I have been off work for a week and what a week it turned out to be. We got some great weather here and as we don't always get this kind of weather I took advantage of it and went out with my camera. I spent five days out taking photographs at some seriously beautiful locations across the county.
In total it was:
5 days
8 locations
nearly 6 hours of travel
nearly 200 miles traveled
All the time paid off everyday up early, out in the car taking photos, getting home working on the photos, uploading photos across a number of sites. I was beat but this week has been worth it in my eyes.
The sites i visited were:
Scrabo Tower
Nendrum
Portavogie Beach
Inch Abbey
Grey Abbey
Dunluce Castle
The Dark Hedges
Glenariff Forest Park
Some of these places I have been to a few times, some many times and others never at all. I like to think I captured a great image of Ireland and I have my own favorite images from every visit I made. I did realise as much as people complain about living here, or the reputation that this country has. If you look hard enough and in the right weather, this country is amazingly beautiful.
I have been on a few places for selling prints and some have went well and others not so well. Mostly I stopped putting time into them and letting whatever happens there happen. Recently a friend put the idea in my head to look for a site that sold prints in America, as most of my work and photography is of locations in Ireland.
With that in mind I did a search and I found Fineartamerica, I had a look about it and it all seemed very simple with the option to upgrade membership at only $30 for a year, to me that is a great value in order to have unlimited prints and galleries for sale. So I signed up there and I have only been on for a few days now with no sales just yet but over 2000 views already so there is hope yet. It will take work to get there but I feel it is worth it.
I have a number of images on there, from smoke trails, toy photography, panoramics and the photos of Ireland. You can check it out here:
So Last week I had the honour of photographing two of my friends wedding from start to finish. I had managed to get this simply by offering to do some photos for them when they had gotten engaged, they were so happy with these that they said there and then you can do our wedding. Normally I think a photographer should be happy at that news to be thought of in such a way to cover such a special day for the couple, now at the time I was hesitant, not 100% in my abilities and I knew just how important these days are, how it has to go right, you cant mess up and how it could ruin a reputation.
Skip forward a few years, I'm thinking the wedding is soon, I haven't heard much about it maybe they got somebody else. then off goes my phone a text from the bride who is finalising everything asking am I still good to do it? I waited a while and tried to give a vague answer of I should be, still hesitant as by this stage I had not touched my camera in quite some time and just didn't want to mess up. This was not going to fly with the bride and rather than face the wrath I said okay and set up a meeting to run through everything with the couple.
The meeting definitely is a must in all ventures in photography as far as I'm concerned, just some form of conversation be it phone or video or in person. I got to sit down talk with the couple find out their plans for the day and of course vital information such as locations, times and so on. So I left feeling better about the day as a whole. Off home I went and ordered a few books on the subject and to get ready for the big day.
In terms of camera equipment, I had a few lenses they would definitely do the job, however I did have a few dilemmas in terms of equipment. My main one being should I bother having a second camera for the sake of not having to swap lenses on camera's I can see why this would be a advantage and if I had the money I'm sure I would have went this route instead I opted for battery life and found a battery grip for my camera to save the risk of running a battery dead and having to swap them out, also I had wanted a grip for sometime.
A few weeks later I received another text from the bride letting me know the rehearsal was happening and if I would like to come along to see the church. I'm also thankful for this as not only did I get to scope out the church before the day but I also got to meet the minister and ask him the important questions such as what was okay to photograph on the day. The great news was he didn't mind me moving around as long as I was quiet and didn't get in the way but I could also take photos all throughout the service, to me this was great as it gave me a chance to get some important keepsakes. His only rule was no flash to me that's a given so I was okay with this. I also took this opportunity to swap out lenses and see what worked for where I would be on the day and made my notes to go over.
All that was really left now was for me to pack, charge all batteries and format the memory cards. I have to say once all this was down there was a nice calm of being ready for this going over in my head, my ideas, movements and what lens to use.
Packed and ready there was a nice calm of being prepared for this, I had started out nervous and unsure now I was ready for this day to go there and do my best for the couple. The day arrives and it was non stop on the go all day with little down time.
The job started at 9.30 and finished around 10 that night. I tried to cover as much as possible to give the couple a selection of photos of their day. The morning was in my mind the busiest of the day it consisted of:
Bride and bridal party at hair salon
brides house
groom and best man at church
brides house again for leaving house
church
Once we were at the church the day went at a slower pace it was more relaxed. After that it was up to the botanic gardens in Belfast for more photos. Luckily we had a great day for the wedding it was bright and sunny , I was hoping for a little overcast but I was not going to complain at all for having to deal with shadows and squinting and lens flare in my mind it could have been a lot worse.
After this we moved onto the reception and the photos here were all very informal anything the bride wanted she got there was a huge weight lifted of my shoulders the day was nearly over and apart from a few hiccups in timing the day had gone great I really didn't know why I had worried or doubted myself so much.
By the end of the night I had filled three 8gb memory cards, took over 1000 photos taken and only had to swap my hot flash batteries near the end of the night.
I did tell myself to wait before going over the photos but in the end I was too excited and did that the next day. The 1000 photos became 400 then it became 350. All in all I had a good time, the couple enjoyed themselves, more importantly liked their photos as did other family members and guests. Even got me another job.
Would I do another wedding? I'm sure I would, I want to grow and learn and improve. Now I have one done I'm not so sure why I worried just as much as I did.
Lately I have been thinking all about holding another exhibition for my photography. To be honest I have been thinking on and off over the years about doing another one. A few years back I had the joy of holding my first ever solo exhibition, sure there was stress and costs and panic but in the end I felt it was worth it people turned out to see it and I even sold a few photos. (photos of how it looked at the bottom)
I have to say I got lucky at the time my tattoo artist had free space in his studio and told me the space was there if I wanted it. This was too good a opportunity for me not only was there no cost to hiring the space but they also printed fliers for me.
The reason I keep going back to this thought is simply I did not do the theme I wanted to do first time round. I had wanted my first exhibition to be all about toy photography I had gone so far as to have prints selected and even had physical prints in hand to be framed but in the end I decided to mix it up and give a selection of everything I liked to take photos of. To this day I still wonder what if?
So here I am again pondering should I go through with it again? not to mention all the questions that are still go unanswered such as:
Where can I get to host it?
How much would it cost me?
How many prints would I need?
How to go about promoting it?
There are no doubt more to go with this but maybe I should go with Nike and their slogan and "just do it" and worry all about the rest as it comes. Time will tell if I go about it and if I do I'm sure I will post all about it. For now it stays in my mind being pondered over.
Selective colour is always something that I have dipped in and out of with my photography. It can be fun and creative when you want it to be and sometimes it can really make the point of your photograph really hit home such was the case with my "Lest we forget" photograph where you are drawn to the poppies.
Lest We Forget
I've been told by other people to stop doing it in order to make myself that little bit more professional, I used it when photographing a friend and again I thought it just made the photo that little bit better in my eyes and drew the attention to my friend more than what the full colour image would have done.
It also gives me a little time to get creative, recently I had the idea to do some selective colouring with fruit and crayons. The idea was simply to make it look like the fruit was in the process of being coloured in. It was simple and fun.
Should this be such a frowned upon technique in the photography world? I don't think so and as long as I can still have fun with it I will be doing it for a long time to come.
What with European Heritage Open Days (EHOD) fast approaching in Northern Ireland. I have decided to make a quick blog about it and of course with photos of some properties taking part at the bottom of this blog. You can also see more photos from Northern Ireland at Ross Caughers Photography
EHOD runs over the 8th and 9th of September with over 300 properties taking part. Many of these properties across Northern Ireland will be opening for free as part of EHOD
Organised by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) this celebration is designed to encourage people of all ages to discover Northern Ireland’s rich and diverse architecture and heritage.
EHOD takes place every September in 49 countries across Europe. Last year over 56,500 people in Northern Ireland visited properties, many of which are closed to the public throughout the rest of the year.
So if you like taking photographs of heritage sites, monuments, castles and building in Northern Ireland this is a great event to get to some locations, some of which do not open all year round and get some photos.
I took part in EHOD last year and visited a local property that is not open except for EHOD.
So if you are in Northern Ireland over the 8th and 9th of September why not visit a property taking part this year. You can find more information on EHOD at Discover Northern Ireland
So today I thought I would try my hand at photographing food dye in a wine glass.
I had a quick check online to see what some people were coming up with from there I then decided to do a search to see just how simple a set up I needed. Then came the fun part getting the items I needed.
Thankfully a quick trip to my local Tesco's provided most of my items:
Wine Glasses
5 bottles of food dye (red, blue, green, yellow, black)
I had tried to find a water dropper but after a hunt in three shops I gave up and decided to just try my luck with pouring the dye into the glass.
When I got home I set up my camera on the tripod, set up my remote flash on another tripod to the side, set the wine glass on a small table and also used two blank white canvases to give me a white background.
The rest was a huge trial and became very messy, very quickly. Food dye was everywhere as was water from countless refilling and cleaning the wine glasses.
I did learn that a few dyes react differently in water blue lingers around the most, while green bursts and fades very quick, red is thick and sinks to the bottom very quickly any yellow bursts in a nice cloud.
There was very little editing done to the end product if anything I only touched the exposure and cropped the photos in a little or rotated. I have to say I am happy with how some of them turned out. You can see for yourself below and more can be seen at my facebook page
