January 29, 2014

Boyle Abbey with the 'Brothers' sculpture in the foreground

Boyle Abbey with the 'Brothers' sculpture in foreground

Shot today. 13-frame JPEG composite taken with 70-200mm lens. 3-stop ND Hard-Grad Filter. ISO 400. 1/100 @ f/8. Manual focus pan on mono-pod.

January 19, 2014

Lough Key Forest Park

Lough Key Forest Park

Went walking today with the kids in Lough Key Forest Park, a damp but mild day here. We took a path we hadn't travelled before and walked the legs off ourselves. We happened across this unusually bright and mossy clearing in the woods, I resorted to a panoramic sequence in an attempt to effectively capture the scene and mood.
Shot: Hand-held, 12-frames (portrait format), stitched in PS.

January 17, 2014

'Requiem' Clontarf, Dublin

Requiem TMP_7582

We all have those places we continue to return to in the hope of getting a better shot than the last time we visited. This jetty at Clontarf is one of mine, I always tend to stop when passing in case the tide is 'in' or the light is tempting ... sometimes just to eat a sandwich. This week I happened to be in the area but was not impressed with the initial scene. After a while, this guy bikes onto the jetty and contemplates the view. So seeing some compositional elements stack-up, I took out the camera to investigate. It wasn't until I started framing-up that I noticed the floral bouquet fixed to the rail in the foreground ... the narrative began to form. There was no text to accompany the tribute so I can only guess at the tragedy being remembered. Instinctively, we think tragedy, but it might well be celebratory? The cyclist held his pose long enough for me to whip out an ND grad filter to hold back the direct sunlight in the sky. 'Click', 'click' ... two frame bracket hand-held ... that was it. I wasn't optimistic and subsequently forgot about the shot until this evening when doing my usual trawl through the week's images. The colour version is pretty much straight from camera with some tweaks in ACR. The composition reminded me of a 'Joe Kennedy' taken at the '40-Foot' across the bay so in acknowledging that, I made a BW conversion (click image to view on Flickr). I put both up here because I think the processing impacts on the mood. I'm not sure which I prefer ... I'll have to live with them a while. In the meantime, I'll look forward to my next visit and maybe hope for better light.

January 12, 2014

Recent Local Interest Project



A recent short film I've enjoyed working on explaining the story behind one of Boyle's local landmarks. Barry Feely talks about 'Brothers', the Alan Counihan sculpture adjacent to Boyle Abbey.
Shot using a Nikon D800.

January 5, 2014

Ridge Pool on the River Moy, Ballina

Ridge Pool Ballina TMP_7057

I spent a lot of my childhood and teens playing and socialising along this stretch of river in Ballina. I've seen it change too but there are still a few familiar aspects to the scene. It was my intention to attempt a 'blue-hour' shot of the new pedestrian bridge (out of view behind me) but I was surprised at how poorly it was lit ... I simply couldn't make a decent image of the scene. Instead, I looked back towards Ham Bridge and focused on the turbulent water rushing into the weir. The rain eventually drove me away but I think I'll be back here again ... soon, I hope.