I will add a couple of shots here to give you a flavour of the kind of creations she is able to put together for anyone is after a special hat for a special occassion.

I will provide all the necessary detailed information of all the people involved when I do the full post in a little while.

We took these images at the beautiful Coole Park by Gort.

A huge thanks must go to Maja who helped in getting this day sorted, thank you Maja!!!

We had such a blast that we decided that another one was going to have to be done in the near future. The biggest difference with the next session is we are going to swap places with me on the receiving end of the camera especially as I mentioned I needed new pictures for my section too.

I first met Siofra’s parents, Mairead & Rory, around Christmas time last year (2009) when my wife and I were visiting a friend and they happened to be there too. Mairead was heavily pregnant at the time and I felt a  little bit awkward asking her if she fancied having some pictures taken in light of us only just meeting as I was keen to get some bump shots for my portfolio. Oh by the way, that was somewhat of a hint, so if anyone knows someone who is pregnant and fancies having some shots done, then please get back in touch.

Move on a few months and when our friend Mary told me that gorgeous Siofra was born, I offered to take some pictures if Mairead & Rory were interested. I was pleasantly surprised when I got word back they were up for it, so one fine Sunday over I went for a bit of a photoshoot.

For the camera geeks out there who sometimes ask what lens I used for the specific shots. The first three images were taken with my trusty 24-70mm F2.8L lens and the last three images were taken on the amazing 85mm F1.2L II. All shots were taken without flash using natural light only.

I decided to go for a B&W theme here – enjoy!!

A little sneak peek of the gorgeous Siofra with the most cute smile  :-)

So without further delay, I present the star of the day, young Patrick.

To my surprise I got a call about 2-3 weeks back from Majella to say she had had a baby and would I come out to take a few snaps. It was good seeing everyone again, especially the little princesses, who had all grown so much since I last saw them. When I got there Majella and one of the girls were feeling a bit rough around the edges so I took a couple of snaps but decided to come back when everyone was on top form.

I thought a quick sneak peek was in order of the cute Patrick with his saucepan eyes! Girls, you had better watch out when he is much older as no doubt this young chap will break some hearts for sure.

The shot was taken using only natural light with a 50mm f1.4 lens on my 5D. Any other questions, just leave me a comment and I will answer soon enough.

EDIT:  Just had confirmation that the session will not be shown until the June issue so sorry folks, you will have to wait a little while for the images  :-)

Katherine McGee, who I know through Bualadh Bos, the Oranmore Music & Drama Group has been asked to do a presentation in Dublin in the near future. She was asked by the organisers to provide a head-shot which is to be used in the programme and for the web site. As she did not have any new or decent images to hand, this is where I stepped in to help out.

I was also recently asked how I achieved the above shot when I showed it to another photographer friend so I thought I would let you know. In a nutshell, it was done Strobist style!! I used a Canon 580EX Mk1 flash (at 1/8th power) on a light stand using a small softbox on camera left to help soften the light. By keeping the shutter speed at a decent enough speed, it ensured the background light came through and provide nice ambient background light. I also used my super duper 85mm F1.2 L II lens which I have started using again with great results.

The second shot below was just something we did in the back garden of my house as Katherine had her lovely dog, Oskar with her to keep us company and we wanted to make sure he was in on the action too.

As she has recently been elected to Galway City Council, Hildegarde was looking for the shots to be less official or formal looking which suited me to the ground. We headed into Galway and ended up at the House Hotel which is a cracking boutique style hotel in the city centre. I have used this hotel on numerous occasions in the past so it was a bit of a no brainer heading there again.

Here are a couple of the shots I took and I will add a copy of the article to show you how it ended up when I get a copy.