Sean's Blog

Harry Potter..

Just finished The Half Blood Prince. Wanna know who dies? Well Cyn was kind enough to let slip who dies when I was about 2/3 way through the book. Great. Only waiting for how long until the book was published. Not to mention the fact that although she got the book on the 1st day (16th I think), she only finished 2 nights ago and I started it last night. Sheeshh... Spoil the whole thing why don't ya. I still read to the end and enjoyed it. I would've prefered the suspense though. It's hard when you know what's going to happen. I guessed who the Half-Blood prince was early on. I did initially think it was someone else perhaps but I changed my mind. Anyway. It's a good read, but shout really loud if someone even unwittingly spoils it..

posted by SeanMcC @ 5:45 AM   

Irish Times Article - 'An end to the armed campaign'

Irish Times Article - 'An end to the armed campaign'

The article speaks for itself.

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:38 AM 1 comments   

6680

I finally got the nokia 6680 to replace my aging 6600. It's a 1.3 megapixel cameraphone with hot swappable MMC card (a dual voltage reduced size MMC to be precise). Google will turn up loads on it. My take on it is this: This is the best phone I've ever had. All the stuff works well on this and fast too. I purchased a 512mb Card from pcmu,co.uk for €85 and am good to go with loads of music and videos and TV stuff. Go on you know you want to!

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:21 AM 2 comments   

random panderings

random panderings: I couldn't resist hacking away until I had a dedicated photoblog.

posted by SeanMcC @ 7:19 AM 0 comments   

Damien Dempsey

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:58 PM 1 comments   

Weststar Winner: Alex Lukanovic

Pictured with the Westar 2005 Winner Alex Lukanovic (centre) in the Quays Bar last Sunday were MC Tom Pyne (left) and The Quays Bar General Manager Seamus McGettigan (right). Second place went to Joanne McCarthy and Third place went to Richie Ward.

posted by SeanMcC @ 6:00 AM 0 comments   

Sharon Shannon at the Radisson

Sharon Shannon at the Radisson SAS, Galway last night Monday 18th July. She was joined by Frankie Gavin, Michael McGoldrick and Jim Murray onstage.

posted by SeanMcC @ 5:52 AM 2 comments   

Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked play the Radisson on Sunday night to a good sized crowd. She fired here band during the day and had 2 local guys, Barry Duffy and Pearse Doherty playing instead. Cool beans.

posted by SeanMcC @ 5:26 AM 2 comments   

Parade

A few quickies from the Macnas Parade. Not necessarily my favourite images but still liked.

posted by SeanMcC @ 5:24 AM 0 comments   

Festival Fever

I'm truly up to my eyes in Festival Madness. Combined with all my other work it's just unreal hectic. I've loads to post: Michelle Shocked, Yann T(whathisname), Macnas Parade etc. I'm sitting here tired and very sunburnt. I'll try get stuff up tomorrow... Also Alex Lucanovic won Weststar 2005 tonight.

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:39 AM 0 comments   

Non Blog week

If you were wondering where I've been when not posting this week... Well Matthew was 38.9 ^oC. A little on the hot side. Coupled with him projectile vomiting and general painful whining our hands were full this week. Fortunately a combination of sponging and Paralink suppositories brought the temperature down and the appetite back. I had planned on going to the Aran Islands today but as he was still not 100% this morning I gave it a miss. (Yep he's fine now)

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:11 AM 1 comments   

Tommy in Cuba

Tommy Tiernan is in the middle of a run in Cuba and I managed to catch the end of the show and shoot a few shots. This is my fave, although I've not had a full check yet!

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:09 AM 0 comments   

Funeral Home

Well it was a family trip today. Cyn and Matthew came with me to the Parlor. I saw John Mannion as soon as I walked in. He was really cut up. I didn't even see the coffin I was so dazed. I gave my condolences to all standing and all the family I knew in the room. It was very emotional outside with all the old Roisin regulars and old staff there to send Mark off. Very surreal. I can hear him now, telling stories and tales, in my memories, as loud and clear as if he was here. I miss your banter and softness and your football talk, Mark! My regards to all who knew and respected him. Without the partnership Mark and John started I certainly wouldn't be here where I am today.

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:43 AM 0 comments   

Docks

I shot a bunch of cool shots by the Docks before returning home last night (Tuesday). I might even put up a new night Gallery.

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:40 AM 0 comments   

Kiting

Saw this kite and had to get a few shots on the way from Salthill on Tuesday.

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:39 AM 0 comments   

Flim Fleadh or should it be the Film Fleadh: Fergus Bourke

I never really have time to see films so even though the Film Fleadh is on every year, I've never seen one film during it. Until now. I spotted one thing in the brochure (which someone had left lying around the Roisin Dubh) that caught my eye. Fergus Bourke: In his own words. Filmed by Art O'Brian (brother of Gary, with whom I have worked many times) and edited by Justin McCarthy (again a client of my PA company), it was a good watch. I had the pleasure of Fergus' company on a tour of his last Galway exhibition before his death late last year. He brought a small group of us around his various themed rooms of the Arts Centre. The Male, The Female, Kindred, Landscapes and other photos were explained to us in his own style. I was impressed by his work and his stories, recounting tales of how he managed to get, then Taoiseach, Charlie Haughey and his son Sean down to his studio despite the best efforts of the Fianna Fail publisists. His landscapes really touched and inspired me. His skies weren't for postcards, but brought the true drama of a Connemara mountain into stark focus. Truly 3 dimensions in a 2 dimensional picture. I did try to get books of his, but for once the internet failed. After months Amazon got back to me and informed me they could not get Kindred or his Landscapes from a German poetry book. I wish I'd bought them at the exhibition. (I was spurned on to try again just now with this post). The film was very much like the tour, with the addition of seeing him at home with his family and out in the wild shooting. I enjoyed it very much and would love to own a copy of it at some stage, so I guess I might be ringing one or two people in the near future.

posted by SeanMcC @ 8:03 AM 0 comments   

Weststar 2nd Semifinal

Through to next weeks Grand Final of Weststar '05 from The Quays Bar last Sunday were: (l to r) Paula Higgins, Alex Lucanovic, Carla Merrigan, Nicola McGuire (Judge), Aisling Kelly and Katie Muldrew.

posted by SeanMcC @ 7:40 AM 0 comments   

An Taobh Tuathail

An Taobh Tuathail was broadcast live from the Roisin Dubh last Friday. Despite being a long, arduous and seriously head frying day, it turned out well. Mirakil Whip kicked off the show in the venue prior to the actual show, but their set was recorded and played on air during the longest changeover. Jimmy Behan started the ball rolling with a laptop fest. He was running a program called Audio Mulch, which allowed him to do live remixes of his album tracks. Next up was Dry County, a Dublin 'Indietronic' band. Combining bass, guitars, loops, keys and vocals in texture laden, lyric based songs, they wowed their virgin audience. A return would be welcome. There was a longer changeover then (Mirakil Whip got their airing at this point) followed by a quiet set by Jeff Martin. Halfset then took to the stage with a healthy mix of live and electronica. Drums, bass, guitars, harp (yes, a real harp), as well as a Juno and Rhodes Piano, mixed in well with loops and of course the odd vocal. Their new album is well worth having!. All in all it was a great night and worth the effort in doing it.

posted by SeanMcC @ 7:25 AM 2 comments   

Crash

I just heard on the news there was a chopper crash. And I know the person who was killed. And I also know friends of the pilot, who didn't make it either. Freakish. My condolences to the family and friends. I won't say who it is because it's not been announced officially yet. He was a good guy with a big heart. A big love of God in his own way. Seems very surreal and strange because I was talking of booking a flight around the time the accident happened.

Update: It seems common knowledge now that it was Mark Reilly that was killed. He was a partner in the Front Door with John Mannion. Both were my boss in the Roisin Dubh for years. Mark had a family and although he was separated I saw him with his kids often. Gemma is his eldest, a lovely girl. I'm truly sorry for their loss.

posted by SeanMcC @ 7:41 PM 1 comments   

More from tonights 'Night Shoot"

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:31 AM 0 comments   

Demolition at the docks

The old Tynagh Mines building is being demolised. So as I bumped in John from North Atlantic Skyline who currently resides near there I followed him (at great pace I might add!) up and shot this panoramic from the 1st floor carkpark. Thanks John. For a change when you click you get a MUCH bigger image (well 1200 wide instead of 400!).

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:06 AM 1 comments   

Fill Flash

I've been perusing the Canon tutorials over at http://www.photoworkshop.com and was playing around with fill flash and Aperture Priority flash for the flash/ambient mix.
Of course my able model aided me so I'm obliged to show him off :) I'll use the Omnibounce for better diffusion next time though!

posted by SeanMcC @ 3:23 AM 1 comments   

New gallery setup, Photo future.

After spending all those hours messing with SimpleViewerAdmin and loving it's power, I came to realize that I couldn't add any way of selling images to it. Moving into the role of a semi-professional photographer requires sales. Simple as that. I am looking at revenue streams from photography and internet sales in definitly one of them. I do have stuff with one stock agency but I've seen nothing from it yet, but now that the 20D is back I will be hopefully getting together stuff for another, larger one (fingers crossed). Studiowise I will be getting a room in the Town Hall Theatre after the Arts Festival, so a bit of work to be done setting that up. Again fingers crossed.

posted by SeanMcC @ 6:29 AM 0 comments   

And for the first 6 Weststar finalists.

Into the Westar Final on July 17th, from Sunday nights Semifinal in The Quays, are: (l-r) Fiona Lynch, Gillian Curtain, Joanne McCarthy, Enda Schoer, Thomas Nolan and Richy Ward.

posted by SeanMcC @ 5:58 AM 0 comments   

Salthill Airshow 05

It's remiss of me to not mention the gallery is up. Enjoy!

posted by SeanMcC @ 4:37 AM 1 comments