Tag Archive for 'wicklow'

Maiden Voyage

If you cast your mind back to this and lived to see the other side of it, you’ll understand why I recently bought a couple of Drift Stealth cameras to make the filming process a little easier and a lot less stomach churning. The above was the maiden voyage and very much a learning exercise. I need to see what the hardware can do, what it can’t do and what I shouldn’t make it try to do before the ‘big holiday’ to the Alps in August. This was a routine trip from Dublin city down to Wicklow and back again. Thankfully back again that is, the low/no petrol light was taunting me for most of the ride back to Dublin.

With the included mounting hardware, I ended up with a camera on the engine bars (more on that later) and one on the side of my helmet. That still left me with oodles of spare hardware, velcro pads and elastic straps to play around with so I’m going to need to come up with a few more mounting locations. The helmet was the winner, video (shot at 720, 60p on both cameras) turned out smooth. The engine bar location, if I decide to reuse it, will need some work. Perhaps a kind of shock mount. Thankfully the cameras have standard tripod mount screws on them so I can spoil myself with the myriad of mounting options out there.

Things I learned
1. I don’t need to check that the camera is still on the side of my head every 5 minutes. The velcro is strong and all the bobbing around to look at the camera in the mirror just screws up the footage.
2. Nodding or generally acknowledging other bikers on the road leads to further footage foul ups. I think I’ll have to adopt the standard European leg waggle. Not that many bikers in Dublin return the salutation these days anyway.
3. Mounting on the engine bar is generally going to be a no-no. There are certain speeds it works beautifully at and if I continue to use that point I need to become aware of those speeds. Otherwise it’s a rolling shutter fest.
4. Syncing footage between two cameras is a bit harder than I previously imagined it would be.

Another interesting thing I learned is that the majority of car drivers behave a lot better when they spot a camera on the side of your head. Some even slowed down to stare.

A note on the music is perhaps required. When I go out on rides like this, I never fail to default to two albums. “Between Two Lungs” and “The House That Dirt Built”. It’s proven to be great back road riding music. So before I get takedown notices from and/or sued by Florence And The Machine and The Heavy I invite you to play the above at the appropriate volume.

Also and somewhat vitally, the above is standard definition but the footage is actually in 720p. I can’t currently do HD embeds from Vimeo because I haven’t paid my dues to them for a ‘plus’ account. ($60 seems a little overkill at the moment and I may just end up using Youtube). So if that kind of thing bothers you and you want to view it as I intended it to be watched, you can get the 720p version on the video page.

Next stop, Austria.

Published on March 17, 2012 in Video and Wicklow. 6 Comments

Remembering finer days

Until I actually produce some new images in 2012 (I haven’t picked up the camera at all this year yet), I’m not going to stray too far from safe ground. The safe ground is currently Velvia. Going back over the old images I should have blogged months and sometimes years ago, I found these images from Powerscourt in Wicklow that sat in Lightroom being tweaked and fiddled with every now and then. Velvia has always been, for me at least, quite difficult to get right colour balance wise. Sometimes I hit the nail on the head and replicate exactly what I recall from the day and other times it ends up being too blue, too green or too much like nuclear fallout.

Remembering finer days; Because now that I’ve dusted off the motorbike for 2012, I’d like to see some blue in the sky again. Maybe even temperatures above 4-6 degrees in the middle of the day. I don’t ask much really.

Maybe now that I’ve dusted the bike off, I’ll take the opportunity to blow the dust off at least one camera and actually get out and press the shutter button. Oh and get to west Cork on it (the bike, be surprised if you see me riding around Bantry on a Bronica).

Published on February 9, 2012 in Bronica ETRS, Film, Landscape and Wicklow. 0 Comments

Avondale

A trip to Avondale park last year with Vlastik where I took the opportunity to use a few of the rolls of velvia in the fridge. I thought I’d get rid of the remaining slide film as my intention was to develop it then sell the Jobo CPE I bought a couple of years ago on ebay. I think I’ve had my fill of developing anything other than black & white and the Jobo, tanks, chemicals and all the E6 paraphernalia are just taking up space in the ‘junk room’. On that, if anyone is interested in buying a CPE plus, some tanks, spools and whatever else I’ve got, drop me a line.

One thing I’ve never quite managed is metering for scenarios like being in woods where you’re in & around different lighting situations. One minute we were in bright sunshine, then overcast, then under trees. As a result, quite a lot of the 5 rolls I think I shot that day are under exposed. I’ve dragged what I could out of them in scanning & post processing but alas, there’s only so much you can do. Pity, because one of the shots I really wanted was killed stone dead by poor metering, as you can see below.

What I captured compared to what I saw on the day almost made me lock the bronica up in a cupboard when I took the slides out of the tank. I believe I even said ‘I wish I had taken my 5D with me’. Another one below. I got the forest floor metered with some accuracy but sadly lost all the background. Let’s just say I meant to do it that way; Focusing the viewers attention on the tiniest of foreground rocks and not on all that messy shrubbery in the background.

Thankfully, and not to put me off shooting velvia again, most of the shots came out pretty much as intended. If that’s my skill/technique, a triumph of post processing or the hand of God during development is for the viewer to decide. It’s not too difficult to appreciate of the ease and forgiving nature of shooting digital when you come back from a day of film shooting and and up with crap. But that, of course, is an old story so don’t go sharply exhaling in exasperation and rolling your eyes at me just yet.

It does go right now and then and the film captures things in a way you only wished you could have seen them. While waiting for the sun to come back out I shot a couple of frames of this scene. The difference between this and the next shot, taken only about 3 seconds later, is amazing. Timing, or perhaps impatience to move on was on my side.

A low ISO film, a tripod, a cable release, ND filters and a river. No prizes for guessing what happens next. Vlastik may also have some mildly amusing photos of me getting into a precarious position on some slippery rocks and perhaps even more amusing photos of me trying to return to the safety of the footpath. I heard somewhere that it’s now been made illegal to not take ‘flowing water’ photos when the opportunity presents itself. That was tacked onto the ‘HDR Swan photo 2010′ legislation in congress I believe. (Forgive the in-joke).

That was pretty much our trip. An enjoyably sedate couple of hours spent wandering about taking conflicting light meter readings, arranging leaves, pine cones and other detritus while moaning about having to go back to work on Monday. If you haven’t already been to Avondale, I very much recommend it. It’s here, not too far from Rathdrum in Co. Wicklow.

Oh and as it’s my first post of 2012, happy new year.

Published on January 23, 2012 in Bronica ETRS, Film, Landscape, Photowalk and Wicklow. 2 Comments

Colours of Autumn

My first post in December and I’m back with a couple of photos and a large bag of excuses. I became the newest splitter at the end of November when I left my old job and started a new one. I think either I underestimated how busy I’d be or grossly overestimated the ‘settling in time’ I’d end up taking because it’s been crazy pretty much since I started. Sadly, updating the blog has been far from top priority although it’s always stuck in the back of my mind. It doesn’t really help either that I haven’t been taking any new photos of late. Above are two shots from Powerscourt Gardens taken in October. I imagine the place looks a little different now.

Published on December 13, 2011 in Canon 24-70, Canon 5D, Macro and Wicklow. 0 Comments

The Lower Lake

To aid in Julie producing a sofobomo entry this year, we took a spin out to Glendalough on Monday evening. First time in a few years I’ve been there when the sun is going down. Apart from the swarms of blood thirsty midges, it’s a great place to be when the light levels are dropping. The above, in case anyone cares, is the X100 at a 20th of a second, ƒ8 at 2500ISO. I think by the end of the trip I was pushing it up as far as 3200ISO while all the time being amazed at what this little camera can do.

My sofobomo isn’t going ahead, despite several half-assed plans on what I was going to do. Maybe next year.

Published on July 13, 2011 in Black and White, Landscape, Wicklow and X100. 3 Comments

Quick Exit

This was Wednesday, my fourth flight of the week.

The week started on Sunday morning with two alarms set for 4 and 4:05am. No snooze. It takes two alarms to wake me up and get me out of bed. Quick shower, no breakfast (that’s what the Aer Lingus lounges are for after all) and into the car for the drive to the airport. Playing dodgems with the taxis for 20 minutes or so before locating a free space in section G (groan) of the long term car park. Anything from A to D is acceptable. E at a push. Anything else is a huge pain in the nuts. Don’t even talk to me about X, Y or Z. You might as well have parked in Meath.

Checked in the suitcase full of tools, power cables, network cables and a couple of pairs of socks and off through security for breakfast. An hour later, sitting on a half full flight to Barcelona. First job of the week. Arrived, taxi to hotel. 11am. Couldn’t check in until 3pm. Pain. Another taxi back into city center and entertained self until 3. Check in, grab tools, CCIB. Drill some holes, few turns of a spanner. Power up, away we go.

Hotel, “yeah, meet you later”. Crashed out on bed. Woke up at 9pm. Maybe won’t see you later. Room service, burnt veal burger, oven chips. Four star hotel? Watching anything on TV that’s in English. Something about American influence in the UK. Checked email, bullshitted on twitter for a while. Sleep.

Hiding Place

A place to hide. Trade shows, I love them. May not be an accurate statement. Emails checked when wifi is found. Don’t get me started on the subject of the email client on my phone. By early afternoon it’s in the mid-20′s. Got out, walked on the beach after lunch. Probably a bad idea. Shop closed up about 6pm, over to the hotel to collect my bag of tools (and some clothes), drink a few beers with colleagues to kill time. Flight isn’t until 10:30pm! Off to the airport, another taxi scenic route. Attained synergy with the Spanish language for about 3 seconds. Two questions asked by the taxi driver (who didn’t speak English) were answered by me (in Spanish). Maybe I’m improving?

Tuesday, a day in the office to catch up with email, phone calls and check on the status of new projects. Tuesday ended, set another two alarms for 4 and 4:05am.

Wednesday, shower, taxi dodgem, airport, check in, security, lounge, breakfast, queue, take seat. Half an hour later I was in Manchester. Killed 30 minutes in the airport with a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Found a taxi and got on the motorway.

Few hours of meetings, thought I’d have time to get into the city center. Great to be back in Lancashire, haven’t heard the phrase ‘bloody Nora’ said properly in years. Almost hesitant to leave but I know I’ll be back (near) here in two weeks. Back to the airport, check in, get through security while managing to somehow avoid the body scanner and the gate rape. Security guy obviously wasn’t into me. I’ll deal with it.

Manchester airport is designed in such a way that you need to take a snaking route through duty free to get to the departure gates. It’s genius. Reminded me of Ikea but with less tables & chairs. I can see why they did it. Passing the whisky (and whiskey) section, I had to take a look. Special offer eh?

Never one to refuse a good deal, especially when whisky is involved. I’ll admit that my first choices were a Glenmorangie Original and a Nectar D’Or but sadly it wasn’t to be after I discovered that the Nectar wasn’t in the special offer. Balls. A slightly bored looking gentleman convinced me of the qualities of The Balvenie after a wee drameen. That is, a smaller than usual measure of whisky consumed by an Irish person.

I did also get the Glenmorangie Original and after being ushered around the duty free by another member of staff (as by now I can only assume I looked like a confused old man), I made off like a bandit paying only fifty of the Queens English pounds for both. Callooh callay!

Thursday, another day in the office playing catch up (and a little solitaire). I knew what was coming tomorrow, I’d been waiting for it since that Sunday morning getting up at 4am. Having already assumed agreement my manager would be in agreement that one good turn deserves another, I was looking forward to a lazy Friday. The plan would almost certainly turn out to be nothing more complicated than the following. Get up at 10:30am, play a little xbox. Have breakfast. Shower and dressed. Head out on the bike until around 3/4. Come home, laze around drinking beer and pissing about on twitter while enjoying some of the evening sun on the balcony.

Thankfully, the above is exactly what happened. If there’s anything better than having a long weekend, it’s looking forward to it all week!

After putting the new saddle on the bike a few days ago, I haven’t had the chance to get out on it to see if any remaining hint of the numb bum syndrome remains after a certain amount of miles done. The results are coming in and they’re looking good. Almost as good as the Wicklow mountains looked earlier today in fact.

Wicklow Mountains

Found some new roads and a hell of a lot of burnt out crap by the side of them. I thought the Wicklow mountains was the place to hide dead bodies, not bring your old fridge freezer and burn it out!?! Never fails to boggle my mind why people would do stuff like that to such a beautiful place. The bike is running beautifully in advance of it’s big service due next weekend. Queue the wallet pain. The joys of BMW ownership I suppose.

As I sat on the bike in Phoenix Park, watching the deer laze around in front of me and eating an emergency Tunnocks chocolate wafer (I was eating it, not the deer. They can feck off), I began to hope that in two weeks time when I’m parked on the side of the road in the Peak District, my feet on the engine guards, eating another emergency chocolate wafer, that the weather is as nice as it is today. On my well timed, perfectly executed day off.

If I could only change one thing, it’d be that my beer supply hadn’t just ran out.

Other than that though, not too bad a day.

Published on April 8, 2011 in Dublin, iphone and Landscape. 0 Comments

Tour de Wicklow

Buying a bike in January is exquisite torture. Mostly because with the shitty weather, you can’t actually get out and have a proper spin until mid February. It was still a bit too cold to enjoy thoroughly (a fact which I discovered to it’s fullest extent after I removed my helmet at Newcastle beach) and the dark clouds that hung over great portions of the journey appeared as if they might decant a biblical quantity of rain on me at any moment.

Wicklow is an amazing spot; It’s my west Cork away from home. Mountains, lakes, valleys and the all important poorly piloted rental cars creeping around as if their tyres are made of finest crystal. So just like west Cork and Kerry in the summer.

I started, quite predictably, by easing my way around the Sally Gap. Moved on down the Vale of Avoca where I found the copper mines after missing the turn initially. The resulting photos from the walk that was held down that way some time back made me instantly regret that I’d missed that outing.

I also quickly discovered a taste for off-road riding, taking a somewhat sketchy route up a road just to see what was at the top. Nothing, but the balls to the wall ride made finding out nothing was up there was entirely worthwhile.

Down through Avoca, onto the Arklow direction via some roads that I’m not entirely sure were for public use. I only say that given the amount of horse trailers and tractors I passed on the route. You know you’ve just gone far enough outside a major city when two vehicles are blocking a narrow road and they grant you the huge favor of allow you to pass. Ditto to the horse trailer driver who’s truck was blocking three quarters of a narrow road and he blocked the remaining quarter by standing in it filling out paperwork. Maybe I’m too patient, I sat there for two or three minutes while he finished, strolled out of the way and waved me on as if to say ‘there you go, you may pass now’. For a moment, I was in Kilgarvan.

For the record, I took a ‘proper’ camera with me but I think I only took about 10 photos with it. When they do eventually get looked at, they’ll appear on the flickr set along with the iphone photos.

Published on February 15, 2011 in iphone, Landscape and Wicklow. 3 Comments