ProjectVISUAL » Abroad

The Effect Wind Has On Rice

Stephen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:00:43 +0000

It’s been an eventful weekend; I’m just back home from a Mikoshi Festival in central Hyogo. A miskoshi is sort of like a portable house that is supposed to have a particular deity inside it. The local people move the mikoshi around the town on wheels and then carry it on their shoulders into the destination shrine. Sounds easy right? Oh yeah the mikoshi weighs 2000kg!

If you’re interested in knowing how I made this, along with my other photos, you can check out my HDR Tutorial

Technorati Tags: japan, sanda, sun, yellow, hdr, tone mapping, nikon, d300, projectvisual, “hdr photography”

Endless Fruits

Stephen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:07:18 +0000

This was from one fantastic market in Barcelona off las ramblas – furits, fish, sweets of every colour – amazing!

I’ve been dabbling in the world of microstock photography of late – it definitely requires an element of contraint when choosing what to photograph! I’ve submitted to a number of sites with varying degrees of success – Shutterstock has been the most welcoming site by far. More to follow!

Technorati Tags: fruit, strawberries, red, vibrant, market, colour, nutrition, organic, passion, pieces, refreshment, ripe, salad, season, sweet, delicious, fod, fresh, healthy, diet, dessert

The Orange City

Stephen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:28:48 +0000

I’m just back from a quick stroll around Glendalough in Co. Wicklow (Ireland), so expect the next few post to be suspiciously green, but first here’s another quick shot from Malta. It’s in the city (loose term) of Mdina, where the designers decided absolutely everything should be a shade of orange.

Technorati Tags: malta, gozo, mdina, orange, city, hdr, nikon, d300, projectvisual

Inch Beach In Kerry: Niiice

Stephen — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:10:24 +0000

I spent the weekend of last week in Kerry visiting four friends and checking out some seriously awesome beaches along the way. This one here though was the best of the bunch – probably because the weather sucked at all the others. I was getting some real impressive driving lessons from my friend Catherine as well, well I was just sitting in the back seat while she bombed along the coast at 160mph – it was still great though!

Technorati Tags: ireland, kerry, beach, inch, sand, clouds, hdr, nikon, d300, projectvisual

The Never Ending Path

Stephen — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:05:36 +0000

There’s a great public garden somewhere in Florence that we took advantage of since our original plan to visit some museums was ruined by the fact that they were all closed for a national bank holiday! Although I didn’t actually walk up here it looked like it went on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever…………………

Technorati Tags: florence, firenze, projectvisual, nikon, d300, garden, sheltered, green

Il Duomo

Stephen — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:19:53 +0000

Not even halfways up the Campanile and one is treate to a fantastic view of the main Dome section. You can just make out crowds of people at the top around the spire section – from there almost the entirety of Florence can be seen.

Technorati Tags: florence italy tuscany nikon d300 projectvisual clouds skyline duomo

Clouds With Attitude Over Florence

Stephen — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:30:28 +0000

Viewing the city of Florence from the tower of the Duomo was probably one of the hightlights of my four day trip there. Getting to the top however, 414 steps of stone, winding narrowing stairs only served to work off the load of crap I ate while over there – the 463 steps of the Dome also helped!

Technorati Tags: florence italy tuscany nikon d300 projectvisual clouds skyline red buildings

The Shack of Gozo

Stephen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:50:24 +0000

I really have no idea what the purpose of this building is but it makes a good foreground subject. This is my last post for a few days as I’m heading to Pisa and Florence today until Sunday, with any luck I’ll have a new batch of photos to sift through.

Technorati Tags: gozo, house, shack, sky, clouds, summer, yellow, hdr, nikon, d300, projectvisual

Mdina From Mdina

Stephen — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:28:36 +0000

College has been getting busier and busier now so I’ll probably only be posting now when I find the extra time – maybe every two or three days. I have already posting this photo on my Flickr page so if you’ve already seen it well here it is again!

Technorati Tags: mdina, malta, medeterranean, nikon, d300, projectvisual

Jetting About In Style

Stephen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:53:35 +0000

I had been waiting for the sun to rise in Malta on my last morning there and all of a sudden I glimpse a plane streaking throught the sky! This was really the only reason this picture even exists – in fairness I do like the boat bobbing about in the foreground but without the plane the scene wouldn’t have captured my eye.

Technorati Tags: sky, water, plane, sunrise, bay, boat, dock, haze, nikon, streak, jet, malta, hdr, d300, projectvisual, photography, photos, photo

Another Perspective of Valetta Bay

Stephen — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:17:47 +0000

Following a treacherous trek up a winding road with no footpath, I finally made it to a high point near Valetta. I set my D300 on a ledge to steady it giving a blurring foreground effect.

I’m suddenly heading away again, this time to Pisa and then Florence in about 2 weeks. So far it’s been a good year for travelling – January was Paris, March was Malta, April = Barcelona, and now Pisa / Florence in May – I had aimed to go somewhere for every month of the year but February slipped by; that’s a short month anyway!

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Malta, Valetta, Shore

Napoleon’s Window To The World

Stephen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:10:48 +0000

Napoleon’s Tomb in Paris is filled with all sorts of shiny thingys – this window caught my eye pretty sharpish while I was meandering through glass cabinets and narrow corridors. No tripod was used here of course – Parisians seems to have some sort of aversion towards them, indoors at least

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Paris, Napoleon Tomb, Window, Yellow, Glass

Ginormous Freighter Doing Feck All

Stephen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:34:50 +0000

I had to walk by this ship and resist the urge to hold up my group to assemble my tripod and camera so I had to run back the next morning and grab it then! – It was pretty fortunate though since there were no clouds the day before

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, dock, ship, freighter, clouds, hdr

Palm Trees Under A Rather Direct Sun

Stephen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:21:53 +0000

I knew as I walked alongside these palm trees, with the sun on my back, that this shot was about to materialise – one of the few time I actually predicted a scene before it happened! I don’t recall whether I had a tripod for this shot or not – I definitely was lying on the ground or in some otherwise awkard position. I can still imagine the breeze blowing through the palm trees!

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Palm Trees, Sunlight, Sun

Peering Through Azure Window

Stephen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:40:49 +0000

Azure Window is one of those strange rock formations that you wish was hear your home, but in actual fact is no big deal once you see it. Standing on top of it and looking out towards Sicily, you wouldn’t even know this huge gaping hole even existed!

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Azure Window

Crashing On The Shores Of Xwieni Bay

Stephen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:37:36 +0000

This is one of the most northern arts of Gozo, 60 miles north lies Sicily. The photograph really doesn’t capture the magnificence of the place unfortunately; I distinctly remember my WOW-meter going off the scale when I was actually there. Just to the left of this scene are the salt pans where seawater is evaporated leaving huge deposits of salts to be later collected. I was more than impressed by the ingenuity of it all!

In other news that probably I only care about, I had planned to go to Kerry this Easter weekend to visit some friends there, only to find that a train ticket there would set me back €78! From Dublin to Kerry is under 300km as the crow flies – it’s actually cheaper to fly there!! I’m sure there would have been plenty of time to get the D300 out for some landscape photos but €78 just proved to much for my wallet

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Rabat

Looking Over Into Rabat

Stephen — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:28:11 +0000

Here’s a rather nice scenic view of Rabat, a town in Gozo that I did not manage to visit. We were on a rather tight schedule with out bus driver – “OK so you have one hour here. Get out, look around but be back in one hour. Then we’ll go to the cliffs, you’ll have 30 minutes there, no more, then we’ll go somewhere else and I’ll rush you about some more!”

Taking a bus around Gozo though was well worth the expense – we had planned to hire out a couple of bicycles and go where we pleased, but from the bus window we soon found out after zooming around un-signed roads and windy cobbled streets that we would have been utterly lost on a pair of bikes!

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Rabat

7000 Year Old Ruins At Ggantija

Stephen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:45:47 +0000

When I heard that I be going to see some 7000 year old temple ruins I, for some reason, envisioned grand walls, golden gates and all sorts of wonderful architecture. The 7000 year timescale didn’t seem to register in my head that maybe mankind hadn’t reached that level of sophistication just yet. The pile of stones I found there didn’t exactly impress me from an archaeological perspective, but the stone textures do allow from some interesting reflections.

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Temple, Ruins, Ggantija

Waiting For The Ferry That Never Arrived

Stephen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:30:26 +0000

Upon finishing up our day long bus tour around the dusty roads of Gozo we headed back to the docks to find that our ferry had already left! What followed was over an hour of staring blankedly into the sea, watching a fisherman with the longest rod I’d ever seen until the next ferry finally arrived.

It was a pretty nice view though, the sea sounds being all swishy and calming.

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Gozo, Malta, Ferry, Water, Dock

Obeying The Rules Of The Road

Stephen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:30:27 +0000

I took this shot quickly while waiting for the traffic to chill out but then felt I should take it again since the little green man wasn’t lit the first time. This was on the first day in Barcelona, and one for the short periods when there wasn’t any rain either – it was raining in Barcelona while it was sunny in Ireland! WHAT!!!!!

Technorati Tags: projectvisual, Nikon, D300, Barcelona, Traffic Lights, Green Man