Event Photography

Incoming - Baby Shower Photography /  by Jan

“You don’t run your own wedding decoration company?!”

Wow, look at these decorations! The details, the amount of effort, the time, the love, the abundance. I couldn’t believe this wasn’t done by professionals.

The ice blocks for the prosecco were my favourite. Turns out they were hand made by putting individual flowers with water into a balloon and letting it freeze slowly. I love how they look and will definitely use that decoration trick in the future sometime.

So what is this all about? Well, Alex contacted me out of the blue. I have photographed her and her family before, a mixture of a family portrait shoot and photographing the christening of her daughter (see blog post here).

But today it was all about her friend who was being surprised with a baby shower! I was looking forward to photographing this one. I mean, if the last get together was anything to go by, then I knew it was going to look and be a great one. I mean Alex made such a big effort last time already, what would they be able to achieve as a group? But wow, they blew me away!

Photo shoots like these don’t feel like work at all. I’m surrounded by lovely people, the place looks great and I just get to have a lot of fun with everyone else. Although I do feel really lucky because I seem to say that about almost all photo shoots I have. You are all a lovely bunch! So, thanks for that.

I have done a lot of family portrait photo shoots lately and mixing it up with a baby shower photo shoot was a lot of fun, something different. So if you would like to book me for a baby shower photo shoot, or you’ve missed the boat and would rather like a newborn baby photographer, like the photos I took here, then contact me for a booking!

Thanks to all you lovely people!

Goodbye UCC - Graduation Portrait Photo Shoot /  by Jan

I remember my own graduation. A lifetime ago now, in a different country with a different language. It was an IT college. Although I’m still not really sure why they lumped us in together with the very nice, but very technical nerds. After all, I was learning something creative. Well, creativity was expressed differently in this college I guess. I hardly remember receiving my diploma, but that’s just because I have an infamously bad memory. We didn’t have the benefit of having a photographer there for the ceremony and with a room full of film makers and photographers, no one had thought to bring a single camera. Haha I don’t know why! Although I do remember that our graduation was almost instantly after our final exams. All I know is that after numerous promises that we would all go party late into the night, one last time before we all made our own paths in life, everyone’s eyes felt heavy and conversations were mute. “I need to go sleep!”

As I’m writing this, I don’t think Cara’s graduation could have been any more different than mine! Dressed in the traditional gown, looking great, with the beautiful UCC grounds as a backdrop, this was a photo shoot that basically shot itself. Also, UCC always makes me think I’m half a step into Hogwarts.

I love photographing outdoors, for portaits and couple shoots especially. And though we narrowly avoided some rain (which is why we moved indoors for the later photos), I always love the added layer that green grass and the sky and backdrop can add to a photo shoot. There’s so much more depth to it. Even for something as straightforward as a graduation portrait photo shoot.

Prints are forever

Wrapped up and seconds away from being packed up and shipped.

If you would like to book your graduation photos in Cork city or county with me, you can contact me here. Photos are available as a digital download link and with framed prints as well, like Cara had opted for.

Cork Midsummer Festival Bridges Project - Promotional Photography /  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.