Belfast, Streetscapes

Smokers Welcome.

Following my earlier post ‘The Smoker’s Rest‘ – illustrating that in most modern businesses smokers are very much less than welcome, I was intrigued to find at least one shop in Belfast where smokers are most definitely welcome!

Miss Moran’s. Smokers Welcome!

Miss Moran’s shop in Church Lane, Belfast is a traditional tobacconists, with a huge stock of cigars, snuffs, pipes and tobaccos; not just a resource for those addicted to the weed, but a huge tourist attraction in Belfast’s city centre. Continue reading Smokers Welcome. →

Uncategorized

It’s a Pane/Pain!

There’s a story here. 

These men were unloading panes of glass from a lorry and carrying them into the rear doors of a business.  (Sometimes what happens at the back of a business can be more interesting, photographically than what happens at the front!).

Every time I see two men crying a large pane of glass I think of Laurel and Hardy! 

So, I decided to make some photographs.  I got myself into a good viewing position, and made a couple of exposures.

Glass men
Every time I see two men crying a large pane of glass I think of Laurel and Hardy!

A thought struck me!  I decided to change my viewpoint, and change the lens.  If I walked across the street, I would see the Jaffe Fountain through the glass as the men carried it – and if I changed the lens from the wide angle zoom that was fitted to the camera, to a standard zoom, I’d be able to get a better resolution on the final crop.  So I walked across the street, and changed the lens.  I was ready for when the men came to lift the next (and final) pane. Continue reading It’s a Pane/Pain! →

Belfast, Black & White, Reportage, Streetscapes, Travel

Wee Dark Alleys…

I’m back at it again. Skulking round the wee dark alleys and passages of Belfast, waiting for an unsuspecting suspect to make a silhouette.

This was November 1st, a cold wet day in the city, and this passageway leads up to a carefully tended and maintained courtyard at the front of a restaurant and bar.

Silhouette- Church Lane, Belfast.

Fujifilm X-T30 F=18mm, f/2.8 @ 1/125th sec on ISO800. Shot using Acros Film Simulation

Photo-Technique, Training

Artistic Perception in Photography #1

Artistic Perception in Photography 

A series of short articles practical exercises and notes for new and improving digital photographers. 

A friend posted a nice image in Facebook and remarked that it looked better when cropped. (That’s often the case!) It prompted me to ask the question, why?  Why was the cropped image more attractive than the original photograph. And that in turn prompted me to think and talk about photographic composition; about the elements of design and the way that our minds perceive visual imagery. 

So, in a series of these very short videos and lessons, we’ll go right back to basics, and find out how to compose images that will excite the imagination. Remember, rarely are good images made by accident, they are planned, well thought through, conceived and constructed in the mind even before the shutter is activated. 

This series of talks and notes will be an Introduction to Artistic Perception in Photography.   How to SEE creatively. 

-oOOo-

Part One: Zoom with Your FEET! Continue reading Artistic Perception in Photography #1 →

Family Portraits, Studio

Hobbies Photoshoots – NOVEMBER SPECIAL

SPECIAL OFFER FOR NOVEMBER

HOBBIES PHOTOSHOOTS

Our special HOBBIES Mini-Photoshoots – Fund-Raising  for Cardiac Risk in the Young and The Lullaby Trust. For both ADULTS AND CHILDREN

 

It’s just £10 – and 100% of your donation goes to research into cardiac conditions in children and young people, or to helping families who have suffered through SIDS, and educate parents about safe sleep for babies.

Continue reading Hobbies Photoshoots – NOVEMBER SPECIAL →

Belfast, Black & White, News and Commentary, Reportage, Streetscapes

Harsh Life

This is part of life in any city.

I captured this scene in a reasonably affluent part of Belfast, an area full of life and vibrancy where students from across the world mix with young professionals in coffee shops and bars. Where the streets are teeming with people enjoying friendship and a casual happy lifestyle. Where the side streets are student flats, posh detached homes and family terraces. And where a man lives on a pavement in a grubby sleeping bag.

If any picture can speak a thousand words, surely this one does. What does it tell you about the man on the ground? Why has he positioned himself there? What conversation is taking place between the man and the woman at the bank machine? She doesn’t look threatened – in fact they seem to be having a pleasant enough conversation. He’s sitting beside a ‘meal deal’ sign – would anyone go into the shop and spend some money on a ‘meal deal’ for him? Is that why he’s there?

I love photographs like this, not only documenting real life on the streets as it happens, but exciting the mind – raising questions; seemingly incongruous juxtapositions of objects and subjects, apparent conflicts of themes and interpretations.

Fujifilm X-T30, F=55mm, f/5 @ 1/125th sec on ISO400, shot in ACROS film simulation mode.

Co. Down, Photo-Essay, Streetscapes

Moneyreagh Gospel Hall – Update

In June 2018 I made some photographs of the derelict exterior of the old Moneyreagh Gospel Hall.  The building had been unused for some years and was up for sale.  Here’s one of the images from that day…

_DSF8067

The hall has, presumably, been sold, and the roof has been removed, and the walls stripped back to the brick, – so it’s probably going to be converted to a dwelling.  I stopped at the site a few days ago to make some more photographs, and to see what the inside of the building is like now. Continue reading Moneyreagh Gospel Hall – Update →

Commercial and Family Photographer