Christmas Market and Crawfordsburn

My day off this week I decided to take a run up to Crawfordsburn to scout out some locations for a faux-gagement shoot that I have coming up in a couple of weeks.  I managed to rope in some friends to help me build the portfolio, and after getting some scary prices for shooting in high profile locations, I decided that in these austere times it would be better to shoot somewhere a bit more 'easy access'.

I tried to make it up around 2pm so that the light was good and there was still a bit of sunlight coming through the trees.  What I didn't count on was the hailstones arriving just after I got set up on the beach which forced a hasty retreat back to the tree-line.

When I got back to the city I took a walk around the Christmas Market just to get some people shots.  If there are a lot of people around it's easier to blend in more and that just makes more opportunities to capture great candid shots.

And on my way out down Royal Avenue, there was a bit of a jazz/indie/fusion jam going on right there on the footpath so I just fired off a couple of shots on my way past.  Most of the pictures I take are in colour, and normally when I look at what I've captured I feel that they lose something if I convert them, but in this case I really like the look of B&W.

 Ok, so a short update with some images.  That'll do me for now.

Moving Forward

Another massive gap in my blog.  As much as I try to update this thing I find myself thinking that unless I've got something worthwile to write about, it's better to just leave the filler out.

Anyway, over the last months I've been shooting away at everything I could think of.  Mostly it's been around the city and some stuff back in Carrick, but in the past I've written about new lenses and projects that I have been self prescribing so this is actually quite a big one.

Knowing that I want to take photography seriously, and that there is a certain level of credibility earned by the equipment you use on any given shoot, I decided to take the necessary steps to bring myself closer (albeit maybe not technically) to the professional level.  Last week I made the decision to invest in a new camera.  The one I've had my eye on since I watched a DigitalRev video about it back in January of this year, the Canon 5d Mk2.  Now I know that it's true that it's not the camera that makes the photographer, and if you don't have an eye for composition you could have all the gear in the world and it wouldn't make a difference, but this thing is absolutely amazing.  I had been shooting in the past with the EOS 450D, and while it was grand outside, when I ventured indoors even with the 50mm 1.8 it left me wanting.  Wanting more light, wanting a flash, wanting an ISO higher than 1600 that didn't produce so much grain you could feed a barn full of chickens with it!

I went to a friends wedding reception and took the 5D along and most of the night, because I didn't have a flash, I was shooting at ISO 5000 and after importing the images to Lightroom and adjusting them ever-so-slightly, the quality and noise was better than the 450D.  It's like night and day.

Today I headed over to Groomsport for a few hours to get some shots of the harbour and landscapes, and here are some of the images I came away with.

I know that I don't have any scope for comparison because this is the first full frame sensor I've used, but the difference between the two cameras is enormous.  I played about witht he white balance in Lightroom to see how the colours looked in the sky for the two images of the fields and just kept with the editing process I normally use with the other pictures in the blog.

Now I'm looking forward to a possible shoot up in the Folk and Transport Museum in the next couple of weeks.  Dates have yet to be set, and we're still waiting for confirmation, but it's another step towards building the portfolio.

That's all for now, but I'll be keeping myself focused and updating the blog more regularly now.  Even if it's only a couple of pictures, or some 'filler' if I need to!

Football and Eircom

"It never rains but it pours"

So a lot has happened in the last seven days.  Firstly I shot the John Upton Memorial Football Tournament up at Drumbo Park near Lisburn on Sunday the 9th to help out for work, then on Thursday I had what I guess was a changing moment in my photography.  Eircom were hosting an event with Ad2One at their Dublin office and I was asked to photograph the day.  I have to say that it was not down to me that I got this opportunity, so a massive thanks goes to my good friend Steve for setting everything up. 

I booked the day off work and it was an early start, leaving Belfast at 5am to be in Dublin at 7.  The day itself went off really smoothly and I got all the images I needed, however, the one point that was massively obvious was the lack of light I could capture with the 450D and also I could have done with something like a 24-70mm or even a 16-35mm lens because I was swapping about between the 50mm and the 70-200mm quite a lot during the day.  And here, I owe another massive amount of thanks to Sparky for once again lending me his 70-200mm for the day.  In light of these drawbacks, I really see myself going down the route of the 5D Mark 2 with the kit lens that comes with it.  Everyone says that start investing in new lenses first, but I'm going to go my own way with this one and chance my arm.

Anyway, on the drive down to Dublin when we crossed the border, Steve said something that made me smile.  He said something along the lines of, 'you know you have to change your Facebook page now?'.  When I asked him why he said quite matter-of-factly, 'well, you're getting paid for what you're doing today so you're not an amateur photographer any more, you're a professional.  And this is in Dublin...so you're a professional international photographer'.  It's funny how little thing like that make a difference, but it put a smile on my face for quite some time, actually even thinking about it now it hasn't faded any!

So the pictures from the event have been sent off to Ad2One and I have uploaded the pictures from Drumbo Park to my Facebook page which means this is going to be a wordy blog with no images.  I'm sure it'll be just fine like that.

Next steps are to get my friends Ryan and Emma out to get take some pictures for their 'mock' engagement shoot and hopefully there will be more to be done with Eircom and Ad2One in the future.

Much love,

Josh

The First Wedding

Once again, it's been too long between posts, but I've been shooting in the meantime so I feel that I can somehow justify the absence.

Anyway, this post is to upload some of the images from Mel & Andys wedding that I was second shooter at back in June.  The reason I didn't upload any before now is that I was waiting to make sure they had their album before I 'leaked' any on the net!

So it was a great wedding in the Clarion Hotel in Carrickfergus with quite a big turnout.  Being second shooter, I was looking for more of the candid images rather than getting people to stand in front of the camera as you normally recognise from wedding photos.

Mostly I've been trying to come up with a look that's quite unique but not too over produced.  I've been playing with the split toning on most of the images and I know a few of them are quite worked on, but hopefully I'm getting closer to something that I like the look of.

Keeping the Tempo

After a year of talking about it we finally went up to Fermannagh to visit the tiny home town of my friend Pamela and see her out playing with the band.

It was a proper wee country weekend with the parade on Saturday morning swiftly followed by several pints in the local bar at around 11am, you know, 'cause that's what you do.  Pamelas mum Emily made us feel right at home with a fresh supply of tea and boiled cake and their dog Queenie constantly asserted her authority over the household, (especially when I had any form of food in my hand). 

Anyway it was a great weekend and it was nice to get out and snap some pictures of friends for a change.

This is Pamela's wee niece sitting on the bass drum with her dad.  Four and a half years old and sharp as a tack.  Can already count to 10 in French and Italian.

And a few more with friends up in the mountains.

Ciao!!

Perfectly Pampered Charity Event

So my best friends Ryan and Emma are getting married next year and I got a text message from Emma last week telling me that her makeup artist for the wedding, Jennifer Ireland, was holding a charity event in the The Windrose restaurant in Carrickfergus on the 26th of July and she had been looking for someone to come along and document the night with some pictures.  Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity and literally within 90 seconds of receiving the text from Emma I had contacted Jennifer on Facebook to see if she still needed someone to come along.  I gave her a link to my blog here and said if she wanted I could make the night.  The response came within minutes, and I was booked. 

It was funny because it only dawned on me a few hours later that this was the first time someone had asked me to shoot an event for them based on what they had seen on my blog.  It would have been so easy to have some sort of panic attack here, but I kept it under control and just made sure my camera battery was charged and I had all my lenses and memory cards in my bag before I left the house.  I once again have to hand a massive thank you to my friend Sparky who again loaned me his Canon 70-200mm 2.8 lens which turned into a lifesaver on the night. (Note to self: must start paying back favours before list gets to grocery shopping length!)

Anyway, when I arrived I got to speak to Jennifer for the first time and she was great.  Really friendly, knew what was going on and had obviously spent a lot of time planning the night because everything ran like clockwork.  I asked what she was looking for in my images and much to my relief it was the type of image I have been getting used to taking.  Candid style portraits with natural expressions.  'No problem', I said, 'and if you want anything specific just let me know'.

Panic attack number two that could have occurred was when I realised that I wasn't the only shooter there.  The Tatler had their man there, also the Telegraph (I think) and a local newspaper photographer.  I think there was someone from one of the Belfast glossy magazines there too, but I tried to pay no attention.  I just slipped my 450D out of the line of sight and fumbled around trying to fit the 70-200 to make it look like I do this type of thing all the time.  Silly really, because it doesn't matter what camera you have, or lens or the amount of experience, if you have a good eye and work on composition a good shot is still going to look like a good shot!

Philosophy aside, I captured quite a few images that night and it was a great experience to work to a scheduled event and document the night.  I met some great vendors there like Lulabelle's House, who had all beautifully designed re-styled furniture, and Curiosity Cured with vintage clothing and handmade jewellery and accessories.  It was a really relaxed atmosphere and everyone had a great night.

A massive thanks again to Jennifer for inviting me to take the pictures, and hopefully it shouldn't be too long before I'm shooting a wedding that she had done the makeup for!

Here's hoping...

Parades & Politics

Ok, so first of all I just called this post 'Parades & Politics' because they are the first two things that come into my head when I thnk of the 12th of July.  I'm probably the least politically minded person around, and any of my friends would agree with that.  I'm not a nihilist or anything, I just don't have any stong views either way.

Being off work today I thought I'd get out and take a few pictures of the parade through Belfast over along High Street.  I haven't taken that many shots recently, so I though this was a great opportunity to capture some more candid pictures and work on some post processing.  After shooting the wedding with Billy in May, he gave me some great advice on using Lightroom and giving the images a slightly more processed look without being too over the top.  On top of that I've started to catologue my images on Lightroom, because before that I had one folder with over 5000 pictuers in it and it was just a nightmare to find specific shoots.

Anyway, it was a great day today with no rain and a good bit of sun for the whole time I was shooting.  The last parade I shot was on St Patricks Day which was more 'floats' and dancers, also it's been more than ten years since I've been to a 12th parade so it was good fun as well.

I think my favourite shot today is the one at the very bottom of the two boys sitting in the door of the van.  It was driving past and had some of the participants of the parade who for whatever reason couldn't take part in the walk.  For me, the two kids look like they're having a serious conversation as any adults would.  Even the way they're sitting and looking at each other there is something more 'grown up' about the image.