Is the title of our latest published work on the Cover plus in the April 2018 issue of Ireland’s Homes Interiors & Living magazine…
.. on pages 56 to 69 – which features Marie and Alan’s renovated 1960’s house near Holywood in County Down.
“Marie transformed a dated mid-century home in Holywood using lots of weatherboarding, tongue & groove panelling and a crisp palette of blues and whites.”
Which I talked about shooting here: Natural direction of light and here: Left or Right, a few years ago.
So congratulations once again to Ms Coastal Cool here…
.. for making it into Ireland’s largest selling monthly interiors and lifestyle magazine, as well as making it onto the cover too 
Life sometimes has a way of carrying us all in different directions…
.. as change does seem to be the only constant.
Anyway, it’s been a while since I have done a shoot with Marie – however, we do stay in touch and hook up from time to time, as over the years we have created a pretty major picture library together – plus being good friends for so long, we do talk about lots of other stuff too…
.. which included her laughingly telling me about this new project she had started on – which was this 20-year-old “granny wagon”…
.. is how she described it 
“Sooooo – what’s my vision ?????
I’d actually like to give it a kind of Neptune feel…
.. It will be fun”
– she wrote a few months ago.
Anyway, long story short, last week we decided to combine a business catch up with a fun shoot of her little caravan – which she called Twinkle btw!!
And all I can say is her vision…
.. and ability to transform something so ordinary…
.. into something like this…
.. once again amazed me.
So here’s to a day filled with good food…
.. and good friends – on Valentine’s Day with a Twinkle
Is the title of our latest published work in the August 2018 issue of Good Homes magazine…
.. on pages 78 to 75 – which features Marie and Alan’s renovated 1960’s house near Holywood in County Down.
“Holidays in Massachusetts prompted Marie to transform her dated mid-century house in Northern Ireland into a elegant period-style property.”
Which I talked about shooting here: Natural direction of light and here: Left or Right – almost 3 years ago.
So congratulations to both Alan and Marie here…
.. for making it into another top-selling National magazine – as I’d say ‘your look’ here…
..will inspire many throughout the UK and even in American too
From me @ ampimage.com
And you can see our latest published work in the December 2016 issue of Architectural Digest magazine…
.. in Russia – featuring this kitchen…
.. which we shot 7 years ago, in Marie and Alan’s 1920’s bungalow in the County Down town of Holywood.
So way to go you guys for creating this timeless look and to Steve at Chilli Media as well, who not only handled this deal but also sent me this file too – as that’s definitely another one that I’ll be putting in my portfolio
Is the title of our latest work in the beautifully printed July 2015 issue of Country Homes & Interiors magazine…
.. on pages 48 to 54 – featuring Marie and Alan’s renovated 1960’s home near Holywood in County Down.
“Marie McKernan gave her mid-century home a fresh new look with weatherboarding and a crisp blue-and-white palette.”
Which we talked about shooting at the time here: Natural direction of light and here: Left or Right.
Anyway, Marie received her advance copy last week, and this is what she wrote:
Well – my advance copy arrived – and I LOVE it 🙂
We’re the fourth home but that’s ok – they will always lead with the more beachy ones in their coastal issue.
You will be surprised with a couple of the big shots I reckon 🙂
Full page for exterior !!! Wasn’t expecting that !!!
Full page for sitting room – cropped a little
Full page for dining area
Lovely 4 page collage of bath, hooks, guest bedroom and balcony
Full page of guess who – standing on the flippin balcony – though they did use a wee one of muggins on the rocks 🙂
7 pages…
As Lesley would say, I could cry 🙂
Well not quite – but I am soooooo chuffed with this one 🙂
Thank you
So clearly someone was very happy – which just leave me to say a big thank you to Mrs pale and interesting here…
.. for putting up with me all these years, as this was shot around the time I was in tears too – so it’s lovely to finally see all your hard work in print… and printed beautifully too in your favorite magazine
So thank you from me.
Is the title of one of 2 features we have in the April 2015 issue of Period Ideas magazine…
on pages 22 to 27 – featuring Janet and Ken Hamilton’s villa called ‘Jasmin’ near the French Riviera village of St Paul de Vence.
“Janet and Ken Hamilton transformed a dated villa into their dream holiday home.”
Which we talked about shooting here: Kicking off back in 2010.
And ‘Mix & MATCH‘ is the other one….
on pages 38 to 45 – featuring Mairead and Owen McIntyre’s Victorian terrace in the university area of Belfast.
“Mairead and Owen Moore beat the bargain-hunters and bagged the Irish home of their dreams.”
Which we talked about shooting here: How good back in 2010 as well.
So from the French Riviera village of St Paul de Vence, to the capital city of Northern Ireland, I just like to say a huge thanks to everyone involved here – and especially to Steve at Chilli Media for this great result too.
From Marie Mandi & me at www.ampimage.com.
The Money Shot is like the all-important one – which if we get it right, could help the client make a lot of money over the years to come.
Well today I’m going to show one of the first images which made me realise, that what we do, is often more than just turn-up and take some pictures – which then made me realise that charging for just one’s time to take pictures, was all wrong – as that part, is often only a small part of the work involved. Especially when it comes to producing the Money Shots.
Because creating such images can often start days or even weeks before the shoot – in one’s head – as you plan ahead to ensure you get it right on the day.
Anyway, in this case, as I’d already been out to this hotel a few months before to recce it and talk to the marketing people – then that’s really when I started to create the image you will see below.
Which in this case was to be a shot of a bridal couple standing out on the balcony – which as you can see here…
.. overlooks Lough Foyle.
And this being Ireland, the weather is the one thing you can’t count on – unless it’s overcast & rain you are counting on, as that’s what it’s most likely to be
Having said that, we do get some sunshine and when we do, it can look wonderful – and so, in this case, the image I had in my head was of the couple standing on the balcony with the sun setting behind them – which I reckoned would look very romantic – or should I say: that would be the ideal image- to help them sell the dream to any young couple who would be thinking of getting married here.
Anyway, as chance would have it, on the morning of our first day, I woke to see this beautiful sunrise…
.. so I took a few quick handheld shots of it from my bedroom window.
And then later on, just after breakfast, I took a few more which looked like this…
.. which I also thought may work as a background – IF when we came to the actual shoot, it just wasn’t what I had been hoping for.
So I was starting to piece the image together hours beforehand – and I’m sure glad I did – because as you can see here…
.. by the time we were ready to shoot, it wasn’t looking so good.
Still, I had this picture in my head – even if it wasn’t in front of me – and so with all the lights set-up and the camera in place, the final touches were added to the bride & groom…
.. by Kathleen & her assistant.
Wasn’t quite as I’d imagine…
.. but by adding a touch of warmth…
.. I reckoned this was as good as it was going to get.
Not exactly a Money Shot I hear you say – but then came the part that nobody sees, which was the image in my head from weeks ago.
Which in this case I did two versions of – this one…
.. which I personally loved the look of but knew it may not be right for them – and this one…
.. which was very close to how I’d pictured it beforehand.
The Money Shot – which I reckoned was worth a lot more to them, than all the other shots we did that week put together – as seen here in this magazine…
(Double page spread ad in the Spring 2006 issue of the Wedding Journal magazine)
.. as well as in almost every other media too, even to this every day…
.. as seen here on their current website.
So for all those brides who have asked their photographers to recreate this image over the years – now you know why they struggled to do so – because although it is real, it was only ever real in my head, which was then later created
From Marie, Bradley & me at the Redcastle Hotel, on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, creating images… just for you.
