Loom bands. Definitely one of the crazes of 2014. Every child seems to have spent the summer making loom bands of all colours and designs. You know that loom bands are a craze when Gerry Adams was spotted wearing one that his television.
My daughter loves loom bands and has a container full of unmade loom bands and it gave me the idea to create a photo of a ‘sea of colourful loom bands.
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
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
I was strolling down a side street in Brussles and several boxes of vinyl albums outside a store caught my eye. As a music lover I was curious as to what the albums were and as a photographer I saw a potentially nice photograph- great vibrant colours that would make a great abstract photograph.
The Vinyl Collection is the title of an album by Norah Jones.
My wife loves flowers (what woman doesn’t?) and I find roses a great subject for colourful, abstract macro photos. So when I bought her yellow roses recently we both were happy. This macro photograph of beautiful petals of a yellow rose is almost memorising I find. When I bought my macro lens I didn’t intend it use it for floral photography but I found it’s great for colourful photos of petals.
I like the simplicity in floral photos where the entire photos is engulfed with one colour, here the bright yellow rose is like a tunnel. Lilies are my wife’s favourite type of flowers but I’m going to start buying her roses as they’re my favourite type of flowers to photograph; pure red, white or yellow colours.
DISCOUNT OFFER: Simply apply the discount code ‘NSLDGB’ for a 20% discount at the checkout for this, or any other photo that you would like to buy. Click here to view this rose in my online store.
Post title ‘Yellow roses, the color of sunshine’ are lyrics taken from the song Yellow Roses by the one and only Dolly Parton.. Did you know that Dolly Parton even has her own theme park?
I like to notice patterns and potential photographs in everyday situations, maybe it’s the photographer in my hunting for something to photograph. I was in Calpe, Spain on holidays earlier this summer and ‘played’ crazy golf with our kids. What struck me was the strong colours and unique shapes around each hole.
Post title is taken from the song title “Mis-shapes, Mistakes, Misfits” by Pulp
Post title is lyrics from the song ‘Mansion On The Hill’ by The Boss, Bruce Springston. I thought it was by one of my favourite band The National but they just covered the song.
You only have one life.
Smile.
Laugh.
Be a child again.
Enjoy it, don’t take everything so seriously all the time.
Stop and smell the flowers, appreciate what you have.
Here’s some random photographs that make me smile.
This is how Conor (2 years young) smiles. There’s nothing wrong with him, it’s just his funny smile…
Post title is the song title of that happy, happy song Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin.
I’d just like to post an example of a ‘before and after’ photo, aka editing.
I was wandering around lovely Westport early morning last weekend and strolled along the picturesque river and stopped at this mini-waterfall.
I thought there could be a nice photo in it somewhere to took a few photos, some with slow shutter speeds. This was taken at 1/20th of a second but the initial result was a bit plain/standard.
So I did some basic editing in Picasa 3. I know I should be using Lightroom or Photoshop but haven’t found the time to study either yet. And I find that Picasa 3 does a good job. I know there some features and presets in Lightroom that I’d like. Someday, I keep telling myself, I’ll buy and learn/study Lightroom. Someday. Another confession- I don’t shot in RAW. Ever.
Anyway all I did with this photo took less than 5 minutes and I ‘framed’ the finished result as I think it’d look nice on my wall. Steps were crop, apply 1960’s effect and add the frame.
Post title is taken from ‘She’s a Waterfall’ by THE Stone Roses.
A collage of a colourful purple flower, taken with my new macro lens. Macro photography is a lot harder than I thought, it’s a learning curve, especially with focus.
Post title is taken from the song ‘Flowers’ from the album ‘Today’ by the under-rated band ‘Galaxie 500’.
This is the second set of photographs from my wander around Pearse Stadium, Salthill home to Galway GAA hurling and football. In this set I’m posting patterns and strong colours seen in the empty stand which wouldn’t be seen on match day.
…and an ‘abstract’ one thrown in for good measure
My first set of photographs from Pearse Stadium can be found here
Title taken from the American Pop Rock band named ‘Maroon 5’. I know I have more than 5 maroon photographs in the post but couldn’t resist adding this title
This is my second set of photos from Páirc Ui Chaoimh, home to Cork GAA hurling and football.
These photos some an empty stadium and shows the patterns and colours on the stand and terrace, which is normally hidden/covered by fans.
The last photo isn’t staged, Conor saw the flag, ran over and started waving it.
Here’s the link to my first set of photos from ‘The Park’ (Páirc Úi Chaoimh).
You’re always so calm and so cool,
Donal Óg just knows what to do,
Mulchay, Muphy, The Rock,
Will just play each minute on the clock.
Sean Og, Ronan and John,
They will just sting you along,
They’re just sheer class on the grass,
Rebels, we watch as they pass.
Gerry O Conor will leave you for dead,
Tom Kenny, he’ll fix you then
The attack starts all over again,
McCarthy wheels at you,
And Neil Ronan he knows what to do,
All they have to do is keep hurling at you.
Oh to be, oh to be, oh to be a Rebel,
We love ye Rebels, you’re so slick and so sharp,
We love ye Rebels with every beat of our heart,
We’ll follow Rebels all the way to Croke Park.
Lyrics taken from here, thanks to cathalosull21. It’s a slightly outdated song now but is from when Cork hurling was at it’s pinnacle (in recent times).
It was a quiet, wet dull day in Galway and I was stuck indoors. With nowhere to go and nothing to do I was tidying up the kitchen and was struck by the contrast between the colourful straws (my 4 year old daughter LOVES straws, they make her face light up. Of course she wants the pink ones) and the grey sky outside. So I decided to much around and try to take some happy, colourful photos.
The straws photo was taken with a standard compact camera. Someday I’ll buy a dedicated macro lens for my Pentax dSLR but for now the compact seems to go a good job. I bought extermely cheap extension tubes a while back but had problems with them and never managed to get them to work. I should just throw them out (or beat them to a pulp)…
Ooohhh, what is the malted liquor, what gets you drunker quicker,
What comes in bottles or in cans?
BEER!
At work one of our current competition categories is ‘Abstract’.
These photos are two I took at home tonight, one a Rothko copy and one trying to convey a human soul.
The sunset through my back door reminds me of the Russian-born American abstract painter Rothko.
Human soul- This one was just messing around but I kind of like it. It’s my breath, taken standing outside my back door in the (very) cold. The photo on it’s own it very forgetful but when you associate it to a human soul escaping a dead body then breathes (no pun intended) a whole new life into the photo.
A beautiful orange/golden sunset near Claregalway in Galway. The foreground has flooded fields an electricity pylons and poles. Much of east Galway was flooded in the winger of 2010 and the sunset reflects of the water.
Andy Wahrol-Screamadelica collage
Famous line that make the hairs on many a middle aged person stand on their ends- “Just what is it that you want to do? We wanna be free. We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time.”
Screamadelica, the iconic album from Scottish rockers Primal Scream is rated by many in the top 10 albums of all time, rated best of all time by Eve Barlow of NME. Screamadelica is the third studio album by Primal Scream, released in 1991 by Creation Records. For me, it’s an uplifting, euphoric journey of love and joy, an album that you can’t but dance to and feel invigorated and have a smile plastered on your face.
The album was produced by Andrew Weatherall and without his influence would have been a much different album.
In this Andy Warhol Screamadelica collage I created what I think would have been a great poster or flyer for a Primal Scream concert.
