Windfall

I love this time of year...!

Well, I'm finally back to Dublin's cloudy skies from my travels in the sunny warmth of mainland Europe! Judging by the forecast, grey will continue to be our dominant colour this autumn. So in celebration of beautiful weather for portraits, here are a few personal favourites from the grey summer that was!

Blue skies are coming up soon... watch this space!

Framing it

I recently received a multi-frame back from Stephen, my framer in Churchtown. The quality of his work is truly amazing. We started working together last January and when I held up that first frame, it really brought it home to me how important it is to produce such high quality finishing when my clients want their images framed. The difference in finish between this and an off the shelf frame is light years!

The kids' parents were trilled with these images and in this 24" x 26" multi frame, they looked spectacular.

As indeed does this image in its 24" x 16" frame, that Lisa and Mary's parents ordered.

And while I offer a prints only service on all my portraits, there is no doubt that a photograph that has been bespoke framed with an archival mount, adds that something extra to a favourite image!

What happens when it rains on a portrait shoot?

What happens when it rains on a portrait shoot?First of all, you get to have a lot of fun!
Then you jump for joy.... and get very......very......very......

WET!!

From last week's fun shoot "down on the farm!"

Where does the time go?

I guess I've been doing this for a long time!

It almost feels like it was taken yesterday, but I shot this image of Gillian and Linda many years ago at a family party. I was still at collage and we all were just a little younger!

I find it a bit scary then, that the next time I photographed these two cousins in the same frame, was 20 years later, in a family group at Linda's wedding.

Where does the time go?

A gourmet photo walk in London

Food plays a BIG part in my life!

Ask any of my friends - if I am not eating it, I'm usually talking about it or even photographing it. While other Irish people will give you directions via the pubs, for me it's by the restaurants! Let me give you an example.

Last week I had a little job to do in London and rounded off the trip with a lovely walk along the Regents canal, from Little Venice to Broadway, just beyond Regents Park.

We began at the Boathouse Restaurant in Little Venice, where one of the chefs was testing out that days produce on the local swan and her signets. We managed to resist the tempting menu and set out on our three mile journey. With all the greenery and wildlife, it really didn't feel like we were in the middle of a huge city.

I've always thought it would be a romantic idea to live on a houseboat and the number of these boats in Little Venice seems to have grown since my last visit. They may look a little cramped but are such a colourful contrast to the beautiful regency houses in Maida Vale and the mansions that line the canal as it enters Regents Park.

As the weather was getting warmer, we stopped off for refreshments at the wonderfully situated Cafe LaVille, where the canal heads underground for about a quarter of a mile and vowed to return to sample the appetising Italian fare another day.

Suitably energised, we continued along the towpath and under the bridges, where the beautiful light reflecting of the water was just so good, that it demanded to be used for some portraits.

This really is photographer land! After passing Snowdon's Aviary at London Zoo and Primrose Hill (made famous by David Bailey), we turned off the towpath just opposite the Feng Shang Princess floating restaurant. This and the humid weather, brought back memories of the huge floating restaurants in Hong Kong's Aberdeen harbour. After a further ten minutes, we finally finished our adventure at Angela Hartnett's York & Albany gastro pub, for an amazing lunch.

The walk takes about an hour and a half and can be begun from the Warwick Avenue tube station on the Bakerloo line. Should you feel less energetic, the waterbus from Little Venice to Camden Lock covers similar ground. If you find yourself in London with time to spare, then this walk is well worth doing - if you can resist the food stops!

Global Warming in Dublin

It is now my busy season for family portraits, but to keep my mind fresh, I'm working on a number of personal projects. These challenge me in different directions and the more I learn to be creative, the more I find I can bring to my professional work.

One of these projects deals with the changing aspects of life in Dublin as a result of global warming. As an example, here are some recent views of Bullock Harbour in Dalkey.

This image shot at low tide, feels more Mediterranean than Irish. A sign of things to come with our warmer and more humid summers. It was taken 9.00pm at the end of June, just before sunset.

While most of my professional images are produced during the working day, the image above was taken just after 10.30pm at the harbour, on a beautiful still and warm, mid summers night a few weeks back. Sitting outside in short sleeves is a new experience for me in Ireland, at that time of night. The green patch in the water is actually seaweed on the outer harbour wall and can be seen again at low tide in the next image.

Ever present in the waters around the harbour are members of the expanding grey seal colony from Dalkey island.

Seals can be quite large, as you can see and make their presence felt climbing up onto the harbour wall when they smell fish in the air! For anyone visiting Bullock harbour, it should be remembered that these are wild animals and best enjoyed from a distance. They shouldn't be approached or fed as they can give a nasty nip.

This project is on going and has proved to be really satisfying. It was a nice surprise however when I heard that the first two images picked up silver awards in the landscape and pictoral categories, from the SWPP in June.