through Stormont, taken at around 4.30pm. I was trying to capture the shadow here but the dogs add something.

 04/01/13

First wire wool burn of the year at the Twelve Arches bridge near Newcastle. It's OK but there's a lot wrong with it. It's way too soft for one thing and I'd have liked to have seen more the bridge/arches. A return visit at a later date; different lens maybe and a few more attempts at it may be in order.

05/01/13

Thanks to the ever-so-inventive Debbie, I ended up shooting at the Belfry indoor skate park in Newcastle this afternoon. Two off-camera flashes working remotely from my camera and some very impressive skaters and boarders made this a really fun session. The two skaters were fantastic and I think I might have pushed them a wee bit to get the shots I wanted. Plenty of interest from the people and kids present.
This is part of me continuing to try to figure out using off-camera flash to freeze action with the ultimate aim of starting shooting roller derby with strobes. I've now got three flashes that can all be triggered and adjusted from my camera, so may visit roller derby training some time soon and start working out the practical aspects of lighting for bouts.

06/01/13

More flag protest in Belfast yesterday, two days of violence and unrest, shots fired at the police, police using baton rounds and water canons. Everyone blaming everyone else. It saddens me to see how little has changed in Northern Ireland when an issue like this crops up and how polarised this society can still be. I'll let this one speak for itself.

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.