Saturday, December 24, 2011

Our Alternative Advent Feast

Its All Here :
http://www.studioaad.com/projects/alternative-advent-dinner
 
Food styling Anne Marie Tobin, Art Direction Scott Burnett

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU !

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Ghost Estate Photography Projects

All this focus on decay and despair in many Irish photography projects got me wondering why ?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/1112/1224307427495.html#.Tr5fzEBv8E4



As Fintan O’Toole writes today in the Irish Times “Contemporary photography has revived this melancholia” I wonder if we are set to create a despondent photography culture with all these projects on the gloom and decay in Ireland today.
For example Anthony Haughey’s Ghost Estates project concentrates on the ‘concrete in the landscape’ and reinforces the idea that the recession has been a disaster in property and economic terms only. The recession has been more than just about the failure of private property but of real human suffering, “A living misery’ as Fintan O’Toole says in the article.The absence of people suggests that they are separate to the housing issues, or not important at all. We have to move on from this focus on the material and the real and not forget to capture the spirit, the indefinable, the joy, the innocence, lyrical beauty, dreams, light and life. There are other photographers who are doing projects on similar subject matter but some actually capture a transient spirit, ambience and psychological feeling where this project does not approach that feeling for me at all.
Photographers love to concentrate on “reality” on the sociological aspects of war, moments of history or the idea of photographer as ‘reporter.' They use the absence, the silence, the death mask, the time frozen aspects of the medium as these photographers seem to think that photography is best at showing absence rather than presence. 

The Russian film maker Tarkovosky wrote “Wherever it expresses-even destruction and ruin-the artistic image is by definition an embodiment of hope it is inspired by faith. Artistic creation is by definition a denial of death.” I am aware of the concrete realities of empty estates, despair and death but life goes on and life is everywhere and photography should be about wonder and discovery, finding the joy to care and live in the everyday.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Slavoj Zizek

I was recently sent to spent three days photographing the Slovenian philosopher, writer and social activist Slavoj Zizek. Slavoj , the man the New Yorker called “An academic rock star” and the chronicle of higher education called The Elvis of cultural Theory!

I was introduced and he seemed occupied with a conversation that jumped from film Theory to politics to what was happening in China and America . He was here to film The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, a follow up to his last film, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, that uses Zizek's theoretical matrix to explore what psychoanalysis and film can tell us about our beliefs.
I waited and waited and listened to random lectures on Marx, Stalin and Freud plus thoughts on the church, child rearing, Kant , Hegel and bad art films.
The first day I tried to do a sitting down portrait but it was nothing great. I noticed how lots of people who are at ease with the movie and TV camera are frightened to death by the still camera. Most of us are the same when someone pulls out a still camera out and wants to take our image.
Each day I made a bit more progress, chats at the coffee machine helped and the fact that he engaged each person he spoke to with a rigid attention, talking with a directness and non stop. My patience paid off when he appeared with a cool t -shirt of Marx and Freud for the photo shoot.
I photographed him on the set of Taxi Driver and Full Metal Jacket and The Sound of Music. I photographed him as Stalin and as a priest but the photos that I lit with flash and added a hospital green hue and shadow, worked best. Slavoj was warm and funny and very engaging if a little hyper, so he did not sit still for long. He claimed not to care for still photos especially his early childhood ones.
He had a real interest in Irish affairs and understood the history of the Irish Media, he spoke of DeValera , Yeats, Wilde, Joyce, Beckett he said, was a true hero. From global locations to Irish studio interiors, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology will examine the prevailing ideologies at work in our world and no more engaging man to do it.
Since then I noticed Slavoj Zizek was at the centre of the recent Wall Street protests in New York.
Like Elvis, he never stops gyrating.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Direct Marketing Awards

 We produced and photographed Soccer, Rugby and Hurling for Kellogg's Campaign
 OgilvyOne & Kellogg’s ‘Field of Dreams’
Gold for Best FMCG and An Post Direct Marketing Grand PrixOlive Fogarty, Chairman, OgilvyOne
Louise Sullivan, Corporate Communications Manager, Kellogg's


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

lighting Workshop 31 july 2011

MAIN AIMS OF THE RECENT LIGHTING WORKSHOPS

To be able to Judge and feel the character of light
A systematic approach to lighting a subject well
Challenge the use of conventional lighting shaping
tools such as umbrellas and soft boxes
Learn to make educated judgements about how to light
Broaden lighting references and influences
Pick up new technical info and ideas










Sunday, July 17, 2011

Lighting workshop today

Some test shots from the lighting workshop.
Still Life, Portrait and lighting a room set...














Thursday, July 14, 2011

Lighting Workshop

My Two Workshops on lighting , a few places left for the second one at the end of July...
http://2011.photoireland.org/program/studio-lighting-workshop/

Saturday, June 11, 2011

My notebook fetish

I am always drawn to notebooks for some bizarre reason

Everywhere I go there are notebooks in garden shops, bookstores, airports, paper shops, discount stores, art suppliers, cool stores like Muji , uncool ones like Easons and even TK Max have them. I keep a small one A6 muji in my pocket every day, its like my passport and in it I am reminded of what's important, things i value and little notes about projects on my mind for future.

 

Its illustrated by pictures that reinforce stuff , like what is achievement for me at this time? Two pages on mastery, two on growth and so on.These are themes i will be writing about in future blog posts.

 

I have a pile of moleskins ,that i have been using for the past 10 years,stacked up and full up with ideas and thoughts,telephone numbers and so on on a shelf to my left.

I always keep a A4 notebooks one lined and one with blank pages in my bag. 

 

I buy boxes of black sharpies and sometimes i find that ideas can only be brought to life by drawing and sometimes on the lined notebook pages by list.I love blank pages.

Please let me know if I am alone on this one...

I keep an occasional diary as well. I have been random posts in a lovely leather diary I bought in Tuscany in 2002 ! Over the past 11 years I noticed how i have moved from writing exclusively about work (i was obsessed with photography and work achievements) to more about life and how i think and feel.

I keep A3 black journals for my art work as visual journals.



My friends at AAD designed their own book of lists, of course I have two, I filled one in just over two months.

Make Lists Not War

February 4th, 2011

Our New Years Present is a little late. We originally came up with the idea for the list book in 2008! After putting it off that year and then completely redesigning it last year we finally decided to make it this year. It was meant to be on clients and friends desks at the start of January but due to some custom foil problems it’s only being finished now. Hopefully when it finally goes out it’ll have been worth the wait.
http://www.studioaad.ie
Thanks
mike
Http://www.mikeotoole.com

My Stamps





Earlier this year I was asked by An Post to photograph five items to celebrate Irish Craft for the 2011 year of craft.This was my second time to have my photographs feature on an Irish Stamps collection. Photography for stamps brings its own problems mostly about how to make an image work thats is going to be as small as a stamp.The choice of object is so important, lighting for texture, keeping a consistent sense of style and preserving the detail in different kinds of materials.
By photographing them in the studio we had plenty of time to get these details right.

This set of stamps feature five outstanding contemporary craft makers. Deirdre McLoughlin, from Dublin, uses ceramics in her work, while Róisín de Buitléar, also from Dublin, works with glass. Inga Reed makes jewellery in Co Kilkenny and Dr Helen McAllister works with embroidered textiles in Dublin. The fifth craft worker is Liam Flynn, from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick, an outstanding wood turner.
More:
Contemporary Irish Craft
Irish craftspeople today produce innovative, contemporary work using traditional, sometimes ancient skills.  Craft covers everything from woodturning and basket making to blacksmithing and stained glass making.  It is estimated that almost 5000 people are employed in craft, making the sector a significant contributor to the Irish economy.
In recent years Ireland has achieved a reputation as a world-class source of contemporary fine craft. Irish craft makers have participated at international shows such as the biennial LOOT, held at the Museum of Art and Design in New York, SOFA (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art) in Chicago and more recently Collect in London, putting contemporary Irish craft on the international stage.
Background on Craft Makers
Glass - Roisin de Buitléar Dublin’s Róisín de Buitléar draws inspiration from her cultural heritage in her blown and cast glass creations that she’s been making for almost 30 years. Her work can be seen in public and private buildings throughout Ireland.

Wood - Liam Flynn Liam Flynn  has been making wood vessels in his studio at Abbeyfeale, County
Limerick, for the past 25 years.  Flynn was the winner of the inaugural Crafts Council of Ireland Irish Craft Bursary in 2005. His work is featured in numerous private and public collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the Woodturning Centre, Philadelphia and the Department of Foreign Affairs Collection, Dublin.

Metal - Inga Reed
Inga Reed has been making jewellery since the late 1970s, recently in County Kilkenny, where she makes her distinctive pieces in her rural studio. She uses classic goldsmithing techniques, combining precious metals and precious and semi-precious stones. It is the intricate organic engineering that underpins the structure of collected items like seed pods and leaves and the patterns and textures they create. Her work is featured in many private and public collections including the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
Textiles – Dr Helen McAllisterDesigner Helen McAllister has an MA in embroidered textiles and is head of fashion and design at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She was the winner of the inaugural Golden Fleece award in 2002. Her work has moved from 2D image based hangings to 3D form making.

Ceramics - Deirdre McLoughlin The work of philosophy and history graduate Deirdre McLoughlin shapes space. It has been described as biomorphic, abstract and sculptural. She was awarded the Westerwaldpreis, outstanding ceramic art and craft work in the framework of a competition, in 2004 and showed at the 4th World Ceramic Bienalle in Korea in 2004.

The Year of Craft
Year of Craft is being celebrated through a diverse range of dynamic events to showcase the very best of craft made on the island of Ireland. The programme of events includes everything from exhibitions and open studios to lectures and workshops for craft enthusiasts of all ages.
Stamp photography Mike O'Toole