2013 365-4

Winter still here. Flag protests still here. Thought one might cancel the other out but I was wrong.

21/01/13

Snow fails to affect the flag protests. Protesters and snow managed to bring Belfast to near total gridlock this evening. Glad I got home a wee bit earlier today and was sitting with feet up and a cuppa in my hands while chaos ensued outside.

22/01/13

I'd been thinking about doing something in Belmont Park with the three carved wooden statues, one of which is now on it's side. Thought I'd give the wire wool a bash and since there was still snow on the ground, I knew I wasn't going to set anything on fire. It was an eventful evening. As I was setting up, four people arrived in the dark with torches and started sprinting up and down the hill just to the right of where this shot was taken. After a brief chat which went along the lines of "are we going to be in your way mate?" - "No, but I'm about to set fire to stuff" I started shooting. Four burns into my evening's fun, I found myself surrounded by a bright light. Turned out it wasn't the rapture, but a police helicopter with a very bright searchlight. Seems burning wire wool in east Belfast while flag protests are happening about a mile away isn't that good an idea. I waved and shone my torch on the camera and tripod. God knows what they made of that.

23/01/13

My favourite little model again. Went to walk the dog and grabbed the camera bag on the way out the door. I ended up armed with my camera, a 10-24mm lens and a flashgun. Not the best lens for portrait stuff but it gave me an excuse to try using some fill-in flash while also trying to use the lovely winter afternoon sky as a backdrop.

24/01/13

Finally, after a few aborted efforts, I made it to the Queens Films Theatre to see McCullin, the documentary about Don McCullin (no surprise there then). McCullin's photos made a real impact on he in my early-mid teens and were one of the biggest reasons why I picked up a camera, film in those days, and started trying to learn photography. My admiration for Don McCullin's photography has never waned although after reading his autobiography I was left with the impression of a very cold, unemotional and damaged man. This film changed my mind about this and left me quite awestruck at the man's humanity and compassion. He was the most reckless, impulsive and irresponsible of photographers; I've still not figured this out completely but guess a lot of it came from his upbringing in a fairly tough part of London and the gangs he ran with as a teenager. Even his first shots of these gangs were masterful in their composition. I realise this could turn into an essay - that's a shot of my cinema ticket, a postcard courtesy of the QFT and the two photos featured in the film that left the biggest impact on me - both taken in Biafra and on adjoining pages of one of my books of McCullin's photographs.

25/01/13

"They were madly in love but friends knew that it would end in tears"

Those are shallots, not onions, in case you were getting worked up.

26/01/13

Mentioned on Facebook that I was having a dearth of ideas for the wee men. A suggestion flooded in. Get them doing a photoshoot. How I made the leap from "photoshoot" to "photoshoot involving woman removing her knickers" is anyone's guess. Suppose I'll have to bring that up with my therapist.

27/01/13

All day photoshoot at Asylum Gym in Newtownards today for a deadlift party organised by Dave (see last week's post). Great bunch of guys and a very competitive but supportive atmosphere with guys lifting personal bests. Picked this shot because of the effort in the face and the amount of bend on the bar - I couldn't do too many reps with just the bar, never mind with a bunch of weights on it. I'm slowly morphing into a photographer of obscure sports. And I'm enjoying it.

367-50 Week 2

Week two of my 367-50 project and so signs of slacking. Everything taken on the D90 this week.

I had to include a picture from the QFT, as Trish and I have been going there regularly on a Monday night since shortly after we met. It's something I look forward too and helps make Mondays a lot more bearable knowing I have that to look forward to. Over the last two and a bit years we've seen a rake of movies; some good, some terrible but it's the little gems that pop up unexpectedly that make all the difference. We saw the latest Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris on Monday night. It was average.

21/11/11

Tuesday's picture came about after an early finish to a staff meeting in work. Early finish was due to the three team leaders who talk the arse off everyone being absent, therefore the agenda got worked through in a very effective way. We even managed to arrange our Xmas outing and still finish an hour early. We were meeting in the Antrim Board Centre and I fancied a quick jaunt down to the Loughshore car park. I just happened to have some of my wee men with me and tried out various shots with a tiny photographer while trying to prevent the ducks from eating him. Liked this one because of the nicely coloured autumnal leaf.

22/11/11

I was lacking in inspiration on Wednesday and also trying to balance being busy in work and feeling quite run down and tired. This was taken while playing about with my wee figures again. I'd got two old ladies and a bench in a recent box of figures and had decided to christen them Sadie and Agnes. I had the idea of trying to see what it would look like if they went to various famous places and sat in front of them. As I'm writing this, I'm reminded of my own grandmother who visited many famous and beautiful places but steadfastly refused to get out of the car. For her, the journey was more interesting than the destination. This is "Sadie and Agnes visit Pompeii" if you're interested.

23/11/11

The "feeling run down and tired" thing was obviously a warning. Thursday morning was not pleasant and I had apparently caught the same bug that had been kicking around the house for the last few weeks. High temperature, sore joints etc. Had to take to bed. Lying in bed hurt my back; being up and about hurt my knees. I shuttled back and forward, alternating between reading Anne-Celine Jaeger's excellent book Image Makers, Image Takers and working my way through Call of Duty MW3. Felt inspired enough to take a picture of my sick bed.

24/11/11

Friday was more of the same, although I was definitely on the mend. Got up and got some bits and pieces done around the house and then returned to another of my on-going ideas for wee men projects - the Little Bankers. I've been thinking about Bankers and particularly in terms of the Occupy protests and other slightly socialist stuff. This got me thinking about building a series of shots around the theme of Bankers destroying the ecomony, making their money but getting caught for it. Fairy tales, I know. This one came to me while thinking about them getting arrested, and is called "The Wee Bankers Get Lifted."

25/11/11

Saturday was a good day although I was still a little wiped. I had heard word that there was a roller derby in Belfast this evening and sent off an e-mail asking if I could get a photo pass. E-mail reply arrived at lunchtime and I was set to go. Had my little dark apprentice with me, which I hadn't planned on but it was great craic and she enjoyed it. I found this shoot technically difficult - I had to manually set my white balance for the first time due to the flourescent lighting. I ended up having to use very high ISO settings to get decent shutter speeds (1/250 - 1/300) for the action and therefore ended up with grainy prints. Again, aged photo settings in Lightroom hides a multitude of sins and some slight work using Topaz DeNoise on the worst of them seemed to help a little. This was a fun event to go to and shoot at. Wonder if the ladies would be up for some team portraits - maybe along the line of the aikido club shots I did earlier in the year? Hmmmmmm - I might make them an offer.

26/11/11

And finally, today. Lazy Sunday morning reading the virtual papers on my iPad followed by coffee and a big veggie fry. Processing/publishing the roller derby shots from last night. Walking the dog with Sarah. Shopping and cooking dinner for me, Trish, Maud, Hannah and Sarah. Quorn fillets in onion gravy, cauliflower cheese, spicy lemon sprouts and loads of mash. That's what I call a Sunday. These are my sprouts, before being drained and flash fried with lemon juice and curry spices.

27/11/11

Two weeks down, fifty to go. It's making me think more about photography.