Croatia in July

My first visit to this beautiful country and I'm already hooked and looking forward to my return. The Garden Party Festival in Petrcane is a music festival with a difference. With only 2000 tickets available, it's a far cry from the hoards at some home grown festivals such as Oxegen and Electric Picnic. Festival tickets are cheaper and with reasonably priced flights direct from Dublin and guaranteed sunshine, how can you go wrong?

Go here fore the official Garden festival Website with photos, Video and details for next years event.


I brought my 350D with the 17-55 2.4 lens, a polariser filter, hood and Canon 580 Flash. All fit neatly into my little carry bag. Bought the 350 in Australia in 2006, it's a little work horse, and I'm sure I'll continue to use for another few years. Very handy for holiday. But, I'm also very excited about the eminent arrival of the 5D mark 2, I currently have on order! 


I have more pictures from my holiday with the girls at the festival on my Flickr if you'd like to see more. :) Hope you get to see some great live music over the summer and if possible get a festival in. Happy dancin!


Dee

Weddings

I'd imagine getting married today is not all that different to a generation or two ago. Yes, our lifestyles have certainly changed, with our technological boom and women working alongside men in every industry to montessories and gyms...whole industries that we never even had a use for before. But, put two people together that want to make a commitment to each other and celebrate that with their family and friends and it's essentially the same. In Galway for example, there's this tradition of lighting bonfires on the road side to wish the couple well as they pass in the bridal car...in the past they may have travelled by horse and carriage. The mode of transport may have changed but the wishes and community participation is the same. There were at least ten of these on a small stretch of road in Ahascragh just last week. The bride still wears white (usually, or a version of it at least), often a vale, and many more old traditions live on... something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue... Some substitutions have been made of course, plates of cupcakes instead of a cake, throw a fake bouquet to save the real one, swapping high heals for flip flops half way through the night to save the tootsies and do a performance for your guests instead of the intimate first dance. I love the naming of tables with themes or some place or thing that tells part of the couples storey with the people who sit at them. Many thanks to all the Brides and Grooms who've allowed me to be a part of and capture the special moments of their day this year so far and the ones to come. May all your weddings, be you bride, groom or guest be full of old and new traditions that bring much joy and cherished memories.

PS, don't forget the camera for the memories bit ;)

Lovely day in Lahinch

Lahinch in County Clare brings back fond childhood memories for me. Probably my earlies memories even. Sunny days, perry winkles, the smell of the sea and hours playing in the sand and even an 99 cone if I was good. This June bank holiday weekend after escaping from the big smoke to a night out in the little town with the girls, I woke the following morning to blistering sunshine! How great is this country with the sun out!!! The beach was full of revellers of all ages. The waves crowded with surfers persistently trying to catch there first wave. The highlight of the day had to be a visit from my little cousins beautiful daughter Kadi. Now three years old, she had such a great time playing ball, running on the beach and into the sea. I was accused of being a bad influence however, as after I encouraged her to run into the sea with her clothes on, we realised there was not alternative clothing for her trip home. She did look adorable in her aunties white shirt though :p
























If you do make it to Lahinch on a lovely day, or otherwise, be sure to pop into Joes Cafe. It's a cosy little spot near the beach for a nice pizza, sandwich or the most amazing chocolate brownie ;)

More pics from the day on my flickr

Drive by sunset

Did a wedding recently with Photographer Lorraine Cryan in the beautiful Kilronan Castle in Roscommon. The castle itself is beautifully decorated in the appropriate era, with antique furniture and big old paintings. It's very cosy and romantic. The location is Magnificent. On a hillside with views of the lake. We were lucky with the weather also and were able to take advantage if the jetty leading onto the lake on the way to the castle from the Church. There were swans, spring flowers and Champagne! A Perfect setting for a perfect day..even with the bride arriving an hour late for the ceremony... now, that's what you call keeping him waiting ;)

This is a shot I took on the drive back to Galway. Hard to keep your eye on the road when distracted by such a lovely sunset.

 A selection from my trip to Rome this year...

 Lovely four legged friend

 Not sure if you get the full effect of the size of this place..  the Romans didn't do things by halves... even taking a bath

Beautiful city... crazy drivers... good fun.

Mambo City Salsa Congress London 2010

 Mambo City is a massive annual salsa event in London. It is held in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow airport... handy for all the international, performers, teachers and us to fly in for the weekend (.. provided a volcano doesn't erupt in Iceland or anything like that... it so nearly didn't happen this year). So, as expected, the performances were world class and here's a few pics from the Sunday night. We laughed, we cried, we wanted to be 'that good'!

 Fun and colourful to elegance and mind blowing flexibility... it had it all

 These guys nearly mad me cry! Just amazing!

 Not everything goes to plan...Wardrobe malfunction for Yamulee! :)

 A few snaps from the party too...

It was soo great to learn from the best and see these amazing performances but mostly catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. I'll definitely be returning next year!

Yvonne 2

Another from the same shoot. Experimenting a bit in Photoshop at the moment so the edits are slowing getting done from this shoot. Posted more on my flickr if you're interested. 

Yvonne

Erica

Fun and fashion with Erica in the studio a couple weeks ago. Playing around with some Photoshop actions  here too.

Experimenting with studio lighting

My usual three light set up (one on backdrop, Key light camera right and fill left)

Introducing Arlene! Who kindly agreed to be my model for a day in the studio while I ran around moving and adjusting lights and getting her to contort into all sorts of positions ;). We had loads of fun and hopefully we'll do it again soon. This was great to get my creative juices flowing again. My personal challenge for the day was use the three studio lights in different ways to my everyday family shoot set-up. If you are interested in knowing more about the lighting in any of these images, please comment or email me and I'd be happy to fill you in. Also, love to hear your feedback on which you liked/disliked the most.

Two light set ups:

Key light to my right and one fill camera left

Key light facing model, second lighting backdrop

One light set ups:

One light above and camera left, angled downwards

One light camera right pointing down. Taken from height of a wobbly stool

Thanks Arlene!

Dee :)