Kilkenny

Kells - A Portrait of A Community

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Kells, A quaint, picturesque village in the heart of the Kilkenny countryside. Set on the banks of the Kings river and back drop to the 12th Century Augustine priory. I spent the summer taking photos of this wonderful place so this blog has been a few months in the making, I want the photos to do the talking in this one. Fore the techies and photographers like me all images were captured using a Hasselblad 500C/M with various types of film both in date and expired.  All images viable for print on request. 

Bee Keeping

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Earlier this year I got my hands on a Hasselblad 500C/M medium format film camera, I decide to test it out and shoot some places and activities that happen in my local village. I started off with something very close to home, my dad; and his bee keeping and egg farming. 

Taken on Fuji Neopan 400, Carl and Cormac getting ready to go into the hives and inspect the bees, Carl lighting the smoker while Cormac takes a look at the tools and metraials for making frames. 

Taken on Fuji Neopan 400, Carl and Cormac getting ready to go into the hives and inspect the bees, Carl lighting the smoker while Cormac takes a look at the tools and metraials for making frames. 

All the different parts that go into making frames for the bees. The frames contain a foundation wax which the bees use to build honey comb.

All the different parts that go into making frames for the bees. The frames contain a foundation wax which the bees use to build honey comb.

These pictures show a small glimpse into what goes into both making parts of the hive and maintaining the bees to get a good yield of honey.  With over sixty thousand bees per hive, and not having a suit I decided to be quick and get a few shots before the real work began, and the bees became agitated.

Taken on Kodak Tri-X, Carl and Cormac talking about what they are going to do, Carl holding a nuke box with some empty frames already inside.

Taken on Kodak Tri-X, Carl and Cormac talking about what they are going to do, Carl holding a nuke box with some empty frames already inside.

Fine art - Flowers

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Sometimes beauty can be seen in the simplest of things. Here is a selection of flowers that I have shot.  All the shots below were captured using a Mamyia M645 medium format film camera.  The monochrome shots were taken on Kodak Tri-X and the colour shots on an out of date roll of Fuji Provia Slide film.  Shooting out of date film has given the film a strange washed out look, along with a strange but interesting  colour cast.

Portrait of an Artist - Paul Flynn (PtII) , A Film Shoot

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I mentioned in my last blog It was a pleasure to work with Paul in his studio for this shoot, and a little surprise in this blog, as I'm sure you have guessed for the title, these are the analog film photographs from that day. 

I think these shots capture the mood and atmosphere in Paul's studio much better then my digital shots could have. To me the shots below feel much more alive and human. For those interested I shot these on my Mamyia M645with an 80mm ƒ2.8 lens using Kodak Tri-X film.  The grain and tonality of the film was perfect for capturing Paul at work. While the lighting was low and I had to compensate this with some slow shutter speeds, this gave another human element with the motion blur of his movements. Non the less while we chatted, we both worked away, Paul painting and working on a few of his paintings and me carefully taking shots. In the few shots below Paul is working on part of his 1916 set of paintings.

Portrait of an Crafts Woman - Pauline - Mill House Design

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While I was over at the Mill House shooting with Paul, I took some time to Also Shoot Pauline at work, crafting another one of her designs.  A small insight into the Mill House Design Studio's creative process. First designing that pattern, then working out the stitches andThe setting up and of the machines are arts in themselves which Pauline made look exceptionally easy.  Then it begins the actual knitting, with a loud clicking of needles as the machine comes to life and a design emerges.

While shooting I decided to take some analog shots on my MamiyaM645 using some Kodak Tri-X monochromatic film, the results of the film shots have a much nicer feeling then the digital equivalents. Below are a few of the shots both analog and digital

Kells Series

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Lately I have had some time to go around my lovely picturesque home village of Kells, in Co. Kilkenny. With the intimation of a new stone seat overlooking the priory i decided to take a few photos of the area. 

The chair, created by Kevin Fennelly, sits on the high point of the village overlooking the magnificant castles ruins, golden fields and lush landscape. 

The castle walk leads to Hutchinson's mill another picturesque location with  a weir on the kings river. 

All these photographs and more are available for print via my store. So head on over and check them out.