Jake Gyllenhaal - Demolition

Just watched the trailer for the new Jake Gyllenhaal,  they used some of my images to decorate his house,  what a lovely surprise to see 2 of them in the trailer.

Will have to wait till next year to get the popcorn out and enjoy seeing my work 20 feet tall.

Be well and enjoy.

Seamus

Workshops 2015

I am running a couple of workshops again this year when my Dahlias are in bloom, late August early September. If you are interested please email me for final dates. Till then here are a few images from last years workshops. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

The workshop starts at 10 and aims to finish by 4 but if we run late then so be it. We start with me showing you my normal setup and some of the images created using it. I show some prints  on different types of papers which you can print on at the end of the workshop ensuring that you leave with some finished work. We then discuss what you are expecting from the workshop and any technical questions you may have before I get you taking photos. If flowers aren't your thing I have a very large selection of sea shells and skulls, which you are more than welcome to use. We will look at using daylight (both indoor and outdoor) and flash. To end the workshop we spend about an hour looking at your images on the computer and we select 2 of your images to finish off in Lightroom and then we print these out on my large format printer. The 2 A3 prints are included in the workshop fee of £100, which also covers all flowers, drinks and lunch.

Here are a few images from the day, Sarah brought some dried flowers/fruit/veg to use, to great effect.

Copyright Sarah Dow

The workshops is designed for 3 people but if you want to come in a larger group then let me know and I will see what I can do.

Here we are shooting in direct sunlight.

Copyright Fran Boys

Enjoying lunch, please ensure you let me know of any specific dietary requirements you may have.

Students find interesting places to take pictures.

Going Macro.

Copyright Lianne Daly

Attempting that Old Master look.

Copyright Neil Buchanan

I hope some of  you can join me this summer.

Be well and enjoy.

Seamus

Back to Ikea

Very happy to return to Ikea recently to see 2 of my B&W images for sale, no it didn't come as a surprise I knew they were there, just nice to see them for real. Not sure what the other shoppers thought of the guy having his pic taken while holding onto some art, but do I care I had my beautiful daughter there with me.

For those who have seen the previous entry look how my baby has grown.


Enjoy and be well

Seamus

White Roses

Here is the original image, as opposed to the cropped version Ikea have. The thing I love about this image is that it reminds me of scrolls or rolls of old fabric just seen end on. 

 

Roses

Back when we lived in London I would regularly make an early morning run to the New Covent Garden flower market and buy bunches upon bunches of flowers to be photographed over the following week or more. Anyway this particular morning I had already bought more than enough when I spotted these Roses looking quite forlorn and discarded. I asked the stall holder how much, bracing myself to haggle him down to a tenner when he said, in his best barrow boy voice, "Have 'em, they're done".  So home they came with everything else and were dutifully put in the nearest bucket of water to await some inspiration, I didn't even unwrap them. 

Several days later I finally got round to them and liking how they appeared scrunched up like this I lay them down on the edge of the table and captured the above shot. Happy with that I undid the wrapping and the whole bunch literally fell apart,  petals everywhere, not a single usable rose among them. I suppose the barrow boy knew what he was talking about.

Be well and enjoy

Seamus

Fame at last

Here's a phone grab of the lovely Es and I in the furniture store from Sweden (IKEA for those too young to know better) with a copy of my print Roses, I will do another post soon with the original and a little story about the taking of the image.

For those that labour under the false notion that artists (whether they be musician, writer, photographer etc) have it made once their work is being bought by their adoring public think again. Obviously if you are in the top one percent. e.g a Beatle, a Hirst or a Rowling, where your volumes are so massive that every penny earned quickly adds up, then yes you have made it. Take the above image as an example, it retails for £5 here in the UK, I assume something similar in the other territories where it is sold (if you are in one of the other territories I'd love to hear what it is selling for and where, thanks) I think that the only person who makes less than me is probably the printing company that does the actual production but as I only make 10 pence (2% maths fans) per print I could be wrong.

Hope this doesn't come across as too much of a rant, it's not meant to be, just thought it would be nice to give a specific example as opposed to the usual anecdotal stories littering the web.

Be well and enjoy

Seamus

You must have a fabulous studio....

From time to time (ok most of the time)  the first thing I am asked  about my images is "what kind of studio do you have?" or "you must have great lights" or "I wish I had your equipment", you get the idea. So I've decided to show you exactly what I use.

 

  White Tulip 2011

This is an image from my latest series, and if you've been following the blog so far (what do you mean you haven't, man you've missed so much, go check it out now... go on...) you will have seen several others from this new series, including the write up on the coloured dahlia I did.

So what equipment do I use, well starting with the most important and working through to the least it goes something like this.

The light that God, Allah or who ever gives us on a daily basis, some days being better than others.

A flower/object that inspires me.

A black cloth, actually a black shiny piece of fabric, go figure. I still don't know how or why it comes up so black in my images and to be honest with you I don't either need to know or care, it just does, thank you very much.

Black and/or white pieces of stiff card to use as reflectors.

A sturdy tripod.

A computer, we've just recently moved from PC to iMac, that was hell but I keep telling myself it is worth it in the long run, running Photoshop and Lightroom.

An Epson 7800 printer and Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 306 for making lovely prints.

And last and least, a camera. When I shot exclusively on 5x4 inch Polaroid Type 55 I used a Horseman LX with a single lens (it's so unimportant to me that I've forgotten what lens). Now I shoot digitally using a Sony A350 with a single lens (50mm Macro, thanks for asking). Why a Sony and not a Canon/Nikon whatever, well because I have Minolta 35mm film cameras and associated lens and couldn't afford to change systems. Personally I find that having too many choices of equipment just gets in the way of taking the picture, hence the one camera/one lens/one film (those days sadly behind me now)/one paper mantra.

Don't believe me, well have a look at this.

That is my setup for shooting the above white tulip. In the background is one of my prints shot on the  Polaroid 20x24 camera  and some other tulips waiting their turn.

Oh crap, I forgot to mention my trusty dining room table and my daughters toy storage boxes.

Hope this helps, feel free to post comments, questions etc.

Enjoy and be well

Seamus

Christmas present

As Christmas is fast approaching I thought it would be nice to offer a discount on my book "Involuntary Sculptures", so for a limited time it is £30 (plus p&p) instead of £50 (plus p&p)

If you are interested please Email me

I also have a limited selection of 10x8 silver gelatin images from the book printed on Kodak Ektalure Paper which I am offering for £30 each (+p&p), please send me a copy of the image off my website and I will tell you if it is still available. If you would like the book and a print together they are £50 (+ p&p)

Enjoy

Seamus