Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Bluebells and ice cream

Published on May 25, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

My weekend in the north wasn’t all about thrills and exhilaration. There was some time for calm too. On one of the more leisurely days, dad took my mum and me on a drive to Portstewart for ice-cream. After all, why wait for the van to come down your street when you can go on a 50 mile journey. Anyway, more about the icecream in a bit.

First stop on the drive was Portglenone forest park. Dad usually goes around once a year to photograph the bluebells. Usually he’s there too early, too late, or just at the right time but without his camera. So we gave it a crack and again we were probably just a little too early as they hadn’t fully bloomed. Still, there was plenty to take and it was nice to see the park. I’ll be back for sure.

Bluebells done and it was back into the car for the drive to Portstewart. Morelli’s of Portstewart is well regarded as serving up the best ice-cream in the north. From the massive selection, dad went for Hot Fudge Sundae, mum opted for a tiny little bowl of pink ice-cream and I went for the jumbo Yellow Man. I added the ‘jumbo’ part myself. It was massive. Honeycomb and vanilla ice-cream, marshmallows, honeycomb pieces (that’s the yellow man part), fresh cream and wafers.

It didn’t look that pretty for long I can tell you. Next time your in Portstewart be sure to drop in.

Click here for more.

Sand castles on Sandymount.

Published on May 23, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

How could a day like today go by without a walk on the beach. I didn’t bring my camera but when I came across this little sand castle, the only one I came across on the whole walk, it had to be photographed. Out came the iPhone and my favourite little little app (Hipstamatic) in the world was put to use.

Long may this divine weather last.

Oh and for any tweeters out there – help me win a prize from Hipstamatic by tweeting the following – ‘Sandcastle for Summer’ http://hpstm.tc/cx2 by @davemcclelland #hipstamatic

Thanks!

An afternoon on the lake

Published on May 22, 2010 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

Last Saturday before I set off home for the weekend, I got a call from my mate Dik. Knowing that I was on my way north he asked if I wanted to go out on his boat for the afternoon. About 3 hours later we met in Kesh and as Dik and Gar began to get the boat ready for the water, I fired up the camera and began to shoot lots and lots of video.

It wasn’t long before we were skimming over the waves with the wind in our hair – well, apparently it was in our hair but I can’t really vouch for that.

Captain ‘Gar’ at the wheel.

Before we got down to the nitty gritty (water skiing, wakeboarding and rubber ring-ing..?) we docked up in a little island called Lustybeg, which is a pretty swanky wedding venue by the way, for tea and sandwiches. Sure how can you be out on a boat all day without tea? Then wetsuits were donned and the fun was to begin. JD (not the drink) was up first for a spot of wakeboarding and then it was time for the rubber ring to come out to play. While this sounds like fun and for the first few fleeting seconds is indeed incredibly exhilarating, it quickly turns into utter panic. Lying belly down across the ring, grasping firmly onto two rope handles as your towed behind the back of a speedboat at about 30mph those lovely soft waves that you were looking at just minutes before with gushes of aww and splendor have now turned into hardended walls of concrete. I’ve been told that there is photographic evidence of me on the said ring, pulling faces of sheer terror. I don’t doubt it for a second.

I’m glad to report that none of those faces make it into the video below as I was safely behind the camera.

Now, why is it that I can’t wait to do it all over again?

Post edit, Mon 24th May. Those pictures of me? Here they are. Can I just say, isn’t life cruel – I spend my time taking incredibly flattering photographs of everyone I see and this is how I’m repaid.

Gareth, couldn’t you have looked scared for even a brief second? Just to make me feel that little bit better?

Real Wedding – Craig and Mairead

Published on May 15, 2010 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

After posting yesterday’s real wedding, I had a look back through my past weddings that I’ve yet to blog about and realised that I actually have an awful lot to catch up on!
So here goes!

Craig and Mairead got married on an absolute scorcher of a day back in September last year. It was a ridiculously good day for September in all honesty. While it was 8 months ago, I can distinctly remember thinking to myself – “wearing a tshirt under my shirt was a bad idea.” Still, it’s not good to complain and how on earth could I?

From the moment I arrived at Mairead’s parents home there was to be no talk of taking photograpghs. Instead all they wanted to know was how many sausages and rashers of bacon I wanted. With the smell, I could have ate whatever they put in front of me.

Mairead was a truly stunning bride – her dress was fabulous. A line of buttons streamed down the back which had her poor sister (and this photographer) busy fiddling with for quite some time. We got there in the end though and didn’t she look fab!

The ceremony was lovely and I loved how instead of the usual walk down the aisle to what is normally quite reserved music, they had the band, The Gospel Project, up the tempo and they did a little jig :) It was one of those youtube moments but alas I was too busy taking photographs to capture any video.

We stopped off at Belvedere House for the family portraits, after which I normally finish with some ‘Bride and Groom time’. I ask the bride and groom to just take a few minutes alone to take a walk alone with each other. The good thing about this method is that I can keep myself busy by trying to get the angles I’m after, they look totally natural as they aren’t being told how to stand and it also gives them that little bit of quite time that I think all couples should get on their day. It’s probably the only moment in the day that they’ll be alone with each other.

Pic-a-mix welcomed the guests – (and me) horray! And you could even put them in your own little “Craig and Mairead” bag, and wipe your mouth with your own little “Craig and Mairead” napkin, and set your drink on your own little “Craig and Mairead” coaster. They really had thought of everything.
The Bloomfield hotel was gorgeous. They had the main room littered in candles. And I mean absolutely covered in them. The tables were beautiful, named after their foreign visits and bags filled with pressies awaited the kids. Lucky little sods.

Normally I eat out in the hotel bar or away from the guests but Craig and Mairead wouldn’t take no for an answer and I was sat next to a great bunch of their friends who kept me highly entertained. Too entertained probably as I recall at one point almost missing the cutting of the cake as I was kept chatting. Don’t worry. I didn’t.

The band by the way, Weightless Astronauts, were top notch and I’ve just added them to my list of recommendations. It didn’t take long for them to have the floor filled and my work was done. If you can call it that.

To Craig and Mairead a massive thank you for allowing me to share your day. Thanks for the bacon, the sausages, toast, tea, sweets, massive feed, lots of coffee and a great, great time.

To see some more pictures from their day click on any one of the images above or click right here to enter the slideshow.

Real Wedding – Sinead and John

Published on May 13, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

This is a bit of an oldie and something I meant to post quite sometime ago. It’s the wedding of Sinead and John which took place in Castle Durrow last December. Just like Elaine and Michael’s wedding day, it was one of those days that was bitterly cold but the air was still and the sun was out. A real beautiful winters day.

I really love shooting weddings in Castle Durrow. It’s a gorgeous place at any time of the year but when the frost is on the ground and it’s cosy and warm inside and decorated for Christmas the place just becomes that little bit nicer.

Sinead and John were both getting ready in the castle so it made my life that little bit easier. I could flit in and out between the two of them but I have to say that John was mega organised, being suited and booted before I arrived and all he seemed to be doing was driving around in Sinead’s fathers beautiful vintage cars – apprently he had jobs to do. Any excuse I say.

The girls however seemed to be taking things all a bit more leisurely in the bridal suite. Champagne, hair and makeup were pretty much top of the agenda and they put ticks in all the boxes.

They had a lovely ceremony in Abbeyleix and it was nice to hear some singing from the guests for a change, although some choose to belt it our a lot more than others – you know who you are ;)

Later that night with dinner ate and speeches made everyone gathered at the back of the hotel to launch paper lanterns into the night sky. As the snow started to fall I began to think that maybe getting these things to take-off was being a little optimistic but persistence paid off and up they went.

Then came the first dance – no normal first dance at that either.

I think someone’s been watching a lot of Strictly..

And the happy couple take their well earned plaudits. Bravo!

A massive thank you to Sinead and John who were just a dream to shoot and made me feel so incredibly welcome and have allowed me to share a little snippet of their day with you.

To see the rest of the slideshow click here on on any of the image above. Enjoy.

Heavy Rain and one incredible sunset!

Published on May 1, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Just a short little post before I pop off to bed..

This afternoon (Friday 30th April) an incredibly large grey cloud slowly covered Dublin, remained there for a bit and then emptied it’s entire load on top of us. This was proper rain. Real shower head stuff. I grabbed the camera quickly and videoed what I could from the balcony.

Just a couple of hours later and the sun peaked through the clouds to light up that massive cloud in firey red glow. It really was quite spectacular.

The remains of the downpour slowly evaporate

Croke Park and a church tower in East Wall stand out against the strong evening sun.

I honestly have never seen the sky so red, yet so dark all at once. It was just incredible and lasted for just a few brief seconds.

Good night…