I’ll be in Limerick all weekend from Friday with the swim team so anyone looking for prints before the end of the school hols needs to give me a buzz tomorrow. I’ll be back next week (once I get the chlorine out of my system!).
Also from next week I’ll be moving to summer hours which means office hours will move to 10-12am and I’ll be arranging appointments around those times where possible. As usual, if I’m not out at an appointment I’ll probably be in the gallery at other times during the day but it’s best to phone or text to check first – 087 683 8511.
In order to help you plan your child’s First Holy Communion I’ve put together a couple of pages of info on the blog:
First Holy Communion Photographs for 2014 gives details of the services we offer on the day of the Communion: Studio Sessions, Home Sessions and Pictures at the Church
First Holy Communion Packages 2014 has information about the print packages we’ve put together for First Communion Photographs. These are available to all sessions that we shoot for First Communions and Confirmations.
We generally offer the same range of services to Confirmation Services – please call to check our availability on your date.
Hopefully these are useful but if you need any more information please do not hesitate to call – 021 4293714 or email rob@roblambphoto.com
With the kids back to school we’re returning to our normal office hours at the Gallery.
The Gallery is open 9-10am Mon-Thur and 2-3pm Mon-Fri.
Generally there is someone here during the most of the day but inevitably I have to leave to office to go to appointments and meetings during the day. I try to arrange my work so that I’m always here during the times above so that if you need to find me I’ll be here. It’s quite likely I’ll be here at other times during the day – it’s sometimes worth giving me a quick call if you’re thinking of calling outside those times.
But if you’re passing anytime and the door is open then feel free to call in.
Halloween has become a big thing here now. Whilst the kids enjoy the dressing up, visiting neighbours and of course way too many sweets, as each year it becomes a bigger festival it becomes increasingly odd to me that we celebrate it.
This year tragedy affected our household indirectly and for me and one of my children the whole thing seemed more out of sorts than normal.
November is traditionally a time for remembrance.
It is a time to celebrate the lives of people who are no longer with us. My thoughts are with all families who are feeling the loss of someone.
This post was formed on 1st November and left unposted. Tonight I saw the news footage from the Armistice Day Ceremonies in Dublin. It is important that we remember those who gave their lives for our freedom on all fronts. I’m glad that the thousands of Irishmen who died fighting in Europe are finally being recognised.
Generally I haven’t been a fan of audio-visual slide shows. I remember when I used to work in a ‘cube farm’ in the old Motorola days and browsed to a site which automatically launched an audio-visual show: it brought on panic as I desperately tried to turn off the sound before my cube-buddies realised I was surfing instead of working.
Nevertheless, I recently had the honour of being asked to talk to Mallow Camera Club for an evening and I thought a slide show might help to keep everyone awake.
This is from a session last autumn. It has a soundtrack so if you work in an open plan office, turn off the sound before you start!
Apologies to Daire (aka John) for the unfortunate timing of one particular lyric
The Irish Anaphylaxis Campaign are holding a ‘Woman Wellbeing and Wardrobe evening’ this Friday, 29th January at the Radison Little Island, starting at 8pm. The charity supports families living with life threatening allergies. Tickets are €10.
I’ll have a stand there and I’m also doing their publicity photos so if you’re attending, please come over and say ‘Hi’.
I will have family session vouchers available at the stand and as part of the fundraiser I’ll be donating 10% of all sales on the night to the IAC.
My apologies to anyone who has come to the site looking for pictures of the Christmas Pageant.
In order to respect the privacy of the families involved in the Pageant, the photographs are only available on a private gallery and are not posted to the public site.
If you are a parent at the school and you’d like access to the gallery, please e-mail me stating how you’re related to whom at OLOL and I’ll send you back the link.
I’m still catching up from an extended weekend trip to London for the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) Convention. It is a big do: Trade Fair; hours and hours of seminars and classes; even a black tie awards night. 1000’s of photographers from across Europe attended.
Careful choice and self-control allowed me to get some really useful stuff without being totally overwhelmed. When my head did start to get full I headed to Hammersmith tube to re-acquaint myself with London.
It’s hard to believe that it has been over 10 years since I did anything more than travel through London. A lot has changed for me (and London) since then and I took the opportunity to get away from talk of cameras, lighting and endless wedding albums to actually see some inspirational pictures.
On the list were: the National Portrait Gallery (including two temporary exhibitions of photographic portraits), a Norman Parkinson exhibition at Somerset House, the Courtauld Gallery and the Photographer’s Gallery. Some great pictures there – lots to think about.
Now the Photographer’s Gallery was an old favourite when we lived near London (although it has moved since). Often the exhibitions were far too Arty for me and again this was the case. It always had a good coffee shop and a great book shop and that hasn’t changed either.
It was there I found the Mini Diana. I have been aware of the whole Lomography / Holga cult thing for a while. Basically it seems to be a reaction to the uber-technical side of photography: the multi-mega-pixel, lens envying hell that it can be at times. Take a cheap, crappy, 95% plastic camera and have some fun. Be creative. Take some photographs.
My original interest was in the 120, Medium Format versions – an easy way to start using big negs. But it seems hard to get 120 processed and impossible to get it scanned these days so I settled for the Mini: a square or half frame image on 35mm film; two settings; crude manual focus; plastic 24mm lens.
Maybe in my small part I was reacting to being in High-Tech Heaven for four days. I do like the technical aspect of photography but I guess the engineer in me always seeks an application for good technology. Too much technology without any discussion about what it can do for me gets on my nerves.
So I bought the Mini Diana, a roll of film and set off on a beautiful winter’s afternoon to walk from Oxford Street to Embankment (via Picadilly and St James Park) to give it a spin.
I had so much fun. And after I found it was originally set in ‘Night’ mode I even got some usable pictures out of it.
So lots to think about from the SWPP: Marketing Plans write, technique to hone and gadgets to play with. But I also need to buy another film for the Mini Diana.
I wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
No doubt Jan 2010 will be tough for many but I wish you the gifts of hope, trust and self-belief. Treasure the people who love you and draw strength from them.
