Taking the Plunge!

My photo skills were put to the test on saturday when I was asked to photograph my sister-in-laws wedding! The day was fantastic, both as a guest and as photographer. Not perfect, but as good as circumstances allowed.

Tyler keeping the rings safe.
Thankfully the weather was nice, although the passing clouds and strong Sunlight made for some challenges.

Emily arriving in her pink Cadillac.
Thankfully I didn't have any photos to take inside the church, except for the register signing. With poor lighting and taken mid-ceremony they were probably the biggest challenge and really tested my kit.


Congratulations Dan and Emily.
A big thank you for trusting me to take your wedding photos!

Anything I'd do differently with hindsight? A few things, but with; the kit I had available, the factors that happened that were outside my control and my only knowledge gained from books, magazines and websites, I'm pleased with the results.

Aftermath

With Fairford air tattoo cancelled, some pics from the holiday..
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.. sunrise at St Michaels Mount, a beautiful day with the tide racing in and windows reflecting the breaking Sun.
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..ponies on Dartmoor (blurred edges in photoshop)..
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.. and a fly macro, resized slightly larger than usual to leave in some of that hairy fly detail.

Goodbye Cornwall

One last visit to the beach on the last morning of the holiday...

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..and a flashback to the Levant Mine sunset.

End of the summer

A few lazy photo free days followed by a day of rain. A few snaps of jellyfish from the aquarium at Newquay...

A flashback to Lizard Point...

Cornwall IV

Godrevy lighthouse from the golden, sandy beach nr Hayle. The lighthouse was built 150 years ago after the SS Nile hit "The Stones" and sank.

Lanyon Quoit - a neolithic structure from around 2500BC. Possibly the remains of a burial chamber or maybe used for ritual activities. The stones were re-arranged in the 18th century after a storm collapsed the original arrangement. The 13 ton stones were originally aligned east-west-south-north and were high enough for a horse rider to ride under.

Greenburrow Engine House (1865), part of the Ding Dong mine complex. The site of the mine was apparently visited by Joseph of Arimathea, who was buying tin and copper in Britain with another man - perhaps Jesus, somewhere around 18-28 AD.

And on the third day..

..Mark created some more Cornwall photos!
Up before the crack of dawn to shoot sunrise at St Michaels Mount, I followed in David Notons very well troden footsteps, only to find 2 other photographers ahead, so I strayed from the flock slightly and hopefully did something a tiny bit different.
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I didn't really get the effect I wanted with the water (I really must buy some ND filters), but it's a nice pic. I have a few more pics of this to process later too.
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Read some of the fascinating info about St Michaels here: http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/heritage-trail/heritage-national-trust/stmichaelsmount/Welcome.asp

Roche rock. A fantastic eruption of freak geology which has an equally brilliant early 15th century chapel built into the granite.
The granite outcrop is estimated to be 270 million years old and is surrounded by remains of ancient rituals and settlements.
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The stone is Tourmalised (contains Tourmaline and other geochemicals) and some parts appear like sparkling blue gold.
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The Chapel itself is mentioned in several myths and legends:
It is the refuge of the ghost of the giant Tregeagle, a 17th century villian, whos soul is tormented for all eternity by the devil. He was chased across Cornwall by headless hellhounds before claiming sanctuary in the chapel.
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It is also said to have been used as a refuge for Tristram and Isolde in the legends of King Arthur, after Tristram stole Isolde from King Mark.
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The finale of The Omen trilogy of movies was also filmed here in the early 1980's. Where a group of priests, attempt to kill the anti-christ, Damien Thorne (played by Sam Neill).

Blog posts like buses..

Day 2 of my Cornwall photos.
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First off a typical British holiday shot, beach packed with dogs and kids, miserable weather, poluted sea ... huh?

Mousehole harbour (okay, it looks cloudy, but that's all heading inland, the coast stayed lovely and sunny)

Still Mousehole. Note St Michaels Mount in the distance. Detail, texture, depth.. I like this pic.
Salty seadog (warming his cockles?)
Sunset at the mines near St Just, this rabbit sat on a nearby rock and watched the sun go down. I'm not sure if he was just soaking up the last warmth of the day, dreaming of sailing over the ocean to a bunny new world or just guarding the holy grail from me with his nasty sharp pointy teeth.
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Ore mine at sunset with Pendeen lighthouse in the distance. Fantastic landscape with some great historical buildings. Levant mine was one of the later active mines in the area, mining Tin, Copper and Arsenic. Check out http://www.landsendarea.co.uk/trails/levant.htm for more info on this particular mine.

Holiday Blues

Well, long time no post.. been in sunny Cornwall all last week, chilling out and generally having a great time. Took a whole bunch of pics while I was away, from bugs I saw on coast walks, to beach scenes, to sunsets and a sunrise.
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This week has been soo busy, I haven't finished downloading and processing a quarter of the photos yet, so here are just a few for starters. More to follow.
The view looking down over Dollar Cove, apparently so called because of all the silver dollars dug up there that had been buried by pirates.

Light fantastic

In an effort to exercise my shutter finger in preparation for my holiday to Cornwall next week I made an effort to avoid snapping yet more macro photos. Instead, trying to make the most of some great Sunlight as it dropped through some hazey distant clouds.

Lightning tree. Struck by lightning in the last storm we had a couple of weeks ago, side lit by the setting Sun against some nice brooding clouds.
Ears.
Ivy on a mossy tree, again lit by the sunset to emphasise the textures, then a few photoshop techniques to jazz things up a little (see below).
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Chippenhams version of the Apocalypse Now poster, as the burning Sun slips behind the treeline. Taken with a long zoom, daylight white balance, only photoshopping was to remove a pylon cable that was in the way.
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The Ivy pic was photoshopped using: Channel mixer - to turn to black & white, levels/curves to optimise the dynamic range, a gaussian blurred layer set to ~50% opacity, a vignette lens correction to darken the corners and a subtle colour correction to add a slight tint.

More of the same

With the car off the road for repairs it's more pics from the local cycle-paths.


Blue-Tailed Damselflies, chilling out in the late evening sunlight.

Backlit wildflowers transforming a fairly bland sunset photo into something a little bit different.

Bug Life

Hovering Hoverfly..

This pic isn't as good as it should have been, not enough light to up the depth of field. Some nice details still though.