Very Unexpected

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

I received an invitation from Getty Images (via flickr) to sell some of my images through their website. I feel it to be quite an honour. I’ll need to go through all the terms and conditions to make sure it’s something I want to do and need to make sure what the copyright rulings etc are. I’ll probably do it though. I see it as extra exposure and getting an Invite from Getty Images is a bit like winning an award - or at least it feels that way to me.

I finally managed to make some time to blog the first of hopefully many wedding picture updates. Here are a few sample pictures taken at the wedding of Nicola & David in November of 2008. It was an absolute pleasure woking with the both of them and it and honour sharing the day with them and their loved ones.

We wish them all of the best for their lives together! May you be blessed in all you do!

We’ve decided to start blogging some news regarding our wedding products such as albums, services and special offers; as well as adding pictures of older weddings and more recent ones. If you have any questions regarding any of our services please feel free to send us an email to weddings@refre5h.com or feel free to leave a comment below any of the blog entries. We hope this will be a section of the website you would like to revisit and that it will serve you well to gain a better understanding of who we are, how we work and what you as a bride and groom will get from using our services.

We have started gathering some information we hope will be useful to you, so please check back soon for more updates.

make it stop

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

I just can’t get enough (cough mixture). Somebody please make this coughing stop!! I’m sick & tired of being sick…this bloody poxy weather!!!
Now where did I put that other bottle of cough mixture…..?

Strobists:
1 x softbox above camera
1 x softbox camera right slightly lower than my head

Kids Again…. ?

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

Don’t you ever wish you could be a kid again. That carefree life where your biggest worries were if the balloon at the end of the string would blow away and never come back….? Oh gone are the days! But how thankful I am that I got to experience them!

Strobists:
1 x softbox slight camera left
1 x softbox camera right behind subject

ps: there are some older pics i didn’t bother blogging, but you can see the complete collection in my gallery
Best viewed in full screen if you browser allows (mostly F11)

faceoff

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

Just another SP I took a few days ago. I really need to get more active with my personal work, but need to make money too…so been quite busy working on some designs and processing wedding albums until way past the witching hour (some nights) - note the red eyes!! Not that I lack sleep - just too many hours staring at a computer screen. I’ve noticed that sometimes I even forget to blink!!

Stars ‘n Stripes

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

I nearly forgot to blog this picture which I took yesterday. I must be getting rusty..or old…or just continuing with my forgetfulness. Anyway….Was Tagged by Inez to do a SP - so finally I have another uploaded Thanks Inez.

Okay so together with the tag & doing a self portrait I am meant to say 16 things about myself…to I even know 16 things about anything??? Okay, so here goes:

1. I was born on October 2nd 1973 in Cape Town, South Africa.
2. I live in Dublin Ireland since August 2001.
3.I’m very happily married to Barbara
4. I (we) have a crazy dog, but she’s very cute…and quite annoying at times
5. I’m the most forgetful person I know.
6. I’ve broken many bones & many many stiches.
7. I’ve done many different jobs, including being in the army, diamond mining & hair dressing to name but a few.
8. I’m not the brightest person I know.
9. I can’t concentrate long enough to read. I think I only ever read about 8 books in my entire life.
10. I love music but I can’t sing AT ALL. I was thrown out of the choir when I was 10.
11. I’ve been told I’m the most unlucky person people have met, but I don’t think it’s true. (refer to point #3.)
12. I believe in miracles.
13. I trust people too easily.
14. I am terrible with names but never forget a face, though some I wish I could forget. (jokes) I hardly ever know the names of actors, musicians, song names (even my favourite songs), etc.
15. I like watches, sunglasses & headphones - I can’t walk past any of these display stands without taking a look.
16. I thought writing 16 things about myself would have been much easier.

Strobists:
1 x large softbox above ahead & straight on
1 x modelling light directly behind

I know, I know … it has been too long since I have posted anything. Hopefully things will calm down a little next week and I can get back to making (taking) some pictures again.

Barbara and I are just back from a week of Snowboarding in Italy (Pila). I think it might have been too good because neither of us wanted to come back. I took a few pictures there and as soon as I have time I’ll upload them to my flickr account & they feed them into my gallery. http://www.flickr.com/photos/me_on_flickr .

I’m also hoping that some time in thevery near future I’ll even manage to do another self portrait….HOPING! But then there’s still another wedding album to complete…so maybe not! I’ll post one or pictures of that in my blog as well.

So that’s about it from me for today…I know, not very interesting, but just thought it was time to say something. Just in case anybody out there may be watching

At last!

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

At last! Out of the woods…I don’t remember much of the last few days except that it felt very bad! A really high fever, respiratory tract infection, sinusitus & the flu doesnt make a good combination. Add in New Years & it’s just a disaster. I don’t recall leaving 2008, but “woke up” in 2009 today. Probably the worst New Years I can recall to date…I just hope & pray it’s not a sign of the year to come, 2008 was hard enough.
Anyway - this is me today when I was finally able to (a) move again (b) hold a camera (c) think enough to push a button. I still don’t feel close to 100%…maybe not even 33.3% - but I am getting there!
Talking about thinking - I did some & decided to call the 365 project quits! It’s just taking up too much time & effort. I can’t afford to allow 1 thing consume so much of my life. I really need to focus on more important things like promoting myself/my work/my business…if I ever hope to make photography my career. So this is it for me & 365! It was fun, exciting & wonderful meeting all you flickronians! I’m not saying I’ll never do another SP again, but MAYBE maximum of 1 per week or every 2 weeks! I feel like I am failing myself, but I know I need to do this … for now at least!
And Thanks to Barbara for nursing me over the last few days…unfortunately she is now very ill herself…I’ll be taking over nurse mode from here.
Bring on 2009!!!

Just back from our wonderful holiday in South Africa where we photographed my sister’s wedding & also managed to use the time to escape from everything! I’ll upload some samle images from the wedding & the holiday fairly soon!
Further great news - my brother’s wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Zoey, on 24 December. What a beautiful Christmas present.
Just need to settle in again & I’ll start (maybe) my 365 project again!

101208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

So it’s nearly time…at last!! Nearly packed and ready to go. Unfortunately this also means I’ll be missing some daily uploads. Definitely will miss Thursday’s - We leave for the airport at 4am & then land in Cape Town EARLY HOURS of Friday morning! I think it’s 18 hours of travel time! Can’t wait to be there!

This reminds me of a song by John Denver - Jet Plane.

"All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
I’m standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breaking, it’s early morn
The taxi’s waiting, he’s blowing his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could cry….

So kiss me, and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
I don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go"

Except I’m not lonesome I’m just excited to go!! I wanted to link the title to a music video on youtube, but it’s blocked here in work…so google it if you wanna hear it. Not important though

So Hope all of you will have a wonderfull & blessed Christmas & holiday season! MISS US!!!

091208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

Had to keep today’s shot fairly simple because time is limited. Haven’t even thought about packing yet & won’t have the time to pack on everything on Wednesday evening. We have to take Jessie to the kennels…what a sad day it will be We’ve never had to leave her before. I just hope she won’t think we’re desserting her….we got her from the pound & I don’t want her thinking she’s back there!!
Just had to get that off my chest!

081208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

Roll on Thursday…I’m so looking forward to the holidays I nearly packed myself this evening
Only 3 more sleeps!!! YAY!!

071208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

YAY!! Counting down the days till we escape the cold…I can’t wait just to get away from it all & see the family. Don’t have to think about work (hopefully). BUT the bad news is only another 3 self portraits before I might not be able to upload more for a while. Not because of a lack of photo oppertunities, but because of the lack of internet access. Not that we’re going to be in deep darkest Africa, but will hopefully be spending some time on the road AWAY FROM IT ALL!!!!!

Strobists:
1 x large softbox slightly above camera right
1 x small softbox camera left

061208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

I had this song in my head all day:

"There’s a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won’t be treated all the same
There’ll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around…"

Bedside lamp used for lighting - testing the D700 at ISO 2000 - not bad result!! Not too keen on the image, but the high iso noise is quite impressive!

Did you listen to the song…? I hope so…
And take good note of the lyrics!!!

051208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

In just under a week we’ll be heading off to South Africa for a holiday & to photography my sister’s wedding. So it’s day dreaming about sea & sun while dealing with cold at the same time. But no time for day dreaming - so much to be done before we go!!

Stobists:
1 x large softbox over head (camera right)
1 x small softbox camera left

041208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

How many times have you felt like you’ve been done wrong by somebody & your hands feel tied. As though you’re just hanging around waiting for justice to be done but it never comes along. To anybody feeling like this…THIS is what I have to say: Karma is b!tch! Let it be! The big wheels turns! Don’t let your life be governed by revenge or seeking justice for trivial things. The load becomes too heavy & it will eat your soul. Rather LIVE & focus on the positive!

Strobists:
1 x large softbox overhead
1 x smaller softbox camera left

Thank you for the texture:
www.flickr.com/photos/restlessglobetrotter

031208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

I just had to agree with KatieLee. work it out flickr!!! In case you need a hint in seeing what message I am sending, look closely to see what fingers "EXPLORE THIS!" is written on. Hope you ca take a hint!
Actually I don’t care too much about being "Explored" what ever the heck it’s meant to mean! I’m just curious what the flickr mathematical algorythms deem as interesting! HA! EXPLORE THIS!!!

Texture again by this flickrite

021208

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

A while back Jeff did a take on 300. Today I did my version…Spartans meet Gordan Ramsay! HA! Okay - so it’s just another silly picture. Maybe some day I’ll do a "real" version!

Thank you for the texture

311108

Originally uploaded by me_on_flickr

Ever feel like the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” is just an oncoming train travelling at 100mph just to knock you down for good? So that when somebody says: “don’t worry, there’ll be a light at the end of the tunnel” you just want to smack them in the teeth? Well i’m here to tell you the same…there IS a light…and even if it happens to be a train, just see as life’s training…training to make you harder, better, stronger, faster…hey…that sounds like a daft punk song!