Aisling and Stephen - Bayview Hotel Wedding /  by Jan

A coastal wedding in Cork: Aisling & Stephen's celebration

Recently, I had the privilege of photographing Aisling and Stephen's beautiful wedding in the charming coastal town of Ballycotton, Cork. A familiar wedding location for me, not so for the couple. They were both from Dublin but chose to celebrate their union in the picturesque surroundings of County Cork, embracing the area's beautiful sea views.

The day began at the Bayview Hotel, where Aisling and her bridesmaids prepared for the ceremony. The hotel room offered wide views of the harbour – a serene backdrop for the morning's events. The bride and her friends were in high spirits; music was playing as they got ready and it was such a relaxing atmosphere.

Aisling's wedding dress was striking: a champagne-coloured gown that really complemented her features. This dress photographed really well, especially in natural light and with the ocean backdrop.

The intimate ceremony, attended by 25 (mostly) family members, took place in the hotel. One of the day's highlights was capturing Aisling and her father walking down the corridor towards the ceremony room. I thought it was such a fresh take on the traditional ‘walk down the aisle’ shot.

(More ceremony photos down below)

Following the ceremony, we took advantage of the hotel's garden for group photographs. Despite not having an ocean backdrop, the blue sky and sunny skies created a warm glow that really made the photos pop.

For the couple's portrait session, we took an unconventional approach. Instead of visiting the nearby cliffs, we captured candid moments as Aisling and Stephen made their way from the Bayview Hotel to the reception venue the Sea Church. This spontaneous shoot resulted in these natural and fun photographs.

The reception at the Sea Church, famously a deconsecrated church turned event space, provided a unique and atmospheric setting for the evening. The couple opted for multiple cakes instead of a traditional wedding cake – a great personal touch for their celebration.

3 aspects that really stood out to me:

1. The pre-ceremony preparations were surprisingly relaxed and fun.

2. The bride's champagne-coloured gown, which didn’t just look great in person but also photographed so incredibly well.

3. The impromptu couple's portrait session that gave me the chance for candid and authentic images.

Aisling and Stephen's wedding was a blend of elegance, intimacy and coastal charm. It was a pleasure to document their special day and capture the love and happiness shared by the couple and their guests.

If you would like to book me as your wedding photographer, get in touch with me here. I’d love to get to know you and would be delighted to send you my wedding packages.

More ceremony photos:

Caoimhe - Newborn Baby Shoot /  by Jan

“Ballyhooly... no clue, let me check Google Maps. Oh right, between Mallow and Fermoy. I’ve never been there!”

Were my first thoughts. I was booked to do an ‘at home’ baby shoot and I couldn’t have gone on a better day. It felt like the first summer’s day of the year. Skies so blue, it felt fake. Warm air, all the grass looked so much greener than usual, and that warm, summer’s wind... What a day!

But before we get into the shoot, I want to skip ahead and already share the 5-star Google review Anne-Marie left me, because it’s just absolutely hilarious:

“Jan did the most amazing job on a Newborn Photoshoot for our 5 week old daughter. We had such a fun time during the shoot, as Jan embraced the madness and made it look like we have some control over our toddler and dog who joined in on the shoot. The resulting photographs are better than I could have hoped for and the session itself created fantastic memories for us as a family. Jan was a pleasure to work with and we will be looking for excuses to book him again!”

It had me roaring when I first read it! And Anne-Marie was right, with the dog and the whole family involved, it wasn’t the easiest shoot but it was a very fun one.

Usually with a baby shoot at home, I tend to do at least half of the shoot, if not most of the shoot indoors. But with the garden that Anne-Marie and Kevin have, and the previously mentioned, gorgeous day, I decided to leave all of my lighting gear in the boot of the car, and do this baby shoot purely outdoors. I think it only made sense, especially seeing the results.

Little Coaimhe was a great little subject for the shoot, while her big brother, Rory, was running around to his own rules. I think my favourite photos of this day are mom, Anne-Marie and Caoimhe on the chair next to the tree, and the whole family, including dog, walking towards me. Although seeing dad, Kevin, and big brother, Rory, on the swing together is also a high contender.

The great thing with these ‘at home’ newborn baby shoots is that I get to photograph families in their own environment. This makes it so much easier for their parents, often new mothers and fathers, and I get to provide them with unique photos with their homes as a slice of history that might be more meaningful to them. I really enjoy dipping into these environments and working with the challenges these new locations provide.

If you would like to book me for a newborn baby shoot, you can say hi to me here and we can get you booked in!

Samyang AF 35mm f1.8 FE Review and Sample Photos /  by Jan

Why the Samyang AF 35mm f1.8, don’t you have a 35mm lens already?

I absolutely love and adore my Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4 lens, even if I come across a bit negative in my review here. But it has the right amount of character, and beautiful f1.4 bokeh, while still being sharp enough and having great contrast and flare resistance to create very professional looking images. But it does weight 630g. And due to some unrelated back problems I was having, I needed to down size without losing too much image quality.

So the battery grips came off the cameras and I lost a battery. 313 grams saved per camera. I bought a Godox V350 to replace my V860iii and V1. 284 grams saved. A good start. And with the plethora of small 35mm lenses around, it being the lens I take with to 98% of my shoots, this would be a great place to save some more weight.

Ok, but why the Samyang?

The options, for me, boiled down to the Sony 35mm f1.8, the Samyang 35mm f1.8 and the Sigma 35mm f2 DG DN. The Sigma is the heaviest out of the three, and as much as I would love to love the tiny i-series, I just don’t love the way Sigma lenses render images. They all (especially my 24-70mm) render such a flat and sterile image. Which I don’t mind when photographing events, but it really gets in the way for me, when taking portraits. Between the Sony and Samyang I didn’t see much of a difference, and personally I feel like the Sony is incredibly overpriced, so I just went for the affordable Samyang.

First impressions

My first impressions were:

• It’s tiny and lightweight (420 grams lighter than my Sony Zeiss)

• Doesn’t have a very high build quality

• But I like the images

UPDATE 2026:

This Samyang was a great tiny option. But at the end of 2025 I have decided to replace it with this lens instead.

What do I like?

While it’s not a definitive replacement to my Sony Zeiss, it is a great gap till my back is feeling better again.

It’s cheap!

It is also nice to have a cheap lens on the camera that I don’t care that much about. The Sony Zeiss isn’t necessarily expensive but it is a lens where you might need to go through a copy or two or three until you find a good one. And mine’s great. So I am a bit protective about it. But with the Samyang, I will gladly ‘throw’ around the lens at weddings and events, and get some dynamic action shots, and not care too much about it. It’s also great to just throw the lens into a camera bag, to have just in case. It’s so small and light, you’d almost forget it’s there.

AF is pretty good

I must admit, I have more keepers with my Sony Zeiss and there is a difference in AF tracking. But I was surprised how snappy and good this lens’ AF still is. I wouldn’t use it for anything too important or critical, but for the portrait shoots that I mostly do with this lens, where if needs be, I can re-create a moment or situation easily, it is perfectly usable. And having said that, I have used this lens for several weddings as well and it’s not let me down.

IQ and rendering is good enough

I really like the way the photos are rendered. The flare isn’t too distracting and it doesn’t wash out too easily. The contrast and colours a good. The colours are a little muted but are neutral enough so that they do fit in well with the rest of my lenses with just a little bit of extra time in Lightroom. I don’t get that amazing 3D rendering, but it’s much more life like than the Sigma.

Everything is good enough to very good.

What’s not to like?

Not every lens can be perfect, and neither is this one. Even for the price.

Sharpness and Bokeh

The only thing that lets it down a little bit in the image quality department is the sharpness and the bokeh in certain situations. Now, I’m no sharpness guy. I’ve never bothered looking at a sharpness chart ever and truly think it’s a much overhyped topic. But this lens could use with just a little bit more resolution. But again, it’s good enough.

The bokeh is great in most cases, a little bit swirly and old-school, which I like, but in some cases it gets really muddy and gross. At least to my eye. Here are some examples (2nd photo, trees in the background):

You could smooth out the worst offenders in post, and maybe it’s just me being picky but I don’t like this look a lot.

Custom Modes

Does anyone actually use these? A dedicated aperture ring would have been way more useful.

Summary

As I’ve written this line a few times now, this lens can be summarized as ‘good enough’. It was never intended to be an amazing lens, and for the price, everything is just good enough. Now, I am really picky when it comes to my lenses and the way the images look, especially when it comes to my 35mm lenses. It’s my favourite and most used lens, so the look of it is critical to me and my brand. I wouldn’t use this lens for the rest of my life, but that I haven’t immediately replaced it and am not counting the days to go back to my Sony Zeiss 35mm is a huge compliment to it. I’m in no rush to going back, and for a threehundred-something Euro lens, that’s not bad. That’s really not bad at all!

I do also have the Samyang AF 75mm f1.8 lens and often couple these lenses up together on two bodies, and they’ve been great! I will write a review on that lens soon in the future.

Would I recommend it?

If you want the best of the best, why are you even looking at this lens? If you’re looking for something small and compact or if you’re looking for the very cheapest AF lens, absolutely, go ahead and buy this thing!

Check out my other gear reviews here.