The PhotoJournal
A (mostly) gear free photo blog
Memories of New York
Being cooped up at home for over a month now, like many people I’ve resorted to going back over old photos and projects as something to do while we can’t go out and shoot. I was going through my archive and something made me start looking at some old New York photos. I have a lot of fond memories of visiting the city and so, I decided to put together a little trip down memory lane, with a little virtual exhibit.
Virtual Spring
After a long winter, the days start to get longer, and the weather begins to warm up. Outside, nature begins to return to life, and there’s nothing more liberating for the soul after months of dark and cold days than enjoying the beauty of nature as Spring takes hold. Unfortunately, with the current situation of a global pandemic forcing half of the world to stay indoors, this isn’t something that we can really do this year. So I decided to go back through my old photographs of Spring and create a little virtual spring exhibition!
Street Photo Diary, Issue 40: Getting Back to the Streets
After the incident I had the last time I was out shooting Street Photography, I have been finding it hard to get back to shooting. The attack put me off wanting to do street photography at all, having both shattered my confidence and also my motivation. But slowly I’ve ben trying o make myself get back out there, and this Saturday, I finally did my first street shoot in a while.
Some Street Photography from NYC
Back in June I spent a week in New York, and while I was there I didn’t do much photography, as I was mainly there for a holiday, and also I was recovering from a bad chest infection that I had had the previous month. Even so, I couldn’t resist the call of the camera, so I still managed to get some shots in.
Street Photo Diary Issue 39 - Lost and Found Edition
Sometimes when I’m out shooting street photography, I will go out with a theme in mind. Other times, it will just sort of happen organically. I was walking through Dublin in May, and it was still pretty cold for that time of the year, yet there were lots and lots of tourists around and tour groups. I am actually fascinated by how other people view my home town, and when shooting street photography here I try to capture that. In this case, I seemed to gravitate towards catching the expressions of people enjoying their visit to Ireland, and the occasional local who got caught up in the mix too.
Street Photo Diary Issue 39: 1 Day of Summer
Summer finally arrived in Ireland last week. It only lasted for a day or two, but we enjoyed it while it lasted! It’s actually been really cold so far through most of June, but we did have a few hot days, and so I headed out to see how people were enjoying the sunshine.
Street Photo Diary Issue 38: Pink is the new Black
I hadn’t had a chance to shoot some street photography in nearly a month, so I was happy to get out and shoot again. I wanted to try and practice and change up the way I shoot a bit, especially for street photography. I wanted to focus on things like shadows, and reflections, and be on the look out for something different to the type of things I normally shoot. I wasn’t hugely successful in changing my habits, but I still got a couple of shots I’m really happy with.
Street Photo Diary Issue 37: Spring in Dublin
Spring has arrived in the city with an unusually warm couple of days, and it really showed on the faces of the people as they went about their daily lives. The ever changing beat of the city seemed more alive, and everyone from the tourists to the locals seemed to be enjoying the nice weather.
Texture, Detail, Pattern
I’ve had this idea in the back of my head for a few days and I wanted to act on it. For some reason, Ive had this urge to take out my macro lens and shoot some macro shots. So today I grabbed my camera and the afore mentioned lens and headed out to a local park to see what I could see.
Street Photo Diary Issue 36: Searching for Winter Light
As Autumn draws to a close here in Dublin, and the first days of winter begin to take hold, the cold days have one big plus for photography: the light is absolutely gorgeous. The low sun of the northern(ish) latitude brings with it beautiful long shadows and a golden light, while the skies take on a deep hue.
Autumn Textures
Autumn is by far my favourite time of year for taking photos, but sometimes I feel like I’ve done it all before. I’m always trying to do something different, to shake things up a bit, and so recently I had an idea. Instead of doing the usual and focus on the autumn colours, I would instead see if I could make some interesting images of autumn textures.
Street Photo Diary Issue 35: Black and White in Dublin
It was a bank holiday weekend here in Dublin this weekend, and as is traditional at the start of August, many people were away on holidays. The result of this is that the city was unusually quiet. I had headed out to shoot an episode of my “Street Photo Diary” companion video series and while I normally complain about how busy it is, for once it was nearly too quiet.
Random Acts of Photography: London Edition
I’ve been taking a little break this week, and I got to spend some time in London. The city, like the rest of the UK and Ireland is currently experiencing a heatwave, and as someone who doesn’t do well in the heat, I’ve found it quite oppressive and hard to function. Anyway, I haven’t really been taking many photos, but here are a random few from the few days in the city.
Alpine Ridge
The last time I went to Glendalough to shoot has ended up being the gift that keeps on giving. Every now and then I go back to my collection of images from the day and discover something else, or rediscover a shot that I’d dismissed. In this case, I discovered a series of shots of the tree line that I had previously glossed over.
A Sunny Day in Dublin: Street Photo Diary
There was a sudden heat wave here in Dublin over the weekend, and so I took the opportunity to head into the city to shoot some street photography. It’s the beginning of May, and while most of the year is tourist season in Dublin, it begins in earnest at this time of the year. The city was really busy, and so that presented some interesting opportunities for photography, as well as challenges.
Capturing the Sights of a German Town & The German Countryside
left to complete all four seasons. I wonder if I will I get a prize? It was really warm for this time of the year, and it felt like summer, but the trees were still budding, and the cherry blossoms were still blooming. After a while, it’s hard not to capture the same thing over and over, especially as it is such a small place, but the picturesque buildings and town just cry out to have their photo taken. I also managed to capture a bit more of the countryside this time, as well as some evening shots of the town square.
Street Photo Diary Issue 33: London Edition
I was passing through a very sunny London city twice over the last week. On each occasion, I was only there for a day or so, and so I didn’t have a lot of time for photography, but I still managed to squeeze an hour or two in on both trips. I hadn’t really intended to shoot street photography specifically, but it sort of ended up that way. I was originally planning to do more “travel photography” style shots, and I was also shooting a video for my new travel vlog series, but in the process of trying to avoid the typical shots of London everyone takes, I somehow ended up shooting street photography. I was actually really lucky with some of the shots too.
Street Photo Diary: Issue 32 - Quiet Streets & Market Edition
I had set out to shoot some street photography for my companion video series, and I was using an older camera for this shoot. I started off in some of the quite parts of Dublin city, looking for details and any kind of quirky objects or scenes that I might come across. Despite having shot around Dublin city for years, I still find all the little things you can see hidden in plain sight quite interesting.
Blessington Lakes and the Wicklow Mountains
Last Saturday we decided to go for an impromptu drive into the countryside around Dublin and north County Wicklow. We headed for the picturesque area of Blessington, and the famous lakes, which are nestled in the Wicklow mountains. The lakes are actually artificial and were formed 50 years ago by the creation of a dam which flooded the valley. They now provide hydroelectric power and drinking water to parts of county Dublin.
Ferry Docking in Oslo
I distinctly remember the cold that day. The temperature wasn’t terribly low, but the breeze blowing off the fjord made it feel pretty cold. As the sun slowly went down over the city of Oslo, my wife and I stood on the harbour watching the ferries come in and out, and despite the cold, we were hypnotised by the coming and going of the boats.