Everything you do is a photo opportunity. That’s how history is recorded, and street photography has never been easier, given the powerful cameras that are now built into our mobile phones and smart devices and the apps available to process them.
So, following my own advice – a shopping trip with Janette becomes a snapshot of life in 2016 in Lisburn.
Excitement! Just in time for the Christmas Gift Season, Bob has introduced a series of Black and White Giclee Prints, high quality, Black and White Images featuring iconic but lesser known Irish Scenes and Landscapes – available as Mounted Prints – ideal for shipping abroad – or as Framed Prints.
Limited Editions – there are only 120 of each of these prints available for sale, each one signed, numbered and dated by the photographer. Check out the order page here:
http://www.BobMcEvoy.co.uk/irish-art-limited-edition-prints/
I visited Carrickfergus on Saturday, 10th October, on a grey overcast, but warm morning, to wander around the castle with my Nikon F/100 camera and a roll of Ilford Delta ISO100 film.
The town was very quiet for a Saturday morning – I wonder is it like this all the time? There were very few people about. The seas were calm, and the harbour quiet. Here’s few monochrome images from the day (and a couple of colour intruders)…
On Friday 12th September 2015, between appointments, I took a stroll through Alexandra Park, in north Belfast. It was a poignant, nostalgic break in an otherwise mundane day, for I hadn’t gone to this park to exercise my legs, but to exercise my memory. My grandparents, Bob and Jeannie Kirk had lived in this park, in the gardener’s house, in the late 1950’s and early 60’s. Bob Kirk had been the foreman gardener at Glenbank Park in Ligoneil (where I was born) and his move to Alexandra Park as forman gardener would have been seen as a promotion. He took up residence in the Park Lodge, and remained there until retirement in 1965. While they lived there, I spent many happy days and evenings with them, travelling over by bus, down the Falls Road, and catching the No.77 Belfast Corporation Bus, (That famous bus route that wound through the streets of Belfast from the Gasworks to the Waterworks) alighting at the Waterworks.
There are those who will claim that Elvis Presley has been dead for many years, but I have evidence to the contrary. I was driving along O’Neill Road near Whiteabbey Hospital on Monday when I noticed Elvis himself, holding forth in song outside a house close to the road. Armed with my trusty Nikon F100, and loaded with Ilford 400ISO film – I shot Elvis!
Here is the proof – and the camera never lies.
I’ve been playing with an iphone app called ‘Hueless.’ It’s an excellent piece of technology, allowing the phone’s camera to shoot in monochrome, and giving the photographer great control over the capture of the image. the user interface screen is intuitive and easy to use. it features accurate autofocus achieved by a simple tap on the screen to set the focus point. There’s a drop down control to alter the exposure and contrast on the screen, so you can see the end result before the snap is taken. There’s a series of optional presets which the photographer can set up for instant camera control, and cropping to photo-sizes is easily achieved by pinching the screen. If you are for ate enough to own an iPhone 6 (and I don’t) then there’s even an option for high ISO shooting to make low light shots possible.
Here’s a selection of images I captured at the Tullyglass Hotel, and later in Belfast with the app.
No monochrome camera is complete without filters, and the Hueless app offers a drop-down menu with the standard filters one would use with a black and white film camera. Here’s an image with the red filter:-
Really, for a couple of quid, its a fantastic app, get it at the Apple App Store! Dont be clueless, get Hueless, – it’s just about flawless!!!
It has been rumoured that this alien spacecraft has travelled through millions of galaxies, and has landed in Ballymena to share in the hospitality and generosity of the local inhabitants!
No, wait! It’s all a big mistake. It’s not a spacecraft after all! It’s a Presbyterian Church! Yes, Wellington Church – with its remarkable new building is now a landmark feature in the town. I captured this Monochrome image on my way back from a wedding at Galgorm last week using my Nikon F100 film camera, loaded with Ilford FP5 ISO400 B&W film, f/11 @ 1/250th sec.
It was processed for 8 minutes in Fotospeed FD10, washed and fixed for 10 minutes, then washed for 10 minutes. Scanned into Photoshop for layer balance and contrast adjustment, and addition of border. There you are!
Go buy yourself a real camera and use film!
Having said all of that – one does have to wonder why a church needs such powerful thruster rockets?
When I was studying for my HND Photography, one of the modules was Advertising Photography. As part of the project, we had to select a well known company and create three adverting images that could be presented to that company. I chose the famous ‘Old Bushmills’ Irish Whisky Distillery. I researched their existing and previous advertising campaigns, and asked them how they wanted their product to be recognised – what was their unique selling point. One of their brand images seemed to be the age of the old distillery – It was established early in the seventeenth century. Continue reading Bushmills Advertising Project
The ‘Dark Hedges’ – a set of trees growing across a road outside Armoy, Co. Antrim, – used, (I am told) for some of the scenes in ‘Game of Thrones.’
This shot was taken using the Nikon D700, on an overcast afternoon around 4pm. 1/250th second @ f/16 on ISO400.
Portraits2Go.co.uk 