Skerries Lighthouse

Please don't adjust your monitors.

The worm have turned.

Yes you are not seeing things.

A portrait Landscape.

If you have being following my blog for a while you will have noticed that I have never posted a portrait style landscape image. The reason for this is well I don't see in portrait. I visualize the final image in me head as a b&w landscape. I know I have missed a good number of images by not taking portrait style but I just can't see them.

The image above of Skerries and the Lighthouse was taken from the same location as the previous post with the G10 on a tripod. However in the Landscape version I have you can see the car park and the children's playground. This did not help in the composition as I wanted the large rock in the foreground to lead you into the image and to the Lighthouse on the horizon. I could not position myself and the elements to suite.

I had to turn the camera & ball head ( even looked up tripod manual to find out how to do this ! ). By doing so the elements and the composition work. Even a bird moved into position in the sky for me. Will it be my last composition this way? Who knows, but I will visit the doctors and see if there are drugs to help me overcome this problem.

Have a good weekend and see you here again next week.

The Monochrome Weekend starts here

Skerries Walk

Question : Do you bring a camera with you when you go out for a walk ?

If the answer to the above question is no then why not?

I bring a camera with me at all times when a I go out for a walk with the family. It may not the the high-end DSLR's I own but the G10 goes with all the time. It depends on the location and what type of walk we go on for choosing what to bring ie the full backpack and tripod or pocket camera. Mind you I will always bring a tripod with me. There is still life yet in my old and battered tripod.

The image above was taken on a Sunday walk around the seaside village of Skerries in north county Dublin. There was a strong clod wind blowing. I know as my newspaper let fly all over the public playground. It was funny to see grown adults running around trying to catch my newspaper. When we arrived there, we got a bit too eat and then went for a walk. The sky was clear and blue (not to my liking) but I could see that the clouds were a coming. While the children played on the swings etc. I slipped away to find a location a take a snap or two. Again the strong winds was blowing and I was blessed in bringing the tripod.

I did manage to get a couple of image from this location. You might be able to see the Mourne Mountains on the horizon. But it's the lovely side lighting and shadows in the foreground that interests me. That S curve in the sand and the shadows leads me nicely into the image. Waiting for the clouds added to the background and finished the image off.

So another Question : Are you going to bring your camera with you next time ?

I hope your answer will be yes as you never know what image you will go home with.

The Beacon

Here is your Monochrome Weekend image.

I have being rather busy of late and have not posted here in a while.
So here we are then, The Baltimore Beacon, Co Cork. Do you remember a while back I went down for a few days to Peter Cox. Well the reason for this trip as well as staying with Peter was this very image. I was requested by a client to get a image of the Beacon for them. Little did we know that Cork would have the worst flooding in living history. We did manage to get out and follow the coast.

The above image is a near copy of one I did many many years ago when I was starting out at photography and did not know what I was doing. Looking at the two images they are very alike apart from the foreground. And that's what makes this image. The foreground rocks draw you into the image and towards the Beacon.

I like a good foreground, something to lead your eye into the scene and add a sense of depth and scale, so the image looks 3D even though it's only got 2. You would be surprise how many get this fundamental element wrong.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend and hope to here your comments on this image.
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Showcase 2010

Hi all,

I will not be posting for the next week or 2 until after the show I am attending now.

See the LINK here for more details.

Normal service will return the following week. Until then have a good weekend and see you all again later.

Black & White Ireland Exhibition

I am please to announce that an Exhibition of my work will be on display in the Dublin Camera Club Gallery from today 16th January and will run for the next 7 weeks. A 30 strong selection body of work from the past few year will be on display. The Gallery is open free to the public every Saturday from 11am to 5pm.

So please drop in, have a look and leave a comment.

Bective in the Snow

Here is your SkyWatch image.

Well the snow has gone, well from most parts of Ireland that is. I didn't get out much to get some snow images. Don't know really but was not that interested as I could not travel to the locations of interest. I did manage to get over to Bective Abbey, near Trim in Meath and got a couple of images before another snow storm came along. You can just about see the start of it from the cloud cover on the right of the image. I lost the rubber feet on the end of my tripod legs taking this image. No worries as it gave me the chance to buy the spike ends for the tripod which I have being meaning to buy for a long time.

If you have being following me on Twitter or Facebook you will know I am putting the 30 Images together for my Exhibition in Dublin Ireland called Black & White Ireland with will open next week. I will let you know times and location etc. on Sunday for all people who wish to go along and see my work up close.

Talk soon.

Ramparts Navan

Here is your Monochrome Week image.

Global Warming ( it's bloody freezing here in Ireland ). This clod snap as they are calling it has being going on for 2 weeks now. The temp went down below -10 last night and the pipes in the attic are frozen.

Ok, some other countries are having even colder weather, but there in Ireland we are not use to this cold and snow & ice.

The image above is The Ramparts in Navan, Co Meath. Another one from our New Years Day walk along the River Boyne. As you can see the river is frozen in parts. Mind you I say it's completely frozen now. I must try and get down there again on Sunday as it forecast for more snow and freezing temperatures of -8 tonight.

You can now follow me on Facebook if you want

Link Here to Neil McShane ( aka Mononeil ) on Facebook.

New Year's Day on the Boyne

Here is your Skywatch Friday image.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL

Hot of the press ( well bloody cold mind you ), the first image processed and taken this morning while out with the family on a walk to clear the heads after a week of eating an drinking as if there was no tomorrow. We usually go for a walk in the mountains on New Year's Day but the weather put a stop to this. The roads are in a bad state with no gritting in Meath.

So we made the short trip down to the River Boyne in Navan. I didn't think I would get anything of interest. However the above image ended that theory.

If the first image on the first day of 2010 is this good I am looking forward to a very productive year ahead. I hope you have a good year also.

Bective Abbey Walls

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

Another image taken on one of my Monochrome Workshop weekends. This is the inner walls of Bective Abbey, Co Meath. We had a very overcast day which made for very poor landscape images for the whole Abbey. A quick walk around and inside the Abbey we were able to capture the details in the walls because of the soft defused light.
The students could not see the image I had in mind but after we got back and uploaded the image onto the computer and did some very small adjustments. Bingo. They started to understand, which the whole idea of the Monochrome Workshop.

More than likely this will be my last post before Christmas.
So I thank you all for your comments on my posts during the year and hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

PS Lets hope Santa brings us lots of presents ( eg new cameras, lens,etc.... )

SunFlare

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

It's been a while since my last post. Catching up after a couple of Christmas Craft Fair's. Printing and posting images. I also teach a two day Monochrome Workshop. This weekend just past was one such. I enjoy teaching and explaining the methods used to achieve my style of black and white photography.

Interesting, if not completely mad image taken on the workshop. It shows Newtown Abbey, Trim, Co Meath at sunset ( well before sunset ). Normally I would not do such a image but I kind of like this image. I have another image taken from the same spot, again at sunset, but at a different tie of the year. Just goes to show the different positions of the sunset during the course of a year. Link here to see the other version.

Baltimore Beacon shoreline

Here is your SkyWatch Image.

Our final location, Balitmore, Co Cork and the Baltimore Beacon. The problem is that I can't show you the image I want to show as the client has not seen the image yet so is would not be good practice to show you. Mind you if you go over to Peter Cox website Link Here, you will see a version of the image I have but mine is in b&w and none of that tilt and shift. Peter has a got story behind the image so jump over and read it.

Welcome back.

The above image was taken down on the shoreline looking up at the Beacon. I like the way the waves play with the clouds in the sky to draw your eye into the image.

Ballydehob Bay

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Continuing on our journey towards Baltimore with traveled along the coast roads and found this spot where a river floes out into Ballydehob Bay. Again the weather was perfect. Wonderful light and clouds for us to play with.

The ripple effects of the river as it flows out in the bay leads your eye nicely into the image. I was standing up on a tractor and trailer to get some extra height so that you could see the river flow. At normal ground level, it's not visible. The sky plays a perfect role in the image with the clouds adding some interest in the background. Funny thing was that if we had being shooting more to the left or right the sky had no clouds and made for a dull image.

Again this is in stark contrast to the flooding happening all over the west coast of Ireland. Out on the coast we had perfect conditions but inland chaos.

We will continue on the journey next week, so see you then and have a good weekend all.