Wexford at Night.

I belong to the H3A Photography Group in Bodrum. Our "homework" for the last fortnight was Celebrations. I was pleased with the theme. I would be in Ireland where the Christmas madness would be in full swing. No problem coming up with ideas. I had great plans. What followed showed I should never get complacent.


Plan No. 1: The Christmas Dinner

 I had visions of photographs of a wonderful plump turkey, glistening brown, fresh from the oven, the table set for Christmas dinner, the family gathered around. Christmas is always a wonderful celebration for us.

I forgot that when I would take the turkey out of the oven, I would also be dealing with several veg, making gravy and more than a few impatient mouths who did not have time to wait for their dinner while I played around with my camera. That plan was scotched. Not a single photograph!

Plan No 2: The Christmas Tree

I have seen wonderful photos of decorations on Christmas trees with the lights creating wonderful bokeh in the background.  This is something I wanted to try.  It  didn't work out as planned. I blame not having my tripod with me. It was nothing to do with me fiddling desperately with different camera settings, not having a clue what I was doing. Note to myself: Next year research the topic!

This is the one that came closest to what I wanted to achieve/

 Plan 3: Wexford by Night, The Christmas Lights.

I was getting desperate at  this stage. I had little to show for what should have been an easy topic. If only I could show my photos from Kew gardens last year,  We went on Sty Stephen"s night and the gardens were lit up like a Christmas tree...actually better than a Christmas tree. So it was time to put what I had learned about handholding my camera and taking night photographs because there was no way I had been dragging my tripod from Turkey.

Finally I had photographs which I was happy to share with the group, though we always share the good; the bad and the ugly. It is okay sharing the bad and the ugly when I have the good to counterbalance it. Oh vanity!!

I also took a  few taken near the temporary skating rink, Wexford on Ice. Not too many people around to celebrate though!

Funnily enough, it was the fountain I took at Johnstown Castle, which I felt in the end best represented the topic. This was the only one in the set which I didn't intend to represent celebration. I took this photograph experimenting with shutter speed, something I really haven't got to grips with yet. When editing I cropped into the photograph and the end result reminds me of an exploding bottle of champagne.

I wonder is it significant that there is not a single person in my celebration photographs? Even the ferris wheel is empty.