Archive for the 'Dublin' Category

War Memorial

It’s a while since I was last down in the War Memorial park taking photos. In fact the last time was probably some time in 2010 on a trip down there with Julie to photograph all the trees shedding their blossom. It’s somewhat appropriate to post this now given that I’ve we’ve gone back on the ol’ running (or at least shuffling along at slightly faster than walking pace). The War Memorial park is one of the top locations for such activities.

So there ya go! War Memorial park. A great location and only down the road too. Couldn’t ask for more. Well, I could, but I won’t just yet.

Published on April 3, 2012 in Black and White, Canon 24-70, Canon 5D, Dublin and Landscape. 0 Comments

The Proving Grounds

IMMA has become more or less that; A place to bring new or recently dusted off camera gear for a stroll around the grounds. No cat photos and not a focus chart in sight. Just a few from this visit before I drag and drop the set into the abyss that is the 2011 archive.

Published on January 30, 2012 in Black and White, Dublin, Macro, People and X100. 0 Comments

New Moon

Grabbed this on my way out the door to work yesterday morning. Had I actually thought about what I was doing, I’d have put the 70-200 on Julie’s 5D2 and not my own 5D. It all went a bit wonky in post processing. It’s a bit of an odd feeling, going from shooting a photo to processing, uploading and posting within a 48 hour period. Worse still, I was almost tempted to post it last night. I don’t know if it’ll catch on.

This will probably be my last post for 2011, due mostly to the laziness that this time of year inevitably brings. That and the preoccupation of eating and drinking as much as possible. I might get a post in between the overlapping screenings of “It’s a wonderful life” and Harry Potter films on the various terrestrial TV channels however.

If I’m not back until 2012, have a very happy Christmas and a similarly merry new year. (Yes, I know). Back in 2012 for some truly epic Cork photowalks, some home brewing and more of the same non-specific whingery.

Published on December 23, 2011 in Canon 5D, Canon 70-200, Dublin and Landscape. 2 Comments

That time of year

Been on a bit of an analog thing of late, thanks in no small part to the quantity of velvia scanned some weeks back. No updates in a while because I started a new job a couple of weeks ago and outside all of the settling in, trying to remember as many new names as possible and all that, I haven’t been hugely inclined to udpate the blog. These three were taken with the Diana fisheye lens that Julie got me some time ago for my birthday and/or Christmas. To tell the truth, I’d never successfully used it on the Diana before and it spent much of it’s time on my 5D thanks to the EF adapter that came with the gift.

I completely blew these out too but after some scanning luck and some wild slide bar wanging in lightroom, I got a somewhat acceptable outcome. Not to everyone’s taste I’m sure.  Subject wise, they are of course in the botanic gardens in Dublin on one of the last (or possibly the last) photowalk I attended up there while the place was under a blanket of snow about this time last year. The increasingly dark and cold evenings reminded me of these photos and have made me hope that the snow either stays away for as long as possible or doesn’t come at all this year.

Maybe some ‘novelty’ snow on Christmas Eve/Day. After that, I can’t be dealing with it.

Not very wintry but it was the next shot on the same roll so what the hell. The inside of the greenhouse at a much more friendly temperature.

Published on November 30, 2011 in Diana, Dublin, Event, Film, Landscape and Photowalk. 0 Comments

Last Winter

Now that all the France holiday posts are done, I can get back to reviewing some of the more recent additions to my lightroom catalog. This was from a batch of Velvia I developed recently (and had been sitting on the shelf in the spare room for about a year previous to that). How do I know that? Because other shots on the roll were from Christmas/New Year 2010 at the Botanic Gardens. This was shot with the Diana, something I haven’t picked up in quite a while. I initially thought the light leaks this roll picked up from nearly a year sitting on a shelf would ruin the roll but once scanned some of the shots didn’t look too bad. Almost usable, like the above.

Published on November 9, 2011 in Diana, Dublin, Film and Landscape. 0 Comments

Iveagh Gardens

While Julie was doing her “turn this way, turn that way, smile” thing in Iveagh Gardens last weekend I took the opportunity to tag along and skulk around the gardens getting better acquainted with my X100. It’s not quite there, but it’s getting there. I spent most of the day at ƒ2…

I’ve only used the thing in jpeg mode so far but I’m quite liking how good Lightroom is to the files. Specifically what it’s doing when I apply a black & white preset to it. It’s bloody lovely. It also means that I haven’t run into the reported slow write times that people are seeing when using RAW, nor have I had to buy a big, expensive, super fast SD card to put into it. Yet anyway.

As you can see, I’ve already developed a habit of having my finger slightly obscuring the lens. It’s a bit of a learning curve going from a 5D with a 24-70 on it to something the size of two iphones taped together. The autofocus distance is going to take me a while to grasp. In AF mode it’s got a minimum focusing distance of 80cm. However in MF mode, you can focus down to about 40cm. Some people are saying you can get lower than that. I’ve been relying on the AF assist function (AFL/AEL button on the back) when in MF mode but it doesn’t seem to give any indication of when it’s achieved focus. Unless you leave the beep on of course. Using the EVF seems to make it easier to distinguish what’s what in MF mode. The OVF makes one tend to just hit the shutter button and hope for the best.

We’re getting along, I just need to start pointing it at more stuff more often. It’s going to be introduced to Cork over the weekend and see how that goes. Until then, my lovelies.

Published on June 30, 2011 in Black and White, Dublin, Landscape, Macro and X100. 0 Comments

Coffee & Beer

The inaugural ‘Coffee & Beer Photowalk’ (so obscure you probably haven’t heard of it) took place today in Dublin city. The guest list was severely limited by a committee formed specifically to decide on the Coffee & Beer Photowalk guest list. They’ve since been disbanded due to allegations of nepotism. The walk was carried out at a determined pace, planned out with military precision and executed with such preciseness (if that’s even a word) that it would have made baby cheeses cry if such cheeses were added to the guest list by the aforementioned committee.

The rules of the photowalk are simple. Buy a camera, meet in 3FE, drink coffee, walk at an accelerated pace to Against The Grain and drink beer. Photos are entirely optional. I broke with tradition by actually taking some photos, mostly after the beer had been consumed.

I took the opportunity on the long, torturous yet delightfully sunbathed walk home to test out this new camera with results I’m not too ashamed of. For a maiden voyage anyway. My brief moment on the wrong side of the (luas) tracks was productive yet terrifying. Terrifyingly productive.

I refuse to blather on about the camera until such time as I’ve learned how to use it. I almost said ‘until I’ve read the manual’ but I think we all know that’s never going to happen. Suffice to say that working with a 35mm fixed lens is an entirely new experience.

More of this kind of thing is available for your immediate perusal on Pix and Flickr.

Published on June 25, 2011 in Black and White, Dublin, Event, Landscape, People, Photowalk and X100. 2 Comments

Garden Rambling

Back to the grounds of IMMA before I retire these two rolls worth of scans into the cavernous expanses of my photo archive. First, some Pan F 50 lovingly modified by lightroom.

Secondly some SFX, split toned in the only method I know; Ham-fisted. That’s about it for IMMA this time around I think. Of the 26 or so photos from this session I haven’t put up, I think they’ll have to remain semi-retired sitting in the ‘current jobs’ folder until I clear out that lingering job from 2009.

Published on June 9, 2011 in Black and White, Bronica ETRS, Dublin, Film, Landscape and People. 0 Comments

Cloistered

Another from IMMA, this time shot on Ilford PanF+ (5o ISO) to somewhat illustrate the difference between this and the previous shot in SFX 200. Both rolls processed using Rodinal for the recommended time.

I love using PanF+ but at 50 ISO, a tripod is quite often if not always necessary. Again I’m very impressed with how the metered prism did with the exposure and I’ll continue to use it now instead of carrying around the light meter or just guessing at exposure. Knowing that I can get decent exposure now will probably also inspire me to get through some of the remaining Velvia. Shoot it at least. I’m sure it’ll then spend about 12 months sitting on a shelf waiting to be developed. Then another 6-8 months waiting to be scanned. It’s not so much a workflow as it is a workslow. See what I did there?

Published on May 20, 2011 in Black and White, Bronica ETRS, Dublin, Film and People. 0 Comments

The Royal Hospital

After yesterdays ‘oh shit I can’t post what I wanted to post so I’ll post something else taken with the same camera’ entry, here’s what I wanted to post. Having got my hands on some fresh developer, this is the result of the test SFX 200 roll I’ve had sitting in the fridge for over a year. It taunted me every time I went in there for milk so it had to get used.

Having looked over the roll, I’d give the result an astounding ‘meh’. For €4.85, I expected more of the ‘near IR’ to be visible. Maybe it requires something in post processing to pull that out, mabye I screwed the exposure, maybe I screwed the developing? Maybe it doesn’t like Rodinal? As with everything film camera based, there are way too many variables to consider.

I’m going to have to scan the roll of Pan F+ I shot the same day in the same location to work out the differences, but from looking at the negs drying I can’t see much in it. At least my untrained eye can’t.

IMMA is such an amazing location, more or less peaceful, amazing building, fantastic grounds and you don’t get hassled. Well, much. I was approached at one point by a security guard checking who I was working for because I ‘looked professional’. Nice guy though. Certainly didn’t give me any trouble as I strolled around with a bulky tripod and a camera noticably larger than your average tourist point & shoot.

But I digress. SFX? Pah! I’ll stick with Pan F+ in the Bronica, Neopan 100 in the Canon A1. Nice to try it out though. If nothing else, it lets you know you’re not missing anything special. Having said that, I welcome all commenters offering their two cents on what I did wrong.

Published on May 16, 2011 in Black and White, Bronica ETRS, Dublin, Film and Landscape. 1 Comment