Loughshinny Motorcycle Supporters Club Announce New Sponsor for 2010

The Loughshinny Motor Cycle Supporters Club are delighted to announce a new sponsor for the 2010 season.

The ‘best of the best’ Trophy sponsored by Mr & Mrs Kerr will carry with it a prize fund of 3000 Euros.

The trophy is to be contended for over both Loughshinny Motorcycle Supporters Club organised events the 2010 AON Bikecare Skerries 100 and the 2010 Country Crest Killalane Road Races.

To qualify riders must compete in both events. Points will be awarded to the top 10 riders in the 600cc Championship race, the Open Championship Race and the Grand Final at both events.

The cumulative totals will be calculated and the 3000 Euro prize fund will be shared between the top three riders, the ‘best of the best’ who have accumulated the most points over the 6 races.

- 1st = 1500 Euro
- 2nd = 900 Euro
- 3rd = 600 Euro

The trophy and prize fund will be presented by Mrs Kerr at the prize awards ceremony at the Killalane Road Races.

Loughshinny Motor Cycle Supporters Club Ltd
Website: www.loughshinnymotorcyleclub.com email: media@loughshinnymotorcycleclub.com

Skerries Educate Together N.S. St. Patricks Day

To the parents with children in the Skerries Educate Together N.S. Please click the image above to get access to the schools private gallery with all your images from the day at the parade.
The username and password can be obtained from the school.
Please do not contact me for log on details as I will not be able to give the details out.
For any parent wishing to get a print, I can organise for a copy of the file to be in Image Depot in Balbriggan, there will be no charge on my part for the image, the only cost to you will be the charge for the print from Image Depot.

If you do feel you should pay something for my photographic services may I suggest you make a donation to Skerries Educate Together directly.

Article including images copyright of Gerard Foy Photography.
www.gerardfoy.com

Church Island

Well, I finally got to take a trip out to Church Island the other week. It was a bumpy ride out in the boat, kind of fun actually, the same sort of fun you get out of riding a motorbike. We were hoping to be able to see Skerries from the Island, you could, but not in the way I had imagined it.

I did however get a nice shot of the old church out there. Apparently that is St. Patrick in the window, I think you really have to use your imagination to see it or really want to see it there. It just looks like a hole in the wall to me.

For those who are not aware. St Patrick's Island is so called because this is where the Saint Patrick is reputed to have landed and begun his mission to convert the Ireland to Christianity.


Article including images copyright of Gerard Foy Photography.
www.gerardfoy.com

Skerries Soundwaves Festival 2009

Last night was the opening of the Skerries Soundwaves festival. A local event celebrating arts and culture, click here for a brochure.. There was a fireworks display down the harbour to celebrate the opening. I wanted to get a nice shot of the fireworks from a distance. I have tried to photograph fireworks once before and have learned from my mistakes.

1. You don't want a long shutter speed, this results in the smoke picking up a lot of the ambient light and the light just bounces all over it and you get colour casts in the smoke.
2. If you can get up wind the smoke won't get to you and your camera can actually see the fireworks. I couldn't do this last night as I wanted to showcase Skerries and need to see the harbour.
3. Set your exposure before the fireworks start and expose for the lights.
4. Use an aperture like F2.8 - F5.6 this is turn the lights to stars if you use F11 there will be a glow around them.

Article including images copyright of Gerard Foy Photography.
www.gerardfoy.com

Killalane Road Races

September means back to school, the end of the Summer (or the realisation we are not getting a Summer) and the Killalane Road Races, the last Irish Road Race of the year. Ironically the weather was wonderful, a bit too wonderful for photography. I looked for cover from the harsh sun all day sticking to areas with trees in order to bring down the contrast area in which I was shooting. Any way here are a few shots from the day and hopefully I get the time I need over the Winter to get my website going fully and have 4 years of Road Racing photographs up there.














Article including images copyright of Gerard Foy Photography.
www.gerardfoy.com

Commercial Landscapes Continue

Well I found out today, I need to bag about 8 landscapes for this commercial job. On one hand that's great and not so great on another. The problem with landscapes is you can go to a spot and then nature doesn't perform and you have just wasted an evening or worse got out of bed at a crazy hour for nothing. But I'm not doing too bad at the moment, I have gone out three times and come back with an image twice. Tonight it was another one of those rush jobs.
I'm going to be very busy tomorrow I have to get up in the morning and go out and photograph landscapes, then I need to head out with the motorbike and I need to get back, pack my gear and head to Trim for an engagement shot. So it just looks like rushing is my thing these days. Anyway, I decided to clean my motorbike when I got home this evening and I had just finished off the job and I looked up at the sky and there were colours everywhere. So I grabbed the gear and headed out.
I couldn't go far as the sunset had already started so I took a safety location, Skerries harbor, 5 minutes from my house. I saw the guys in the boat from my car so I stopped where I could and just grabbed everything. I started out wide at 70mm but while the colours were amazing they were lost in the clutter of harbor. I decided to get lower and tighter on them.
I changed location and shot them from the beach and got down as low as I could but they kept moving in the boat and when they moved they got lot in the clutter behind them. I tried calling to direct them but they were not interested. I needed to change my plan.
I ditched the tripod and the ISO 50 approach and went hand held. I could frame them quicker and shoot faster hand held. The drawback ISO800, ouch, but the camera is a 1DS MKii so I knew it wouldn't be so bad. One more in the bag and hopefully I will get a few more in the morning.

Article including images copyright of Gerard Foy Photography.
www.gerardfoy.com