Neil Danton

No compass required. That’s way too clever at the time of day I’m writing this post…

This Sextant isn’t the device used to navigate, primarily at sea, but a bar in Cork City

I was there to create some editorial business portraits of the owner for the biz-section of a Sunday newspaper:

I’d never actually been in the bar before. Listen, have you any idea how many bars Cork has? What a revelation. So many little nooks and crannies:

Really liked the little serving hatch out the back:

Didn’t have the opportunity to sample the beer, but I can tell you the coffee they serve is excellent!

Sampling the beer will definitely be on the agenda next time I’m around and not working, or driving…

TTFN

A pleasure to meet Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson recently when he helped launch a couple of December concerts that he will be performing with the Cork Youth Orchestra.

Yes, I realise it’s probably a bit early to launch December concerts, but he lives in Canada and was back in the home country on a trip. Had to grab him while he was available!

The concerts will be in Cork City hall on 10th & 11th December to help raise funds for the youth orchestra’s tour of Italy.

TTFN

Another in the non-series series Never Work With Animals or Children that was actually a pleasure not a pain!. This time it’s cute little girl meets cute puppy, with the puppy being the larger one. Well it was a St Bernard…

The shoot was to launch the national benefit night for the Irish Wheelchair Association.

There’s a video from the Irish Greyhound Board below. Avert your eyes towards the end as there’s about 1.5s of me lying on the ground shooting the pic above.

TTFN

..animals or children, unless you find a child who is a natural in front of a camera.

OK, so that’s not quite the famous expression created by WC Fields. I’m fairly sure it was “children or animals” but I re-arranged it to fit better into this post. I also added the bit “unless you find…”. Just because I can.

I had the pleasure of working with Sophie recently on a shoot to promote the Mitchelstown Artisan Food Festival and if only all the people I have to shoot took direction as easily!!:

We had chef Kevin Dundon on hand as well:

I certainly know who to call on if I should need a “model” to work with in the future. Thanks Sophie.

The festival takes place on Sunday 28th August.

TTFN

You’ve doubtless heard the expression “Bull in a china shop”, but what about a bull in a restaurant?

Shot recently for the official opening of the new Bull’s Head restaurant in beautiful Dingle, Co Kerry.

That bull may look like a reasonable chap from where you’re viewing, but he was pretty mean-looking close up!

Restaurant owner Gearoid getting approval for the menu:

That had to be one of the strangest PR photography shoots I’ve done in quite a while!

TTFN

…long dark hair and lovely legs.

Now I know you were immediately thinking of me, but no, I’m referring to Mairead:

A bit late with a blog, but I’m mad busy so it’s going to be short and sweet.

Shot recently on the streets of Cork for, erm, well there’s a small clue if you look hard enough.

TTFN

…a man in a Tux. Apparently.

Always nice when people get the idea that boring ideas and images aren’t going to be noticed and that it’s going to take some effort to produce something that might catch the eye. Even a fairly simple concept can be jazzed up with a bit of effort:

So with Debs & Grads Balls in the offing, a nicely written press-release with an original story concept, and a quirky or fun image to go with it might work for a Mens Outfitters? How about, instead of a couple of people in Ball clothing, or looking at clothing, make them look like mannequins?

Of course sometimes you need to risk life & limb to create an image by standing in the middle of the road to make the shot:

Then again, less likely it was my safety and more having an “assistant” with nice legs behind me that held up the traffic

TTFN

There are few things more pleasing to photograph as a commercial photographer than food or booze. One I like to eat, and two… erm “some people” enjoy a wee drop of alcohol now and then. Allegedly. Actually that’s not really me. An occasional beer is all I take really, but we photographers do have a reputation to maintain.

Even more pleasing than creating images of food or drink though is being commissioned to create images by a start-up company. I’ve huge admiration for anyone who has the balls to launch a new venture in this economic climate so I was delighted when I was booked by Drombeg Irish Spirit to create some publicity images for them.

The Drombeg name comes from an ancient stone circle near the production facility so we couldn’t resist traipsing all the gear down there to get the flavour of the place (see what I did there? ):

The guys were kind enough to give me a bottle upon departure, purely so I could talk about the product with a little background knowledge *obviously* and I can tell you it’s absolutely delicious *hic*

TTFN

Sunday newspaper supplement: “Could you take a trip down to West Cork tomorrow?”

Me: “Sure, what do you need?”

Them: “A whale skeleton”

Me: (thinking): WTF?; (saying): “Oh,… OK. Um, no problem”

Very tricky lens selection as the whole thing is so long. Pic above is with a 15mm fish-eye. You know, fish, whale, fish-eye lens. Didn’t happen to have my whale-eye lens with me (and yes I do know a whale isn’t a fish!).

There’s also too much negative space in the image with a 24mm:

The feature the images (actually one in the end) were for was on community projects. Some time back the poor creature had been washed-up and stranded on the nearby beach and despite a lot of effort in trying to save it, had died there. The local community decided that rather than burying it, they would clean up the skeleton and create a marine artefact.

So I arrived at the location and very quickly started to hate the whale.

Poor creature hadn’t ever done me any harm, whales don’t tend to harm anyone really. OK so if you were a shark you might keep your distance, they’re not overly friendly to sharks, but that’s about all. Oh, and seals & penguins I suppose. They’re just unfortunate to be on the menu.

The reason for my dislike was purely the location. The skeleton had been placed into a concrete “bunker”, so shaded from above, and the way the sun was positioned, just creeping around a line of trees, the front third of the skeleton was in really strong sunlight and the middle and rear thirds in deep shadows. This is going to be a nightmare to light.

There’s only one way this was going to work and that’s kill-off all the ambient light and light the whole thing myself. Piece of cake when it’s just the skeleton, not so easy when there are people to light as well. Got away with it though:

Stayed with a 24mm lens for that image. Using a 15mm with 3 people, especially if they are anywhere near the edge of the frame would produce horrendous distortion. It’s not too bad to use though when it’s a younger person, and you can keep them near the centre of the frame:

In two of the images it’s possible (I now realise!) to spot one of my lights. Can you see them?

TTFN

…Imelda May!

Had a great laugh recently at a PR shoot for the Clarion Hotel in Cork. The hotel is closest to the venue for the Live at the Marquee concerts, which among many others will this year feature Elton John, Christy Moore and Imelda May, so what better than having the mad staff at the hotel dress up as the stars and check in:

“Imelda”, actually Kasia, was fairly sure I was joking when I asked her to lay on top of the piano. Oh how little you know me:

TTFN