Living for Light » 10-20mm

Francois Colussi out wide in Sutton

Treasa — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:07:57 +0000

I really haven’t been out taking many kite photographs much for the last year or two, and most of what I have done has been fairly easy for want of a better description with a few key exceptions. This, however, is one of the older photographs, and it dates from about 2007 or 2008 when I bought a 10-20 mm lens. The weather was mixed on the day, blazing sunshine interspersed with mad clouds. There weren’t too many kitesurfers out, mainly because there wasn’t too much wind. Francois spent most of the day launching off the outflow pipe on Sutton Beach that day and that’s what allowed me to do things like this.

This is one of my favourite photographs and one of my friends reckons it might be the best photograph I’ve ever taken. I’m not so sure I agree but I have to say that there are things I like about this photograph and it’s one of the few hanging in my house at present. I like the extremes of contrast in it.

I got some great photographs that day mainly because the light was so absolutely fantastic. From a kitesurfing view though, there isn’t much to run around about; there was so little wind.

I’m in the process of looking at putting new portfolios together- this I think will make it in.

Summer in Dublin – let’s pretend anyway

Treasa — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:40:42 +0000

Dun Laoghaire. Every time I go there, I hear this line from a song by Bagatelle when I was a kid.

So i jumped on a bus to dun laoire, stoppin’ off to pick up my guitar

Thing is I’ve been there taking photographs a few times in the last few months alright between the perfume, the long exposures and various stuff. It’s getting less foreign to venture to the south side. Today, the choice was basically Skerries, Howth, Dun Laoghaire or Clontarf. In the end I went with Dun Laoghaire because it tends to be busier and I wanted to shoot a time lapse. I have been talking about these for ages and equipped myself to do them about 5 months ago. It was a lovely afternoon, so I went out to do it today.

The time lapse is currently compiling veeeeerrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy slowly but from the individual frames as I swiftly went through the near 700 of them, this one caught my eye.

The camera wasn’t obviously doing anything; just sitting on the bench beside me – I hadn’t wanted to put up a tripod for this one despite owning a shiny new very light and just about able for this camera gear traveltripod from the nice people at Manfrotto. It was shooting off a 10-20mm wide angle at around 16mm I think. If I had been 20 minutes earlier, there would have been a sailing race in the background. But there were kids, loads of kids on scooters and the one thing that astonished me – I was sitting on the end of the bench watching the camera and playing games on my iphone – was how close people came to me. One of them was this kid. I don’t think I could have posed this shot to be honest, and if I had the camera in my hand looking as though I was going to do something. The camera was hidden in plain sight however, on a bench beside me, shooting 700 shots for a crazy little film project as a test run.

I don’t do street photography – there are people who are far, far better at it than I could ever be – but this really appealed to me. I’ve a handful of over shots that I’ve lucked into getting in the past – when I try to do this, it really doesn’t work.

The hard part about all this is that because I was shooting a timelapse, and needed an uninterrupted run on a 2gig card, I shot it in jpg to get as many shots as possible. So there is no camera RAW file for this, just the jpg. I don’t usually regret it but it would have been nice on this occasion.

Okay. Enough about me.

Richard was up early this morning.

John Smyth was up early during the week.

I have never managed to see Balbriggan quite like Darren does.

Louise is currently posting Austria.

Ronan’s blog had its birthday during the week. But of the week’s shots, this is the one I liked most.

John Williams has been in Howth.

There’s a distinctly nautical theme developing here I think.

Shane fecked off over to New York and bright back this beauty.

dawn on Dollymount….

Treasa — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:34:35 +0000

I can’t remember why, but this lot of photographs was taken a morning before I had some problems with the camera, can’t remember what exactly, because they preceded a break from taking photography. I’m not sure why.

I always liked them for some reason.

They seemed to have so much warmth to them.

as well as toys

I was out last night in town. I’ve mixed feelings. Kyle Tunney and I talked about a Christmas lights trip in January but we never got around to it and I suspect the snow and ice didn’t help. One of the things that I wouldn’t mind doing at some stage – would run it past Kyle but he’s mega busy lately – is hit the town midweek at around 4 in the morning when it’s still dark but there are very few people there and you can really play with long exposures. I found the Four Courts particularly attractive this morning, I must confess.

I don’t exactly know why but I went to the archives today to have a look at old photographs, see if anything struck me in a way that hadn’t first time round. The whole exercise was interesting from a purely self-indulgent point of view. I had a brief conversation about this on twitter with Rory Wallace and Mike Patterson this evening. What it boiled down to was this. I think I was a better photographer 2 years ago than I am now. And I’m not sure why.

Technically I know a lot more now than I did then. I know a lot more about how cameras work, how image processing software works. And in that time I’ve taken a bunch of very, very striking photographs such as the melting ice in the lamplight, a few motor-racing shots, sunrise in Skerries and a few other bits and pieces. But they are stand out photographs in a falling average in some respects. I know, for example, I got to be particularly choosy about the photographs that got out in the wild – see the early flickr stuff versus the later flickr stuff for example (there are 8000 photographs plus on my flickr account by the way).

I think the problems relate to the kitesurfing above all else. In the last 2 years there are maybe a handful of striking photographs from the kitesurfing, the well known one being the sunset kiteloop, and the other key one being Francois Colussi/Jeanie Johnson. Possibly I need to go back to scratch and start over with them. Or possibly it’s just the weather. Difficult to say.

I have been thinking about photography in general lately. Mainly because I’ve been looking for something to shoot, something special and different. I really don’t have any excuse, not the sort of excuses I had 3 or 4 years ago. I want to shoot macro? There is a 2.8 100mm macro lens in the bag. Play with flash? 580 Speedlite II although the last time I tried to use it wasn’t working properly. Must check that out. I have zoom coverage from 10mm up to 500mm even allowing for the fact that Trish has my medium zoom. I know that one of the most important things I should be able to do is dig something special out of the common and ordinary around me and to that end I’ve played with the ornaments on my mantlepiece, the cheap bottles of nailpolish I’ve accumulated and broken wine glasses that I dropped on the floor.

I think really what I need at this stage is a photobuddy to drag me out to do things I harp on about but never do. If the weather cooperates tomorrow I will look at going either north or south…we’ll see.

Of ornaments and iPhones…and maglite torches.

Treasa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:01:32 +0000

So, okay, here’s the mermaid.

She cost 6.99 in Atlantic Homecare, bought when I expected to use her as fodder for experimenting with the 50mm 1.8 that everyone apparently should have. She is a mass produced dust gatherer currently living on my mantlepiece because I haven’t found it in my heart to dump her or find a box for her in the so called hobby room. Today, I decided to take her out because I was playing with DSLR Remote Shooter on the iPhone. It apparently has an intervalometer. I had visions of also being able to tell it to leave the camera open for oh, 15 minutes at a time – star trails, don’t you know and the moon is pretty funky tonight.

If it does that, I haven’t figured out out yet. I could use it as an intervalometre to do a timelapse but as I need a computer nearby, that rules out some of the time lapses I have in mind. Anyway, tonight, I took down the mermaid and her sister the fairy to play with my flash, my remote wireless shooter thing (the iPhone that requires the computer and the camera to be connected so the next thing I want is some sort of a wireless connection between the computer and the camera – dang it this is expensive), and got the 580 Speedlite and the box of gels.

That turned out to be a fiasco so after half an hour, I was playing with a maglite torch instead. The picture above was lit using the Maglite torch and it probably had a green gel on it at the time.

Here is the fairy – lit with the maglite -

and lit with the Speedlite.

Oh yeah, that probably had a pink gel on it.

From this experiment I have learned things. Namely, the fairy sucks as a model. Her face is really at the wrong angle to get anywhere near an adequate bit of light on it. As 6.99 goes, it was not, I fear well spent.

Also, when I am doing these things, I need to wear black clothes. I destroyed something like 60 photographs by appearing in them – very blurry – myself.

The intervalometer doesn’t quite work as I expect it. Having coughed up 19.99 for it out of my birthday iTunes vouchers, this is a touch disappointing. You can control the whole camera with it, however, so at some point in the future when I feel like experimenting with self portraits again, I might feel it’s more worth the money. It managed to convince itself the camera was on burst mode so typically took about 5 photographs without my input either. That added to the wastage.

Sometimes twenty euro worth of torch is a better lighting tool than 500E worth of Canon Speedlite.

There are elements of the flash lit Fairy that I like. I hate the fact that the angle of her face screwed it up big time. For that…hmmm. I could never quite get the light from behind her head to work properly without the thing looking into a giant Fail at lightpainting. But my favourite of the three shots is the Maglite lit mermaid.

Would I do this again? Well, it’s hard to say. My living room sucks as a studio and I had to block off all the standby lights using remote controls.

All told, I’m sorry I didn’t take one of the tiny lighthouses and go to Poolbeg to do some forced perspective on lighthouses instead. The fact that it’s freezing cold may have something to do with it though.

post-sunset, Carlingford Lough

Treasa — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:08:57 +0000

I’m not sure that post sunset is the right description actually. Carlingford Lough is bounded by the Mournes on one side and the Cooley Mountains on the other side. At sunset, the sun goes and hides behind some of the Cooleys. The result is the sky is still quite bright, but the light is a tad flat.

There is, however, this:

I was in Carlingford today just because other things went seriously wrong on me. I was at work during the night. When I got back it was sort of too late for me to go to bed because I had an early morning appointment anyway. I have been a way since 3 this morning. Stuff I wanted to do was made difficult by the Gately funeral which was between me and where I wanted to go. I couldn’t face the traffic so I turned north and went to Carlingford today because I had never been there, and it was somewhere new to go that I can’t ever remember being to before.

I was in Greenore as well.

I didn’t quite get the temperature on this that I wanted, it seems now. When I finished processing it, it was just right…now I am thinking excess tiredness may have killed it.

I was also playing with the macro lens.

Kite AND Board, Kite OR Board

Treasa — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:09:55 +0000

One of the most frequent criticisms voiced for kite photographers is that they should try and get the kite and board into pictures. I’ve fielded this one a lot, and while it doesn’t surprise me that you get it from photographers who know shagall about kitesurfing, I am surprised that you get it from kitesurfers who know quite a lot about kitesurfing, albeit, not so much about photography. The key issue is a kitesurfing fact of life which impacts on photography. Kitelines are roughly 30 metres long.

We will put that into context. Kiteslines are 20% longer than your average swimming pool. So your chances of getting the kites into a photograph of a kitesurfer tends to come at the cost of detail at the kiteboarder level. Here are some examples.

and

(this guy by the way won a world championship title a few months later – just in passing I mention that)

These were all taken with a 500mm zoom lens and what they all have in common is that if I didn’t tell you, chances are you mightn’t recognise who the kitesurfers are (there are two here actually). They’re very nice guys but…you can’t really see them.

The answer to that problem is a wide angle lens. So I went off to a camera shop one day and acquired a 10-20mm wide angle after a lot of consideration. This then happened:

For me, this is not such a great photograph. It’s razor sharp, but it’s not especially interesting to me. So I went back and tried again and again and again. Kite and board in picture. Try to make it interesting.

and this

But it’s not really what I am looking for. This is closer:

There’s also this one which is beloved for some reason:

For me, the closest to what I wanted to achieve with that lens is this one:

which also taught me a lot of useful stuff. You need at least f8 which together with at least 1/800 for shutter speed means you need bright days also.

And you need the camera to be low relative to the kite. In line with the kitelines. Take a look at this:

We’d a go with this one too.

And this one too:

Getting these shots is difficult. You need kitesurfers to jump very near to you in the water and understandably they are nervous enough about doing it. The shot of Francois above, the closest one, he was less than 1 metre away from me in the water.

Until very recently, this was – somewhat unusually – probably the best of the wide angle kite+kiteboarder shots.

There are a bunch from Keel, shot under special circumstances, that are quite special.

To create these photographs takes guts, patience and luck. Lots of it. And a wide angle lens, and nerves of steel.

The kitesurfers are Martin Darrer, Bruno Sroca, Francois Colussi, Sean Murphy, Diarmuid Higgins, Ross Harte and Eamon Armstrong. Credit where it’s due.

Sombre Moment – Dollymount

Treasa — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:50:05 +0000

There are actually a couple of prints of this in existence.

You know, it’s a great feeling when someone comes to you and tells you they absolutely love a photograph you’ve taken.

If I had to pick out two photographs which have caused the greatest reaction from people, this would be second best. The other one I will post about some other time. I am not in this for the money because when I am taking photographs I can’t get my head around money, but I am in it for the reactions I get from people to the things I make, the scenes I create.

Anyway.

A couple of links:

Perseid Meteors penetrating circumpolar startrails. I am not good at this kind of photography.

Couple of great surf and wake shots from Bryan Elkus. I am envious.

And something completely different to normal here – Chase Jarvis.

High Flying Adored

Treasa — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:53:33 +0000

Francois Colussi of Pure Magic Kitesurfing flies over Keel Lake (no – I swear that’s where he was – I was there too) last Sunday at the freestyle session following the nowind/competition the day before.

I bought a 10-20mm Sigma wide angle more than 2 years ago to do shots like this. Finally got the conditions and opportunitie to do them. This is one of my favourites of all time.

Okay, because I’ve been quiet, I’ve a load of links to provide for today.

Donncha: Fountainstown Sunset.

Donncha again: Kitesurfer.

Darren Webb: Stars.

Jonathan Grimes: Ha’penny Bridge Dublin.

Ryan: Brooklyn Bridge.

Tommie Lehane: Roman Ruins.

A few fantastic photographs there I think.

Also interesting from an historical point of view: Paris in the 1800s.

Some fun stuff with light from Photojojo.

War photography – the ethics – with the New York Times Lens Blog.

The National Geographic Archive – again, the New York Times Lens Blog

This is just a general note for the benefit of the people in charge of the Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner. I will do a photo journalism blog for you if you let me. I would love to do it. When you see stuff like Lens, Like The Big Picture, Like Big Shots, like The Frame, and then look at the Picture of the Day sappery that comes from the Irish Times….as a photography blogger it’s very disappointing.

On the subject of BigShots, well worth a look from 18 September. Also worth checking out is this one from a day or two earlier.

On the subject of The Big Picture, the dust storms in Australia. And from The Frame, completely different, and dust free, Festival of the Wind, Bondi.

Lying in the Sand I

Treasa — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:00:05 +0000

Sometimes I think I must be crazy. I went to the beach today to go kitesurfing but the wind swung around. I was to see about some flashlit photography but that didn’t happen either. But there was a strong off shore wind which alos sent sand all over the place.

So I lay in the sand and took some photographs.