May 13 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on May 13, 2015

I wrote a while back about my experience at the Apple ‘Meet the iPhone Photographer‘ event in London. You can read about it here.

I got notification on Monday that the podcast went live. You can watch the full interview here or if you prefer you can listen to it. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id993249071

Choosing one image from Korea here today, but it is an image from last year. I cannot go too long with posting ordinary photographs. Every now and then I need to shake things up and put some punk rock in my photography. So here is a creation.

The pip-pop life span of worries

The iPhone image is from London. I enjoyed London so, so much. This was shot on the bridge to the right of Millennium bridge. Its name escapes me. The passerby didn’t.

Committed to the future

April 25 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on April 25, 2015

Two more shots from the short trip to Tokyo again today. I was there for only four days and it rained so much. The first time I had been in Tokyo it also rained a lot. Being a real Irishman, I never feel the need to get an umbrella. Umbrellas and rain gear are really just for tourists when they come to Ireland. The rain in Ireland comes mainly in showers and having to carry an umbrella around is a pain in the ass, to be honest. But in Tokyo when it rains, it seems like it never ends. Back in 2012, when I met Michael Kistler one of the first things we did together was to enter a convenience store and to my surprise Michael bought me an umbrella – a transparent one. OK, I thought. Why not?

Now when I am in Tokyo I make sure to get a transparent umbrella. Why? Because it allows me to get these beautiful shots of Tokyo through the transparent umbrella. Here is one of those I got in 2012.

This one I am posting today was shot on the Fuji X100t on an early Friday evening in Shibuya. I like the girl making eye contact on the right of the frame.

Keeping Dry in Tokyo

The iPhone image was shot on a Saturday morning – when it was not raining – in Ginza, which to my surprise has the main street pedestrianised at weekends. I had been in Ginza a few times, but had never really liked it that much in comparison to other Toyko districts. But being able to wander around the street unencumbered by traffic was a great experience.

I am always drawn to lines (pun intended). I found these diverging lines and I knew how I wanted to compose the image. I wanted a couple to approach and part on either side of these lines. Now, this is much easier to imagine in the inside of my head than to actually occur, what with me lingering on the line waiting to snap the approaching passersby. I had to pretend I was talking on the phone. I saw this couple approach and like so much of photography – patience met luck and as they came to the line they parted and walked on either side of the line. Click! I got the shot.

This divide between us will be filled with love or loss

April 23 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on April 23, 2015

I wish I had more time to sit down and document all the things that have happened recently, but I seem to be playing catch up with so much at the moment. Hopefully, things will calm next week and I will get around to recording all the great things I have experienced in recent weeks.

Here are two images from the recent short trip to Tokyo. Is there anywhere in the world where the people are as obsessed with keeping dry as in Tokyo? Everyone, except this for this guy it seems, carries an umbrella.

Conform?

This iPhone shot was taken late on my last night in Tokyo. It had been raining for more than 24 hours solid. These young people are handing out flyers to passersby to attract them into their nightclubs and bars. They didn’t hand any to me. I must be getting old.

Shibuya Night

March 26 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on March 26, 2015

What I like about the Fuji x100t is that what you get straight out of the camera is a top class image quality. The few shots I have posted to Flickr with it have all had minimal post processing, which is a good thing. Looking back at older photos, I do see when I over-processed images, and you know it makes me cringe. But that is the journey. It is all about learning and evolving.

This x100T image was created in the Duomo in Milan. The world-famous cathedral. Like many cathedrals and churches they have become tourist sites, but still are places of worship. I was struck by this man’s composure and demeanour. I studied him for a while as he sat in front of the altar deep in prayer. I envy people who have faith, because the feeling of being loved is the most special feeling of all, and I can only imagine what the sensation must be to feel the love of a god, a creator. When I was a child, I felt God’s presence and never doubted it. When I entered adolescence, that feeling left and it has never returned.

I got a few shots of this man in prayer, both with the Fuji and the iPhone. Then I lit a candle for my friend Liam who had recently passed away, said my own little prayer. Thanked God for the many blessings I have and continued on with being a tourist in a church.

Being Heard

The iPhone image was also taken in the same cathedral. It shows more tourists.

God’s Tourists

March 20 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on March 20, 2015

Posting two images from Milan today. One taken with the Fuji x100t (read my review here) and the other with the iPhone. News about the x100t – I had to return it to the shop. The focus is not working properly and it began to freeze. Looks like it is faulty. The shop have sent it back to Fuji so I will be without it for a period of three weeks. Just when I was growing to like it.

The first image here was taken on a platform in Cadorna metro station in Milan in the evening. Once we turned on to the platform, I was struck by the dazzling black and white horizontal lines of this man’s hoodie. Standing behind him, I shot about 10 different images – both in focus and out-of-focus, and also getting some with the iPhone. It wasn’t the easiest to get as the station was teeming with people and I had the impression that the guy knew I was photographing him.

The hesitancy scale

The iPhone shot is super special to me. This was the moment when I fully realised that my photograph was on display around the world and the enormity of it all hit home. It was a beautiful moment and seeing my wife smiling at me when I became a little emotional about it all is a memory which will stay with me forever. The shot is another to add to the series of images I am doing on reflections. You can see me there – there with my shot on a billboard in Milan, Italy.

All lit up in Milan

February 9 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on February 9, 2015

Two images today from Tokyo and Berlin.

A new week…

Hearing it said

Today I will be mainly hiding from myself

January 22 2015

Posted by Brendan Ó Sé on January 22, 2015

Back to Tokyo, back to Shibuya, back to lurking late at night and trying to get that shot. I took so many images that late night in Shibuya. I can think of no place in the world better for street photography than Shibuya. So many people, so much activity, so many moments. So many memories.

Here is the first in a short series of three of late night pedestrians.

Tokyo Night

And this is a late night image from Seoul. Another which did not get my attention last year, but one I really like now.

Seoul

Photographic Punctuation

Trying to see what can be seen and how to see it.

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