I posted here recently about a new (very old) camera. I haven’t had a chance before now to scan in the first roll of film. It was a real pleasure going back to something so basic. I love the tones on the new Portra 400 film too. Here are two of my favourites:

I shot Karen and Simons wedding 3 years ago and was delighted to be asked back to capture some shots of six month old Kevin for Christmas. Capturing good images of kids of this age isn’t easy but I find working with natural light in their home environment pays off. Putting kids in a studio environment with lights, backgrounds and all sorts of props is a bit strange and uncomfortable for them. It doesn’t exactly seem real to me either!

Big talent, big character, huge loss to the sport.

R.I.P.

I really miss using film cameras and the deliberate way that they force you to work. Of course you can still buy professional film cameras (only a handful) but my latest purchase below is well over 30 years old and is an engineering work of art. It was beautifully built with levers, springs, dials and gears back in the day when machines were built to last. It’s practically mint as I was lucky enough to come across a buyer selling from a collection so it never saw much use. It’s all mechanical except the meter but I have a handheld meter anyway, so it doesn’t even need batteries. So much has changed in the way modern digital kit that I normally use works but amazingly despite all the advances, the basic concept and controls are still the same.

I started out using something of a similar vintage, so I can’t wait to run a few rolls through it. Film has a certain quality that is hard to describe or replicate using digital and skin tones have always been superior on film. I’ve a few projects to get stuck in to over the Winter which lend themselves to working on something like this so I can’t wait to get out and start using it.

My June bank holiday weekend is booked out for charity this year.

Along with several others, I am taking part in “The Big Spin 2011″, a charity motorcycle ride around Ireland in aid of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. We are heading out from Kerry up the West towards Donegal, over the Dublin and then down to Cork.

It is a very worthy charity with funds going to the Children’s Hospital as well as the Children’s Research Centre. As many of you could no doubt testify, they do magnificent work to improve the quality of life of sick children.

If anyone would like to pledge a donation for my registration, please contact me directly at niall@niallmcgann.com or on (087) 0573438.

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.