2018

Posted on 02/06/2018 by admin

A night kayak event was organised in Whitegate, Co. Cork to raise funds to send a very seriously ill local teenager, Aaron McMahon, to the U.S.A to receive medical treatment.

The people of East Cork and from further afield turned out to support Aaron on the evening of 20th April. There was a great atmosphere on the pier and in the water as young and old took to the water in all types of crafts.

As the sunset approached and as the water began to fill with happy paddlers it was evident that the people of East Cork are determined to send this young lad to the States. Well done one and all.

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

- Eileen Upton

Cobh People’s Regatta Fireworks – 14/08/16

Posted on 21/08/2016 by admin

Cobh Regatta FW EUpton 14-08-16-6

Cobh's long-running People's Regatta festival ended with the traditional fireworks display on Sunday night 14/08/16.

Cobh Regatta FW 2016 Fin OShea-2 The annual display has been ingrained in the memories of countless people who, as children, were brought to see the pyrotechnic wonder. One woman in her eighties recalled, as a young girl, trying to see the display from a hill many miles away while this writer saw them first about 50 years ago for the first time.

Cobh Regatta FW JCurtin 14-08-16-3 This year's crop of youngsters couldn't wait for the display to begin. Their first countdown from ten started about 10minutes prematurely and was quickly followed by another about five minutes later each one finishing with oohs and aahs of disappointment when nothing happened! Not to be deterred, they started another which finished just a tad prematurely this time and was followed by the inevitable audible disappointment. However just as their disappointment was at its height, the first rocket screamed skywards instantly changing the mood of the kids to screams of excitement!

Cobh Regatta FW 2016 KLeeson-5 ECCG were stationed right around the display from Whitepoint to Fort Davis and some really nice colour bursts were captured that have all been posted in our gallery of the event.

Ten minutes later and the memories of 2016 were sealed into the consciousness of a thousand young minds around the harbour ready to be recalled over the many decades to come. Well done Cobh for keeping this annual event going over all those years.

Youghal Fireworks – 09/07/2016

Posted on 22/07/2016 by admin

Firstly, thanks to Noelle for sending out a group text to the club members telling us about the fireworks.

Having never tried to take photos of fireworks before, I did a quiet Google for some tips. As with most things on the internet there are loads of different and sometimes conflicting opinions!

These are what I took from them and it worked for me.

Tripod
Wide Angle Zoom Lens (I used a 17-55mm APS-C)
Shot in Bulb mode
Aperture f/8
ISO 400 (I also tried ISO100 for longer exposures)

I picked the end of Ferry point to try and get Youghal town in the background, to add some depth to the photo and add some local interest. It also offered a wide view of the river as the fireworks were launched from a boat that was moving with the tide.

Shooting a moving target in the dark can be tricky but I’d prefocused the camera manually and because it was ~100m away at f/8 it would stay in focus. Good old Hyperfocal distance.

So with my tripod setup, camera ready and test shot taken, I waited for the fireworks to start…

… 45 mins later than planned, the ABBA tribute band (who sounded very good, even across the water) finally finished with Dancing Queen and we were off.

The extra 45 mins was a blessing as the sky went from twilight to night giving much more contrast to the fireworks.

The bulb mode worked well with the remote cable as I could watch the fireworks directly and just press and release as needed. I found multiple fireworks were too bright because the latter ones would illuminate the smoke from the first ones.

After checking the first few shots, I found 2 - 3 seconds would catch the launch and explosion without being too bright or losing detail.
This is where the remote cable is great. After the first few you get an idea of when to press it and then release, each firework is different.

The main trick is to keep shooting, you’ve no idea will the next firework be a huge dramatic explosion or several launched at once.

It was a very enjoyable spectacle, and thanks to the organisers of The Queen of the Sea festival for putting it on.

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

- Zane Llewellyn

How I Took That Shot – James Brady

Posted on 26/04/2015 by admin

James Brady took first place in Grade C in our third internal competition of the year recently. The theme was 'Night' and this is how he made the image:

James Brady - Night Competition

Having thought about taking a shot like this for some time, the opportunity arose upon hearing about the night themed internal competition to get stuck in. With tripod firmly secured in the rear of my car, I set my camera to manual focus, locked on the dashboard. With the lens at its widest focal length, I dialled in my settings and hit the road.

Having spent a few evenings of trial and error, I eventually decided that St Patrick's street in the city had the most to offer regarding light and colour to achieve the results I wanted. After many loops of the same area with camera and radio triggers hard at work, I finally struck gold with an image with very little camera shake.

The image was processed with Picasa, involving an increase in saturation and sharpness, and a minor crop to tighten things up. I also blacked out a small section of the rear view mirror to hide myself!

Camera: Nikon D5100, 18-105mm @18mm.
Settings: M, 4s @ f8, ISO 400, centre weighted metering, manual focus.

Well done James.

How I Took That Shot – Kevin Day

Posted on 25/04/2015 by admin

Kevin Day took first place in Grade B in our third internal competition of the year recently. The theme was 'Night' and this is how he made the image:

Kevin Day - Night Competition

Last year, when I heard there was a super moon on the way, I decided to head for Ballycotton. Silver strand seemed like a good option, the night was very calm, hardly a ripple in the water. I liked how the church was lit up in the distance and the moon reflecting on the water and of course the light house played it’s part.

I took various shots with different clouds, the tide was dropping quickly, eventually I settled on this one because it had the right light and the right cloud. I entered this shot because I thought it best matched the theme of the competition.

30 sec F20 50 mm ISO 250

Well done Kevin