2013 365-13

This week brought some strange and interesting offers and opportunities in terms of photography, sadly none of which I can talk about just now as I need to see how they will progress over the next few weeks. Plenty of shooting this week, and plenty of roller derby.

25/03/13

Promo shoot for Belfast Roller Derby yesterday afternoon, on the theme of Bloctopussy (Octopussy) where we were trying to recreate the origianl movie poster. It all worked out well, although it did take a fair bit of pre-planning and practice to get the four separate shots needed in order to merge them in photoshop. I wrote up a write up of how I did this - check it out here:

Bloctopussy Shoot

26/03/13

Was up and around early this morning and tried this panorama across Strangford Lough to Scrabo Tower. Not 100% happy with the shot of the processing of it, but its the best shot I took today.

 27/03/13

This is John McCullough, taken outside the Duke of York bar in Belfast. John is finally retiring and we met up for one last pint in the Duke. John was my first supervisor when I was a trainee psychologist (25 years ago) and he has had to live with the shame of this ever since. A genuinely nice guy and I hope he enjoys his retirement.

28/03/13

Fishing boat in Portavogie Harbour this morning. It's HDR processing, it's a wee bit over the top but it does bring out the sky really well. Might try this again, only without the big building on the right.

29/03/13

Flag protestor in tragic yet slightly ironic accident. I started playing about with a tube of toothpaste and various different sets of wee men. One thing lead to another and before long the red, white and blue toothpaste got me thinking about flags and this shot just appeared.

30/03/13

Robert suspected he was on a promise. Toothpaste wasn't the only thing I bought in the chemists. I had thought of doing something using a box of condoms and my wee nuns but this ended up being the best shot of the day.

31/03/13

Staying on the theme of wee men in the bathroom, I noticed how the oval shape of the sink would lend itself to some tiny skaters. My bathroom is pretty small and getting a camera on a tripod, two speedlights and a cardboard box of wee men wasn't easy and involved me falling in the bath at least once.

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.

How Not to Photograph Street Protests

A couple of pointers for anyone thinking of photographing the current street protests in Belfast, although the best advice (given the way protestors have been treating photographers) is simply "don't."

Not Advisable

Potentially Suicidal

Better, But Still Risky

2013 365-3

Welcome to week three of 2013. I have had an eye infection for most of this week and while it hasn't stopped me taking photos, it's made working on a computer a less pleasant experience than normal.

14/01/13

This is a rather excellent chap called Dave. Dave approached me about doing the photos for a powerlifting competition that he is organising at the end of the month. Naturally I jumped at the chance, in the suspicion that it would provide massive amounts of photo opportunities. Tonight I visited the gym to check out the set-up and lighting and took a few snaps. Hard to decide whether to use ambient light or the speedlights. This was a quick portrait of Dave, which unfortunately gathered some very unflattering comments on-line. Wrong choice of lighting for this shot completely, even if I'd fooled myself into thinking I knew what I was doing.

15/01/13

This was titled "Missing flag found safe and sound - Belfast rejoices." I wish. Protests continue, violence is ongoing and everything now seems to be planned in advance. At times like these a bit of humour goes a long way, if you can find the humour of course. Maybe there isn't actually any in this current situation.

16/01/13

Yet another report in the newspapers this week about a photographer being robbed of his cameras and gear while covering the current street protests - by my count that makes three since this this started. It's hard to tell if this was a couple of opportunist scumbags spotting some expensive looking gear and deciding to take advantage of the situation, or whether it was something more sinister and connected to people not wanting photographs of the disturbances to make it into print on on-line. The "little scumbags" theory is maybe more likely, but who in the name of hell are they going to flog pro-level photo gear to? Don't see them trying to teach themselves the basics of photojournalism with their ill-gotten gains. 

17/01/13

The biggest moral dilemma a photographer can ever face. You're in the middle of a riot (or peaceful street protest to defend your cultural heritage) and you come across a car being burned out. What do you do - shoot on aperture priority or shutter priority? It's an old and well worn joke in photography circles, but worth another outing.

18/01/13

So the snow arrived this afternoon and it was certainly cold. Fairly heavy snow all evening, although in Belfast it wasn't lying that much. In the hills outside Belfast I heard some stories about cars being stuck and snow drifts. By the following morning, it was all but gone but I got one quick snap outside in the front garden while it was still falling.

19/01/13

Just in case you ever wondered where soup mix comes from - it's mined by teams of wee men. It must be some built-in instinct on my part, but as soon as the weather gets really wintry, I make soup and in particular, I make the same vegetable soup that my grandmother and mother made. Quick, easy, tasty - there's half of it in the fridge to be eaten over the weekend and the other half is in the freezer for use later this week.

20/01/13

I was crawling around on the floor this morning with my camera (don't ask why) when my dog Muffin decided to join me. This was a quick point, click and hope for the best shot, and it turned out pretty well all things considered.

2013 365-2

Don't be asking me to explain why, but this week ended up as a week of macro stuff featuring (mostly) the wee men and some dinosaurs. If you read last week's post, you'll have spotted a reference to the currently ongoing protests in Belfast about the removal of the Union flag from Belfast City Hall. These have kept going this week as well and I started off the week with another shot, which led to another, which led to another and so on. The shots about the flag issue have proved very popular on both Facebook and Flickr; I'd rather the protestors gave up and stopped giving me ideas for photos. I'd probably also settle for people protesting about what I happen to consider to be more important issues like jobs, benefit cuts, cuts in public services and so on. Things that actually make a concrete difference to most people's lives?

7/01/13

I put this up with the description "after baton rounds and water canon failed, the PSNI try a different approach." This was (I suppose) expressing some of my annoyance and irritation about what I see as the pointlessness of the protests. I can't help but think that a small group of people are intent on damaging their own communities (either intentionally or unintentionally) and Northern Ireland as a whole for the sake of what flag flies or does not fly over one building. I would fight for people's right to protest peacefully and democratically about what they believe in but tend to see the violence in Belfast as being driven by other less noble factors, represented by the dinosaurs. Old stuff, and stuff that might never change. I also can't help wondering what would happen if more people, particularly in loyalist/unionist communities actually came out to vote come local elections - actually used the democratic process to effect change. One thing that has emerged from the current events and which I do agree with is that there is a very significant disconnect between elected politicians and the ordinary working class people, particularly in protestant/unionist /loyalist areas of Belfast. I wonder if that can be expressed through the medium of wee men and macro?

8/01/13

I hadn't realised that it would be so hard to buy a "normal" looking toy car. This was the best I could come up with although I did also find a dead ringer for my own car in the same Tesco bargain bin. I'd obviously never make a good rioter since it took me 20 minutes and half a tin of lighter fluid to get the toy car to burn. Also incinerated a couple of wee men and a flag who had got soaked by the puddle of lighter fluid. All in a good cause I suppose.

9/01/13

Nearly 200 shots to get two shots like this. a syringe of green food colouring suspended from my backdrop stand over a white floor tile with another tile as the backdrop. Trying to time the drops with hitting the shutter release at just the right moment was nearly impossible. Also messy - the table, floor and dog were all splattered with green dots by the time I gave up. Low shutter speed (1/160) with two speedlights placed to each side seemed to work well in freezing the corona of the splash.

10/01/13

The morning after. The wee forensic scientists get stuck into my burnt out car. As is anything like this would ever happen in Belfast. I'm afraid to ask how civil disturbance sits with my car insurance.

11/01/13

Sadie and Anges have been absent for some time, although they did make the effort to get some practice in for Operation Standstill tomorrow evening. This is being touted as Belfast City Centre being brought to a complete halt by flag protestors during the evening rush hour. I shall be aiming to be at home from lunchtime.

12/01/13

Operation Standstill appeared to pass off relatively quietly; in Belfast terms that means only one pipe bomb thrown at a house and only one bus burned out in East Belfast. That and stories of medics and carers being denied access to their patients and more police officers being injured. That's "quiet" for Belfast I suppose. Gordon the Express Engine was discovered in a charity shop bargain bin, which was where I got the idea for this from, although I'd have preferred it if he was looking just a bit grumpier.

13/01/13

Burning the car again, although I thought this made a nice shot with a bit of humour and some narrative. Entitled "Sister Assumpta never got to join in with the other nun's fun" I just like the ideas of the wee nuns getting up to all sorts of badness in their spare time. Next up is trying to figure something out with the wee nuns and the wee monks.

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.