Dreamstuff 10 Announced!

This is going to be awesome!

For more info check out www.YIFM.com/dreamstuff

Watergate Productions: ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ Poster

The poster for the latest Watergate Production; Joseph Kesselring’s ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ directed by Mary Cradock.

Shot on 18-135mm on the Watergate stage using; a theatre spot-light overhead with my SB800 at 1/32 positioned on the ground behind Colette Browne (left) and Claire Gibbs (right) and my SB900 at 1/8 positioned on a tripod to the high left of the camera.

I’m not sure who did the design work on the poster but you can see the photograph without text here on the Oss237.com Homepage.

Devious Theatre’s Dario Fo Season

Just online today is a selection of clips from Devious Theatre’s productions of Dario Fo’s ‘Accidental Death Of An Anarchist’ and ‘Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!’ which ran in the Set Theatre in Kilkenny in December 2009 and March 2010 respectively.

I still miss my orange dungarees.

Strobist Shoot: Jonny Walsh

I’ve just uploaded a new batch of photos from a strobist shoot last week with Jonny Walsh.

Myself and Jonny have been talking about doing a shoot for the past few months; he’s got an awesome collection of tattoo’s and despite never having done a shoot before he kindly agreed to meeting up last Thursday night for a shoot around MacDonagh Junction.

I used the shoot as an opportunity for my first proper attempt using multiple off-camera flashes, shooting with my SB800 and SB900 on wireless triggers. I used the SB900 on a small tripod as my main flash with the SB800 as a side or back-light depending on the location and pose.

We started in the main courtyard outside the shopping centre just after 9pm, the sun was starting to go down and it gave me a great skyline for the background. I added some gradients to the sky in post to really bring it out and they’re easily my favourite shots from the bunch.

We moved from the courtyard into the sheltered area in the outer building. I really wasn’t happy with most of the shots from this location, I wish I’d spent a bit more time positioning my backlight, I underexposed the background but unfortunately didn’t position my SB800 right meaning I lost the outline of Jonny’s head in most of the shots and didn’t notice until I transferred the photos to my computer. It’s annoying but one of the points of the shoot was to learn this type of thing. I scrapped the shots from this location except for one which I added a texture to.

We moved from there to the stairs outside the bowling alley and I tried a combination of different setups; with my Sb900 positioned high on a tripod near the camera and then moving my SB800 from a back-light to a side-light depending on the pose; some shots worked, some didn’t, but again I know where I went wrong and I’m very happy with the ones that worked. Finally we tried a couple of shots under the sheltered area near the bowling alley and at the wall.

It can be a bit confusing trying to figure settings between the camera and both flashes but overall I’m very happy with how the shoot went. You can check out my favourite shots from the shoot here on the Oss237.com Homepage with links to the rest on my Flickr.

Myself and Jonny have plans for a few more shoots over the summer so there’s plenty more strobist stuff and tattoo portraits on the way. I’d like to say thanks to Jonny for doing the shoot, for his patience when I was messing around with settings and for having the balls to get half-naked in front of my camera in a public place. I hope you like the photos dude!

Finally thanks to the two security guards who politely spoke to us on two separate occasions, for not kicking us out or having us arrested (I’m sure it’s not every night they stumble across a half naked tattoo covered guy getting his photo taken!).

Bridal & Vintage Fashion Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago I answered a casting call looking for a photographer interested in doing a Bridal fashion photo shoot in Kilkenny.

Shortly after that, I met up with Make Up Artist Dawn Ryan and Hair Stylist Deirdre Esmonde Walsh to chat about the shoot. We set a date for it and over the next few weeks, four models were organised along with a selection of bridal wear, vintage dresses & headpieces supplied by Cameo Bridal Wear and Rebekah Patterson.

The Sunday before last, we all met up in the Hair Court to prepare for the shoot, we were joined by Cork photographer Ger Leahy. Our models; Grace Baker, Shelly Baker, Joanna Szendera and Mairead Moran tried on various outfits before Dawn and Deirdre set to work on hair & make up. Myself and Ger killed the time, shooting some behind the scenes shots and worrying about the blinding sun outside.

Once the girls were good to go, we moved to our first shoot location, the old TeaRooms Bridal Shop beside the river across from Dunnes car park. It was about 29 degrees at this stage and the sun proved to be a huge problem to shoot in, leaving us with the only option of shooting in the small shaded doorway area.

Unfortunately, despite having checked my kit the night before and everything was fine, I couldn’t get one of my wireless triggers to work properly, meaning I could only shoot with one wireless flash, my SB800. I kept it simple for the start, with the SB800 positioned on the ground in front of the girls at 1/4 power shooting on my 18-135mm. With the limited shoot space, we didn’t stay long in the location, moving to the shaded canal area beside the castle.

The second location was a lot better for shooting, plenty of shade and room to move around. The only small problems being the amount of attention the girls were getting, featuring of course the obligatory Kilkenny chav’s throwing some abuse, but the girls paid no attention and I had a lot of fun playing with settings and different strength flash bursts.

Unfortunately, my one working wireless trigger started acting up at this stage so I had to resort to using my SB800 on camera for a while. I swapped around between my 18-135mm and 50mm for various shots but just couldn’t find the right settings to stop the sky burning out in the background whilst keeping the girls lit.

Post-wise I did some selective desaturation on the background of some of these shots. My trigger had started working again so I tried some more strobist stuff against the wall of the castle, with the SB800 positioned to the left of the camera at either 1/4 or 1/2 power. I also did some sign replacements, removing the writing and graffiti off the Water Depth sign and adding a silhouette of the model.

Finally, we moved to our third location, just inside the grounds of the Castle Park. We found a nice spot in the woods with the sun coming through the trees providing a nice back light, we shot a mixture of group and individual shots with SB800 at 1/2 power. Then called it a day.

You can check out my favourite shots from the shoot here on the Oss237.com Homepage with links to over 70 photos on my Flickr. As always any comments or feedback are appreciated.

Finally, I’d like to say thanks to Dawn, Deirdre, Grace, Shelly, Joanna and Mairead for all their time and hard work, I really enjoyed the shoot, I hope you like the photographs and I look forward to hopefully working with you all again in the future.

Behind The Scenes on BLACK (Photos Part2)

I’ve just uploaded my second batch of photos from behind the scenes on SAW Films first production BLACK.

The short film was shot on a RED One camera last December in the grounds of Shankill Castle, with a crew gathered using the ArtLinks Forum.

A recent email from BLACK director Kevin Hughes confirms that the film is finished and he’s currently working on the colour grading for Bitches Coven, a second short film (directed by Pat Kenny) that was shot by the same crew a week later.

I’m really looking forward to seeing both the shorts and until I get some news on when and where people will be able to see them, you can check out the new photos featuring more behind the scenes shots of the cast and crew at work here on the Oss237.com homepage.

There’s still some more photos to come including some character portraits, but to avoid spoilers I’ll wait until people get a chance to see the short first. Updates soon!

Dear Epson…Your Customer Care Sucks! (Updated Again)

Back at the start of February I bought an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer and up until two weeks ago I was very happy with my purchase.

Two weeks ago, the first of the eight ink cartridges in the printer ran out, it was the Matte Black ink cartridge, I replaced it with the Photo Black ink cartridge (they both go in the same slot), everything seemed fine, I did some printing and shut down the printer. The next day, I turned the printer on again and the ink light came on. When I opened the printer to see which cartridge needed replacing, ALL of the individual lights above each of the cartridges were on.

The status monitor flashed the warning that “none of the ink cartridges were recognised” and told me I should only use genuine Epson ink cartridges. I should point out that all of the cartridges in the printer were genuine Epson ink and that they had all come with the printer when I bought it. I spent that Thursday night searching the internet for information on the problem, going through various FAQ’s on the Epson website and through forums but could not find anything relating to this issue except for an article that suggested removing the cartridges, wiping the green chip at the front of them and then replacing them. I did this several times, it didn’t solve the problem.

The following day (Friday), I made my first attempt at using the e-chat support through the Epson website. It took about half an hour to load properly and then constantly tried to sell me ink & products before I was put through to a tech support agent, a guy named Tom. He asked from some basic details and the problem I was having, then said he’d send me out a trouble shooting email. He then tried to sell me some ink, given that a full batch of ink for the printer costs over €100 and the problem I was having, I declined.

I received the trouble shooting email, it gave me links to some information on the Epson website that basically told me to remove the cartridges, wipe the green chip and then replace. If this doesn’t work then just buy new ink!?

On Saturday I tried to log on to the e-chat support again but couldn’t get it to load so gave up for the weekend.

The following Monday afternoon, I attempted to the use the e-chat support again. It took a while to load, then highlighted that I could buy ink if I wanted then put me through to another tech support agent, a guy called Nathan. I gave him the reference number from my first e-chat conversation, told him the problem and he then told me to remove the ink cartridges, wipe the chip and then replace them. I explained I’d done this several times but did it again anyway. It didn’t work so he took the barcode number and told me he’d arrange for an engineer to come out and look at the printer. He told me that because it was late into Monday afternoon, it would be Wednesday before they could come out.

I spent all day Wednesday waiting for the engineer to show up. After 3pm, I attempt to once again use the e-chat but it wouldn’t load so I phoned the Epson support centre in England, I can’t remember the name of the agent I was talking to. I gave him my reference number from the previous e-chat session, he couldn’t find my details… he had typed it in wrong but eventually found my details then told me that the engineer had been cancelled!? I asked why? He said he wasn’t sure but they might be waiting on parts. He would look into it and call me back, either that evening or the following day. I never heard from him again!

Then yesterday (Tuesday), nearly a week later and without warning, I got a phone call from an engineer who had arrived to look at my printer. Unfortunately, because I had no warning I wasn’t at home, I wasn’t even in the same county! I explained this to the engineer, he understood and told me to contact the support center again to reschedule.

I rang the call centre again and was put through to a guy called Mark, I told him my reference number but he couldn’t find my details. He eventually found them but told me I had been given the wrong reference number, he gave me a new number and then I told him all the details from my previous conversations with the support staff. He apologised and told me he would make a note of it and reschedule the engineer for me, for Friday. He told me he would ring me back to confirm the details. He never rang me back!

Today, I called the call centre again. I was put through to a guy called Dal, he asked for my reference number, I gave it to him but he couldn’t find my details. He eventually found them and told me the reference number I should have used, which turned out to be the one I used yesterday and was told was wrong. He put me on hold and eventually confirmed to me that the engineer has been booked for Friday.

It’s been two weeks of hassle at this stage, whether the engineer will show up I don’t know, I still don’t even know what the problem is, but the entire ordeal has ensured that I will never buy another Epson printer!

Is there anybody out there that has had a similar problem with their printer or indeed the Epson support because I’d really love to know how I can make them aware of just how much their customer care sucks!?

UPDATED – Friday 21st May 2010

So once again I sat around all day today waiting for the Epson engineer to show up. By lunch time, I still hadn’t heard from anybody so I rang the UK Call Centre again, this time I was talking to an agent named Pete.  He took my details and confirmed that an engineer had been booked for today, he told me that he would “put a chase on it” to see if he could get any more information and that he or somebody from Customer Service would ring me back.

I’ve just gotten off the phone with a woman from Customer Service, she just rang me and told me that an engineer was never booked for today!? They were waiting on me to confirm when I would be available for an engineer to call out!? I explained to her that the engineer had been booked (by Mark) for today when I rang them on Tuesday. A fact that I myself had confirmed on Wednesday when I rang again (and was talking to Dal). She disagreed and told me that they were “waiting for me to come back from my holidays”!?

So once again Epson have wasted my time! I’ve been told that an engineer is now booked for next Tuesday, bringing me in to week 3 of this ridiculous situation. I quite simply don’t know what to do at this stage!? Do Epson engineers actually exist?

Somebody please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATED – Friday 26th May 2010

So yesterday, a representative from Epson finally showed up. He wasn’t an engineer and made absolutely no attempt to fix the printer, he wasn’t even aware of what my problem was before he arrived. Instead he simply gave me a new printer.

The lack of trying to fix the problem makes me think that this may be a very common problem and makes me worry that it may just happen again. I’ll have to wait and see because unfortunately the new printer didn’t come with any ink cartridges, and constantly removing and charging my previous cartridges had meant that two of my old cartridges had now run out.

So I’ve had to order a new set of cartridges, meaning I still have to wait before I can even check to see if the new printer works correctly! After this three week long (and counting) nightmare… it better!!!!

ArtLinks Survey 2010

The South East’s free and unique Arts Resource Service Artlinks is currently calling on it members to complete an online survey.

Recently celebrating it’s 3rd birthday, the ArtLinks community has grown to nearly 1500 members so far and is responsible for organising the first local arts training opportunities in the South East.

They are currently inviting “all who are passionate about the development of the Arts in the South East region to contribute to the future direction of this programme“  by taking a couple of minutes to complete the online survey. And there’s a €100 book voucher to be won too!

The survey contains a series of questions about courses, art development programmes, financial support and internet services you use or require for your Arts development, it will only take you 5 minutes but it’s very important for the future of ArtLinks.

The ArtLinks 2010 Survey is open to all members; amateur and professional individuals, groups and venues involved in Dance, Drama/Theatre, Music, Literature, Visual Arts and Film and the survey will run until the 26th of May.

The key findings of this survey will be available on ArtLinks.ie before July 2010.

If you’re not already a member of ArtLinks then you can sign up for free here and you can complete the online survey here. Spread the word!

After Effects: 3D Cityscape At Night

A first attempt at creating a 3D cityscape at night using an Andrew Kramer tutorial from Video Copilot.

I didn’t spend a lot of time on this, like in the tutorial I just duplicated the same building created from a single image. I just wanted to get through it and figure it all out.

Now, I’m going to go back in and play around with it, try add some weather elements, some new buildings and then hopefully… blow them all up!

Selfish Bass – Behind The Scenes (Photos)

Here’s the first batch of behind the scenes photos from ThanklessFilms music video shoot for Diarmaid O Meara’s ‘Selfish Bass‘.

Taken in my apartment on the first night of the shoot, where we slowly got our heads around the equipment, assembling the mannequins, dressing them, laughing at their weird mounds and trying not to drop them.

We shot a variety of stop-motion and puppetry sequences involving the main character as he prepares for his night out. We also shot two green screen shots, a leg-crossing shot and a TV screen replacement.

The leg cross was improvised and rushed so it never really worked out in post and was scraped. There’s a slight camera movement in the TV screen replacement shot (featuring Dave running me over in Turn Around!), I tracked the shot for the mask but couldn’t manage to get the colour/shine right on the screen before the television turns on.

Other random trivia:

• For some reason the gels kept melting on the lights all night.
• Mannequins can take a good slap when dropped on their faces.
• One of the mannequins had a very strange hole in a very strange place… before we took him out of the box!?
• One of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen is Dave & Der showering a mannequin!?

You can check out my favourite photos from the bunch here on the Oss237.com Homepage with links to the rest on Flickr and if you haven’t watched the music video yet then click here.

More photos coming soon!

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