Walk About The Farm

Think I first came out to Jill’s family farm around the mid 1980s, a year or two after we met up in college studying photography. We’ve photographed the hell out of it over the years so we don’t do it so often any more, it’s like getting blood from a cliché finding something new to capture. With Lockdown2.020 in place there’s only so many things to shot within a 5km radius, and unlike in a city or an industrial area farmlands are not known for diversity, nor providing artificial night lights. Walking around the farm a week or so ago I was surprised by how much space once occupied by apple trees isn’t any more. It makes the whole place feel different. I guess that’s what happens when you get older, you don’t really notice all the small changes that happen over time until something pushes it over the tipping point and it never really feels the same any more even when it’s kind of familiar.

Fia Clothing

Jill’s been working with Fia Clothing for a few years now, one of those lovely clients who know what they want and are brilliant to bounce ideas off so that everything comes together on a shoot. As usual, and because Jill knows I like this kind of photography, I’m allowed to come out and play when she shoots fashion on location; I have no interest or talent for studio work, it’s far too complicated to work with artificial light so I leave that to the professionals. Really enjoyed the day, brilliant people and a great vibe on the shoot with everyone chipping in to make stuff happen. What could be better.

5km Lockdown: Rolestown Route 1 (7km)

We’re back to the 5km radius thing again and, as I’m sick of the spin bike and rowing machine, it’s time to stretch the legs on some 7k door to door walks; it’s the same bloody door, just going the long way around to check if i closed it proper. There’s pretty much just 3 walks i can do from here, this is the first; I’ll update this post with new photos when and if and maybe but i wouldn’t exactly hold my breath.

Camera: Canon 5Dmkiv
Lens: Canon 24-70 f2.8L

Route 1 - 7km
Lispopple Crossroads, past Kettles Country House Hotel, avoiding the temptation of their tasty bastard munchies, on along The Rath, then pass by Dymphna's Equestrian Centre - the halfway mark - and then around by Balcultry Equestrian Centre for the homeward stretch.

Today’s Podcast Listening:
https://johnaugust.com/2020/the-conflict-episode-rebroadcast

TY Experience With Our Kid

Had a fab day shooting out in Killiney with Jill over the weekend for her client FIA Clothing. I very rarely get involved in Jill’s shoots unless they’re on location using natural light, then I’ll pop along and help out if I can; it’d be rude not to since Jill always does the same for me with wedding shoots. It’s better than sitting at home not doing weddings because of COVID restrictions.

It’s Transition Year for Jack and work placements are hard to come by, because COVID, so Jill took him on for the day. It’s the first time myself, Jill, and Jack, have worked together on a proper job and it was brilliant. Jack’s growing up so fast and is such a great kid, loved having him there with us. Lugged gear up and down endless treks and trails and steps, from Whiterock Beach to the top of Killiney Hill, without complaint, from early hours in the morning until after dark, and then unloaded everything when we got back home. More days like this please.

Can’t wait to process these images.

Roganstown Walkabout

Isolation restrictions have been extended until May 5th, so it’s lovely to have good neighbours like Roganstown Hotel & Golf Course who gave me permission in 2020 to use their grounds to practice taking panoramic photos.

Theres not much time to work on these if you’re looking to catch dawn light, you pretty much have to know where you want to be and be set up as there’s really only half an hour of this kind of magic light to work with. I use The Photographer’s Ephemeris to see when and where the sun will rise and try to get there 30 minutes before I need to be. It takes a bit of time to set up the tripod and Nodal Ninja, which allows me to take multiple images on the Canon 5dMkiv so that I can stitch them together later in Lightroom to make high resolution image files big enough to fill a wall.

The Isolation Farm

With the March 2020 Covid-19 restrictions (stay home, don’t travel unless it’s necessary, stay within 2k to exercise once a day, don’t feed the virus) I’m pretty much bound to the fields on the farm where we live in Fingal and Roganstown Hotel & Golf Course. I’ve photographed the farm where we live so often over the years that it always feels like a result if I get anything new from traipsing around here. Because these photos will invariably fall into the category of ‘project started but never go anywhere’ they will probably end up in Unfinished Bits if you want to see more.

Wicklow Panoramas 2020

In an effort to stave off cabin fever I took a drive up around Wicklow to a few of my favourite spots yesterday. I like driving and taking snaps, so there’s no excuse not to while things are the way they are. Took my Nodal Ninja 4 off the shelf and dusted it down, took me a while to remember how to use it, but it’s pretty straight-forward and it wasn’t long before it all came flooding back.

This first shot was taken at Sally Gap, Wicklow, heading into the sunset on one of my favourite roads to drive. Back when I was in college this was where I took one of the first photographs I really liked, and my lecturer at the time, Tom Kelly, seemed to like it too. That was taken on a Canon AE1, probably using Ilford FP4, and processed in my usua slap-dash guesstimate manner which always lead to exaggerated grain. This was taken on a Canon 5Dmkiv using a Ninja Nodal 4 - 7 shots wide, 3 deep, giving a file size around 350mb.

This one was taken near Clogleagh Bridge in Wicklow after the sun went down behind the hills in the distance, in colour it’s quite flat looking so for the moment I’m going with B&W until I get my grading sorted. The worst part about this photo was retouching the wires that were hanging down between poles, they cut right through the image from left to right and, as there were three of them, an absolute pain to remove. Similar set up to the previus shot, another 7wide by 3 high panorama. Used to cycle up to this place when I was younger and fitter, we’d sit on that boulder that’s in the river foreground, with our bare feet in the cold river and just chill out watching the sky through the trees above.

Kirbee Designs Spring/Summer 2020

Myself and Jill have been shooting collections for Kirbee for the last few years. Karen Kirby is a fashion designer, and has worked for a number of fashion houses as head designer. She set up her own label, Kirbee, in 2017. Kirbee Designs are all about luxury occasion clothes for young girls, mixing a modern fresh style with a nod to a whimsical past. Always enjoy these days out with Jill, because we’ve no idea what’s going to happen - you never do with kids, so it’s best to let them be themselves and just roll with whatever they have going on in their heads.

Orla de Brí: Bound Exhibition @ The Solomon Gallery

Jill was asked to photograph Orla a couple of weeks ago and they were both gracious enough to let me tag along. Thoroughly enjoyed myself of an afterevening with both of them - they’re both nuts, and determinedly so, which is always inspiring.

Orla has a new solo exhibition, ‘Bound’, at The Solomon Gallery in Dublin from March 6-28, 2020. ‘Quiet Crusader’ and ‘Head Space, Time’ are two of my favourite pieces - always had a soft spot for anything surreal.

Whelans: A Celebration for Jens and Cristel

Glen Hansard, Camille O'Sullivan, Cathy Davey and others performing at Whelan's on May 29th to raise funds to start a bursary in Jens & Cristel's name, who, for many years, have connected Ireland and its musicians to eastern Europe through friendship, festivals and tours.

Whelans Live : Fangclub