Angle Of View

Castelo de São Jorge

2010-06-19T11:06:00.000+01:00

Images taken at the Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon. Beuatiful place to get lovely view of the city of Lisbon.

Portugal - June 2010

2010-06-19T10:27:00.000+01:00

Took this photo up in the old city of Ourém. It was a beautiful day and the poppies were growing along the side of the castle

Glendalough

2008-09-06T15:15:00.006+01:00

I went out last July to Glendalough, only getting around to publishing photos now. Glendalough is one of my favourite places in Ireland and probably my favourite place in the east of this beautiful country.

It was a surprisingly warm and sunny (for the most part) day. Glendalough is an old monastic settlement dating back to the 6th century. Glendalough was one of Irelands great ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning for 500 years.

I took the Derrybawn Woodland Trail while I was there, an 8km walk around from the monastic site of the round tower to St. Saviour's Church. From there you climb for fantastic views of the site and come down by Poulanass Waterfall and on to the upper lake. Here's a link to more information on walking trails in beautiful Glendalough

Here are a few of my photos from the day. The first two pictures were taken on the way to Glendalough. I stopped just before the road decends into the valley.

1. Wicklow Mountains - Bog Land
Taken by: Canon 40D (F8, 1/250 sec, ISO-100)

2. Wicklow Mountains - One of the many lakes
Taken by: Canon 40D (F8, 1/125 sec, ISO-100)

The next three photos were taken in the valley on the way to St. Saviours Church. The first is the the river from just beside the wooden bridge that crosses it, while the other two are of the same river just further down. You can see from the photos (displayed in the order they were taken) how often the weather can change in Ireland in the space of 3 or 4 hours.

3. Glendalough - River (1)
Taken by: Canon 40D (F5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO-100)

4. Glendalough - River (2)
Taken by: Canon 40D (F4, 1/800 sec, ISO-100)

5. Glendalough - River (3)
Taken by: Canon 40D (F6.3, 1/80 sec, ISO-100)

6. Cross Leaved Heath
Taken by: Canon 40D (F5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO-400)

The next two pictures were taken from the top of the valley walk I went on. In the first you can see the monastic village and the upper lake in the second.

7. The View from Above
Taken by: Canon 40D (F5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO-160)
8. Upper Lake
Taken by: Canon 40D (F8, 1/100 sec, ISO-100)

The next picture was taken before the river reaches the Poulanass Waterfall. I messed around with the timing until I got the image I was looking for.

9. On the way
Taken by: Canon 40D (F25, 1 sec, ISO-125)

10. Monastic Village Church
Taken by: Canon 40D (F8, 1/125 sec, ISO-100)
The blue skys came out to play again!

My New Camera

2008-09-06T13:53:00.005+01:00

I recently bought a Canon 40D and had to try it out. The camera came with the standard package lens, an EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM lens.

When it arrived I set it up and of course started to experiment. I'm really excited about the camera and have found that with its many features I've a lot of studying ahead to find out exactly how to use it.

Here are a few photos from my first day.

1. Pot's & Pans
Taken by: Canon 40D (F5, 1/10 sec, ISO-800)

2. Our Garden

Taken by: Canon 40D (F11, 1/250 sec, ISO-400)

3. Corn Fields
Taken by: Canon 40D (F7.1, 1/10 sec, ISO-800)

The above photo was taken on the way to Athy from Carlow. Another overcast day which is becoming more typical in out Summer months. I took the photos below at Milford lock. Milford Lock is on the way to Milford, which was once a centre of an extensive milling industry. It was from Milford, that, in 1981, Carlow became the first inland town in Ireland or Britain to receive a public electric supply.

4. Barrow Way
Taken by: Canon 40D (F5.6 1/60 sec, ISO-400)

5. Weir at Milford Lock (1)
Taken by: Canon 40D (F8, 1/250 sec, ISO-400)

6. Weir at Milford Lock (2)
Taken by: Canon 40D (F25, 1/2 sec, ISO-100)

7. Mill at Milford Lock
Taken by: Canon 40D (F11, 1/250 sec, ISO-400)

Trip to the south-west of Ireland

2008-07-20T14:11:00.000+01:00

The last part of our trip was a weekend in Kenmare where we stayed in Shaminir B&B, probably the best B&B in Ireland. On our way down we stopped in Dungarvan for lunch.

Photo 1: Dungarvan Bay - Our view at lunch
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F7.1, 1/750 sec, ISO-200)

We also stopped in Midleton to see the Jameson Distillery and sample the various different samples. This was nice. The tour was a little better than the Bushmills Distillery in my opinion. but I still prefer that actual distillery in Bushmills.

Photo 2: Jameson Distillery - The front of the building
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F4.5, 1/350 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 3: Jameson Distillery - The old means of delivery

Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F4.5, 1/300 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 4: Jameson Distillery - All laid out
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/4 sec, ISO-200)

On we went to Killarney for a walk and the to Kenmare for the night. The following day we did the ring of Kerry (a lot of driving). Our first stop was Sneem.

Photo 5: Sneem
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F6.2, 1/600 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 6: Me at Castlecove (Beautiful Beach)
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO-200)

"For hundreds of years, a male mountain goat has been enthroned as King Puck in Killorglin town. The Puck Goat reigns over the fair held on August 10th, 11th and 12th of each year. King Puck is a symbol of a vast tradition whose origins are lost in the mists of time."

(from the plaque on the wall of King Puck)

Photo 7: King Puck
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F5.6, 1/480 sec, ISO-200)

A Ramble Through Bunratty Folk Park

2008-06-08T01:30:00.000+01:00

We spent our next day down around the west coast of Clare and on down into Bunratty. Unfortunately the fog decided to stay over the Cliffs of Moher so we were unable to see them that day so the following seven photos are from Bunratty Folk Park.

It was another glorious day and at the end of the say we finished up in the castle at the Medieval Banquet which is a must for any visitor.

Photo 1: Blacksmith's Forge - Example of the blacksmith's work can be seen all around the house
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/320 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 2: Cashen Fisherman's House - An example of a two bedroom home of a salmon fisherman from North Kerry.
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/120 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 3: The salmon fisherman's boat and equipment.
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/15 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 4: Means of Transport, boat and horse cart
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 5: A Visit from the Rain
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/280 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 6: Old style bicycle
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F3.2, 1/85 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 7: Send you postcards
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F5, 1/400 sec, ISO-200)

Life on the Aran Islands

2008-06-02T16:38:00.000+01:00

At the end of May 2008 we went to Inishmore. The weather was perfect and the sea was calm, which made the crossing even more pleasant. While we were there we took a bus tour of the island where we went to the Seven Churches and of course to Dún Aengus, which is a fort from the bronze age. Here are a few picture of the island life that day.

Photo 1: The outside of a wool shop near Dun Aengus
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F5, 1/450 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 2: Park your wagon - One of the mean of travel on the island
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F5.6, 1/600 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 3: Sign for your supper - 3 Boys playing Irish music on the walk to Dun Aengus
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 4: Dun Aengus itself
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F7.1, 1/750 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 5: The cliff at Dun Aengus
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F6.4, 1/550 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 6: The graves of the Roman Monks at the site of the Seven Churches
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO-200)

Photo 7: Time to leave
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F7.1, 1/600 sec, ISO-200)

Practice

2008-02-09T22:23:00.000Z

I went out today to take some photos at Knockbeg College in Carlow. I decided to take photos on manual settings and to try out different options. Below are four images taken in the same location but with four different shutter speeds.

River Barrow at Knockbeg, Carlow
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 3 sec, ISO-100)

River Barrow at Knockbeg, Carlow
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 1 sec, ISO-100)

River Barrow at Knockbeg, Carlow
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 0.77 sec, ISO-100)

River Barrow at Knockbeg, Carlow
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 0.62 sec, ISO-100)

As you will see the first image is really bright and burnt out. This is because the shutter was open for 3 seconds and the amount of light the camera let in resulted in an over exposed image. The next three images are darker as the shutter was faster resulting in less light and a darker image.

Other photos I took that I liked were:

Under the Bar
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 1/30 sec, ISO-200)

At the Net
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 1/4 sec, ISO-200)

Along the Net
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F8, 1/4 sec, ISO-200)

Back to Reality

2008-02-04T22:46:00.000Z

OK. Now that I finally updated my holiday trip I can go back to the real reason I opened this blog... to put up samples of the photos I taken and to see if I progress throughout the year. I'm going to push myself to upload photos each week and to put up the details of the photograph to help me learn what I'm doing. I hop this will be of help to others in the future...

To this date I still have not entered any photos in the local competitions that are run by the Carlow Photographic Society that I'm now a member of. We have began group projects which will conclude at the end of May. Each group has to put a panel of photos together with one photo from each member, which means I'll have to put forward an image, so we'll see how it goes.

Below are the two cameras that I'll be taking photos from. The majority of the photos will be from the Fuji camera as this has manual settings and this is what I want to learn. The canon camera is mainly auto so using it doesn't really support any real learning.

1. Fuji FinePix S5600 - Compact SLR
Taken by: Canon IXUS 950 IS (Indoor Setting)

2. Canon IXUS 950 IS - Compact Camera
Taken by: Fuji FinePix S5600 (F6.4, 1/4 sec, ISO 200)

Hong Kong

2008-02-04T13:52:00.000Z

On the way home from Oz we stopped off for two and a half days in Hong Kong. This was a great end of the trip. Hong Kong is a very busy city full of water, hills and skyscrapers. The people were very friendly and while we were there we went on two morning trips. Below are some pics of teh two and a half days.

1. The View from The Peak (I)
On our first morning trip we went to the peak to see the view of Hong Kong. After travelling up by tram we came back down by bus to the waterfront of Aberdeen and had a tour of the waterfront with the "Boat People". After this we went to the local markets. See for yourself.

2. The View from The Peak (II)

3. Do you need a lift

4. On the Waves

5. Water Lunch?

6. Night Lights
Each night there is a night light show at the waterfront. Along with the lights flashing on both sides of the water music plays and the lights dance in synchronisation with the music. Wonderful show

7. Culture of Hong Kong

Our second morning trip was to see the cultural side of Hong Kong and was a very "interesting" tour. We visited temples in the nearby area and finished up the tour in the tour guide's house looking at photos of previous tours on his blog. His house was one of the to see sites in Hong Kong as it is located within an old walled village that was part of the Tang Dynasty.

8. Buddhist Temple

9. Statues

10. Make a Wish
Ana in the Tao Temple. You write your wish on the parchment and then roll it up, tie it up and then tie it as high as you can on the wall below. The higher you can tie it the better as it will be closer to the Gods.

11. Place your Wish

12. Happy 2008 in November 2007

Melbourne - Australia

2008-02-04T12:58:00.000Z

Our last stop on our Aussie tour was to Melbourne. Melbourne is another beautiful city, a little different from the others we seen. Melbourne is more European than the other. I've cousins who said that their favourite city in Oz was Melbourne and although I really liked it I'd have to reserve that honour for Sydney. Melbourne is a must see though, with a lot to do from Day Trips to the Great Ocean Road, The Penguin Parade, Neighbours, not to mention the museums, and architecture of the city. Here are some snap shots.

1. Tram System
In Melbourne the tram system means that the roads work a little different from the rest of Australia and the rest of the world. The trams run down the middle of the roads which means that cars that wish to turn right would end up blocking the tram lines. To prevent that we have the picture above. If you want to turn right you must pull over to the left wait for the lights to turn red and then turn right before the other cars that now have the green light drive into you.

2. Immigration Museum
Fantastic museum. This museum has information on immigration into Australia and you could spend hours here. Videos, photos, information by date, country and items from the times. It was great to look at the history of Irish and Portuguese immigration to Oz.

3. Melbourne Gaol

We also had a visit of the Gaol which was interesting. The tour where you role-play a inmate of the Gaol was good even if it was a little shorter than I expected. It could've been a bit better with some more information on how things were when people were interred there. Above is a picture of Ned Kelly's uniform.

4. Great Ocean Road (I)

We went on a tour with Down Under Tours which was the second best tour we went on in Oz. The driver was great and they had an iPOD loaded with songs that linked to the different sites and places went went to... great idea. Below are four more images from the great ocean road, the first two from the helicopter ride we took.

5. Great Ocean Road (II)

6. Great Ocean Road (III)

7. Great Ocean Road (IV)

8. Great Ocean Road (V)

9. Ramsay Street
I went on my own for a trip to Ramsay Street. Although it's been years since I've watched the programme I still wanted to visit the set. The houses are lived in and the owners get a payment each year for the use of the house. It might seem cool but they can't change anything on the exterior of the house unless they can get it written into the script.

10. The Label Says It All

Port Douglas - Australia (Better Late Than Never)

2008-02-04T12:25:00.000Z

Port Douglas was the next stop on our tour. We got to spend four days in this small town. The hotel was fantastic and we were just a short bus ride for the town. This was a lovely part of the trip. The town was one street but was a really nice place to relax at the middle of out trip and that's what we did. No day trips, time spent by the pool, eating, drinking and walking. Here are a few of the photos of our time in Port Douglas.

1. St. Mary's By The Sea

2. A Beautiful Tree beside the building above

3. The Local Market

4. Call Me For Dinner
This little contraption was how we got our dinner at the steak house, a pub in Port Douglas. We went in and ordered our food. Once I paid I was handed the above device. I then had to go to the bar to order drinks separately. So we sat at our table and waited. When our food was ready the little contraption started to vibrate. That was our signal to go back to the bar to collect our food.

5. A Small Panorama or the Area

Cairns - Australia

2007-11-10T22:03:00.000Z

From Airlee Beach we went to Proserpine airport for the next leg of our journey. Proserpine airport is probably the most hi-tec airport I've ever seen. When we arrived there from Sydney we entered a small building with no signs for baggage claim. When we asked we were told that baggage collection was outside so out we went. After 20 minutes along come a go-cart pulling a few trailers of luggage, stops, unhitched the trailers and drives off. Everyone then had to rummage through the trailers for their bags.

So here we were at Proserpine again to fly to Brisbane to get a connection to Cairns. Although the two flights were with the same company we were told that we would have to collect our bags and re-check in in Brisbane.

We arrived in Cairns at 12.30am and straight to the hotel and were up at 7.30am for our tour to the rain-forest. First we went to Harvey's Crocodile Farm. The farm began in the early 1900's as a food stop on the road from Cairns to Port Douglas. After a while the owner though he needed a gimmick so he got a croc named Charlie and began to do shows. After that the place became very popular and he developed it into a farm where they now farm crocodiles for their skins. Below are some photos.

1. Me holding a baby crocodile

2. Ana attempting to hold a crocodile. She refused to hold all of him!

3. Tex looking at the food from our boat.

4. Tex eating the same food.

5. This big guy is Paul. Paul was brought to the farm (for him it is kind of a retirement home) because he was causing trouble for some local farmers who were finding their cows without their heads and their dogs kept going missing. As a result they had him moved to the farm.

6. A termite nest, taller than me. The part that you can see is only one third of the complete size. two thirds of it are underground.

7. In Australia it is not only the animals that are vicious, the plants also have their unique sides. This above is a "Strangling Fig Tree". It starts on top of another tree and grows down the tree to the ground. From there it roots and over time strangles the tree inside it. As you can see from the picture above there is still a tree inside it. We saw older Strangling Fig Trees and there is just a cave like shelter inside as the original tree had dies and decayed.

8. This heart shaped leaf is from a stinger tree. It has small hairs on it and if you brush against it they will embed themselves in you. If you are very young or old hospital beckons. The little hairs are really difficult to remove. You can wax the area but some will still remain and they contain a really sore sting which reactivates when in contact with water, so you can't wash that area. This will probably last a few months. More Aussie dangers.

9. A view from our cable car on the way to Kuranda.

Airlee Beach & Whitsunday Islands - Australia

2007-11-10T21:13:00.000Z

Hi Again,

Here are some more photos from our holidays. From Sydney we went up to Airlee Beach and stayed at the Coral Sea Resort, below you can see a picture of the view from our window. From Airlee Beach we went on a cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. There are 72 of them in total and I think that just over 60 are uninhabited. The cruise was fantastic. There were 6 of us on the boat plus 2 crew. The best part of it was swimming with the fishes and Whithaven Beach. We snorkled around the corals and it was amazing to see all the different fish, we even seen a couple of "Nemos". Whithaven Beach was just pure white sands and is probably the most beautiful beach I've ever seen - a piece of paradise.

Enjoy the pictures

Thomas...

1. On the balcony at our room at the Coral Sea Resort

2. The boat we sailed on "Windjammer"

3. The first beach we swam on - one of the Whitsunday Islands

4. Ana ready to go snorkling

5. Me, ready to go swim with the fishes.

6. Some of the fish were fairly big!

7. Whithaven Beach - from the lookout point. The camera doesn't do justice to the colour of the water. To the right is an inlet which is full of mantaray, stingrays and sharks, you can see them swimming

8. Ana on the white sands of Whithaven Beach.

Sydney - Australia

2007-10-31T02:12:00.000Z

Here are a few photos from OZ, Sydney to be precise!!

Ana and I infront of the Syney Harbour Bridge the day before we climbed it!!

Sydney Opera House

Ana and I at the Blue Mountains

Us again at the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Feeding time at the Zoo :-)

Ducketts Grove

2007-10-21T22:17:00.000+01:00

Here are some of the photos I took out in a place called Ducketts Grove, which is on the Hacketstown road just outside of Carlow, Ireland. This was the second trip I went on with the Carlow Photographic Society.

1 - Road Works (Taken from an overpass of the new motorway)

2 - Crossroad Gate

3 - Grainy Forest Track

4 - Where's Doggy?

5 - Ducketts Grove

6 - Eye of the Pump

7 - In Bloom

My First Set Of Photos

2007-10-07T21:15:00.002+01:00

These are my first set of photos. The club went out for the day last week, on the 30th of September, to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair. This is the oldest horse fair in Europe. Following are my favourite 7 from that day.

1. Horse Cart

2. Horse & Jockey

3. Posers

4. A Couple of Asses

5. Quite Time

6. I can see my house from up here!

7. Only Me?

Welcome To My Blog

2007-10-07T12:15:00.000+01:00

Hello All,

This is my Blog. I'm just beginning to get involved in the whole area of Photography and have joined a local club in my hometown Carlow, Ireland to learn more about photography. At times the club goes out on visits around Ireland to area's of photograpical interest to take photos.

My blog is going to show my photos taken from now and I hope it will be of interest. I also hope through this blog I'll be able to catalog my development.

I've also added a page of my holidays where you can see photos from the different places I've been.

Thomas