Barcelona Mercè festival

The Mercè festival, which takes place in September, is Barcelona's biggest festival.

Barcelonians are crazy people :) They dress up as devils and go around with fireworks in the streets, spraying it all over the innocent bystanders.

It was actually great fun. I first kept my distance a bit but couldn't get any good shots. I was only dressed in jeans and a t-shirt while most of the people standing close were wearing some kind of protection like jackets with hoodies or scarfs around their head. At some stage I just braved it and went on the street, right in the middle of it. The camera protected my face more or less while the UV filter protected the lens. I felt burning on my shoulders a few times and after the event I found out that I had burn holes in my t-shirt. Ah well, it was worth it.

There was also a fireworks display on the hill Montjuïc which was absolutely beautiful and lasted for a long time. There are also a few shots of that display in this slideshow. Just click on one of the photos to go to the set on my flickr page and see the bigger photos.

Denise in colour

Just one shot and I think it's a nice one. I think Denise might like this one in print as well.

portrait shoot: Denise.

A friend of ours, Denise, was interested in posing for a portrait shoot. We had discussed it ages ago but it never happened. So, a few nights ago she came around for dinner and we did a little photo shoot afterwards. Nothing fancy; just a low key, black backdrop, simple lighting shoot. Here are some results.

Napoli 2006 (dedicated to Ombretta)

This set of photos is dedicated to one of the beautiful girls from Napoli; an on-line friend who I first met in the ESL café, where she calls herself ombretta, and who is now one of my MSN contacts and Facebook friends as well. The internet is so much fun. :)  I promised her that I would show a few photos that I took there. So, here they are. Mostly tourist scenery shots and one nice portrait of an older gentleman. I thought he had a great face and with hands and feet I asked him if I could take a photo of him. He didn't mind. I already posted a few people shots from Napoli, (click here to see them) but for some reason I didn't post any landscape shots. I so want to go back to Napoli and surroundings. It is a great city and the people are absolutely lovely. Ombretta: I hope you like the photos (and all the other visitors as well of course)

Camera gear used for these shots: Canon 350D and the Canon Pro1 compact. I didn't have the 30D and the 40D yet.

Update: no photos.

Hi there.

First of all it's nice to see that my blogs get so many hits from all over the world. Please don't be shy and leave a message every now and then. If you can't do it in English, do it in your own language. I will find someone to translate it for me if I can't understand it. :)

A little while ago I had a bit of a set back because one of my external photo harddrives broke down. Of course I had the originals all backed up on DVD but the edited ones I hadn't.

As a result of that I have to re-edit a lot of photos. At the moment I'm concentrating on a few series that I shot during the Limerick Gay Pride week 2008 and the alternative miss Limerick pageant which took place last Saturday. You can see some of the shots on my Limerick blog and the rest will follow soon. So make sure you check back once in a while.

On this blog there will be more photos from Italy and also photos from Barcelona. I was there during the Mercè festival and got some spectacular shots. So do check back on a regular basis.

More Venezia

A few more shots I took in Venice, Italy. Some colour and some black and white. Certain shots just work better in black and white.

Click on the photos to see the bigger version.

Shane Barry and the Distractions.

This Waterford band played at the Waterford Spraoi festival. They were really good. They have a CD out that I bought and play a lot.

You can check them out at: http://ie.myspace.com/shanebarryofficial

Click on the photos to go to the flickr page and see the bigger photos.

Venezia in black and white.

Here are some shots that I took in Venice, Italy, this year. 

These are mainly people shots  but I will show some other work from Venice as well. It's hard not to show what everyone has seen already so many times. Venice must be one of the most photographed cities in the world.

Clothes peg (there is beauty in everything).

Only one shot: a close-up of the humble clothes peg.

There is beauty in everything.

Digital Dolf's Limerick blog up and running.

Well,  by up and running I mean that I started the blog and I have one "new" set of photos up and a few that are on this blog as well.
From Sunday the 8th of June I'll be gone for a few weeks so until July there won't be that much activity on the Limerick blog.
I might be able to put a few more up before Sunday, we'll see.
You can find the link to the blog in the link section on the right hand side.
Or you can click here.

Future plans (announcement)

I know that a few people have probably been looking out for the photos I took during the Riverfest festival in Limerick. Don't worry, I will put them up.
The plan is to make a seperate Limerick blog where I will show all the photos relating to Limerick. It is in the pipeline. There I will show a compilation of a few years Riverfest. It'll mainly be people shots of the Riverfests. There will also be general photos taken in Limerick city and county. I will keep ye informed.

Munster Rugby (Heineken Cup).

It was a bit of work but I edited photos I took in O'Connell street, Limerick during the Munster Rugby Heineken Cup finals.
You can see the photos in the  slide show above. When you click on a photo it will bring you to the flickr page where this set lives. You can go also go to the flickr page directly by clicking the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15139725@N04/sets/72157605248650016/
When you click on "all sizes" you can choose which size you want to download. I posted a decent size so you can even print them. If you use them on your blog or post them on, please link back to my flickr page or blog.
The atmosphere in O'Connell street, Limerick was great. The event was well organised with two big screens. Friendly Gardaí and stuarts made sure that everything went smoothly. I saw one girl pass out and she received aid within seconds. She was fine afterwards.
Even the weather was brilliant.
It was also a great photo opportunity even though the light conditions weren't ideal.
I hope you enjoy the photos and that those who weren't there get a taste of the atmosphere.

Concert: Siobhán O'Brien and band.

Last Friday Kieran, a friend of ours, had invited us to a folk concert by his cousin Siobhán O'Brien in Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick City. Of course I brought the photo gear along and took some shots.
These shots were all taken with my 50mm 1.2 L lens at ISO 800 and ISO 1600. (some of ye might be interested in this kind of information)
You can find more information on Siobhán O'Brien here:
http://www.siobhanobrien.com/
http://www.myspace.com/siobhanobrienofficialpage
You can hear some of her music there too.

More photos added to landscapes 1

I had 3 more photos to add to the landscapes 1 series.
When you scroll down past the Prague photos, you will see them.
They are the 3 photos on top.
Don't forget to click on the photos to see them bigger.
Left click to go back to the blog.

Spring Flowers

Just taking a break from all the "people" posts.

People 8 (Lisbon)

More candid people shots. This time from Lisbon.
I really want to go back there. It's such a great city.
I decided to change these shots into duotone because in my opinion it brings out the atmosphere the way I felt it when we were there.
The bottom two shots are of Fado singers in a local establishment in Alfama, the quarter of Lisbon where Fado has its roots.

Update - (no photos)

Today I added the series "save it for a rainy day" but I also added a photo to landscapes 1 (Nov 2007). You can see it when you scroll down. It's the first photo of Muckross house with the tree in front.
I corrected keystoning in the second shot (Muckross house up closer).
Keystoning is a distorting effect of converging verticals, often in buildings.
It is the result of using a wide angle lens. I corrected this in Photoshop.
Don't forget to click on photos to see a bigger version.

Save it for a rainy day.

I try to post photos at least once a month but it is hard to choose which ones.
These shots were taken during showery days. We get plenty of rain in Ireland but that normally doesn't stop me from taking photos.