21/01/13
Snow fails to affect the flag protests. Protesters and snow managed to bring Belfast to near total gridlock this evening. Glad I got home a wee bit earlier today and was sitting with feet up and a cuppa in my hands while chaos ensued outside.
22/01/13
I'd been thinking about doing something in Belmont Park with the three carved wooden statues, one of which is now on it's side. Thought I'd give the wire wool a bash and since there was still snow on the ground, I knew I wasn't going to set anything on fire. It was an eventful evening. As I was setting up, four people arrived in the dark with torches and started sprinting up and down the hill just to the right of where this shot was taken. After a brief chat which went along the lines of "are we going to be in your way mate?" - "No, but I'm about to set fire to stuff" I started shooting. Four burns into my evening's fun, I found myself surrounded by a bright light. Turned out it wasn't the rapture, but a police helicopter with a very bright searchlight. Seems burning wire wool in east Belfast while flag protests are happening about a mile away isn't that good an idea. I waved and shone my torch on the camera and tripod. God knows what they made of that.
23/01/13
My favourite little model again. Went to walk the dog and grabbed the camera bag on the way out the door. I ended up armed with my camera, a 10-24mm lens and a flashgun. Not the best lens for portrait stuff but it gave me an excuse to try using some fill-in flash while also trying to use the lovely winter afternoon sky as a backdrop.
24/01/13
Finally, after a few aborted efforts, I made it to the Queens Films Theatre to see McCullin, the documentary about Don McCullin (no surprise there then). McCullin's photos made a real impact on he in my early-mid teens and were one of the biggest reasons why I picked up a camera, film in those days, and started trying to learn photography. My admiration for Don McCullin's photography has never waned although after reading his autobiography I was left with the impression of a very cold, unemotional and damaged man. This film changed my mind about this and left me quite awestruck at the man's humanity and compassion. He was the most reckless, impulsive and irresponsible of photographers; I've still not figured this out completely but guess a lot of it came from his upbringing in a fairly tough part of London and the gangs he ran with as a teenager. Even his first shots of these gangs were masterful in their composition. I realise this could turn into an essay - that's a shot of my cinema ticket, a postcard courtesy of the QFT and the two photos featured in the film that left the biggest impact on me - both taken in Biafra and on adjoining pages of one of my books of McCullin's photographs.
25/01/13
"They were madly in love but friends knew that it would end in tears"
Those are shallots, not onions, in case you were getting worked up.
26/01/13
Mentioned on Facebook that I was having a dearth of ideas for the wee men. A suggestion flooded in. Get them doing a photoshoot. How I made the leap from "photoshoot" to "photoshoot involving woman removing her knickers" is anyone's guess. Suppose I'll have to bring that up with my therapist.
27/01/13
All day photoshoot at Asylum Gym in Newtownards today for a deadlift party organised by Dave (see last week's post). Great bunch of guys and a very competitive but supportive atmosphere with guys lifting personal bests. Picked this shot because of the effort in the face and the amount of bend on the bar - I couldn't do too many reps with just the bar, never mind with a bunch of weights on it. I'm slowly morphing into a photographer of obscure sports. And I'm enjoying it.
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