Archive for the 'Panasonic LX-3' Category

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One of what I’m going to call ‘the limited run’ of photographs that was taken over the weekend in Snowdonia. This was on the way back to the ferry, a little diversion that had us stop at a viewpoint that appeared to be quite popular. Snowdon is just to the right of this scene, the peak hidden by the cloud. With the tight timescale we were working with we didn’t get to see a lot of Snowdonia but as I may have mentioned before, I fully intend on going back for a long weekend at least. Its ‘like Wicklow had a baby with the Isle of Skye’ to borrow a phrase used on our trip. The fact that this is only 2 hours away by ferry makes it all the more appealing.

Published on June 20, 2011 in Landscape, Panasonic LX-3 and UK. 1 Comment

Shakycam is Go!

What was intended to be a mostly entertaining way for me to record and review my very limited off-road jaunts while in the UK in April has turned into a public service video on the effects of motion sickness and a case study on why people buy those expensive little helmet cameras. While I wasn’t expecting Steven Spielberg results, I imagined in what I now know was supreme, unwavering naivety that I might get something other than a dodgy late 1990′s horror movie.

This is a very cut down version of the full experience, I didn’t want to subject anyone to the full six minutes. My most sincere apologies to sufferers of motion sickness and indeed to those that contract acute motion sickness as a result of viewing the above. Next on the shopping list, a helmet camera and possibly an Adobe Premier manual.

Published on June 17, 2011 in Landscape, Panasonic LX-3, UK and Video. 2 Comments

The change of plan

“T’ra”, a term used interchangeably by some. It can mean either hello, thanks, excuse me or goodbye. The change of plan came on Saturday and after deciding I wouldn’t be spending a third night in the general environs of Chorley, I headed slightly further north to Yorkshire. Found myself a gorgeous B&B in Carleton and spent the day cruising around the Dales getting further sun burnt in an amusing pattern.

The above is a straight out of the camera shot from my adventures today, while taking this shot my internal monologue was in overdrive. “See that house down there, 12 of us lived in one room and had nowt to eat all day except when father came back from t’mines with half a loaf of mouldy bread.” Then another strongly accented gentleman pipes in with “Half a loaf? Only 12 of you? You had it easy. There was 18,000 of us all huddled in one corner, only heat we had was from a gone out candle, father would thrash us with his belt when he got home from the mill and all we’d have to eat for the entire week was half a bag of damp coal.” No idea what I’m on about? You need to click on this then lad.

Making my way back south tomorrow, down to somewhere on the outskirts of the Peak District. That’s back to the original plan. I’ve got 150km of B road and off road routes in the sat nav, ready to be followed with less than pin-point precision. My usual method of navigating while on the bike normally ends up with “Ah, that feels like it’s the right direction”. Worked well so far anyway.

Published on April 25, 2011 in Event, Landscape, Panasonic LX-3 and UK. 5 Comments

Trim Photowalk

Last Saturday (although curiously it felt rather like a Sunday) was Trim Castle photowalk. If you remember all the way back to 2010, the first Trim Castle photowalk was in February. This year, to mark the one year anniversary of the passing of our friend and Trim native Danny O’Brien, the walk was held in April. The route was a familiar one, from the grounds of the castle up the river to Newtown Abbey and back. Well, some made it back. Others got mysteriously waylaid in the pub.

I took the opportunity to finish off a roll of ‘free film’ in the A1 and also gave the LX-3 (a Panasonic for those that think I’m talking about Star Wars) a chance to stretch it’s legs after I bounced it along the pavement in Cork some months back. It’s a little bit creaky but it does the job marvelously.

Great to see a lot of the familiar faces again and somewhat confusing to see a lot of new people who’s names I didn’t know. The turn out for the walk was certainly above what I had expected. Roll of sticky labels and a marker the next time. The day was outstanding as far as the weather was concerned, real sitting on damp grass drinking irn bru kind of weather. Great day, apart from the bit where I screwed up my bike. But live and learn I guess. This and more is on Flickr and I’m sure I’ll be posting one or two more from the set over the coming days.

Published on April 14, 2011 in Event, Landscape and Panasonic LX-3. 3 Comments

Half way to Silver

After I bought the bike back in January, I began hearing about an event called “Photo Rally” on a few of the bike forums. The idea behind it is simple, there are 24 locations throughout the island of Ireland and you need to travel to as many as possible to earn a bronze, silver or gold award at the end of the year. It’s not a recent idea either. It began way back in 1975 with a Limerick man.

Looking especially uncomfortable for some reason. No, I don't much like having my photo taken.

Photographing your steed with all 24 landmarks earns you gold, 18 gets you silver and 12 sorts you out with bronze. The idea behind it is to get out and have some fun on the roads, finding new places and meeting up with likeminded folks. I may only be 9 locations into the challenge, but I’ve managed to pack in all three so far.

It’s great riding out into the countryside to some off the beaten track landmark only to meet a perfect stranger and be able to chat at length about where we’ve both been so far, where’s next and where we don’t think we’re going to get to before the November 17th deadline. My God, the previous sentence almost makes me sound like an approachable, friendly sort. Maybe I can blame that on the photo rally too?

All but one of my visited rally points have been wonderfully obscure. On the tops of hills, back country roads and some in villages I never knew existed. The Fermanagh/Tyrone point almost lived up to it’s ‘tricky’ status by throwing a short section of off road riding in the way. I can’t imagine too many guys on sports bikes are going to manage or even attempt that one. The photography so far has been quite simple. Although there is an incentive to be creative, I’ve found it quite difficult to do so with the criteria. It’s a simple case of ‘heres the shot, heres my bike in the shot. rally point complete’. Maybe as the summer comes in and the weather heats up a bit I’ll be more inclined to stretch my photo rally creative photography legs.

I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far and I hope to get as close to photographing all 24 points as possible. There was even talk on a popular UK bike forum about running a similar event in Scotland. As if I needed another excuse to jump on the ferry to the highlands for two weeks!

Published on March 31, 2011 in Event, iphone, Landscape and Panasonic LX-3. 2 Comments