Unbelievably, yesterday was our first trip to Rocky Bay this year. I’d forgotten how lovely it is out there.
More Infrared sensitive camera work here, it doesn’t work quite so well for the family portraits though!
Rocky Bay IR
Fungal Growth
Found these growing in the bottom of a pot in the front garden:
I bought the Macro Lens for baby sessions because my standard portrait lenses just don’t get in tight on the smallest of tots. But there’s lots of fun to be had with it in my own backyard.
Blue Skies over Turners Cross
I stole an hour on Friday out in the sun. I got as far as Turners Cross
Sunset off Allihies
I climbed the hill after tea to try to get a few shots of the Copper Mines before the sun went down. It wasn’t working out for me but I noticed the evening light hitting the hills across the valley and took a few shots of that before I realised that there must be something creating that gorgeous light and turned around.
Photography takes me out of things to concentrate on what’s in the viewfinder. It is important to ‘feel’ these moments of incredible natural beauty as well as photograph them. So I took the shot and forced myself to put the camera away and just watched the sun set. Ahhhh. These moments are rare enough.
I finally got some time this morning to work on this picture. I wanted to balance sunset and coastline so I effectively double-exposed the original RAW file and blended them to back together maximise the impact of the sun but keep some detail in the hills (I know it is hard to tell from the small version).
The Joys of Film
It is a long time since I waited nearly a year to see a photograph I’d taken. But here’s one I shot last October and just saw for the first time this week.
In the more recent days of film I used to get through it quickly enough. Anything from a couple of rolls a day to one every two weeks max. But during the last film festival I loaded my trusty Nikon F4 with film and went into town on a Sunday morning to catch an early showing. This particular shot is pretty much only a Sunday morning thing, with the garage doors either open, or double parked every other day. I took the shot, went to my movie and that was that.
Time passed. I worked away using the new Digital SLRs and the F4 was stored carefully, just this shot and one of the brewery opposite on the roll. Waiting. “I must finish that roll someday”.
I never went back to shoot them in digital (though I thought about it). Why waste a Sunday morning if the shot was ‘in the can’?
Someday finally came last week. Having developed a taste for film after the star trails thing I remembered the F4 and its two shots. Not knowing whether the film was even still any good, I strapped on the 24mm and finished off the roll. Lovely camera, the Nikon F4s. And waited a little longer to see whether those garage doors survived.
At this point there is a cue for a long diatribe about the value of things that come slowly, that are earned. The thrill of anticipation that is typical of film photography. The need to trust ones skills, take one shot and move on to the next without stopping to chimp.
Oh and then on to “Kids these days have it too easy, everything is instant, they aren’t made to wait for anything anymore, they don’t value anything because nothing is hard earnt. Fast food. Cheap thrills’.
Baa, humbug.
But no-one would bother to read it, it would take too long, maybe if there was a podcast…
Tour of Ireland 2009
Well look, they got two days of sunshine. They did well.
Cork welcomed the 2009 Tour of Ireland in great style. Not only did it force them up Patrick’s Hill it gave them some Real Rain to deal with.
Bonus points for anyone who can spot Lance Armstrong in this photo. He pulled out just after this, before he got to The Hill. As one commentator put it ‘those with multi-million dollar insurance policies thought the better of it’ and I really can’t blame them. All the more credit to those who did take it on. About two thirds of those that started didn’t make it to the finish.
If they had, they’d have seen the sun come out. Only in Cork!
We stuck it to the end, we watched the TV coverage and spotted our froggy umbrella, we even made it small on the back of the winners interview. Jeeez, you can’t keep us out of the news!
99th Allihies Festival
Our busy ‘summer’ continues with a weekend away in Allihies. After a foggy start, Saturday broke into the most wonderful afternoon just in time for the start of the 99th Allihies Festival.
OMG, great craic. International running races for all ages (and all-comers) interspersed with horse racing (not for the feint-hearted), ICA Cake stand, Bouncy Castles, Candy Floss, the Works. The going was a little ‘heavy’ which bothered some of the inexperienced horses more than the foot runners – although everyone who raced got pretty evenly covered in mud.
Allihies is a lovely spot on an amazing part of Ireland and the festival (and that bit of afternoon sun) topped it off for the weekend. I think we’ll be back in for the Centenary Festival next year!
A Little Retro Time Out
I noticed that there has been a distinct lack of photographs in the last few posts! Hey, this is supposed to be a photo blog!
Well part of it may be that a week or so off has obvioulsy made me deeply philosphical but another thing may be that I took the chance while on holiday to shoot some film.
Film!
“Holy 20th Century Batman, you can get cameras that shoot film? What dastardly plot to undermine digital cameras is this?”
“Well not any more Robin but it used to be all the thing”
“What? No endless chimping? No instant gratification? You have to wait hours, no sometimes days to see your photographs? What kind of Victorian Water Torture is this?”
No really, digital is great, especially for my work. Between blinky adults, fidgey kids and weird mixed lighting its great to be able validate your set-up instantly and be able to take enough versions of a large group to reasonably expect that everyone will be looking at you with their eyes open in at least one. Moreover, the recent crop of pro DSLRs has made shooting with available light just an amazing experience.
Film still has a lot going for it. For scenic work where you have the time to set things up the advanages of digital are less obvious.
But I not only went film, I also went full manual. The discipline of having to go back to basics on your photography was really interesting.
“You have to remember to set the shutter and the aperature? AND focus? If it is a little dark you can’t just pump up the ISO? So what do you do? Hold your breath and try not to shake too much?”
It is great to slow things down when you can. Take your time. Remember the basics of your craft.
Then there’s the pure pleasure in operating a purely mechanical camera: the clunk of the shutter. There’s still a bit of the Engineer in me that appreciates a well crafted machine.
There is one application that film still holds a significant advantage over digital: star trails. Sure it is do-able with digital but worrying about batteries, long exposure noise, condensation issues and various other things doesn’t compare to just opening the shutter on a film camera and setting your alarm.
We didn’t get that many clear nights this trip (we didn’t even get many dry ones) and the one time we did get stars there was only time for two exposures (10 mins and 20 mins) before high cloud came over. But this is an on-going project and the FM2n will be in the bag any time I’m expecting to be out under a big sky.
It is something (else) that will take some time to perfect.
Oh, and on the subject of chimping, check out this video.
Lee Swim 2009
There’s something about being there that makes me think that one day I might do it. The mass start. All that camaraderie.
Then I watch them swim down the Lee and notice how as their legs look a lot browner than the rest of their body. In fact, there are times when you can’t see their bodies under the water at all.
No, I took my chance at an open water swim in Manly when the water was clear blue and 22 degrees. And don’t give me all that about wet suits either. I’m soft when it comes to cold water and I’m quite prepared to admit to it.
I’m not a totally lost cause. There may be a time you see me down at Sandy Cove. There are a couple of people trying to wear me down into getting in down there. Roll on Global Warming.
Fair play to all the swimmers today (and to the spectators who braved the rain).
Heady days of summer
Its hard to remember just over a week ago when the schools were still in and summer seemed like it was here at last (after two years of waiting!).
I took advantage and headed out West to shoot some landscape banners for a web site launch (watch this space) and it was truly glorious. There really is no where like West Cork when you get the weather. We ended up in Rosscarbery sitting in the square at 8pm in the warm sun with chips and a pint. How bad!
