Blog – Page 14 – Riccarpics

Pride before a Fail

I try to get to Belfast Pride most years and send the pictures to Alamy Live News. I don’t think I’ve ever sold any as news but the occasional one has sold after it moved from News to the main collection.

The first Belfast Pride Parade was, unbelievably, in 1991. The years really do pass quicker as you get older and change happens fast. It would’ve been around 100 people and few would’ve bothered watching them. Now thousands turn out to watch with large companies like Sainsbury’s and Asda represented in the Parade. The police even take part!

My main motive in going this year, apart from taking photographs, was to experiment with delivering images to Alamy faster. In the past when submitting to Live News I had travelled home and uploaded the photographs from my main computer. This I am told is not the way it should be done. Images should be sent within minutes not hours.

Some time ago I had bought an App called PressIPTC that allowed you to upload images to an Android tablet or even phone and FTP them. I had never got round to using it before and thinking this would be an ideal opportunity decided I would try it on an Android tablet I have. The night before I managed to get it set up, added the IPTC information I would include, tested the connection via my iPhone and went to bed feeling confident.

Failure! I took some pictures at the start of the parade and went back to the car to send them off. I had expected to have to do it in the street or at best a coffee shop but I’d managed to get parked nearby and thought the peace and quiet of my car would be more conducive to dealing with iffy wireless connections and strange software. I know these things rarely work as they should first or even sixth time. I loaded the photographs onto the tablet, got a connection via my iPhone and couldn’t get the pictures to go. I made quite a few further attempts but couldn’t get it to work. That saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result popped into my mind. I’m not sure its right when your’e dealing with computers but I left it and went back to the parade for more photographs. Later I went home and sent the images to Alamy Live News as I’ve always done.

I’ve looked at Press IPTC again and still can’t get it to work. It hasn’t been updated for 3 years and I suppose its possible that with the updates to Android it simply may not work anymore. My knowledge on such things is limited. I’ve checked online but found little about the App and the website is no longer there.

Shuttersnitch for the iPad/iPhone is similar to Press IPTC but after my experience I’m reluctant to travel the same route and spend yet more time and money at this, albeit with a different operating system. Perhaps sometime in the future I’ll revisit it.

I’ve resurrected an old Netbook with a proper keyboard and a slot to put the memory card in. That’s the way forward if I can find suitable software. There are also questions on the screen quality and processing power but I’m hopeful. Its not ideal when I’m trying to keep weight down but I’ll see how it goes.

I’ve posted a few images below and and you can see more here.

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, 4 August 2018. Thousands turn out for the annual Pride Day Parade.

Interesting?

McHugh’s in Queen’s Square is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Belfast, dating from around 1711. It’s a popular bar and restaurant especially when there’s an event in Custom House Square.

I’ve taken many photographs of McHugh’s over the years but always found it difficult as the front of the building seems to be often in shadow when I’m passing.

On the day these photographs were taken it was cloudy but bright. I think it was the flowers that first attracted my attention and when I noticed people sitting at the tables, well it was always going to make a picture. That the building was fairly well lit, with the clouds diffusing the sunlight, was the icing.

They were taken using a Panasonic 100-300 mm lens that I’d recently bought. I had decided I needed longer reach and with the field of view on Micro 4/3 this gives the equivalent of a 200-600 mm lens. Its second best in the Panasonic line up but I wasn’t prepared to part with over twice the money for the 100-400 mm. These long lenses are nice to have and I’m more than happy with it so far but I don’t expect it to be among my most used.

I took a few photographs (two are below). The first has just the people sitting at tables talking while the second has one of the men holding his mobile phone up, perhaps taking a selfie, while a young guy walks past. Not what you would call an action pic but enough going on to make it interesting.

I’ve put the second image, the interesting one, on Alamy. I was tempted to upload the other one as well, thinking that it would be interesting to see what one, if any, sold. That plan was dismissed as, although it looks fine here, when I started to process for submission to Alamy I found that it just wasn’t quite as sharp as I would like.

Maybe I should change the title of this post.

McHughs Bar and Restaurant. Built around 1711 McHughs is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Belfast

McHughs Bar, Belfast — McHughs Bar and Restaurant. Built around 1711 McHughs is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Belfast

The Big Wheel

Bangor, for the next few weeks anyway, has its very own Big Wheel. The wheel has been placed adjacent to the marina and gives a great view over the moored boats and the town itself. Its arrival has coincided with the best weather of the year to date with unbroken blue skies and temperatures approaching 30C. This is just about as good as it gets in Ireland and such weather coinciding with the schools breaking for summer is a rare occurrence indeed.

I haven’t been up in the wheel as yet but watch this space.

New York

In April 22016 we went to New York for five days. It was a family break so although I brought cameras photography was a secondary consideration and I didn’t take anywhere near as many photographs as I normally would have. We did what people do in New York, we saw Les Miserables, we eat well, took a bus tour and we went shopping. I got an afternoon in B & H – what a place – I’ve never seen so much gear!

I had brought my Fuji X100 and Sony RX100. It was easier to bring those two cameras than my Canon. The Canon with the 24-105 lens would’ve been much more versatile and produced better images but I just didn’t want the weight.

I’ve included a few images below, taken mostly with the Fuji. I’ve processed them to black and white because I like monochrome and it makes these images work that much better than colour.

More images here.

This is my wife sitting in a pew in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral

Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York — Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, New York

We took an evening bus tour and I had to get a photograph of the Flatiron Building. Its always difficult to get an image of such a famous building that looks even slightly different from the many thousands taken before. The guy looking through the binoculars and the tour guide pointing add some animation.

New York Bus Tour with the Flatiron Building. The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, was completed in 1902. It sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street — New York evening Bus Tour with the Flatiron Building. The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, was completed in 1902. It sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street

Belfast Maritime Festival 2018

The Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival was held over Saturday and Sunday, 19th and 20th May. I went on the Saturday. It was a great day, warm and sunny and busy enough, but the North West 200 motorcycle races and the FA Cup Final were on the same day and kept numbers down.

I think there were fewer ships than in earlier years but there were at least four tall ships and they’re always impressive. Ever popular, queues formed at their gangplanks quickly and remained fairly constant.

I’ve add a few photographs below and I’ll be posting more over the next few days.

Strictly speaking I don’t think HMS Caroline was part of the Maritime Festival but she sits in Titanic Quarter adjacent to the Thompson Dock and certainly deserves a mention. I hadn’t seen her for a few years and to be honest she was becoming a sorry sight. On seeing her I was delighted at the transformation.

Caroline is a light cruiser and was launched in 1914. She was active in the First World War and saw action in the Battle of Jutland. In 1924 she was moved to Belfast and became headquarters for the Ulster Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

In 1939, during the second World War, she became a depot ship to an anti-submarine striking force of patrol vessels and remained active throughout the conflict.

At the end of the war Caroline returned to Belfast and at her decommissioning in 2011 she was the second oldest ship in Royal Navy Service. Unfortunately she sat neglected for years until, aided by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, she was restored to pristine condition and opened to the public in 2016.

Hop On, Hop Off

Last week I was in Scotland and spent a day in Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful city with plenty of sights, friendly people and things to do.There’s even a Tesla showroom!

Walking on Princes Street I photographed one of the City Sightseeing Tour buses with Jenners Department Store in the background. I would’ve liked to have taken the tour but I didn’t have time and to be honest it was a bit windy for an open topped bus.

It was only when I got home and was editing the photographs that I remembered that only the previous week I had photographed a City Sightseeing Tour bus in Belfast with the Albert Memorial Clock in the background. A Tale of Two Cities?

Edinburgh Tour Bus, Princes Street, Edinburgh

A Belfast Hop On, Hop Off tour bus approaches the Albert Memorial Clock

Spring at Last

Its been a long winter. It wasn’t particularly severe, it felt like it was never going to end, but over the past few days we’ve had our normal April weather, sunshine and showers. It’s amazing how a spell of decent weather seems to improve peoples outlook.

I had a walk round Belfast in the sun and took some photographs, mainly in Titanic Quarter but also in Cathedral Quarter.

This is the Belfast Titanic Hotel that I think opened last October. The building was originally the Harland and Wolff Shipyard Drawing Offices and its just to the right of the Titanic Building. I think this is Belfast’s most recent hotel but probably not for long as there’s a lot more in the pipeline.

Belfast Titanic Hotel, Titanic Quarter, Belfast

This is Queen’s Square. In taking this photograph I stood with the Albert Clock to my back. Most photographs you see of the square will feature the fountains in the foreground and the Albert Clock in the background. Face the other way and you can place one of the Harland and Wolff cranes in the background. It’s good to be different!

The Ford Capri Club

Today the Ford Capri Owners Club, Northern Ireland had a charity event in Bangor in aid of The Northern Ireland Cancer Centre. Although the event was organised by The Capri Club all Fords, old and reasonably new seemed welcome. Walking around the cars on display you cannot but be impressed by the work put into these vehicles both to get them to such a high standard and then to maintain them.

My first car was a Ford so I have a soft spot for the marque.

Ford Capri Club, Northern Ireland — Lots of Capri’s

See more here.