UPDATE: Along with receiving a Fearless Award (my 4th this year!), this image was also named in the “99 Most Amazing Fearless Awards 2011″

Delighted with this one. “The Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association is a distinct division within the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA). The AG|WPJA focuses strictly on the artistic and “fine art” aspects of wedding photojournalism.” Ok, so this is not a documentary image. However I normally produce one or two artistic environmental portraits that compliment the documentary shots well. I use the AGWPJA as a platform to enter these very images into competition (leaving the WPJA strictly for documentary work).

This image was shot in Kerry this summer at the wedding of Mia & Steve. They encouraged me to push the boundaries so I owe them a lot and want to thank them for their enthusiasm and sense of adventure (Steve kindly blogged about me afterwards). The judges said: “It was difficult to resist such striking graphical symmetry compounded by an excellent juxtaposition of both color and texture.” Here is the shot. Earlier this year I finished 2nd in the same category.

60,000 frames, shot over 3 days. Three weeks of planning and three weeks of editing! If you missed the Tall Ships visit to Waterford, here it is in its entirety in 10 minutes.

With thanks to Emmett Cooke for composing and performing the music and Mat Reilly who assisted and helped out with editing. Daragh Treacy looked after the custom engineering.

I plan to write a full blog post outlining how I did this. Until then I will be doing a talk and show about the project at Culture Night 2011 in Greyfriars, Waterford at 10pm on September 23rd. All are welcome. The highlight will be a screening of the show on a 3 metre screen in BluRay. I’m looking forward to it!

On December 30th, Genevieve Sheehan from Tampa Florida & Troy Meyer from Brecksville, Ohio were married in St. Mary’s Church in Navan, Co Meath, where her grandparents had tied the knot 56 years previously. They met through the TV show Jeopardy! - the story behind how they met was so special that that New York Times sent a photographer and reporter to cover the story. Take a look here. These are some of my favourite shots from the day:

the above image was shot on a Polaroid 600SE with Type 100 “669″ film - out of date since 03/2009

Rodolphe from Mary Best Day Productions sent me brilliant video he shot behind the scenes at Bantry House for the Pearl & Godiva shoot. He called me a few weeks prior to the shoot asking if I had any interesting projects on the horizon which he could shadow as he wanted to test out a Canon 5D mkII for video. He did a great job, his take on the day can be seen here. The low dept of field looks great in video and it gives an insight into the approach we took. You can see me fiddling about with the Polaroid 600SE. There are so many things to check before you take an actual shot but thats why I love it. I should point out that I have since had a hair cut! I’m sure Kate Rose & Sarah will be delighted with this video too.

Well done Rodolphe.

http://vimeo.com/19250781

Shot on Tramore beach this morning. With thanks to model Emma Sinnott, Kate Rose Crean (make-up) & Michael & Lyndsey from Foxy Chopper. Can’t decide if I prefer the b&w or colour close-up so I included both!

A few classic reportage shots from the wedding of Eva & Keith married in Castle Durrow & Clough Church during the summer. Full marks for choice of venues.

BELOW: I left a camera with a fisheye lens up on the balcony to capture a dramatic shot of the bride walking up the aisle. The shutter was set up to trip eery 5 seconds, meaning i didn’t have to worry about doing it manually. If you look closely you can see me in the aisle.

Plenty of atmosphere at Waterford Castle - shot over Christmas. My “mainly documentary” approach is complimented by “something artistic” - some of these shots below fall into the latter category and took about 3 minutes to capture. The rest of them capture the unique atmosphere of Waterford Castle in winter time.

The legendary “Bard of Salford” was in town on Thursday to perform as part of the Imagine Arts Festival. I made a call on the off chance that he was free for a few shots in the afternoon. He was and kindly agreed. What was supposed to be a quick 30 minute shoot turned into 3hrs! John was as generous with his stories as he was with his time. He talked about everything from Ian Curtis & his favourite band The New York Dolls to his gratitude to Alex Turner, whom he attributes to his current popularity. Throw in a few random poems and curious onlookers who thought I was photographing Ronnie Wood - it’s an afternoon I won’t forget in a hurry. Big thanks to Sinead Flynn and Ollie Breslin for organising it all.

UPDATE: nice to see I made the FWA One Photo a Day with one of the above shots http://www.fwaphoto.com/#/2009-11-16/

Fight Like Apes were for me the act of the weekend at Indiependence in Mitchelstown. Such an energetic band, one surely destined for the big time.

from Katherine & Martin’s wedding in Cork last week.