View From The Roadside

Portsmouth Harbour, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

I’ve tried doing panoramas a few times but have never been quite able to make them work. It’s not just the technical bits, getting the joins to look smooth and have one clean image, not the same bits showing up in more than one place, but also getting a final image that is actually worth looking at. All too often the result loses a lot of whatever it was made me want to make the panorama in the first place. Never the less, I would still try form time to time. This was one such time.
I’d been to Portchester Castle earlier and went up to Portsdown Hill afterwards. As you can see, the view from up there is pretty cool, especially on a sunny day. I took other more typical shots, but I just had to try another panorama. After taking the pictures I downloaded them to the computer and then left them. Making the panorama would take time, and based on previous experience, it seemed like time wasted. I finally got around to looking at it again this week. Incidentally, thats why I never delete a picture if I can help it. What doesn’t work for you today could well be a great picture tomorrow.
I first used a stitching program that came with the camera. It wasn’t perfect, the joins were obvious and suffered from ghosting, especially the castle, but it did show that unlike my other attempts, this panorama had a lot going for it. After that I found autostitch which did a much better job. A quick crop and resize later and you have this panorama of Portsmouth Harbour.
I was lucky in a way, I had no plans for timing any of what you see. The tide being out, showing the meandering path of the channels adds some interest to the harbour itself that I don’t think would be there if the tide were in. The ferry, the Mont St Michel arriving is a lovely touch, as is the cruise ship passing along the Solent, but I had no idea either would be there until I saw them. I also have no idea why there are flowers in the grass on the far right of the picture.

I have recently started reading Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books which are all about a Captain in the Royal Navy fighting the Napoleonic wars. The books themselves are excellent, but don’t spare anything when it comes to maritime detail and jargon. Initially it’s easy to get bogged down in it all, but between the characters explaining things to the non-sailor Dr. Maturin, and a lot of googling, you quickly become immersed in it all. Before the books, a visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard would have been wasted on me, having no knowledge of ships at all. Now, after a few voyages with Captain Aubrey, the significance of the little details and feature of HMS Victory make far more sense to me.

HMS Victory’s Anchors
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

The first time I went, the pictures were more snapshots than anything else. I tend to do that, the first time I go I take boring “I was here” type shots that do a great job of showing something, but with no real artistic element to them. It’s only after that that I seem able to ’see’ more. These picture are perhaps still more ‘documentary’ than ‘art’, but they are a step in the right direction.

This picture is very much a documentary shot. It shows the starboard anchors as they would be stowed when the ship was at sea. The second anchor here is carried as a spare in case the main anchor is lost. You can also see some of the 104 guns run out through their gun ports and the “Nelson Chequer” paint scheme.

Cathead, HMS Victory
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

This is a less documentary-style shot than the others. It’s a detail shot of the starboard cathead (the protrusion the anchor is connected to) and the head of the ship. You can see it again on the right hand side of the picture of the anchors above, which puts it in better context on the ship. I like the flowing curves that run from one corner of the picture to the other, and the splash of the three colours. With so much else to look at it’s perhaps a hidden detail on the ship.

Rigging, HMS Victory
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

The most obvious thing about any Age of Sail ship when you first see it is the mass of rigging running all over the masts. It’s hard to imagine it’s anything other than a random, haphazard set of ropes thrown wherever they can be run. One of the first things a new sailor is taught by the experienced hands are the purposes and use of those ropes, literally showing them the ropes. There are two sets of rigging. The more visible set are called the Standing Rigging. Their job is to add support to the masts, hold the yards (the poles the sails hang off that run across the mast), and give the crew access to the masts. Less obviously, due to using smaller ropes, is the Running Rigging, used to position the yards for the wind and to control the sails. In normal operation, it’s the running rigging that the crew use. This shows the Main mast and the Mizzen (rear) mast. You can see the Maintop and Mizzentop, platforms which amongst other things, would be where the Marine sharpshooters would go in a battle. Indeed, the shot that killed Nelson was fired from the same platforms on the Redoutable. Further up the masts, underneath the topgallant yards, are the crosstrees where the lookouts would sit.

Nohoval Cove, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

Firstly, it’s been a long time since I added a picture here, which has mainly been because it’s been a long time since I last took a decent picture! Between the weather, work and softball I haven’t been out with the camera at all really. That will probably change as the autumn rolls in.
This is Nohoval Cove near Kinsale. I believe it was a popular landing spot for smugglers at one point, and there is what looks like the ruins of a barracks there today. It wasn’t the nice sunny day I had hoped it would be. A little before taking this shot the dark heavy cloud you can see had passed overhead and brought with it the rain. I had all but decided to leave when it blocked the sun and I could see how dramatic it looked. I turned around and set the camera up and took a number of shots. The conversion to B+W really helps bring out the various textures of the waves, sea, land and clouds, far better than the colour version.

Burnt, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

This shot is of the charred remains of the burnt out “Lunways Inn”, on the A33 near Winchester. It was also called the “Roman Post” in light of the various bits of Roman history nearby.
It was burnt out in an arson attack a few years ago, and it was the remains of that fire that I took pictures of. I drove past the site on Monday, partly to check if it was still there, still fenced off, to discover it was gone, razed to the ground. I see on the web that there are plans to build a Gospel Hall on the site.

Dunstanburgh Castle from the Beach
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

Time pressures mean I havn’t had a chance to update this in a while, so this will be a little condensed. We spent the week visiting Hadrian’s Wall, Durham, some days up in Northumberland, including Holy Island and finally some waterfalls in Durham. I won’t go through pictures from everywhere, just a select few.

First up is Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast. It was designed as a challenge to the Royal palace at Bamburgh Castle by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who had aspirations at becoming king himself. Today all that remains are the curtain wall and Gatehouse on the south side, and the tower in the other corner. Having joined English Heritage a few days earlier at Hadrian’s Wall, we took advantage to spend some time inside the castle before it closed. It was getting late enough that we were not going to be going anywhere else before sunset, leaving us with the castle

The “classic” shot of Dunstanburgh Castle is actually of the other side, showing the impressive Gatehouse and the long wall on that side. It wasn’t an option for us as the sun was already past the castle, leaving it all in the shade. We ventured off to the side, up a hill, but that left the castle lost in any picture, too spread out and completely disconnected from the sea that is so much a part of it. We had no choice but to head back along the golf course to where we had parked the car, leaving us with only the lone tower visible of the castle.

This shot was taken on the little beach as we decided where to go as the sun started setting. It was taken using a new technique I’ve adopted. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s new to me. Normally, I just use the center auto focus point. With this technique, I put the lens in manual mode, but turn on all the AF points. They will still light up if they detect a focus, but won’t be able to change the lens. This lets me make sure the foreground and background are in some sort of focus, or as much as possible anyway.

Lindisfarne Priory Arch
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

Next up is the arch at Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island. I do seem to have a thing about towers or columns, and this is another of those “looking up” shots. The clouds make this one for me. We took a good few shots around the Priory, and met some English Heritage people there who were photographers themselves, which made for an interesting chat and a picture we’d not have seen, this one. However, the sun was still high and bright in the clear sky, so we decided we’d make time to come back after visiting the Castle when the sun was maybe more favourable. This wasn’t quite as easy as it might be, Holy Island is only connected by a causeway that’s only usable at low tide. We did get back, the sun was a little better, and I took this shot, which wasn’t really there earlier.

Low Force Waterfall (Upper)
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

Last up for now is a picture from the waterfalls we visited on the last day. While I have photographed falling water before, I’d not done it with ones with any real amount of water in them. The pictures that resulted were funny and interesting. It was a good day for it, overcast and a little dull. That slight lack of light would help for any long exposure shots that work well with moving water, though I made sure to take shots with very short shutter speeds too, to freeze the water in motion.

The bigger waterfalls, like High Force didn’t really work for me. The things that make them so good in real life, the size the sound, wasn’t really there in the pictures. It was still great just seeing them, but still a touch disappointing not to get some great pictures too. However, we also visited the Low Force series of much smaller waterfalls downstream. The pictures from there do a much better job of capturing the effect of the flowing water falling over the rocks, even if they aren’t anywhere near as spectacular. This one is of the first real fall, which is only of a few feet or more. I’ve cropped the picture into this more panoramic shape to highlight the waterfall and remove some sky and water that were just distracting from the subject and adding nothing.

Penshaw Monument Corner
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

Our first day of photography was around the Newcastle/Sunderland area. We started off with the Penshaw Monument outside Sunderland. The weather was great for this sort of photography, though the wind was never far away. The Monument seemed a reasonably popular place for people to come and climb the hill and admire the view. It was here we met the first of a number of people who were happy to just stop and chat, not the sort of thing that happens that often down South, but seemingly perfectly normal up North.

After we’d finished with the Monument, we took a scenic route through Sunderland and on to Marsden. Marsden Rock was, at one time, an arch much like Durdle Door. The current Rock, the remains after the arch fell in ‘97 is still an impressive sight, and covered in sea birds at this time of year. The midday sun, combined with an incoming tide, limited the photographs I wanted to take here. I did experiment with a new focusing technique here though, more of which later.

Millennium Bridge Curve
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

After the beach, and a detour for petrol, we headed into Newcastle proper. We had some lunch at the Life Center, where the strange architecture was just made for James to photograph, before heading down to the riverside. I have no idea of the why’s or how’s, but within a small stretch of the Tyne where Newcastle meets Gateshead, there are three road bridges, three rail bridges and a footbridge. There is also a fairly new walkway along the river which makes for a lovely walk. We naturally photographed the bridges and the river, though shots of the famous green bridge (you know the one) were hard to properly come by, what with a great big ship being parked underneath.

We took a little diversion there to go see the caste that gives the place it’s name (no great pictures thanks to a very strong sun in just the wrong place) and Earl Gray’s statue, he of the tea fame, before continuing along the river to the “new” Gateshead Millennium Bridge, or the “blinking eye” bridge as it’s also known. It’s certainly an interesting looking sight, it’s futuristic appearance matching the nearby Sage theatre as much as it contrasts with the old Baltic Flour Mills. It’s all curves and arches and bends, and this shot just seemed to capture all that so well.

Angel Of The North
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

On our way home, we did make one final stop at the iconic Angel Of The North. The sheer size of it is what grabs your attention, with those huge wings. Thats when the wind catches you, and you begin to image what that wind must mean for those wings. On a nice evening as the sun was setting, there were still a handful of people milling about, not ideal for a photographer who likes to take shots without people in them when at all possible. I did get a little caught out with the other shot, thinking I had the tip of the wing hard against the right hand side, when the picture later showed I hadn’t. Putting more space in front of the angel, on the left, would have been better. This shot, taken from further back, was more of a “just-in-case” shot in the rapidly failing light, in case I didn’t get one with nobody in it. As it happens, I did, but like a lot of big things on a photograph, the lack of scale let it down. The people in this shot actually help add that scale and help give some impression of the size of the thing.

Durdle Door, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

I took a day off from work last Wednesday, I needed to use up some time before the end of the month, and Wednesday was forecast to be sunny. For once, the forecast was right. I had decided to go and visit the Dorset coast around Portland Bill, somewhere I hadn’t been to before. I had a magazine that listed the “25 best places to photograph in Dorset”, most of which were on the coast, to guide me.

I was surprised by how busy the place was. I had assumed a Wednesday afternoon in March would be quiet, but I actually got stuck in a huge jam near Swanage. I decided I didn’t need that, so turned around and headed to Portland Bill instead.

Portland Bill was nice enough. The lighthouse, with it’s red and white colour scheme is about as classic a lighthouse as I’ve seen, which ironically, is unusual. Perhaps I should have made more of the coast and rocks there, but nothing was jumping out at me at the time, probably as it wasn’t near enough to sunset and the “good” light yet.

My next stop was at Durdle Door, to get to which you need to drive through a caravan park. I knew the afternoon sun wasn’t going to be ideal, so I was more looking for somewhere to come back to than anything else. When I got to the car park though, I discovered the £2.50 minimum parking charge. I wasn’t going to pay that for a scouting mission! I searched the magazine for a better location, and thats when I noticed their mention of toll roads and pay-and-display car parks.

I decided instead to use the light for what it’s good for, and went to Corfe Castle. That had a free car-park (yeah!) and looked amazing with the bright sun lighting it up. I was in two minds about actually wandering around the castle. The entry fee was a little off-putting, mainly due to a lack of cash which I would need for the car parks later, and also by the fact I would need to be back on the coast before sunset, so I didn’t actually go in. Maybe next time.

The magazine shot of Durdle Door made it look too tempting, but I decided to check out the nearby Lulworth Cove first. It turns out both are part of the same estate, with the same parking machines and the same prices. The good news was the one ticket would be valid at both places. So after a look around Lulworth, making it clear there would be no real sunset there, I went back to Durdle Door.

I met another photographer on the path down, and it was just the two of us on the beach, the school kids there on a school trip having just left. We set up at different bits of the beach as the sun began to set. I tried a few shots, this being one of them, before the sun caught be by surprise and dipped beneath the bank of clouds near the horizon and in what seemed a flash, the nice light seen here was gone. I wasn’t that bothered though, it was just nice to sit there on my own, listening to the waves on the beach, taking in the sunset

Showing the pictures to Steve later, we came to the conclusion the shot I really should have taken would have been a panorama with the shot above and another of the sea next to it. Next time…

Canopy
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

After a delay of a week due to bad weather, the club had it’s second “2hr Challenge” on the 11th of March, and yes, I’m a little late in writing about it. Given the rather large and open nature of the location, we were basically given the rest of the day, rather than limiting it to 2 hours. This would also avoid any problems with the timing of the sunset. Unlike in Winchester, where we crossed paths with each other quite a bit, out in the New Forest, I hardly saw anyone else. This was a little disappointing, I rather liked meeting the other competitors and seeing what they were up to.

We did well not having the event the week before, when bad weather meant there wasn’t very much to photograph (I know, I went down anyway!) On the day the weather was lovely, which made the whole thing more enjoyable, and also made for better pictures. One of the tricks with this challenge was always going to be knowing where to go at the right time. Beaulieu itself, my first stop, didn’t present any real pictures for me, lovely though it is. I made myself take some of a shop, more to get into a photography mode than anything else. After that, and while listening to England do Ireland a huge favour in the rugby against France on the radio in the car, I toured the area looking for, well, anything.

Graffiti and Tree
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

This was surprisingly hard. You’d imagine there would be a never-ending supply of great images, but I wasn’t alone in struggling to find them. Perhaps given such a large area it’s hard to see the smaller things that could really work, I don’t know. What I do know is I don’t “see” anything in the ponies. I know they are a huge part of “The New Forest” and maybe it’s because I like driving too much, but I just don’t see any pictures in them.

Branch in the Water
Originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

I perhaps left it too late to get to the patch of forest beyond Hatchet Pond. by the back of the old airfield. The trees were blocking any direct sunlight by the time I arrived. I knew the wall was there, and when I saw the tree and the graffiti I knew there was a picture there. I set up the tripod (I love this new tripod) and took the picture. Looking back at it later, I’m not happy with it. The composition is a little off, the top of the wall is the middle of the picture, but a cropping of the bottom fixes that. I think the main problem is just the flat light. The picture doesn’t pop. I tried playing with all sorts of things in PP, but it can’t change what isn’t there. Right place, wrong time. I did find some nice trees for the “Canopy” shot above though.

Driving back to Hatchet Pond as the sun was setting, I noticed how it looked great over the water. By the time I’d turned the car around, parked in the car-park, got my stuff out and walked down, it had lost a little, but was still nice. I didn’t know the branch was there until I walked past it, but as soon as I saw it I saw the picture. My old tripod would have made this a right pain, it never did like portrait shots. The new ball-head, a Manfrotto 488, is a joy to use in comparison and made taking this shot so much easier.

It’s a lovely scene. Maybe some cropping could work, but it takes something away too, so I haven’t cropped it. Seems the rest of them liked it too, as it collected the most votes. 2 challenges, 2 “wins”.

Evening Clouds, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

We were supposed to have our next 2hr Challenge last weekend, but called it off as the weather was forecast to be pretty horrible for the Sunday. For once the forecast was right. There was some suggestion of doing it on the Saturday instead, but it was decided in the end that it was too short notice. James Hodgson and myself decided to go anyway.
As it happens, while Saturday was generally nicer than Sunday, there was still more than enough heavy rain (and hailstones at one point) around the area of the challenge that it would not have been fun had it gone ahead. Between the rain and the ugly grey clouds, there wasn’t much to photograph. We eventually gave up and headed through the forest back home.
We did spot a nice strong rainbow on our way back, and stopped to take some pictures, that didn’t really work out. I took some pictures of the clouds caught in the sunlight at the same time.
A first look at the few pictures from the day didn’t exactly thrill me, but once I took the time to process the RAW file from this picture, it started to look more interesting. A little crop off the top of the frame and I arrived at this picture.
Funnily enough, the RSC challenge this month is “sky”…

Robot Dancers, originally uploaded by Liam O’Neill.

These guys were just one of a number of street performers to be found outside the Pompidou Center in Paris. They had little trouble finding an audience amongst the many students, tourists and people there just to hang out.

They had a backing track that would alternate between whirring motor sounds and music. They would “dance” in this strange robotic slow-motion way into various arrangements, the backing track would change, and they would perform a chain-reaction type dance for a bit before the backing track changed again. It must have taken a lot of planning and rehearsal before hand.

I’ve dug this one out of the archive to enter it in a competition on a non-photography web forum that happens to have a photography competition every month. This month theme was a combination of movement and black and white (i.e. a B&W picture of movement)

With disk space cheaper than ever, it’s never been easier to simply save all your shots, not just the good ones. Often, when you go back and look through these shots a few months later you can find pictures that you somehow overlooked the first time through.