What Does a Good Business Portrait Look Like?

There are so many things wrong with a DIY business portrait including bad lighting, inappropriate background, bad expression and on and on. Of all of these, I would have to say, that a bad first impression of a business is what stands out the most. Does non-belief in a quality portrait mean a lack lustre business attitude in general? Does a diy portrait taken with a compact camera mean that the business owner does not have the confidence to portray himself in a professional manner? Should a head shot taken with no thought, really be the face of the business?

Click here to read some great tips for a good business portrait.

A Male Fitness Model…

Apologies Brides to Be for the diversion or are you secretly thanking me! I will post a full account of this recent shoot I did with Conor this afternoon. More great shots to follow…

Conor asked me to take some shots of his seriously worked-out body for his fitness portfolio. You would not believe the effort that goes into priming your body so that it has exactly the right amount of muscle definition for a shoot like this. I had to make sure I did my homework on the lighting required and the location…

A metal yard in Tralee, Co. Kerry caught my eye as I was out scouting. The minute I stepped into the yard I knew this was exactly what I wanted…

When asking for permission to shoot here I conveniently left out the fact that the model was male. I didn’t want them to say “no” so the thoughts of a bikini clad model may have swayed their decision…

We based the rest of our shoot in the studio so that I could sculpt the muscle definition with angled lighting…

Reminds me of Calvin Klein Ad from years ago…

Family Portraits that I would like…

Like a Mechanic with a bad car I don’t own a Family Portrait. I intend to own one very soon, adorn it with a beautiful frame and start its life as a family heirloom on my new wall.

I took these family portraits recently in Kerry. The immediate family, in-laws and grand kids all travelled from Dublin and beyond to celebrate their Parents wedding anniversary…

A boy who is clearly proud of his Grandad..

One of my favourites…

You couldn’t make this happen but I am always ready for moments like this..

Shortlisted for the IPPA Canon Portrait Award…

Just found out this photograph taken by ME, ME, ME of the gorgeous of Helena Hanbidge was shortlisted for the IPPA Canon Portrait Award. It was taken at the recent Happy Faces Day Event in Tralee in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Assoc. of Ireland (CFAI)…

Under Pressure…

After being diverted into other projects I am now back on the wedding vibe. In the coming weeks I will showing off some more wedding photographs that I love..

Leah and Shane’s wedding was probably one of the toughest weddings I have photographed which had nothing to do with Leah and Shane but with the severe time constraints involved. The wedding reception was in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Powerscourt in Enniskerry,  Co. Wicklow. There was the presumption that as we were on the Powerscourt Estate that we could use the grounds around the beautiful Powerscourt House for our shots but this was not to be as there was another wedding being hosted at the house. There is a policy of no two weddings being on the same turf and I agree with this but we had to find a way to get the shots as Leah had her heart set on the old world, stately look of the house and its grounds rather than the very new design of the Ritz Carlton. Through a bit of coercing and our promise that we would vanish from the grounds before the other bride & groom arrived we managed to secure a very short time slot of 20 minutes to get the job done. Although I had been here many times before, I needed to walk the grounds in advance with my camera t0 plan the exact shots I was going to take. In my minds eye  I placed the bride & groom in the best positions within the scene. On the day we all knew what was required to get these beautiful shots that they would have forever. Myself, my assistant and Leah & Shane all concentrated on this one task of being the best we could in all of our capacities and there was something very satisfying in the feeling that all of us, together got the job done. The hotel manager relayed news by radio that the other bride & groom were on their way up the avenue and so we vanished. Leah feeling like Cinderella darting away at midnight except she didn’t leave her Jimmy Choo behind….

Meanwhile back at the Ritz….

Beautiful Faces on Happy Faces Day!

I’ll keep it short and let the portraits do the talking. We had a very successful day for IPPA Happy Faces Day 2010 in Tralee for the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to attend for their special portrait. I am very grateful to my volunteers, Seosaimhin and Anne-Marie and to Pamela at the Meadowlands Hotel who donated the space and their friendly assistance. Here is a small taster of some of the beautiful faces…