I really miss taking pics of this little guy. Of course, there are camera phone shots, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to capture anything like this on an iPhone. This was taken back in December, before he got his hair trimmed and started looking like a proper little boy.
I like pens. And pretty papers, and cute notebooks and nice calendars, and lovely card holders. That is all.
There’s a great iPhone app by photographer Chase Jarvis called The Best Camera. Now, anyone who’s used an iPhone camera (particularly a pre-3GS one) might well laugh at this. I did, until I discovered the full name of Jarvis’ app – The Best Camera Is The One That’s with You.
That phrase has never been truer than in these past few weeks. Robbed (literally, hehe) of my beloved SLR and trusty point-and-shoot, I’ve been using my iPhone camera to try and fill the camera-shaped hole in my life. Definitely not ideal, but I am lucky enough to have recently upgraded to a 3GS (a few more megapixels, and the very impressive – and surprising – addition of spot metering) and have been trying and testing some of the zillion iPhone photo apps out there. More on those later, but first some iPhone shots to get me back in the swing of things. I just can’t imagine blogging without posting pics, so these will have to do for the next while!
I’ve been rooting through hard drives and draft posts, and have come across some pics and stories that have never seen the light of day, so I hope to remedy that in the coming weeks. In the meantime, is there anything you’d like from me? My photo knowledge is limited but my ramblings and opinions are not, so if there is any photo topic you’d like covered, anything you’d like to see more (or less) of on the blog, stick it in the comments. Camera or not, I’m hoping to do a bit of spring cleaning around here, and bring some fresh and interesting stuff to this wee blog, so feedback would be warmly welcomed with an appreciative e-hug and a virtual cup of tea.
Have a great week 
P.S. That diary up there is my new red Simple Diary. Hearting it big time.
What the above tongue-twistery headline is trying to suggest is that unfortunately, I am without camera.
Sadly, our lovely home got broken into last week and one of the things taken was my trusty SLR and my much adored 50mm 1.4 lens.
So this blog might be on a little hiatus while I figure out how many lunchtime trips to Munchies I’ll have to cut out before I can afford some new gear
My point-and-shoot was also stolen, but I do have my iPhone. I also have a sweet little polaroid, for which some film just arrived.
I’m missing my camera like crazy, but hope to use this as an opportunity to dig up some stuff from the archives (and tidy those messy archives up), link to some great inspirational photographs, and share some photo tips. So, if you like pretty pictures, maybe there will still be something worth stopping by for?
In the meantime, here are some of the last shots I took with Fiddy (my pet name for my 50mm), of the frost settling on my balcony flower box. This was before things got really arctic here (-8 walking to work on Friday!).
I had to interrupt my little blog break to share some pictures of our snow-capped city. I hope you had a great New Year!
The balcony was covered in snow when we got back on New Year’s Eve, so we made a mini snowman! Here he is chilling out in front of Croke park.
I then set my tripod up for this shot. Yes, it was freezing on the balcony and yes, I was wearing my New Year’s Eve finery. But it was so pretty, I couldn’t resist!)
This one was taken the following morning – we woke up to blazing sun and I was sure that it all would have melted, but everything was still wearing its snow blanket.
And our little snowman was still there.
Yes, peaceful. As Eoghan pointed out to me in the car on the way home from a mammoth shopping expedition, merry is nice but isn’t peaceful so much better?
Peaceful, as in cut cut each other some slack, as in everyone tries that little bit harder to be less crabby, more patient, to go with the flow and just chill out. A lot of this is advice I’ll be needing to take on board, as Christmas dinner is being hosted in our apartment this year. So what if we haven’t a clue how to carve a turkey, if we have no special occasion crockery or if I forget to pick up cranberry sauce? The main aim in is to truly relax, switch off, play with Ethan, watch blockbusters on the couch with my mum and sis, dance to cheesy Christmas tunes with Eoghan, eat tons of yummy food and just have a nice time.
So with that, I’m logging off, and hope to return relaxed and refreshed in January, with some nics pics to share.
Thanks to anybody that stopped by to read or comment, and I truly hope you have a happy, peaceful Christmas and wonderful new year. Feliz Navidad!
Isn’t this boy a happy camper? He had been off oranges for a couple of weeks due to an upset tummy, and this is him getting stuck back in. Love the big happy mess he makes.
But there are presents under the tree!
Nothing beats a bit of brown paper and red twine.
{Photo nerd filter: I love the sparkles that shooting with a small aperture gives you, but also adore the dainty bokeh and shallow depth-of-field that shooting wide open allows. So for the top shot I did both, and combined the exposures in Photoshop afterwards, in an effort to get the best of both worlds. In case any one is wondering!}
Poor Yvonne. She arrives at the apartment carrying a bag of nachos, some dip and a bottle of Diet Coke, innocently thinking that she has come to watch the X Factor final.
But see, Yvonne has arrived as the sun does a pretty little golden dance across my balcony, and within minutes she’s out in the cold, holding a reflector and being curiously watched by a guy in the apartment across from us.
Believe it or not, Yvonne is extremely camera shy. Most pictures I have of her involve her hand shooting across to block her face, paparazzo style. No amount of ninja-like camera wielding or sneaky zoom techniques allowed me to get a picture of her.
But in the past few months, whether down to my insisting she stand in while I test out light and location while assisting me on shoots, or just down to us getting older and more mellow, Yvonne’s no photo rule has relaxed a bit. Which is why I love these shots so much. You never know, she could return to her no-photos-please days at any moment.
Her earrings were so pretty, her make-up so lovely, her blonde locks so crying out for a bit of flare, that I had to drag her out to the balcony and take her picture. And I’m so glad I did.
Isn’t she soooo pretty? And before you ask, I don’t know where she got those earrings but I’ll check.
I could tell you why she’s laughing in this pic. But I’m pretty sure Yvonne could sue me.
My absolute favourite. I heart flare.
A couple of pics from Gemma Hayes‘ Crawdaddy gig last Friday.
I was utterly exhausted from Thursday night’s celebrations (when KISS picked up the gong for Mag of the Year at the Magazines Ireland awards, go us!) but managed to drag myself across to meet Yvonne at Green Nineteen on Camden Street for a comforting dinner of slow braised pork belly with mash and cabbage – very yum and very reasonably priced at €10. I also sipped a honey lemon daquiri which was delish.
Then on to Ms Hayes. Yvonne and I have been fans for years, and we’re eachother’s defacto gig buddies when it comes to seeing her; I really missed her at the last Gemma gig I went to, way back in May ‘08.
It was an intimate and acoustic set, and she tried out some great new songs (Tokyo and Shock to the System are the ones that I can remember), played some old ones, and was her usual adorable, charming self (girl crush alert).
Below, a few shots and the vid for the very lovely Oliver (love the lighting and the moving focus in the video).
