House On The Hill (Calpe, Spain)

Please click on the image to view a larger sized version which looks more impressive I think.

Post title; House On The Hill is a song title from Beach House, taken from their great debut album ‘Beach House’.

At The Edge Of The Sea

A photo of Conor, my son, looking peaceful on a stoney beach just up the coast from Calp (Calpe), Spain. It’s a very simple photo but it’s the simplicity of it that I like; calm colours, obvious composition and square lines and of course the impression of tranquility.

Post title ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’ is a song from the album ‘Tommy’ by The Wedding Present. Who are touring and performing their Seamonsters album later this year.

Broken down cars, Like strung out old stars ( Vintage Car Show )

I was at the Shrule & District Vintage Car show last weekend and spent the afternon trying to stop my two year old son from pawing the cars with his ice-cream hands. Besides that I took some photos of the lovely cars; hope you like. (more to follow soon)

Post title taken from the great song ‘Lift Me Up’, taken from the album Hotel by Moby. I only found out recently that Moby is an avid photogrpaher and has his own photoblog of strange and beautiful architecture in Los Angeles.

Baby You Can Drive My Car ( Shrule & District Vintage Club 4th Annual Show )

A friend of mine is a lover of cars (Opel mainly) and will be showcasing his Mantra at the opcoming Shrule & District Vintage Club 4th Annual Show at Castlehackett Estate, Belclare, Tuam, Co. Galway this weekend. I’m going to head along, it could be a great chance to get some nice photographs. After browsing through some of my car photographs I’ve noticed that I tend go for abstract rather than the standard photos. This is because the standard photo (for many subjects) has been done a million times so trying a differnet style makes it stand out somewhat.

Link to website.
Here’s details of the show:
Saturday 9th June
The Vintage Road Run for cars will start at 4 P.M. sharp returning to the show site @ 8 P.M. where a barbeque (not free) is available.
The route of the run is as follows:
* Castlehackett House (Show site)
* Caherlistrane
* Shrule
* Glencorrib
* Cross
* Cong (15 – 30 minute stop)
* Ballinbobe
* Tuam
* Belclare (meet with the Tractors)
* Castlehackett House (Show site)
Tractors will also have a Road Run the route is: * Castlehackett House (Show site)
* Caherlistrane
* Sylane
* Tuam
* Belclare (meet with the Cars)
* Castlehackett House (Show site)

Details of events on Sunday 10th June
* All types of vintage vehicles will be on display – tractors, cars, motorbikes, commercial trucks, 4X4s, construction and industrial vehicles, fire engines and steam engines.
* There will be vintage working displays and demonstrations with threshing, block making, stone crushing, and stationary engines in operation.
* A tractor build display is planned and a substantial autojumble will be run on site.
* Other attractions include Dog show and crafts display featuring cooking, butter making, sewing, wood turning and weaving.
* There will be children’s entertainment, set dancing and live music featuring Don Stiffe, Matt Keane and many more artists.
* The Opel Vauxhall Club Ireland will be in attendance.
* The Ford Cortina Club are main feature at the show as they celebrate 50 years of the Cortina.

Show location:
Sat Nav co-ordinates are: 53.493331,-8.977633.

Post title is the title of a Beatles song ‘Baby You Can Drive My Car’.

You Got a Fast Car

Sometimes I go out with my camera with an idea in my mind of what type of photograph I want to capture, sometimes not. On this occasion I was watching some sheep with my kids (amazing for them…) while cars were driving past on the country road.

Quickly I decided to try some long exposure shots of them. Without thinking too much about the settings I flicked the shutter dial to 1/15 of a second and titled my Pentax K-7 camera as I heard a fast car approaching. As it came into view I panned it and titled my camera slightly. Even though the car isn’t fully in focus I’m extremely happy with result. The strong background colours add to the photo as well I think.

If I had thought about it more I mightn’t have gotten as good a result; there was no textbook thought to titling the camera but I think it looks more dramatic that if the car was horizontal.

Post title is taken from the classic song ‘Fast Car’ by Tracy Trapman