Where am I?

I had a lovely paragraph about how I got here. Mostly I just miss my wife, lost to cancer and am rebuilding my life without her.

Background

I've been shooting for over 20 years now, beginning right at the start of Digital photography as we know it. I started with a film SLR though, and began with Black and White photography, processing my own film in the darkroom. That doesn't mean much, it's just where I began. I'd truly love to do tintypes and wet plate now though. I have done a course in Wet Plate in the Gallery of Photography. I’ve even bought an Intrepid 4X5 large format camera and a 240mm Schnider lens. Maybe it’ll happen this year.

I started photography with Band work. I've shot a bunch of CD covers for a number of bands, as well as loads of promo and live band work. I've shot music videos-pretty basic ones, and I've done courses on documentary video. I'm starting to shoot more video as personal work too.

I'm widowed and live in a ground floor apartment surrounded by flower planters with my son Matt. For my photography work, I shoot commercial work mostly, from product, to property, to portraits.

Stuff I do/did

I’m an official Fujifilm X-Photographer. I have been for a few years. I love the system. I'm an Adobe Community Professional for Lightroom. I wrote my first book ‘Photoshop Lightroom Made Easy’ for PIP way back in 2009. This was based on running Lightroom Blog. I also wrote Essential Development, an ebook for Craft and Vision which went through version for Lightroom 4 and 5. I’m currently updating this for Lightroom 11. My most recent book is 'The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC' for Rocky Nook, available in print and as an eBook.

I’m a regular columnist for Kelbyone’s Lightroom Magazine. I’ve been writing for Digital Camera World Magazine for over 6 years, with a small break during the pandemic. I also wrote for Digital Photography School, which formally finished with Covid-19.

I've been published in Acoustic, Bass Magazine, Photoshop User, Layers, Prudence, Galway Now, Hot Press, Flawless, The Thin Air Magazine among others, along with Sunday Independent Life, The Examiner's Weekender magazine, Sunday Business Post, RSVP magazine, The Sunday World, The Sun, The Mirror and The Star. I also did a stint with the Galway Independent, mostly shooting the Set List page, and a few news stories for good measure.

I’ve gotten awards and nominations for awards throughout my photo career, and if you want to know them, I’ll tell you, but really, you don’t care anyway. Some of them are hanging in my studio, some are in boxes somewhere.