Celestial.

Hey everyone,
It's been a little while since I've posted something on here however I have been concentrating on a lot of things at the moment including a couple of huge blog posts so this one has been slightly delayed which you will notice as it contains shots I photographed of the full moon from a little while ago. However, I still really wanted to get these online, and although I've taken a few photos of the moon before with a long lens and a tripod, I decided to change it up for these shots! I've focused predominately on the clouds rather than focusing on the moon itself as I quite liked the atmosphere this gave the image especially considering the kind of night that I took these photos. What this really means is that I didn't expose my settings for the moon but for the clouds instead, and sadly that does means the moon will look slightly overexposed but I wanted the clouds to be the main feature as they were really noticable and I think this gives a much different look to what could be another boring and dull photo of the moon. I hope that you all enjoy these photos as much as I do, so let me know what you think, it's always great to talk to people that share an interest for photography!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with those two posts that I've been keeping back!

Nicola. x

Seaside Cottages and Fisherman Bars.

Hi everyone,
Today I'm back with a continuation to previous post about artists, including local murals, graffiti and design, and at the moment I'm focusing on places in my local village that I'm currently interested in, I've previously talked about how I have been particularly fascinated with the seaside theme, so I decided to capture a few popular spots in Broughty Ferry. The main photos below this little paragraph are what I am specifically talking about, the classic Ship Inn bar alongside the Barometer cottage, and the last shot of The Fisherman's Tavern, both much loved little venues that are very well associated with Broughty Ferry. I'm especially attracted to the appearance of these two venues, the colours of the Fisherman's Tavern and the typical seaside look of the Ship Inn with the Barometer cottage are perfect fitting with Broughty Ferry's seaside aesthetics.

Of course, I've included another angle of the glorious Broughty Ferry Castle and beach which I photographed a couple of blog posts ago, it's such a lovely place and sometimes it's just nice to take some different angles of a location. After all you never know what treasures you may find along the way, no pun intended with the seaside theme or anything...you get what I mean! Also, I thought I'd mention if any of you follow me on Instagram you'll notice that I've been posting little sneak peaks of what photos I'm currently working on, so there's definitely more blog posts coming soon with my latest adventures, but make sure to check out/follow my Instagram page at, http://www.instagram.com/nicolasharkeyphoto for more consistent updates!
Nicola. x

Let Bloom.

Hey everyone,
A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to capture some amazing pink and vibrant orange sunrise shots, which I've been longing for some time now as many of you will remember. These were taken quite early in the morning, I think roughly about 8am and literally after I took these photos this amazing pink sky faded within only a few minutes, something of which always half annoys me but astounds me at the same time when I realise I managed to get the best of the best! Although, the annoying part being that I could have missed such an amazing shot which has happened many of a time before as most photographers will have experienced at some point in their career.
I talked briefly about RAW format photos in my previous post and I feel like I've mastered how to work these kind of shots now so I'm excited about getting back into photographing some of my more favourite peculiar and select locations to see how they translate this way. I'm definitely thinking about getting a few of these shots printed from photobox to see the quality difference, and update some of my photo frames at the same time!

Be sure to check out my Instagram page as I always post sneak peaks of any new photography pieces I'm working on before they're uploaded to my blog, my username is @nicolasharkeyphoto
As always I'll be back soon with lots more photos for your viewing pleasure!
Nicola. x

Dreaming Of The Seaside.

Hi everyone,
I'm back with a set of photos that I've been fairly excited to get online, I enjoyed taking these shots at the time and I knew that they were going to be a lot of fun to edit.
I've never really taken photos in RAW format before, shock horror and I know someone should give me a slap on the wrist for it but I have started trying to slowly bring it in to my photography routine...although sometimes I forget to turn on the RAW option so forgive me for forgetting the last time, now it's on for good though! Anyway I did luckily remember this time around as I was predominately photographing the clouds which kept coming out too flat so this instantly reminded me to switch on the RAW option, and thank goodness I did as it really brings back all of the lost quality that JPEG seems to take away.


Back to the idea of the seaside theme, I've actually recently discovered an artist called Tracy Savage on an outing around Broughty Ferry's local gallery. I am in total awe of her unique and quirky painting style so much that I had to buy a couple of prints for my room. I posted an instagram photo of the prints, I bought 'The Grand' and 'Bridge Keepers', two beautiful paintings that caught my eye, but I do feel I may go back for one of the VW camper van pictures, such a 70's beach vibe and I love it!
On another note, I'm glad I've finally photographed Broughty Ferry Castle, who would have thought it would have taken all of this time to get around to photographing places in your hometown? haha! However, I am proud of the shots I managed to get even if it was a bit of an overcast day, I like those kind of photos as it makes the location look way more moody, which seems to be something I bring out in my landscape pictures a lot, haha!


Anyway, I've still got lots more shots to upload and I'm already thinking about what's next, I've definitely missed taking landscape photographs!
Nicola. x

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!
I know it may seem irrelevant to say so as it's already near the end of January but I've just recently got settled into my new place after moving at Christmas, and I must admit that it was pretty stressful at the time but at least I'm finally ready to get started with everything again.
Since I've entered the world of Instagram and have seen what everyone else has been getting upto it's made me very inspired and encouraged to get back into photography, lots of ideas have been floating around my head for a while so it's time to finally put them into action. Not before long I was dusting the cobwebs off my blessed camera and was strolling around my local area for inspiration, and funnily enough I realised I'd never taken photos of this cute little 16th century castle that I happen to bypass most days of the week.

Of course I've still been inspired by mid 90's and early 00's films, one of the latest on my list has been The Little Vampire ever since I watched it for the first time over the holidays, it's such an incredibly adorable film! Anyway, you're probably wondering what the significance is with my photos but the movie was predominately filmed in Scotland and the castle that I photographed reminded me of many scenes in the movie, although I'm sure there are no vampires living in this one!
The photo above was actually a quick snap that I caught when I was about to walk away, I just loved the look of the black iron gates infront of the small wooden door, I don't know what it is but every time I take a photo of gates, they always seem to add a certain creepy value to the building, although it maybe doesn't help that I turned this shot black and white, haha!

Anyway, I'm going to leave it at that for the time being, but I'll let you all know that I recently went on another jaunt and photographed the beautiful Broughty Ferry seaside in the gorgeous low winter sunshine. It was absolutely stunning and peaceful, almost like a holiday away from home! I'll try and get those photos edited as quick as possible, they're a bit different from the usual castles and creepy buildings that I tend to take photographs of, haha, so I'm looking forward to getting them online!
Nicola. x

Dundee in the Summer.

Hey everyone, I've recently been hugely inspired by a few youtube photography tutorials to try out some sunset shots, so about a month ago I set off on a really good sunny night hoping that there would be an amazing shot to be achieved, but alas there was nothing special...(and I hate to say it but the next night the sky looked utterly amazing at sunset but I wasn't prepared). However I thought I'd put up the shots I managed to get at the time anyway because I quite liked them nonetheless, and the first one has quite a moody atmosphere to it, the second is totally the opposite and funnily enough, these were both taken at the same time but different directions of the sun.



The photo below is the current situation Dundee city centre is in, quite a state if you can see! It seems that they're trying to start and finish different projects all at the same time and I can understand the point of getting work done quickly but it's a pain to get places in traffic everyday. Ranting aside, I thought it made for a good image anyway, the building actually used to be the Tayside House and I'm pretty sure it was also a good five or six storeys higher than it is in this picture as they have been slowly taking it down over the past few months now, and I believe it is fully gone now, hooray!



Oh, also I recently loaded my Holga camera with a new roll of 120 film as I was cleaning my room the other day and noticed it gathering dust in its box, so it was about time it got put to good use again, expect some photos from those outings soon!
Nicola.x

HD VIDEO!

Hey everyone,
Wow, have I got a treat for you or what!....I finally bought my new camera a couple of weeks ago, and I am now able to record videos, in HD!....How exciting?!!!
On Thursday I managed to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon sunshine in Broughty Ferry, and recorded some footage. I've uploaded it onto Vimeo. Have a look below, and tell me what you think. Keep in mind it's only my first video (and shakey hands are at large, haha)
Enjoy.

Broughty Ferry, Dundee by Nicola Sharkey Photography from Nicola Sharkey Photography on Vimeo.

Nicola x