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White Box and Coloured Ice Cubes

Spent the evening attempting to build my own white box and it wasn't a bad first effort. I think I need to reduce the height slightly as I wasn't getting enough bounce from the lamps I was using I think so a quick edit with the scissors tonight should sort that out. Here's the pix I took while using it, it almost looks like there is a face in the glass at one point...see if you can spot it!

Lough Shore Antrim

Been busy this week with a few other things but have been snapping away and attended the Antrim Camera Club tonight for the first time and discovered it has been running for 21 years, hopefully I'll learn a lot from those with plenty of years of experience. If it hadn't been for the wonderful display in the Antrim Library I would have knew nothing about it. The kids were back to school today as well so I got a few snaps before they headed off to their day of study!

Ten Miles from Antrim...Eighty Bands Later

We had toyed with going to the Botanic Gardens in Belfast today but instead opted to take the kids to the Black Saturday band parade in Ballymena. It was a great turnout but the weather was hit and miss and as soon as it started raining I didn't know whether to put the camera away or hide it under my coat. Some of the shots weren't great as I was trying to see if it was better to shoot with shutter or aperture control. I started out with the 18-55m lens and then switched to the 70-300mm lens, the latter was a better option. I could have ideally done with a better position for taking the snaps but I ended up meeting a few old faces from about ten years ago and got chatting into the bargain. Click Me!

Down by the Riverside - SixMileWater, Antrim

I was in two minds about whether to do some indoor shots last night or if it was another adventure around Antrim. In the end I decided on the latter but in hindsight I had probably left it a little bit late to get setup and ready to take some snaps. The shots were ok but I did learn a few valuable lessons with regards to light and movement again so in line with the age old cliche you know what they say...practice makes perfect! Only another 9900 pictures to go.....they reckon your first 10000 are the worst.

Sunset at Antrim Technology Park

Tried to take a few landscape/sunset pictures this evening up at the Technology Park in Antrim. I took about sixty pics and these were my favourite, the lighting was more difficult to work with than you would have imagined so plenty more practice required in this particular area.

Dice, Helicopters and Coloured Balls

Just having a fiddle with different exposure and aperture settings tonight with a plain background. A helicopter even landed in my kitchen!

Candlelit Wine Glasses

Ended up not getting very far today so practiced a few shots with the tripod tonight and finished up with this image....a half hour well spent I think.

Greenmount Agricultural College Antrim

We were lucky to be bestowed with another sunny Saturday but that doesn't always make easy work when taking pictures as I am slowly learning....bright light doesn't equal bright pictures! The original plan was to make a trip to Tardree forest but with the wife and troops in tow this didn't turn out to be a great first choice destination, you know what they said about the best laid plans. Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up at Greenmount College which turned out to be a beautiful location as it happens and it was hiving with artists and horticulturists galore. Maybe one day I'll appreciate the art of Bonsai trimming but for now I'll stick to the photography. I've already hit my upload limit for the month on flickr so you'll pick these ones up on Photobucket.

Greenmount College

Ulster Rally Antrim 2010

Jessops finally got my 70-300mm lens in store so I picked it up last night prior to settling down to watch Liverpool just about manage a 1 nil against what you would class as an above average Turkish outfit. I was a bit tentative about taking some shots with the new lens today so stuck with the 18-55mm and made my way to Antrim Town centre after a tip off from the mother in law that the Ulster Rally was in full flow.........she knew I'd be off like a dog on heat with camera in tow to get a few shots so here's the end results. I've added one main image on the blog but if you like it then just click here for the rest - Ulster Rally Antrim 2010.

Lovely Bloomers........Flowers that is!

Whilst visiting the in-laws, which is a regular occurrence, I thought I'd snap a few close-ups of the flowers out in their back garden. Normally they have a lot more flowers in bloom but given the time of year and the fair-weather conditions we get in Antrim I made the best of what was on offer. I've picked what I feel were the best shots from about twenty originals.

A BLOG AND BEYOND: En Route to Red Rock Canyon

A BLOG AND BEYOND: En Route to Red Rock Canyon

Just Experimenting

A BLOG AND BEYOND: Just Experimenting

A BLOG AND BEYOND: Just Experimenting

A Blog and Beyond

Just wanted to add this image to the blog in it's infancy as this is where my blog name derived from. Above and Beyond are legends in the world of Trance music and we were fortunate enough to spot them in Holywood, LA when they were there promoting the release of AnjunaBeats 100...it's like the pop equivalent of bumping into Take That while walking down Oxford Street in London I guess.

It's Like Learning to Ride a Bike Only Harder

I've spent most of the weekend reading about F-stops, aperture settings and shutter speed amongst other things and I can appreciate why a lot of people go right off DSLR camera's straightaway but thankfully I was well versed in some of these terms before I bought the camera so knew what to expect. For most people point and shoot is so simple it leads you to think that anyone can pick up an SLR and voila..........instant results. Not the case as I soon found out, I took some shots on auto and then fired it on to manual just out of curiosity, let's just say David Bailey is safe for a few years yet but don't worry I'll be hot on his heels soon enough! In the meantime I've switched back to the 'A' setting for now  and have been experimenting with the settings. I've also realised that big F number = smaller aperture and small F number = larger aperture. Here endeth my teachings because I am after all a beginner in the field of photography. I also took myself on a short nature trail at lunchtime today and managed to capture a few shots down beside the Six Mile Water here in Antrim.

The Palazzo - Stunning Architecture

According to my daughter the spelling isn't correct as it should be spelt as you say it....Pa-la-zi-o! Like most of the hotels in Las Vegas when you see these structures you sometimes wonder how on earth people come up with these ideas never mind actually make the transition from paper to a plot of land but then again they don't do very much by halves in the State of Nevada; these days however it is in a State with the economic downturn wreaking havoc. Economics aside though, not only does it look splendid on the outside but the interior is equally as beautiful. As they say in Northern Ireland though, this place has big windies. In other words it ain't cheap, so expect not to get as much bang for you buck should you ever decide to eat or stay here unless of course your name is Duncan Bannatyne then it won't be a problem! You can see how my shot matches up with the hotel website exterior view by clicking here - Palazzo Exterior View

En Route to Red Rock Canyon

This turned out to be quite an eventful day because we also took a trip to the Red Rock Casino after we left a very hot canyon, 113 degrees to be precise even though it did rain at one stage - bemused looks accepted in advance. The In-Laws had an incident involving their video camera and once they had finished blaming each other for the apparent loss of said piece of kit they made their way back to the Red Rock for tour number two. Thankfully they didn't have to pay for another visit but it was rather amusing when they established that the camera had somehow made like a hedgehog going into hibernation and buried itself under the passenger seat - Sherlock Holmes is still trying to piece together who the cuplrit was. This one was shot directly out the windscreen on our way to the Red Rock and to be honest it was actually my wife Joanne who captured this image.

Sin City 2010

This was my 3rd trip to Vegas and hopefully the next time I'll be shooting with a DLSR instead of the Kodak V1253, whether or not it makes a difference remains to be seen as it'll be another couple of years to make the comparision so sit back and enjoy my other posts in the meantime. I've cropped this image and gone for the close up as the strip is still overwhelmed with visitors even during the current recession and they have now built a parking area so that more people can stop off and take their snaps right next to the world famous Vegas signage. If you're after a picture here nowadays make sure you're prepared to wait in line and have a bottle of water to hand as you'll need it.