Laziness, New Posts, New Work & Facebook….

Well hello to all of you, my probably non-existant readers. My lack of blogging is appalling, must make more of an effort this year to blog more often cause this is a very barren and empty place around here. Anywho, I’ll try my best to upload my new work as and when they come up and I’ll try over the next couple of weeks to add some more pics from previous shoots cause evidently hosting images here is the best way for people to see them. Why is that? Well because facebook is shite. It is absolutely shite as an image hosting site. Why? Cause they ruin my pics. Ok, I’m rambling on like a drunken buffoon on crack. Basically, my point is that when photos get uploaded to facebook they seem to have the life sucked out of them. The colours get faded, the quality reduced, details lost and the overall image lacks to WOW factor I see when I’m editing them. To prove this I’m going to upload below 4 pics from a recent shoot with the very gorgeous Shira Wall. They should be rpesented here in all their beautiful and colourful glory. They should pop out at you, especially in the blues…cause that’s what I’ve spent a long time trying to get them to do. I’m over the moon with how these came out, I’m in love with them (well I would be cause I took them so :p) and Shira is an absolutely amazing model to work with. I love the colour tones I got in them and I hope you like them too. So here they are for you:

Now I would like to invite you to go over to my facebook page and look at the versions of these same images (which are the exact same files uploaded from my computer, no changes made in size, spec, colour, etc) and compare the versions uploaded here and those uploaded on facebook:

Facebook Pics

So am I right or am I right? Has facebook ruined the impact of these images?
I’ve no idea why facebook does this other than it’s simply their compression algorithms to make the images as small as possible and save on server space, given that they must have billions of images on their servers at this stage. But still, it’s getting ridiculous at this point, especially for us photographers. We spend all this time and effort creating these images, upload them to facebook and they’re ruined. Now I know you’re gonna say why not use flickr, tumblr or any of the other countless image hosting sites and you’re absolutely right to. But this little rant is just about facebook so feck off :p

Anyway, I’ll leave my bullshit ramblings there for now and finish by simply saying that I prmise to make more of an effort to blog here in the future….pwomise!!!! I also promise some more pics of Shira, cause we didn’t just shoot these 4

Steve

Product Review: Blackrapid RS-5 Cameramachine Shoulder Strappystrap

First thing’s first, let me apologise to all ye all for not updating this blog recently, it’s been a hectic few weeks and I’ve barely had enough time scratch meself, hopefully I wont leave it too long until my next update.
Secondly, this is to be the first of, hopefully, many reviews of photography gear. But my goal with these reviews is to give your guys and gals info on some of the lesser thought about camera gear. There are much better places and websites out there to go if you want reviews on bodies or lenses, though I may review some in the future. For now though I’ll be concentrating on other smaller items, but equally as important. These won’t be full on technical reviews either, just more my own thoughts and experiences on using the products. And they will, for now anyway, be solely concentrated on gear that I myself actually use, not just random things here and there.
Anywho, enough blabber, onto the good stuff. Today I’m reviewing (as you may have guessed cause you’re dead clever and all) a camera strap. Now you’re saying to yourself, “Awwwww, I thought this was gonna be good, I thought he was leading up to something interesting and now he’s waffling about feckin camera straps”. But wait. It does get interesting. I, like you, never gave much thought to camera straps. Indeed, for 10 years now I’ve been simply using the stock strap which comes with the camera. But I’ve never been entirely happy with them. Typically there are 3 ways of “wearing” or using them. The first belongs to that of the middle aged tourist (cliché, stereotype, blah blah, I know, don’t sue me, it’s meant to be a joke ya eejit) and that’s having the camera around your neck. This is probably exactly what they were designed for and it works I guess. The camera is safe from theft, you can go hands free when you need to, the camera is always accessible. But you look like a twat! And given that my camera is fairly feckin heavy, you’ll end up with a very sore neck after a while. And you’ll look like even more of a twat!
The second is the one which gives away the “pros” (I’m warning you, don’t take it seriously, it’s a bleedin joke, I’m not trying to offend you). This is to have the camera strap on your shoulder. This is the method I’ve used most over the years (up to now that it). The camera is still easily accessible, you can kind go hands free but it’s not really that theft proof! Plus you end up walking around with one shoulder held up so the camera doesn’t slip off your shoulder and smash on the ground leaving you crying over your €4,000 camera that you failed to get insured. On the up side you look like less of a twat with it on your shoulder, but you do get a sore shoulder.
The third way is the most uncomfortable but I guess the most secure from theft and that’s to wrap the strap around your wrist. Big problems with this though. You have to always hold the camera, so no hands free monkey business. Your wrist will suffer ALOT of pain. The camera is heavy so your arm hurts. But it’s fairly hard for anyone to steal the camera from you.
Now, phew, got all that backstory out of the way. So, there you have it, my reasons for wanting something new to hold my camera. And that’s where Blackrapid’s range of R-straps come in. These are a completely different type of strap and work completely differently to the stock straps. They go over one shoulder to hang the camera on the other side of your body (check out the video below for a better description). The strap fits to your camera by way of what Blackrapid call a “FastenR” which screws into your tripod socket on either the body or your lens (depending on your setup)…..yes there are drawbacks to this, but I’ll come to that later. This then attachs to a locking “ConnectR” which can freely move up and down the strap.
Look, I’m useless at describing things and how they work, just watch the video and the guy from Blackrapid will explain it better. The video here is for the RS-5 model which is the one I got and I’ll talk about that more in a sec, here’s the vid on how the strap works:

Right so, now you know how it works. Blackrapid have a few different types of strap available. There’s a more simple one with less pockets, there’s a “sport” version too and there’s one which you can add different “mods” to for carrying more gear. There’s even a women’s version shaped to fit women better across their chest and be more comfortable. The range is actually very clever and they have a strap there for everyone, just depends on your needs. I chose the RS-5 because I typically end up carrying rake loads of business cards, memory cards, other junk in my pockets. This lets me put them into the strap…..now that is cool!!! Even my big massive 4.7″ HTC phone fits into the phone pocket, albeit very tightly and awkwardly.
The strap itself is a God send. Seriously, the guy who thought this up is a genius. It’s one of thos “I wish I thought of that” ideas. The strap with the camera attached hangs at pretty much the best place it can for access and speed, it’s right there at my hand. Plus, having tested it out in a nightclub, I noticed it can be fairly conspicuous. Only when the camera was in my hand did people notice I had it, and my 5D mkII with the battery grip, 24-105L lens and the flash on top aint exactly a small thing. When the camera was by my side, it was fairly out of the way and not really noticable, which is a plus for me.
Comfort-wise it can’t be beat. No sore shoulder, no aches, no pains. (Ok I was sore after the nightclub but that’s more from the club, which was packed…always the sign of a good night out!!!).
In terms of security, ain’t no one gonna be stealing your camera when you’re using this strap! There’s just no way for them to easily remove it. It’s completely secure on you. The FastenR locks very tight and snug (especially if you follow Blackrapid’s advice to wet the rubber washer first). The locking ConnectR cannot be opened. There is not a soul could take this from me easily.
And as for hands free-edness….well, with the two bumpers you can position the camera where you like on the strap, like behind your back and that’s where she’ll stay. No swinging around to hit small people in the face, no awkward shoulder up in the air to stop it sliding off! The camera stays where you want it!!!
And for the most important part, do you look like a twat? No, you don’t, you look amazing. You look sexy. You look cool. You are guaranteed more sex if you use this strap and if you’re not getting any that’s not my fault, it’s yours……
(Ok so that’s a blatant lie, but the strap does look good lol).
Now there are a couple of drawbacks. One is with the FastenR itself. If you want to use a tripod you’ve got to take it off first. I know there’s at least one other manufacturer producing a similar strap which has a tripod quick release design built into it’s version of the fastenR. I wish Blackstrap would introduce something similar. As changing between the two would quickly get frustrating. Another drawback is from time to time the padded part of the strap did move off my shoulder. Now proper setting of the rear bumper will correct this when you put the camera down, but still, it was annoying. However, Blackrapid do have an add on called a BRAD, which is designed to prevent this so I think I’ll invest in that.
Apart from those minor issues I love this strap. Now it did cost me €69 in Conns Cameras in Dublin. But I think it was well worth it. The comfort, security, ease of use, speed and all that jazz is second to none….especially not those pathetic stock straps, eugh, they can go in the bin now.
Right, that’s enough writing for today, I have better things to be doing and so do you…get back to work and stop reading shite on the internet :p
Check out the R-strap for yourself, their website is below, go try one in Conns or wherever you can get your hands on one, buy one and ditch that useless, smelly one you got with your camera…this is the way of the future……..

Now, I’ll just sit back and wait for the cheque from Blackrapid…….dum di dum di dum

Ciao,
Steve

Aslan @ Kobra Bar on Arthur’s Day (though really should be Night)

Last night I had the privilage of shooting the legendary Aslan who were playing at Kobra Bar in Dublin. I have to say that it was one of the best gigs I’ve been to in a long time. It’s only a small club but the place was jam packed, so much so that I couldn’t move too much to get pics of all the band, but below are the pics I did manage to get along with a couple of the supporting acts. For those of you who are interested in such things, the shots are pretty much straight from the camera with only some minor levels adjustments, sepia photo filter & a touch of sharpening added. They were taken at ISO 6400 on a Canon 5D MKII with a 70-200mm f2.8L set at f2.8. God I love that camera….. Hope ye like

David Hennebry of Feral Children

Colm Lynch

And the legends themselves, Aslan:

Secret Projects & Scantily Cladedness

So it’s about time I suppose I leaked a little info from my new little project. Ok so some of these pics have already been released, but the project runs far deeper than that. The pics below form the start of a series of photoshoots I’m working on all based around a theme word. In this particular case the theme was “voyeur” and yes, all shoots will be lingerie and/or nude. The other constant of all the shoots is that they will all be shot in abandoned or derelict locations using minimal equipement, i.e. just my camera and natural light…that’s right, absolutely no studio lights or fill flash. Complete back to basics for me. I’m trying to combine two loves of mine, lingerie shoots with urbex shoots to give something not so much “different” but hopefully cool and interesting.

Shoot number 2 is coming up on Wednesday and I’ll post details on that after we shoot it, for now it’s Top Secret…dum di dum di dum……not all images from these shoots will be posted as I have some cool ideas for when the project is complete, but I will post tasters and teasers as they come up. Stay tuned for Wednesday’s teasers, it’s gonna be steamy

So with one of my all time favourite models, Shelly Radley, I started this project a couple of weeks ago. Actually, we did this shoot and that’s where the idea for the project came from, so I do owe Shelly a huge thank you on that part . The theme on this shoot was “voyeur” and the location was an abandoned “mansion” somewhere in Dublin (I won’t say where lest I get into trouble, but there was certainly no breaking in order to enter on our part…the door was wide open….). I’ve shot quite alot of times with Shelly and I have to say this was one of my favourite shoots with her. I think the results speak for themselves in that we got some cracking shots. If there’s enough interest I might consider doing an article about how I processed these, but it was fairly simple really, not much to it with most work done in camera. Anywho, enough babble from me, here are the images for your enjoyment:

September 11 2001

Well the hour is fast approaching where 10 years ago exactly the world as we knew it was radically changed. At 8.46am on just another normal September morning the first plane hit Tower 1 of the World Trade Centre. Now I’m not going to go into hows and whys and conspiracy theories. Today is not the day for that discussion. All I will say is what I know to be true. On that day almost 3,000 innocent human beings lost their lives in the greatest ever attack on the United States Of America and consequently the western world. And that is what today should be about. Remembering that these were ordinary people, just like you and me. People simply trying to make a living and go about their lives as they so wished. Top of that list of course are the 343 New York City firefighters who, when others were trying to escape and get away from the danger, went against human nature and ran towards that danger in order to try to save those caught in the towers. 343 extraordinary people whose sacrifice can never be forgotten.

It’s almost becoming a cliché at this stage to say “where were you when you heard of the attacks”, but it is true that there is not one person I know who doesn’t remember where they where. I was walking home from school with friends when one received a text to say what happened. And we all thought it was a hoax. Until I got home that is and sat watching as everything we hold dear and stand for in the western world came under attack. For that’s what those 2 towers represented. Our entire lifestyle in the west was symbolised in those 2 towers. They represented our economies, our wealth, our successes and consequently our freedom. Freedom, safety, families. All made possible in this world by the economies those towers represented. That may seem trivial to boil our western lifestyle down to money, but the truth is this world we live in hangs and relies on just that. The recent recession only goes to prove that. Without it we would be without homes, food, government and all the other comforts and rights we enjoy as a result. That’s what was attacked on that day 10 years ago. Our very way of life was brought crumbling to the ground when those 2 towers fell. And obviously in the other 2 plane crashes on that horrific day.

I have no desire to write a long winded post about the significance and importance of that day and of course today. More intelligent and capable writers will also be doing the same today and will be able to provide better words than these. So I will stop now with only approx 4 minutes to go until that time. All that’s required is for us not to forget those who lost their lives, those who suffered and are suffering the long term health, mental and othr effects and also those thousands others who have lost their lives in the 10 years since as a direct result of those attacks.

Steve

Ooooooh, Fast Cars

It will come as no surprise to those who know me best that I’m crazy for anything with an engine inside. I dunno, there’s something about the smell of petrol and the look of some nice sexy pistons that gets me going. My tastes for such range from big gorgeous Harley’s and Yamaha’s super sexy Star range (used to build these on occasion) to almost any and all cars.
Ok so that’s a lie, it isn’t any and all cars. Only some cars catch my attention. I’m one of these weirdo gobshites who only likes a car which has a soul. Yes, a soul. And I firmly believe some cars do have souls. There are some cars out there that just grab my emotions and twist me all up. These are cars built with passion and love. Cars which can excite and thrill. Cars with a personality. Now top of this list is pretty much any Aston Martin, because that company has it down to a T when it comes to passion and personality and soul. I typically either make a mess in my trousers or cry whenever I see an Aston. Sad I know but that’s just me.
But another type of car which has this effect on me is pretty much any BMW up to their current mega boring range. That goes pretty much up to 2002/2003. Before that BMWs were sexy and thrilling, now they’re just a great big lump of car. Eugh. They seem to have tailored themselves to cater for executives of cardboard box companies. Now I must remind you that this is simply my opinion of them.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, I recently had a chance to photograph 2 very sexy BMWs, a 1994 320i and a 1999 M3. The 320 will shortly be going into a certain magazine for an article and I’ll post more about that when the time comes, but for now here’s a couple of pics to brighten this blog up, enjoy!!!

Slick & Shiny Web-Designey

Well I thought I’d begin this photography blog page with an almost photography related post. Just want to give a big huge thank you to Shane Walsh for tidying up and making much nicerererer this whole blog for me after the big mess I made of it. Shane is a master at web design and if you need a nice website built, designed and everything else that goes with it, then he’s your man. He also happens to be pretty handy at the old photography too and you can check out some of his stuff over at www.urbexjunkie.com where you can see what he likes to get up to in his spare time….maybe the pic above will give you a clue.
I’ll keep this short and brief anyway, cheers again Shane, you’ve done a cracking job here.

Steve

Hello world!

Welcome to my new blog. Ok so it’s very empty and lonely around these parts, but I hope to sort that out by updating this as much as possible. But first, let me address some questions you may have……….like why on Earth should you bother your time reading or subscribing to yet another self centred bullshit blog from yet another crazy photographer with too much ego on tap???? Answer, well, you shouldn’t…God knows I wouldn’t! But if you are the kind of person who enjoys the inane (or maybe insane) ramblings of a neurotic, obsessed, over-the-top, up-his-own-arse egotisical “artist” (God I hate that word) then welcome, pull up a chair by the oul fire there, sit back and let me bore you. Or is you just want to be entertained by someone’s craze filled, often angry, but hopefully sometimes funny rants and raves and exited opinions then you are most definitely welcome and sure you can come sit on my lap…he he he…..pervvy enough? Hope so…or not…..or maybe……tell me to shut up now.

Anyway, if you want to know more “about me” (eugh, gotta talk bullshit about myself over on THAT page now) then check out the about page where I’ll explain my motives behind this blog further. For now though I’ll raise a nice cool pint of Guinness to you (well, actually right now it’s a manly pink strawberry flavoured protein shake – cause nothing says “I’m well hard” better than a pink strawberry flavoured protein shake that tastes nothing like strawberries, more like baby shite).

Enjoy

Steve

P.S. And yes, I will be uploading lots of images here soon enough, don’t you worry

Purposes & Reasoning

So you’re probably saying to yourself, ok what’s the point in all of this blah blah and what’s so new and interesting about THIS particular blog and what is this eejit gonna be waffling on about that’s gonna take yet more valuable time from me day……
Ok, well, let me answer. My idea for this blog is simply to have a forum where I can voice my own personal OPINIONS about certain things within the world I work. That world being the photography/fashion/entertainment world. As you have probably noticed already the site is broken down into that. Each section will allow me to voice my OPINIONS on certain news and events, happenings or just random stuff. It may involve certain news items, it may involve little how-tos and it most definitely will involve alot of bullshit and waffle on my part. As I am chiefly a photographer, obviously the photography page will most likely be the most popluated. I’ll most likely post ALOT of my own images here from various shoots as they arise. There’ll be news items featuring my OPINIONS on them and if there’s enough interest I may produce little how-to videos or articles for certain ways in which I work. You’ll simply have to keep an eye out for these.
The other sections, fashion and entertainment, will be more news and opinion orientated but will inevitably have a photographers twist on it. So therefore the fashion page will most likely cover the photography end of the fashion industry….so ladies, I’m sorry, but don’t be looking here for and style tips or advice. Likewise with the entertainment. I’m a photographer, so I’ll most likely post about images, movies, tv but from a visual point of view, so expect ALOT of stuff only a cinematographer or photographer might understand. Though more often than not I’ll include general musings on any info or news that could be considered entertainment…..because I have shitloads of opinions on that, you have been warned.
Most likely over the next couple of weeks there’ll be alot of new content added while my buzz for this site remains HUGE, but I hope to be able to update this at least once a week when everything settles down nicely and if you all hang around and give me a nice audience then I know I’ll definitely be more inclined to keep posting.
Anywho, I shall ramble away no longer and let you get back to your day’s work (or play or fornication or boredom…whatever it is you are doing on a Saturday afternoon).
Oh and don’t forget to “like” this page over on the facebook thingy to your right (screen left) and subscribe in whatever manner suits you on one of the social network buttons up there on top….go on, you know your want to
Ciao,

Steve