Per aspera ad astra - Full moon is coming

Moon will soon be in full. It's not the best time for astro photographers. Simply because it's facing sun and there aren't many shadows on its surface and it looks a bit flat. You can get nicer results if you wait until the moon is in its first or third quarter. But let's face it, with Irish weather you do astrophotography when you can and not when you want.

Below another two pictures, I took recently. As you can see on the second picture finally I managed to get magnification and we can see some features on the satellite surface.

Next step for me will be to get it all sharp. Hopefully you we'll see it on the next set of Moon's pictures.

     

 

 

What I really like about photographing moon, is that it changes colours. I guess it has something to do with moon reflecting sunlight. So when you start blocking the light (by using astronomy equipment), the moon shows it's real colours.

Per aspera ad astra - Jupiter

Finally I've got a chance to photograph Jupiter. It's that big flashy spot in the middle, the biggest planet in our Solar System. Jupiter is a gas giant with it's 317 Earth masses. Around planet orbits 64 confirmed moons.
On a picture four of them, so called Galilean moons discovered sometime between 1609 and 1610 by Galileo (2 on the right and 2 on the left). They are easy to spot even with binoculars.

I know picture isn't the best and as it happens, I discovered I need more and more equipment. Apparently my telescope is too fast (f10) for planetary imaging, optimal speed would be f30 which is easy to achieve but it costs. Then there is a problem with magnification, there's non in the above. To make long story short, I need to invest a little bit more in hardware:)

Photography wise, Sylwia's just started 2nd year of college so we are busy enough. She spent half a day on Saturday chasing somebody famous for paparazzi type shot for an assignment, thanks to pouring rain it wasn't an easy task. In the end she got a presenter from Today fm, we'll find out soon if he is enough of celebrity.

Per asper ad astra - in pursuit of Jupiter.

Apparently I don't have any luck. Yesterday evening sky was clear, stars shone bright and I was getting ready to photograph Jupiter. Due to condition in my garden I could've done it just around midnight and only for 40 minutes. On the east side I have two tall trees and they block the view of the Jupiter completely (it rises on the east sky around 20.30 now) but there is a gap between them. And that gives me these approx. forty minutes of shooting opportunities. Of course around midnight sky wasn't clear anymore, and the same as for the past two weeks I've done nothing.  Ehh ... next time ... maybe.

But night wasn't wasted completely. If you look up at east sky you can see Pleiades also called Seven Sisters.  The Pleiades are a prominent sight in winter in the Northern Hemisphere and in summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world, including the Māori, Aboriginal Australians, the Persians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Maya, the Aztec, and the Sioux and Cherokee [1]. What's also important you don't need any astronomical instruments to see them. Of course from the city centre, with all that light pollution view is not so impressive. But it's one of few Deep Sky Object you can see from your garden.

The bellow picture I found on NASA website. It shows you beauty of Seven Sisters and what you can achieve with long time exposures and photographs stacking. Happy hunting!

Back in the saddle

It's been a while since my last post here. Firstly because I've been quite busy lately and secondly weather was bad and I haven't got a chance to go outside with my telescope to do more astrophotography.

We've started to work on another photo story which at the moment is half way through. Basically it is about a brief meeting of two complete strangers and the possible outcome of that.  Anyway it's nice to work on another project especially since Sylwia is back in college and she’s going to be busy with other stuff soon.

At the moment heave a quick pick on the gif below, a “side product” of last Sunday work. It's more of joke then real work but for all of you who don't live in Dublin it's a glimpse of our neighbourhood .   

  

Great journey of a small jelly fish

Another great news from the big world. Our picture of jelly fish (see my entry Busy time) got to second round in the competition “Colour, Colour, Colour Photo Awards” by WPGA. Of course it's not a finish line yet but let say we are half way through.  Anyway fingers crossed I'll keep you updated.

Per aspera ad astra – Part II

I've decided that all my entries about astronomy and astrophotography will be called “Per aspera ad astra” just to keep them separate from other stuff (I'm too lazy to start a separate blog).

So since my last observation (nice picture of the Moon) weather hasn't been great.  To be honest with you it's been terrible; rain, wind, overcast sky. And I didn't have any chance to go outside with my telescope. But I wasn't completely unproductive, I bought a book about astrophotography and  actually I've learned some tricks I'm going to use when the weather  gets better.  I've managed to connect tube, DSLR and laptop so now I can see on the screen live image from the telescope. It should let me get much sharper images of the moon (at least I hope so) but again weather needs to improve. 

And for interested, there is another public lecture from Astronomy  Ireland  titled: “ Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe“ all information under that link.

Artur Kozlowski – diver

When I heard first time the news I didn't know that I actually met Artur few times when I was diving with Ocean Diver in Dun Laoghaire. But today's e-mail from them confirms the sad news.  For Artur I was probably one of many divers but he was a person hard to forget. Easy going, friendly, always ready to give advice. It's a strange feeling when somebody like him is gone …

Below e-mail from Ocean Divers:

“I am sitting facing the blank screen of a computer and trying to get my mind focused on what to say for this weeks Oceandivers email newsletter. Normally this task is one of the more enjoyable regular duties that need to be completed each week but today it's very different. The Tuesday breaking news reported that a Polish diver was missing in an underwater cave in the Gort area of Co Galway. Later that day, it was confirmed that the diver was Artur Kozlowski and although we all hoped and prayed that he would be found alive, search teams located his body by Tuesday evening deep in the cave network.

Brian and I have known Artur since he first came to Ireland in 2006 when he began diving with us and quickly became a regular on many of our boat trips and weekends away. Right from the beginning, it was obvious that Artur was not going to be an average diver, highly intelligent with a wicked sense of humour he was super fit and had a natural grace in the water. From the earliest days, he was fascinated with cave diving and it wasn’t long before he had made the transition from recreational scuba into Tec and Advanced cave diving with extensive training in the UK and Red Sea. In the intervening years, Artur carried out a systematic exploration of the labyrinth of underwater cave systems to be found in Mayo, Galway and Clare and in 2008 he recorded the deepest cave dive anywhere in Ireland or Britain by diving to 103 meters in the Pollatomary cave in Co Mayo.

In addition to his many expeditions, Artur was always willing to help with our training courses and as a PADI Instructor, he was a highly respected member of the Oceandivers Crew. Living in Shankill, I would frequently give him a lift home following our pool training sessions in Glenalbyn pool on a Wednesday evening. With my self confessed cave phobia, these journeys became a series of “Bedtime Horror Stories” as he would describe many of the nightmare style passageways that he was currently exploring. Despite my own reservations, Artur was like nobody I have ever known, he possessed that unique fire for exploration that burned within him and spurred him on when any normal mortal would have shrunk away whimpering. I can’t believe that he is gone yet at the same time I could never have imagined him as an old man. Artur, you will be sorely missed by all your numerous friends at Oceandivers!

Willie Siddall

“Exploration is an obsession, once you taste it nothing else will taste remotely as good. It will give you all you ever wanted: self-fulfillment, the wildest childhood's dreams come true, people's respect, illusion of grandeur and the equally illusive promise of eternal life but it's a jealous and possessive bitch and if you don't keep it on a tight rein it will destroy everyone around you...”

Artur Kozlowski June 2011  

Per aspera ad astra

I've been interested in astronomy since I was 6. But as it happens I only got my telescope just recently. Then yesterday I got a T-ring (connects camera to a telescope), weather was also fine (surprise!) and finally I took my first pictures. It's just a start but I'm so proud of it :)

My telescope is quite big and I set it up on the pier on the Bull Island causing curious looks from people passing by. Normally I would be using my garden but unfortunately Moon was low and I had to go to the seacoast to see it at all.

Now technical babbling for interested: Telescope SkyWatcher 200, equatorial mount, manual, Nikon 300 and processed in Photoshop  CS5.

Busy time

It's been a very busy end of the summer for us. We spent a lot of time in studio, applied for few competitions, and started selling our pictures on RedBubble. But what I'm really proud of we started a Zine dedicated to narrative photography, called simply “Narrative”. Lots of projects, lots of work …

Here's a link to our small achievement:)  Both our entries to Negative Space competition on Digital Photo Buzz, unexpectedly, were selected as runner ups!

Sylwia's picture depicts the new and breath- taking Opera House in Oslo. Mine is the jelly fish that I captured in Singapore Ocean Aquarium (through a glass).

Loneliness

Today no words just image...

Baby from the skip.

Things you can find in a skip are amazing. Last weekend Sylwia salvaged this “beautiful baby” from one. (It was quick action: we stopped a car, Sylwia jumped out, grabbed the doll, and off we went).  Judging by face expression it was disturbing for some pedestrians. 

Suzy Q – that's the name we gave her, needs some washing and her hair needs to be done.

 After the make over she will play a part in our next unnamed (yet) project.  We continue to explore narrative photography, so you can expect another story coming soon.

Any given Sunday.

It's like a tradition now that we go to studio on every Sunday. Sometimes I feel like character from Saturday Night Fever who couldn't wait until weekend. 

This time we worked with Sarah-Anne, young model we met trough folio32, who posed for our project Shadows.

We'll need some time to develop all films. It's been a very successful shoot and we managed to use 12 rolls of film. Working on film is challenging and time consuming but we'll update our project website soon.

At the moment not a very typical shot for us, i.e. me at work.

From right: Sarah-Anne, Mamiya RB67 and myself, as you can see, sometimes too short for waist-view finder…  

Edward Hooper on the DART

Today's morning surprised everybody. I wasn't sure if I'm on the French Rivera or still in Dublin.

Below picture I took on the DART going to Greystone which somehow reminded me of Edward Hooper's paintings. 

I don't know because of blue sky or window, both elements so common for him…

Backstage photography – Part 1 – They never met…

Below you can see few pictures from our project Assumptions.  The story is much longer and you can see it on our website.  It’s a crime story inspired by film noir, but some viewers read it as a love story, so I guess it’s up to you.

Scene 1 - Damien gives Magda a fright

Scene 2 - Fight

What’s really interesting about these pictures is the way they’re taken. What I mean is Damien and Magda never met on the set. Due to busy schedules of both of them and Sylwia’s college deadline she had to shoot them on separate nights.  Have a look at the original pictures.

First night:

Damien reaching out... (note: the lights are off)

Damien arguing with Magda's look alike (that's me!)

Second night:

Magda got a fright (note: the lights are on)

Magda fighting with an invisible man

It was challenging but it wasn’t impossible. In situation like this it’s important to have your camera set on a tripod in the same spot and at the same angle in both photo-shoots. The camera display comes in very handy!  You need to make sure that light conditions are similar each time, which wasn’t the case in these photo-shoots and made the post production even trickier. The lights in the building were left on one night and off the other. Rest of the work is up to your Photoshop skills.

Quick thought on London riots ….

I've been used to seeing events like these in London only on a TV screen. They always happened far away from home. When I lived in Poland anything shown on telly seemed distant and somehow just another story, something to watch and forget soon after.

Now we are living in Dublin. We have few friends who moved to London last year and we hope they're all right. Suddenly the riots in London have become more personal and so close….

The things you need to do to become an Irish

1.       Keep different proofs of residence in Ireland for at least 5 years.

2.       Keep records of all your previous addresses for the past 9 years.

3.       Make a note of the total number of your previous marriages.

4.       State if you're ever involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.

5.       Confirm that you can be considered as a person of good character.

6.       Have 3 Irish people ready to vouch for you.

7.       Be ready to wait at least a year.

After that and few other things you can fully enjoy being Irish…

So now back to filling in the form.

In my shoes…

Our friend's moved to London recently. Surprisingly enough she is not looking for a job, she is getting her masters instead.  She lives in White Chapel, the colourful part of town, “home” of Jack the Ripper. It's like a walk-in film set. But here's what she says really amazed her:

“Whitechapel is buzzing, but it's buzzing with people who don't speak English and who want to sell each other phone cards mostly, it's a little isolating, but I quite like the business of it, even if I am a complete outsider. “

So that's exactly how I felt when I came to Dublin 7 years ago. The city was buzzing with language which I couldn't understand. I thought I had some English before coming to Ireland and it was my understanding that the official language was English on the island. But I had to revise my assumptions, both of them, when I got on the first Dublin bus and had my first conversation whit a bus driver. I can't remember the bus number now but it was going to Tallaght. It let me realise I couldn't speak or understand the language at all!

For a quite some time Dublin for me was a place filled in with this strange buzzing.  Fortunately nobody tries to sell me any phone cards, well, not any more…

One actor show

We had an opportunity to meet Abi for a photo shoot over a week ago. Abi is a very creative filmmaker from Panama. He makes short movies and stars in them also from time to time.

Abi posed for our Ink project which focuses on people and their tattoos. Definitely Abi’s leading in the competition for “how many tattoos you can squeeze in on your body”. And he’s planning to get some more this year…

Quite often we find people shy at first when placed in front of a camera. However that wasn’t the case with Abi. From the very first moment at the shoot he knew exactly how to work the set and express himself. He gave us thousands of looks within short period of time. We felt like watching performer in a theatre. At some stage we realised that instead of taking photos, we’re looking at him wondering what he would do next.

Anyway it was a pure joy to work with someone so energetic. The one hour long photo shoot passed within a blink of an eye. You can have a taste of his performance below.

Femme fatale

Film is a huge and constant inspiration for us, starting with early classics, through American social dramas from the 70s up to postmodern cinema. 

This image was taken on the side when working on a project inspired by the famous ‘film noir’. There're all the basic characteristics of the genre: the femme fatale, the night and the gun. Though now it can also be read as a fashion photograph, don't you think?

Long shutter speed

We shoot today new person for our project Ink. More about that in the next post but at the moment just a couple shots we took when we were waiting for Abi. We just played a little bit with long shutter speed.  Effects as you can see are ... interesting.

Mean creatures

If you're ever in Oslo you've got to go to Frogner Park to see Vigeland's sculptures. For most tourists it's all about the nudes. Well, who doesn't have even a little hint of voyeur inside them?

Their enormous bodies make you think of Nietzsche's Übermensch.  The obelisk of tangled bodies makes an impression for sure, but what caught my eyes, were the children, the mean look in their eyes. Quite the opposite to how we look at kids these days. Maybe it has something to do with the Scandinavian way of life?

By the way it's interesting how many nude sculptures are around Oslo. They're definitely not puritans up there.  

Ballerina

So it's happened. Amy, one of my favourite models, left for London. Just before her trip together with Sylwia I had a chance to take these few shots of her as Ballerina. Hope to work with you again Amy…

New beginnings

It's been exactly 7 years today since I came to Ireland for the very first time. It must be the seven years itch or something, but it's about time to start blogging again:) That's my anniversary resolution!

So seven years ago I came with one backpack with 15 kg of my life belongings. I didn't expect it was a one way ticket after all...