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 41

Week 41 will be along shortly so I hope you'll be patient.
I received an anonymous comment on this blog last week and have been mulling over how to respond. It went along the lines of:

"who is this silly and self-indulgent man who thinks people are interested in his pictures. They're pretty average."

I don't make a habit of publishing anonymous posts but this really pissed me off at the time that I read it. My natural reaction was something along the lines of suggesting that the person posting this hadn't even the balls to leave their name, but that would have been crass and ignorant. After due consideration, I'd offer the following slightly more measured response:

I've been called worse than silly and self indulgent in my time, although it's hard to take on a year long, shot-a-day project without coming across as a wee bit self-obsessed. When I'm trying to find things to photograph each day, I often come back to what I'm doing, seeing or experiencing that day. It can't be avoided and therefore a lot of this project is about me and what's going on in my life but then given the rationale for my 367-50 project, it was always going to be. I'd like to point out that I'm also lazy, feckless, insensitive, selfish and impulsive and also have a tendency for self-destruction. I don't actually spend time worrying if anyone is interested in my photos - although it's nice that people take the time to have a look and give me feedback on shots, and I'm flattered that some people make a point of checking the blog each week for updates. Again, this was my attempt to document a year in my life, not to gather an audience for my photography (whatever that might be). My photo's are pretty average? I'd probably take that as a compliment, although I'm tempted to wonder what or who I'm being compared to. If my anonymous poster would like to drop me a line with a link to their own pictures/photography then I'd be happy to have a look and see what I'm being measured against. I know a lot of very good photographers and I'd be well pleased to be described as being average in their company - although in that company I'd be probably well below average. Now - wasn't that much better than my original response?

Week 41 it is. 41 is a pretty big prime number. I can't even remember being 41 anymore. This week looks like being a wee bit barren, with no photoshoots lined up and a serious lack of inspirational mojo. That was what prompted me to go walkabout on Monday. God knows what the rest of the week will bring.

20/08/12

Ok - this was taken yesterday but processed today. I have gotten a day behind in posting shots. This is a  (hopefully) lightly HDR'd shot of Ballycopeland Windmill near Millisle, Co Down. I had never visited the windmill, even though I grew up about 3 miles away from it in Donaghadee. All I remember about the old windmill were ghost stories of hauntings and horrible suicides inside it. It's now a pretty nice place to visit and you even get to go inside and see the workings. Based on being inside, it's fair to assume that millers were either quite small people or they spent their lives with constant headaches from banging their heads. I'm just noticing now that the mill is slanting to the left - obviously I corrected the horizon in a bit of hurry. Whoops.

21/08/12

Street shots are maybe my favourite things when it comes to photography and particularly shots of people doing what they do. In terms of photo's I do tend towards taking them without the subject knowing they're being photographed rather than asking permission and getting something posed and maybe unnatural. Caught this while on walkabout in Belfast City Centre when I had an hour to spend and took my Lensbaby for a walk - just for the practice.

22/08/12

God, but the skies have been absolutely beautiful these last few evenings. Bright blues, fluffy clouds and then big red sunsets. Thought I'd grab a shot before it all turns grey again and starts to rain. One of those cables is my phone line - this is the the pole with everyone's phone line in our little cul de sac; 21 houses, 21 lines.

23/08/12

A warning about shooting portraits with a wide angle lens. I was outside the house trying to take a wide angle shot of the street I live in with little success. I had grabbed my back-up D60 since it still had the 10-24mm lens attached and was less than impressed with the results of my street shot. My dog, Muffin, decided to sit beside me and I happened to take a few shots of her with the same lens. It's not a great shot, but I like the distortion on her face, if it makes her look like a very sad dog. I think she's having issues at the moment - she's started randomly chewing anything made of paper (mostly work stuff, NIPA photography certificates and my car insurance documents) and has become very clingy. Maybe she is just a sad dog at the moment. Not sure how to cheer her up, apart from walks and a bot more attention.

24/08/12

I spotted this place this afternoon while picking my daughter up from a friend's house. It turned out to be a derelict nursery, boarded up and falling into serious disrepair. I only wandered in out of interest but ended up taking a load of shots of the detritus that was lying about. Cups, walkers, toys (especially duplo bricks) were all over the place. Lots of peeling paint as well. I had fun.

25/08/12

My daughter was modelling at the Retro Show at the Baby Grand this afternoon. Stars of the show were the BelleHoppers who put on a fantastic spot of 1920/1930's Charleston and Swing dancing. The fashion show (courtesy of the Rusty Zip) was OK, but I have to say that my girl was the only one who looked like she could actually model clothes. This is Jenna from the BelleHoppers, by the way.

26/08/12

Belfast Mela festival today - very big, very busy and bursting with colour. Seeing this guy on stage reminded me how long it's been since I pointed a camera at a musician - it's been way too long. Way too long. Time to track down some music photography opportunities I think.