Dingle Bay Pano

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

Here is the complete view of the entrance into Dingle Bay from the back of the boat I was on while waiting for Fungie to arrive. You got a close up of the head land on the left in the previous Dingle Bay post.

A quick post tonight as I am packing the bags for Stockholm tomorrow. Have a good weekend all and talk again some time on Sunday.

Fungie

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

As requested by a few bloggers from the last Watery Wednesday post a image of "Fungie" the Dolphin form Dingle.

For more info on Fungie Click the Link Here

Howth Head 2

Here is your My World image.

We continue the walk around Howth Head. And as I said in the last post, you will see The Bailey Lighthouse. Ok it's a bit small in this image. The above image was taken along the cliff walk and this path continues along the edge of the cliff towards the lighthouse. I did not get any closer to the lighthouse but will look in the vault to see if I have a better image for you tomorrow. From the lighthouse you continue walking north and will end up in Howth village and harbour.

Howth Head

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

Hot of the press. Just finished looking at the images taken today after a very sunny day here is Dublin. We went for a walk along the cliff walk from the Sutton side of Howth Head. Stopping off at a couple of locations to have lunch and a few photos.

In this image you can just make out a object above the rocks, which was a Coast Guard helicopter on a fly around the east coast. The walk continues along the cliffs on the left all the way around. Just around the corner you will be greeted to a view of The Bailey Lighthouse.

Mallaranny Rocks

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

This image was taken at the beach in Mallaranny, Co Mayo. You drive through this village on your way over to Achill Island. In this image you see the rocks which make up the best part of the beach when the tide is in. And in my case the tide was fully in. In the background across Clew Bay is Croagh Patrick and the surrounding mountains.

I have a question for you today. Can you tell me why, in your opinion, this image has sold well from my website?

The Silent Valley

Here is your SkyWatch image.

The Silent Valley is located in The Mourne Mountains, Co Down, Northern Ireland, just a short 1.5 hour drive from where I live. I have being to this place many times but have not done the full walk. You can just about make out the path/road at the base of the mountain on the right. This will bring you to another dam between the two reservoirs. I am hoping to get up there some time this year and do the complete walk with the children (probability on their bikes) and hope to get more images of the Mourne Mountains.

Dingle Bay

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

I'm back, but more about that later. The above image was taken from the back of a boat in Dingle Bay. There is a story behind this which I will explain.

If you have being following my blog, you will know that one thing that I always say is to go back to a location over and over again. Well this is one location I returned back too, 7 years later mind you in this case. Dingle is famous for many things but one in particular is a dolphin called Fungie which pulls in the tourists by the boat load. You can go out on a boat and view Fungie as he does what dolphins do ( puts on a bit of a show ). Seven years ago I went out in such a boat with my then 3 year old daughter to see Fungie. At that stage digital cameras were starting to come on the market but at a price. So I had a Canon EOS 3 film camera with me which could go through a roll of film in 5 seconds.

My daughter was leaning over the edge of the boat and calling Fungie's name when up he came and swam along side her. She was amazed at this and to this day is Dolphin mad. However I think I stole the show on this boat trip. Why? Well everybody on the boat had one of the small compact film camera at the time which took one shot every hour so to speak. For them to hear and see a camera in full motion and me going through 5 rolls of film in the space of 2mins was unbelievable.

To bring the story up to date, my daughter wanted to go back and see Fungie for her 10 birthday this year. So back at the start of May while down in Killarney we drove out to Dingle and went out in the boats again to see Fungie. And to his credit, Fungie puts on his show for the tourists. This time I around with the age of digital, I was able to get the images and view them on the camera to make sure I had got the image. While waiting around for Fungie to surface I was able to take a couple of images of the surrounds, which the image above was.

When I got back home and looked through the files from that day I was surprised to see how good the images taken from the boat were. My usual landscape workflow of setting up tripods and ND Grad filters, test exposures etc.... not this time. Hand held on a boat going from side to side, high ISO makes you stop and think?

As you might have seen, no posting for the past few days as I was over in Gotenborg for the Half Marathon. (not running but shooting it). Over the 3 days of events I shot over 20,000 images of the runners. I don't have the total figure for all the photographers there but well over 300,000 images were taken. And in a couple of weeks time it's of to Stockholm for a full Marathon.

Sunday walk about

Mr Kepala on his walk about.

Well that's the end of the Tiger series on Kepala, a five year old Sumatran tiger from Dublin Zoo. I hope you have enjoyed the posts this week as much as I did photographing them.

I am off on my travels again this weekend, this time to Gotenborg, Sweden for a Marathon. I will be leaving early Friday so sorry no posts until I return on Sunday.

Mr Kepala dives for lunch

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

We continue the Tiger Theme this week with another one of Mr Kepala. To get the action shots of the tigers, the Zoo keepers feed the tigers by tossing whole chickens over the glass and into the pond. It was amazing to see the speed of them as they jumped into the water to get the chickens. It is very unusual for tigers to put there complete head under the water, but they did so on the occasion. However two of the chickens were in the deep part of the pond and the tigers could not get them. The image above shows you Kelapa after trying to get them but failed.

I will post one more image for Thursday and then we will be back to normal b&w landscape for Skywatch Friday.

Mr Kepala

Here is your My World image.

And here he is, Mr Kepala, the Sumatran Tiger from Dublin Zoo who got very close and I mean very close to me. I was taking some images of Sigra the female tiger and could not see Kepala anywhere, Why? Because he was right beside me. I know it's not the same as true wildlife photography but I don't think I am ever going to get within a inch of a tiger (a live one that is) and live to be typing on my keyboard and telling all about it.

So this is My World for the moment the Tigers at Dublin Zoo.

For Sale !

Here is your Monochrome Maniac image.

For Sale : Canon Camera, one careful owner, well maybe not as this was all that was left after Kepala, a five year old Sumatran tiger from Dublin Zoo was finished with him.

As Neil had said he was going to Dublin Zoo on Sunday for a specific shoot of the tigers for the Zoo which meant gaining access behind the glass.

All we can say at this point was he got a bit too close.

Ladies View

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

This is the view of the Macgillycuddy Reeks from a point call "Ladies View" on the main road (N71) between Killarney and Kenmare, Co Kerry.

The last in this series of images from my trip to Killarney.

You can see Purple Mts, Tomies Mts on your left with the Gap of Dunloe being the 'V' shape on the far left. And on your right you can see Torc Mts and the valley of the Killarney National Park. You can stop and pull in up here at Ladies View and on a good day like we got the views are wonderful in all directions. This was the only image I could get as a tour bus arrived and that was the end of that.

Gap of Dunloe

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

The Gap of Dunloe, Killarney, one of the major tourist spots in Ireland. However at this time of the day you have the place to yourself except for some sheep dotted around the place. The image above was taken just after sunrise. The clouds are starting to break up after a light rain fall which you can see covering the mountains in the background. What you see here is Black Lake, one of the three lake along the valley leading up to the Gap itself. I'm standing on the bridge which marks the point where the road switches over to the left hand side.

It's very hard to get an original image of the Gap of Dunloe as nearly every photographer in Ireland has at least one image from here. But in black and white ? not so sure about that.

Anyhow have a good weekend and hope to see you all next week if I am alive ?
Dublin Zoo want a image of the Tigers together and will arrange for me to get access with the Keepers on Sunday to get this photo.

All about Composition and your Camera

All about Composition and your Camera

ILLUSION

Introduction

How people love decorating things with stolen adjectives. The colour of music - they would say. They would talk about the music of a poem, the movement of sculpture, the depth of a landscape, the speaking likeness of a portrait. Do they mean any thing ? They do. There is sense behind these figures of speech. It is the indication of the artist's ultimate goal : to do more than his technique could produce by itself.
He will recognise the limitations of his craft and - fight them. He will struggle to create an illusion in place of those qualities which his technique must go without. The composer wants you to see the colour of his music, the poet wants you to hear the tune of his words, the painter wants you to feel the depth of his world.
The photographer, too, wants us to realise colour, space and movement, while looking at a piece of black and white paper ; and not just to try to make you believe in them, while he is laboriously explaining, "The sea was deep blue and endless, and those flying sails were white as a seagulls wings." If he is any good he will compel you to see that blue - that endlessness - that flight.

Loch Lein 4

Here is your My World image.

This is the last in the Loch Lein series of image from the Killarney trip. Nothing much to add that has not already been said.

It was a very busy weekend. We had some wonderful weather here on the east coast of Ireland which made for a great day trip to Dublin Zoo for my daughters party with the neighbours. The animals were in top form also and got a few photo's ( 10 gig worth). The problem is these images are in colour and have no place on a black and white site. So sorry about that. If you want to see some in B&W follow this Link to my website and you can see from the previous visits.

Newfoundland Bay 3

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I started the week off with an image from Newfoundlandbay Killarney and now I will finish the week with an image from Newfoundlandbay. In this image you can see the two swans that stayed with me for the couple of hours I was shooting at this location. It was great to have a bit of company and some thing to talk to about my composition !

The wonderful cloud formations are just about starting, which are visible in the previous posts.

I must continue the "All about Composition and Your Camera". You have only Depth and Movement under Illusion and then we are into the final Chapter of Unity of Purpose, Matter and Manner. If you have missed the others check out the "Tips and Tricks" in the sidebar.

Enjoy the rest of your Weekend as we in Ireland have an extra day rest with the May bank holiday weekend (god knows the banks need the extra day >*&%^$ ).