But to tide over the tedium, two shots from Howth.

Dublin Bay from Howth Head, lost one day.

Harbour life.

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Because I’ve been busy, SOFOBOMO didn’t happen for me. It did, however, happen for Jamie so see here.

Via the syco on boards: this from Charleville Castle - Do not load this [...]]]> I’ve been quiet of late for various reasons.

But to tide over the tedium, two shots from Howth.

Dublin Bay from Howth Head, lost one day.

Harbour life.

___________________

Because I’ve been busy, SOFOBOMO didn’t happen for me. It did, however, happen for Jamie so see here.

Via the syco on boards: this from Charleville Castle - Do not load this on dial up.

Stephen’s on a date.

Shane is in Clogherhead.

John is at the fairground.

As a taster, here is a look at Inchydoney [...]]]> I now have an ebook up on the site which has 25 pictures of Irish beaches. The link is here and you are more than welcome to have a look at it. It is in pdf format and as advance working, it is a 31 MB file.

As a taster, here is a look at Inchydoney in Cork.

It’s a beautiful day in Dublin today but by way of stuff to do I am sitting here building new websites and trying to sort out a few online details. There will be a new gallery going up on my main official website later on today and at the moment I am sorting out some other blog related details. But I think the garden is calling quite loudly.

I like this one. I like a lot of the other shots I took yesterday as well but this one is the (current) standy out one.

Theoretically I was going [...]]]> The May bank holiday saw the kitesurfing bandwagon roll into Rosses Point, a beach I’ve visited, oh, once in my life as far as I can remember.

I like this one. I like a lot of the other shots I took yesterday as well but this one is the (current) standy out one.

Theoretically I was going to write a whole lot about all this but frankly, it’s easy. You point camera at kitesurfer, more or less into sun. You push the curve to the right. You drop a black and white layer down on top and then you get rid of the extraneous space on the side.

Later, you wonder about adding a warming photofilter. Then, 50 odd photographs later, you forget. The boys, for the most part, were complaining about scrappy conditions. The wind on high seemed to be lighter than the wind on low. Not one kitesurfer said anything other than “the wind is lousy”. Hence, not too many of them were doing aerial acrobatics. I was kind of glad I hadn’t lugged the 500mm zoom around with me. It’s nice being able to lift the camera by yourself, really.

The beach itself is really nice and I took a photographs for the purposes of the [I don't want to look at it now] ebook I’m putting together with pictures of Irish beaches in it [no seriously]. It wasn’t what you’d call busy either.

Anyway, 200 ISO so that I could up the shutter speed which left me with horrendously high shutter speeds on occasion. I mean, I don’t often see the 8000.

I’m starting to wonder about the 40D. Possibly I should have started to wonder about it before now. Its colours are very definitely flat. I seem to spend a lot more time postprocessing photograph jpgs than I did on the 350D and no RAW leaves the world without quite a bit of colour correction. That doesn’t matter so much if you’ve taken 80 photographs. On the days that you’ve taken more than 300 (like yesterday) and more than 1000 (regularly on a day in Dublin), that sucks.

I may start investigating the 7D.

Happy colour, not dark, dramatic, brooding colours.

This was taken in Portugal about 2 and a half years ago – oh god it’s really that long since I did those trips. This one in particular had a big impact [...]]]> There’s a fairly Mahler-esque feeling around this place lately so I want to drop some colour back in.

Happy colour, not dark, dramatic, brooding colours.

This was taken in Portugal about 2 and a half years ago – oh god it’s really that long since I did those trips. This one in particular had a big impact on me personally, if not photographically although I got a couple of nice photographs. Strange the way things shape out sometime.

So it’s Saturday of a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland and I am looking out at a white sky. I will probably give a trip to Sligo tomorrow to have a look at the kitesurfing if the weather looks like it might be reasonable. I’m past the stage that I’ll stand in the pouring rain to take lousy photographs at low shutter speed, particularly given the pile of other tasks I have on my desk at the moment. No point in misusing time in appropriately. I’m not sure what else to do with myself – I have been toying with trips to Antrim as well. Somehow, the last lot of landscape photographs, from the short – mega short – trips to Galway, Clare and Kerry have rekindled my interest in landscape. I don’t know why exactly. I think it’s because I don’t drag the 500 mm zoom around – it weighs a tonne and I hate lugging it with me. Also, there tends to be less sand.

A couple of things to note. Have a read of this – Prairie Light Images – on photographic style. I’m interested in this post for a couple of reasons and one of those is that another photographer told me I had a very distinctive style of photography. That he could identify a photograph taken by me (no matter what the subject), often linked to the way I process photographs. Given the riff-raff collection of photographic subjects I have, I found this rather surprising. In particular I found it surprising given the extent to which some people told me they preferred this or that or the other of the photographs. The flowers went down particularly well with some people, the kites with others, the landscape with others. Some provoked strong negative reaction. And I got pasted for daring to process a photograph and on one occasion, for using a filter to prolong an exposure.

It would appear – somehow – that I do have some sort of style. I just can’t see it myself because I look at so many different things. I do know that from a subject point of view, I’ve always been heavily influenced by marine photographers from France like Philippe Plisson and some of Yann Arthus Bertrand’s stuff. And I have a heavy interest in photographs by Robert Doisneau and Ansel Adams. However, when I look at my own photographs, I don’t always see much input from those influences. I see more from people like Colin Prior and Liam Blake, two outstanding landscapers from Scotland and Ireland. The word I would use for myself is derivative.

I also draw on the photographers around me to some extent. Lucky them

Okay, enough introspection and some photography news.

Wasn’t aware of this bookseller before but with the opening of a new branch in South William Street Dublin, I will look at giving a trip in there to evaluate today. Their website is here.

Via the wonder that is the collective hivemind of twitter (look I don’t follow any sad pathetic famous people like actresses and popstars) I have come across Ben Collins and will give a special shout out for this photograph called Seacombe Wave.

I somehow missed this from Paudie Scanlon a few weeks ago – I’m split between a bunch of feedreaders lately and am not quite on top of reality. I do like it though. The colours are kinda restful. Also this from last week sometime.

And some stuff from Philippe Plisson…For some reason, always my favourite stuff. Image number 3 of the lighthouse was the first print I ever bought. It cost 350FF at the time which was a fairly big chunk of money for me at the time, living in Brittany.

It’s been a while since I namechecked Donncha. Really like this one.

Okay. I think that’s it for now – I believe today is the day that New York Times is doing its 3.15 call – I won’t be anywhere able to do it but for anyone who gives it a shot….way to go.

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 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.

Welcome to Kerry. While I was on my so-called holidays a couple of weeks ago, I wound up with a plan to go to Dingle. For reasons [...]]]> Advance apologies – this is superwide. But I think it deserves it, big time. You see, this is what I couldn’t do in Mayo. Pretend to be Ansel Adams.

Welcome to Kerry. While I was on my so-called holidays a couple of weeks ago, I wound up with a plan to go to Dingle. For reasons I don’t quite want to go into, I got as far as Inch and Annascaul which was quite a bit short of the original plan to aim for Coumeenole and the Ranga. Never happened. Next time. Apparently I have time this year (yipee).

This is along the road between Castlemaine and Annascaul, one of the loveliest roads in the country. If you’re going to Dingle from Tralee, I’d nearly always recommend that road unless you’re in a mega hurray (although I’m not sure going the other road would make a whole lot of difference). It takes you past here (points up) and then on to Inch. (points down)

Inch, along with the beaches west of Louisberg in western Mayo, is one of my favourite beaches in the country. Barleycove in Cork comes pretty close as well but there’s something quite…special about Inch. It’s huge. It’s clean. Compared to Dollymount where I spend a good whack of my time, anyway.

No links for this post. I did a load this morning when I posted the non-volcanic ash pictures.

It sank behind a line of clouds leaving me with no ball of fire to give benefit to my decision to haul myself across the city and I barely got a pink sky to play with as well.

These are the beacon lights in Dun Laoghaire. The red light is on the East Pier which I [...]]]>

It sank behind a line of clouds leaving me with no ball of fire to give benefit to my decision to haul myself across the city and I barely got a pink sky to play with as well.

These are the beacon lights in Dun Laoghaire. The red light is on the East Pier which I walked tonight for the first time ever, in search of something (I didn’t find it, whatever it was). When I got there, some guy was playing banjo; I don’t know why but since I can hear banjo every time I go near Dun Laoghaire, I guess he’s there kinda regularly. Tonight, he treated us to Memory from Cats, twice. I will never forget it.

I’ve been out to DL a couple of times yet and somehow, it’s not giving me what I want in the photography front. To be be honest, I wound up there because a quick calculation suggested that I wouldn’t make the top of Killiney Hill in time for sunset – always supposing I could find it since I always – but always – get lost in DalkeyVortex. You’d sort of feel that with 10 million boats, a couple of lighthouses, a cannon, a bandstand and a near mile long pier (or two) I’d be sorted…but it never fulfills me in the way that say, Howth does. It sort of seems a bit flat. Can’t figure it out. I was sorry in a way that I hadn’t shaped off to Clontarf which would have had the benefit of being a) closer and b) more sky available to play with. Okay, no lighthouse but there was this huge cruise ship in the port which I saw leaving as I was coming home through Sandymount. That would have been one hell of a long exposure….next time.

Anyway, links for the day:

Richard has been out taking sunrises. See here and here. I usually give a trip to Skerries for the sunrise “sometime in April” but I haven’t done it yet this year. I’m toying with going to Howth this time and standing near the Martello tower but I need to make sure the sun will be rising where I think it will (somewhere around Ireland’s Eye).

Kyle has been – well – go look.

Tommie was in New York recently and I think this is one from that trip. I was thinking today – as I watched loads of people walk in and out of my frame waiting to get the shot above with no walkers but with the lights shining – that I really haven’t the eye to people/street stuff like Tommie does. I don’t know if you can learn it – I spend a lot of time watching people and I have some interesting portraits lying around the place (like the self portraits, for example). But I can’t quite freeze life like this.

I don’t tend to get light like this on the east coast. In fact, the last time I remember shooting anything like this was in Morocco about 3 years ago. I love that photograph too. I’m in the middle of putting plans [...]]]> Another one from the wild trip west yesterday. This one is [currently] my favourite.

I don’t tend to get light like this on the east coast. In fact, the last time I remember shooting anything like this was in Morocco about 3 years ago. I love that photograph too. I’m in the middle of putting plans to gether for a new online gallery…not quite sure what shape it will take yet.

Anyway, more lately, part of the inspiration for these shots, and more like them, came from the lighting of some shots that Philippe Plisson took in Madagascar, one of which I got to see at an exhibition in London a year ago. Fantastic exhibition that it was too.

Meanwhile, links from around the place:

Mark Waters in Mayo – Nephin Snow. I love this shot and I’m fuming that my feedreader didn’t bother telling me about it until today.

Elliot Tucker in Heuston Station on the Project 365

Kyle has been up early in Sandycove

John Smyth is looking out over Maam Cross. I envy him, given the day I had yesterday. Hmmm.

Dannie is looking forward to the trip south for the summer. My great great grandparents came from Caherdaniel, something I found out last week when I was going through the 1911 Census with my Dad.

Ryan is up the Sally Gap.

Apart from that, nothing else of interest to report at the moment.

I don’t specialise in surf photography. In Irish terms, the surf photographer of choice would almost definitely be Paudie Scanlon. I do the odd shot here and there but since I don’t spend much time in the water, it’s almost academic.

This is one of my favourite surf shots that I did take and it’s not [...]]]>

I don’t specialise in surf photography. In Irish terms, the surf photographer of choice would almost definitely be Paudie Scanlon. I do the odd shot here and there but since I don’t spend much time in the water, it’s almost academic.

This is one of my favourite surf shots that I did take and it’s not really a surf photograph at all. It was shot on film about 6 years ago I guess, not absolutely sure. I was shooting full film at the time, it was well prior to the switch to digital. If I took it now, with the sort of standards you expect from digital image production I’d probably reject it because of the grain and the white balance issues. I think this was run through Photoshop after scanning but since that was done so long ago, I’m not sure of that either. I suppose I could check…but why would I?

Today I came across a photographer that somehow I’d never heard of but William Milne describes him as the best surf photographer in the world. William himself is one of the best kite guys so that’s fairly high praise indeed. The guy’s name was Clark Little; he’s just released a very expensive book, but you know what, it’s almost definitely worth it. His website is here. His photographs blew my mind.

I don’t often say that. There are some utterly fantastic photographers in the world, like Art Wolfe, Philippe Plisson, Vincent Munier, Peter Lik, Ric Steiniger, all of whom do something quite above normal. But I’ve never seen anything like Clark Little’s work. I used to love David P’uu’s surf work but it doesn’t get to me quite like this. It is amazing.  If you’re a member of FaceBook, it’s worth having a look at this. And this. And this.

I really can’t praise it highly enough. It’s inspired me in a way that few other things have this year.

Danny has a truly great macro shot here.

Tommie has a fantastic comment on current life in Ireland right here.

I would never have seen either of those two photographs without someone else taking them.

Richard has a beauty here that – in my opinion – belongs on a greetings card. It is just such a classy shot.

ETA: [...]]]>

Danny has a truly great macro shot here.

Tommie has a fantastic comment on current life in Ireland right here.

I would never have seen either of those two photographs without someone else taking them.

Richard has a beauty here that – in my opinion – belongs on a greetings card. It is just such a classy shot.

ETA: Kevin Murphy makes me cry sometimes. This is wonderful.

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The shot above is part of a series I took in Dun Laoghaire this evening. I was out recceing a particular portrait shoot that I want to do, and this was what i got up to after the recceing was done. We had fun.