Striking Images

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I know the film day has passed but the Japanese sure start them young!!!

>This is a great piece for all you guys, both pro and aspiring pro, to see how a professional should approach a the dark art of commercial photography. I am not talking about the actual shoot itself more the elements preceding and immediately after the shoot … The ‘business’ end of shooting for a living.

There is more to this than pushing a button or setting lights or finding locations. You need to spend a larger percentage of your time on the business side of growing your company and Chase Jarvis once again delivers in spades.

This short movie will show you the basic elements that all of us should be adopting when dealing with clients. In summary there are 5/6 steps as per Chase Jarvis and they are reasonably simple once broken down.

>This is an interesting little piece by an Australian photographer Jasin Boland. A renowned movie stills photographer, Jasin has produced some of the great movie pictures which eventually become the movie poster in a lot of cases.

>I have decided to put an album online just to save emailing a rather large file to clients (or potential clients). So as I have it on You Tube, I might as well have it on my blog too. 

>Take 1o minutes to experience the greatest car chase ever put on film. From a movie that is 40 years old this year featuring Steve McQueen. The movies title is ‘Bullitt’

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OK for those of you reading this, Vincent Laforet, a really great photographer based in NY (I think) has launched his own blog with tips, tricks and news on the photography business/industry.

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Haven’t posted for a few days as I have been really busy both shooting some weddings and tying up loose ends on some commercial work too before I headed away last Saturday for a month in Europe.

Packed up the jeep to the gills and had to borrow a roofbox too just to carry all the required items needed for such a trip.

 What I have found is that we needed all the gear we brought but the fuel consumption shot through the roof. Every fill of

 gas/petrol costs about €110 to €120 depending on the station called on. We’ve had to fill up four times already, if you include the top up in Rosslare, Ireland before boarding the f

erry to Roscoff in NW France.

I am getting slightly worse mileage but the French really take the piss on the price of a liter of Gazole (Diesel in french). I have seen it at €1.49 right through to €1.61. Totally rippin’ the piss!!!

Anyway the trip is a little bit of business and a little bit of pleasure. I have packed up the wife and kid to spend some time with them whilst shooting pictures for personal work. Also I’ll be shooting stock all the way down. The trip so far has been as follows:

Saturday: (142 kms) – All the kms added up by Google Maps – so thanks!

Left home at about midday and headed for Rosslare on the South East coast of Ireland to catch the Irish Ferries ‘Oscar Wilde’ car ferry to Roscoff. I gotta to tell you an awful lot less hassle than flying!! OK slower but much more enjoyable. 

Arrived to the port queued for 20 mins whilst sitting in my car and then drove on and boarded the boat. About 10 mins after that we were in our cabin having been showed to it by a very pleasant young lady. 30 mins after that I am having a pint of Guinness followed by a steak dinner and then to bed! Only to get up refreshed, go to my 

car and drive off the next morning in France. Never did it before but I’ll definitely be doing it again!

Sunday: (461 kms)

Long drive from Roscoff to La Rochelle – all motorway and about 460 kms- and the French lads can build roads! about 5 hours in the car! Luke, my 5 month old,  handled it well. Probably better than his Mum and Dad. anyway reached La Rochelle, which is a beautiful sea port. 

Monday: (190 Kms)

The push was on! We left La Rochelle mid morning and pushed on to our Chateaux in th

e Bordeaux region of France. Staying a fantastic castle in a small town called St. Emillion where some of the best wine in the world comes from. The highlight for me was getting into the pool with Luke for his first swim ever in his short life. He loved it and it wore him out and he slept all night. We were also treated to the heaviest rain I have ever seen and some of the most amazing lightening too. Anyway we were a bit delayed leaving there the next day as we waited for the water in the shower to heat up. Everything had got screwed up by the storm. Never got the shower and decided to push on albeit a little later than hoped for.

Tuesday: (335kms)

Left Bordeaux and St. Emillion behind. Arrived in Carcassone, an amazing walled city still bustling with life, and shops and small hotels. Brilliant!! Had roast suckling pig for dinner and Sarah had the local dish which is Cassolet, a big pot of white flageolet beans with sausage and duck and veg all casseroled together. Might sound disgusting but tasted great. Parking the car inside the walled city of Carcassone was an interesting experience as the VW Touareg is not the narrowest of vehicles and it took quite a bit of skillful driving to wind it through the narrow cobbled streets and then out again through all the staring tourists the next day.

Wednesday: (298 kms)

Busting all the speed limits (which I do not encourage) we made it to Aix en Provence, where I type from now. A bustling city at the very least. I am sitting in the Hotel Cezanne, which is a ’boutique’ hotel which I highly recommend. Modern, clean and full of modern day Art. Bright colours all over the hotel. Our room is burnt orange and white, works really well together – but has over stimulated Luke, it has to be said! Another thing too, the mini bar contents is complimentary – thats right, totally free!!!!!

They have free Wi Fi, but it may not stretch to your fourth floor room – but perfectly fine in reception area which has a unique offering. There is a fully stocked (albeit small) bar opposite the reception desk, which has no staff. You serve your own drink and the hotel use an honour system when you check

 out. You ‘fess up to what you drank whilst you stayed there. It must work as the bar is still open and available for guests. It’s the kind of place I imagine Chase Jarvis and the guys would stay whilst on a location in France. I will know the RWAV if they do stay there! Check it out guys – get out of Paris!!!!!

I recommend this hotel to anybody staying in Aix En Provence and dare you not to like

 it!

Right thats it for now, not sure when I’ll post again. It will depend on the Wi Fi as we progress through France and on into Italy.

Tomorrow is the push into the south of France and we’ll be having breakfast in Saint Tropez and lunch in Cannes. We will be staying in Cannes tomorrow night and then on to Rapello before finally arriving in Tuscany and the villa on Saturday. I’ll try to keep you posted – excuse the pun.

Oh I know there is a distinct lack of pictures, considering this is a photographers blog! They’re on the way just got get them on the computer for upload – bear with me, they’re coming. Am I the cobbler with no shoes? As we say in Ireland – ‘the nearer the church, the further from God’

Ok its late – driving tomorrow, need to be fresh…… Later all.

Ciao

Cormac

>Well it finally seems summer is here. It’s the June bank holiday weekend here in Dublin and at 10am on this Saturday morning, its nearly 20 degrees and the sun is shining. Apparently it is raining or at least showery in Spain’s Costa del Sol. Whoops!

Anyway its great to see and makes the art of wedding photography a little easier than last year, where we had almost 50 days of rain straight.

Brides rejoice that you will not need an umbrella when exiting the church and photographers be happy that you don’t need to find shade and shelter for shots and in turn end up standing out in the rain under an umbrella, trying to protect your equipment.

Anyway just a short thought. Enjoy the sunshine and the summer wherever you are!

Back soon.

C

>OK this one is going to be quick, ‘cos I have to be up in 4 hours to go to the airport to catch a flight to Spain where I’m shooting a wedding Marbella, later in the week.

>There is nothing I hate more than ‘affected people’ especially ones that are doing it on the back of there husband or wife.

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Back again! The wedding season is heating up, just like the weather. Off to Spain next week to shoot a wedding in Marbella, so that should be interesting. 

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Well it’s the time of the year when weddings start, brides are putting the finishing touches to the big days. Its time for me and all the other photographers to gear up and get the creative juices going.

There are apparently over 25,000 weddings in Ireland in a year. Thats a lot of business for a lot of diverse companies and hotels. Just think, hotels for receptions, limo companies for bride and wedding party to get to church and hotel, florists, caterers, suit hire firms, dressmakers, videographer, travel agents (honeymoons), and needless to say photographers and other businesses I just can’t think of right now.

Thats a big chunk of change, being spent on one day! Best of luck to all the brides and grooms and all those businessmen and women involved in making the wedding day of so many people as special as we can

I’ll post again soon….

>I have put on YOUTUBE (and here) a selection of images built up over nearly two decades. They are all Black & White images of Ireland from a collection I have worked on. They represent the beauty and ruggedness of Ireland and also the bustle of the urban life in Ireland.

>Hi again,

>Had a stand at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Dublin last weekend for the first time, to show off my ‘wears’. Really successful event and i have to say thanks to all who came to the Striking images stand and had a chat with me.