Central Park, New York

So I still hadn't uploaded any of my New York pictures from when I visited the other week. So I put together this panorama of Central Park I took on my way to the subway whilst heading back to Philadelphia. I've never done a panorama before and it was hand held so I'm fairly happy with how it came out. I also used an orange filter on it.

First shot from Philadelphia

Right so. I am now officially in Philadelphia and it is hot! Like really freakin hot. And the airline decided it was a great idea to put my bag on a later plane. Geniuses. But now I have my stuff and so here is the very first pic from Philly. Taken on the drive from the airport. Shot at 800 iso so it's fairly grainy but there ya go.

500 Photographers

Just thought I'd put this up as it's a great idea. Run by a photographer named Pieter Weisse, 500 Photographers is a blog wherein Peter will be posting 5 photographers, a brief description of their work and they themselves and a sample of their work per week. Also included is usually a video on the photographer or specific work and a link to their site. Check it out.

500 Photographers

Portrait Photography

Two portraits. The first was shot in studio and then post processed to give a look similar to Dragan's work. His work is post processed quite heavily but I've always liked it, having an almost film still quality to it.

The second is a portrait taken of english model Kitty, in Cork. I always loved the lines of her arms and legs, the positioning of her hands and feet. The quality isn't great as I've had to rob the image from my Flickr due to losing all the original images. Lesson being back up, back up, back up everything. But you live and learn...

Some images from a past project, taken in Bridgestone Muay Thai Club in Stoney Batter, Dublin. They were black and white before but have been re-done using Nik Silverefex Pro.

Music

One of the first areas of photography I got into after leaving school was music photography. My first ever gig being a disaster (shot on film whilst not knowing that there were different film speeds etc on an old family camera) didn't deter me and I kept at it moving to little digital cameras. After blagging my first photo pass for A Blind Guardian gig in Dublin I took out a student loan and got my Canon 20D and 50mm f/1.8, which I still use today.

Since then I've taken shots of bands such as Chris Cornell, Aslan, The Blizzards, Republic of Loose, Rise Against Juliette and the Licks, Vader, Deicide, Opeth and many others.

Just thought I'd put up a couple of my music shots, including one of Ozzy Osbourne, though unfortunately not in concert. The other three are of Rise Against, Boss Volenti and Republic of Loose.

How To Make It In America

How to make it in America is a fairly new HBO show (just finished it's first season I think) about two friends trying to start a clothing line in New York. Great music, great acting but most importantly for me, great photography. From the intro to the images that are scattered throughout each episode the work, for me anyway, is just incredibly strong. I've always been a big fan of street photography so it most certainly appeals to me.

I found out one of the photographers who's work is shown is named Boogie. I would highly recommend checking out his site by just clicking his name above. Born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, it seems he is no stranger to conflict and in particular his work on drugs and gangs stands out for me.

If you can check out How To Make It In America, it's well worth it.

Jane McGrath

My first proper post with some pics of super talented irish actress Jane McGrath. Taken today in Dun Laoghaire, I've decided taking pictures of actors is great because they don't seem to need any direction, they just do it. Great fun. Just a quick addition, these were shot with both a 70-200mm Canon L Series and a Canon 50mm f/1.8.

Normally I use the 50mm for music, live music and never for portraits really because it can be quite hard getting eyes sharp at f/1.8 and such but from now on I'll defo be using it more for this type of work.