Taking a photo of the lighthouse in it’s entirety and surroundings it’s exactly my style; I prefer more abstract. For this photo I was really drawn to the calmness of the clear blue sky and how the colours of the lighthouse complemented the tranquility.
This was taken in Cambrilis Park, near Salou in Spain on a family holiday.
Galway in the summer is a fantastic city; Galway Film Festial, Galway Fringe Festival, Galway Arts Festival and Galway Races all take place. And the pedestrian streets are awash with street artists, musicians, performers giving a fabulous festive vibe to Galway.
This musician is often playing his didgeridoo in Galway, you can even see a clip of him on Youtube if you want (not my video).
Al Gare, on double bass, playing with Imelda May at The Galway Arts Festival in Galway 2014. All the photographers were focused on Imelda May but I was drawn to Al Gare on the massive double bass. I like the atmosphere in this photo of Al Gare; it looks like a jazz musician having a quiet moment.
As part of Galway International Arts Festival. A new text by Enda Walsh presented as instillation in a gallery setting, voiced by Niall Buggy. It’s an interesting idea; a hotel room created in this white cube, the entire audience (4 people) sit on the chairs and bed and listen to the audio of a dying man in the bed.
I shot a long exposure photograph to give the illusion of the man’s spirit leaving this world.
I’m proud to announce that I’m going to have a photo exhibition, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!! in this year’s Galway Fringe Festival.
The Galway Fringe Festival is a multidisciplinary Arts Festival encompassing visual art, music, theatre, dance, literature, cabaret, street spectacle and events and runs from July 12th to July 28th. My exhibition is an ‘integrated’ exhibition, meaning that my photographs are in different locations (or ‘scattered’ around) Oslo bar and not on display in a row. My logic behind this is that with a standard exhibition you view one photo and move on immediately to the next photo, giving you not enough time to fully absorb the photo.
In today’s modern world most people seem to be in a rush and taking a moment to see the beauty in everyday life seems to be a lost art.In this eclectic photography exhibition I hope to re-kindle our appreciation of the world around us and remind us that EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!! A row of houses, a sculpture, an airplane and even beer bubbles, all photographed in Galway, are transformed into lasting memories.
My exhibition will be held in Oslo Bar, Salthill, from July 3rd until July 28th. My exhibition is running from July 3rd as I will be on holidays when the Galway Fringe Festival begins so I’m setting up early.
So if you’re in Galway please drop into Oslo Bar to view my exhibition and why not enjoy a pint of Oslo’s many craft beers.
I walked past this man sitting on a wall in Galway. I had my camera with me, turned around to talk to him and ask if he minded if I took his photo. He said he it was okay; most people tend to once you ask them.
Same location, just a few feet apart but two very opposing views of a row of houses on The Long Walk in Galway, taken from The Claddagh. I’ll go back to visit on a hopefully cloudless day.
I’m happy to say that my landscape photo of trees in Galway got nominated photo of the day at Pix.ie, the Irish Photo website.
I had some spare time to kill so decided to make an album cover collage of my album covers from my iTunes library. I like mainly indie/alternative (think Pixies, Jesus and Mary Chain, Arcade Fire, Morrissey etc.) and dance/electronic music. The image contains over 920 album covers and I’m planning on framing it to hang up at home. If you’d like to try this yourself visit http://www.instructables.com where you;ll find step-by-step instructions on how to make your own iTunes album cover collage.
Please click on the image to view the album cover collage in larger size.
Driving around Galway I’ve noticed a large amount of old, abandoned houses. Many of them are on the same grounds where the owners have built newer homes. Some appear to be in the middle of nowhere, hidden from the road behind a veil of overgrown trees.
As a project I decided to photograph a selection of the old, abandoned houses nearby Lackagh, where I live. This is the collage that I created; the first five houses are between Turloughmore and Abbeyknockmoy, the sixth on the N17 near Claregalway, the next two near Carnmore Cross and the last in Lackagh.
On a visit to Dunmore East recently I went for a stroll with my camera early in the morning. Charles Haughey’s yacht, the Celtic Mist was sailing into the harbor with the sun shining down upon it.
Most of the time scenes, objects to photograph are obvious and everyone can spot them; the beautiful landscape, a stunning building etc. I don’t have any one particular style of photography, I tend to photograph anything and everything that cathes my eye. I do seem to enjoy finding something less obvious and capturing it.
I think this abstract photo of a stack of chairs is a good example. They were stacked under a doorway somewhere in the Albert Docks in Liverpool. I like the patterns created and how a simple stack of chairs can become something abstract and worth photographing (to me anyway.)
Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, (Irish: Ardeaglais Naomh Fionnbarra) is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Cork city, Ireland.
The photo to the left is taken from the back of Saint Finbarr’s cathedral and is one of the two ‘standard’ photos of Saint Finbarr’s cathedral that people take; the other one being from the front. The photo to the right is more unique and was taken from the very top of St. Patrick’s Hill.
I drove into Cork City to catch sunrise last Sunday. I couldn’t find the perfect place to capture the sun rising but I did notice that the streets of Cork were empty, the city virtually deserted. So I tried to capture the main streets of Cork City empty, looking like a ghost town.
Yesterday I cycled to work instead of driving. As always I try to bring a camera with me whereever I go so I threw my compact into my rucksack. Everyday I drive past this ruined Friary in Claregalway and think to myself I should try to photograph it in the morning. But normally I’m driving on my way to work so don’t stop.
As the weather was perfect (blue sky, no shadows) and it was easier for me to pull I spent a few minutes and am very happy with the result.
The Claregalway Friary is a medieval Franciscan abbey. Today, the abbey buildings and grounds are open to the public free of charge.
In 1538, forces under the command of Lord Leonard Gray ransacked and looted the abbey while on march to Galway. In 1570, Queen Elizabeth I granted possession of the monastery to Sir Richard de Burgo. In 1589, the monastery buildings were turned into a barracks under the administration of the English provincial governor, Sir Richard Bingham.
During the reign of King James, Claregalway Friary was given to the Earl of Clanrickarde. By 1641, the Franciscans had reoccupied the abbey, but the building was in poor repair and the community lacked the ability to renovate it. The burial grounds surrounding the building are maintained and still in use.
Horses having some exercise on Renmore Beach in Galway. I wish I could have stayed for longer and gotten closer but I was on my way to playing football. There’s something majestic about watching horses running I find.
John Grant played a very memorable gig to a sold out Róisín Dubh in Galway last night. He gave a thrilling and touching performance; honest, bare songs which let us look into his world of pain, emotion and hurt. John Grant is gay and was diagnosed wtih HIV positive and and many of his songs deal with former lovers, the struggles of being gay.
Roisin Dubh was the perfect venue for a John Grant gig; the audience stands two feet from the stage which makes his intimate songs more touching. John Grant also played some more lively songs, heavy on electronics and synthesizers, especally the song Glacier, where the music represents “a glacier moving through you, and carving out deep valleys.”
GMF is a John Grant song. (You should know what GMF stands for)
They say you should never play with matches…
Messing around at home with my macro lens. Having one burnt match makes the photo I think; it gives you a focal point.
Someone was kind enough to give me a loan of a Sigma 10-20mm lens for over a week. This is a proper wide angle lens.
I presume there’s many other like me that would like to see how much more you actually capture with a wide angle. So here are some photos comparing 10mm with 17mm. As you can see it captures a whole more into the photo.
My thoughts are it’s a ‘nice to have’ lens but I don’t know how much I’d use it.
Every year thousands of starlings fly in patterns above Lackagh, Galway. This is called murmation and is amazing to watch.
I tried to capture the spirit and fear from Alfred Hitchcocks classic film The Birds. The birds look almost like an invasion of fighter planes in the sky.
The Birds was the title of a 1960’s popular rhythm and blues band from the UK that contained the (in)famous Ronnie Wood.
This is part two of the wedding of Úna and Tony. The weather on the day of their wedding was very ‘unhelpful’. It poured just as the bride was about to leave her house for the church. Once in the church though everything ran smoothly. As you can see from the photos it was all smiles from everyone. Congratulations to the newly married couple!
Let’s Get Married is a song by Al Green
I photographed Tony and Úna’s wedding in Cork just before Christmas, including the bride and groom getting ready in their houses. I enjoyed this as it’s less formulaic than photographing the ceremony in a church and it’s nice for the couple to have memories of getting ready. I’m very good friends with the couple so it was a relaxed afair (as much as that’s possible) and I think it made it easier for them that they know the photograpaher.
This is the first set of photographs from their big day, the rest will follow soon. Black and white works excellently for wedding photographs but I decided to keep the last two in colour. They’re of Úna, the bride when she was finished getting ready so she deserves to be seen in all her glory in colour!
Post title ‘Take Me To Church’ is a song by Irish artist Hozier. It’s his breakthrough single, after going viral on YouTube and Reddit.
The year is almost over so it’s a good time to showcase some of my favourite photos from 2013. This is part 1.
I didn’t get out taking photos as often as I’d like to have but most amateur photographers with kids are in the same boat I presume. People ask me what’s my favourite style of photography and I used to say I don’t have one. My previous photography blog was called Eclectic Images, which summed up my style. But looking through my photos I’ve noticed that I’ve taken more and more abstract photos.
I’m photographing my friends wedding just before Christmas and getting a new Pentax K-5ii from Santy (thanks Debbie! X). So it’s going to be an exciting finish to 2012 and I’m looking forward to 2013 with my new camera.
Happy Christmas to everyone, thanks for visiting during the year.
My son, Conor lying still long enough for me to snap this
Connacht rugby player Brett Wilkinson & team mates at a rugby match at The Sportsground, Galway.
A light bulb and the reflection on a metal lampshade. I stumbled upon this in an antique store in Brussels.
I like the simplicity of a plain blue sky broken by a simple airplane chemtrail.
A suburb of Liverpool taken from an airplane on a flight to Liverpool for a football game.
Wonderful, Glorious is a song title and album title from teh latest album by The Eels.
On a photography forum that I frequent they have regular competitions/challenges and the current one is entitled Negative Space. I was driving to work and trying to think of a suitable photo and noticed my car petrol light came on. Bingo, it represented negative space perfectly I thought.
Keep The Car Running is a song title from Arcade Fire
The Galway Christmas Market opens again this weekend and runs from Friday 22nd November until Sunday 22nd December 2013 in Eyre Square. It promises to be a great day out for the family.
This is a video I made of photographs of mine from the past few years Galway Christmas Markets
Merry Christmas is a song title by Bryan Adams
It might be the middle of November but there’s still loads of ‘Autumn’ leaves with great red, orange, yellow colours.
The grass was dry so I asked Conor to lie down quickly for me and was happy with this photo.
Autumn Changes is a song by Donna Summer
These are my entries for the Irish Times Amateur Photographer of the Year 2013. I’m not expecting to make the shortlist but if you’re not in you can’t win as they say.
Entries are for categories- Colour, Colour, Open category and Street. They’re among some of my favorite photos from this year and I believe that they stand out a bit from your ‘standard’ photograph.
The shortlist is announced on 16th of November and the winners on the 30th of November. Fingers crossed.
These are the winners from 2012, the first year the competition ran
THE IRISH TIMES
Amateur Photographer of the Year 2013
Competition is a song title by Biohazard
Summer is well and truly gone and autumn is here.
Which is great fun for kids to play in the leaves. I went for a wander with Conor after a heavy downpour, he was wearing his waterproof pants so could splash as much as he wanted. As you can see he had great fun playing in the trees and in the autumn leaves
Autumn Leaves is a song title by the artist Eva Cassidy
My kind wife got me a pair of Crocs clogs for Christmas and I can honestly say that they’re the most comfortable thing you’ll ever put your feet into. Really! Don’t knock Crocs until your feet have tried them.
Anyway, the kind people at Crocs gave me a present of two pairs of Crocs boots. These boots are Crocs All Cast Duck Boot and will keep my feet warm as well as comfortable with this winter.
So one cold, frosty morning I undertook this photo shoot on the green in front of my house. If any neighbours spotted me they must have been thinking I was gone a bit mad!
These Boots Were Made For Walking is a song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by Nancy Sinatra.
(the small print)
Think you know Crocs? We bet you didn’t know this was Crocs.
The brand has evolved taking what it knows best – Comfort – to a stylish array of boots, sneakers and flats.
Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) is a world leader in innovative casual footwear for men, women and children with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The company offers several distinct shoe collections with more than 300 four-season footwear styles. All CrocsT shoes feature CrosliteT material, a proprietary, revolutionary technology that gives each pair of shoes the soft, comfortable, lightweight, non-marking and odour-resistant qualities that Crocs wearers know and love. Crocs fans “Get Crocs Inside” every pair of shoes, from the iconic clog to new sneakers, sandals, boots and heels. Since its inception in 2002, Crocs has sold more than 200 million pairs of shoes in more than 90 countries around the world.
Get social with Crocs – www.crocs.eu www.facebook.com/crocseu www.twitter.com/crocseu www.pinterest.com/crocseu
Inner City Dublin has, what people call ‘character’. What can mean poorer areas with colourful, talkative characters and nice community spirit. Conways is/was on Thomas Street in Dublin city but looks like it’s been out of business for quiet a while. I’m not sure what kind of a business it was.
Recession Blues is a BB King song.
A nice knock on benefit of buying flowers for my wife is that they give me the chance to photograph them. Best set up is to use a tripod, macro lens and add a backdrop; plain white/black sheet or similar.
I don’t really have the patience to set all this up but enjoy the challenge of trying to create a slightly different photo of a flower, not the ‘standard, face on photographs.
Pictures of Lilly is a song title by The Who
I like repetitive patterns….
Al Green Is Love is the title of an album by Al Green
I saw this man on the way to Croke Park last Sunday and stopped to speak to him for a minute & ask if I could take his photo. He told me that his hat was almost 60 years old and that he wears it to all Cork games.
Old Hat is a song title by Ben Kweller
I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the All Ireland hurling final 2013 (for face value) on the morning of the match. I had my compact camera with me so only took a few ‘snaps’ before throw in and then put it away to enjoy the match.
Cork and Clare drew the fantastic match and will have to do it all again at the end of September.
Fight Like Apes is the (cool) name of an Irish alternative rock band
The GAA is close to the heart of many Irishmen and women. Local GAA hurling and gaelic football clubs are in every village and town across Ireland are a great source of pride. Tipperary is the home of hurling and Semple Stadium is the home stadium to Tipperary GAA. Semple Stadium is where Tipperary play their (great) hurling and football. Located in Thurles, County Tipperary, it is the second largest stadium in Ireland (after Croke Park), with a capacity of 53,000. Opened in 1926, it hosted many memorable Munster Hurling Finals.
I remember being present at the 1987 Munster final with my father. We watched in anguish as Nicky English lost his hurley but managed to dribble the sliothar with his foot and kick it past the mighty Cork goalkeeper Ger Cunningham to help Tipperary earn a draw. Tipperary went on to demolish Cork in extra time of the replay and win by 3 goals. (I’m from Cork, who used to be a strong hurling team. Currently they’re in a state of transition.)
The colours of Tipperary are blue and yellow and these colours are reflected throughout Semple Stadium. Normally Semple stadium is packed with fans so people don’t get a chance to see the beauty of the empty stadium; it’s strong colours, patterns and designs of the stadium. These photographs were taken with a smartphone, proving the phrase that the best camera you have is the one you have with you. I was driving through Thurles and was lucky that the stadium was open, allowing me in.
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW A LARGER, PANORAMIC VERSION
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW A LARGER, PANORAMIC VERSION
To date I’ve photographed three empty GAA stadiums in Ireland (Galway’s Pearse stadium and Cork’s Pairc Ui Chaoimh). I hope to photograph some more over the next few years. Ironically Croke Park, the largest and most modern GAA stadium in Ireland, I found very plain and uninteresting to photography.
‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary‘ is a world famous song written by Jack Judge. It was allegedly written a 5 shilling (old Irish money denomination) bet in January 1912 and performed the next night at the local music hall.
Not every photograph has to or can be a “Wow, look at that!”. Sometimes a good photograph is the opposite, a snapshot of a mundane everyday scene. There mightn’t be anything stunning that captures your eye but if you let your mind absorb the photograph it makes you think or feels like it’s from a story; this for me is a good photograph.
The Party’s Over is a song title by Willie Nelson.
Steve Wall of The Stunning rocking on the main stage at The Volvo Ocean Race festival in Galway City
Post title ‘singing’ is a song title from the great, great band The Tindersticks
A series of photographs taken in quick succession at the start of a horse race at The Galway Races.
Bring on the Dancing Horses is a song from Echo and The Bunnymen
One of the things I love about the Galway Races is the mixed crowds; loads of country farmers and thousands upon thousands of young people dressed up to the nines. I like the old gentleman looking away as the two women walk past.
After I posted this someone said it’d look good in black and white so I’ve added it after the colour.
Which do you prefer?
Black and White
Look away, look away, look away are lyrics taken from the song ‘Look Away’ by Big Country.
Galway in the summertime equals festivals. And the biggest is festival is The Galway Races which over 132,000 people attended in 2012. It’s a mammoth of a horse racing festival that spans 7 days of racing and 7 days and nights of partying & drinking all around Galway. In the past many large companies in Galway used to close for the week of the races. “It’s not about the racing” is a commonly heard saying around town.
This photograph shows an empty and silent racecourse, the total opposite of what the Ballybrit race track will be like very soon. I’ll try to take another photography from the exact same location during the races.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SIZE.
Running On Empty is a song by Jackson Browne
On holidays this summer I left my Dslr camera and lenses at home and just brought a compact camera with me. There were a few occasions where I missed my camera but overall found it handy having a compact that I could carry around with everywhere. We lazed around the swimming pool a lot so a compact was perfect for family snapshots.
Post title ‘The Lazy Sunbather’ is a song title from Morrissey’s great album Vauxhall and I.
I’m delighted to announce that I have my first solo photography exhibition in this year’s Galway Fringe Festival.
My exhibition, Seduced By Light will display 8 photography in Goyas cafe, Kirwans Lane from July 13th to July 30th.
Goyas cafe is located in a small square directly behind McDonaghs chipper, also behind Busker Brown’s pub.
If you’re in Galway during The Galway Fringe Festival dates please drop into Goyas for a look. (Goyas do one of the best hot chocolates in Galway).
This is my exhibition information in the Galway Fringe Festival guide:
Seduced By Light, a photography exhibition by Patrick Dinneen
The camera never lies. But it can distort the truth and present us with a different view of the world around us. We see the world around us through our eyes; a photographer sees the world through his camera. This instrument can be used to manipulate what we see by applying various techniques, including long shutter speeds, intentional camera movement, defocusing and many more.
In this series of beautiful photographs Patrick Dinneen invites you on an abstract journey through a dreamlike world of images bursting with colour. 
Patrick Dinneen is a Cork born, Galway based photographer. He has no one preferred style of photography, instead enjoys photographing anything that captures his eyes’ attention.
He proudest achievement is date is having his work featured in the LA Times. When he isn’t behind his camera he enjoys spending time with his family, playing or watching football, cycling or reading. He also has a passion for music and has linked music with photography by giving every photo blog post a related music title in his website. You can view more of his work at http://www.photoblog.ie
Up until now I’ve thought that I didn’t have any preferred one style of photographs. People ask me what type of photographs I shoot and I’d always say an eclectic mix/anything and everything that catches my eye.
I enjoy photographing my kids, trying different sports (rugby- very enjoyable, soccer- much more difficult than I anticipated, boxing- difficult to position yourself in ideal location), urban, architecture, patterns, urban and many more.
But while looking through my favoured photographs on my computer I began to notice that there is a trend; a lot of abstract photos. I’ve found that I often try to take a ‘new’ photograph, meaning that most items have been photographed thousands of times and the vast majority look very similar. So by trying to capture something in a new/different way it makes my photograph somewhat unique and more memorable. And it’s also a challenge to me which I enjoy.
This is a photograph of bubbles in a pink plastic bowl. The initial result was mundane but by inverting the colours it changes it to a very different photograph; to me it looks like cells under a microscope.
Post title Green Day is the name of an American Rock band
A photograph of baking food ‘hundreds and thousands’.
Up until now I’ve always said that I don’t have a favourite style of photogrpahy. But more and more recently I’ve noticed that my favourite photographs seem to be abstract photographys. Which to me is beginning to make sense. I’ve also mentioned that I often try to take a photograph from a different perspective. Why? Most ‘common’ photographed items (landmarks etc.) are shot from the same spot and look very similar so none of them really stand out from the crowd. So, by photographing from a different perspective makes it more memorable and unique I think.
Or maybe it’s just that I don’t get out to photograph as often as I’d like to so I sometimes end up around my house with my camera looking for things to photograph and think what could make a good photo. Like this container of hundreds and thousands; I lay them out on a flat baking tray and like the result. I think it’d look even more impressive on a large acrylic print on my wall.
Colors and colors are lyrics from the catchy song ‘Colors’ by Hot Chip
A bunch of straws turned into an abstract photograph by inverting the colours of the photograph.
Cherry Coloured Funk is a song from the album Heaven Or Las Vegas by the magnificent Cocteau Twins. I think the colours in this photography vaguely match the abstrct colours on the album cover Heaven Or Las Vegas.
A macro photograph of a red rose. My Pentax K-7 camera has in-body stabilization, unlike most other Dslr cameras, which helps for handheld macro/closeup photographs. I’m too lazy to bring my tripod with me, set it up, attach my camera etc.
Your love is like a ramblin’ rose are lyrics taken from the b-side song ‘Ramblin Rose’ by Primal Scream who are BACK with a great new album ‘More Light’
A big thanks to Connacht Rugby Club who gave me a Press Pass for the last Rabo Direct Pro 12 league of the season. Connacht lost to Glasgow Warrior 20-3 on a wet night at The Sportsground in Galway.
Players in the photograph are (left to right) Eoin McKeon, Ronan Loughney, Brett Wilkinson, Kieran Marmion and Michael Swift
Men At Work is the title of an Australian band, who had ‘that’ hit song ‘Down Under. They are the only Australian artist to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single in the United States
Snow caped Welsh mountain range photographed from an airplane (from Ireland to Belgium). Even though it was May the mountains were still snow-capped and very impressive.
I was comin down the mountain are lyrics from Mountain Song by Janes Addiction.
