New Pics

Been running some star trails through Picasa - it's impressive how many more show up when you tweak the settings, though the image is a little more noisy. These I took last week, when skies were clear.

Photographer's tip: I used Bulb mode to control the exposure time. Using a Pentax k-x for any long exposure work is a little bit of a disadvantage, and I must qualify that because it's a great camera anyway. The Noise Reduction feature on it, if left active, will take an equal exposure against a black screen, i.e. with mirror down. This second exposure is the same length as the one you've taken and is used for the software algorithm to take out any "noise" in the image. So you're left with doubling your time outdoors or halving the work you get done on long exposure stuff. Just a note!

Star Trails:


And with wonderful lens flare from a nearby streetlight...


Otherhow, I've been out to Dun Laoghaire last weekend and during a quick walk out the pier snapped these. A bit underwhelming maybe, but I think the Black and White treatment of the city skyline is interesting.





That's all for now! Comments box is open down below. Etsy prints, as ever, out here.

Brian.

More photographs from Salthill, Galway

As promised, I've uploaded a few more photos from the walk along the prom in Salthill, Galway, last weekend (like a month ago now!) Hope you like em as much as I liked being there, and being able to take them.


It really is a refreshing place for a walk and the weather was just right - a little cold maybe, but some sunshine and no rain, but enough cloud for drama!



These small waves still made a big splash off the breakwater - I think this is a swimming pool or something, maybe someone can correct me?

This next shot is of an interesting sign - I've never seen another like it in my time!



Always good advice - it is situated on the diving board at the far end of the promenade.

No ice-cream today.



And the bucket shop was unfortunately closed, but has a fantastic window display!



I wonder how it goes in Black and White....



Great walk, thoroughly enjoyable. After Salthill we went back into town. Galway, and that long street running from Eyre Square down towards Spanish Arch in particular has some of the most beautiful shopfronts in the country. I took some snaps of those and will get cracking on them over the next few days.

Nice of you to visit, see you again!

Some generally random photos I also took recently.

Trying to eke out the honeymoon pics a little bit, still have San Diego, Las Vegas to do and possibly some other transit pics - for another time!

This evening I was playing with some photos I took on a walk with friends in Monaghan - a Coillte property I think. We were on the Dartrey estate, and there seems to be plenty of scope for a return visit! The weather wasn't great so we just did an out and back walk, but I got a couple of interesting shots. Lovely bluebells too, but not as nice as in my local woods in Monasterevin of course!!

Kind of a grey day...


I loved this detail from a tree by the lake.


And the Rhododendrons were in bloom also, quite a few of them.






So that's a short post to round out the bank holiday weekend - a pretty busy one, with bloom on Saturday, entertaining family Sunday and doing some hardcore lazing today (though we did tidy up a little, honest) with the help of a Hitchcock movie as well as the movie Touching the Void.

This weekend has been finished off with some very tasty Dungarvan Black Rock Stout, very well put together. Tasting notes on the side (vanilla, aniseed) very helpful and seemed accurate to me. That'll go on the perennial list then too!

Oh, and busy Tuesday too - the talented students of the DIT photography school are opening their final year exhibition in Temple Bar, at the Gallery of Photography and the National Photography Archive - looking forward to seeing these! It's on now, and open for a couple of weeks - drop in and see and enjoy.

More info here! http://www.ditgraduatephotography.com/

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles was our 3rd last stop after Santa Barbara, and we spent 2 nights here near Rodeo Drive. It really is a sprawl, cars everywhere, and clogged up freeways running through the city. We drove in at about 3:30 pm or so and it was the first time I experienced stop-start traffic on the trip. Still, thanks to our satnav system we got to the hotel happy enough and got settled in. Hotel/valet parking, by the way, can be expensive ($20-$30 a night) so if you're planning a trip this might be something to keep in mind.

Of course we went for a walk around to get our bearings, up towards Rodeo Drive. Yes, my wallet was nervous but when we got there it relaxed as it didn't have anything to worry about :P



The full day in between we took a hoponhopoff bus tour, which took us around most of the sights and we were happy to see most of them from the bus. We did get off at a couple of locations including a car museum (which had some great exhibits including a supercar area and cars from film/tv)





Some thoughtful people had also put up a sign - but I think I'll report it as false advertising.




We also decamped from the bus at Hollywood Boulevard, where we saw all of the pavement stars you could see (that gets boring!)



 and the Chinese Theatre, where I realised I have bigger feet than Bruce Willis. Oh, and this sign.



We then switched buses and got down to Santa Monica beach, where there's a nice pier and a sunset (every evening!).



On the way to San Diego we hit the flower market and Universal Studios (a great day out!)

San Francisco, Parte the Seconde.

I has returned, as you can see. I brung with me some more photos that you may or may not be interested in seeing. That said, if you've got this far, well done and I hope you enjoy them!



So the Golden Gate bridge we saw, well, we had to - I wanted to. It's brilliant, elegant in form and orange in colour. Well, International Orange, to be precise. We walked about halfway out, and then came back, had some nice views of SF and the bay too!




And it's worth noting that while the Golden Gate has it's own police, the California Highway Patrol (or CHiPs as I like to call them) still drop in from time to time. I love the gold and blue helmets! They're on BMW R-1200 (I think) bikes now, not the classic Kawasakis, but it's still great to see em.



I mentioned in my earlier post that the cables for the cable car system are all run from the same location. Credit to my disorganisation and poor blog post planning, I kept that photo for today! You can see the main power and gear units in the foreground, and the cables run over the big pulleys. In the background you might see the tension pulleys which move further away as the cable stretches, these keep the cables nice and tight for the grips on the cars.



That brings me to the end of today's few photos - there are more at the album on pix.ie if you're interested!

Next might be the transit to Yosemite....

Some Monasterevin Photographs

Last weekend (feels like it's a week ago!) I had a bit of time on Sunday afternoon. It was a nice day, so I took some photographs on the (round-about) way to the shops for bread and milk and stuff. These are the results - many were deleted, and this is kinda bridge heavy, but as I've said before, there are photographs everywhere, you just have to get out and about and go to them!

This road leads to Monasterevin - I love these old signs, lots of character and texture still in them. That's a mile there, by the way, not a kilometre....!


My travels took me to the train station. The bridge linking the platforms is (naturally) defended by fencing, so I couldn't take the photo I thought I wanted, so this would have to do...


Off I went to recursive infinity after that...


Then down by the Barrow I got a few photos of the Pass bridge, the viaduct and the aqueduct. In the picture below you'll see the rail viaduct and the aquaduct (Grand canal over the river Barrow). For more pictures, follow the link in the title, and enjoy!


Oh, by the way, does anyone know if blogger is broken on chrome?

Fionn, Bran, agus Sceolan.

We really are blessed with the art, including public art, produced in this country. You only have to drive the motorways to see some beautiful work, including the ball at Naas, horse and rider at Sligo, some (recently stolen, shame) works on the M7 outside Monasterevin, and many many others the length and breadth of the country. A small percentage of public money from some projects is put aside to provide this art (I believe this was paid for as part of the proceeds from parking revenue in Newbridge), and it's a great thing - I hope art doesn't get too much more of a whittling in the near future.



Anyway, the most recent work I've seen is the work just off the Curragh (Ballymany) interchange south of Newbridge on the M7. By Lynn Kirkham, it's title is "Fionn Mac Cumhaill and his hounds" - more info here. It's a hugely impressive trio of steel, well, sculptures is the wrong word, but figures doesn't capture their majesty, and domination of the roundabout.

I love the styling on the figures, it's got a great martial feel to it, capturing the great legendary warrior and his transmuted nephews (Bran and Sceolan were once human nephews of Fionn) very well.



I hope the rest of my photos speak for themselves!

Some further photographs from the Parade in Newbridge

Wow! I never had as many visitors as I did yesterday, with everyone googling for newbridge parade stuff! So, in case any of you are return visitors, I added a few more pictures today, 2 of the fire brigade and 3 of the Muscle cars at the back of the parade....

Fire Brigade (happy campers!)


More Fire Brigade, in dry suit and in Fire Kit.


V8 power - Camaro and Mustang (and noise!)







I hope you have enjoyed my pictures, I enjoyed taking them.

Parade, Newbridge, Co. Kildare - St. Patrick's Day

Took a trip to Newbridge to see their parade today, and you might be expecting this - I took some photos. There was a fantastic selection of bands, dancers, clubs, and a variety of vehicles from fire engines to vintage cars, from muscle cars to tractors. Congratulations to all involved, it was a great show!

You can see my photos at http://pix.ie/brianp/album/404765! But if not, here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

Drummer - St Conleth's band.


Moorefield GFC's security detail on the trophy trailer...






St. Bathrick was there.....


As was St Patrick, banishing the snake - or was the snake banishing him?


Some pretty capable looking young boxers too...


And some bouncy castles....though this was a momentary loss of air, which was soon restored without any drama!


So again, well done to everyone involved, it was an impressive parade, about an hour and a half's worth. Hopefully it (and the other parades) will have lifted spirits a little. Certainly the cafés and pubs were flat out afterwards!

I may post some more photos later on, but the best are at pix.ie.

I should mention that if anyone wants to use any of the images, drop me a note in the comment box and I'll drop you an email back.

Tune in over the next few days for some pictures of Fionn and his hunting dogs!