Life is pretty hard for Lego Men in our house and things have got worse since the steady arrival of Pirates at Christmas and a recent Birthday.
Today however, while the girls were at Mass, a Man-Eating Shark turned up.
Thankfully there are still a few Heroes out there:
Our Centurian to the Rescue
For anyone interested, the Shark is mostly made of blue bricks that have been part of the Lego box since before I started playing with it. I assume my sisters once had a house with a blue roof?
These pics are also part of the on-going trial of the Nikon 50mm f1.2 AIS (and my ability to focus it manually!). More on the search for the ‘perfect 50’ to come.
It’s nice to get a surprise sometimes. As I dropped the kids in to school one morning I was greeted by one of my own images on a Poster on the wall.
Pre-school kids hard at work
I took this picture as part of a project for Cork City Childcare some time ago. The aim was to produce a series of posters and other Artwork but until now I’d not seen any of the final pieces.
It still has to be one of the most challenging and enjoyable jobs I’ve done. Challenging because it was completely candid – no set-ups, no lighting, just capturing the kids at free play. And enjoyable because it was just that: kids at free play. A lot of great kids having a great time just being kids.
It’s still a good feeling to see your work in a public context – especially when you least expect it!
It’s March already and anyone who received one of the special Opening Promotion Gift Vouchers needs to book their session before the Voucher expires on March 31st.
There are a few out there unclaimed and I’m pretty booked up for the next couple of weeks so to make things a little easier I’m OK to let a few of these sessions run into April, as long as the booking is made before the 31st March (originally the session had to be shot before the end of March).
But if you have a Voucher and haven’t used it yet, you still need to call me soon to arrange your session and we’ll put something in the diary.
I can’t believe it’s a week since the election already (no sign of a government yet?). I popped into the count on Saturday evening and bumped into a few people – some of whom had been there for the duration (and weren’t going home). It’s great that the count is open to the public: democracy in action.
Senator Dan Boyle looks out over a changing political landscape
I was also passed this link – especially for those of us who weren’t there all day!
For anyone tired of running around town looking for the last few dead roses, how about something more permanent for your loved one this Valentine’s Day.
I’m offering a limited availability Gift Voucher in a Presentation Picture Frame. The voucher gives the One You Love a full photo session at a location of their choice and a print to put in the frame once the session is done.
The Framed Voucher costs €50 and is available from the Gallery until 14th February. Sessions need to be booked by the end of March.
There’s been lots going on since Christmas and I’ve had to neglect the Blog while I get on planning for communions and a few other things that I hope to be announcing on here over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, family life continues and that now includes visits to the Gallery by many keen supporters.
Our Marketing Guru at Work
The Young Fella has taken to coming in to the Gallery, grabbing business cards and flyers and going out on the street to hand them out (well they do bear his picture after all).
I can’t knock his enthusiasm to promote the business so I guess the pupils and staff of Eglantine School are just going to have to get used to him as they go by on their way to the Park!
We all need a break. You’d think that I’d take a break from taking pictures over the holidays wouldn’t you? Well, no. I usually take the opportunity over the hols to shoot some film. Yes, film. Old school stuff. But I find the practice of shooting film slows me down and forces me to take more time over taking a picture which is no bad thing.
So I smiled to myself packing my extra ‘take home for the hols’ bag on Christmas Eve:
My spare D700 to come home – not exactly state of the art anymore but it still takes stunning images in many very demanding conditions.
My ‘new’ Hasselblad 500C – the market seems to have fallen out of medium format on eBay recently and I picked one up for the experience of using a larger image circle. Formerly the Pro Photographer’s Work Horse and still a lot of great glass and film area to play with.
My new Lomo Spinner 360 – how much fun can you have with a 35mm negative? Regular readers will know I’m a Lomo fan and this was on special before Christmas.
We had a lot of fun with the spinner in the snow on Christmas Eve – some of them even came out! Remember that ‘wait and see what you got’ feature that you have with film?
I ran my first ever 120 film through the ‘blad on New Year’s Day – need to find someone to develop it now!
If there’s a message from this then it’s to do some personal work as well as all that other stuff: have some fun and enjoy your cameras – all of them. Each has its strengths and stretching your mind to use each for something different is good for your creativity.
Have a Happy New Year. Be creative and make some time to enjoy yourself a little more than you did in 2010.
