It was all going so well.
And then there was a clunk...

I'm beginning to think Dermot is a jinx on my camera equipment. When we went out at Christmas, we were no more than 30 minutes into our shoot when my memory card ate itself. This time, we got about an hour before my tripod self destructed.

In fairness, I think it had been coming for a while. I'd noticed the centre column wasn't quite as secure as it used to be and that the adjustment pin was either too tight or too loose, but never just right.

Anyway, it all went bang. I cried (a little).

And I've bought a new one.

Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod Legs Only - Black

It's very pretty. I'll do a full review when I get out and about with it.

Monday night saw me back on the mean streets of Dublin with the master of understatement (but over exposure) himself, Dermot Greene. After a decent bout of pastamongery, we hit the streets and worked over the lower banks of The Liffey.

I'll be posting shots from that wander over the next few days.

I thought I'd start with the most emotive of the pictures I took that night.

Just beside the financial district (the IFSC?) in Dublin there are a series of statues remembering the Potato famine of the mid 19th centaury.  I'd seen these statues many times while passing through Dublin and only ever considered them as slightly odd, maybe even a little eerie. I'd never really looked at them by night though.

What I found was probably the first piece of art that ever moved me emotionally. The gaunt, weather beaten look and the faces carved in expressions of desperation really do emphasise the horror of the times. I'm not going to try to describe the famine and its effects on Ireland, it's not that sort of blog. If you want to know more, read this. Suffice to say, if you ever end up in Dublin then take a look at this work and consider for a minute just what it must have been like.

I hope these shots convey something of the place.

   

     

(I haven't given the settings for these as individual shots, they're all around F/8 and between 8 and 10 seconds. In an effort to get the colouring, white balance was set to Tungsten - they really are this sort of colour in real life)

Dermot and I have an ongoing discussion about the merits and flaws of exposure in night shots. He stands, a bastion of light and brightness. I stand... well, I stand much closer to the dark. I genuinely think this might be one of those times when the shadows make the pictures. You can read Dermot's account of the statues here.

During a walk in Hillsborough Park today I took this...

 

(1/60sec, f/11, focal length - 31mm, ISO - 100, 17/02/08)

I quite like it. I still feel it's falling far short of 'artistic' photography, but the structure is getting better... maybe.

If I had to do it again, I'd try to get more 'umph' into the sky - maybe Photoshop or Gimp can help there, maybe I should have tried to get the same sky on a different exposure (but I was shooting freehand).

I did manage to clone out the two old biddies on the path (no prizes for finding where they used to stand).

The park itself is lovely. Those of you who expressed interest in another trip out with cameras, I'll be in touch. I reckon a morning spent in the park with lunch at The Plough might just be what the doctor ordered.

In January I posted 'Workflow Woes' the first of what will probably be some sort of semi regular mentions of the workflow I use for taking pictures and the problems it's given me.

Time for an update...

I said I wasn't going to delete any photos. Well, today I started. I just uploaded a set from last night and today and there were a few blurred and just generally crud (yes, I take pictures that are more crud than the ones I let you people see!). I deleted them. I expected to break out into a cold sweat, to find hives over my body, but nope. Nothing. Not even a twinge of guilt.

I expect I'll have a sleepless night.

On another note. My Ubuntu server now works. My KVM switch is installed. The machines can 'see' each other. Sadly I haven't had the time to solve the file sharing madness yet. I still dance the knife edge that is infrequent backups.

If you believe in deities, pray for me. I hope the sacrifice of photos appeases the god of backups and hard drive failure...

I was lucky enough to be invited to an evening at Ards Camera Club last night. This was my second outing to a local camera club (thanks again John for the invites). Once again, I was amazed at the friendly welcome from strangers as I invaded their club, drank their tea and ate their biscuits!

Last nights events (and the reason for my visit) was a talk by WIll McCrum, a photographer of over 50 years experience. John had digitised a lot of Will's work and the evening was spent looking through the pictures with Will sharing the stories relating tot hem.

As a new photographer, I was amazed by some of the pictures. The composition and lighting, the subjects showed everything from a more innocent 50's to landscapes of the last few years. Alongside that, Will's recounting of the photographs, ranging from anecdotes about getting arrested or explaining the need for nudes to his wife through to which camera and what settings were used, was both startling and wonderful to listen to.

Will's talent is an inspiration and if you get a chance to see this presentation, I'd recommend it!

Last week saw me in Austria for a ski holiday. After much deliberation (and some threatening from my wife) I decided to leave my DSLR at home. The risk of breaking it in a fall (I'm not a very good skier) or it causing problems on lifts etc (I'm really not a very good skier) was too high for me to take the chance.

I'm not sure it was the right decision. From an artistic point of view the mountains and the weather was fantastic for photo. We had days of snow, days of glorious sunshine and days which swapped between the two. But, given how much I fell over, it probably made sense...

I did take my E550 with me on a couple of days though. Some of the photographs came out quite well.

 

You can see a few more pictures here.

The reality is I probably forgot every lesson I'd learned about landscapes due to a combination of altitude, hangover, lack of fitness and general "wowiness" of the view. Still, if next Christmas your postcard looks suspiciously home made with a view of some mountains in the snow, you might be able to guess why...

I'm not the sort of person who learns things by reading them in a book or magazine. It doesn't matter how many times you tell me something or I read about other peoples experiences. I just need to go and do it myself. It seems this applies both to learning how to do something and to learning how NOT to do something...

Which is why today I found myself out in Donegal with only my ice cold fingers bluer than the language I was using as I discovered I hadn't cleared my now full memory card after my last picture frenzy. Of course, I carry 4 memory cards don't I. Well, no. it seems I don't. I'd left those in the car along with some other kit I deemed to heavy to bother with for the 20 minutes I was out and about.

So, todays lessons?

1. When you're finished uploading photographs from the memory card. Remember to reformat it!

2. Buy a pair of gloves!

I took a wander through my local park again today. I'd be lying if I said I was happy with the photographs I took. For the most part they're all pretty uninspired pictures of leafless trees, though maybe with the wonders of Photoshop and Lightroom something might come of them.

Whilst wandering around, I came across some old tree trunks which must have been left from some storm. Some of the patterns in the wood were quite pretty. Take a look...

I'd say the second picture kinda looks like an old man asleep (if you consider you're looking up from between his feet), but you'd all think I was mad so I won't say that, no siree.

They feel quite soft and not as sharp as I'd like. I must have a conversation with someone who knows stuff about cameras and ask them to show me how to get my camera sharper, or get them to check my lenses to make sure they're ok.

 

Speaking of which, if you read this and know a good way to clean the outer side of the lens (not the bit hooked to the camera), can you let me know? I've no idea if the same cloth I sue for my glasses is sufficient or if I need a doofer thing-ma-bob.

John mentioned durhamtownship to me last week during the photography thing and I finally got a decent chance to check it out last night. It's a photo blog by Kathleen Connally recording the area she lives in.

When he said it was a fantastic example of a photo blog with some amazing pictures, he wasn't understating the thing.

If you haven't visited already, take a look at durhamtownship. It's pretty bloody brilliant.