business transferred to glasseyalley.com!
Cork
Fields of Gold
May 13th
After a good tip on where to shoot a field of rape(seed), I finally bothered to do it.
This is in & around Currabinny, Co. Cork. Head towards the woods and you can’t miss it. Just wear some good shoes, the hike up to the field is a rocky one. Also, if you run into the locals, don’t fret. They’ll just look at you like you’ve got three heads, just like they did to me when I explained that I wanted to take a few photos of the field.
Kite Surfing
May 8th
Following some good advice, I spent a good portion of last Saturday at Garrettstown beach. The start of the day seemed rather uneventful. It was bitterly cold, hugely windy and the waves were very scrappy/patchy. Not conditions similar to other more eventful trips to Garrettstown. Nevertheless, I stuck around for a few hours; until my grumbling stomach finally got the better of me and I thought I’d retreat for some munchies. How and ever, as it sometimes does, things improved infinitely. On driving past the other end of the beach, I spotted a few lads unrolling and setting up various sails. Aha. Windsurfing! Not only that, kite surfing also! Jackpot…
I’ve wanted to try my hand at kite surfing photography for months. Possibly even longer. Last Saturday could not have presented any better an opportunity to do exactly that. It was a great buzz to photograph, I can only imagine what it’s actually like to be on the board! Thanks to all the lads, kite and wind surfers, that put on such a good show and didn’t once ask why exactly it was that I was standing on the beach pointing a lens towards them. As you’d expect, there are a few more on flickr.
Bikers… in drag
May 2nd
Just before I’m unceremoniously ejected from the bloggie fraternity for lack of posting, I thought I’d stick this one in. It’s a few of the drag racing that took place in Oldchapel, Bandon a couple of weeks back. Typically enough, I arrived well into the event and as such stood no chance whatsoever of getting a decent spot from which to take photos. Add to that the fact I didn’t really feel like being “mr. pushy photojournalist man” and asking people to move so I could steal their spot. Well, that and I didn’t want to get laid out on my back after a slap from a biker after I took his spot. So here you are, make of these what you will..
Sadly, and it was bound to happen eventually, I have discovered the limits of my 5fps 20D. The frame rate just isn’t suitable for high speed motorcycle racing. Then again, what is? I really wanted to hang around and get more panning shots, but the crowd just wouldn’t allow it. Ah well. These shots are also on flickr.
Garinish Island
Apr 29th
A recent daytrip to Garinish Island off Glengarriff in west Cork yielded the following results. Despite the in-frequent sprinklings of rain (and the possible threat of yet more rain to come) the day went off well. I did not spot one of my fellow Carrigaline Photographic Society members; odd as it was the very reason I was in west Cork to begin with. How and ever, got the ferry out to the island and was highly impressed by the scenery on offer out there.
I can’t wait to get back there when everything is in full bloom. Make sure to leave plenty of time though, get over there early, have a relaxing stroll around and leave buckets of time for a nice pot of tea before you get the ferry back. That’s the way to do it! Until I get back, there are more on flickr and one or two making an appearance on Glassey Alley.
Rocky Bay
Apr 23rd
Still more from the Easter weekend, this time a few from an absurdly quiet Rocky bay. Perhaps absurdly quiet because it was getting late in the day and the water was like ice. But anyway…
Couple more (but not many) here. Thinking back, could this have been one of those “go out just for the sake of taking a few photos” evenings? Curses, the TV is calling…
Motocross
Apr 11th
It truly frightens me that it’s been a week since I posted a set of photos here… Thank God I have Glassey Alley to keep plugging away on so I don’t feel like a total photoless loser!
Anyway, finally got back to Vernon Mount last Saturday for some more high speed motocross action. I was in luck that it was juniors day (seniors on Sunday) as personally I find the junior races a hell of a lot more fun to watch. A fellow photographer echoed my own opinion that the young fella’s have no fear so they throw themselves around the course like motocross is going out of business. Makes for some big spills; but great thrills. Got some good ones, here are a few.
As you’ll no doubt spot, the few hours I spent up in Vernon Mount gave me ample opportunity to practice my panning technique. It’s coming along nicely, even without a hugely expensive image stabilised lens! There are a few more of this type of thing on flickr.