I had a lovely Mother’s day today.

Originally I’d been roped into doing a bit of filming today for Bláthny and her friends.  Unfortunately one of her friends couldn’t make it for the shoot, and the ‘movie’ had to be postponed.

As we’d nothing else planned we decided we’d head to Dunmore East, which has recently become one of my favourite places to while away a few hours.

The harbour is lovely, although it can be quite chilly, even on a warm day.  Today there was enough of a breeze to make me think twice about walking the high wall that runs the length of the pier.

The girls were about to attempt it but when I told them I wasn’t jumping in after them if they blew off, they thought better of it.  They posed for some photos instead.

I made my first attempt … Read More »

I’ve been asking myself for ages whether or not I should be watermarking images when putting them online.  Opinions seem to vary on the idea:

“Professional photographers watermark their images.  You’re not a professional photographer”

“Watermarking? Why would you want to do that? It destroys the look of the photograph.”

“If you’re going to do it put something discreet on it.”

And so I’ve varied between using tiny, inconspicuous print at the bottom of my photos in order not to appear pretentious and in order not to give the impression that I might even *think* I’m a Pro,  to using glaringly obvious fonts stretched across the width of the photos on my ‘I couldn’t give two hoots what you think’ days.

And then there were some photos that I never watermarked at all….like … Read More »

I’ve come to realise that I am a procrastinator.  I don’t necessarily put things off because they’re difficult or because I don’t like them.  Sometimes I delay doing things that I enjoy and that I want to do.

For example, I fully intended to start a project today that I’ve been looking forward to.  This is what I did instead:-

I got up late.

I went for a walk.

I took photographs while out walking.

I came home, cooked dinner, went to the hospital to fill in for another presenter at the station, came home (again),  and took more photos.

It was actually interesting to take these and to experiment with different shutter speeds and lighting methods.

In all of these photographs I used extra light from a torch.  The one below probably got a bit too much torch light. It shows up the plastic leaves on … Read More »

Lloyd’s Express Hair Salon, Clonmel, had a fundraising day last Sunday and offered blowdries for 15 euros in order to raise funds for an incubator for South Tipperary General Hospital.  I took some photos on behalf of the Hospital Radio. (See www.susancloonan.ie)

When it came to taking a photo outside, I felt that the two bollards pictured took greatly from the shop facade. (Or maybe I was just looking for a reason to mess around with Photoshop)

Approximately 15 minutes with a bit of paint and the cloning tool fixed them.

Before

 After

Gotta LOVE Photoshop!

Today’s photo: Ally doing some clay modelling this evening. I’m surprised she stayed put when I took the camera out.  Usually she goes running in the opposite direction.  Thanks Ally. x

While Ally was being artistic, Bláthnaid made dinner.  We had a delicious tomato, garlic and cheese pasta.  My photo doesn’t do it any justice at all.  Thanks Bláthny. x

Thanks to Val, I joined a new group on Facebook aimed at getting people to post a photo a day.

It’s quite difficult to do, especially as, when I get home after a day of work and college, it’s dark and I don’t feel the least bit inspired to pick up my camera.

I took a photo of the top shelf of the bookcase in my bedroom yesterday.

Two years ago the top shelf (and the one beneath it) held a copy of every book that Stephen King had ever written, or at least any I knew of.  I was his Number 1 fan. (….you’d have to BE a fan…)

I still have them – the books.  They’ve been relegated to the bottom two shelves for the foreseeable future, and my collection is lacking in anything he’s written during the two years.

So yesterday’s photo … Read More »

It’s been a quick year.  Sarah, my niece, celebrated her first birthday with the family on Saturday.

I’ve a few photos on the laptop that I need to go through but I thought I’d put these two up.

This one is a casual shot taken of Sarah with her mum and dad.  I had to remove a standard lamp from behind the couch.  Unfortunately I didn’t think to remove it BEFORE I took the photo.  Thank heavens for Photoshop!

I put some text in on this next one just for fun.

Sarah with her new V-Tech laptop.  And I am not joking when I say that she is taking after her techy dad by spending more time looking underneath the laptop than at the screen.  I expect her to have at least three new phrases programmed into it when I see her next.

Happy Birthday … Read More »

Launches

I attended the official launch of a store two weeks ago.  Actually, I attended two launches for two different stores – one on Thursday, and another on Friday.  I had a particular ‘job’ to do at these launches and I thought I’d take my camera along and take a few photos.

Thursday

Thursday’s event was great fun.  It was well organised.  A local ‘celebrity’ was there to cut the ribbon, a professional photographer took photographs, and the shop owner also had a camera.

Friday

Friday’s event was also fun, although a marketing agency who were, allegedly, supposed to show up at 11:00 that morning, didn’t turn up until 2.15 that afternoon.  By the time they turned up we had the show on the road and I had taken a few photos too.  The marketing crowd started setting up their gear, and their Team Leader … Read More »