I’m not absolutely certain who is buried under here, although I have my suspicions, and the photograph was taken in Spain so it could, realistically, be anyone.

Photographing white water is challenging and it is what got me into photographing the sea in the first place. One of the reasons Dublin sucks is that you haven’t [...]]]>

I’m not absolutely certain who is buried under here, although I have my suspicions, and the photograph was taken in Spain so it could, realistically, be anyone.

Photographing white water is challenging and it is what got me into photographing the sea in the first place. One of the reasons Dublin sucks is that you haven’t much scope for this unless you happen across a kitesurfer giving you a particularly big wipe out (per this one). But I don’t actually ask people to particularly risk their guts beyond what they are already doing off their own bat.

Breakfast viewing for the last couple of weeks has been Cancer to Capricorn, the new Reef surfing movie. It’s a winner on a lot of fronts. There isn’t (too) much talking, there’s a lot of great music and in the middle there’s a superb cut in black and white. I really, really like it. It’s the start of episode 3 on this page here at surfline.

Some of the cinematography in that film is amazing; in a way there are shots in there that I’d kill to have taken in still format, and it’s the one movie that lately makes me wish I could see it on a big screen. Some of the filming of the tuberiding is just amazing.

That black and white sequence reminded me of some photographs I took about 4 years ago, on my local drag, but of windsurfing:

This is why I want to live by the ocean.

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.

I didn’t have any real plan in mind but wound up as far south as Brittas Bay. I kept hearing about Brittas Bay but really and truly, all [...]]]> After a rather trying time with a composite work, I was advised by Richard to go out in the sunshine. So I did. All the way to Wicklow.

I didn’t have any real plan in mind but wound up as far south as Brittas Bay. I kept hearing about Brittas Bay but really and truly, all it is is a huge beach and today it didn’t do Beach for me. So after looking at it for about 5 minutes and idly wishing the wind turbines were a touch closer, I got back in the car and drove to Wicklow. Where I passed this.

According to my reading of the map, this is Wicklow Head Lighthouse. You can walk a good part of the way to it past some sheep (and little lambs – some of which were black and very cute but very running away) and some cattle. You might be able to get closer but I was playing chicken with the sun which was on its way down behind an inconveniently located Wicklow mountain. So I went for the lighthouse.

Anyone who knows me at all well knows that Philippe Plisson is probably my favourite photographer in the world and he is particularly well known for some superlative shots of the lighthouses in Brittany. There is also some really hot stuff by Jean Guichard but what both of them have in common is a lot of photographs of lighthouses. I like lighthouses. I like them a lot. There’s something lonely sentinel about them. This one is a bit like that. I’d like to have a go off it at dawn when the sun is arriving rather than when it’s disappearing, and also from a bit closer with a 10-20. But I like this; there’s something warm about it.

A little while later, after I’d played with a castle and some filters, I had a look at the harbour light and this is what I got.

I think there might have been one filter left on – it was getting dark enough to stretch the exposures without using the filters anyway.

I quite like both of them to be honest; they might be the nicest lighthouse shots I’ve done. While I was in the harbour area in Wicklow a man told me I should have been there 2 weeks ago, the sky was an amazing pink. Que faire?

Anyway, this is from my big day out today. I wound up in Wicklow with the objective of adding to the Abandoned Boats collection but that just didn’t happen because I was distracted with ruins and lighthouses.

This is a sunset over the Bay of Angels in Nice. The airport is off to the left as you look at the photograph, and I’ve been told the cloud looks a bit like a UFO. I didn’t really notice that at the time.

I’m planning the purchase of a new camera bag and a new [...]]]>

This is a sunset over the Bay of Angels in Nice. The airport is off to the left as you look at the photograph, and I’ve been told the cloud looks a bit like a UFO. I didn’t really notice that at the time.

I’m planning the purchase of a new camera bag and a new tripod. I saw a tripod I liked last week and I quite fancy it. It’s not for my heavy lenses – I am using the zooms less and less anyway – but for the macro lens in particular, the 50mm to play with DOF and stuff.  The camera bag is an effort to deal with something which I learned last week which is that I hate lugging loads of camera equipment around. Really hate it and what’s more I don’t especially need to lug it all around. I figured this out last week when I realised I only used 2 of the 5 lenses I brought with me and never took out the flash at all. I did, however, use the filters, quite a lot.

But basically I am a wimp and find the lugging of the gear around rather too much.

Now for a couple of other vaguely photography related matters.

Someone passed this link from the Daily Mail to me about a South Africa based photographer who went to rather great lengths to get some – admittedly outstanding – wildlife photographs.

Having spent about 30 seconds considering it, I have decided that no photograph I could ever take is worth contracting malaria for.

Passing the Ball by Ronan Palliser

Big Shots for 25 February via Boston.com. The first photograph, the surf shot is one of the best I have ever seen.  The beauty is I was watching Mavericks online via their ustream feed and it was brilliant but the screen was just too small.

I got lost somewhere in old Nice this afternoon.

Way back in the days I used to shoot film, I had a small Tamrac camera bag that was a backpack, carried my camera, the two lenses I had and an insane quantity of film. When I got the 70-250mm, it taxed things a little but this [...]]]>

I got lost somewhere in old Nice this afternoon.

Way back in the days I used to shoot film, I had a small Tamrac camera bag that was a backpack, carried my camera, the two lenses I had and an insane quantity of film. When I got the 70-250mm, it taxed things a little but this is life. I got over it.

Now, I have a couple of Lowe camera bags; the big one and the small one. The small one is bigger than the Tamrac; but it’s smaller than the big one. The big one goes everywhere with me; if I’d any sense I’d bring the small one as well and decant. But it’s hard to pack two camera bags when you’re paying attention to airline luggage restrictions. The big one is already a battle.

At the moment, it has in it – if you haven’t seen it – a 40D, a 100mm 2.8, a 50mm 1.8, a 70-300mm, a 17-85mm and a 10-20mm, a 580 EX II and an array of filters. And it is heavy. It would be heavier still if I didn’t happen to leave the 50-500mm zoom at home.

I hate carrying the camera bag. I never actually realised just how much I hated it until this morning. I picked up the camera, and tossed up between the 17-85 and the 50. The 50 is sharp yes, but it lacks range, and it was bright outside. I was not likely to desperately need the speed of the 50 although I might regret the depth of field. I spent the day shooting with the 17-85 and just one memory card. And it might be the best fun I’ve had in ages. I walked miles, something which is soul-destroying with the full camera bag. I can understand why a lot of Art Wolfe’s photography is coming out of an iPhone lately. It means you don’t have to lug a full camera bag around.

The 17-85mm is a very useful range. I would like it to be a little faster and so am toying with a 24-70mm. I’ve been advised that on a crop sensor, this is not really wide enough at the short end. Unfortunately the alternatives, the 18-55 for example, are nowhere near long enough at the long end. If Canon or someone produced a 2.8 17-70 or so I’d be quite happy with them.

I didn’t take any great photographs today, the one above notwithstanding, but I got more on average out of the day which given the weather conditions (bleh and cloudy) was nice. And okay I had to fake the tripod and filters lark with the waterfall and still blew out the sky highlights, but I managed. Sometimes, it is no bad thing to walk away from all the gear and actually take photographs within some practical constraints like “this is the only lens I’ve got with me”.

The one above, I am thinking about putting into black and white although there’s something about the warmth of the colours that appeals to me. More than anything the toy cars appealed to me. They are a very nostalgic shape.

On the way home, however, I got [...]]]> I was in Dignes Les Bains today having done the train des Pignes. I had hoped for photos out of that but they were all taken through a window that doubled as a fly cemetry and frankly meh is as good as you’ll get for any of them.

On the way home, however, I got caught in the Carnival Parade. I don’t do religion/Lent/that stuff but I thought Carnival ended on Shrove Tuesday. Evidently the Ville de Nice doesn’t give much of a toss for the religious side of things either. Carnival is on for another week or so here, apparently. Colourful parade every night.

I was fortunate enough to have a festival pass for Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin last year and it was fun. But compared to what I caught of the Carnival parade tonight, it sucked. We have no real idea how to party. There were no restrictions or anything here on this; you could hop in and join and play havoc. People did.

I got a few photographs although I hadn’t planned for shootoing it tonight. They were all taken with the 50mm 1.8, no flash, and I think I shot ISO up to 800 at one stage.

From the 13 or 14 that made it up to the pixie account, here are a few:

This one is [at the moment] my favourite shot. Something about the colours. If I remember the float correctly, that’s the face of a puppet in the throes of popping out another puppet other end.

Frogface

I think this one is Asterix but I wouldn’t swear to it. I also think the theme of the parade was to pay more attention to ecological matters which if you saw the mess of confetti and streamers around the streets when it was all over, you’d see some irony. I’ll probably have a better shot tomorrow with a speedlite – can’t swear to it though as the 50mm worked out nicely. I’ll also not bother with the staged seating as I was able to get up nice and close courtesy of being stuck on the street unable to get to my hotel.