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Sunrise Shoot – Ballytrasna – 07/02/2016

SR Ballytrasna 07-02-16 JTait-6

With sunrise creeping ever closer to 8am, it was an early rise to make the 7am meeting time at Ballycotton. Traversing the cliff walk to Ballytrasna in practically pitch darkness was a new experience but all got there in one piece to find the tide, that was supposed to be well out, crashing around the rocks and leaving little or no dry land. The approaching storm Imogen was probably behind the raging surf which sent rogue waves towards us at regular intervals filling several pairs of boots in the process!

This spot is very rocky with no sand to speak of and so, was a very different scene to what we’d photographed so far this year. The forecast was again spot on giving reasonably clear skies at sunrise with some light cloud that lit up as the sun rose behind it.

The shoot was a success in many ways, not least in the exercise and fresh air we received as a bonus to the actual photographic content. By 9am the good light was well gone so we called time on our eight shoot of the year and headed home to examine the files.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the shoot. Enjoy!
More images here.

If you have an interest in photography and would like to find out more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above and leave us a message.

A Black & White Night – 02/02/2016

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Eric Dunne-Magner at ECCG

Continuing with our scheme of theming the calendar months on a particular photography genre, we designated February to be our Black and White month and to get it off to a flying start, we invited two experts in the genre, Eric Dunne-Magner AIPF and Mark McGranaghan AIPF, of Cork Camera Group, to our Tuesday night meeting on 2/2/16 at The Midleton Park Hotel

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Mark McGranaghan at ECCG

Showing a wide variety of shots from portraiture, travel, architecture and purely creative studio work, both men explained their workflows in detail while displaying their skills with Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomatix, HDR and associated plugins such as Nik Silver Effects Pro.

The talk certainly set the tempo for the month ahead which will be a challenge to those of us who find the genre daunting  and will certainly get most of us out of our comfort zone. No more a matter of simply hitting the ‘B&W’ button in Lightroom or its equivalent in other programs, we will now have to delve a little deeper and see what other tools and plugins can do for us to bring out the best in the images. A few intense processing sessions ahead, methinks!

Thanks to Eric and Mark for coming to our club and sharing their knowledge with us.

Download Mark’s Black & White Conversion workflow here.

 

Ballyvodock Point to Point Shoot – 31/01/2016

Ballyvodock p2p 2016 JCurtin-4

For the second year the p2p bandwagon rolled on to the course located at Ballyvodock, Carrigtwohill for the United Hunt p2p. This race meeting is considered to be one of premier meetings on the southern circuit and was the venue for the last of the January 2016 ECCG shoots.

The course is a left handed galloping track with 6 races being run on the day covering two and half circuits over 9 furlongs distance per race, with a slight up-hill finish.  On the whole, the event was well supported and attracted a huge crowd from the local area.

Once again this event enjoyed favourable weather conditions – cloudy skies but no rain – and while it was cold, the exciting races warmed up punters and non punters alike. ECCG members were treated to some exciting photo opportunities not being deterred by the cold element and mucky conditions. Some exciting images were captured from the parade ring and track on the day from all angles, to say the least, with some members braving taking shots from the ground level!

Click here to see a gallery of images from the shoot. Enjoy!

   – Noelle Lowney

 

Sunrise Shoot at Ballycotton – 30/01/2016

Ballycotton SR2 FOS-2

Pushing the club’s ‘Seascape’ theme for January to the limit, we turned out for our fifth sunrise/seascape shoot of the month, on Saturday 30th, at Ballycotton in East Cork, a veritable treasure trove of photographic opportunities and a regular stomping ground for ECCG. With the sunrise due at 8.22am and high tide in just under an hour later we approached the fishing village with great hope as the clear skies appeared to be in keeping with the good forecast.

The beach at the pier faces in an easterly direction which, at dawn, renders the islands and lighthouse in silhouette as the sun rises beyond them. The good swell invited getting in close to and onto the rocks to capture the running streams and breaking waves as the tide filled around them.

With a low band of cloud obscuring the horizon, it took ten minutes or so for the sun to break into clear skies making shooting conditions difficult with the increasing brightness. Nevertheless, Ballycotton yielded yet another fruitful morning and, as the sleepy village began to stir awake, we made our way home happy with our morning’s work.

See a full gallery of images from the shoot here. Enjoy!

If you have an interest in photography and would like to find out more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above and leave us a message.

 

Press Photographer of the Year 2016 – Mark Condren

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For the fourth time in a few years, Mark Condren was, last night, named as the Press Photographer of the Year, 2016.

A native of Castletownroche, Co. Cork, Mark worked with ‘The Corkman’ before moving to the ‘Sunday Tribune’ and then to the ‘Irish Independent’ where he currently works. An award winning photographer and published author, Mark won his first P.P.A.I. Press Photographer of the Year award in 2009 and followed it up with another win in 2010, came second in 2011 and won it again in 2012. Considering that this competition is open to the top press photographers from the thirty-two counties makes this a staggering achievement and speaks volumes for the esteem in which his work is held. Well done Mark!

Mark Condren-1

ECCG was delighted to host Mark in 2014 when he visited one of our meetings and gave a great presentation of his work – a highlight that is often recalled since.

Mark Condren-2

The Press Photographers Association of Ireland (PPAI) exhibition will be going on tour around the country in the coming months so make sure you get to see it. Check the PPAI website for details.