Aviva Stadium

The Aviva Stadium is pretty impressive to look at at the best of times, but when there is a game on, it takes on a whole new life. I took a wander down during the most recent Ireland home game to get a few shots and get some more practice using the mini-tripod.

We're All Goin' on a - Summer Holiday

So far, all of my photo taking opportunities have been within the confines of the Emerald Isle, so it was with great expectation that I packed up my camera and headed off to Portugal. The south coast and Algarve region has some pretty spectacular scenery and great beaches, so I was eager to get some sweeping postcard-style landscape shots while I was there.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, and I soon learned that no matter how spectacular a view is, getting the view that your eye sees into the frame of a camera is no mean feat, and is probably best left to people with a bit more of an idea as to what they are doing.

Ever determined, I still managed to take a few decent shots which are arranged for your viewing pleasure below. Perhaps it's a stage that everyone goes through, but I'm finding a bit of a niche (perhaps thast should be 'rut') in night scenes - lights seem make everything a bit more interesting. They do to me anyway.

The Liffey By Night

I mentioned a while back that, after having some trouble with low light shots coming out blurred, I had bought a Gorillapod. Well, the day (night) finally came for me to try it out properly and having threatened to take some pictures along the river liffey after dark for a while, I eventually made it down.

I found that shooting at night presents both positives and negatives. The positives are that the actual subject of the shots is usually nicely lit up, in some instances using some pretty funky colours which can look great when shot against a dark sky, and the reflection from the water adds a whole separate feature. Also, it gives an opportunity to get some pictures of places that would normally be packed with people while they are eerily quiet.

Negatively, I found that it can be difficult to find the right settings ('right' may be subjective here) to shoot with - taking two pictures of the same object a few seconds apart with different settings can result in to extremely different pictures, one with a more white-blue light making everything look cold, while the next could have a warmer sepia-like tint to it. I'm not sure which I prefer yet.

I also got to grips with longer-exposure pictures which, when used at a river setting, can give some interesting effects where the flowing water appears motion-blurred, while the subject of the shot remains still.Again, this can go either way depending on the actual subject of the photo but it was interesting to play around with.

Grand Canal Dock & Theatre

The Grand Canal Dock area is a pretty good-looking place at the moment - most of the building work is finished, the commercial units are occupied and a few weeks ago, the Grand Canal Theatre finally opened. As I passed by a few weeks ago, I noticed some feathered friends making the transition to city living and grabbed a few pics, so while I was there I said I might as well get a few of the theatre, too.

However, since the shots I took at The Brown Bread Mix Tape, I've realised that in a low-light setting, holding the camera in my hands just doesn't cut it - the amount of time the shutter must be open to get a proper shot means that blurred images are unavoidable. Memo to self, purchase a small tripod for low-light situations!

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.