Neil Danton

So to kick off the second part of last year’s review I’ll start with something non-human and just as with photographing humans, it’s the focus on the eyes that counts. For July, from a PR photography commission meet Fudge, a 6-week old Tawny owl:

Another PR commission for August but more of an editorial feel to it. If you knew how long it took to match the t-shirt with the background…. It’s Ireland Olympic walker Robbie Heffernan:

For September meet my lovely assistant Claire Sands. Actually that should be “Claire’s hands”. Setting up during a commercial photography shoot at Dungarvan Brewing Company:

October’s choice is editorial food photography and chilli chow main with chicken:

November is editorial PR photography and features an image from a live performance in a Cork record store by The Coronas to launch their new album. While I had them there and signing stuff after the performance I could have bought their CD and got it signed. Far too complicated. I forgot and had to buy it later on iTunes. D’oh! It gets played a lot though

December’s choice is a bit of a cheat (it’s a 2 for 1 offer!) as it’s a combined image of chocolate-chip cookies from a commercial food photography shoot:

That’s it for 2011′s review then. If things go to plan there’ll be some very different images in next year’s review. Don’t be a stranger until then though. Subscribe to email updates below, join me on Twitter or follow on Facebook

Which of the images above would you give a thumbs-up to? Any favourite?

Please let me know in the comments below

TTFN

Ever start something and then get half way through and wish you hadn’t?

I had this “brilliant” idea of picking one image per month from last year to post as a summary of 2011. Oh boy. It turned out to be far harder than I imagined. Some months I really struggled to narrow down the selection to less than three, but with the aid of a brutal slash & burn technique I managed it and I now offer you the following as my choices:

For January I’m starting with an image from an editorial interiors shoot:

The home is a converted church in Co Kerry and this image of part of the kitchen makes the cut purely because I love the colours. It’s also a demonstration of how HDR can be used to create a “proper” image. HDR isn’t just to create landscapes with purple fields and green skies!

February’s image is again editorial for the home supplement of a Sunday newspaper. The main subject is at the piano, but it was my idea of including his daughter and allowing her dance away that allowed me create something I was really pleased with:

My choice for March is a switch to a commercial image and was actually one of the most fun images to create of the whole year and features Margaret Smith of Umnumnum cookery school and the “wok chuck”. First person to ask if it’s done with “photoshop” gets a slap. No it isn’t. It was created as a shot like that:

For April I’ve selected a commercial PR image and it features Diarmaid from Expresso Ads and the huge coffee cup that was included is the Irish version of the tv programme Dragon’s Den;

May was a difficult choice as there were a lot of contenders, however the historic visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland and in particular Cork meant there was only going to be one winner:

Finishing up the first half of 2011 with June’s image which is PR photography again and features a legend of the silver screen, Maureen O’Hara:

That’s it for part 1. Part 2′s images from July to December coming along soon

Now it’s your turn – which of those is your favourite? (none is also a valid comment!). Share your choice in the comments below

TTFN

Images created to launch a new calorie-count menu for health conscious diners at the Clarion Hotel Cork’s Asian Cuisine Restaurant Kudos:

TTFN

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This angel can not only fly, but can float too:

It’s time once again for the Irish Wheelchair Association’s Angel-pin day and this year we were lucky enough to have the support of gymnast Jillian Kearns who really can fly:

Disclaimer: she can’t really fly. I was only kidding.

It seems that there is a trend developing here where we have the support from kindly sports people. Last year I went for a high-key approach with Cork Footballer & Hurler Eoin Cadogan:

The year before it was very low-key again with Cork Ladies Football player Nollaig Cleary:

A big thank you to Jillian for her support and the “team” of Margaret (Umnumnum) Smith (guest stylist!), Brown Thomas Cork, Thos from IWA (lighting assistant), and Claudia from Cork Face Painting (make-up).

Angel pin-”day” is actually all week, but the main day with volunteers selling the pins on the streets is Friday 11th.

TTFN

To follow on from the recent Bras for Breast Cancer post, the culmination of the appeal was a tug-of-war on Main Street in Skibbereen, with all the donated bras tied to the rope:

When I heard “rope” I expected something about 3/4 metres long. Er, no:

This turned out to be a real community event:

Well done to all the people that took part. I have no idea where they all appeared from:

My favourite image that I made on the day though has to be of this little girl who, it looks like, was told to “hang on to this and don’t let go”. I could see that her face might be framed in that way, but it took a few minutes of waiting, and nearly lying on the ground to get it!:

Well done to everyone who organised and helped with the events, and to the ladies all over Ireland who donated their *ahem* clothing which raised just under €3,000 for the Action Breast Cancer Campaign.

TTFN

Straight into the Hero image I think:

I spent the day recently over in Dungarvan with the great people at Dungarvan Brewing Company shooting some new product and PR images for them and I’ll share a few with you

It’s funny how a “keeper” image comes about sometimes. This one was only a lighting test but I kept it and the clients liked it as one of their choices to use:

A good job then that I (nearly always) make sure to focus when doing light tests as that would have had to be rejected otherwise. I liked the relaxed, casual feel to it.

So what could be better than shooting beer? Well beer & cheese of course! (duuuh):

The last image is just to show how posh I am. When shooting food it’s not unusual to have a food stylist. How passé. Anyone can have a food stylist. It’s the latest thing nowadays to have your very own beer stylist. Meet Claire my lovely beer stylist. Or as we call her affectionately Claireshands:

TTFN

p.s. The Hero can’t catch an airliner falling from the sky. It’s my favourite from a shoot or sequence

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You know how I like to keep you abreast of the news and don’t like to go on about a storm in a C-cup *I’ll stop now*

This was a fun shoot to fund-raise for breast cancer awareness month. I was pleased to be shooting model Brianna Dougher who is the current Miss Cork and also Cork Rose Kathryn Brennan:

This light-hearted take on a serious problem is for ladies to send their old bras to Sean Murray’s in Skibbereen together with a donation to the Irish Cancer Society

The largest lingerie department in West Cork wanted to raise awareness of the Action Breast Cancer Campaign and will be collecting the bras (and possibly hanging some up around the town!).

The store will also be holding a fashion show during October and at the end of the month there will be a tug-of-war with all the bras collected

TTFN

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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

..to create images for the launch of a website??

Well, occasionally it’s OK to create a Jump For Joy:

This was a PR shoot to launch a new website Online Club Members dot com which aims to be a Hub for Clubs. Sports, recreation, hobbies, anything really!

Sometimes it’s even OK to use a laptop in an image, as long as it’s not a man-in-suit-with-laptop for a business feature:

Usually though, I just like to try and create something in an image that looks like a bit of fun:

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