[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

First off thanks to ALL the guys who turned up, for what ended up, a very fun weekend. I've managed to find a hotel to crash in tonight and it has internet access. Downloading files to PC now.....going to go get some dinner and a Guiness....well another Guiness actually as I've one beside me now...and then I'll try to get a handfull of pics up tonight as tomorrow will be a lost cause due to work I think.

Hope everyone got home safe and I look forward to meeting everyone again at a future meet up somewhere slightly less damp...


Gordon

[pixelpixel]

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

Hope everyone got home safe and I look forward to meeting everyone again at a future meet up somewhere slightly less damp...

I agree, it was nice to finally get to meet some of the group . I am sorry that I did not have more time to have a chat to all that had turned up. All I am saying is 'nice kit' Maybe next time Gordon you can be a bit more friendly to the locals I hope todays weather made up for Saturday.

I got some cracking images today but forgot any cables

Oh and by the way I have more than 3 images

[electrolyte]

Just got back home to Sheffield. It was really great meeting you all too. I had a fantastic weekend. A big, huge, thanks has to go to Geoff for his amazing organising and driving - Geoff you're a star!

Only had time to process one shot so far and here it is (just so I am first to post one!):

#1 - "Caution"

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Caution indeed....good times ahead.

For those who didn't make it we should mention that Sturday was basically wet and rainy for most of the time. Some dry patches and sun..but mainly rain then a deluge. Here a quick few to start from me

and to end......sorry Deyne....

[monkeyleader]

Yer top weekend guys and top organising from Geoff, cracking stuff. Hope to start working through my images this evening and will post as soon as I have them done.

Also for those posting to Flickr can we have one common tag - say AVFBelPhotos or someting - makes it easier to link to the groups photos once posted?

Oh and I'll be uploaidng the kyte movies from Sunday later today

Nige

[geofftelforduk]

Good morning guys!

Hope everyone has arrived home safely.

Thanks to everyone for coming over to make the weekend the success it was.

I transfered my pics this morning and had a very quick flick thru them. Not too impressed so far! Exposure seems to be the issue of the day. Faith in Photoshop is my big then for this evening.

Really lookin forward to seein loads more images.

Gordon - love the abstractness of these!

electrolyte - great image! Very sharp

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

OK here a handfull more before breakfast. All on same sort of theme. Every city has your usual vandalism and graffiti. Couple of these are typical of that and a couple are rather peculiar to Belfast....

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

And another

[monkeyleader]

All movies (and there are a fair few) uploaded from the weekend - check here. You will need to scroll back a bit to get to the first ones from the weekend.

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Last for today. Off to work

This was a statue outside the Custom House Quay building near the waterfront. Out the front of this was an area where lots of skateboarders come to hang out. I'm sure we'll see lots of the boarder pictures later. Anyway, this was done using an off board flash that Geoff kindly hand held for me. Didn't come out the way I wanted but its not bad.

[stevegreen]

Just want to mirror what others have said about the weekend, damp but damn well organised by Geoff and the others involved. I have not even looked at my pictures on the PC as yet so will probably have a quick flick through tonight and maybe process a couple for posting.

I feel I need to give Lorna a bit of attention because of all the time I spent with prostitutes

@ Monkeyleader - Soul Calibur II

[Whappers]

Hi guys! Stephen here,

Yeah, well done Geoff as I have already said, you did a brilliant job and I don't know how you could have made it any better other than praying to the rain god for less rain on the first day . Overall organisation and planning were top notch. I just hope that future meets are as well organised but judging by the sounds of how the previous Birmingham meet turned out I'll hold my breath and pray!

With regards to the photographs above, very nice abstract photo Electrolyte as I already said whenever I saw it first back at the Hostel, and Gordon's photographs look ace too. I have had a wee play around in Lightroom with most of the photographs and have gone for a more abstract look after watching Simon in action and I think it will show in the photographs I choose to upload. Overall I am moderately happy with all the shots that I have taken. I think it probably best if I just upload the images to Flickr and you can all view them from there. So, I'll post up a link within this thread at a later date when I get all the images processed. Shouldn't be too long but you know us students!

All in all, thanks go to Geoff and all the members who turned up for making it a wonderful weekend!

Whappers.

Gordon, love that photo with the droplets of water, nice contrast between the green and black. Thanks for leting me travel around with you in the car.

Thanks Geoff for organising a great weekend. It was nice meeting everyone, although now I am stuggling remembering who was who. Maybe everyone can post a photo of themselves so I can remember

I'll upload a few photos tonight when I get home from work.

Right, gotta get back to work now before my boss says anything lol

Regards
David (aka The Map Man)

[electrolyte]

Originally Posted by Whappers

judging by the sounds of how the previous Birmingham meet turned out I'll hold my breath and pray!

Hi Stephen, you're being a bit harsh here I think (or got the wrong impression of our ribbing of Steve) but Steve did an excellent job with the Birmingham meet. We had a great day following his route including stopping off half-way for some of the best burgers I've ever had and then had an excellent session of curry and beers afterwards. I'd say the next meet has a lot to live up to after how well Birmingham and NI went!

Gordon - some excellent shots there. I especially love the wet railing shot. The green background contrasts excellently with the wet metal - excellent image. I also love the one of the statue. You've captured it really well - I tried and failed to compose an interesting enough image around it - and you've done a great job in processing the sky to make it look interesting.

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by DaveyD-UK

Maybe everyone can post a photo of themselves so I can remember

I think that everyone will have at least one shot of someone else on the meet......rogues gallery time

[electrolyte]

Some more from me. These are all from the first day in Belfast. I found it very difficult to get inspired thanks to the grey and damp weather.

#2 - The first rouges gallery..(from L-R, Mark123, Stevegreen, GeoffTelfordUK, Davey-D)

#3 - Stephen (Whappers)

#4 - Nige (Monkeyleader) blogging again with Stevegreen looking on in awe of the man...!

#5 - Darren (Dar) drinking (this seemed to be a common theme with all of us but Dar was the only person I shot drinking)

And now some shots which don't involve any AVF members...

#6 - 1976

#7 - Red mural

#8 - Looking down

[fungus-fingers]

Must say I had a thoroughly enjoyable days photography, nice to put names to faces and met a great bunch of blokes. Credit to Geoff for organising everything so well and making the sun shine on Sunday. I will download the shots tonite to see if there is anything worth posting.

Gordon, do you run the Passat on liquid hydrogen? The speed limit in NI is the same as GB you know, you and Davey-D passed me on the dual carriageway near Ballymena in a silver blur!! Good luck in Galway.

Cheers

Fungus (or Gary sometimes)

Originally Posted by fungus-fingers

Gordon, do you run the Passat on liquid hydrogen? The speed limit in NI is the same as GB you know, you and Davey-D passed me on the dual carriageway near Ballymena in a silver blur!! Good luck in Galway.

lol, it was a white-knuckle ride the whole way

Originally Posted by electrolyte

Hi Stephen, you're being a bit harsh here I think (or got the wrong impression of our ribbing of Steve) but Steve did an excellent job with the Birmingham meet. We had a great day following his route including stopping off half-way for some of the best burgers I've ever had and then had an excellent session of curry and beers afterwards. I'd say the next meet has a lot to live up to after how well Birmingham and NI went!

Whoops!

I think I must have got the wrong end of the stick. Sorry Steve!

p.s. just realised that I have replied with my friend's account! silly me!!

Whappers.

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by sony144

Whoops!

I think I must have got the wrong end of the stick. Sorry Steve!

p.s. just realised that I have replied with my friend's account! silly me!!

Whappers.

I took no mind anyway mate

@ Geoff - any contact/apology from the one that didn't turn up??

[geofftelforduk]

Originally Posted by stevegreen

@ Geoff - any contact/apology from the one that didn't turn up??

I sent him a PM earlier today, but nothing back as yet!!

@electrolyte

Those photos from the niftyfifty came out pretty good, what raw conversion software did you use?

[electrolyte]

Originally Posted by DaveyD-UK

@electrolyte

Those photos from the niftyfifty came out pretty good, what raw conversion software did you use?

Thanks Davey. I use Lightroom.

I tried lightroom, great features, but didnt like how it rendered colours, i.e. skin tones looked yellow and red looked orange (I probably need to calibrate the settings to suit my camera).

Also this might sound strange but I prefer to turn colour managerment off (which lightroom doesnt let you do, unlike other raw software) because when colour managerment is on in applications that support it my blues shift towards purple and yellows towards green. I use sRGB on the camera and my monitor is profiled with a spyder2.

Anyway, dont wanna go off topic. I liked the last photo the most, nice DOF and colours.

[geofftelforduk]

Well guys, after much deliberation and beating myself up I have finally come up with a few that I am 'reasonably' happy with! Still havent mastered this whole manual metering malarchy!!

Honest opinions please! Its the only way I will learn!

#1 - Into the Sky

#2 - On Tour

#3 - Shelter

#4 - Copyright

#5 - Sk8r Boy

#6 - Dunluce Castle

#7 - Giants Causeway

#8 - Ballintoy Harbour

[Dar]

Huge thanks to Geoff for organising a fantastic weekend. Belfast was good fun even with the poor weather but the North Coast was just amazing. Going to the pub won't be same again, getting change from £10 after ordering 4 drinks

It was great meeting everyone and I'm already looking forward to the next meet.

I've processed 1 photo so far and created a 11229 x 3415 31.7MB panoramic shot. I'll upload it to flickr later.

My flickr is http://www.flickr.com/photos/gristlyend

[Mark123]

Hi all - just got in from work - will hopefully get some of the photos sorted tomorrow. Great shots so far

Think everyone will agree the weekend was a great success and the rain didn't damped spirits too much.

It was great meeting everyone - looking forward to seeing everyones pics

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

**** me Geoff that first shot is mega. I love it. I saw that thing and couldn't think how to make it look good so walked away. Good work. The rest of the Belfast ones are great too.

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

OOps...sorry for the speed. Had a long way to go yesterday. Sat nav said 4hrs 30mins to Galway. I took an hour off that. I think it's the lack of speed camera's and the quietness of the roads compared to mainland that caught me out.

Anyway, found some access again. So Guiness in front of me it's time for dinner and some more pics.

Simon, I like all those above. The candid ones are great and capture the atmosphere well and the last one grabbed my eye too. I never saw that statue, where was it?

G

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Quicky for Geoff