Salthill Airshow 2007

It's been a while since this has happened but it was definitely one of my favourite photography outings of the year, with probably the best haul of decent photos in one day I've ever had. - I probably wouldn't have enjoyed if it wasn't for the opportunity to take photos, not for moral reasons or anything like that, it's just that the spectacle seemed surprisingly mundane despite the best efforts of the obviously talented performers. Even though I've always been delighted by such things as planes and other boy-in-man's-body sort of stuff, I found myself strangely bored and unmoved by the display. Still though, taking photos was hugely enjoyable; another re-affirmation of the reasons why I photograph and why I'm continually interested and enjoy it. (Well that sentence was a bit of a meal, wasn't it?)
I was worried about the performance of my humble camera - I've tried to take pictures of fast-moving subjects in the air before this (mainly birds), and to say that the results were underwhelming would be a massive understatement - I've never got a decent picture of a bird in flight, a type of photo I mistakingly thought I would be churning out on a regular basis when I first bought by DSLR. However, I experimented a bit with the settings on the camera and using a combination of 'closest subject' focus, and continual rather than servo focus mode I managed to catch the planes flying by more often than not.

And that was probably the most technical sentence I'll ever write, long-winded and badly structured as it was.

The event itself could have been a photography nightmare; constantly changing light, thunderous downpours and drab, cloudy skies could have ruined both my photos and more importantly, my camera. Luckily there were periods of sun in between the waves of rain, and having dramatic clouds rather than a clear blue sky actually helped matters rather than hinder. As I wrote above, I was immensely happy with my crop of photos, and here they are:

New Camera (sort of)

It's probably an awful thing to admit too, but I've never taken a photo on film that hasn't been from a disposable camera. I'm probably part of the first generation of fairly serious hobbyist photographers for whom this is the case. All this is going to change, however, as now I have access to, and part-ownership of, a beautiful old film SLR - a Pentax ME. Behold its might!:



Ok, that's not the most informative picture, but I want to build up the suspense slowly, so by the time the camera is fully revealed you will be weeping at its beauty and lauding me as the bestest blogger writer on the Whole World Web. Here's a slightly more informative picture, but it is in black and white and a close-up, so it's still 'arty' and 'cool':



Pretty, huh? Here's the last one, because I need to get this over with so I can buy cigarettes before the shop closes:



I'm largely terrified of it: I have no idea how to take photos successfully, and it's very difficult to fathom not being able to review your picture immediately afterwards to see if it's ok. Thinking about the camera has really led me to gain a new respect for photographers who use film - imagine being so good and confident in your ability that you could take just one or two exposures for every shot, perhaps knowing that this could be the only time you will experience the moment? Digital has taken all the risk and suspense out of the craft, something of course helpful but at the same time it is sad to see it go. Never again will there be an extraordinary event such as happened when Robert Capa's photos of the D-Day landings were almost ruined, but resulted in some of the most iconic imagery of the 20th Century. For me photography will always be about perfection and confidence, and no matter how much I use a film camera, digital will still be my medium - I'd be kidding myself if I thought any different. Oh well, I'll just have to embrace it!

Onto the camera itself - what struck me first was the the looks of the body (did I mention it's pretty) I really love that style, it makes my new-fangled Nikon D50 look cheesy and uncouth. I think any camera produced up until the mid-eighties had this timeless style, something now long lost for mainstream cameras. Unfortunately the lens is far too bulky, but seems to be of good quality - it's a very useful zoom range and has a great widest aperture: 1/2.8. This is something that can be easily fixed, however, as brilliantly I can buy a brand new Pentax lens and it will work perfectly on this camera.

The last thing that struck me was the quality of the viewfinder - it's large and bright. It's a real pity that they don't put these on cheaper DSLR's today, although I suppose 90% of the people using these cameras aren't going to manually focus and that is the main reason for needing one.

Hopefully someday I'll put up some photos I've taken with it!

Dingle Dangle

For the first time I actually feel slightly disheartened that nobody reads my blog - it's getting difficult to motivate myself to write anything when really it doesn't exist. I had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend in Dingle, with superb weather and of course a spot of photography. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to take photos in 'nice' light - no dawn or dusk for me. Still though, I took a few photos I was quite happy with:

Oh well, I'll persevere, and hope that somebody enters the forest that is my Internet, and hears the posts, falling like trees in the wind of my consciousness. Or something.

All (fairly) quiet on the photographic front

I haven't had the time or inclination to take many photos recently, but there were a few fantastic night-time skies, and I did spend an hour or so with my telephoto lens and the wireless remote, trying to take pictures of the moon. It's hard. You need absolute stillness, and although I figured my shutter speeds were fast enough, I never took into consideration the movement of the moon which is massively magnified when you use long lenses. Even though the pictures looked crystal clear on the LCD, they were disappointingly soft when transferred onto the laptop. Here is the only one I was reasonably happy with, and even this required great sharpening and cropping.

Astrophotography is like this great white elephant in the corner of the room that I refuse to acknowledge the existence of. I know I'd love it. I also know that I don't need any more equipment, other than a simple device made out of a couple of pieces of wood and a bolt, and a stopwatch. I used to think that photographing 'deep sky' stuff was a question of great magnification, but in fact what you need is lots and lots of time to collect enough light to bring these things out. I can feel that this sort of photography is within my reach, and I can already imagine the shivers of excitement that I'd get when successful for the first time.

I also know that it might drive me utterly, irreversibly, insane. Astrophotography involves stuff that my brain was not programmed for, such as Hard Sums, and Following Instructions Properly. Even trying to follow the instructions for something that is supposedly simple, calibrating an equatorial mount, drives me just a little bit mental. It's frustrating that something so incredible is within my reach, but at the same time quite far.

The only other photo I put up on Flickr recently was this one:

This was actually taken a few months ago. I never delete any photos. Ever. Even blurry, out of focus, boring photos that were just taken at the spur of the moment and have to real meaning. This isn't because I think I might use them, but I think more just a natural instinct that I have as a hoarder; I subscribe to the timeless fallacy of the hoarder, that "it might come in handy one day". Well for once it did. This shot, in colour dull and lifeless, sort of appeals to me in black and white. I saw it while looking over some old pictures, and when I turned it into black and white, it instantly looked miles better. You can make out the nice lighting of the trees, their long shadows due to the fact that it was taken late in the evening. The figure on the right, just out-of-place when in colour, takes on something of an ethereal quality when the picture was transformed. I think if I saw this picture I would be fairly impressed.

But is it art? Probably not. I didn't intend to take the picture that eventually emerged; I must be honest with myself about that. It's technically bad, as it was taken in bad light without a tripod. I didn't see it as a black and white picture at the time, nor did I think about the effect the 'figure' would have on the photo. Still though, it may not be art, but I know what I like. Even if it wasn't an intentional moment of artistic inspiration, I think that the fact that I saw it and realised its potential at some point means that I must be getting somewhat better at this photography malarkey.

Sunsets, dogs and Torc Waterfall

There's somthing about the sun. There's something about snow, but there's also definitely something about the sun. Especially for an asthmatic smoking moron for whom coughing and spluttering seems like an inextricable part of life. Then the sun comes along and warms places that I didn't even know could be warmed, and stays. Waking up every morning with the sense, even before the eyes are opened, that it's going to be another perfect, blue-sky day, knowing that at least for the moment I can breathe like ordinary people. And of course it's great for photography too; crisp, clear colours, shutter-speeds as fast as you like, being able stay outdoors in comfort for hours and no danger of the camera getting ruined - it's like a dream come true.

Of course, being Ireland, it didn't last that long. One morning I woke up, and the sound of soft rain, almost inperceptible - like a TV with the volume turned down low on a channel of static, and the wet, the wheezing and the sneezing were back. Oh well, at least it's better than nothing...

Unfortunately I didn't take as much advantage of the photo-favourable weather as I should. My laptop had to be sent away, and I realised a couple of things. Without the immediacy of being able to view photos straight away, and scarily, the ability to do advanced editing on them, made me much less likely to take photos at all. I didn't realise how dependent I was on Adobe Lightroom.

Here are the only two photos I took over the last month or so that I am any way happy with. The first two were from Spanish Point:

I also went to Torc Waterfall last weekend, briefly, but of course full of expectation of a wonderful phototography opportunity. This didn't happen, of course. I don't think waterfalls could be any more of a photographic cliche if they tried. They're right up there with sunsets. I did manage to get a few that I quite like in black and white, however: