Canon 5D, 85mm, f1.8, 1/250, ISO 800

OK, I really tried to limit myself on how many photos I posted of this wedding…no, really! Everything about it was so beautiful that it was really hard to whittle it all down. The reception and preparations all took place in the wonderfully cosy Danby Lodge Hotel in Rosslare and the ceremony was in Our Lady’s Island . The weather on the day was possibly the worst we’ve had all year…the rain was horizontal! Still, nobody seemed to mind, least of all the bride…she was so chilled out she even took the time to sit down and watch a bit of Aussie Rules before the ceremony:

Canon 5D, 200mm, f2.8, 1/200, ISO 1000

Canon 5D, 17mm, f4, 1/200, ISO 1000

Canon 5D, 80mm, f4, 1/125, ISO 1000

A few in the church before the bride arrived:

Canon 5D, 17mm, f4, 1/80, ISO 800

The Best Man and the Groom:

Canon 5D, 73mm, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 1600

The rain calmed to a soft drizzle just long enough for the bride to get inside:

Canon 5D, 73mm, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 1600

My personal favourite of the day:

Canon 5D, 17mm, f4.5, 1/40, ISO 3200

Canon 5D, 200mm, f2.8, 1/160, ISO 3200

And I’ll leave you with this one. If you’d like to see more you can check them out on Flickr here.

Canon 5D, 195mm, f2.8, 1/320, ISO 3200

Canon 5D, 85mm, f1.8, 1/250, ISO 1000

Three weeks ago I travelled down to Rosslare in County Wexford to shoot the wedding of Eamonn and Anna (my first!). I was so excited when I met them to find out that not only is Anna a wedding organiser, but Eamonn is a blogger and he and his family are the florists behind flowersmadeeasy.ie! I knew this was going to be a gorgeous wedding and it really was. Even with the monsoon-like rain that decided to arrive and stay for the whole day! They have very graciously given me permission to blog some of the photos from the day and I can’t wait to show them to you all in the next day or so, but the flowers deserve a post all to themselves:

Canon 5D, 28mm, f1.8, 1/160, ISO 800

Canon 5D, 85mm, f4, 1/160, ISO 1000

Canon 5D, 85mm, f4, 1/50, ISO 1000

These displays were on all the tables for the cocktail hour after the ceremony:

Canon 5D, 200mm, f4, 1/200, ISO 400

Eve playing hide and seek at my parent’s house a couple of evenings ago. It’s her favourite game right now, much to the distress of her Daddy when she decided to have an impromptu game in the giant Harvey Norman store in Carrickmines over the weekend. Staff were called in, store cameras were used…she’s very, very good at this new game. Thankfully she was found before too long and Matt has just about recovered from the fright. Kids…they’ll put grey hairs on ya!

Canon 5D, 120mm, f2.8, 1/320, ISO 3200

My brother Peter is playing with Colm Lynch at the moment as part of his current band The Honeydogs. Last night they played the Button Factory in Temple Bar and they invited me along to take some photographs of the performance. I’ve never had the chance to do concert photography before so I jumped at the chance to have a go.

So here are a few shots from the night. I was having a great time and the music was brilliant too so I took sooooo many photos. I also got to meet a fellow photoblogger which is always a bonus. Kate’s a bit of a veteran of concert photography having had photos appear in The Ticket no less, so it was very cool to meet her.

So here are just a few that jumped out as I was going over them all, I’ve put a few more up on Flickr. Thanks Donal and Phil for your tips, I can see why you guys enjoy doing this so much!

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2, 1/400, ISO 3200

Canon 5D, 70mm, f2.8, 1/640, ISO 3200

And this is my baby brother Peter looking all rockstar:

Canon 5D, 185mm, f2.8, 1/250, ISO 3200

Canon 5D, 70mm, f2.8, 1/1000, ISO 3200

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5.6, 1/160, ISO 1600

The view of the Irish Sea from St Helen’s Golf Club in Rosslare. Golf clubs always have the best views.

Have a great weekend folks, I’ll be in Temple Bar Music Centre on Sunday taking photos of my brother’s band. I’ll be hopping around all you band photobloggers who do this so well: Donal, Phil, Neil …any tips?

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5.6, 1/250, ISO 1600

The night before the wedding there was a barbeque at St. Helen’s golf course with fantastic views and the most gorgeous red sunset. Well, I’ll never believe the whole “Red sky at night, Shepherd’s delight” saying because the weather the next day was far from delightful!

Canon 5D, 28mm, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 400

A slightly different angle on the Blue Church as everyone piled out for a smoke after the service was finished. I love the little groups of people, especially the old man at the back and the little girl at the front.

Thanks for the lovely welcome back comments yesterday everyone! I should go away and come back more often

Canon 5D, 17mm, f7.1, 1/3200, ISO 400

It’s been way too long but I’m back and I’ve actually got photographs! I’ve been holed away in my office for the past month doing the animation thing and it has taken over my life a little bit, not much photography happening. But that was remedied over the weekend when I shot my first wedding and a christening!

The wedding was down in Rosslare on Saturday and I will be posting more about that but first a little something from the christening yesterday in Kilternan at my favourite little church. The Blue Church has been around since the early 1800’s and it’s wooden which is very unusual for Ireland. The christening was beautiful and as I walked to my car the clouds parted and gave me this wonderful view.

I will be attending the Irish Businesswomen’s conference in Mullingar on Thursday so if anyone is going along I’ll be the one blinking as if she hasn’t seen sunlight for awhile.

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.5, 1/3200, ISO 200

A couple more from Saturday, this time some portraits of the people that work at the markets selling their wares. The girl above arrived with her friend towards the end of our stay at the carboot sale and I think they feature in nearly everyone’s photos of the day

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.2, 1/200, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.2, 1/640, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 85mm, f2.5, 1/2000, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2.5, 1/4000, ISO 200

Finally getting around to going through the photos from Saturday’s photomeet in Dublin. It was a great day and a fantastic idea for a venue (nice one Catriona!). We started off at the Toejam boot sale around the back of the George Bernard Shaw Pub. We had a great gang of people…Redmum, John, Catriona, Will, Davy, Alexia, Nathalie and Eoghan, Eoin, Phil and Darren. Some excellent bargains to be had if you’re in the area on a Saturday, I indulged in a bit of spending (all in the name of portrait bribes you understand) and came away with a brand new soft leather bag for €8. Yummy food and interesting characters too:

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2.5, 1/3200, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2.5, 1/6400, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2.5, 1/1250, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 17mm, f5, 1/2000, ISO 200

We then took a walk down to the farmer’s market in Temple Bar (where Deborah of Humble Housewife fame joined us) for even more snapping:

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5.6, 1/1600, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 200

I have loads more but I think that’s enough for one post! If you want to have a look at what everyone got (and it’s cool to see how we all were in the same places yet we each had our own unique view) there’s a toejam group up on Flickr here.

Just got back from the photomeet in Dublin, we had a great turnout and fab weather so hopefully some good photos too! I’ve not had a chance to go through all yet but a post will follow. I did pick up a couple of bargains at the car boot sale at the George Bernard Shaw pub where we all met up. Eve’s especially taken with these glasses I picked up for a euro (we discovered if you buy stuff, you’re more likely to get a good photo of the vendors haha!).

We’re meeting at the George Bernard Shaw pub in Portobello in Dublin at 1pm and everyone’s welcome. From beginners to pros, it’s always good for inspiration and chat and it always seems to end in a pub…what’s not to like? See you Saturday.

Canon 5D, 28mm, f3.2, 1/250, ISO 400

A couple of weekends ago I spent the morning up in Glendalough photographing this little guy and his mum and dad. His name is Tommy and he was a little shy of me and my camera at first. After a bit of stone throwing in the lake though he soon got used to me and we had a great time. He’s such a little character:

Canon 5D, 85mm, f3.5, 1/640, ISO 400

Canon 5D, 85mm, f3.5, 1/400, ISO 400

Canon 5D, 28mm, f3.5, 1/500, ISO 400

Thank you Sarah and John for allowing me to post these photos, and for the suggestion of Glendalough as a location! Even in not so great weather, it’s so beautiful up there. I just want to sneak one more in because it’s my favourite, I just love his little expression :

Canon 5D, 85mm, f3.5, 1/250, ISO 400

If you’d like me to take photographs of you or your family I’ve added a contact form to the website here. Fill it in and I’ll send you details and if you have any ideas for interesting locations then I’d love to hear them!

Poor Eve has been a little under the weather with a throat infection, she suddenly went quiet so I went to investigate (quiet children is something parents long for, but once we get it, we know something must be up) and found her asleep in her little chair in the lounge. I did move her, but of course I had to get a quick snap first.

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2, 1/320, ISO 100

The main reason for going to Kilmacurragh this weekend was to take some photographs of Eve and her cousins for my Mum, the doting granny (she’ll love that one). We’re going to get these ones printed onto canvas so I’m excited to see how they turn out.

Canon 5D, 30mm, f4, 1/160, ISO 100

Canon 5D, 28mm, f2.5, 1/400, ISO 100

And this is a little stone shed near the carpark, love this window:

Canon 5D, 20mm, f6.3, 1/250, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 40mm, f6.3, 1/125, ISO 200

On Saturday I went with my sister’s family to Kilmacurragh arboretum down near Brittas. It’s not that well known so there usually aren’t that many people there but this weekend the Irish Times wrote about it so the place was busier than I’ve ever seen it. Still, it was really pretty with all the trees in bloom. Eve was in pink heaven with all the petals everywhere.

Canon 5D, 29mm, f4, 1/10, ISO 400, Flash

I was photographing a birthday party on Saturday night. It was in the Yacht Club in Dub Laoghaire and was a really fun party with lots of cool touches. One of which turned out to be George the DJ. Such a character and really good at playing the right music to get everyone bopping. Thanks to him I got some great dance shots.

Just spotted this on one of my daily photoblog stalks. A workshop by two excellent wedding photographers, Melissa Jill and Arden Ward right here in Ireland in August. In Kinvara, in Galway to be exact. If I hadn’t already spent all my pocket money on ahem, other things, I’d be there in a heartbeat. I learned so much from attending the workshop in Las Vegas, I think these experiences are worth their weight in gold. Not just from the advice and tuition that the organisers pour into you, but also from being with all the other attendees and going out with them and shooting with them. Plus you’ll get some amazing shots for your portfolio.

Honestly, if you are a wedding photographer, are thinking about becoming one or just want to give your business and craft a boost, then I would say have a serious look at this. Workshops like this happen all the time in the States, but they don’t come over this way too often.