up close and personal

click images for a larger look.

new blog url


http://www.michaelpatrickoleary.blogspot.com is now www.grianghrafadoir.com.

Please take note.
same content, new url.
-mpo

car mounts and disappointments


Click image for larger view

So in my head, Peanut (dog,) has his head stretched out the window, tongue out, wind blowing through his hair, while the background blurs into a swirling mass of urban colors and a deep blue sky. I got the car mount from Serious grip and Electric, spent about an hour building it, got the lights firing intermitently off my inverter (a tru sine wave inverter could have saved some frustration there), and lured the dog into the truck. Normally he loves riding in the truck and is all about the wind in the face, but for some reason he had no interest in the window. He’s a little skittish as it is, so he just nestled up to me for the better portion of the ride. Regardless of how much planning you do, some variables you just won’t have control over. All in all the shot didn’t pan out the way I had imagined it, but I still got a couple of good frames. Maybe I’ll try to merge the exposures to see if there is a more interesting image somewhere. Here’s some shots of the rig and a video clip of the build and the ride.

el rancho starto


I started thinking about images for the El Rancho Grande Show opening on Aug 7th. Here we go again. The hardest part is trying to figure out what to show. I think I’m going to produce a number of images for the show. It’s a good way to get some of the stuff that’s been in my head out onto paper. Put a deadline on it. Here’s the start of one of the images. This Idea was spawned from the backdrop. It’s harder working in this order (rather than starting with the idea), b/c you are limited to how you shot the first piece. This is two pieces merged. It still has more to come. I’m thinking a couple of people and maybe a jungle animal. click image for enlargement.

Bocce Balls


Lunchtime in Brugge

not a cover. just a photo.


So, after my last post about “eyes so strong and clean”, Caleb read along, saw the picture, and had a change of heart. It really affirmed what I was thinking about the image. He decided we would use the image I posted here as the cover. Great! -except: I found this image in a pile of stuff we had shot as a test and cropped way in just to see if what I was thinking was true. This was all great for a blog posting online, but left us about enough resolution to print the CD cover at 5″x5″ and nothing more. damn. Caleb was prepared to use it and know that he would never print it any bigger. Not for any promotional materials, posters, nothing. I gave him some time to really consider that commitment, and before he could give me his final answer I talked him into doing one more sitting. What’s an hour or two of our time worth anyway. We’re self employed. We’ve got nowhere to be on any given Wednesday. So we shot another round. I sent him one shot from that morning and we’re in agreement that the new shot is the one. This round of editing became a real lesson in the subtleties of a person’s expression. I can’t for the life of me see anything distinctly different about the two photo’s in Caleb’s expression, but it is a totally different emotion. I’ll post the new image along side the original when the album is released.
– The photo above is just an out take from that morning. When doing her gap advertisements, Annie Leibovitz said “Avedon owns the white.” I agree. It’s his, he made a career of it. No one will ever do it better than him. Avedon owns it, I’m just going to borrow it for a while.
Click image for larger look.

brugge, belgium

Brugge will blow your mind. Everywhere you look is some beautiful photo op waiting to happen. It’s seems as though the “new” construction in this city has to be 500 years old. Here’s 3 images, all handheld hdr, processed through photomatix. I can’t get enough of the detail enhancement. it’s like a whole new medium. The buildings and cityscapes in brugge just scream for over the top detail enhancement. As always please click on the images for larger versions.

my youngin


been busy working, traveling, living, etc. haven’t had time to post in a while. Here’s a shot of my little one in the meantime. I hope to have some photo’s of belgium up soon. as always, click for larger version, it’s always more impressive.

The Wanderous – on location


I’ve been working with Ashley Compton a.k.a The Wanderous, putting together images (this is not them) that will rotate through as the headers for her new blog. The headers sum up the style and attention to detail that is the signature of thewanderous. So far we’ve shot out Dec-June, I think, with a few variations of each. I’ve always loved websites (and blogs) that change the content along with page elements regularly. If only I could keep up myself. Ashley was kind enough to stick around after a long exhausting shoot, for a few extra shots for my own collection. Click images for larger

Canon 5d vs. Canon g10

I also took the opportunity to put my canon g10 up against my 5d. I’m sure this thing has been tested against just about every other canon body out there, but I always like to see for myself. The 14.7 mega pixel g10 with ccd chip is on the top and the 12.8 mega pixel canon 5d with cmos sensor on the bottom.

Same aperture, ISO, shutter etc. I shot the 5d with my 24-70 f2.8L at 70mm. The g10 was at15.7mm on the lens which I estimated to be in the same ballpark based on it’s total 6.1-30.5mm range equivalent to 28-140mm in 35mm terms.



ISO 100 f7.1 1/200sec

Same shots here blown up. No pixels have been altered.

The 5d is obviously far superior, but the g10 doesn’t disappoint me. I bought the g10 for several reasons.
1. To be armed with some camera is better than no camera. With it’s compact body, fully manual functions, ability to shoot raw files and new wider (28mm) lens it does everything you want it to in a mediocre kind of way. keep in mind, mediocre is better than nothing if I’m not carrying around the 5d because of the load.
2. The g10 will often be used to shoot backgrounds and other elements that I come across that will later be composited in. Most of these things are often out of focus or a small piece of the image where sharpness is not as crucial. The shots of Ashley above are a perfect example of this. My background library is growing at a rapid pace since addition of the g10 to my artillery.
3. I’m looking forward to using the underwater housing this summer and wouldn’t want to risk something like that with my main body. I rarely take the 5d to the beach in fear of the sand, forget about the ocean.

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