Photogrphing at arms length!
23rd April 2010
Another good day in Mayo, very overcast today but pleasent all the same. I had one hour free this afternoon for photography, but I also needed to take some exercise so I strapped my compact Panasonic camera to the handlebar of my bike and set off. I decided to have a look at Clogher lake, between Westport and Fahy. As I said already it was very overcast and there was very little colour in the lake so I looked around for other things to photograph.
There are definitely some advantages to viewing the country side from a bike, for a start you can see over all the ditches , you can also see things in the ditches, like these violets
, and its easier to stop and chat, like when I met this donkey.
The poor thing ran away when I approached the gate first, but I can imagine I probably looked just a little strange in my shorts, high viz vest and blue cycle helmet!
Anyway he eventually came around .
There are also some disadvantages to biking for photography, firstly there is the whole issue of what gear to bring, I normally carry a bag with SLR Camera three or four lenses, filters , filters holders etc etc and of course a heavy tripod. I could not carry all that on the bike so limited myself to the compact camera, I bought this camera four years ago so as I would always have a camera with me, but I must admit I don’t use it very often. Being a stickler for quality I find there is too much noise in the photographs and so don’t use it that often. However I did enjoy using it today. The camera has all the controls that are available on my SLR so I am still able to make adjustments for exposure etc. The one thing this camera ,and indeed many compact cameras, lack, is an an eyepiece viewfinder. I find this really irritating, putting a camera to my eye seems such a vital part of the whole process of engaging with the scene in front of me. Holding the camera at arms length to compose through the viewer on the back is just awkward .
There are two other disadvantage of biking for photography ? ...................Hills, and arriving at a lakeside sweating, the midges were thrilled, its like I was cooked to perfection.
There are definitely some advantages to viewing the country side from a bike, for a start you can see over all the ditches , you can also see things in the ditches, like these violets
, and its easier to stop and chat, like when I met this donkey.
The poor thing ran away when I approached the gate first, but I can imagine I probably looked just a little strange in my shorts, high viz vest and blue cycle helmet!
Anyway he eventually came around .
There are also some disadvantages to biking for photography, firstly there is the whole issue of what gear to bring, I normally carry a bag with SLR Camera three or four lenses, filters , filters holders etc etc and of course a heavy tripod. I could not carry all that on the bike so limited myself to the compact camera, I bought this camera four years ago so as I would always have a camera with me, but I must admit I don’t use it very often. Being a stickler for quality I find there is too much noise in the photographs and so don’t use it that often. However I did enjoy using it today. The camera has all the controls that are available on my SLR so I am still able to make adjustments for exposure etc. The one thing this camera ,and indeed many compact cameras, lack, is an an eyepiece viewfinder. I find this really irritating, putting a camera to my eye seems such a vital part of the whole process of engaging with the scene in front of me. Holding the camera at arms length to compose through the viewer on the back is just awkward .
There are two other disadvantage of biking for photography ? ...................Hills, and arriving at a lakeside sweating, the midges were thrilled, its like I was cooked to perfection.
Comments
By Omnishots: On first view I thought this donkey was a camel and wondered how you could have cycled to find such an animal in Mayo. I did think you might have gone to the zoo at Westport House and then realised how silly I was being!