About Me

I create images that will help to sell whatever it is that you sell – a product or an idea. That’s my focus. That’s where my brief begins and ends.

My professional background began with a HND in Media Production, graduating with a distinction in 2002. I then began work as a studio assistant with photographer Neil Macdougald here in Dublin. What I learnt there is too numerous to list in this small introduction: suffice to say it was a lot. I learnt to make a decent cup of tea as well..

In 2008 I began working for myself. Initially I worked from a studio on Arbour Hill in Dublin 7, moving then to the current studio on South William St. in Dublin 2.

Please get in touch with ideas, queries or just for a chat about photography.

If you’d like a quote for something drop me a line – you’ll see that quotes cost nothing,  there’s never pressure from my end to proceed with a quoted brief and you’ll see that great photography doesn’t have to break the bank.

You can find me at:

Or on: +353 86 0778324

Or by email:

Keith Payne Shoot

I was asked recently to shoot a profile picture of Keith Payne the poet. Keith lives in Spain but travels back to Ireland regularly for work and to see family. He recently got word that he had been selected to appear in the Salamanca Arts Festival later this year. He called me because he needed a suitable picture to be printed in the programme and to appear on the website. We didn’t have much time as the print deadline was sooner than either of us would have liked. So, we checked the weather and decided to head out to a suitable location. We had exactly one hour to get this shot. Here’s a wide shot showing part of the setup:

Keith stressed that getting the perfect balance between humour and seriousness was the most important thing. If you’ve met him you’ll know that he can be serious sometimes about certain subjects, but by the end of the sentence he’ll have lobbed in a joke. So this had to be reflected in the imagery of him. Firstly we tried some strolling shots. We were trying to capture the mood of a successful writer walking through Victorian Dublin and looking down on everyone else. But played up to the point of being somewhat slapstick. We tried various versions of this: Jacket on, jacket off, jacket slung over shoulder, smiles, no smiles, walking with a hop, striding, nose up… Here’s a couple of shots from that series.

We had twenty minutes left and so we decided to move location a little and try a second setup. I spotted two bollards closely spaced and suggested we try to use them. My idea was to use them as a sort of throne as if Keith is the king, albeit minus a queen, and use this as a starting point. He suggested he try to position himself lying across the two bollards: we had a go and it looked great. Here’s an opening shot of that series:

We managed to take around 100 shots with Keith in this position before we ran out of time. Again, we tried a few different things. We ended up liking this shot the most:

Back in the studio I had 30 minutes to get the image over to the printer in Spain. I gave it a quick clean and removed the window on the left. Finally I graded the image and adjusted the colours slightly.

The feedback from this shot has been great for me but especially for Keith. It’s humorous but he’s serious. This image has helped to drive people to book his slot in the Salamanca Arts Festival and he’s used it since for a few other things as well. Here’s the finished image as supplied:

Links to helpful resources, clients and friends

My Advertising Site – A link to my dedicated advertising site

Wordpress – Without this organisation this site would still be built using Flash and you’d still be waiting for it to load.

Strobist – One guy, a few lights, a load of great information.

Kevin Winzeler’s Blog – A really honest approach to building yourself up as a photographer.

Jody Monaghan & Joanne McLaughlin – The blog of a freelance creative team that I’ve been doing a lot of work with recently.

Salty Squid – A great idea. Take two people, a budget of €15 and create a new tapas menu each week. Start a blog detailing your recipes and how they tasted.

Cream Graphics – Super helpful guys that helped me to develop this wordpress site.

Headshot Clinic – For great actors headshots.

Introducing…

Last modified on 2010-06-19 10:32:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

From the left: My able assistant George, myself looking a bit confused and the brilliant model Igor. I’ll post up the finished image later.

Promo video for Headshot Clinic

Last modified on 2010-06-18 20:47:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Just finished this promo video for the Headshot Clinic – thanks to Barry MacNeill for shooting and editing it.

Johnny Walker Viral

Last modified on 2010-05-11 12:46:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I know, I know. I should be blogging more about photography and photographers. And I will get back to that. But people keep sending me on really interesting video content. Like this viral for Johnny Walker. The story goes that it took 40 takes but when they got it right they got the whole thing right, so no cuts at all.

My Inspiration

Last modified on 2010-04-30 12:43:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

From the 60’s cult classic ‘Blow Up’ by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, an early scene demonstrating the character of our ‘hero’ photographer Thomas…Now, I just need to work on my people skills..

garda recruitment work

Last modified on 2010-04-23 10:03:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Jody Monaghan, Joanne McLaughlin and myself just finished the first part of a spec campaign for Garda Recruitment. (never thought I’d be shooting that!) It all looks great and we’re keen to get it into the agencies for their opinions. In fact, the creative duo are this morning meeting with a creative director. So by lunchtime we’ll have someone’s opinion. Have a look below for two outdoor ads and then a three image idea for a possible ambient idea.

Brilliant Stop-Motion

Last modified on 2010-04-20 16:17:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Really great stop motion, I’m going to be shooting a stop motion job pretty soon as part of an ad campaign. I’ll post back when it’s done!

Tatler won a Gold ICAD

Last modified on 2010-04-16 11:09:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Remember the Tatler post further down the blog?

Well, this work shot for Robert Boyle (formerly) of Bloom won a Gold ICAD last night. Congratulations to Robert and all the guys over in Bloom. Here’s what I’m talking about, scroll down further for a YouTube clip. Here’s an article about last night’s awards.

Keith Payne Shoot

Last modified on 2010-04-12 11:17:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Got a last minute call last friday to work up some images for Keith Payne, the Salamanca based Irish poet. He’s got a slot in the Salamanca International Arts Festival later this year and needed some imagery. Quite last minute – the printer needed something by lunchtime! Here’s the shoot happening and one of the finished pieces.

CGI Short by Alex Roman

Last modified on 2010-04-12 11:08:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Wow. Lost. For. Words. This is both exhilarating, beautiful, superbly crafted and really frightening all at the same time. 12 minutes long and took the guy 12 months to make. Hat firmly off.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Did I mention the new studio?!

Last modified on 2010-03-31 13:46:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Well, I guess I must have forgotten. We moved in last December. Got a sweet floor in a big old georgian building on South William St. Come see us!

Kevin Winzeler teaches class

Last modified on 2010-05-21 13:05:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I’ve been following the work of Kevin Winzeler for a while now. I really like his attitude to professional photography, what that means and what it takes. He recently gave this great workshop in the states. Good man Kevin!

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Still here..

Last modified on 2009-09-10 16:10:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Life’s been running away with me of late, no time for lots of things, Blog included. Apologies to those who check in regularly (is that an echo I hear?..)..

Here’s what I’ve been up to of late -

1.Taking pictures of interesting musicians for their press packs. Meet Fiach, just back from Electric Picnic and about to embark on a radio tour, things are really hotting up for him. You can hear some of what he does at his Myspace here. This was shot last month early one saturday morning on location in Dublin 8. Many thanks to Niamh Dunphy as Prop Stylist.

2. Working with interesting new people. I met the talented art director Edwina Nolan a while ago and have done a number of shoots with her, this one for a Bisto Gravy brief. More to come soon…

3. Acting up with my Nephew and Niece. He’s teaching me to be a guitar hero..

4. Taking LOTS of headshots of actors. Here’s one from last week. This is Niall Murphy.

5. Going through old photographs that I never quite knew what to do with. Here’s one from a trip to Ballymahon in Co. Longford taken a while back.

6. Taking full advantage of all the shows and exhibitions up here in the Batter. This one from Adrian Duncan’s exhibition in Pallas.

New Website!

Last modified on 2009-07-14 12:43:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I’ve finally gotten around to building a new website. Thanks to Wix.com for making it so easy…and free!

Eden Home & Garden

Last modified on 2009-07-06 15:24:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I shot a load of stuff for Eden Home and Garden in Blackrock the other day. They’ve some really great stuff down there. If only I had the money…

The Suit..before and after

Last modified on 2009-07-03 23:34:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I had fun earlier in the week shooting David Shafer, just for fun. He kindly let me spend a couple of hours with him and we came up with this. On the advice of a creative director around town I’ve started to show as-shot images in my book along with the post-processed master – I’m going to do the same here and show how this baby started out in life. So, before and after..

Dead Head

Last modified on 2009-06-23 22:51:09 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

One of the guys in the studio, Feargal Ward, and myself decided to chum together and produce a print for the upcoming Bombhouse exhibition. There was a clue given for the theme involving a gun and I think gold. Being boys, we decided to concentrate on the gun aspect. Feargal had recently picked up a bunch of old manekins so we put one to work..

Profile picture

Last modified on 2009-06-12 14:09:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Yesterday I agreed to be a stand in for an hour for my studio mate, Leanne Keaney. She was trying something new out and needed a body. Anyways, I liked what she did and am going to use it for my biography page (which is still coming soon..)

Headshot Clinic

Last modified on 2009-06-12 14:03:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I’ve recently begun a new venture called Headshot Clinic with Patricia Fitzpatrick. We open up the studio for the day for actors to drop in and get their headshots done for the reasonable price of €120. That includes make-up, retouching and good coffee. Have a look at www.headshotclinic.net for more information. Wish us luck!

Psych Ward…again

Last modified on 2009-06-12 14:00:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

In a previous post I mentioned that I’d done some work for Luke McManus and his ‘Psych Ward’ series. Well, they got through to make episode 3 and found themselves short a paparazzi at the last moment. I helped them out with my excellent acting skills! They cut my line though! To see me in my debut role click  – http://www.psychward.ie

Sicily

Last modified on 2009-06-12 13:41:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Got back from Sicily there recently. A great, if very brief, trip. Lots of fun driving through Palermo! Would have liked to spend some time there taking photos but alas had a place to be. It’s a lesson in bad planning decisions (mostly Mafia led). Anyways, here’s some pictures from Capo d’Orlando and Trapani.

How much fun can be had in a ladies bathroom?

Last modified on 2009-05-26 18:30:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Psyche Ward

Last modified on 2009-05-26 18:16:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.