Neil Danton

…metaphorically and literally.

When on a commission I normally try and get the “safe” shots first, and then go for something more interesting. In this instance though, because of the timing being rapidly approaching dusk, I went the other way around.

This commission was to create some images for the launch of the Ashbourne & Purcell cup-finals week-end. These are competitions for 3rd level institutions (University age) in the sport of Camogie. Camogie is the ladies form of the men’s game of hurling with a few subtle rule changes. It looks a bit vicious with lumps of wood being flailed around, but has less injuries caused than Gaelic Football.

As always I was trying to think up something that would be a little bit different and when they sky started turning nice I knew I had the shot in mind.

So in reverse order of timing, the standard shot:

Two-light, no modifiers.

The slightly more interesting shot:

One light, white shoot through.

The nice sky (and the “oops missed shot”):

and the, well you decide:

Two-light, no modifiers.

TTFN

…again.

See the previous Monkeying around here at On Safari

This time it was a newly born lion-tailed Macaque that I needed to capture for a press-release.

It took ages to find it though. Firstly it was pretty small, and a long way away as the Macaque community live on an island in the wildlife park. Plus, the mother was being pretty protective.

Finally though I got a glimpse of it (I say it, as the sex is as yet undetermined).

Fairly sure it was the mother at left, and the father at right, although it was a little hard to tell, as in a way that’s typical of a lot of primates, the whole clan seemed to get involved in baby-sitting.

The peek-a-boo moment below though was definitely with the mother.

TTFN

…well it’s like being on safari, except it’s only a few miles away from home.

Was recently at the Wildlife Park to get some images for a client’s press release of a new arrival – a baby Siamang Gibbon. Not the easiest thing to photograph, a near-black object in high-contrast sunshine/shade.

Baby on it’s own:

and baby with mum:

I guess some people just don’t like having their picture taken!

TTFN

…ahh the old ideas still work when you need them. A fall-back when there’s not much else to liven up an event is the old standby – the jump for joy.

I can remember back, waaay back, reading articles by Victor… someone** who used to write a column in Amateur Photographer. The jump for joy was one of his favourites, when static images looked like the only thing available otherwise.

**It was Blackman, Victor Blackman. It was way back in.. actually I’m not going to tell you when it was, but it was a LONG time ago. Victor was a staffer on the Daily Express and his tales of the daily exploits of a newspaper smudger used to fascinate me. That and drooling over the hundreds of pages of advertisements for camera gear that I couldn’t afford. Regretfully I believe he has now passed on, which is a shame really because otherwise I could catch up with him and berate him for starting me off with this strange desire to be a pro-photographer. That and creating my interest in my first pro camera – the Olympus OM1. What a camera that was, and still is – I still have one – I can see it now across the room. Must run a roll of that strange stuff called film through it. You may have heard of the stuff.

So back to the commission, announcement of college places for the unemployed. Needs something to jazz up what could turn out very boring otherwise. Light-bulb moment – a jump for joy.

It was a fairly gloomy location (and pouring with rain outside), so used one flash on the main subject and a second on the laydees. I wasn’t going back the car to get a light-stand, so how do you hold a 1Ds in one hand, a flash in the other, and the second flash in… Simples. Use the Very Important Head of Something that you have just finished photographing, and he can hold it. Well if you don’t ask…

TTFN

…as opposed to me being in the dark about taking pictures. Nothing has changed in that regard.

This was a commission to get a couple of images of a student workshop, for pr release. Seeing as the workshop was all about the properties of light, I figured I’d better get something that reflected (oops, sorry) that fact. I had a couple of possibilities of using the light-emitting demonstration equipment, the problem with all of it was that is was very low power. Not going to show up well if I’m killing the scene with a bag of flash lighting.

Solution – easy – turn off every single light source in the room (didn’t need to worry about window light – black-out blinds fitted to the windows). Sounds simple, as long as subject, me, and camera don’t move after the lights go out.

The techie bit: Exposure 1/15s hand-held, f6.3, ISO400. Single light-source (you figure it out)

TTFN