Cadence Design Systems Cork- Corporate Event Photography / October 31, 2022 by Jan

The bowler is running in confidently. His leg outstretched in front of him. He lands on the line perfectly. The cricket ball, elegantly held in his right hand, now swings around from the back over the shoulder, is released, a puff of dust where it bounces, swings in. Stumps are smashed. Bails go flying. Out.

Shouts of “How’s thaaaaat?!” Everyone not from a cricketing nation is confused, “Is that out? What does that mean? What do we do now?” General confusion grows even wider as the bowler is drowned in celebrations by people who grew up watching cricket. Five minutes later, “Ok, you didn’t know the rules, stay in. But remember, protect the stumps!”

We’re at the Cork County Cricket Club in Cork city. A lovely spot, right next to Fitzgerald’s park. The occasion? Well, the billion dollar, multinational company, Cadence Design Systems, is hosting their first BBQ in Cork for their employees and families. Having only recently moved to Cork city, they never had the opportunity to host their annual event due to the pandemic. So it was time to make up for it and I was thrilled to be there!

It was a beautifully sunny day. There was a BBQ, bouncy castles for the kids, a DJ, drinks, face paint and more! And what turned out to be one of the attractions for the kids, turned into the biggest game of the day; cricket.

With employees coming from all over the world, from the usual European countries like Spain and Italy, to further abroad like India and Nigeria, there were so many nationalities present. But with a core group coming from India though, the cricket ball couldn’t be left alone and soon, everyone was being taught how to play this rather odd game. Growing up in South Africa, I knew all the rules, so even I jumped in to help out with explaining. It seemed like a solid foundation of hurling helped massively.

This gig just went from photographing a normal corporate event with speeches and formal affairs, to full on sports photography! What a laugh!

In-between playing and photographing the match, I went off to photograph other happenings and groups of people enjoying this lovely event. And then, sure enough, went back to the cricket. Rinse and repeat.

I don’t remember the last time I met so many friendly people from so many different countries. It was great fun to meet so many different people. Plus photographing it all was so much fun too, and I think that really shows in the photos. They’re just fun photos of a very fun event. Simple as.

If you would like to book me for your event, you can contact me here.

Square, Before It Was Cool - Yashica Mat 124G review / January 23, 2021 by Jan

Yashica Mat 124G Review

This is a Yashica Mat 124G. This might not look like any other camera you have ever seen before. It kinda looks like some magical box; the top folds open, there’s a crank on the side, why on earth are there two lenses? This camera forces you to completely change your approach to photography. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
This Yashica Mat 124G is categorized as a TLR (Twin Lens Reflex System), but before we get too technical, let’s first have a look at what kind of photos, this oddly handsome, camera can capture. Continue on for the review of this unique looking camera.

Loaded with one of my favourite colour films - Kodak Ektar. A fantastic film that has high saturation and high contrast – perfect for the South African sun. When underexposed, it gets a lovely blue tint in the shadows. This is mostly visible in the greens.
This film is, in analog photography terms, a brand spanking new creation. Only released in 2008. But it became an instant classic. The camera was produced somewhere between 1970 and 1986. An incomprehensibly long production cycle compared to nowadays. It’s actually an identical copy of the more expensive, German Rolleiflex. But it doesn’t cheapen the camera or its potential to me.

As you’re looking at the photos, a few things stand out about them. The photos do not look like modern digital photos but still have an incredible image quality that you wouldn’t really expect from such an old camera. How is this possible? Welcome to the beautiful world of medium format film!

Medium format film (120) is much larger than your standard 35mm film (135) roll. One photo is almost four times as large, measuring 5.6 x 5.6cm.

Another upside of this larger format is that a telephoto lens on this camera becomes a normal lens. The result is loads of swirly bokeh to blur out the background, plus it adds more compression to the square images. These characteristics give the photos a really classy look.
The main downsides is the camera is larger and heavier, and you only get 12 images per roll, instead of 36.

As a sidenote, the photos are square since you can not comfortably tilt the camera 90 degrees and take a portrait photo. As a solution, engineers decided to just let you shoot a square photo, allowing you to crop the photo in either landscape or portrait layout in “post” with minimal loss.

So how do you use it? You’ll need a neckstrap to use this medium format camera. Dangle it really low on stomach level, this will reveal the screen on top. The screen is the reason you have two lenses (hence the Twin Lens Reflex name). The photographer looks through the top lens, the bottom lens takes the actual photo. This is something you need to keep in mind when photographing with the Yashica Mat 124G. What you see is always a little bit different to what you’re photographing. After some practice, you tend to get used to this and the mirrored screen, but with very tight or specific framing, you’re always best to take a couple of photos. Back in the day, seeing what you’re photographing was a bigger issue than it thankfully is now.

The knob at your left hand is the focus, no zoom here. And the tiny little button underneath the bottom lens is your shutter button to take the photo. Give the camera a crank with your right hand and you’re set to take your next shot. BUT BEWARE! You only have 11 shots left and your film costs €8 per roll. Developing with digital scans but no prints is about €20. This is the love/hate relationship I have with analog photography!

I do not have this camera anymore, but it’s one I know I will own again at some stage. Especially after writing this review, I have fallen so deeply in love with the Yashica Mat 124G again! These photos are already seven years old, I could hardly believe that 2013 was so long ago! I might just have a look at eBay to cheer me up.

Thanks to Nic Flanagan for providing me with these fantastic sketches.

If you want an analog look on a digital camera, check out this lens combo I have for sale here. The Mitakon Zhongyi Lens Turbo II with an Olympus OM 50mm f1.8 lens. Some great sample photos there too.

Or click here to find out what my favourite lens ever is!

Cork Midsummer Festival Bridges Project - Promotional Photography / July 7, 2020 by Jan

The Bridges Project was a part of the Cork Midsummer Festival featuring artist Nicole Flanagan who collaborated with a group of 6th Class students of St Mary’s Girls National School. Cork Midsummer Festival is an annual arts and events festival that takes place in Cork City and provides art events for people of all ages.
The girls worked on decorating the bridge by Grand Parade in Cork City with flowers. The Lord Mayor, Mick Finn, accompanied by his impressive chain of office, came down to the bridge on this gorgeous day to meet the students. He was extremely interested in what they were working on, listening intently to all they had to say and complemented their hard work.

From a photographer’s perspective, it was luckily a pretty straightforward shoot. With the perfect weather on that day, the colours just came out beautifully in the photos from all that lovely sunlight but it was also my lucky day since I know from living in Cork City that that specific bridge is very susceptible to wind. This meant that I just got to enjoy being part of the group and listen in on the conversation while photographing away in my typical documentary / photo journalistic style. The result are these pretty casual photos that, nonetheless, portray this rather formal meeting quite nicely, without the need for me to boss everyone around too much, ruining their experience of the day. I’m always delighted when these type of event or promotional photos happen so organically.
Everyone was just in good spirits. On one hand, because there was a general excitement to meet the Lord Mayor but also, I must admit, because the students were happy not to be in school! Fair enough, I think we all remember that feeling of freedom we felt on school outings when we were that age.