DSI Ice Cream Fundays with HB

Down Syndrome Ireland are encouraging supporters to host an ice cream party with HB Hazelbrook Farm ice cream supplied free. The aim is to raise much needed funds for the development of Down Syndrome Ireland's services.

While ice cream and kids are not the easiest thing to photograph together, I spent a great morning photographing some wonderful children for the campaign.

Interestingly, I have discovered that my studio is built on what was once grazing pasture for the original Hazelbrook Farm. Now, where did I put my wafers?

You can find more information about Down Syndrome Ireland's Ice Cream Fundays here.

Rising after Redundancy

I photographed John Fitzgerald for the first time shortly after I became a freelancer. Since then, I've been fortunate enough to photograph John and his team at Harmonics on numerous occasions.

Well known as "the career coach" on RTE One's Afternoon Show, John's new 6 week series, “Rising after Redundancy” is now airing on Sunday nights on RTE One. It follows 6 people who have been recently made redundant, over a 6 month period, as John coaches them in building new careers.

It makes for an interesting Sunday night in, for these interesting times!

Portraits on a sunny afternoon

No I wasn't nervous! But, it's not every day I'm told that my portrait client is not only a career & business coach, but was also an international karate champion. It was a beautiful bright sunny day so, no pressure for a photographer then..!

Bright sunshine and high contrast light are a good mix for most things photographic, except portraits. However, Victoria was a joy to photograph. After a quick chat and a cup of tea, we found some reflected light, a white wall and got a great series of corporate portraits.

This was my favourite and I'm glad to say, it was Victoria's as well!

Every dust cloud has a silver lining!

I was to have spent a few days this week in Paris, combining my favourite things - some nice photography, as well as eating good food and drinking good wine in the best of company. Unfortunately, the dust didn't settle in time for me to travel. Which was probably just as well, as it has turned into quite a busy week and I've been able to re-schedule my French trip for later in the year.

So instead of photos of Paris, here is a recent b/w portrait of Gerry Fitzgerald, using reflected daylight for a change.

Executive portraits in natural light

It was as wet and dark as a Dublin morning gets when I arrived to photograph Janine for a corporate portrait. However, large south facing windows and white walls in a third floor room, maximised the beautiful soft light coming from the dismal grey sky.

I used off camera flash on a few frames to give variety but all of the final images were shot using daylight. We got a wide variety of looks in a very short time and this was my favourite image from the shoot.

Daffodil days

The view from just outside my studio window and a welcome sign of spring.

Yesterday was the Irish Cancer Society's daffodil day and if you didn't come across any volunteers selling daffodils, then you can find some information here on how to plant a virtual daffodil.

So what makes a good portrait?

SWPP portrait - gold award January 2010

Once you have great light, I think that creating a connection is the key to a good portrait. It is up to the photographer to portray the sitters personality as best they can. By aiming to do that, I try to capture a persons likeness in an authentic way. That means that you have to build trust. It might be someone you have just met or in the case of the portrait of Pat Hennessy above, someone I've known for a number of years. Often just a few minutes with a person over a coffee, a childrens game or a boardroom table will establish that relationship.

And once that connection is made, magic can happen!