Mountains and Lakes...a holiday video

Just when I start doubting I can go through the arrival of the cold damp grey short days of winter, I finally managed to overcome the yearly challenge of the holiday video : No deadline, no pressure (just yet, as long as it is delivered before next year's hols), a zillion amount of clips from different sources, no objectivity or way to detach myself from that footage, (sorry Winogrand, not going to happen) and plenty of paid/more urgent things to do.
Most of the footage is shot with the Sony HXR NX30E since I had just acquired it and needed to get familiar with it really quick, awesome camcorder for on the go actiony things, great sound and just very flexible all rounder, wouldn't do without the Canon 5D MkII which does the pretty / creative shots, and then there's also some footage of the Sony Action Cam (for the paragliding footage...I am now also the proud owner of one as of recently so watch out for test shots) and some very noticeable footage from a HTC 1 SV (meh...meh but hey when all you got is your smartphone, its better than nothing)
This is edited with FCP X and since I had to time pressure, I experimented a few effects and other thingies I never tried before...hope you enjoy it !

Sweat in style ! The fast moving photoshoot with actor Michael O'Driscoll

When Michael, whom I know for being a great improviser and really not camera-shy but a tad crazy, asked me "do you have the fast frame thingy on your camera ?" I didn't know, by answering Yes, I had signed up for a free work out !

A Grey background, a striplight & a big poly at the back and a magnum dish and a large softbox at the front, and I was ready to follow Michael in his performance.

An autumnal love story

On a gorgeous sunny autumnal day, James & Sarah finally exchanged vows together. Shot in the stunning property of Boyne Hill House Estate (highly recommend for the views and the exceptional staff) and St Margaret's Church in Dublin. The gorgeous cars featured are from http://www.chauffeursonline.ie/

For this video, I used Zoom mics, a Sony Nx30, a Canon 5DmkII and lots of bits of this and bits of that.

Tick tock tick tock the beauty of time

I haven't shot still life for a while so I grabbed the opportunity to get a hand on a beautiful Hilfiger watch (thank you Pascal !). I recently found a cute mini clock in the euro shop Tiger which is my new found treasure, all sorts of fun items with great designs, flashy colours and little prices.

You nearly wish your camera sensor & your lense weren't that good when you see all the spots & dust barely visible to the human eye you get in the pictures, from working with Trevor Hart on the Craft Council of Ireland product library, I learnt to polish and re polish products whether I could humanly see any dust, but unfortunately when the dust is inside the product, that's an extra bit of work for Photoshop !
I just love the precision required to light these small but subtle objects.

A landscape which made me cry

Surfing through websites & images, you get into this zone that doesn't have time or space, you're in there, jumping from link to link. How I came across these series of images called European Battlefields by Peter Hebeisen, where wars had been fought, I do not remember. But my eyes became watery when this particular image appeared, as if unearthing a deep old feeling in me. It's just such a delicate, sensitive, beautiful composition, in an understated magical moment of the day.
There's such a delicate balance in life, from tragedies to joy, beauty to horror. These series really give me the desire to go out there and enjoy & capture all the beauty around. Hopefully I ll get to see these prints one day !

Copyright Peter Hebeisen

Mireia

Actress Mireia came to my studio recently. We did a few set ups including an outdoor one. Best of luck to her in her career, she certainly has a vibrant personality and a lovely character that will bring her a long way !

First wedding video edit

Right so here it is...the video that made me switch from FCP 7 to FCP X...half way through (if anyone out there is thinking of doing that, just start from scratch, it's way simpler !)
This is not a wedding video in its traditional sense but rather a short movie, I tried to have stories within the stories, to give a portrait of Bernadette and Jamie, of their love, of their family and friends, of their lives.
Hope you like it !

Coming soon !! first wedding video - full edit

For my first first experience of an expected equally stressful, exciting and challenging videographing of a wedding, I made a promise to myself : I shall be enjoying this thoroughly and I shall learn loads and be thrilled about/with the outcome, alongside the bride and groom...phew ! it happened ! 

Pic Andres Poveda

I got the video and DVD ready earlier than anticipated (though, for the editors out there, I managed to finally convince myself to do the jump between FCP7 to X...after...how many years ??? anyway, that only happened half way through, should have started from scratch it might have been just as quick !0

but since I have this nice release poster stating the release is tomorrow, I ll hold off until tomorrow (only lucky VIPs are my amazing bride and groom).

I decided to take a fresh (read : partially informed of industry standard) take on wedding videography : how about we do a short movie of 2 people's best day ever, 2 people's love, 2 people's life in a nutshell, and make something interesting for anyone from the very first second right to the end, and be able to shed a tear or two ? So I put the emphasis on editing the footage into a short movie format, with a storyline written down beforehand, with stories within the story, while keeping a clear record of the day, in its entirety. Hope you like it {tomorrow}

oh, talking about tomorrow, I am starting a fantastic project this weekend with a good friend of mine, Monika Pawlak, I ll tell more about her cool idea later on.

Portrait of Michael & Elijah

Oh yeah I am into actor's headshots, I love them guys !

There's an interesting energy between an actor, trained to perform in front of a camera / audience, and a photographer, it's very interesting, 2 types of creativity, 2 angles, same eagerness to challenge each other !

Best of luck to Michael O'Driscoll in finding the right agent for himself, he's a very interesting chap.

And what about Elijah ? Well, he signed up with Fraser's now :-D 

Why we take pictures, why we make videos

I came across this wonderful story and this amazing video here, made by the brilliant Hailey Bartholomew.
Such a journey we're brought into, like real deep. I've never heard anyone telling this story in its thorough entirety, from the low to the high...ending with such a positive & hopeful outlook.
I really felt compelled to share this video because it summarises why I do what I do : it not only captures beauty and a story of mankind, it enhances it, it's about allowing someone's story to be told, and delivering it in a clear way, and sharing.

Recently I video'ed a wedding with a 5dMkII (and just a camcorder on a tripod) and the brilliant photographer who was on duty too said I was making my life harder by not using pro cams. The thing is I dont see the point in shooting a wedding if it's not with the camera that I love working with, with the lenses I love working with. But still, I thought a lot about this, until I saw this video. Yeap, I might miss a few crucial seconds because I'm manual focusing, and a decent amount of time synchronising sounds, but hey, that's so worth it, isn't it ?

A handmade slider by Rob, the retired engineer

A few weeks ago, I got to test a Varavon 80cm camera slider. Quite unimpressed by the track which didn't allow smooth movement and footage at all. I guess it needed to be oiled big time. I only needed to see how it looked on screen to know it was pointless to bother recording it since we didn't have time to oil it or figure how to make it work. There are some instances where you could get away with a bumpy footage, but that's not often the case and that's a ridiculous amount of work in post for cheap gear.
That's the kind of stuff you really need quality material to be worth using.
I don't really felt a great need for a slider but this experience challenged me to find something better and still at a low price, considering I wouldn't use it often anyway but would appreciate to have one every now and then.
And I found this really helpful chap, Rob, with his own version of the slider (turns out there's also an angry fella selling a similar version but I'm not going to entertain any discussion around who's the original designer). Rob's slider is much wider and with quite a different design from the vast majority of entry level sliders out there.


I've done my first tests using the first tripod I could find (Slik with a Velbon vid head, which turned out to be not the best suited for the job since it's a bit wobbly), put the slider onto the Velbon quick release, and then I used the 3/8" screw to mount the camera. A note here to say how I wished we could all stick to the metric system as these quarters and three eights don't mean shit to me :-D
Anywho, I then figured I could just mount another tripod head so it's always on and mount the camera on it, as otherwise it is time consuming to try and screw the thing onto the camera with the narrow space you have under the plate. But this will be for the next time.

The tests I did today were done fixing the camera straight onto the plate.
For a first tests, and the first proper times I got to use a slider, I'm pretty happy about it. It tends to bend a bit on both ends, which is noticeable on the footage but I expected to be worst. I was using a 5D MkII with a 24-105 L lens, so, 'bit of weight. (1.5Kg according to dpreview...). I think 2 tripods on each ends (or a tripod with a better head) and a bit more pressure on the camera and I slide (along with a better rhythm on my end) would be ideal in my opinion.

I think its main strength are the wheels and how they roll.











Have a look at the 3 tests that I made. Like I said, I barely had practiced this before so my "technique" doesn't compliment the slider at all, and neither does the use of just one tripod at its centre with a lousy video head, please bare that in mind. Also I've used most of the length, I'd say 3/4 of it on each scenario. I haven't tried vertical slider. I'd need to get my hands onto another tripod head that would allow me to rotate it 90 degrees. I'd be interesting to see how it does with downwards shooting in the semi vertical position.

Hope that's helpful !

Fx Amps Bad Train review video

Nearly 2 years since we did the first review video (over 2,000 views woohoo)

We decided to do a 3rd one for Pascal's new amp, the Bad Train. I had a lot of other shoots to edit so it's only now that I get to finish its edit.

Yesterday - a sunny stunning view from a penthouse in Dublin

Recent fashion photoshoots in Dublin with Style Skin

New fun photoshoots in studio, in a gorgeous penthouse and in the freezing cold of Dublin streets with Style Skin who challenged me to match her high fashion sense with as varied moods as I could. love a bit of challenge !

Festive times in West Cork

Hope you all feel refreshed (reborn even?) after the end of the year break. Well, it either refreshes you or it kills you really.
We had the simplest but loveliest Christmas time we could hope for in West Cork, in the Sheep's head Peninsula.
Here's what my "50mm only" homework brought back. I really enjoyed working with this lens, it was an interesting exercise to work with a prime lens only. However I heard myself saying "damm you, I can't step back anymore and this is clearly a wide shot" etc... I dont like how a lens dictastes me what my composition should be, but then again it makes you more committed to a shot as it is harder to find the right composition.

And here's to the January blues ! Blue is beautiful, what's depressing about it ?

It was shot with the 50mm 2.5 macro lens. That's right, a little gift from Santa Sylvie.