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Wednesday 7 April 2010

Belfast Zoo

Well Easter weekend was a busy one, what with spending Saturday and Sunday in the middle of nowhere watching and counting rally cars all day long.  So yesterday we treated ourselves to a wee day trip to the Zoo.  Kerry and I were both trying to work out just how many years it had been since our last visit to the Zoo, and neither of us could actually remember our last visit so were unable to draw a conclusion.

Only in Belfast though would you find scumbags throwing multi-packs of Doritos and bottles of Coke at the chimpanzee's.  It did make for some humorous shots though.


As per usual though, my ability to write is lacking, so I shall leave you with the photos instead.

Thanks for looking and all feedback is appreciated as per usual.

Sunday 21 March 2010

Red Bull City Limits

Well today saw the RedBull F1 team take to the streets of Belfast and bring a small piece of Formula 1 to yet another country that wouldn't typically get to see these cars throughout the motorsport calender.

I have to thank a few people at this point. Geoff McConville for his hospitality with drinks and canopes laid on for guests including Kerry and Myself, James McCauley for pointing me in the right direction to get the media pass I had been trying for 3 days to get and of course Kerry and her family for coming along to keep us company.

Upon leaving Belfast this evening I felt very disappointed, as quite a few photographers had also done.  The one opportunity we had to shoot this sort of event and we havent a single image we were happy with, that was until i got home and put them on to a decent sized screen with my glasses on.  Much happier now.

Anyhoo, I dont think you all want to sit and read my ramblings about how loud the car was, how big the crowd was or how friendly and approachable David Coulthard is, so here are the photos instead.  Saves me typing 1000 words ;)


The Crowds

Thursday 18 March 2010

RED BULL F1 - Belfast 20 March 2010

Formula One power will come to Northern Ireland this Saturday when Red Bull take to the streets of Belfast. The team’s former racer David Coulthard will be at the wheel for the evening demonstration run in front of the iconic City Hall.

Coulthard’s mission say Red Bull is to show the public what modern F1 machines are made of and the Scot is expected to reach up to 190mph as he displays his car’s speed, power and control on Belfast's roads.

Prior to the Scot’s demo run, Red Bull will be setting up their team garage at the gates to City Hall and from 12pm to 4pm fans will be able to visit and find out exactly what goes on behind the scenes in the Formula One paddock.

Coulthard’s evening display will get underway at 8pm, with the site open from 7.30pm

Red Bull City Limits Website

Come back on Sunday to see the photographs :D

Images above are © 1999-2010 Formula One Administration Ltd

Sunday 28 February 2010

Day Twenty Eight

Well this is it folks, the final day of this project.  So a wee trick nicked from Sir Bosanko just to say thank you to everyone who visited whether out of interest, nosiness, or accident.  Hopefully you have enjoyed at least one or two of the photographs.

This does not mean that this site will now slow down and get all boring.  I will be updating with my latest work as and when it comes along on top of the odd personal rant i may throw on here.

I hope you will all return regularly to see my work.

Thanks once again for visiting, the figures alone have made it all worthwhile.

The site had over 1000 visits during the 28 Day Sit-In and as they say, any publicity is good publicity.

Pete

Saturday 27 February 2010

Day Twenty Seven

Well, it's the penultimate day of the project and I have my latest offering.  Today was spent cabling, tidying and making sure everything worked together as one in our very basic PC controlled Home Cinema setup.

Unfortunately we can't quite afford the huge tv, mass of amps and floor speakers to have the outfit we dream of, but it is getting there slowly.

Dont worry, I'll come up with something nice and interesting for the last photograph tomorrow ;)

Pete

Friday 26 February 2010

Day Twenty Six

One of my all time favourite quotes is from the book Hannibal.  This was Dr Hannibal Lector's vision into Clarice Starling.  The quote is as follows.

"There are shallow rollers, and there are deep rollers. You can't breed two deep rollers... or their young, their offspring, will roll all the way down... hit and die. Agent Starling is a deep roller, Barney. Let us hope one of her parents was not."

Pete

Thursday 25 February 2010

Day Twenty Five

Here is where i am supposed to come up with a deep, meaningful explanation for why i took this photograph and what it represents.

Reality is somewhat different, it is a match, I struck it across a Swan Vesta box and opened the shutter.

I like the results though, a reaction that is incredibly hard to try and understand in detail in realtime when the match is struck infront of you.  Seeing the sulphur still intact beneath the flame is pretty cool in my opinion.

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Day Twenty Four

Day Twenty Four and more packages have been found lying round with interesting items in them. 

These were destined to be the new business cards.  They went out of fashion about 10 years ago and I'm on a one man mission to reinstate their coolness into modern society.

Thanks again for looking

Pete

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Day Twenty Three

Well i'd love to have some nice wee story tonight to keep you all entertained.  Instead what you have before you is a wine glass, some warm water and Kerry pouring blue fairy liquid into the glass from above.

Unfortunately the batteries decided to give up the ghost in the flash, so further shots to try and improve were a no go until we have them recharged.

Thanks for looking

Pete

Monday 22 February 2010

Day Twenty Two

No matter how many times i try and photograph the guitar, I never feel like i manage a shot that makes it a pretty as it truly is.  With a wee spot of lighting advice from Stephen Potts I got this as close to what i wanted.

Minimal post processing included slight vignetting round the lower half of the image to match the natural vignette on the top half, aside from this this is totally as shot, not even a creative crop.

Thanks again for looking

Pete

Sunday 21 February 2010

Day Twenty One

Day Twenty One.  Scanning the house for ideas and every day i overlooked the small collections of VW Campers that were originally destined to spend their lives as egg cups and money boxes as opposed to shelved ornaments.

Anyway, hey were dragged off the shelves for the first vehicle photoshoot of the year.

Hope you like.

Pete

Saturday 20 February 2010

Day Twenty

Tim!

Tim is now a part of the family.  He was adopted during the purchase of a 1973 VW Type 3 Squareback which caused quite a stir in the Northern Ireland car scene.  Tim was the deal breaker, if he didnt come with the car then the deal was not being done.

As such Tims following began, he ended up with his own bebo and facebook pages, he dug round peoples houses and emptied their fridges.  His style and outgoing nature was the epicentre of cool.  He even saw centre stage at Portrush's Party On The Beach.

Tim still resides with us, however, due to his personality and hsi past shenanigans he has to be in the house between the hours of 7pm and 7am and the Police really do not like it when he isnt here.

Do not gamble with Tim, do not drink with Tim, do not fight with Tim and do not enter heated discussion with Tim - YOU WILL LOSE!!! Chuck Norris is Tims bitch ;)

Day Nineteen

Okay, so you know times are desperate when you resort to toilet humour. lol.  oh and no point zooming in there boys ;)

And before you all start, no im not riding on a chicken, nor is there better hanging out of a nest and no, i dont wax :P

So that said, who can come up with an original embarassing comment now.  i will leave that to you lot.

Thanks for watching

Pete

Thursday 18 February 2010

Day Eighteen

Some light amusement for you on Day Eighteen.  When Kerry and I were doing the "pre-house move" Ikea strut, we happened upon this coat hook and for the simple reason it made me laugh, we bought it.

Anyway, I'm not sure if admitting this is a good thing, but i still find it amusing and secretly chuckle to myself when i walk past knowing there is a dogs arse hanging off our wall.

Hope you give a little giggle too.

Pete

Day Seventeen

We take a step into my past today.  Not just yesterday either, cos those pancakes had their repercussions and let me tell you it isnt nice.  This is from 18th December 2007, My last official day in the Royal Air Force.  From that day on I wanted to live the dream, grow my hair and be in the same country as my family and friends for most of the year.  I guess you could say I am living that dream, unfortunately paycheques aren't there when i awake.

Thanks for looking once again.

Tuesday 16 February 2010

Day Sixteen

Well being Pancake Tuesday, what more did you expect.

I believe this was the most pancake looking pancake we managed to make, unfortunately the rest of them looked more like a poor effort at making an omlette.  Anyway, they tasted good and thats all that matters.

Thanks for looking

Pete

Day Fifteen

Well this makes a change, normally I would be out shooting the real cars.  Having spent the last 8 years or so driving, modifying and racing Hondas.  Having my life turned round and run by them, having friendships and relationships made and broke through them, i think it is only right that the Honda brand should have its place in this project.

Although it is only now, as I am posting this that I am realising just how many hundreds of small Honda items I could have put into this photo.  Still, I am liking the clean simplicity of what I shot.

Thanks for looking

Pete

Sunday 14 February 2010

Day Fourteen

Day Fourteen.  A couple of years ago I was introduced to the world of Pinstriping and Kustom Painting.  As such I attended two Pinstriping Workshops at the North Coast Hot Rod Shop run by world class pinstriper Nefarious.

As such 2 years later I had a panel striped by Nefarious and had it tattoo'd across my shoulder blades.  So to say Pinstriping is a passion would be an understatement.  All I need to do now is actually get good at it. 

Again, another photo which will show a subject understood and respected by my close friends.  I do hope you enjoy.

Thanks again for looking

Pete

Day Thirteen


Day Thirteen and we are back to the DC's. More brand whoring for Ken Block and the ever classy element skateboards.

Lighting is once again just a single Nikon SB-24 with a card snoot made out of an "Old El Paso" fajita box.  Nothing special whatsoever to have the same effect you would get from much more expensive equipment which i am yet to remove from their boxes for this project.

Hope you like this as I know it will be an image that many friends can relate to.

Thanks for viewing

Pete

Friday 12 February 2010

Day Twelve

A new day is upon us, and i felt my photo's were getting very "samey".  So here is a little injection of colour in the form of the straw collection.

Hopefully this brightens up your day a wee bit

Come back tomorrow and we'll see what we can conjure up for you

Pete

Thursday 11 February 2010

Day Eleven

Day Eleven and i've hit the bottle!

Not quite, but i did break out the collection of Jaegarmeister bottles and stuff only a true Jaegar lover would own :D

As such we now have the photo on the left to stare at and see how much dust is really in our living room.  Looking back, perhaps a quick rub with a microfibre cloth would have been suffice to prevent the same thing happening again.

Hope you like it

Pete

Day Ten

Day Ten sees the common sight of our kitchen once again.  Having only got back home at ten pm tonight, then having to cook something for Kerry arriving home plus the 3 S's, time was unsurprisingly scarse today to come up with something funky and rewarding.

So instead you have a photograph of my dinner in the making.  For those who may be feeling peckish whilst looking at this, I would like to add that chilli is just awesome when made with baked beans instead of kidney beans :P

Yes i know, im just a kid that got taller :P

Thanks for looking

Pete

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Day Nine

Day Nine in the Blogging House and a spot of lunch brought great surprise.

All i can really say is that I am glad Kerry is a lover of ducks, so she is taking this one under her wing and raising it as her own along with the other 500 or so ducks that seem to have made their way across the threshold without detection.

Thanks again for looking and hopefully this one amuses some of you.

Pete

Monday 8 February 2010

Day Eight

Day Eight and we are back to uploading photographs at a reasonable time of day :D

Im just back in after having spent the day cleaning the Mini we were rallying in at the weekend.  So i sat down with a cup of coffee and a wee battenburg to settle the stomach until dinner time.  Two or three baby battenburgs later i chose not to finish the packet off just yet.  Out came the trusty D3, SB-24 and a couple of sheets of white A4 paper. 

The preview on the camera is good, but i held on until the photo was done before turning my attention to destroying the last battenburg.  It was very very tasty and I only wish there were one or two more packets of them in the house.

Thanks again for coming to have a look.

Pete

Day Seven

Unfortunately I dont have the funds to allow me to shoot a brand new, shiney, unmolested MacBook in all their glory, so instead you will have to suffice with the grubby, daily hack of Kerry's that i managed to "borrow" for a few minutes to take the shot.

I do have to say that despite the grubbiness, its probably the brightest photo I have taken in a long time.

Thanks for viewing.

Pete

Saturday 6 February 2010

Day Six

My apologies for the delay today folks and folkettes.

However, a day of rallying and bashing up and down lanes in a well prepared '66 Mini Cooper S, had quite the attraction when offered.  Only home about half an hour and I am ready for curling up in my scratcher and saying cheerio to the world for 12 hours or so.

So this is my mediocre, random photo taken in the corner of the living room where the shoes get kicked off at the end of the day, I had to throw the aviators in for a touch of cheese/80's chic.

Thanks once again for taking the time to come on and look and I promise tomorrow will be better :D

Pete

Friday 5 February 2010

Day Five

Day Five is almost over.  An incredibly small amount of time was left over for todays photo, so this is my offerings.

On the other hand, the severe lack of sleep over the past week is now kicking the hell out of me, so its goodnight and i'll see you all again tomorrow.

Thanks for looking

Pete

I'm quite chuffed ....

I have just decided to have a look at this sites analysis.

For those that are interested here are the figures.

For this week alone:-

370 Visits
70.54% of those being new visits
713 Page views
131 of those visits from referring pages - to which i have to specifically thank Alan Lambe for the link he has put on his page being the only non blog/networking site to have referrals from.

So once again, i would like to thank everyone who has been returning to see what's new each day and to those who pop by when there is nothing productive worth doing once you return from making that coffee.

Lets hope this wee corner of the interwebs stays as busy and if anyone has any suggestions for improvement then please do not hesitate to contact me or comment below.

Thanks again

Pete

Thursday 4 February 2010

Day Four

Day Four, and firstly I apologise for it being posted so late.  I was for writing another story to go with this photograph, but that many muscle relaxants make it a very very hard task to do.... boom, boom!!!

Anyhoo, hopefully I still have everyones attention even if it is for a minimal amount of time.

Thank you for viewing

Pete