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Archive for September, 2009
Say hello to ’shell
September 30, 2009Tasty treats
September 30, 2009Macaroons! How pretty, how girly, how utterly Marie Antoinette-y! I was at at the launch of Ladurée, who have a fancy new concession at Brown Thomas Grafton Street, and got to nab me some macaroon goodness.
They’re such pretty things to photograph…
Filled with crumbly, buttercream goodness
I think the lemon one was my favourite. No wait, the chocolate. Or maybe the mixed berries…
So pretty were they, in fact, that I even took a few more shots when I got home(of course, there weren’t quite as many by that stage…)
They cost €1.50 a pop, and you can also get them packaged in swanky designer boxes – I was very happy with my haul, a pretty Christian Louboutin one.
Acts of Random Kindness
September 28, 2009A couple of weeks ago, I spent a sunny Saturday afternoon running around with three incredibly enthusiastic people. They were Cameron, Ronan and Bridget (or Cam, Ro and Bridge) and they have created Ark°, a clothing company with a very lovely difference. Cam explains how it works: “I’ve started this clothing line with a purpose other than profit – Acts of Random Kindness°. Wear the Λ° logo, perform an Ark°. That’s it.”
Beautifully simple, isn’t it? Acts of random kindness – or Arks – can be anything and everything, small or big, from paying someone’s bus fare, to paying a sincere compliment.
They needed some photos for their new website, so we met up on Grafton Street and they got Arking.
We got things started by giving out sunflowers to people walking by.
Here’s Bridge handing out cupcakes
Then Ro left his favourite book in St Stephens Green, along with a little note explaining how Ark works, and asking people to enjoy the read.
There were some free high fives – these were great fun.
And some free busking….
On the back of one of the t-shirts from the clothing line there’s a nice explanation of how the whole Ark thing works.
Then there was just enough time to drag an old sofa of Ro’s out to a sunny alleyway for some group shots…
… Which quickly turned into an impromptu couch-diving session
I think I’ll call this my “boyband poster pose”
And a couple of pretty head shots to wrap things up.
Keep an eye on the new site, and in the meantime, head over to their old site for ideas on Arks you can do yourself and to take a look at the clothing line.
Yum!
September 25, 2009A couple of cupcake shots from last week:
So simple – eggs, flour, butter, and then icing sugar, more butter and food colouring – and so much fun. Decorating them is, of course, the best bit. Kourtney, Kel, Yvonne and I went to town with the icing, sprinkles and Smarties.
Donal over at The Good Mood Food Blog has a fab recipe, if your sweet tooth is craving some cupcake action!
Karolina
September 24, 2009
Isn’t she gorgeous?
I got to revisit my old hood – Portmanock – and shoot alongside the lovely Beta Bajgartova as she shot this fab fashion spread for KISS.
You can’t help but totally fall in love with Karolina, she’s simply adorable. A great mover, and really expressive - she’s the perfect for the teen vibe of KISS. The ever-deadly Corina Gaffey styled the shoot.
Wowza, wow and webbyness!
September 23, 2009I was tootling away on the net, as you do, when I spotted a tweet announcing that that the Irish Web Awards shortlist was up. And guess what? www.nathalie.ie is on the shortlist for Most Beautiful Website in Ireland!
To say I was delira and excira would be an understatement. To stay I was really, really, really surprised would be about accurate.
Many thanks are due to Showit, the software I used to create the website, and to Gav Reilly, webby maestro extraordinaire. Without his help, I doubt the site would ever have seen the light of day as I hadn’t a clue how to get it from my computer on to the world wide web. He also designed this blog and the splash page – and didn’t he do a deadly job? Thanks too to Ethan, my mini muse, whose cuteness no doubt helped beautify things. And, as always, thanks to Eoghan for, well, pretty much everything. But mainly for tea. And everything.
And seeing as I rarely publish a post without a pic, how about a shot of a camera badge and some jelly beans? You know, just because.
Rainbow roses
September 23, 2009
Eoghan surprised me with a gorgeous bunch of these some day last week (brownie point meter goes ding ding ding!). I’ve always been fascinated by them, and had great fun snapping them. I’m told you achieve the wacky look by injecting the colour right into the stem.
They’re such a mad mix. The ultimate in natural beauty meeting the man-made. It’s kind of freaky. And pretty.
I think the look even more beautiful as they wilt.
Le Weekend, in pictures
September 22, 2009On Friday, I was jammy enough to get to go along and listen to a talk by the awesome photographer, David LaChapelle. His work is hugely influential and this workshop was so inspiring. He was incredibly open and humble, and really giving with his time and his answers. He went through tons of his work, discussing where the ideas had come from, how he collaborated with everyone from Madonna to Kanye to Naomi, and how the shots were created.
I furiously jotted some nuggets down right after his talk:
“The more you plan the freer you can be, because you’re not as nervous.”
“Hirst’s skull freed us – the pendulum swung back to crafts, to hand-made things, to the artist.”
“No, I don’t think digital photography has diluted the medium – everyone has a pen and paper, right?”
“Do everything – paying the bills gives you freedom.”
Here’s a shot of him, being snapped with one of the many fans that crowded around after the talk:
And here is the infamous Pieta, featuring Courtney Love:
His American Jesus exhibition is currently on show at the Sebastian Guinnnes Gallery (a really cool space, btw) and I’d really recommend checking it out.
Later that night, Eoghan and I met up with Gav, Michelle and a few other old Observer heads and started a night of chat and banter that ended with lots of drunken Wii gaming sometime around 6.30am. Hence, Saturday was sloooo-w. I spent a lot of time with these guys:
And The X Factor of course 
Sunday was a day of spring (autumn?) cleaning and reading. I’m currently working my way through Joe McNally’s excellent Hot Shoe Diaries. Despite the fact that I’m a Canon-using natural-light photographer and he is exclusively Nikkon-using and writing about flash photography, it is one of the best photography books I have ever read. A really professional, honest, and funny guide to using strobes – if you’re looking to get some more creative results out of your flash, this is the place to go.
Ah, how they grow
September 15, 2009
It’s kind of scaring me how quickly Ethan is growing and changing. He’s just over 14 months old now, and in the past week alone he’s gotten up to all sorts of shenanigans, including:
- Falling in love with the dog’s bed. Kelly bought a big basket in Ikea to put the dog’s blanket in to. The dog, Dudi, didn’t fancy it much (he’s more of a couch hogger really) but Ethan loved it. So much so that Kelly had to replace the dog blanket with an Ethan blanket. He even crawled in for a nap!
- Kind of getting to grips with feeding himself with his spoon. Or propelling his lunch across the table, whichever seems like most fun at the time.
- Picking up clothes that are lying around, putting them into the washing machine and trying to press the buttons.
- Expanding his vocabulary: “over there” is a favourite.
- At random, he’ll put his head on my shoulder and give me a hug.
Basically, he’s just the cutest thing ever.
Le weekend, in pictures
September 14, 2009“Backstreet Boys, you know?”
My 12-year old cousin Kourtney looked at my sister, Kelly, and me blankly. “Everybody…. Rock your body...” we crooned in unison. Still, a blank, bemused stare. And then it hit us. We’re officially getting old.
Other than that realisation, it was a great weekend. Kourtney has recently started boarding school, so we whisked her out for a weekend of unadulterated girly fun. Saturday: a stroll trough the park and town. Couple of pics below.
This is Kourtney;
I hadn’t photographed her in ages so I took the opportunity to grab a few quick portraits.
This is my sister, Kelly (Ethan’s mum). She got the gorgeous genes
Love this shot of her doing her make-up on the 46a:
And this, of course, is Ethan, nephew and Godson extraordinaire:
Here he is again, peeping up from between the Dublin Bus handle bars.
After stopping off at the Epicurean for some grub (I can’t recommend Taco Taco highly enough – best Mexican food in the city, I promise) we spent the evening watching X-Factor, oooh-ing and aaah-ing over Cheryl Cole’s gorgeousness, admiring Holly Willoughby’s pretty dresses, murdering songs on Singstar and watching classic girly movies, such as Dirty Dancing. Sunday: Park and cup cakes. I’ll post the cupcake shots – along with an easy peasy recipe – in the coming days.
How was your weekend?