Welcome to my brand new blog. If you have found the blog then the chances are you will have seen my web site at some point. If not make sure you take a few minutes of your time to head over and check out my work.
Now, with any blog, please don't forget to leave some "loving" after any posts as it shows you care.
I am a little sad at the moment. For the first time in 3 years of shooting events I accidently dropped my most used lens. Sadly, it is not focusing at all, so off to the Canon A&E it needs to go. Hopefully and fingers crossed (or anything else that can be crossed) I will have it back in time for the next session which is not too far away.
Moral of the story – make sure the zips on the camera bag are done up properly before picking it up!!!!!!
This is my 5th year in Ireland now and every Paddy’s Day gets better and better.
This year the plan is to shoot some pictures of the Paddy’s Day parade here in Oranmore but focusing on Bualadh Bos, the Oranmore Music & Drama Group especially as they have made such an effort this year with their float and costumes.
I will add some images later when I have had the chance to download and go through them all as I am sure there will be a few.
Have fun everyone!!
I shot Rachael & Glynn’s wedding on New Years Eve 2009 and was over the moon when I heard they had a new addition to the family. As Rachael is back in Ireland for a few days to see her family and friends, I was asked if I could take a few snaps whilst she was over. I had heard that Rhosyn had the most amazing eyes and boy, she did not disappoint.
So without any further hesitation I am proud to introduce to you the delightful and gorgeous Rhosyn.
The shot was taken using only natural light with a 50mm f1.4 lens on my 5D. Any other questions, just leave me a comment and I will answer soon enough.
I have lived in Ireland and in Oranmore now for coming up to 5 years and I was always fascinated by this castle.
What is more intriguing about it is that it is currently owned and lived in by the oldest surviving submarine commander from World War II, Commander Bill King. Such an interesting chap and with such an amazing zest for life and what a list of accomplishments he has to his name.
In general I do not take many landscapes as I tend to find I do not have the patience to wait for the “right light” but this was simply impossible not to capture. So I thought I would share it with you all.
It was announced recently that a woman in the USA who was recently followed by the infamous Conan O’Brien has managed to get herself a ton of goodies for her wedding day as a result. Not sure if O’Brien will be the Best Man for the wedding but by God, they are going going to have a ball. O’Brien dreamed up a social experiment in entertainment where he began to follow a perfect stranger on twitter. The lucky person was Sarah Killen, a 19 year old girl who is about to get married. Needless to say Sarah was launched into instant twittersphere stardom thanks to the random gesture. So far her 15 minutes of twitter fame have earned her a Limo, wedding bands, a dress and custom made shoes for her upcoming wedding
Twitter as a social networking or micro blogging tool has come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of years with the amount of people taking to using it on the increase. The appeal of this service is keeping it short and sweet. In fact, so short that you are only allowed to post a tweet with a maximum of 140 characters only.
Whether it’s breaking news, a local traffic jam, a deal at your favorite shop or a funny pick-me-up from a friend, Twitter keeps you informed with what matters most to you today and helps you discover what might matter to you most tomorrow.
The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter can help you make better choices and decisions and, should you so desire, creates a platform for you to influence what’s being talked about around the world. Search results spread across Twitter and in other ways across the Web so you can discover what’s happening on and off of Twitter.com, wherever you prefer.
Twitter can give a voice to even the weakest signals because of its simplicity. Users can access Twitter on powerful broadband connections via a video game console or through faint connections in rural areas via SMS on a simple mobile phone. You can also access Twitter through more than 50,000 third-party Internet and mobile applications.
Just remember, how you use Twitter is completely up to you. Follow hundreds of people. Follow a dozen. Post every hour. Post never. Search for your favorite topics and create lists. Or not. You are in control on Twitter.
Twitter is a simple tool that helps connect businesses more meaningfully with the right audience at the right time.
Businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes are now able to stay connected to their customers. It can be used to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your business. Customers can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that they’ve had a great—or disappointing—experience with your business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers they’ve selected to be notified of.
Source: http://twitter.com/about
Famous people using it range from
Alan Carr
Barrack Obama
Conan O’Brien
Dannii Minogue
David Mitchell
Dawn French
Eddie Izzard
Gok Wan
Jonathan Ross
Kylie Minogue
Phillip Schofield
Russell Brand
Stephen Fry
Tiger Woods
A complete list of the most popular users are shown here along with their rankings, so if you are using Twitter then head over and see if your favourite person, animal or planet is on the list.
I am also a member of the Twitter community and you are more than welcome to start following me at http://twitter.com/picsby_mike
Well, I like to think it is and judging by the flowers starting take a peep to see if it is OK to come out and the sun setting later as each every day goes, it certainly gives that impression.
So as a little momento of the day and to help give everyone that fuzzy feeling with a fantastic Summer looming (we can hope can’t we?), I thought I would share this with you.
Let’s keep the momentum going here and add another portrait session I did very recently.
Katherine McGee, who I know through Bualadh Bos, the Oranmore Music & Drama Group has been asked to do a presentation in Dublin in the near future. She was asked by the organisers to provide a head-shot which is to be used in the programme and for the web site. As she did not have any new or decent images to hand, this is where I stepped in to help out.
I was also recently asked how I achieved the above shot when I showed it to another photographer friend so I thought I would let you know. In a nutshell, it was done Strobist style!! I used a Canon 580EX Mk1 flash (at 1/8th power) on a light stand using a small softbox on camera left to help soften the light. By keeping the shutter speed at a decent enough speed, it ensured the background light came through and provide nice ambient background light. I also used my super duper 85mm F1.2 L II lens which I have started using again with great results.
The second shot below was just something we did in the back garden of my house as Katherine had her lovely dog, Oskar with her to keep us company and we wanted to make sure he was in on the action too.
As most of my friends and family know, doing portraits is a passion of mine. So when Hildegarde Naughton rang and told me a regional newspaper were about to publish an ‘In Profile’ piece on her and asked would I do some shots of her, I jumped at the opportunity to help out. As well as trying to find out a bit more about Hidegarde, the article was also touching on the new Gilbert & Sullivan musical, The Mikado, which she is involved with taking place at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway.
As she has recently been elected to Galway City Council, Hildegarde was looking for the shots to be less official or formal looking which suited me to the ground. We headed into Galway and ended up at the House Hotel which is a cracking boutique style hotel in the city centre. I have used this hotel on numerous occasions in the past so it was a bit of a no brainer heading there again.
Here are a couple of the shots I took and I will add a copy of the article to show you how it ended up when I get a copy.
Now that I have the new blog sorted, I wanted to share this video that I saw quite a while back. The imagination and simplicity of using just sand to create this kind of art is crazy but yet the results are just breathtaking. It is 9 minutes long so bear with it but it will be so worth it.
Enjoy!!
This is the first proper post for the new blog that I am slowly putting together now that it is here for everyone to see. It still needs a few minor adjustments to get it the way I want, but overall, I am happy with it. It is also taking a little while getting used to using WordPress but like anything when you use it on a regular basis then the easier it will become.
Originally, I was thinking of transferring everything over from the my original Blog but decided to leave it where it is. You know, new blog, new year and all that. So here we go people, fasten your seat belts and lets have some fun along the way …..