Moored in Howth

The sun came out in the late afternoon, and when it did I had coincidentally reached a logical break-=point in my work. So, when I lifted my head and saw the sunshine, I grabbed jacket, camera bag, house keys and car keys and pointed the car towards Howth. Echo got me thinking about the rhododendrons which make such a spectacular display each year in the heights above Howth Castle, so I stopped off there first. Sure enough, the first blooms were there, but it's still a good bit too early for the full effect. On the way to the climb up the steep muddy path I soaked up the wonderful view over Dublin Bay which the golfers up here enjoy (one day I'll get a blip of this that I'm happy with).

Then it was on to Howth Harbour. The light wasn't great, but still I decided to play around with my polarising filter and enjoyed that. I was on the point of heading home, reasonably happy with what I'd blipped so far, when the sun suddenly broke through a gap in the clouds and worked its magic on the fishing boats in the harbour. I just had to spend another five minutes. When it came time to take another work break, transfer today's blips to the pooter and view them, I agonised a fair bit before finally opting for this one. I'd got several more shots of fishing boats (both this group and several others), but the three which vied for today's blip spot were this one of the far side of the tracks which I spotted even before getting as far as the rhododendrons, and a couple of shots of some residents of Howth Harbour: this pair quite contentedly admiring the view from their luxury cabin, and this guy who was noisingly telling his mates where the fish were.

I may just possibly do a switch to one of those instead. My main reason for putting this one up to begin with is to do with the G9 itself. I've been somewhat disappointed with the sharpness of some of the results I've been getting, and I've been experimenting with ways of getting better results (my mate Derek recommended disabling Image Stabilisation unless the exposure suggested it might help, and that seems to have improved things), but this shot gives me absolutely no reason for disappointment -- and there's no denying that the polarising filter has done wonders with the colours.