I am very pleased to present my new website. It has taken me a while to get there, but now it is live. Have a look around. Tell me what you think. And thank you for all the support and kindness you have given to me over the years.
Two photographs from Tokyo today. DSLR is rainy Tokyo – always raining there, it seems.
brendanose.com
And the iPhone is all about rain too.
brendanose.com
Photographic processes. At times, mine is a little scattergun like. I shoot, I save in iPhoto and the ones that jump off the screen I drag into Lightroom and process and post to Flickr. I rarely have more than 4 shots lined up that I want to post to Flickr and when I do I get itchy and want to start something new. This has served me very well over the past few years, but now I feel I need to be more systematic about what I have done. I need to group and knit together the various little projects and themes I have worked on over the past few years.
This means I am doing some housekeeping on the images I took in 2014 and posting ones that have been sitting unloved and unnoticed in iPhoto. When this clearance has been done, then I am going to start a 52-week project; posting one image a week. I am endeavouring to do this to work on the skill of editing. Life is difficult when there is choice, as I always say, and discarding images in preference to others can be a challenge. Any time I enter a competition I struggle to select – to select a winning image 🙂 . It is hard. Just today a friend on Flickr told me the images I chose in my end-of-year review would not have been his choices, and I think if I was doing it again, I probably would choose 12 different images.
Anyway, let’s see if I can work in this direction.
Looking back through last year’s images, I found this one taken in Daegu, South Korea. I like the fact that in this image there is a reflection on the man’s face. It is like a little sign telling us not to intrude and at the same time serves as a mask for the man.
What you will see in me will not be anything new
And talking of series: One of the ones I have been working on which is all about phun, is Trees need to cheer the fuck up. And you know they do. Shot was taken with the 1-hour Photo app and is straight out of the camera. Check the whole Flickr set here.
Trees need to cheer the fuck up
12 months of photographs from Wicklow, Dublin, London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Hong Kong, Seoul, Busan, Geochang, Tokyo, Kyoto, Taipei and the People’s Republic of Cork. Having gone back over the images I posted in 2014, the DSLR image I keep coming back to is this:
My favourite photograph of 2014 (DSLR)
I gave it the title Slow releasing melancholy. There is something so soothing about melancholy. In the distance, through the dribbling raindrops you can see Tokyo in the evening high up from Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. Tokyo does mood so well. The observation deck of this skyscraper had low lights and the gentlest of jazz music playing in the background. I could go on and write more about this image, but it is all yours. See what you want to see and feel whatever the image frees in you.
I posted an iPhone photograph of my son in the art gallery of the university I work in on the last day of 2014, not only because I love the image, but because I knew I wanted to have it posted in 2014 because it is my very favourite image I took with the iPhone in 2014. James is four now and a happy and healthy, little boy. He is curious, but quickly distracted and this image captures it all for me. The framed photographs got his attention for a few seconds. He scanned them and disregarded them and moved on.
My favourite photograph of 2014 (iPhone)
So here you go, here are the 12 images for DSLR and iPhone which stood out for me. Thanks for all the visits and feedback. Here’s to 2015! Everything will happen. Believe – achieve.
My favourite iPhone images of 2014
My favourite DSLR images of 2014
And on to the final month of the year: December. This will bring a total of 11 images chosen for both DSLR and iPhone. 11 months as I didn’t post anything to Flickr in the month of April. My friend, Michael Veltman, suggested I should choose my favourite image of 2014 to make up the 12 photos for the year. So, tomorrow I will try to choose one image that is my very favourite from 2014. This will not be easy. Maybe you could help me. What is your favourite image of mine in the past 12 months?
In December, I had a short visit to Berlin to attend a conference and in the evenings I got out shooting. One evening I took a walk along one of the main shopping streets – a street whose name I cannot recall. This wonderful building lit up in white stripes to contrast with the black of the building was eye catching and I knew I had to get a few shots of it. I got a few of passersby blurred out as they crossed the intersection in front of it and headed up the street. Passing a black van and seeing how the lights of the store lit up on the side of the van got me thinking and composing. I stood on the side of the street and waited for cars and passersby to come. The results are below. Click on them for the large version.
And in this little series the one I like most is this:
December
December was probably the best month for images posted to the iPhone account. There are so many that I really like and choosing a favourite from this month is very difficult. I could easily choose any of the following images. Click on them for the large version.
Also, any of these could easily be my favourite:
But the one which I like most is this taken in Copenhagen. Reflections are another way of seeing and so often they can transform the ordinary to the extraordinary. Any time I see glass or a shiny surface I am looking to see what it reflects. This old and dirty window in Copenhagen had not been cleaned in years and the grime gave such a beautiful texture. All I had to do was wait for someone to enter the scene and in what was a ready-made frame.
December
November saw more photographs from Copenhagen. Choosing my favourite DSLR for November is very easy for me.
November
I struggled with processing this image and wrote about it here in November. I posted other similar images in the month which I also like:
November has been the easiest month for me to choose my favourites. This iPhone image stands out for me. It is a simple, straight-up street shot.
November
Only one month left and then to choose my favourite image of 2014. Thanks for all the visits.
October saw me visit Copenhagen for the first time and how I loved the visit. It is one the coolest cities I have ever been to. The people are calm, friendly and also very cool. In the week I was there I managed to get in as much shooting as possible and had some good fortune while doing so. Having cycled all my life, Copenhagen was a delight for me. The guy who I was renting an apartment from left me use of his bike for the week. This allowed me to get around the city with ease and to see as much as possible in a short time.
I really do not think I have ever visited anywhere and come back with so many images that I liked. With the DSLR, I loved these images taken on a sunny evening on the main shopping street in Copenhagen. You can click through to see the large images.
But the image which I like more than any that I got in Copenhagen has no recognisable features that can link it to the city of Copenhagen. It is a classic bokeads image. I have been doing fewer and fewer of those in recent times, and I do think it is something I need to get back to. I gave this one the title of “The weight of other people”. There is a theme of loneliness in these images, a yearning to be able to hide; hide from others and hide mainly from ourselves. Other people should keep us buoyant. If they don’t, cut them loose.
October
As I was saying, I was so pleased with the images I got in Copenhagen and those shot with the iPhone were also great. Here are some of my favourites – you can click through to see the large images.
But the one I like most (even more than this one) again has no recognisable features of Copenhagen, but it is my favourite.
October
Only two months to go! What will be my overall favourite from 2014?
Closing the series on Copenhagen today. It has been a nice ride and might revisit it later on. Thanks to all for the wonderful positive feedback on the images I have posted here.
Here is one of the first images I took on that sunny Saturday afternoon in Copenhagen. There is very little processing on this. I like the older woman looking off into the distance. We started with a young woman and close with an older one. From black and white to colour also. You can see the full set of images here.
Closing Copenhagen
And this image is one I really like; simple and to the point. It has the ubiquitous bike and that wonderful burnt orange paint on the brick of the houses. You can see the full set of iPhone images from Copenhagen here.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen – wonderful. Definitely a place I would like to revisit! Thanks to all.