Photowalk - Dun Laoghaire

Another sunny weekend recently so I decided to head out to Dun Laoghaire to get some fresh air and see if I could get a few good pics. It was nice and bright out so perfect conditions and I also had a play around with locking the focus on a point then moving the camera so that I could determine what came out sharp without having the camera refocus.

 

  

 

Fionn Regan @ Google

Fionn Regan dropped into Google today - It was the first time we had a full band in for a gig so was looking forward to getting a good few pics of them doing their thing. Some issues with the light, as Fionn stood just a fraction too far forward for the spotlights to get him which meant his face was in shadow for the entire thing. Adjusting settings to make the most of the low light didn't help that much and I didn't really fancy using the flash at such a close range when he was trying to perform. I got some decent ones of his band though so was happy with that. The performance was really good too!

 

 

  

  

 

The Brown Bread Mixtape

A friend of mine runs a monthly night of themed music, spoken word and performance called the Brown Bread Mixtape. If you have never been, and are of the persuasion that enjoys a FREE night of funnies and sometimes tearys, you should really check it out. After threatening to go to one of the nights for some time, I took the plunge last week for the 'Do you speak my language' night. Much hilarity and entertainment ensued, and I also grabbed a couple of shots.

 

  

  

 

John Spillane @ Google

Another @Google session, this time with John Spillane. John was so entertaining I almost forgot to take some pictures, but I grabbed a few toward the end of his set. After the Gemma Hayes and Mick Flannery sessions, I noticed that some other (more experienced) people there came out with much better looking black&white pics.

When I used black&white on my own camera, I ended up with an almost identical shot to when I use standard colour, except the tones were now changed to greyscale. The more experienced guys ended up with shots that seemed to give less shades of grey and a noticable step between light and shadow. I played around with the camera settings for a bit and I think I've managed to get it a bit better.

  

 

Sporty Stuff

Ireland Vs Italy in the first game of the 6 Nations 2010, a perfect opportunity to have a go at some proper action photography. Just one minor glitch - being in the very back row of the upper Cusack stand meant that I'd need to borrow one of those intercontinental lenses from the guys out on the south wall if I wanted to get anything decent. All the same, I was happy enough with the shots.

 

  

 

Catchin' Some Waves

A relatively clear, fresh Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to go for a walk along the south wall in Dublin. With camera in tow, I reckoned I might get some good shots of the lighthouse, chimneys and maybe some looking back in towards Sandymount. There were loads of folks out and about with their cameras, some of which looked like they were trying to take a picture of someone in the Isle of Man given the size of the lenses they were using. I muscled my way into position with the best of them and here's the results.

 

 

  

Mick Flannery @ Google

The second installment of the musicians@Google series featured Mick Flannery. Being only a short while after the Gemma Hayes session, I went for pretty similar settings so no surprises for guessing that the results were pretty similar too!

Gemma Hayes @ Google

Gemma Hayes came into our office today to have a chat and sing a few songs. I work for Google in Dublin, and the @Google team which normally invites guest speakers such as business leaders to come and speak have started inviting musicians in to play at lunchtime which I'm very excited about as it'll give me a chance to snap a few shots while they perform.
I used a mix of standard and black&white shots for this, as I thought the lighting behind the performer showed up well when converted to grayscale.

 

  

 

Castle(y) Stuff

The second outing was to Duckett's Grove, the ruins of what used to be the home of the Duckett family close to Carlow town, once a 12,000 acre estate. The photo's were taken at dusk, so I was hoping for some nice interaction between the granite walls and the clear blue sky.

Outdoorsy Stuff

So my first excursion with the camera was to Galway, where I got to grips with the basic shoot and zoom functions with a few back garden shots. I'd like to learn more about focusing on what I'd like to focus on as I think some of these could have been better with objects in the foreground sharp, background blurry and vice versa. Nevertheless, here's some pics.

My Camera(s)

Since December 2009 I've been the proud owner of a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, which I'll mention is my first and only 'proper' camera. Before this I've used an eclectic mix of regular point-and-shoots and camera phones.

 

The lenses that I'm using are the standard Lumix G Vario 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 (shown on the picture above) and an additional Lumix G Vario 45-200mm/F4.0-5.6 shown left.

The myriad settings on this type of camera (what I guess you might call a mini-SLR) definitely takes some getting used to, but so far that's been part of the fun. The pictures that I'll be posting to this blog will be coming from the G1 mostly, with perhaps a few from my phone thrown in for good measure.

Welcome One and All

Hi, and thanks for stopping by.


As a total beginner to all things photography, I've decided to start a little blog to post some ramblings and show off some of my attempts as I make my way from humble beginnings to Pulitzer prize-winning shots.


Tips, feedback and general comments all welcome.

Stephen