Picture for a Lady

There is a lady I met recently, She has terminal cancer. She had seen some of my work and loved this particular image and wanted to purchase a copy, so i supplied the image and went to her house so to hang the picture, she was so happy with it on the wall, and she told me what she liked about the image . I felt very happy that she liked the picture, but it made me feel strange that it would be one of the last things she sees.

Many years ago i had a dream and it was one of those dreams I have never forgotten, while sitting in a garden, i was looking at some flowers and thinking how nice they looked , then i looked at the leaves and thought how beautiful , as the dream went on everything i looked at had a beauty to it even the ugliest looking thing was beautiful, and then i realised that i was dieing and at that moment everything i looked at was beautiful and until now i hadnt seen it, i had made a big mistake i had been so busy with life that i had never stopped and looked at the beauty of the world. I think this is the reason why i take photographs, its proof that i have seen beauty in the smallest insignificant object

The paddling pool

Its a great place for everybody, kids love it, they can spend hours having fun splashing, swimming and learning about sea life. Parents can sit sunning themselves and relaxing whilst watching the children play and often join in with crabbing and showing the kids exactly what dad used to do. As a photographer i find it a great place, it always has some sort of activity going on and always changing with the incoming or outgoing tides, it can get quiet busy at times and other times it is cool and calm,

I like to make myself comfortable and sit with my camera, observing whats going on around me, i can quiet often see a situation developing and so get ready with my camera to capture the outcome, anyway here is a few shots i have taken recently.

Another Storm at Minnis Bay

I took this photo earlier this evening, I had been watching the storm moving along the channel and it seemed a fair way off, I could hear thunder and see the lightening off in the distance and wished i could capture it in one of my images. but that wasn't possible for me. so I made this image which I was reasonably pleased with. the atmosphere felt charged as i waited for the light to change with my camera set up on my metal tripod, I felt quite vulnerable as i looked up at the clouds above me which seemed very close and full of electricity, I let go of the tripod and stood back from it at one point and considered that this may be my last photograph. but then thought "aah well" just go for it . It soon started to rain so i picked up the tripod and ran to get on my metal bike with the metal tripod still extended and the camera still attached and wondered if the rubber tyres would save me, I got a good halfway home and decided to take shelter and put the camera in the bag. I waited for five Min's but the rain didn't slow down and so i decided to take the option too run for it.......

Lost Images

Walked along the sea front last night,just as the sun was going down, It had been overcast for most of the day and as often happens the sun came out for the last few minutes before it got dark. I managed to get a couple of shots so when i got home i put them on the computer and had a look. but to my surprise i found some photos i took on Sunday that i had forgotten about. That made me wonder how many images do i have on c/d or my hard drive or film that i have forgotten about? and

what would be the best way of seeking out these illusive images. After some consideration i have come to the conclusion that its not worth it. laziness ? yes but once i have an image I like. I work on it then save it and maybe even print it but then i am basically finished with it. I always prefer my latest work. So those lost images can stay on my PC until they emerge one day in the future and i think wow that's nice.

Over the past few weeks i have been attempting to get away from landscape photography which i have been finding repetative and lacking in stimulation. So i started a small project photographing sunday mornings at Minnis Bay. I wanted to try and capture the feeliing of sunday morning with people on a break from their daily routine and doing what they enjoy, along with the traditional things people do at the seaside, I hoped the project would have a kind of documentry style but also be an exercise in composition.


As the project has moved along and i have achieved what i set out too achieve, i have found that the project is evolving into a far wider field and i am wanting to expand from just Minnis Bay to all around the Thanet coastline, not restricting my self just to one area or in fact sunday mornings. So with the school holidays upon us, lots of visitors around and lots of things going on i am starting a new project or rather an extension of sunday morning, Its the gay pride festival in Margate this weekend so where will it go from here ? to see the sunday morning project have a look at the web site http://www.davemolloy.co.uk/

Storm at Minnis Bay

We had a big storm last night and as i live quite close to the beach it seemed a good time to go out with my camera as it hadnt started to rain yet, I started off on top of the cliffs looking across Minnis Bay towards Reculver and Herne Bay. the lightening was quiet impressive, lighting up large areas of the sea turning it into almost daylight and then a loud clap of thunder made me feel like the clouds would fall apart like a jigsaw, then a silence, an antisipation where the next flash would come from, I noticed the longer the silence the more spectacular the lightening would be, I had the camera set up and was randomly pointing it in the direction of the storm pressing the shutter and hoping for the best. I went down onto the beach after 15minutes and found a comfortable place to sit and took a couple more exposures, then it started to rain, i waited for the storm to get a bit closer but the rain just got heavier and i was starting to get very wet so i ran home. although i had managed to capture some shots of the storm they were mostly dissapointing being either under exposed or over exposed. but i did manage to get two or three that were ok.

Chatty camera types

I was out on the beach last night with my camera. I was in my own small world enjoying capturing what was going on around me. suddenly i heard some voices behind me and i looked to see who it was. A man and a woman were watching me. I half smiled as if to say hello but leave me alone. but he asked "what are you using" ( a term used by photographers to let me know they are also into photography) I reluctently turned looked him in the eye with a expression less look on my face and said a Nikon, he said oh i use a CanonD 1500 sports xjs or something to that nature, I looked at him totally un-impressed and tried to carry on photographing without any reaction, he then told me about his friend who is into photography in a "big way " and who also uses a Canon and the latest lens he had purchased, all the time i was aware that the light was fading and soon my photographic oppertunities were also fading. but it didnt seem to matter because he informed me that to photograph the sunset i should be using a long lens.
Almost always wene i am out with my camera i like to be alone. i can take my time and concentrate that much more. I can get totally involved with the subject i am photographing and like to emerge with the feeling of sucsess. I know people are interested in what i am doing and would like to chat about it. thats fine , but................