For Sale !

Here is your Monochrome Maniac image.

For Sale : Canon Camera, one careful owner, well maybe not as this was all that was left after Kepala, a five year old Sumatran tiger from Dublin Zoo was finished with him.

As Neil had said he was going to Dublin Zoo on Sunday for a specific shoot of the tigers for the Zoo which meant gaining access behind the glass.

All we can say at this point was he got a bit too close.

Ladies View

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

This is the view of the Macgillycuddy Reeks from a point call “Ladies View” on the main road (N71) between Killarney and Kenmare, Co Kerry.

The last in this series of images from my trip to Killarney.

You can see Purple Mts, Tomies Mts on your left with the Gap of Dunloe being the ‘V’ shape on the far left. And on your right you can see Torc Mts and the valley of the Killarney National Park. You can stop and pull in up here at Ladies View and on a good day like we got the views are wonderful in all directions. This was the only image I could get as a tour bus arrived and that was the end of that.

Gap of Dunloe

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

The Gap of Dunloe, Killarney, one of the major tourist spots in Ireland. However at this time of the day you have the place to yourself except for some sheep dotted around the place. The image above was taken just after sunrise. The clouds are starting to break up after a light rain fall which you can see covering the mountains in the background. What you see here is Black Lake, one of the three lake along the valley leading up to the Gap itself. I’m standing on the bridge which marks the point where the road switches over to the left hand side.

It’s very hard to get an original image of the Gap of Dunloe as nearly every photographer in Ireland has at least one image from here. But in black and white ? not so sure about that.

Anyhow have a good weekend and hope to see you all next week if I am alive ?
Dublin Zoo want a image of the Tigers together and will arrange for me to get access with the Keepers on Sunday to get this photo.

All about Composition and your Camera

All about Composition and your Camera

ILLUSION

Introduction

How people love decorating things with stolen adjectives. The colour of music – they would say. They would talk about the music of a poem, the movement of sculpture, the depth of a landscape, the speaking likeness of a portrait. Do they mean any thing ? They do. There is sense behind these figures of speech. It is the indication of the artist’s ultimate goal : to do more than his technique could produce by itself.
He will recognise the limitations of his craft and – fight them. He will struggle to create an illusion in place of those qualities which his technique must go without. The composer wants you to see the colour of his music, the poet wants you to hear the tune of his words, the painter wants you to feel the depth of his world.
The photographer, too, wants us to realise colour, space and movement, while looking at a piece of black and white paper ; and not just to try to make you believe in them, while he is laboriously explaining, “The sea was deep blue and endless, and those flying sails were white as a seagulls wings.” If he is any good he will compel you to see that blue – that endlessness – that flight.

Loch Lein 4

Here is your My World image.

This is the last in the Loch Lein series of image from the Killarney trip. Nothing much to add that has not already been said.

It was a very busy weekend. We had some wonderful weather here on the east coast of Ireland which made for a great day trip to Dublin Zoo for my daughters party with the neighbours. The animals were in top form also and got a few photo’s ( 10 gig worth). The problem is these images are in colour and have no place on a black and white site. So sorry about that. If you want to see some in B&W follow this Link to my website and you can see from the previous visits.

Newfoundland Bay 3

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I started the week off with an image from Newfoundlandbay Killarney and now I will finish the week with an image from Newfoundlandbay. In this image you can see the two swans that stayed with me for the couple of hours I was shooting at this location. It was great to have a bit of company and some thing to talk to about my composition !

The wonderful cloud formations are just about starting, which are visible in the previous posts.

I must continue the “All about Composition and Your Camera”. You have only Depth and Movement under Illusion and then we are into the final Chapter of Unity of Purpose, Matter and Manner. If you have missed the others check out the “Tips and Tricks” in the sidebar.

Enjoy the rest of your Weekend as we in Ireland have an extra day rest with the May bank holiday weekend (god knows the banks need the extra day >*&%^$ ).

Loch Lein 3

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

We continue the sequence of images from Lough Lein with the above image. In this image you have full view of the mad cloud formation which is partly in view in the Louch Lein post. Also you can see the path (just to the right of the tree) from the Loch Lein 2 post. The Castlelough Bay is a wonderful horse shoe shape bay on both sides of the castle.

As you can see I have change the style of the bog. I wanted to try and keep it as close to my main website style ( www.blackandwhite.ie ) as possible.

A mad busy weekend in store as it’s my daughters 10th birthday, with a party for the class mates on Saturday then the neighbours on Sunday in Dublin Zoo and to round the weekend off the grandmothers on Monday (it’s a holiday weekend here in Ireland).

Loch Lein 2

Here is your My World image.

First of, may I say a thank you too all for the comments on my images over the past couple of weeks. I have been very busy of late and have not got a chance to look t as many other sites as possible. Things are now back to normal now, so I have more time too look around.

I think I made history yesterday:-
The first Irishman to shoot some people outside Buckingham Palace in England and not get arrested by the police. ????????
Figure that one out and I will give you the answer at the end of the the post.

Now lets get back to photography. The above image is part of the series of images taken in Killarney a couple of weeks ago from The Lake Hotel as mentioned in the previous post. This one was taken form the Castle itself ( MacCarthy Mor Castle ). Again the previous post will explain all. It shows Lough Lein or the lower lake and what’s called the Bay of Castlelough. This was most likely a small harbour to tie the boats on come ashore at the Castle.

What I like about this image is the path leads you into the image and the contrast between the shapes of the stones and the shapes of the clouds in the sky.

OK here is your answer to the riddle above:
The people were running and I was shooting them with a camera. Yes I am talking about the London Marathon. I was over in London at the weekend working on the marathon for a company called Marathon Foto. I was positioned right outside Buckingham Palace for over 5 hours and in that time took just under 12,000 photos of the runners.

On holidays in Killarney, the Turin Marathon and then the London Marathon, the reason for the lack of posts and comments.

Loch Lein

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

What we have here is an image showing Tomies Mountain, Purple Mountain, Castlelough Bay and the MacCarthy Mor Castle. This is the view that can be seen from the grounds of The Lake Hotel. If you go to the link for the Hotel’s website and download the Brochure pdf you will be able to locate my camera positions for the above image and the following post over the next few days.

Newfoundland Bay 2

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

Newfoundland Bay, Upper Lake, Killarney, the image I was looking for before I turned around to find the views in the previous posts.

It was a long wait to get this image. I think I stood here for well over a hour talking to myself and a couple of swans, until the light was right. It’s not the image I was after but we can’t control the weather and have to make do with the conditions before us. So I waited to see if the sun would shine on the mountains in the distance. It came out for a minute or so and lite up the mountain top. And that was it, the image above. After the minute or so the light changed again but was too dull to continue. So I changed direction and got the images below.

Next week I will continue the series from Killarney with some images form the grounds of The Lake Hotel with views of Loch Lein or the Lower Lake.

Newfoundland Bay Reflections

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

This is from the same location as the previous post but moved forward passed the rocks and grass to get a clear view of the reflections of the clouds in the water. I think it’s a very dramatic looking image without the colour as you are drawn into looking at the shapes and contrast with the clouds.

I had a look over the Ordnance Survey Maps 1:50,000 scale ( a photographers must have piece of equipment ) and found that it’s Torc Mountain on the right.

I would love to do for Killarney National Park what Ansel Adams did for Yosemite.

Newfoundland Bay

Here is My World Image.

It’s good to be back after a few day R&R.

This image shows Newfoundland Bay, Upper Lake, Killarney National Park.
I got up early to catch the sunrise but cloud cover put a stop to this. However I stay around for a couple of hours waiting for the light levels to increase and hope the clouds would brake up. Funny thing was that the camera was pointing the other direction. It was only when a walked around I spotted this view. So I repositioned the tripod and rattled off a few frames as the clouds and light was changing all the time.

It’s a treat to get a location where you can rotate the camera around and get different images from the one spot. This was such a location and you can look forward to the next few days of images from this one location.

Back to business

I have been away for a weeks holidays and then away in Turin, Italy at the weekend to shoot the Marathon. I will be back to posting later today or tomorrow after I have processed some of my images from Killarney.

It was great to get away for a few days with no computers, phones etc…..

That’s the reason for no posted last week.

We had some wonderful weather and you will be treated to some new work over the next couple of weeks.

Macgillycuddy Reeks 2

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

I am having major problems with Blogger.

I can’t upload any images as getting internal errors.

I think I might give the computer a kick. Does this work ?

Well the kick worked.

What we have here is The Macgillycuddy Reeks from the another side. And a wonderful sky for you Sky Watch Bloggers. There is a viewpoint just off the road up at Aghadoe which looks out over the mountain range. On a misty morning its just beautiful to see Lough Leane and the mountains appear. Again a timely post as I am off to Killarney tomorrow for a few days rest with the family and may be the only holiday because of this World Res………. I’m not going to say that bad word but look on the bright side. In the words of Monty Python ” Always look on the bright side of life”.

So enjoy the Easter holidays and remember to get out and take some photo’s.
I will try and post something for Monochrome Maniacs, if not talk to you on Wednesday.

Connemara Turf

Here is your My World image for Tuesday.

A sight that could be form anywhere in Ireland, but this just happens to be at the side of the road in Connemara. Turf cut out of the Bog and left to dry in the sun. Early one morning on my way to Kylemore I passed by this turf and knew it would make a good image. So I took a note and kept on driving to get the sunrise over Kylemore lake. On the way back the strong sidelight and clouds in the sky were just perfect and the resulting image is above.

Macgillycuddy Reeks

Here is youe Monochrome Maniacs image.

The Macgillycuddy Reeks, ie the mountain range in Co Kerry which has the highest mountain in Ireland Carrauntoohil. As I have said in the last post I am going back here and this is one of the images I want to improve on. I have seen much better images, and a case in point is from a good friend and fellow Pro photographer Peter Cox. Have a look but don’t forget to come back.

Gap of Dunloe

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I will be going to Killarney over the Easter Holidays next week for a few days with the family and of course the camera. Killarney, Co Kerry is one of Ireland major tourist spots and I think I can safely say that everyone who visits Ireland will have spent some time here.

Again I will be after some specific images from this trip if the weather and light is right. I have been to Killarney many time before when the light was not right and when I did not have the skills to get the image. But after years of training and seeing I have that skill ( I think ? ).

Anyway the image above is the Gap of Dunloe taken very early in the morning as the sun was rising. For this image I left the hotel at about 4:30 in the morning to funny looks from the night porter. I drove to the location and prior knowledge of the surrounds helps. Parker up the car and set the alarm and went back to sleep on the back seats. It was not the best sunrise and I had low cloud cover. It did start to break up a little as you can see from the sky.

The road, maybe not a road but track follows along the base on the mountains but then got up a steep incline at the end. This bottom of the V shape made by the mountains is the top of the “road”. It’s great fun to drive the Gap of Dunloe, but even better to photograph it.

Lough Dan 5

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

Well we have come to the end of our Lough Dan week. I hope you have enjoyed it. What I will leave you with is the view you see as you leave the valley walk and start to head back up the mountain to your car. And what a view you have. This mountain is called Luggala Mountain.

Again this was an image I have been after for a while now and too finish the day off by capturing the two location more than made up for not getting away for the weekend. Just to the right and out of the frame is a cottage. Imagine having this as a view out your window.

So this bring me to the end of the Lough Dan Tour in the Wicklow Mountains.
This tour my be over but the journey has only started. The next chapter on this journey will be the Vale of Glendalough which is at the heart of The Wicklow Mountains National Park.

Lough Dan 4

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

This is a image of the actual lake. It’s taken from the same spot in the Lough Dan 2 post, but turned 90 degrees to the left. It’s very hard to photograph a large open spans of water with no points of interest to draw you into the image. Here I am trying to use the small ripple waves to bring you through the image . The image does nicely for the Watery Wednesday theme and continues the Lough Dan Tour. From the spot we had our lunch in the first post you can continue your walk around the lake by a path that follows the shore line of the lake.

I don’t think it’s as good an image as the previous post, but helps tell the Lough Dan story. The final image form this series will be on friday for the SkyWatch Friday theme.

The Story is nearly over……………..

Lough Dan 3

Here is your My World image.

The Lough Dan Story continues….
In the past couple of posts, I have shown you the views down at Lough Dan and also told you about the walk down to the valley along to the lake itself. Well the image above was taken from the road half way up the mountain walk back to the car. I think you can get a sense of scale in this image of the mountains and valley. It was in kind of a rush to get this image as the dark clouds were rolling in faster than I could walk and you can just about see them on the right hand side of the sky. Just as we got back to the car the heavens opened with rain and hail stones.

When you get down to the valley the walk is along the light shade running through the image. You pass through a small forest and can see deer in the field to your left. If they hear you, they will stop, look up and keep an eye on you until you are out of sight. I must bring the big guns (ie 400mm) with me the next time to get some photo’s of the deer.

This is the best location to take this overall view from, as further up you can’t see the valley and the mountain on the left blocks the complete view.

So there you have it Lough Dan, But wait there’s more…………