Peter Fingleton

Video portraits

2012-01-19T15:24:00.000Z

I've finally got round to updating my website with some video work from my degree show. You can check them out here.

For my degree show each portrait was displayed on a portrait-orientated HD screen side-by-side playing simultaneously. Below is was the trial video I made with my friend Sara. In the end all of the portraits in my degree show were of young men so Sara wasn't included.

Totally Dublin December

2011-12-02T23:45:00.001Z

Was delighted to work with Totally Dublin's new fashion director Kate O'Dowd on this shoot. The gorgeous Thalia from Morgan did her thing in and around some artwork provided by Dublin's graffiti guru Maser.

Photography: Peter Fingleton
Styling: Kate O'Dowd
Hair & makeup: Jennifer Quinn
Artwork: Maser
Photo assistant: Simon Bhuiyan

Thread - Dark Portraits

2011-11-21T01:05:00.001Z

from Thread Issue 2

THREAD 2

2011-11-08T20:38:00.000Z

Dublin's newest and best fashion magazine Thread launched its second issue last Friday with a soiree in Block T. Another beautifully laid out issue full of wonderful editorials and features.

I was lucky enough to get involved in this issue and you'll find my dark portraits towards the back of the magazine.

Styled by the lovely Angela Scanlon.

hipster halloween

2011-10-03T11:56:00.003+01:00

Hallowe'en-ey photoshoot in the latest issue of Totally Dublin.

speaking of wolves..

2011-10-02T22:10:00.002+01:00

I introduced myself to someone recently and they misheard me and thought I said 'Lorcan Finnegan'. I was confused the next time I met this person when they started complimenting me on my video work. Checked out Mr. Finnegan and the below video was the first I watched. Soooo lovely and too fricken cute, and the song's great too!

What time is it Mister Wolf?

2011-10-01T20:43:00.008+01:00

Bitches with Wolves frontman on the cover of GCN (top image) and the artwork for his forthcoming single 'Hurricane', both shot by me (cover design by Gianni) Time to find out who this guy is before he blows up and has no time for you :P

All New Panti

2011-10-01T20:31:00.003+01:00

The endlessly fabulous Panti welcomed me into her den of glittering iniquity this week to get some publicity shots of her and Bunny for the All New Panti Show which is happening every Saturday at Pantibar now, rather than Thursday as previously. Snapped her by herself just before I left in what some of you may recognise as her 'God Warrior' outfit. The glamour!

gays on film

2011-09-24T20:30:00.006+01:00

Messed around with a Nikon film SLR over the summer and only got around to getting the pictures developed this week. Haven't felt the giddiness of getting rolls of films back with no recollection on whats on them in so long. Must do that more often!

Sunrise over Killiney

2011-09-20T19:28:00.005+01:00

Assisting on a shoot from 7am ain't so bad when the view's this nice.

One man show

2011-09-13T16:53:00.004+01:00

This is my coverstory shoot with Neil Watkins for the September issue of GCN. Neil is currently performing his play The Year of Magical Wanking at the Project Arts Centre as part of Absolut Fringe. Got to see it last night and highly recommend it - though its not for the faint of heart.

Best little warehouse in Dublin

2011-09-13T16:29:00.002+01:00

Another shoot featuring my favourite new Irish model Fionn. We shot it in the awesome Basic Space warehouse. The shoot was featured on the Weekly Edit a lil while ago, check out stylist Colm Corrigan's take on 'How to Dress Like a Man'.

Photography: Peter Fingleton
Styling: Colm Corrigan
Hair and make-up: Leonard Daily @ Morgan The Agency
Model: Fionn @ 1st Option

Where I'm at

2011-09-13T03:26:00.016+01:00

Can't believe I haven't posted since July, time is flying by at a terrifying pace. The last few months have been pretty busy I guess. I'm shooting as much as possible and continuing working as a photographer for Dublin Contemporary, which launched last week. Hit up Electric Picnic with the Body & Soul crew which was amazing fun and am currently trying to get my website finished off. Just thought I'd post a few of the things I've been up to:

1.) Shot Dublin's up and coming pop maestro James O'Neill's album artwork for his project Bitches With Wolves' forthcoming EP. Check him out here.
2.) Behind-the-scenes pic from a shoot with Rosemary MacCabe which should be on the newsstand with the Irish Times magazine this Saturday.
3.) A shot from the install of Dublin Contemporary. Have been trying to keep photographic track of the various goings-on and exhibition openings of this wonderful event. Do try and make time to see as many of the shows as possible.
4.) Another shoot, this time for the lovely Bow Boutique in the Powerscourt Townhouse shopping centre.
5.) Some promo work for the very talented Anthony Ward who you'll be able to catch on a new RTE music-based gameshow sometime from late September.

Quite a few more fashion shoots lined up in the coming weeks which I'm looking forward to getting stuck into. Hopefully I'll find the time to update the blog a bit more regularly.

Meanwhile...

2011-07-23T14:41:00.005+01:00

I know I've been harping on about fashion photography lately but I'm still trying to keep doing as much as possible in other areas. Below is a shot from the FOUR FLOORS group photography show in the MadArt Gallery which opened on Thursday and runs until the 31st July. I just had three pieces from my degree show work in it (the three images hung vertically on the right), but there's lots of pieces from various graduates and other photographers throughout the whole building, worth a look.

And on my way to the show I noticed this huge poster (second from the left for Mangina Jones' show W(h)ine and Moan out the front of the Project Arts Centre which is also appearing on the front of all their July brochures.

Lovebox 2011

2011-07-21T13:42:00.010+01:00

Lovebox 2011 aka the day the Dublin gays invaded London. What a weekend, and thanks to the ever fabulous Jonny Woo I managed to get my camera in this year! More pictures to follow on SHARPSHOCK but for now here's a taste:

Still wish I looked less starstruck and more calm and cool in my picture with Peaches but.. its PEACHES!

More buoys

2011-07-11T18:03:00.002+01:00

Couple more shots from my Totally Dublin At Sea issue editorial (previously). And a big goofy group shot of us, one big happy family.

THREAD

2011-07-06T23:49:00.006+01:00

THREAD - a new fashion magazine for Dublin. Garrett Pitcher of Indigo & Cloth and superstylist Aisling Farinella are the main brains behind this new freesheet which you can find at Indigo & Cloth, Smock, Bow and Costume right now. Still poring over it, the photography is just gorgeous. Just a sample of what it looks like below but you really need a physical copy to appreciate the quality. I highly encourage you to follow the magazine on Twitter or Facebook to find out more.

And while we're on the topic of Aisling Farinella, busybee that she is, she also has this exhibition opening July 12th:

Common Ground: A G.H. Mumm Exhibition, Twisting Conventions in Fashion & Architecture’. Using designers like Simone Rocha, Una Burke, Eme Vandal and Tim Ryan, the project aimed to show the parallels between the world of fashion and architecture, pairing these designs with various Irish buildings. Styled by Aisling and photographed by Rich Gilligan, the show takes place in 28 South William Street, Dublin 2 and runs until 19th July.

PhotoIreland

2011-07-04T00:57:00.005+01:00

In case you've somehow missed the dozens of events that are on in the coming weeks, PhotoIreland Festival is all over town once again. I hit up the launch last Thursday which coincided with the opening of the Mexican Worlds exhibition at the Sebastien Guinness Gallery.

Quite a range of photographs from 25 different Mexican photographers at that show, worth checking out. Looking forward especially to the two shows below opening at Block T this Thursday the 7th. My friend and fellow NCAD graduate Patrick Hough is showing some of his large format work, shot in Morocco earlier in the year, along with a short film:

Meanwhile, photographer and video artist Niall O'Brien is showing what promises to be quite an intense video series, 'Anger'. Events for Niall here and Patrick here.

Boys ahoy

2011-06-30T16:21:00.004+01:00

Slowly beginning to cope with post-college life. Exciting projects in the pipeline so watch this space.
So after managing to pull off this last photoshoot for Totally Dublin, the magazine was kind enough to trust me to go ahead and put together their July issue fashion spread. Crossing our fingers we piled our models and clothes into a car and headed out to Howth, assuming we were going to have to theme the shoot 'an Irish summer' or something, expecting the day to be the usual dreary sort. How wrong we were! The sun shone all day long, burning this particularly fair-skinned photographer to an absolute crisp (I'm going to be two different shades for the rest of the summer). But it was a very fun day. Check out the magazine online here or pick up a free copy around Dublin's city centre. My shoot is in full below along with a few behind-the-scenes shots so you can have a look at our lovely models (and equally lovely stylists).

PRIDE

2011-06-28T02:43:00.004+01:00

Gay Pride took over Dublin's streets this past Saturday. The gorgeous weather probably helped making it such a brilliant day and night, but the lovely people and well-organised street parties meant the atmosphere was unlike anything I'd experience in Dublin before. Well done to everyone involved in organising Dublin Pride 2011 and all the afterparties! Roll on next year.

Full album of photos over on SHARPSHOCK here.

Pool cuties

2011-06-17T23:11:00.006+01:00

The Pride Issue of GCN is out today (Gay Pride Dublin 17th-26th June). I was asked by the lovely Noel Sutton to shoot a 'Pride Pool Party' themed spread for the magazine a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Check out the whole issue online here or pick up a free copy around the city.

Queens of Soul

2011-06-14T15:51:00.007+01:00

The Queens of Neon (previously) are at it again, this time bringing their particular brand of quirky fabulousness to the awesome Body & Soul Festival which is taking place this Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of June in Westmeath. Promising a sumptuous feast in the forest, there'll be sittings at 6pm and 9pm both evenings of the festival. To book a place at the table go here. For a taste of what to expect, check out the video below. More info on the Queens themselves here.

(And yes, that's me looking all tranny-Liza Minelli).

NCAD Degree Show 2011

2011-06-13T04:13:00.005+01:00

Yes the blog ground to a bit of a standstill once again over the last few weeks. In my defence it was pretty insane trying to get my degree show organised and installed. But it happened, the show opened on Friday and now I'm actually finished college. Forever! Almost overwhelming when I start thinking about it but... exciting nonetheless.

Do try and drop by and check out the show, its open until Sunday 19th, from 10am-8pm Monday-Friday this week. My class' website is viewable here and the official NCAD site is here.

Below is an image from my show, a portrait made in the dark...

College daze

2011-06-13T04:00:00.004+01:00

My second full on photoshoot has just been published in this month's Totally Dublin. A great magazine free all around Dublin so do pick up a copy if you see it around, or if you're outside Dublin you can read it online here. My friend Patrick Hough also has some great shots of Irish guys playing American Football in Dublin.

Styling by Katie & Gillian at ShowOff once again. It was great finally getting experience shooting in natural light, which I put to good use doing a menswear shoot for the next issue of the same magazine that'll be out in July, super excited about both of them.

Life is a catwalk

2011-05-22T20:41:00.004+01:00

A quick selection of shots from last night's Peter Mark NCAD Graduate Fashion Show 2011, at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. Some amazing stuff, will post them all online when I get a chance, but for now:

Top row: Julie Flynn (Textiles), Jane Kenny (Textiles), Trudy Feighery (Textiles), Clarisse Walshe (Fashion)
Bottom row: Anne Carey (Fashion), Laura Gilsenan (Fashion), Honor Scanlon (Textiles), Stephen Lawles (Fashion)

Click the image to enlarge.

Suzanne Van der Lingen's Ark

2011-05-17T00:17:00.009+01:00

I may have mentioned her once or twice before, which might make this the post that tips me into 'fan' territory, but I'm really looking forward to this.

Opening Wednesday 18th May from 6-8pm at the Joinery (in Stoneybatter) Van der Lingen's new show 'Ark' will run until 23rd of May. While I hope I'll be able to make the opening reception I'll definitely be heading to the film screening on Thursday 19th which will be followed by a talk with the artist and filmmaker Tadhg O'Sullivan, chaired by Francis Halsall.

"Using a combination of her own recordings, family documents and public archive film, Suzanne van der Lingen draws parallels between the different ways in which experience is attempted to be preserved through stories, objects and documents. By weaving together religious stories and her own family history, her work attempts to expose the situatedness of temporal perception rather than a universal historical truth."

More info on the Joinery site here. Below is a short teaser for the show she posted on her blog a while back:

Fembots are people too

2011-05-16T01:06:00.003+01:00

Pretty great documentary with Robyn, my favourite pop star of the moment, following her on her tour.

Click the 'CC' button for subtitles.
Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4.

EUROTRASHED

2011-05-15T16:01:00.006+01:00

Dopplegang-lad

2011-05-12T03:55:00.000+01:00

While hunting for inspiration for my next fashion shoot I stumbled across this tribute, by French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, to the works of Robert Mapplethorpe. If you remember these images I posted before you'll be as blown away as I am by the uncanny resemblance between model Nick Rea and Mapplethorpe himself. The gorgeous photo-set below featured in Numero Homme. (In case you fear scrollng down to some NSFW imagery, they're decidedly less risqué than the images they pay homage to).

Fashion take two

2011-05-04T22:44:00.004+01:00

Just finished editing my latest fashion shoot, again styled by the girls at ShowOff, but using an actual girl as a model this time. Quite exciting actually attempting a really big selection of looks, and trying to make each shot different but cohesive with the overall shoot. Should be out in the June issue of a certain magazine but for now here's a behind-the-scenes shot of Katie and Gillian and our make-up artist tending to our model Helen.

Like a puppet on a string

2011-04-30T11:06:00.013+01:00

Andrew Bell, an ambitious NCAD 1st year with his sights set on Fashion, needed his end-of-year creation photographed this week, and you know I'm all about the fashion photography at the moment so was only too happy to help. His research revolved around kites, how tents are constructed and held down, lots of things with knots and string involved etc.

(and yes that *is* Miss University Ireland 2011 winner Holly Carpenter modelling, gasp!)

Engendering androgyny

2011-04-25T18:56:00.008+01:00

The full spread from the Sunday Independent's LIFE magazine yesterday featuring my 'Who's That Boy' shoot. Styled by ShowOff, featuring Alan Delmar in a variety of "gender mashing" outfits. You can read the accompanying article here. A lot of the clothes were from my fave vintage store FanciSchmancy vintage, check it out on Facebook. Again, I've gotta express my gratitude to Constance Harris from LIFE. Also if you remember this shoot I took part in last summer organised by Thinkhouse and mentored by Andreas Pettersson, big thanks to everyone involved who pretty much got me interested in this fashion world to begin with.

Update: Stephen Moloney had some interesting thoughts on Irish fashion photography and was kind enough to post my shoot over on Stitches, Fabric & Soul.

'It boy'

2011-04-24T17:22:00.007+01:00

My eternally fabulous muse Alan Delmar looking gorgeous in today's Sunday Independent LIFE magazine.
My first proper fashion shoot - and its somehow wound up in a national publication, I'm so so happy. Major thanks to the amazing Constance Harris, Life's fashion editor, for taking a chance on me. Will post the full shoot as soon as I can, but here's a preview if you don't have a copy yourself:

Brotherly... rage

2011-04-14T22:54:00.004+01:00

'Fraternity' by amazing Irish photographer (and Dublin Contemporary participant) Richard Mosse.

Currently showing at a fascinating group show in Mother's Tankstation.

Bad blogger

2011-04-02T04:54:00.008+01:00

Yes, I've neglected to blog of late, I blame extreme 4th year stress, internship busy-ness and various illnesses (that I may or may not have been imagining). I'll try to get back to it asap, some pretty exciting news coming soon. Until then, I'll try recap in photos what I've been distracted by.

From the top...
New York! I had planned a whole post or two about the trip but its so long ago now it seems silly. Saw some amazing shows; Terence Koh's performance at the Mary Boone, Pierre Huyghe's new film piece, the Lacoste Elysee Prize travelling show and Found in Translation - a group show bringing together an array of video pieces from different artists - at the Guggenheim.
Also in New York we hit up the somewhat exhaustingly huge Armory Show, but at least I found a copy of Art Forum that had one of my photographs in it! Yeah okay, its just as an ad but still.
Back in Ireland I checked out Simone Rocha's pop-up shop out in Havana in Donnybrook, gotta love her new stuff though I somehow can't see myself pulling it off.
Drawing with the ACTUAL Don Conroy in the Bernard Shaw was quite the surreal experience, thanks to Declan Hurley for pulling that off.
Back to my 'Boys' series of portraits, for lack of a better title, with a little help from some helpful volunteer models.
And just on Thursday night went along to BelongTo's launch party for the new video promoting their anti-homphobic-bullying campaign StandUp. Make sure to check it out and share it on Facebook etc.

and the Crown of Shamrocks goes to...

2011-03-14T18:33:00.014Z

Ahh the glamour. The winners, the runners-up (aka. losers), the trannies, the faux queens, the glitter... Alternative Miss Ireland 2011 was fantastic. The show's format had been tweaked slightly and it all ran incredibly smoothly. Miss Mangina Jones' impassioned performance drew a rapturous standing ovation from the giddy crowd at the Olympia and won her the crown, beating the fabulous Julian Mandrews closely to the coveted prize. I was there all day taking photos and am utterly wrecked but couldn't wait to share a few snaps, the rest will follow as soon as I've caught up on my beauty sleep...

I wanna fight yer father...

2011-03-01T21:40:00.003Z

'Roisin!' was the battle cry for the few days I spent taking stills while the Rubberbandits shot their latest music video. Pretty hilarious experience- from getting trapped in a house whilst rambunctious primary school kids hammered on the door chorusing 'Horse Outside' (to the tune of Taoi Cruise's Dynamite) to averting my eyes while full-blown nudity had to be engaged in to get one of the shots for the video- it was a fun way to spend a day or two. Check out the full set here.

Guess where I'm going in the morning...

2011-03-01T19:20:00.003Z

Male mode

2011-02-28T21:21:00.012Z

Some images from a shoot with the very talented Tom. He needed a few extra shots for his modelling portfolio and as I'm trying to build up my own fashion photographer portfolio I was happy to help. The lovely Stephen Moloney (of Stitches|Fabric|And Soul fame) was on hand as stylist.

Forbidden Fruit

2011-02-28T19:24:00.004Z

Very excited for this. POD Promotions are bringing a music festival to Dublin city this summer. Set in the grounds of IMMA there's a bevvy of exciting international acts (Caribou and Aphex Twin anyone?) as well as delightful art and fashion events planned. Watch out for news on ForbiddenFruit.ie. The video above was made by my classmate, the ever talented, Patrick Hough.

Get crackin

2011-02-21T18:55:00.007Z

My last post on Queens of Neon and their flash dinner parties made me want to post about this pop-up restaurant. Joe Macken, the man behind everyone's favourite burger joint Jo'Burger, got me down to take some shots to promote his latest venutre. For 12 weeks Crackbird will be serving up chicken dishes in its temporary home in Crane Lane, Temple Bar. Not only does it sound delightfully quirky, you can eat for free by Tweeting with Crackbirds #tweetseats offer. Just tweet your name, a date and time and the amount of people (max is 4 I think), to @CrackBIRDdublin, using the hashtag #tweetseats.

Read more here.

Clonakilty by Candlelight

2011-02-21T18:49:00.002Z

So I've been meaning to post about this lovely evening I went along to a few weeks ago. The Clonakilty brand, with a little help from Thinkhouse PR and most importantly from the Queens of Neon, had a sort of pop-up dining experience going on in a house on North Great George's Street. The evenings consisted of a selection of random people, an amazing spread made almost entirely from Clonakilty products (think white pudding canapés and sausage soup - more delicious than it sounds) and the warmest, friendliest atmosphere I've encountered in a long while. When we arrived we were treated to a Prosecco reception by a roaring fire. Next came some parlour games - a taste test where you and your date were put on a team with another couple who you didn't know and blindfolded while trying to guess various food types. Finally the three-course meal, which no one wanted to end, around exquisitely laid tables in a gorgeous dining room. Everyone was seated one-person away from their date so you got to chat to the other guests. A really delightful evening.

Sharon and Amo from Queens of Neon (last picture) were the brains of the outfit and have been responsible for various other delights from installations at Electric Picnic to tea-parties in Brown Thomas. Check out their Facebook page and show them some love.

AMI XVII

2011-02-17T14:31:00.002Z

Grand designs

2011-02-17T02:12:00.005Z

Its driving me crazy not being able to share all the random bits of work I'm doing at the moment but it all has to be held back so it can be used for publicity or magazines etc. But I just like this last shoot I did for my friend Margot Cullen so much. Margot's into everything from architecture, music, ceramics and more recently she branched out into designing clothes. We dragged a model, a make-up artist and a bunch of her latest designs down to the RHA gallery a few weeks ago and got our photoshoot on. I'll be sure to post up the finished product eventually but for now here's a screengrab to give you an idea...

KILL THE OLD QUEEN

2011-02-16T18:03:00.015Z

No no, I'm not one of those anti-queen protesters. I'm just super excited about Alternative Miss Ireland XVII on Sunday 13 March 2011.

Colloquially known as Gay Christmas and the best night out of the year, AMI returns to the Olympia. I've had the pleasure of both dancing on-stage and photographing at the AMI over the past couple of years and its always a blast. I highly recommend you get yourself a ticket, all the money goes to HIV/AIDS charities and organisations. They've raised over €300,000 since its humble beginnings in 1996. Though if you're totes broke you can try win 4 tickets for this year's AMI HERE by donating a fraction of the cost of a ticket.

The ad for this year's AMI isn't out yet but I snapped a few behind-the-scenes shots of Panti-gone-fembot while I was taking stills on the day of the shooting. Can't wait to see the finished product. Expect laser tits! And ubergayness on O'Connell St.

Alternative Miss Ireland online
Tickets from TicketMaster, or directly from Olympia box office (no service charge) 01-6793323

UPDATE:
Ooh exciting, one of my photographs has appeared as a poster!

Poster design by the always amazing guys at Ponybox.

Meryl as the Lady

2011-02-09T15:28:00.012Z

Publicity image of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher from the upcoming movie 'The Iron Lady'.

via the Guardian

But I wonder will Meryl be able to pull off this kind of icy fabulousness?

Tom Hunter

2011-02-03T15:29:00.022Z

Tom Hunter's show Unheralded Stories opens at the Green on Red Gallery in Dublin tonight (3rd February). Well worth a look.

Hunter, famous for images such as Woman Reading a Possession Order (below), has put together a selection of relatively new images (above) in a series.

Beautiful large-format photographs combine with local mythologies from his neighbourhood - Hackney in East London - to create a narrative introducing you to various people and the natural beauty he sees in his day-to-day life.

More info on the artist's website here.

Damien Blottière

2011-01-25T20:01:00.006Z

Stumbled upon one of this photographer's mind-boggling images, lots more here. Whatever he's doing, I like it.

Black Swan

2011-01-25T16:17:00.004Z

I finally saw Darren Arnofsky's latest cinematic work, Black Swan this week. Like a lot of people I had my hopes built up incredibly high and for the most part the film didn't let me down. It was thrilling and engaging, gorgeous to watch and Natalie Portman as Nina was so impressive - both her acting and her dancing. The tension builds remarkably and Arnofsky manages to weave beautiful segments of ballet into the storyline of the film seamlessly.

The only problem I had with it, and its more of a personal issue than a criticism, is that I found it hard to enjoy because the protagonist's mental issues were so prevalent right from the beginning. Some people who I discussed it with felt Arnofsky did a masterful job of keeping you guessing and confusing you as to what was really happening and what was just in her head. I felt that after the first one or two shocking moments that turn out to be Nina's mind playing tricks on her I just dismissed every other weird incident as the delusions of this girl in the throes of a mental breakdown. I would've liked to have been more caught up in Nina's confusion I suppose, instead of feeling like a spectator.

One thing I found interesting was this quote from the director who compares Black Swan with his previous film The Wrestler:
"It's a diptych. They're total companion pieces. I look forward to the day when an art theatre plays them both as a double feature. I mean, there are just so many similarities. They're both artists that use their bodies to express themselves, and they do a tremendous amount of damage to themselves to do that – except that one's the highest art and the other's the lowest art. If you can even call it an art. Most people wouldn't. And so I like that comparison. I'm very clear about it – they both leap at the end. The stories are very, very different but there is a comparison."

Finally, a photoshoot

2011-01-24T21:17:00.009Z

So as I may have whinged previously about how I'm finding it difficult to imagine exactly where I'll be in ten or fifteen years. At the moment I'm working away in college on my degree show, interning with Dublin Contemporary, working freelance whenever anyone's kind enough to hire me and now I've finally got around to putting together a little photoshoot to start building a fashion portfolio.

We spent yesterday afternoon with my gorgeous, androgynous 'muse' Alan Delmar modelling men and women's fashions and I'm quite happy with the results. Will post them all up as soon as I can. In the meantime here's some behind-the-scenes action:

Also shout-out to my lovely stylists, Katie and Gillian from Show Off. This is their 'tough to impress' face. And yes, my new blog header may be an image from the shoot too...

Oh! And you know what'd make building a fashion photography career easier? Ten grand! So if you feel like helping me try to win it, check out my 'winter moment' picture here and gimme a vote if you have half a second. Thanks!

I can't believe my eyes

2011-01-20T12:16:00.002Z

You may remember Xnthony from this video last year. Well, he recently teamed up with my classmate Patrick Hough (aka. Harold the Bastard) to produce this interesting little video; if you like eggs, balloons and lip-synching its just right for you

Sara

2011-01-18T17:32:00.000Z

Really enjoying photographing Sara and her new hair recently... That's all.

Cindy Sherman - new works

2011-01-16T20:23:00.008Z

Cindy Sherman has an exhibition at the Sprüth Magers Gallery in London at the moment. She's also taking up a whole chapter of my thesis.

The works look... well I'll reserve judgement til I see them in real life. In the meantime, there's a great interview in the Guardian about the show and her life in general here, another interview in the Financial Times here, and an interview with the gallery director, Andreas Gegner on Dazed Digital here.

James McLoughlin

2011-01-14T19:02:00.006Z

Well while I'm talking about talented friends I might as well draw your attention to my favourite photographer friend James McLoughlin who has been blogging and posting photographs from his, frankly, sometimes unbelievable life for the past few years. Oh the exploits! James has always had such a great eye for photography and while I love his life/party/club documentation its hard to earn a living from it so I see he's now churning out some gorge fashion photography. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) a lot of its for the lovely vintage shop 9 Crow Street that opened last month.

Of course, being the hardcore fan that I am, I prefer his earlier stuff...

...might just've been coz of all the trannies and naked boys.

Check out his blog here, or his Flickr and show him some love.

Matthew of many talents

2011-01-12T16:53:00.020Z

I'm just settling down to listen to this lovely album that arrived in my postbox yesterday. Its my friend Matthew Robins' first live album Noah's Ark, recorded back in October. Matthew's a very impressive performer; he writes songs and music, sings, plays lots of instruments, creates beautiful, intricate shadow puppetry to accompany his live performances and gorgeous illustrations and other stage decorations. Its hard to explain the variety of things he's done - while I was living in London two summers ago he asked me to document his preparations for his rock-opera The Eyeders which included organising a big gang of people to run screaming through the backtreets of Battersea to use the footage in the show:

Menacing spiderey-aliens were added live on stage to make it look as if they were chasing the people, as well as a little cardboard cutout Matthew

He's also been responsible for giant robots looming over the National Theatre, knitted dinosaurs and Flyboy, one of my favourite fictional characters.

Check out some of his songs on MySpace here (hah, remember mysapce?) or better yet you can buy the live album here. There's even a song he wrote for me on it. I'll give you a clue, its the track called 'Peter'.
His Youtube channel has lots of his live performences too.

Matthew's next show is in March in the Little Angel Theatre in Islington so if you happen to be in London I highly recommend you get yourself a ticket soon.

I'm even more excited about something he's doing for Duckie along with the H. Plewises and Tim Spooner in the Barbican - a show that you bring your PJs to and spend the night at! Lullaby is happening this summer, sounds like it'll be wonderful.

I act like a Frenchman...

2011-01-11T16:13:00.006Z

Well. No I don't. But I try my best in this new ad for Poorhouse at Pantibar, a celebration of old timey Irish traditions and past-times, from sean nós to fiddle playing. If you don't know what the hell we're parodying check out the original old Kerrygold ad here.

And if you like it, the ad for Poorhouse: Cuid A from a few weeks ago parodying that old Bord na Mona ad is below:

The secret street photographer

2011-01-10T18:50:00.002Z

There's an interesting story in the pictures above. Jon Maloof, a twentysomething guy in Chicago, bought a box containing over 30,000 negatives at auction. They turned out to be some stunning mid-twentieth century street photographs by a nanny by the name of Vivian Maier. The story was covered on American tv show recently, check it out below:

NEW YEAR

2011-01-02T02:42:00.005Z

Well 2010 has been great, as was New Year's Eve (some shots below). Bring on 2011.

Stephen: take two

2010-12-28T16:28:00.001Z

Home for the holidays

2010-12-26T22:30:00.003Z

Reachout.com

2010-12-19T12:25:00.015Z

A little while ago the lovely ladies at Blink PR asked me if I'd be interested in helping them get the word out about a Reachout.com. Reachout is a youth services website which aims to improve young peoples' mental health and well-being by inspiring them to help themselves through tough times. At the time I was contacted they were looking for ambassadors working in creative fields to try and put their skills to use in some way to promote and draw attention to the website and I thought... why not?
What resulted was an article for GCN featuring young LGBT people who I photographed demonstrating what their particular passion was, the idea being that doing something you love can really help you through difficult times or times when you're not feeling all that mentally heatlhy. Check out the article online in the new GCN or pick up a copy various places around the country.

The piece featured photographer Sean Meehan, broadcaster Riyadh Khalaf, journalist Una Mulally and myself. The fabulous James O'Neill (below) also volunteered his time but unfortunately due to a few crossed wires he couldn't be featured in the final article. Love that picture of him though!

Patrick Hough

2010-12-19T12:22:00.006Z

My favourite photo from NCAD's Christmas Ball.

Lots more on SHARPSHOCK.com

oh Nan Nan... what's my name

2010-12-19T12:11:00.002Z

Yes that's a Rihanna-related heading on this post. Don't ask me why.

Nan Goldin, extremely influential photog and general legend is apparently still working away these days. She recently shot Scanlan & Theodore's lookbook in a rundown old mansion in New York. For some reason she insisted on using super babe Erin Wasson for all the shots. Maybe its her Irish ancestry...

More on NOWNESS.

shot in the dark

2010-12-16T01:04:00.001Z

The hands-on approach

2010-12-15T03:34:00.005Z

Rather strangely, the Scissor Sisters (whose new video I'm still adoring) are to pitch in on the curation of a new Mapplethorpe exhibition in the Alison Jacques gallery in London, says the Guardian:

"It will be based around the seven images by the late artist that the band used on their album, singles and tour this year. Other work by Mapplethorpe, including rarely seen sculptures, will also feature, alongside provocative pieces by artists who admired or were influenced by him, including Matthew Barney, Glenn Ligon, Jack Pierson and Gillian Wearing."

The show opens 19 January.

"Here's my ten cents. My two cents is free."

2010-12-15T01:41:00.011Z

I know I'm a little late to the Hugh Cooney party. I remember in Core year in NCAD everybody gathering around a laptop screen one day and being brought to tears laughing at his Accessorize Accessorize Accessorize video but I didn't realise he was an NCAD graduate or that he was so prolific. Perhaps because I've been doing my best to avoid thesis work, or because Ryan Trecartin (previously) re-ignited my interest in video art I've been watching all his old videos on Youtube recently.

One of the best things about the videos is how lo-fi they are; how he achieves character transformations in the simplest ways (by putting on accents or, in the case of American Exchange above, pulling his hair back), his use of repetition and comic elements as well as the darker and more disturbing side to some of the videos. Not sure if he's still working on more videos at the moment but luckily there's enough to entertain yourself for the moment. Check him out on Youtube here.

Magnificent

2010-12-13T23:22:00.003Z

While its been cut from its 6 minute album full-length fabulousness, the Scissor Sister's Invisible Light (possibly the best song off their new album) is still striking and intense in four-minute form, especially when set to this nightmarish, gorgeous, stylish video that brings to mind everything from the Wicker Man to Stepford Wives. Nicolás Méndez directs this little piece of Scissor Sister cinema.

How very Queer

2010-11-29T00:54:00.006Z

Queer Notions is back; the theatre festival that brings together boundary-pushing sexual deviants and queer artists for one hell of a time.

This year some of my favourite people are involved from Anne Fetamine and Fanci Schmancy to Jonny Woo and Dickie Beau. Check out something if not lots of things! It kicks off at the Project Arts Centre on the 7th December and runs to the 11th.
Tickets here.

QUEER NOTIONS 2010 from THISISPOPBABY on Vimeo.

Fame whore success!

2010-11-28T23:31:00.004Z

So myself and a bunch of other ~~fame hungry climbers~~ club promoters/club goers were photographed for a nice little article in the Sunday Times Style magazine (by Ciaran Walsh of Le Cool) a couple of weeks ago and it came out today.

Quite a nice photo actually! Even if I overdid it on the pout a little... Anyway both SHARPSHOCK.com and C U Next Tuesday got shout outs so woo for self-promotion!

A snowy weekend

2010-11-28T23:03:00.004Z

Google- the 21st century street photographer

2010-11-24T21:23:00.006Z

Google 'Street View' is such a staggeringly awesome project. Places you would never have possibly seen in real life, or had any idea of what they looked like are now possible to glide through at ease. I still find it bizarre, an obviously a lot of people take issue with its invasion of privacy, but there is still something quite beautiful about.

I was looking at artist Jon Rafman today who has curated a selection of shots from GoogleMaps... wonderful stuff.

"With Street View, you have this camera that’s passing by purely by chance, with no mission other than recording data. That restored a distance between the photographer and subject, which added to the authenticity. It is documentary photography taken to its ultimate conclusion" - Rafman.

More at 9eyes.tumblr.com.

Lucky number Seven

2010-11-22T13:28:00.003Z

With the advent of Panti's new club, SEVEN, GCN wanted to dedicate a cover to what will hopefully be a whole new way of clubbing in the capital. I was only too eager to shoot it, especially when it turned out I had to round up as many buff, topless guys as I could.

Make sure to check out the whole issue, in print or online here and read the wonderful David Babby's article on the Dublin scene.

Martin Munkácsi

2010-11-19T17:49:00.003Z

Something global

2010-11-17T04:49:00.004Z

As I said, Ryan Trecartin was by far my favourite artist at the Liverpool Biennial, below is part K-Corea INC. where a seemingly never-ending, raucous board meeting of various representations of countries plays out.

K-CoreaINC.K (section a) from Ryan Trecartin on Vimeo.

The way Trecartin talks about his work actually kind of scares me I find it so hard to grasp! So I'll just let him do the talking:

"MIL: In your films there seems to be a lack of distinction between the genders.

RT: I see it less as a lack of distinction in binary terms and more as an exploration of territories within infinite gender creation, individualisation and specificity. I imagine this as a type of multiplex space. I’m often interested in realities where gender takes a back-seat to personality articulation. As people explore and expand into spaces that are not dependant on the body, but rather the mind, the construction and use of one's personality can become the most defining aspect to identify. And the thing I love about personality is that it can be added to, changed or re-worked at will, while not being classified or grouped very easily..."

Read the full interview here.

Lots more videos and information here.

TOUCHED

2010-11-16T18:00:00.007Z

I headed over to the Liverpool Biennial last week for a very quick 24-hour tour.

Some of my favourite pieces were video works so I have no photos to show. When we got there we were quite sleepy and arriving at the huge info centre was a bit disorientating. Stumbling through some of the less appealing exhibits I eventually found myself before Ryan Trecartin's Trill-ogy Comp. Completely insane and amazing I'll write more about him at later but just had to say I loved it, wish I'd had longer to spend there.

One of the last artists we saw was Sachiko Abe. Perched high up a wall in a massive warehouse the artist was snipping slivers of paper in silence; a huge cone rising from the floor in the centre of the space, made up of who-knows how many slivers of white paper. I think the best part of it was actually a small room off the main space lit by an intense white light where the same kind of paper slices hung in sheets like clouds from the ceiling. Definitely a must-see if you're going.

The Bloomberg New Contemporaries also had a few stand-out pieces. Greta Alfaro's piece In Ictu Oculi, a video work where a flock of vultures slowly swarm about then totally ravage a fully table laden table is a mesmerising watch. Another video piece, by Pable Wendel, Terracotta Warrior, shows the artist in costume as looking almost like the statues in the Terracotta-Army in North West China. He is standing amongst the statues, on a pedestal, completely still. Needless to say this causes great consternation among the soldiers on guard, who eventually hoist him up and carry him away.

I can't really judge considering how short a time I had there. All in all I'm glad I went, the really good stuff made up for the boring pieces and the mild grimness of Liverpool itself (to be fair of course we seemed to be there during the tail-end of a hurricane. Perhaps its not always so windy and unforgiving).

JR

2010-11-04T18:55:00.001Z

via Joao

Do They Know Its Halloween... tonight?

2010-10-31T21:47:00.002Z

An oldie but a goodie, read the back story here.

Stephen

2010-10-29T15:03:00.005+01:00

Darragh

2010-10-29T15:03:00.002+01:00

Sean

2010-10-29T15:02:00.001+01:00

James

2010-10-29T14:55:00.002+01:00

Babby

2010-10-25T19:03:00.003+01:00

The long-weekend starts here

2010-10-23T04:47:00.004+01:00

'I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant'

2010-10-23T04:32:00.003+01:00

You heard me.

And so goes the title of Alan Butler's new show in Temple Bar Gallery & Studios. Just to warn you, you probably shouldn't go see this show if you suffer from vertigo or any kind of motion sickness. Its quite an intense optical experience, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Curated by Rayne Booth, the exhibition conveys certain sentiments about the internet and modern life - how we interact with the world through modern media forms, the works' "very existence suggests that the ultimate result of the new 'wonderful' world of 'remix', with all its possibilities and its inherent consumerist-democratic nature, is merely more stuff."

Mom's got attitude

2010-10-20T03:48:00.004+01:00

I'm far too lazy to either get my hands on a copy or scan it properly myself SO: here's one of my pictures from the wonderful MOTHER nightclub in Dublin that's appearing in this month's Attitude magazine that I swiped off someone's Facebook.

And quite a glowing review too!

SVDL speaks

2010-10-15T18:08:00.008+01:00

One of my favourite artists who showed in NCAD's graduate show this past year was Suzanne van der Lingen and I'm pleased to see leaving college hasn't brought a stop to her creativity.

The above image is from a series of self-portraits inspired by Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad. Check out the rest on her website here. Suzanne also just wrote quite an astute article for the first online-only issue of CIRCA magazine, with her thoughts on art criticism moving to a more widely accessible platform. Check it out here.

(CIRCA's whole online edition is available here, with a number of articles on criticism).

Dial F for Fabulous

2010-10-13T20:57:00.007+01:00

My friend Cait tweeted a link to some of Alex Prager's photos on booooooom.com earlier and I had to check out her website for more. They're simply gorgeous.

Update: Oh and here's her new short Despair.

That last post

2010-10-12T12:55:00.001+01:00

...was a little heavy so here's some comic relief!

by Oisin

Thoughts on...

2010-10-12T12:26:00.006+01:00

Well I'm into my third week of college and it seems this return to a vaguely structured day has taken its toll on the old blog. Still, I think I'll be able to get back into the swing of things now that I've actually starting working.

Over the past few weeks I've been gearing up for the vast amounts of reading I'll need to do this year for my thesis. Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida was at the top of my 'to read' list and it was quite fascinating. Ideas like:
"every photograph is co-natural with its referant"
ie. what a photograph depicts is immediately what the viewer sees (seeing what it 'represents' or 'signifies' requires a secondary thought or action) unlike other mediums such as painting where the referent isn't automatically grounded by its representation of a real physical thing that exists or has existed. And little phrases that really struck me like:

"The photograph is violent: not because it shows violent things, but because it fills the sight by force".

Theories that arose from the development of photography and around the very idea of photography or what a photograph is is sort've where I've kicked off research for the year. Walter Benjamin's essay Art in the Age of Its Mechanical Reproduction was where I went next and it too proved thought-provoking:

"...commentators had earlier expended much fruitless ingenuity on the question of whether photography was an art- without asking the more fundamental question of whether the invention of photography had not transformed the entire character of art."

But I don't plan on boring you by regurgitating every bit of reading I do for my thesis here, just the interesting bits.

Of course I'm still struggling to draw a line between my art practice and whether I want to delve more into fashion or commercial photography and what my nightclub photography means to me etc. etc. but after a couple of tutorials I'm feeling more confident than I have over the past few weeks.

I other news, inspiring artist and loon Nigel Rolfe came and gave a talk two weeks ago in NCAD. Despite being heavily medicated with morphine as he was about to go for an operation on his spine, he talked to us about his performance art and about the art world. What stuck with me was his insistence that the reason to be an artist is to bear witness, that "it is the responsibility for us all to bear witness". Coming from a 60-something year old who has been a practising artist for so long, its good to hear you can still feel so passionately about your work and art in general.

So it begins

2010-10-07T02:12:00.002+01:00

Shooting James McLoughlin in the studio today. Just a picture messing around from towards the end...

Boys boys boys

2010-10-01T18:04:00.002+01:00

Being painted

2010-09-30T17:02:00.003+01:00

I took my first ever trip over to my friend Oisin's studio to be painted yesterday. I don't think I've ever had a portrait made in that way before, its so amazing to watch this really vivid, striking image just appear from a blank page. I don't know how he does it. Anyway, I of course wasn't able to resist taking a few photos during the process...

250 GCNs later...

2010-09-27T17:46:00.007+01:00

The new GCN is out, celebrating 250 issues and I *love* the cover. There was an open call for photographers/people with ideas for a cover. Ian Spillane's idea to recreate the iconic V-J Day photograph of a kiss in Times Square, by Alfred Eisenstaedt, with a gay couple was what they went with. Garvan Gallagher (previously) was brought in as a mentor as Ian had never worked as a photographer before. Just lookit how well it worked out!

dancing on a stage in their Underwear

2010-09-25T17:54:00.005+01:00

So the shambolic sham day that is Arthur Guinness day was upon us again last Thursday. While I would've liked to see one or two of the bands playing, fortunately I had non-Guinness related plans (though they were somewhat Absolut Vodka tinged as it was in the Fringe Factory): FM Belfast, an adorable and amazing Icelandic band played an uplifting, rousing, delightful set upstairs in the AFF to a racous crowd. More pictures to follow but check out the few below for a taste...

And if you haven't heard them give this track a listen:

HOTT BOYD DANCING SHOTS

2010-09-22T21:30:00.005+01:00

Okay that post title doesn't make much sense... unless you live in my head. Anyway, went along to HOT BOY DANCING SPOT in honour of Brett Lloyd as I said previously and took some pictures for SHARPSHOCK, which are all up here. Super fun evening, its amazing how calling a club that seems to just attract all the hot boys... Maybe its time someone did that in Dublin please?

post-London melancholia

2010-09-22T05:46:00.002+01:00

One last weekend...

2010-09-16T11:57:00.005+01:00

Off to London for a final weekend of fun before heading back to college so probably won't be updating.

Hoping for a bit of this:

this:

this:

...but none of this:

Anybody waitin'?

2010-09-16T01:12:00.004+01:00

I saw PONYDANCE's performance in Absolut Fringe last year in Panti's basement and it was both an impressive display of dancing and quite funny theatre. The bubbly, energetic cast make a welcome return to Fringe this year with their show Anybody Waitin'? which they're performing in 15 different venues, indoor and outdoor, around the city. Tonight was their sixth show, at the Absolut Fringe Factory. Definitely try and catch one of their performances.

Check out their schedule here.

Oisin Byrne at the RHA

2010-09-15T17:19:00.004+01:00

Click the image to view larger:

As mentioned previously, my friend Oisin has a selection of work in the Futures 10 exhibition at the RHA. I couldn't stay long at the opening as I was off to Electric Picnic but I stopped by again this week to have a better look. He never ceases to impress me, I'm such a fan and know I would be regardless of knowing him or not.

Brett Lloyd

2010-09-14T00:32:00.012+01:00

Yowza.

So I've done this before with Steven Klein. That is, stumbled upon a fashion photographer's website and been so blown away by everything they've done I've just had to say something about it.

This time my attention was drawn to Brett Lloyd by the latest Facebook event for Hot Boy Dancing Spot. He's got a 'book' coming out; Quieter Poster Boys is a collection of 16 fold-out photographs of the beautiful guys he met on his travels across Europe.

On looking him up anyway I realised he was responsible for the gorgeous photoshoot below which I tore out of Dazed & Confused when I first saw it and stuck it on my wall.

He's also responsible for the terribly sexy CK Teen Screen Grabs photoshoot on Ponystep.com...

and more recently, for Vogue Hommes Japan, the dazzling shots below:

Check out his very nicely designed website or follow his blog here.

UPDATE: pictures from the night on SHARPSHOCK.com here.