I’ve just finished editing a wedding that brought home the significance of photography to me once again and the lasting impression it can have.

For this particular wedding, we decided to use the same location where the brides mother had her wedding photographs taken. We also re-created a shot of the brides parents on the same spot where they stood for one of their own wedding photographs 40 years earlier (or as close to the spot as we could guess!). I also managed to get some shots of the bride getting ready that morning with a large print from that same image in the background which tied things in nicely from a storytelling point of view.

Sadly, the brides mother has passed away in the intervening 40 years but the images remain as powerful as ever and hopefully one day, her daughters wedding photographs will also serve as a reminder to the next generation of how beautiful she herself looked on her wedding day. Few things last as long as your photographs as they truly are an investment in your family heritage.

I get a lot of emails asking me what photography equipment I use. I think too many people get caught up in having the latest and the greatest, thinking the equipment makes the difference when really in many cases the shot has nothing to do with the equipment.

Here is an example. My cameras like many others read the amount of light in a scene it is pointed at, takes the data to the CPU and then computes (based on comparisons with thousands of scenes in it’s database) what the right level of exposure should be. They do all of this in milliseconds. Hugely impressive stuff when you think about it! So you have this amazing technology but you really need to switch it all off and work in manual mode to get the shot as you see it in your head because no amount of technology will do that for you. Spotting a moment, spotting potential in a location and being able to assess light are all far more important things to consider than the gear you use. The shot has to come from you, not the camera!

For the record, I use Nikon cameras and both Nikon and Tokina lenses. The important things to me are the layout of the controls (can you work quickly), how the thing balances in my hands, toughness and reliability. Everything else is a nice to have rather than a necessity. Over the years I have found that Nikons have always worked first time out of the box, have proved very reliable and survived all sorts of downpours and falls. It’s important to be able to trust your equipment and of course to have plenty of backup. Remember though at the end of the day, cameras are only tools - they won’t necessarily make you any better.

Bee For Battens are hosting a charitable motorcycle run on 22nd May. It’s looking like it’s going to be a big turnout with up to 100 bikes taking part on the day going from Keel in Kerry (home of the Heffernan children who suffer from Battens disease) to Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibereen, Glengariff and back in to Kerry via Kenmare. I’m currently raising sponsorship to go on the run, so please contact me on email@niallmcgann.com if you would like to donate.

Some might ask why would I sponsor you to go on a motorbike run?? Well it’s not all fun. We will be taking in some of the most twisty treacherous roads in the two counties with all the usual hazards found in such places (100ft drops, sheep, stray dogs, 20mph 1992 Carinas, killer potholes and all manner of agricultural contraptions…). So I’m kidding, it’s all big fun

Seriously, if you don’t fancy sponsoring me, you can always donate directly to the charity via their site (www.beeforbattens.org). Check it out for more information - it’s a very worthy cause.

Someone asked me the other day if we had a Facebook business page and they were not at all impressed when I said no (?!).

Even though we both have personal pages, we don’t go on there touting for business since it’s really a place that people go for a bit of down time or “me” time. Almost every photographer uses social networking to attract new clients but we can’t see ourselves doing that right now, even though some colleagues are saying it’s the smart thing to do.

As a wise old saying goes, when you see all your competitors going in the same direction, run like a crazy man the opposite way. That is partly why we hardly advertise at all now and also why we stopped attending the wedding fairs/shows years ago. Although I’d never say never, you won’t find us bragging or tagging on Facebook just yet

The World Press Photo organisation have archived a collection of images from the competitions beginning (WPP is a very prestigious awards body for photo journalism). Very little to do with wedding photography I know, but very powerful photography all the same. Even if this is not your thing, use the search funtion to find the overall winner for each year. There are some controversial images in there but certainly also an indication of the power of a single image. This is probably the best collection of this kind of work online:

http://www.archive.worldpressphoto.org/

I’m slowly building up a portfolio of semi-abstract fine art images for my LAUNELIGHT project. My aim is to launch a limited edition print set once I have a strong enough set. There are two recent additions below.

The first is the a view from the Iveragh Peninsula. I didn’t want any detail as it was the light and dark tones in the sea and far off mountains that caught my eye. You can just about make out the green fields being caught by the light in the left hand side.

The second was taken at Ballinskelligs burial ground. That place is steeped in history and has a very haunting feel overlooking the bay.

ps: someone asked about the blur on the second shot - I’m sure you can get some kind of plug in to re-create something similar afterwards but this is done at the time of taking the shot (same as all the other shots in this series) and not done in photoshop or any other software afterwards