Ben Howard in Belfast
Travelled to Belfast on Saturday to watch Ben Howard play live at Belsonic, Custom House Square.
We drove to Galway first thing to catch the 7.30am train to Dublin and then another train on to Belfast. It was a very relaxing way to travel with both trains on time, plenty of table seats available and fresh tea/coffee on hand. It was also a great way to see the countryside and scout out a few potential locations for the future.
After checking into the hotel we headed to 'The Cloth Ear' (part of the Merchants Hotel http://www.themerchanthotel.com) for a few drinks and to sample Belfast's hottest chicken wings...ouch.
The concert was fantastic and it was a real pleasure to see him live, at last. I took a few images using my Canon Powershot G1X. Despite the limitations of the camera and the strong lighting from the stage I was very pleased with results. The best selection are shown below:
We finished the night off in Berts jazz bar. Sunday was spent in a relaxed fashion, slowly making our way back West with good memories and delicate heads.
Too cloudy for stars...
This week has been somewhat of a let down for star photography and I fear I may have missed the meteor showers. Last night was the fist night where stars were visible. The sky cleared up in the afternoon and with clear skies providing a superb sunset I thought that a star filled sky was on the cards.
At 10pm the stars were visible but the sky was too bright (sunset being at 9.15pm). By the time the sky was dark enough (11.30pm) the clouds had come back. Grrrr.
To soften the blow I got on with some more food photography using recipes from the 'Great British Menu Cookbook' which was a present from a very good Chef Marcin Maryniak.
It was a really challenging meal to prepare but the results were fantastic and the images worked out really well.
Without doubt the best meal Samantha and I have cooked.
The skies are clear at the moment so you never know I might get out tonight...
Baking on a rainy day
The weather hasn't been great for heading outdoors recently so I had a bake off which gave me plenty to photograph. The best part was tucking in to it all once the shoot was over.
The bread recipes have all come from Paul Hollywood's 'Bread' book.
The recipe for the cake came from the Great British Bake Off 'Showstoppers' book. Thanks to Samantha for her culinary skills with the cake, soup and salmon pâté.
Having seen a few shooting stars over the last week I have found out that there will be a substantial meteor shower (Perseids Meteor Shower) over the next few days and I'm hoping that there will be sufficiently clear skies to capture some nice starlight shots.
I've been reading up on the different hints and tips to get the best from the night sky and the best I found is:- http://www.davemorrowphotography.com/p/tutorial-shooting-night-sky.html
You can read an article on the meteor showers on the Independent's website:-
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/perseids-meteor-shower-clear-skies-predicted-for-tonights-spectacular-firework-display-8756491.html
Fingers crossed the clouds stay away...