Kotor, Montenegro

Well I've finally managed to get my camera out again after many months of studying followed by a period of life's bane, work. It has however, taken me to Montenegro for the first time and it turns out it's quite beautiful. The town of Kotor (a UNESCO world heritage site) lies in a bay surrounded on all sides by mountains. The picture above was taken from a fort on the hill above the town. The old city walls run from sea level all the way up to this point.

A view of the old town with the ubiquitous cruise ship in the bay.

Sun setting as we started up the walls.

The old city walls running up into the mountain.

Badelona

Canon 7D, Canon 10-22@14mm, F22, 0.3S, ISO100

The beach at Badelona, a few kilometers along the coast from Barcelona. Not too sure what these pyramids are for but they've done a nice job of turning them into art. Was quite disappointing after getting up at 6am to have such a dull sunrise but you can't have it all.

 Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f16, 1/4s, ISO100

I think this is an old power station but I've not managed to find any info about it. It can't be that long since it was in service as on google maps there's steam coming out of one of the chimneys. Some of the graffiti around the perimeter wall is quite stunning.

 Canon 7D, Canon 10-22mm@12mm, f10, 1/60s, ISO100

A view from the road side.

Lady Birds

 Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f9.0, 1/125, ISO200

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/320, ISO640

 Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f13, 1/250, ISO640

Canon 7D, 100mm macro lens, f5.6, 1/250, ISO640

After another hiatus in posting, and photography really to be honest, it's about time I got something on the blog. This week we were inundated with lady birds on board the boat. We had literally hundreds of them all over the deck. I think it must be breeding time as that appeared to be one of the main pass times while they were here. That and getting squished by unsuspecting shoes. They really are tricky little things to get a decent shot of. Took hundreds of shots and only kept a few, but at about 8mm long and quite evasive when you get close, it's not surprising not too many came out well. They all seem to be well dusted with pollen too. They could have made a bit more effort for the camera. For those who are interested I believe these are seven spotted lady bird or Coccinella Septempunctata to give it it's full title. The most common lady bird in Europe

Callanish round 2

Here's the best of the rest of my shots from last night

The sun going down on a beautiful evening.

The almost full (it was full moon's eve) rising.

A different view of the Callanish Stones.

It's pretty cool what you can do with a couple of torches. I took a load of shots at the Callanish stones tonight. None are edited, just as shot with long exposures, a mini Maglight and a 1,000,000 candle power torch. It's my first real go at painting with light and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

This is probably one of my favourites. Taken just before I packed up.
f5.5/Exp 120sec 10-22mm@17mm ISO100

My first attempt with the Maglite and floodlight. The moon was so bright you can see the shadows it casts in all the pictures.
f4.5/Exp 201sec 10-22@21mm ISO100

f5/Exp 157sec 10-22@19mm ISO100

f4.5/Exp 198sec 10-22@18mm Special prize for naming the constellation in the top left.

f5.3/Exp 53sec 10-22mm@18mm ISO100

An old cottage beside the 2nd circle at Callanish.
f4.5/Exp 174sec 10-22mm@13mm ISO100

I've taken plenty more which I'll probably load up soon.

Tribidabo, Barcelona

Well it's been a while now since I posted. A busy month has passed in the shipyard in Barcelona. Great spot for Christmas and New Year though. Missed all the snow in the UK which is a mixed blessing. None of the transportation difficulties for me in the sun but no opportunity to go skiing or climbing. Anyway I'm back in Scotland now so hopefully there will be some more snow in the highlands and I can get out to the mountains.
In the mean time here are a couple of shots from Tribidabo which sits on the hill above Barcelona.

I'd just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2011

Burj Khalifa

After 3 weeks at sea I've not had a huge amount of time to get the camera out unfortunately. This was a picture I took last winter in Dubai, not long after the Burj Khalifa was competed. At 828 m (2,717 ft) it's the tallest man made structure ever built (for now at least). It was quite a hazy shot to begin with and I've been playing around with layer modes in photoshop lately and thought it could improve this image. I used a copy layer with hard light style at 100% opacity and then another copy layer set to multiply at 35% opacity. The original is below for comparison.

Canon 7D, Canon 18-135 @ 118mm, ISO 100, f5.5, 1/640

Suez Canal Bridge

Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/80

 Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f5, 1/30

 Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f5, 1/15

 Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/60

Apologies if this makes anyone a little seasick. I' not usually a fan of squint horizons but I thought I'd throw this one on there anyway.
Canon 7D, Canon EF10-22 @ 10mm, ISO 1250, f3.5, 1/60

We've been at sea for 2 weeks now which doesn't do a huge amount for a hobby like photography. The odd tanker on the horizon not making the greatest subject matter.
I had been looking forward to trying to get a couple of shots of this bridge which crosses the Suez Canal though. It's a very impressive structure with a height above water of 70m, giving a Suez Max height of 68m for vessels.
The bridge is also known as Mubarak Peace Bridge or the Egyptian-Japanese friendship bridge as for some reason 60% of the cost of construction was footed by the Japanese.
The bridge is 3.9 km (2.4 mi) long, consists of a 400-metre (1,300 ft) cable stayed main span and two 1.8-km (1.1 mi) long approach spans. The height of the two main pylons supporting the main span is 154 metres (505 ft) each. The towers were designed in the shape of Pharaonic obelisks.
Was hoping to get to the bridge a little earlier than we did. The sun had set a good hour before we actually sailed under it so much boosting of ISO to be done.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

The main entrance to the mosque. I was setting up to take this shot and the guy in the picture just walked in front of me and sat down. Was quite annoyed at first but now I'm glad he was there. Gives a good sense of scale to the shot.
Canon 7D, Canon 10-22 @22mm, ISO100, f11, 1/200s

Another shot of the front of the main mosque. This outside courtyard is also used for prayers and the mosque can hold 40000 worshipers, 9000 indoors and 31000 outside. As you can see, there weren't too many there that day, it was 8am though.
Canon 7D, 10-22 @10mm, ISO100, f9, 1/250s, -1/3ev

A view from the road outside.
Canon 7D, 18-135 @ 30mm, ISO100, f10, 1/200s

One of the side entrances and tiled pools
Canon 7D, 18-135 @ 24mm, ISO100, f6.6, 1/100s

A closer view of the main building entrance. The whole building is clad with white marble imported from Greece.
Canon 7D, 18-135@18mm, ISO100, f11, 1/320

Inside the main prayer room looking into the main dome. This is the worlds largest chandelier, manufactured in Germany. The main room also holds the worlds largest carpet at 5627m²
Canon 7D, 10-22 @10mm, ISO 100, f3.5, 1/25s

A view down on of the outside corridors and intricate roof detailing.
Canon 7D, 10-22 @ 10mm, ISO100, f7.1, 1/125, +.67ev

More of the external ceiling details
Canon 7D, 10-22@10mm, ISO100,  f5.6, 1/100

Canon 7D, 10-22@22mm, ISO100, f4.5, 1/60s, -.33ev

Yas Marina GP, Abu Dhabi

Congratulations to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel. This shot was taken a couple of days after the race during post season testing at the circuit.
Canon 7D, EF 24-70@70mm, 1/250 sec, f8.0, ISO100

A few shots from around the Yas Hotel. Stunning building. Only downside is that all those colour changing lights on the canopy never all stay working for more than a few days.