A few weeks ago we headed up to County Fermanagh to do a bit of housesitting, except this was no ordinary house. The family that live here built the house themselves and it is completely “Off Grid” so there is no electricity, no gas and no running water. They also have animals: chickens, geese, ducks, goats, dogs, cats and a couple of ponies. So this was a little bit different from how we would normally live but Matt and I jumped at the chance to unplug and get away from it all. I admit I was a little nervous to be responsible for this house and all those animals but it was actually a very laid back easy few days.

Eve loved feeding the chickens and the ducks, she’s always been fascinated with animals so she had no fear at all and jumped right in. Boomie the big Bull Mastiff became her best friend.

The house is so beautiful and cosy, we drew water from the well outside and heated it on a big stove to wash. The loo is a compost toilet outside and it was probably the source of most concern for me when we agreed to go. It was in fact very clean and not in the least bit smelly. Steve Flynn from the Happy Pear was with us too and he laid on the most delicious meals every night, we spent most of the afternoon preparing and cooking our big meal with all natural, fresh ingredients. It was a proper event. Then when the sun went down we’d light candles and read or chat until bedtime.

When the time came to go it was a wrench to leave. For all that I enjoy technology and the internet and everything that comes with the modern world, I’m more than happy to leave it if I can. In fact, tomorrow we’re going camping in Northern Ireland for ten days. I have no idea if I’ll have any access to the internet to update this blog. I can’t wait to just unplug and go sit in a field!

Take this shot for example, it was taken at a brilliant wedding I got to shoot in Ballybeg House (fast becoming a favourite venue for me) at the end of May and the ceremony took place outside where the sun was shining down from a deep blue sky. This section of the day is probably the most intense, there are so many shots you have to get and you almost need to be in a few places at once. Either that or have some kind of telepathy to know exactly what’s coming next and so where you need to be to catch the best angle. In this wedding, instead of the traditional walk down the aisle, the bride and her father walked through the old house down a narrow dark hallway and out into the blazing sunshine. As it’s happening here’s a sample of how my mind is whirring:

OK, they’re getting ready to start walking, will I expose for her dress or do I want to try something different? Maybe if her dress was backlit (the light coming through the lace could look beautiful) and if she and her father are silhouetted against the light from the doorway ahead of them, yea I can see it in my head…how do I expose for that!? OK, I need silhouette but not completely blacked out, so underexpose the dress but not too much and click, click, click because they’re walking and the hallway’s not that long and I need to be ready to quickly change exposure when we hit that sunlight, so I’m clicking and crouching and walking and trying not to step on the dress and spinning the shutter and some of it is probably blurry but maybe that’s ok. And we’re out.

All that in a matter of seconds and the whole day is kind of like that.

And I love these two photos, I know the second one’s got movement in it (yea, yea, I mean it’s blurry) but I kind of like that and it’s what I pictured in my head in those seconds beforehand and that makes me feel good. Happy accidents are wonderful but to actually get a shot you pictured…there’s something satisfying about that. But what would have happened if it hadn’t worked? I couldn’t ask them for a redo, not to mention that when we did get out into the sunlight I was still looking, clicking and walking so I tripped on the door jam and only just stopped myself from tumbling all the way down a flight of concrete steps taking the bride and her father out like skittles and landing in a tangled heap at the groom’s feet. Thankfully I somehow managed to stay upright and although my heart was pounding the ceremony was only just beginning so I had to keep shooting. And therein lies the rush and the stress of shooting weddings, they wreak havoc on the faint of heart…and the clumsy.

Two incredibly sweet twin sisters that I photographed recently. They were 4 weeks old but at 5 and 6lbs they were still tinier than most day old babies and fiesty as anything.

In case you’re wondering where the lens and exposure data for these files is gone, well I got a bit tired of typing it in so I found this handy little plug in that puts it in for you. Just hold your mouse over the photo and presto chango, up pops all the info.

**I’m not sure when it happened but comments were set up to allow only registered users to comment. Thanks to Chris Ward the creator of this handy exif plugin for letting me know. It’s back to normal now…at least it should be.

I meant to take a little break, but then I blinked and two months had zipped by. I’m still here, just enjoying the summer. We’ve been doing a lot of fun things and I’ve taken lots of photos. Now that I’ve broken the blank post ice I will be blogging again very soon.

We spent the day at my parent’s house yesterday altogether with my family for Easter. We laughed, searched for eggs, ate, flew kites, played golf, ate some more and had a brilliant time. Eve had a new dress which she was very proud of so I took some photos before it was covered in chocolate and grass stains.

Canon 5DII, 50mm, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 800

A recent favourite. Harry’s Mum had seen this pose done before and wanted to see if we could recreate it, I was happy to oblige. It’s always fun for me when parents are up for trying out new poses for their babies and have their own ideas of things we can do.

Canon 5DII, 200mm, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 800

Some more photos from the parade yesterday, such a brilliant day and would you believe I actually had a touch of sunstroke this morning that’s how sunny it was! Either that or the Irish winter was so dark and dismal I’m not used to sunlight anymore. Thanks again to Marcus, Pix.ie, the St. Patrick’s Festival and the Guinness Storehouse for a fab time.

Canon 5D, 40mm, f4, 1/3200, ISO 320

Canon 5DII, 200mm, f7.1, 1/340, ISO 800

Canon 5D, 20mm, f4, 1/1250, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 40mm, f4, 1/2000, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 40mm, f4, 1/1600, ISO 200

Canon 5D, 40mm, f4, 1/1600, ISO 200

Canon 5DII, 200mm, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 800

Had a fantastic day at the St Patrick’s Day parade, I have so many photos to go through but I’m far too exhausted to even look through them. This is just a little preview.

I didn’t take many photos at Sabrina’s fabulous Ladie’s Tea Party, mainly because I was too busy chatting but there were yummy cakes that just had to be photographed. The cupcakes were at least as yummy as they looked and were made by the very talented Jo, and the brownies were courtesy of Niall Harbison. They were so chocolatey even a confirmed chocoholic like myself was defeated after a couple of bites. Yum!

But this lady is so popular we even had gatecrashers clamouring to see her:

Ben and Peter arrived to receive their ToyBoy badges:

I think this is a first…Peter Donegan rendered speechless:

There’s a few more to be seen on Flickr.