Stirling @ Night

It was freezing on Sunday night but I had agreed to join a couple of photographers for a photo shoot in Stirling. Unfortunately the Castle was getting prepared for a forthcoming Rod Stewart Xmas Special Concert but we still managed to take a few shots. Here's a few of mine. I hope you like them.

NQ Photography: Studio Portraiture

Another year and another photography course, well I'll need to do something with all the free time that I'll have after the London Marathon.  This time I’m back at the City of Glasgow College and I’m doing the NQ Photography: Studio Portraiture evening class. With the course leading to an SQA certificate, it has to have a set syllabus, which includes both research and practical. Despite the course title some of our photography will be in the studio but some of it will also be ‘on location’. To gain the NQ, I’ll need to submit a workbook at the end of the term, containing about 600 words of research, five images that I’ve shot as part of the course and an evaluation of about 700 words.

It’s quite a big class, with about 20 students, most of which are semi-professional photographers aspiring to be full-time. I’m in the small minority of students who are doing it just for fun, although if you do want some photos taking………..

As well as introductions to the other students, I already know the tutor, we spent the first half of the class looking at the work of some famous portrait photographers including: Arnold Newman; David Bailey; Annie Liebovitz; Anto Corbijn; Nadar Kander and Scotland’s own Rankin and discussing how their shots were taken, with particular reference to the type of light sources used and where they were placed. The idea being that we should be able to understand how particular photographs were shot and learn the various techniques.

Light Meter



After the break we had a quick refresher on ISO and aperture and shutter speed settings as well as metering and how to use a light metre before moving on to some practical work in the studio. I was lucky enough to be the photographer and took the pics, whilst another student took the light readings and another acted as a model.

Barndoor

 We started with using a Strobe light on one side of the model’s face, then added a dark background, then changing to a Barndoor light to absorb some of the light and then added some reflection on the other side of the model’s face.

and before we knew it class was over for the night.  I wonder if the London Marathon will go so fast......

Historic Saturday..... in more ways than one!

My VLM training schedule for last week included:

Monday: 8miles

Tuesday: 4miles

Wednesday: Track Session 6x800m @Bella Velodrome

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 3miles

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Half Marathon @Steady State Pace

Stuart MacDougall Leads From the Front

This was the first Saturday that I’ve not run since November, although I still popped along to Pollok Park to take some photos of the local parkrun and to see Claire Couper win her third race in successive weeks in the west of Scotland, a happy hunting ground for her indeed.  Claire ran a course PB of 19:11 and placed 10^th overall.  A determined Stuart MacDougall, celebrated his 50^th parkrun by leading from the start, to win the men's race in a time of 17:57.

Winning Wave

Full Results

My Pics

 I celebrated Kilmarnock FC’s historic victory at Ibrox with a couple of glasses of wine on Saturday night and I admit that I had difficulty in finding my mojo on Sunday morning.  I eventually made my way to Pollok Park at around 11:30 and after a wee warm up I increased my pace and ran through Pollok Park anti clockwise.  I had thought about running in the Kinloss to Lossiemouth Half Marathon, where apparently a tail wind helped the runners to good times.  Instead I settled for a similar route to last week and completed a couple of extended laps around Pollok and Bellahouston Parks.  I struggled to reach my targeted pace and slowed a bit near the end but all in all my time of 1:44:45 was about right for a Steady State training schedule.  As a reward, my schedule increased my Monday run from 8 to 9miles.  A sports massage on those sore legs of mine was well overdue, it’s been years since my last one, so I cycled along to Embody for an hour of painful treatment before heading home in the dark, wet and rain.   

Snow Photo

I've tried a few times to capture snow falling with the camera with little success to date but I think this one works quite well:

Photoshot of Maya

I had mentioned in an earlier posting that I had a photo shoot arranged after the Glasgow parkrun on 24 September.   I've now processed the photos and posted them on my Flickr photostream.

  I've tried out a few different techniques, I hope that you like some of them.

Garscube Gallop

Garscube Gallop, a photo by Heilster Hieroglyphics on Flickr.

The third Tour of Clydeside Race is the Garscube Gallop, multi terrain race through Dawsholm Park in the north of Glasgow.  It's a hard race to run and it's a hard race to photograph, with my tight hamstring, I chose to do the latter.


Photos here

Elementry My Dear Watson

I've been spending some time in getting to know a little bit more about post photograph editing techniques. I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 but, probably like most people, I tend to stick to two or three techniques which I am familiar with.

Here's a couple of examples of how photographs can easily be enhanced:

Emma Before

Emma After



A77 Before



A77 After



Loads of Photos and Loads of Runners Too!

  
Bellahouston Harriers Two Mile Time Trial
I popped along to Pollok Park on Thursday night, not to run but to take some pictures as almost 60 runners took part in the last race in the Bellahouston Harriers' Club Championship.

Bella Harriers Photos

Sammy's 
I couldn't resist the temptation to pop into Samuel Dow's on Nithsdale Street, for the weekly Jam Session, on the way home.  I parked the car but took my camera with me for safe keeping.  A couple of pints of the black stuff and live blues music, what more could anybody ask for?
Photos

parkrun phenomenon
The parkrun phenomenon continues to grow in the central belt of Scotland.  Some 910 runners took part on Saturday (23 April 2011) across the nation's three events: Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Glasgow.  I joined in with another 478 runners in, yet another, record attendance at the Glasgow event.  This was my 69th outing at parkrun and my 60th at Pollok Park.  I'd had quite a hard training programme this week, concluding with a 7 mile tempo run on Friday evening.  According to my training schedule, I should have been doing a 6mile general training run....... So I parked my car at Cartha Queen's Park Rugby Club at 9.00am and warmed up by jogging the 1.5miles to the Burrell.  I joined in with the Bellahouston Harriers' warm up before making my way into the assembled ranks at the Start line.

Me in the centre in blue with white diagonal stripes aka Killie Vest -pic by Alex Barr

After congratulating a number of running buddies, on their fine performances at last week's London Marathon, I positioned myself further back from the start than usual.  I noticed Jennifer Healy and told her that she had been slacking in my absence.  For me, my legs were feeling a bit tired from training, so I had decided that I would be happy if I could run a little faster than last week's time of 21:59. After the usual pre run announcements we were on our way.  Unfortunately, there were a number of slower runners in front.  Although I don't mind starting slowly, quite the opposite, I'm not too keen on jostling with runners who really should have started behind me but it's not worth getting upset about either. There'll be another one next week.

Garmin revealed that the first kilometre had taken me 4:31but I was confident that I'd be able to pick up the pace.  I'd caught up with Tom Keenan and young Kristina Greig and was running up the slight incline on Old Road, next to the pond, when I heard Richard Leyton running just behind me complimenting me on my pace.  He must have stayed close behind me, as when we turned at the glade and approached the first incline, he overtook me and then Gavin Greene overtook the both of us.  I immediately responded and pulled away up the hill.  I must have tired or switched off as I ran down Old Road for the second time.  I was overtaken by a number of runners including Louise Gray and Motherwell's Elaine Jamieson.  I watched them go without responding, however when I noticed my old sparring partner Norman Boyle taking me on the inside, I gave myself the boot up the backside that I needed and ranked up a gear.  I caught up with Elaine and overtook her, however within a few seconds she had returned the favour.  We leapfrogged each other a couple of times before she darted ahead, leaving me well behind.  However my race wasn't finished and I ran flat out in the last 200 yards catching (picture), amongst others, Louise Gray and under 14 year old Harry Williams, before crossing the line and stopping my Garmin in 21:58.

The guy in front of me was refusing to take his finisher's bar code and causing a slight 'moment' in the smooth operation of the parkrun.  I told the volunteer not to worry but at the same time felt that the guy should have just taken it and handed it without his runner bar code further along, if he didn't want a time.  Or better still turn off before the Finish line.   I placed 87 and, although this was much further back from last week's 71, I knew that the field had been much stronger.  My real concern was that my official time may be 21:59, the same as last week's.  I wanted to register some improvement, even one second would suffice!

There was nothing that I could do about my time now though, so I parked that thought to one side and got back into my usual post race mode of congratulating those runners around me.  Louise had taken 14seconds off of her good PB of last week.  Martin Myant placed two places ahead of me and Elaine three places as she also PB'd with a time of 21:54.  Norman was four places and 12seconds behind me, whilst Tony McGale earned a new PB with 22:16. Richard finished in 22:29, whilst Joanna Lennox achieved a new PB with 22:36.  Kristina was also among the PB brigade, finishing in 22:40, to cap a fine week for her.  Gavin, coming back after a long period not running, finished in 22:42.  Now on the road to recovery, after a bout of meningitis, Maybole's Kirsty Grant earned a new PB with a time of 23:33 and my words of encouragement for Jennifer must have helped, as she ran a new PB of 24:05.


There were some impressive PBs further up the field too with Giffnock's young running sensation, Luke Traynor, beating Shettleston's Jethro Lennox as he earned gold with a great PB of 15:36!! Russell Whittington continued his form, which saw him do so well at the London Marathon, by claiming a new PB of  16:56.  Bellahouston Harriers' most improved runner Ruairidh MacDonald, just can't stop getting faster and earned another new PB this week, with a time of 19:01.  His club mate Graeme Gemmell joined in the fun with a PB of 19:18.  Suzanne McMahon put the icing on the cake for the local Harriers by winning the women's race with a PB of 19:32.



Coffee, Cake and Banter
I warmed down by jogging back the 1.5miles to collect my car, before driving back to the Burrell where I joined with loads of others partaking in coffee and cake, well a scone for me - I'm a West of Scotland man!
It was good to see so may Motherwell AC runners had stayed back for the post race refreshments, including Alex Barr who had volunteered to take the event photos and write the report, whilst non running Mrs Barr was just there for the cakes!  


Post Race Official Result!
I was somewhat relieved and just a little chuffed to see that I had indeed managed to beat last week's parkrun time but not by the one second that I had thought but by two seconds.  Garmin also revealed that I had done so with an average Heart Rate of 148 (74%), much less than the 163 (84%) of last week and much lower than what I would be recording if I was truly racing.


Full Results

Alex Barr's Photos

Volunteer

Pollokshields Burgh Hall

Pollokshields Burgh Hall
Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

Wanna see a secret?

No Negatives in Photo Class

The weekend saw the end of GMT and the beginning of British Summer Time, it also marked the end of the eleven week photography course that I've been doing at Glasgow Met college.  It was a good course, with a real cross section of students.  In the past, you would always aim to keep in touch but never really got around to it but now, with the onset of social network sites, the opportunity to keep in touch is so much easier. 

One of my fellow students remarked "What are we going to do with our Saturday mornings now?"  Of course that's not a problem for me, I'll be back at the parkrun of course.  I wont be given up on my phot studies though as I've already signed up for an evening course at Langside College, starting in April, as well as Practical Photography's Digital SLR Skills Bootcamp course!

X-Ray Shot

X-ray Shot
Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

Not a real x-ray shot but a technique I learned through www.photoradar.com

Supermoon

Supermoon
Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

My photo of the 'Super moon'.

Hidden Burns

Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

Reflections on Rabbie's Tam O'Shanter - not a spoonerism......

White Cart Waterfall

White Cart
Originally uploaded by Heilster Hieroglyphics

Take 2

The White Cart Waterfall in Pollok Park, Glasgow.

Waterfalls and Wild Flowers.... I eventually get out on my new bike!

Sunday was such a lovely day that I decided to postpone my long run by 24 hours and head out with the new bike and camera instead. I wasn’t sure where I was going but I ended up at Rouken Glen Park, where after a while, I saw a signpost for the waterfall. Waterfalls are often featured in photography magazines, with the photographer using a slow shutter speed to catch the movement and whiteness of them. I hadn’t packed my tripod and I don’t yet have a filter but I was able to rest the camera on a couple of fences, which allowed me to extend the shutter speed without the camera moving.

After leaving Rouken Glen, I headed down Nitshill Road and then down to Crookston Road. I joined the national cycle path N7 and photographed some flowers in Rosshall Park before heading through Pollok Park and popping into Morrisons at Crossmyloof and eventually home. I had cycled just over 16 miles and had taken couple of good pics, not too a bad way to spend a Sunday.

My Photostream is here



Slow Shutter Speed and Panning Pics

I showed remarkable discipline in not racing this week but instead followed my training plan of 8 miles tempo run on Saturday and 12 miles easy on Sunday.

Photography
This week we ventured out to take some  Slow Shutter Speed and Panning photographs. Here's a few that I took on the footbridge over the motorway:

Slow Shutter Speed

Panning

Guy Fawkes Photos

A couple of long exposure photos taken from my lounge on a cold Guy Fawkes night.

Composition Photos

Some photos taken at the canteen in Glasgow Met College to illustrate 'composition' within pictures and of course a little use of photoshop in the Irn Bru pic.

Movement in Photos

No photographs of runners for a change but an illustration of some of the techniques that we are learning on the Digital SLR course at Metropolitan College.