James O’Connor’s excellent Greenacres emporium in Wexford requested an iconic photo of the building. I was more than happy to oblige. And, no I didn’t paint in that sky. It was there waiting for me….
The image is being used extensively online and in his marketing material.
If you’d like to see a print of it, there is one in Greenacres, downstairs, near the lift.
It might end up more famous than the images I took of the Opera House when it opened….
I’ve been extremely busy lately with commercial assigments, from brochure photography, to corporate portraits. Clients expect things to be right, delivered quickly, and at a very favourable price point. One of the more challenging of these recent jobs has been a corporate portrait for Stena Line’s international staff magazine, ‘Connections’. With a circulation of over 6,000 internationally, and published in English and Swedish, the art director was very specific about the type of portrait he wanted. Sea based, plenty of blank space, and including the Stena brand. I could do my own creative interpretation within that brief. We got the ducks lined up in Rosslare, including working out the light, the ship in the background, in the right place (at sea under full steam) and the subject, ready to be photographed between shifts as the boat set sail for Fishguard. We had a three minute window to get the shot. Naturally, being Ireland, at 8.45 a.m. towards the end of December, it was almost dark, with sideways rain coming at us all the way from Wales. Got the shot though, and a commendation from Tidningskompaniet, the Gothenburg agency which handles their publications. Another satisfied customer, but with a very wet subject, and an even wetter photographer!
I’m working away with the NEX-3 and getting to know it now. This post contains 2 series of photos, One lot from Holidays in Sicily, and the other from an event I attended in Cork, Ireland over the weekend. For a holiday camera, the screen vs viewfinder is an issue, especially in bright sunlight. Also its becoming apparent that the headroom on the raw files, or perhaps the DR is somewhat short for subjects with a long tonal scale.
Otherwise, its great value for money and well worth the cost so far. (Incidentally, I’m using PT lens to straighten out the fairly horrific distortion with the kit lens at certain apertures, and Capture one PRO version 6 for all the raw processing). The photo of the Gothic church interior is a HDR composite, bracketed over around 5 stops, but still shows a bit of shadow noise. The camera was on a step, propped up a bit on my credit card holder. Unlike the others, this one did have a lot of post production!
Tests with the new Sony NEX are continuing, and I must express myself very well pleased in general. The sensor is well up to the task, and the 18-55 lens, despite some fairly hairy distortion at some focal lengths (correctable) is holding its own against a lot of my Canon prime and zooms. This is something of a surprise, naturally. Of the third-party lenses I’ve tested on it, the Zeiss ZM 50 2.0 is pretty amazing, giving a nice 75mm equivalent, but no IS. Attached are a few more random photos. Unlike the previous posting, I’ve been a bit more careful with these, ensuring the camera is well stabilised, to see what it can do. I always shoot manual, with live histogram on and centre focus point enabled. All post processing in Capture on Pro 6.2, always RAW files. Only one of these made it as far as Photoshop. The two of the cemetery taken with the Zeiss, the remainder with the 18-55. The absolute beauty of this is, of course that it is easy to carry around, and not obtrusive. All in a package costing very little for the results obtained. Next step is to go to firmware 3 and see what that does.
How did I end up buying a Sony NEX-3?? – I want a camera to carry around for personal use for images up to around 12×8, or a little larger at a push. Well, lugging all that heavy Canon Pro gear around isn’t something you do for personal work (1series bodies and hefty lens’s), after hours, or going for a walk or to the pub, and I’ve gotten very lazy about developing film from the Leica M6 Lately (even though I really think its the best ever) I wanted an M9, (still do) – I thought I wanted an x100, but got to play with one in my local camera store last Sunday, and sorry Mr Fuji, I didn’t like it… So, as is my custom I gathered up a bunch of RAW files from around the net, ran them through my usual workflow with Capture One, and bang for buck, the Sony wins hands down. Lens selection isn’t great, and it isn’t so pocketable, but its really easy to use in manual mode (with single point AF) and the files so far are looking good, especially for the price. I’m gonna try some manual lenses on it soon, and make some prints with the Epson 9900 for proper evaluation. Heres a link to the first look images, taken as soon as the battery was charged. If they look soft, blame it on the JPEGS.
On March 12th Irelands professional photographers are giving up their time for HAPPY FACES DAY, A charity photoshoot which benefits Cystic Fibrosis Ireland this year. For a mere €25 sitters get a mini studio portrait session, and a print in a presentation folder, with all of the money going to the charity. I’ll be in the fabulous GREENACRES GALLERY on Wexford North Main Street all day, so why not drop by, or give a friend a present of the photoshoot. Its all in a very good cause!
Just finished a product shoot for Senator Windows. Shiny objects with round edges are killers, but I think I nailed it!
If you’re in wexford over the next while, pop in to the Greenacres Gallery in Selskar, where I have two limited edition photographs for sale. One is a fabulous winter shot of the Hook Lighhouse, printed on cotton rag paper, and the other is a six foot long panoramic canvas of Wexford’s iconic waterfront!
I’m currently selling fine art photos at Wexford Picture Framing, south Main street, Wexford
Do call in and have a look!
GER!
