It's a good sign of course when we're just too busy to update the site, but in between dashing from Ballymena to Limerick we spent a day at The Fortwilliam Clinic on Antrim Road. Great brief, very satisfying days shooting creatively. Click the image for more samples on the recent projects page.

The Masters Choice assignment continues apace. A Baptist church in Ballymena afforded some wonderful curves and rich veneers that really showcase what they do and how well they do it.

Off to Kilkenny and Limerick for a few days to add several more commercial sites to their portfolio before they get started on the new website and brochure.

Much beloved of the artist I was informed. The tall edible stalk of the garlic flower is sweetly pungent and highly usable in the kitchen. Known as the Garlic Scape I proudly harvested my own this year and the elegant tails featured in sketchbook shoot for an ongoing commercial project.

Masters Choice produce bespoke acoustic partitioning walls and every element from the mechanism to the veneer is crafted and hand-finished in their workshops outside Newry. We decided on a preliminary shoot to get a feel for the product on site and properly understand the critical elements before embarking on the full commission. The photography will need to tread a careful balance between showcasing the finish for the end user and technical aspects for industry specialist such as architects and interior designers. We will be shooting on site all over Ireland in hotels and public spaces.

St Comgalls in Antrim is flooded with light. Bridesmaids totter and shiver on improbable shoes and everyone laughs again about young Harry plonking the rings in a glass of water just before the I Do's. Black ties and extraordinary frocks. It's all cheerfully disorganised and noone minds a bit. Off to the Merchant Hotel in Belfast for a beautiful autumn reception. Waiters in baby blue livery bristle with champagne flutes. The candelabras groan with wax and there's rumours of a mountain of sticky cupcakes somewhere.

Good imaging is critical to branding, marketing and merchandising. Quite often the client does not know what they want, but as commercial photographers it's our job to show them what is possible and how photography can be used to enhance their brand message. A creative slant on even pragmatic 'As Seen On TV' products will compliment an advertising campaign. Regardless of how great the copy is, the imaging sets the tone.

Usually we're handed a 'box of bits' and it's our job to make sense of it all. At FAI we don't charge per image release, we work to an agreed fee per item or time. That way the client goes away with a full palate of images for his designers to play with. Creative photography for practical application. To give you an idea, the contact sheets for this full commercial product shoot can be seen on the recent assignments page.

Very pleased with the new business cards. If you're down to a few dog-eared specimens in the back pocket of your jeans as I was, get yourself onto http://www.goodprint.co.uk/ We've been thinking about navy blue a lot recently, and I think I like it.

Fine Art Imaging. Like it says on the tin, Photography and lots of it.

Interior Art - Private Client

This was a lovely brief for a private client in a large airy country house, just completed. Four rooms, lots of blank walls and two great big lobster orange sofa's. We picked up the lobster with washes of Venetian russets and a Vietnamese sunset reflected in marble. A pair of canvas added texture to off-set the framed pieces. In another room, the Caribbean provided a palette of simple blues and greens. In the dining room (my favourite) a huge block swedish table roosts under a traditional chandelier. This played off against two industrial art prints which creates a fabulous tension of styles.

Fine Art Imaging provides affordable fine art print solutions for private, public and corporate interiors. We'll visit the space, provide a a bespoke portfolio for consideration and project-manage the job through to completion.

Isn't this bride simply beautiful? If you have the personal log-in details for Helen and Simon you can view the full wedding through the guest link. Otherwise there's a nice collection of selected shots on the wedding page.

Before the big day we met at Belfast Castle to discuss the wedding photography and spend an hour with Willow The Dog on an engagement shoot. It's a great way to get to know your photographer which leads to better shots on the wedding day. If you're not thrilled about having your photograph taken (I'm talking to you Grooms) a pre-wedding shoot will help you relax in front of the camera and we can work without the pressure of veils, dinner bells and everyone else besides. FAI is offering a free no-obligation engagement shoot to couples. If we get along, then we can talk weddings later on. Think about it. Grab a dog and lets hit the garden or the beach and see what we come up with. Give me a call if you would like to book a complimentary shoot!

And a word for our hosts. Well when I say hosts I mean my wonderful landlords from BCM International. Their beautiful victorian building in the historic quarter of Lisburn houses the Studio Gallery. However last week we were up to all sorts, planting trees and the like. They hosted a lively dedication for the new wing to their Mullartown House youth retreat outside Annalong and FAI went along to take a few snaps. I had liaised with Collin Williams Aerial Photography who produced this excellent aerial photograph of the property and we framed that up for the presenting. You'd be surprised how affordable it is to commission an aerial shoot and I cannot recommend Colin Williams and his team too strongly. His professionalism and attention to detail is second to none. Have a look at the dedicated aerial website and the extraordinary portfolio of aerial photography from all over the country.

And did you know, if they can't get a plane up there they'll swing from a cherry picker to get your shot?

Fine Art Imaging offers informal and formal event photography, and if we can't get the shot we'll track down the man who can.

Galloping into the studio these days, there's so much going on I can't wait to get out of bed. The wedding edit is almost complete and I wish the bride and groom would hurry back from honeymoon because I'm so pleased with it. There was a time when I'd take any opportunity to leap on the 'film versus digital' soapbox, but the F5 and the stalwart FM2 are quickly becoming objets d'art on the bookshelves. It's just so expensive to shoot on film and hardly practical in the commercial arena. Not without a full wet lab out the back at least. There's no denying that neg has a latitude depth and resonance that digital has still to attain, however the options afforded by pro-spec editing software reveal a whole new creative palette. The post-production is as much a part of the creative process now as in-camera, and almost as satisfying. I'm listening to a Faulks novel on audio disc as I play with my tonal ranges.

I never cease to be pleased by the clever people I know. Long chat yesterday with Nick Boyle, director of the hugely successful Flare Imaging group, sailing out of Wokingham. Ever heading the vanguard of the New Media Zealots Nick and his team arent just passionate about successful web design, they are positively visionary when it comes to harnessing the potential of interactive social media for marketing and communications. Journaling, twittering and online networking are not mere fads. They mark a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Read more about it at Nicks new blog. The man knows his onions. And his horizons extend far beyond the end of his own desk. An invigorating chat now and again reminds me that they do here at FAI HQ too.

Meanwhile a terrible fellow up north is working away at a short animated film which I suspect is going to be rather special. We've been having a good old bake about that creative process and I'm increasingly fascinated by the world of animation for grown-ups. To my shame the genre had hitherto evaded me. Yet they give out BAFTA's and all sorts you know. Take ten minutes and check out these two examples. They are delightful.

The Pearce Sisters (Luis Cook)Father and Daughter (Michael Dudok de Wit)

A Right Belfast Wedding

We've been up at the Castle for a do in our shiny shoes. We got a little lost, made a frightful mess with confetti, snuck off for a ride in the big 4.6L V8 (6 miles to the gallon!)..and then a rainbow came out.

Gaffa tape

A commercial photography shoot is so much more than Light Point Click. It's essential to embrace the clients marketing thrust from the kick-off. We may start off with 'I need a few shots of some sports gear' but there's no such thing as a few shots of shiny shorts. Not without some serious discussions on design and branding first. What do you want to project about your product, how would you like me to paint it? The client requires shots for a website perhaps, but has not considered the detail. Such as angle. Are they all to be shot on the same angle? But what if that's not the salient side of some of the product line, how are we going to make that flow on the page? What if the garments are much bigger than our improbable models? It's all gaffa tape and artifice. If we're going to photoshop out the mannequins in the final edit, what's going to fill in the holes? Holes? Why in the neck of course!

People read very little when hopping shop-fronts on the internet. They scan a page and take in the visuals immediately. They make the decision to linger and browse or move on more or less instantaneously. I do, don't you? Good photography is critical. Supported of course by clever concise copy. But the imaging has to be much more carefully thought about than you'd ever imagine.

One can't underestimate the value of a consistent supply of quality gaffa tape. What did we do before there was gaffa tape? Was there gaffa tape rationing during the war? Do lost South American tribes still prize it more highly than gold? "Don't waste my gaffa tape, don't take my Sharpie without asking, and borrow the printers scissors on pain of death."

And at the end of a commercial shoot I always like to make a little time for me.

Bride & Groom Gaza Strip

A wonderfully painterly photograph. Stumbled on it moseying through the Time Magazine pictures of the week. A bride & groom make do in a tent near the devastation of their home in the Gaza strip. Quite beautiful. She is a doll.

Photographer Suhaib Salem / Reuters

Last man standing

Got myself down down to the Tall Ships jamboree. Beat a swathe through the masses with a tripod that looks like a rocket launcher and possesses all the operational grace of a set of bagpipes. Great to see Belfast heaving. Shame everyone is shuffled off site so early. Waste of a perfectly fine summers evening and just when I'm really in the mood for a beer too.
Can't get an angle. The people. The barriers. And sails are stowed. No vantage point to speak off. And Im in a hurry to catch the fireworks but noone knows where they will be set off from. I dont know where to set up. I just watch instead. Through the back of a bald man, a chef in tall livery and someone in an oversized sombrero. I made that up.
Skulk around the quayside after everyone leaves. No stranger to boats tied up at night the low chatter of crew from below decks is hauntingly familiar. Spy a drained mug some emptied plates and a pair of hands engaged in conversation through a porthole. Two crossed feet perched on a wooden locker. Pages turn on a book quietly in a stolen pool of light. Muffled gay chatter from a cocktail party along the way. It's a world as I know it for a quiet night alongside.
Midnight before I get my eye in but by then it's too dark. Ten second exposures arent much use when your subjects are on the tide, which is a shame because I was starting to get somewhere. It just took three hours to climb down from the irritation of the evening. Shiny timber beams protruding into the dark. Great folds of sail ghostly. Lovely.
For the sketchbook.

Captain Boston

'I want to go out onthatboat!' I declared. She had a big fat orange belly and a wide waddle of timber decked hips and I fancied her above all the others. By pure chance we did indeed find ourselves on The Boy Matthew for a few hours fishing off Portstewert. And you know what, for an evenings occupation you could do worse. Particularly at £15 a man for line tackle and bait. I'm sure if there was a bunch and you phoned ahead and asked nicely, skipper wouldnt mind a bit if you accompanied yourselves by a case of beer and a few sangers either. Captain Boston is as fisherman as they come with the twinkle in his eye I think they are all born with and leathered lines riven in his skin by the salty wind. I cannot substantiate any of this as my camera battery died.
I envied him his life and his orange bellied boat. His smiling wry wisdom and tiny timber finished wheel-house, all his. Of course you dont see the six hard flip-side winter months hauling mackerel off Norway.
When was the last time you took a jaunt north? That Antrim coast is worth a reminder now and again, particularly if you dont scrimp on the trickier legs of the coast road. Some places I havent been to in 20 years. Delighted to find they havent changed a tap either. Pretty Ballintoy Harbour for example. "Sure what would ye change about Ballintoy Harbour?" twinkled Captain Boston. He knew fine rightly what I meant.
Skipper Peter Boston & The Boy Matthew run 3 hour fishing trips from Portstewert at 2pm and 6pm. Call ahead 028 7083 4734 or 07764 514270

The High Chaparral

If you need a big personality to corral aBigwedding thenthisis the man for the job, with the personality to match. Michael Sheppard. I've worked with him and I can tell you he's good for it. Why? He's really very good, he still has the passion. He cares. And that's what it's all about. Book him, but insist he insists on me as his wing man.
I dont know why the High Chaparral sprung to mind, (I thought chaparral was a verb, turns out I meant corral) but then I had a sudden and fierce need to hear the theme tune.So here it is.
Anyway Michael is currently looking into a large project, and I'm on board. I needed to throw a few story boards his way. The dry-dock shoot in Germany is still one of my favourites. The brass fins and the copper red antifouling paint, the stunning interiors. Still my ambition is to photograph an aircraft carrier in refit. I desperately want to seeWhat's Underneath. So a good referral for me would be...

The 85 mil thrill

Truth be told it's not easy to do something new in gig photography. And it's not easy to do the old well either, contrary to appearances. Once you've nailed your technical approach, be it opening up wide, rear synch, pin sharp on a pricey piece of glass or whatever, a lot of it's luck. And patience. A Lot of patience.

I'd love a chance to have a bash from the other side of the barrier though. Up in the Sperrins at the week-end I was able to take an SLR through security, but perching a speed-light on top would have been tempting the crush too far. It was a spectacular day for a drive and a big think on the way up to Eagles Rock Valley and the setting was simply magnificent. Keen to concentrate on a couple of favourite bands though so had to stake out a spot on the barrier. Once the headliners 'And So I Watched You From Afar' kicked off it all went a bit mental. As did the lighting. Shooting on the fixed 85mm f1.4 it just about coped although I was furiously dialing over at least an eight stop range as the stage lights reeked havoc in step with the rock. Which is just how I love it.

I slept very well indeed with the tent door wide open in my new sleeping bag under a big sky.

A Big Day in Ardee

You'd be hard pressed to meet nicer people. The Silkwood crowd from Newry know their onions when it comes to furniture. It was a big days shooting. Almost 100 high key pieces that had to be pin sharp from forward to aft and perfectly lit. Imagine my joy when they presented us with a solid Emperor sized four poster bed that only just managed to hoik up his quilted skirts and lumber onto my backdrop. I was thankful for an old colleague who's presently in the skies above Northern Ireland as an aerial photographer. He gave up his bank holiday to cover my back. We used to do high key work in our sleep..not four posters mind you. And not with one recalcitrant light either, who decided he wouldnt fire up after we took him all the way to Louth too.

Wheels were turning by 6am, and we were on site at Seamie Walshes fabulous interiors place by eight or so. At 7pm we had to roll up our sleeves and get stuck into the creative stuff. Taking it 'off-road' thats what we do particularly well here at FAI. The creative director on the shoot was Patrick Hughs. Who incidentally hosts a rather wonderful blog that's worth ducking into. I was thrilled with his response to the first few samples I sent through, and I'm sure he won't object to me quoting him: The samples are stunning - a big thank you, and well done... I think that your fine art background shines through in product photography (even given the challenges of the errant light and the space) Now Thats what we like to hear. And if you ever have to shelter under a particularly fine and sturdy table, might I recommend a piece from the Silkwood collection?

More examples in Recent Assignments

Sketchbook

So we spent a rather interesting morning in Bangor-by-the-Sea the other week. First off was a very interesting chat with those lovely people at Mango Marketing down Balloo way. After an hour with them you can't help but leave feeling as sunny and upbeat as their yellow walls. And I love that wallpaper inside the Big Glass Box. Right, so some people were put on this earth to captivate on the telephone. I can't even keep mine out of puddles. Which is why I found myself in Think Tank HQ on Balloo Crescent. And rather pleased about it too, I like the way they think.

Then across the road to Web-Spaced HQ. Now there's a clever chap for you, Andrew Cuthbert and his team. After some 'head shots' for a website revamp, I hung around a little while to let the team get thoroughly bored with me and my annoying camera and crashed out some sketchbook work on the 85mm 1.4 Just to give them some ideas of how we could animate the site a little more. Love those bleeding blown-out lines. We'll be back for more I think. Give your team a heads-up this time Andrew eh? "Not in This shirt?!"