I feel I’m not doing as much street photography as I used to, but I just happened to be in Belfast today, and…
on’t you just love the sense of concentration, both hands in play – and the character in the image? Sheer concentration! Fujifilm X-T4, F=172mm, f/5.6 @ 1/1000 sec on ISO200.
It’s encouraging to drive along a road and see some inspirational words on a wall. In Belfast, it makes a nice change from some of the darker, paramilitary or terrorist inspired murals. Ant when you are ‘getting on a bit’ like me, this wall on the Newtownards Road is particularly appropriate – a good incentive to keep going!
This area of Belfast is known as ‘Ballymacarrett’ – an ancient townland name, and the home of many of the old Belfast industries, most notably the famous Harland and Wolff Shipyard, Short Brothers aircraft factory, the Belfast Rope Works and the Scirocco Works.
The mural features everything that is good about East Belfast, its community and renown, including CS Lewis, born in East Belfast. Also included are a ballerina, Belfast City Hall, and a group of children playing in the street, a boy releasing a dove, symbolising peace.
The main text on the mural is:
The mighty DAF, powering its way toward Short Strand in the shadow of the equally mighty Harland and Wolff Cranes that overlook the city of Belfast.
I shot this monster truck with the monster Fujifilm X-T4, F=55mm, f/10 @ 1/250th sec on ISO800, processed it in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Dateline: June 4th 2020
When I drive I keep the camera beside me, usually with a medium range zoom lens fitted. When I stop at traffic lights I wind down the window and look around me. If something interesting is happening, I shoot it. So this was the scene today at the bottom of the Limestone Road.
I liked the symmetry of the men’s postures.
Removing the colour made the image less fussy and distracting.
Time for my annual visit to the Belfast Christmas Market, clustered around the veritable ‘Dome of Delight’ itself, Belfast’s historic City Hall. This year again, it was the evening when I visited. I took the Fujifilm X-T30, small enough to be unobtrusive and powerful enough to make eye-watering images. I had the ISO at 3200 throughout the evening. Despite the fantastic X-T30, the market was so busy it was difficult to make any decent images, but here’s a few…
Saturday 9th September 2019 – the morning was wet, for heavy rain has been lashing the British Isles, causing flooding. Thankfully Northern Ireland has been spared the worst effects, unlike parts of England, where flooding has ruined homes and even led to loss of life. It’s too wet to go out on the streets, but I had a sort of a back-up plan. In Belfast is an old Victorian Covered Market, ‘St George’s Market’ (built in the 1890s) – and I thought a visit might bring one or two photo opportunities.
Bittles Bar, Victoria Place, Belfast.
An unusual street corner building.
Part of the original Victorian architecture of the city, now snugly surrounded by the modern commercial city.
Fujifilm X-T30 F=10mm (sees the same field of view as a 15mm lens on a full frame DSLR). f/5 @ 1/125th sec on ISO400.
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 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.
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
If you are fortunate enough to ever visit Belfast, Northern Ireland, you can get around the city easily and quickly on a ‘Belfast Bike.’ Download an app, pay a small fee, and borrow a bike! Take it from one side of the city to the other, and park it at the nearest bike-park! Easy!
A rack of public-access bicycles at Botanic Gardens, Belfast.
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