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Hi from Kilkenny , Home of the Black and Amber !
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Sorry , we Kilkenny photogs only do Black & Amber !
Glad to be here, only came across the website today, and joined.
I’m an old veteran, was with the papers, mostly the Munster Express, Waterford, for a dozen formative years in my photography , from 1969 to 1981, and before that for Oliver Dunphy, now retired, Oliver Studios, High Street, Kilkenny , where, yes, I worked on full studio sets, Hassies and all ( Tip, I prefer Bronica & Mamiya as they don’t jam like Hassies, and they’re cheaper too ! – plus the Bronica SQA I use is built like a tank, no Hassie is, so Hassie for the studio, Bronicas and Mamiya 645 for outdoors, the Mamiya for light weight & great glass, suits ladies especially )
Worked for myself for years full-time, esp weddings, schools, home photos, confirmations – I must have photographed six Archbishops and about thirty Bishops in my time ! Also in news photos, Taoisigi etc, including the latest incumbent Brian Cowan, BUT enough of that , Politics and religion to be aired in the Backyard as far as I’m concerned.
But I did learn a little trick once from Derek Speirs of catching Ministers, TDs and Senators fast asleep on the platform as the Taoiseach spoke, only ever caught two of them, alas, in my time !
It was hard enough NOT to be a photographer as I grew up here in Kilkenny in the Sixties, having such camera men like Roy Esmonde for neighbours.
I like to think that we brought up and maintained the standard of photography in Kilkenny over the years between us, to that end I was a Founder of Kilkenny Photographic Society back in 1982 which still flourishes, helped found it as my fellow pros did, but then wisely left it to them .
BIG TIP : I’m falling over cameras and equipment here these days, but I remember that Pentax Spotmatic I started out on back in 1965, of course it’s the best of them all – that 50 mm 1.4 Super Takumar lens will never be beaten, with it a 35mm Pentax stood up to a Hasselblad, It did in my hands to Oliver’s Hasselblad at the time, that’s why I think he hired me,heh heh heh, at the time , to get rid of the opposition.
Seriously that 50mm Takumar f 1.4 was even better than any Leica or Zeiss I ever used, I think Pentax withdrew it when they found out that it was too good for a kit lens ! You can still buy it perfectly working today, but realise that Pentax used a Thorium coating on it that has yellowed with age, and all you have to do is expose each side of it in your window to ultra-violet light and it clears brand new and sparkling once again.
( Thorium is radio-active, but not sufficiently so in the Takumar to be a health hazard, so you needn’t worry about a hole in your chest with that Super Takumar, heh heh heh . The lens is 42mm universal screw , you can get adaptors to mount it on your digital today.
( Another great set of lenses I came across in my time are the Series 1 Vivitar in the early Seventies, esp those starting with the serial numbers 22……. they cost up to 300 quid which was an awful lot at the time, still the very best manual zooms around , and again can be attached to your digital by special adaptor, those things being got mostly from Hong Kong today )
Well that’s it, that’s me, photographed Mick Jagger, Marian Faithfull and the Hon. Des Guinness on a quiet Saturday morning in 1969 at Kytelers Inn in Kilkenny for the ‘ Kilkenny People’ . a young 62 today, living here in the centre of Kilkenny along by the Garda Station in Dominic Street here, all to myself, small studio too, wet darkroom, digital darkroom, small room I use as studio, but semi -retired. won’t do late-night functions etc anymore, even though I’m a Night Owl all my life, all that is for you younger lot coming up – may you catch many sleeping TDs .
( But. come to think of it, I never caught a Sleeping Bishop while the Pope was speaking, there’s an assignment for some of you ! ) .
Yes, I use Digital and like and enjoy it but nowhere near film esp for B&W. As David Bailey says ‘ Digital makes everybody look the same, all faces out of a computer ‘ – I bow to the Master !
I love loafing around for those street shots with my old Full Metal Jacket Fujica ST 605n, meter long gone, but I always use a light meter anyway, my faithful old Weston Master V with Invercone , never fails . And I will most always still manual focus anyway, if I get the time – the best old habits I’ve kept !
( In Digital I use a Fuji S2 DSLR and a Panasonic Lumix Bridge Camera with equivalent 36-430 mm Leica lens ) .
Anyway, you’re welcome to drop in if passing by for a Capuccino or whatever :
Email : PhotographerOfKilkennygmail.com and mcgratmjtcd.ie
Mobile 0879145714
( 18 Dominic Street, Kilkenny City )
Cheers,
Michael .
( My most treasured moment : When I was invited as sole Official Photographer of the Convocation of the National College of Art & Design in 1981 ) .
Best introduction to PI that I have ever read…welcome to the site.
Noel Browne.
The Nikon F801, and even better the Nikon N90s ( U.S. version of the F90x ) .
Minolta Dynax 4 , Canon 300V ,
and, most enjoyably, the ‘Full Metal Jacket’ Fujica ST605n with Zeiss 42mm universal screw lenses
( These Fujicas are great for being able to use the Zeiss and Takumar lenses on them, and can be got dead cheap, great for a beginnier too, and small enough, and light enough to be carried under a coat and used for the street candids I love to get ) .
And, today with falling prices there is no excuse for anybody not to use Nikon and Componon lenses in your enlargers, still the only way to produce the best B&W Blow -Ups – the best – in your enlargers.
Flash units, several, but I only ever trust Metz Mecablitz – and in the old day, when I could get them, Braun .And anybody who wants to set up cheap, go out and buy a second – hand Olympus SLR, the entire lens outfits come really cheap, as not many people today remember the Eighties when Olympuses stood up to Nikons !
Try that fab Olympus OM4 – ti( Secret : get out and shoot in the rain, the light is always better ! ) .
Very nice photography, Noel .
In portraiture & Wedding Photography, Kilkenny and Waterford have always maintained the highest of standards, even more so than Dublin where I worked for some years, and defintely better than London :-)
I’ve known Eoin Murphy , Staff Photographer of the Munster Express, since we were 14 years of age – and I learned from Eoin too, the late Joe McGrath , his son still going, I believe ? , Bernard Kelly & Declan Waters a quarter of a century ago when they had their studio in the Apple Market there, Tommy Goggin too when he was in O’Connell Street, all nice fellows and highly competent pros in their time – not to mention the legendary Ms. Brophy of times long gone by when I was a kid.
You’re keeping up that standard – of course the good lucks of the Deise girls helps !!!
Cheers,
Michael.Hi Michael,
Welcome to PI.
I have a feeling you might be in good company here.
I’ll have to come back to your fine introduction later as I’m off out searching
for the elusive golden hour sun. :?Best of luck.
John.
– I play a Gibson Epiphone Sheraton 11 , not too well, I’m afraid, but OK on rythm .
I play the button accordeon, that I’ve played since I was 6 years of age a whole lot better !!!
I loved the ‘ How Many’ ( wedding photos) discussion.
I’d have to agree with Roq ,I’m an Old Timer Hasselbladder, 3X120 rolls for 30 in the album – mock-up of the cake cutting before the wedding breakfast starts, and GONE , FAST , heh heh heh .
How to get everybody in the Big Group looking at the same time at the camera – easy – a hidden referee’s whistle , whip it out fast, one BLAST out of the blue, take them by surprise, every face will be stuck on you, give a micro-second untiil they cop on , start to laugh, press fast, rewind fast, another shot as the smile leaves their faces, lovely, in the bag !
Up the road to LSL for processing for the album, job done !( Today, I do take some candids in addition on digital, about 100, but totally inobtrusively so they forget I’m even there ! ) I process these myself.
I’ll go through it all in depth on the ‘ How Many’ wedding shots thread .
Can one use a medium format as fast as a digital,not quite, but far more effectively , much better composition too. Nothing beats those MF screens .
( I’ve posed , shot, changed backs, organised, took names & addresses , of 30 + kids with the Bishop after Confirmation, separately, teachers and parents flying in and out, on Bronica SQA, hand-metering, in half-an-hour – but I had to, as it started pelting snow, then COLLAPSED !!! )
But that’s why they always want me back all over the years .
AVOID Press photography like the plague if you can, but it’s a great training earlier on !!!
( Especially avoid if the local newspaper’s repro is lousy, as it usually is !!! )Cheers, Thanks for the Welcome,
MichaelWelcome along Michael. Like Noel (Brownie) I found this intro to be a great read, and as I’ve found out, any reply to a thread has the same informative and easily read appeal.
I’ve a feeling you’ll fit in very well here. Just a pity you’re from Kilkenny though…us Wexfordmen have long standing grudges towards Kilkenny people…normally around the first weekend in September!!
Alan.
Great to have you on board Michael … enjoyed the intro, and you have a great depth of experience and knowledge…. which I will be tapping into as often as possible :-)
Philip
Hi Michael. Welcome to the site. A great intro as the lads have said. Brought back memories of my youth. The great Annie Brophy was a class act who produced some excellent photos, as did the others. You have been at this game a long time and can obviously be a great source of information for us beginners (and maybe even a few tips on hurling too :lol: :lol: ). Hope you enjoy your time here.
Yes, great intro, a good read, welcome to the site-
I think you’ll be sticking around-joseph
irishwonkafan wrote:
Welcome along Michael. Like Noel (Brownie) I found this intro to be a great read, and as I’ve found out, any reply to a thread has the same informative and easily read appeal.
I’ve a feeling you’ll fit in very well here. Just a pity you’re from Kilkenny though…us Wexfordmen have long standing grudges towards Kilkenny people…normally around the first weekend in September!!
Alan.
And I remember one time, about twenty years ago or more, when I simply could not stop doing business as a Photographer all over Wexford – until your pubs got the better of me !
Great people there in Wexford.
( I got sense only seven years ago )
Cheers,
Michael .miki g wrote:
Hi Michael. Welcome to the site. A great intro as the lads have said. Brought back memories of my youth. The great Annie Brophy was a class act who produced some excellent photos, as did the others. You have been at this game a long time and can obviously be a great source of information for us beginners (and maybe even a few tips on hurling too :lol: :lol: ). Hope you enjoy your time here.
I think, sadly, it simply has to be Tipp next year, after that outstanding Tipp performance against us, we were damned lucky and we know it too ! Took us all our craftiness to survive !!!
( I used to like Clonmel for a day/night out, have family ties with Carrick, good friends in Thurles – but I love and adore Cashel ) .
Cheers,
Michael .Pippatee wrote:
Great to have you on board Michael … enjoyed the intro, and you have a great depth of experience and knowledge…. which I will be tapping into as often as possible :-)
Philip
Thanks, Philip, no problem – IF I know it :-)
Pippatee wrote:
Great to have you on board Michael … enjoyed the intro, and you have a great depth of experience and knowledge…. which I will be tapping into as often as possible :-)
Philip
Hi Philip, mouth-watering work, I see… I’ll hire you when I’m getting married, won’t be for a while yet, I’m only 62 :-)
jb7 wrote:
Yes, great intro, a good read, welcome to the site-
I think you’ll be sticking around-joseph
Bracketing ?
I worked for a dozen years for The Munster Express and never bracketted once, none of us did, we couldn’t afford it in those days, old Smokie Joe , Bless Him, would have gone on fire if he heard about anybody bracketting, and by the time we were able to afford to we had no need to bracket by then :-) Thanks JB .
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