Saturday, June 30, 2007

Going for gold

I have taken up archery as a relaxing pastime.
Something to focus my mind, to get "into the zone" as it were.
It works.

I really, really enjoy it.

Last night, for the first 45 mins, I was shooting exceptionally well (compared to my previous form ,that is). Then my bow arm shoulder got tired and my aim went.
Still, for 45 mins I was there, nothing but me and the target. The way it should be.
Now I have to go and figure out a way to strengthen my shoulder and arm sufficiently.

I had been visualizing all last week. It seems to have worked.
More mental discipline needed methinks.

Now playing- Bad Brains "Sailin' on".

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Rock n roll

I filled 6 x 1 GB cards at the Glyder gig on Saturday night. A mighty edit was done, as mentioned in my last posting. This was whittled down to 100 shots and then pared down further to about 9 for me to post on t'internet and a disc of about 20 to the guys who run the rock nights upstairs in the diamond bar in Ahoghill.

Shooting at 1600 asa and 2000 asa made the pics rather grainy. I calmed this down slightly using some software. (I quite like the grain though).

Of course if more wattage of lighting had been available I wouldn't have had to up the asa so much. The band would have been cooked though....

Gaffa taping flash guns on the lighting rig next time maybe.
I really enjoyed taking these photos. I started out taking photos of bands in 1990. I stopped in 1995 for a reason I can't remember.
With digital I can shoot as many pics as my cards will carry. At no extra cost. If I had been shooting film at the Glyder gig it would have cost me £100 approx for film and processing.
Digital rules for high volume shooting.

The pics are on my flickr site if anyone wants a look. I posted the pre grain removal shots.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Have lens, will travel.

Saturday saw me up and out taking photos at a Cancer Research relay for life event at Eaton park in Ballymena. I got some good photos of the relay teams with the mayor and chef/TV personality Paul Rankin.

A break for lunch and download and backup the photos and then to my godson's 4th birthday party where I took more photos.

Home for a bite to eat and a sit down watching Glastonbury whilst donwloading the photos and backing them up to an external drive.

Then that evening I went to take photos of a band called Glyder who were playing at the Diamond bar in Ahoghill.

Up until 3.30 am downloading, backing up and editing the gig photos.

I'll be posting some pictures tonight when I get home. I spent all day Sunday and Monday evening editing and tweaking photos. ( I took quite a lot).

Still tired and it's Tuesday.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Traffic n some stuff

I had the misfortune to have to drive home from Belfast today.
I am so glad I don't have to do that everyday.
20mph in the fast lane on the M2? Fook that.

Maybe that is why I ranted a bit over at Ed's place.
Sorry Ed, Had a bad commute.
That and learning a new computer filing regime all day. Gaah.

I also had about 4 cups of coffee today....now that I am only doing my legal drugs at the weekend ( alcohol and caffeine) I am a bit wired.

I have a very good idea for a photojournalistic story and exhibition. ( Formulated last weekend.)
The title and idea of which are not to be revealed until work commences which should be in the next week or so.

I'm aiming for public exposure by winter, the work that is, not me.

Ambitious, me? You betcha.

I am adding to my portfolio this weekend, I'll be posting on Sunday on Flickr.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Infected

I have been infected.
I feel crap.
I am fighting it off as it isn't really getting a hold on me.
Still crap though.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Its hot, George...

Enjoying the weather?

I am.

I've just been weeding (and no, I don't have a speech impediment). Crap joke over then.
It is hot though. I sometimes wonder how we will cope with warm weather. We don't have buildings kitted out for it as we are set up for cold and wet weather. Not every building has aircon.
Funny how we now have a govt company called Northern Ireland Water and not a squeak about reservoir capacity. Just endless talk of water charges. A moot point if there isn't going to be enough water to pump to customers .
Our water retention facilities are woefully inadequate. One not so wet winter and the water levels in our reservoirs drop by a scary amount.
Now, global warming.
A hot potato subject if ever there was one.
Hypothetically speaking, just say the sun is getting warmer. Just say other planets in our solar system are also heating up much the same way we are. Just say that the amount of crap we pump into the atmosphere isn't the cause of this heating up but is exacerbating it-worst case scenario.

What to do?

Fecking carbon credits are not the way to go.
Still, I am not going to making billions from carbon credit trading, maybe I am jealous.
Yet another con foisted upon us.
So, the sun is heating up ( I am still being hypothetical here), it isn't a manmade phenomenon and because some misguided people have bleated very loudly saying it is I am going to have to pay extra tax?
Wank3rs, I say.
I wish I'd thought of it. Nice scam.

Now, before anyone starts slapping me on the back and handing me a cigar from their Rangerover humidor.... Stick it in your ear and stop driving that bloody thing round town. Why do you feel the need to drive such a huge vehicle? They are not safer as their centre of gravity is higher, ergo they are more prone to cowp going round bends.
It is too big, it makes you think you are invincible and hence makes your driving skills even less evident. Much kudos to those people in overly large vehicles who actually DRIVE OFFROAD. You can tell them apart as they are covered in muck and most definitely do not have low profile tyres.

All this ranting, it must be the global warming.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Getting older

Attending the cremation of my friend's mother (a guy who is like the brother I never had, by the way) was an odd experience. It was the first time I have had to attend the funeral for a friends parent. It was marked, I thought, by the small amount of attendees on the non family side. Myself, Mrs M and Mr DJ (another old friend) were in attendance along with the guy who my friend works with on a two man team and a young apprentice (that's a three man team then I suppose.). So, work colleagues aside, that made three of us.

I was thinking maybe a lot of people couldn't get time off work or were on holiday.
Maybe I was being too nice.
Maybe, and I realise I am theorising here, all those other people who didn't show up aren't really friends at all and this is the sort of situation when one finds out who one's true friends actually are?

Hmm, maybe.

Quality not quantity, eh?

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Normality lite

Update- My Father in law has had an angiogram and a "stent" fitted. This is a small tube to keep an artery open so hopefully he doesn't have another coronary.

He is in fine form and is looking forward to getting home. Lookin' good so far.

I am back to work today. Straight back into a pile of admin work to boot, the other fun stuff will have to wait.

I had a dose of normality last Friday when I attended a colleagues retirement party. Much fun was had by all. I was under orders from the inlaws and Mrs M to go and enjoy myself.
It was my first serious night out on the beer since last year. (Scary when its put like that, isn't it?).

Very drunk I was. Had my camera with me and took many photos. Won't be posting any as they identify the miscreants involved very very well.

Truth be told I am wary of posting photos of people without them agreeing to it in writing.
A hangup that may or may not be a good thing. Jury still out on that one.

A good test of the 12-24 mm lens. Hmm, I like it a lot, it deals very well shooting with directly into the sun. Very sharp and the distortion at the wide end is to be expected really. Great for up close and personal people photos. Especially in crowded pubs in the 'Mena !

I also made a sale last week using the i-photo slideshow and remote control facility on the macbook. It looked very slick indeed.

Bloggorhoea.

Is there loperamide for blogging?
Northern Irish bloggers
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