Lockdown Logs

The Lockdown Logs #1

The Lockdown Logs

Datline: April 5th 2020

It’s SURREAL!  The small Co.Down town of Ballygowan, my home town, is silent and deserted.  The usually busy through traffic has stopped and the pavements are forsaken.  Even the children’s play park has been placed on Lockdown.  Out for a walk with the camera, I’m wondering how I can make an image that will reflect the sureallity of the situation.  I have the answer – the Lensbaby DESIGNER PRO with Sweet50 lens attachment, and a bit of distortion on post-capture processing, and a photo of one of the playpark features, and the weird nature of the Lockdown becomes visible!

Surreality

Photo-Technique, Training

300mm Nikon Lens on Fujifilm X-T30

300mm Nikon Lens on Fujifilm X-T30

Here’s an experiment with an old manual focus 70-300mm zoom Nikon lens on the Fujifilm X-T30 mirrorless camera.

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I was given this lens as a gift in 1995, (I think) and although it’s slow (max f/4) it’s quite a good lens. The light was failing when this image was made, around 5.30pm, so the ISO was 6400, making the image grainy. I extended the lens to 300mm and shot a photo of this bush at f/4 – 1/250th sec.

I needed to keep the ISO high and shutter speed short to eliminate lens shake.  Overall though, I see possibilities for this combination.

Belfast, History, Lockdown Logs, Photo-Technique, Reportage, Training, Travel

Traffic Jams and Nikon Lenses!

Using a 35 year old Nikon Lens on a 1 year old Fujifilm Mirrorless Camera!

It’s rare to have open roads in Belfast on a Saturday, but today the roads were reasonably free of traffic – with people ‘self-isolating’ and ‘social distancing.’  But there was one traffic jam, and that was caused by the closure of an important route into and out of the city, the Sydenham By-Pass.  This closure caused a stand-still traffic jam on the lower section of the Newtownards Road (Ballymacarret) – Just one single snarl up in the whole city and I was stuck in it.

As it happened I had a camera right beside me on the passenger seat of the car, so while the car was stationery, with the handbrake on and the engine stopped, I made a small number of exposures.  Random images, of no relevance or importance.

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Busy Belfast?  Because of the Coronavirus scare, the pubs, restaurants etc are closed, and the usually busy streets mostly deserted. This image processed to a sketch.

Continue reading Traffic Jams and Nikon Lenses! →

Beautiful Ulster, Co. Down, History, Ireland

Glasker Mill

Glasker Old Mill is on the road between Loughbrickland and Rathfriland in Co. Down.  The likelihood is that the mill was once part of the extensive Irish Linen industry which thrived in that area in the 19th and early 20th Century.

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I photographed it with my ‘baby’ – the Fujifilm X-T30 camera, fitted with the 18-55mm kit lens.

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Just a little further down the road is a beautiful old phone box, set against an unattractive brick wall.

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Thankfully, this is not a problem…

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Travel

The Nissan X-Trail

Nissan X-Trail.

Photographed today. for a commercial client.  Good photography sells cars.

XTrail

Fujifilm X-T3 F=53mm f/11 @ 1/60th sec on ISO1600.

nissan, xtrail nissanxtrail whitecar white #carsales fujifilmxt3 carphotography autofocus automotivephotography

Commercial Photography, Uncategorized

NEW YEAR – NEW PROFILE!

New Year – NEW PROFILE!

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Think what you could use YOUR profesisonal headshot for… Continue reading NEW YEAR – NEW PROFILE! →

Commercial and Family Photographer