Blipfeed

1. dublinshooter favourited Orchid's entry for 24 May ~ 25 May
2. dublinshooter posted an entry for 24 May ~ 25 May
3. dublinshooter posted an entry for 23 May ~ 23 May
4. dublinshooter posted an entry for 22 May ~ 23 May
5. dublinshooter posted an entry for 19 May ~ 21 May
6. dublinshooter posted an entry for 18 May ~ 18 May
7. dublinshooter posted an entry for 15 May ~ 16 May
8. dublinshooter posted an entry for 14 May ~ 14 May
9. dublinshooter posted an entry for 13 May ~ 14 May
10. dublinshooter posted an entry for 12 May ~ 14 May

I've always had an interest in photography, since I was very young. My father was a keen amateur photographer who drove my mum demented when he took over the bathroom for his film processing and printing marathons. I got a great thrill out of helping him out, and will always reminder the pride I felt when he complimented me on my first selective toning experiment (done the old-fashioned way, with smelly chemicals and all the works). I inherited his much-loved twin-lens Rolleiflex when he died (he'd very trustingly allowed me to take it away with me for holidays from the late sixties on), and got some wonderful results using this magnificent camera, mostly with the Rolleikin 35mm adapter fitted. The Rollei was a bit bulky to carry away on foreign trips, though, so I later moved on to various compact cameras, none of which gave me anything like the old satisfaction. What with that and the spread of poor-quality speed-processing labs I was rapidly becoming disillusioned, and would often leave a roll of film languishing unprocessed in the camera for weeks or months at a time.

Everything changed when I got my first digital (a Canon PowerShot A70) in April 2003. Going digital has changed everything! The old excitement is back, due largely to the wonderful ease of the digital process. Being able to donwload my photos directly to my Mac after taking them is a great convenience, while iPhoto, which comes bundled with Macs as part of the iLife suite of apps, is a really slick piece of software for cataloguing and organising everything and even publishing directly to the web. That reliable little Canon did me proud until I passed it on to a friend in late 2006 when I upgraded to another Canon, the PowerShot A620. Increased resolution has led to a greater feeling of liberation when I'm out and about on photo expeditions. I now find that I'm no longer as particular about how I shoot in the camera, since I'm confident that I can crop shots really severely afterwards and still get good-quality results.

And so to Blipfoto. I like the idea behind it. The challenge of only posting images taken on the day of posting may prove difficult to keep to, but I'll certainly give it a try. I originally intended limiting uploads here to what I see and shoot in Dublin, allowing my other photoblogs to spread their wings and include foreign travel and other parts of Ireland, but trips to Croatia and Budapest during 2007 put an end to that, so this is no longer strictly the domain of a Dublin shooter. Images posted here up until 14th November 2007 were all taken with the Canon PowerShot A620. Beginning on 15th November, I've now changed to another Canon PowerShot -- this time the G9. I'm really looking forward to getting to know this new baby. If it serves me half as well as the two previous models I'll be very happy indeed. The grand plan is to graduate eventually to a DSLR, but that's still a while down the road.