Here’s some behind-the-scenes photos from the grunge-themed shoot I did last month.

Stylist: Rosemary McCabe // Stylist’s Assistant: Ailbhe McNeela

Makeup: Emma Farrell // Hair: Byron B Yeates

Models: Jessie G & Niamh O @ 1st Option

Special thanks to R.A.G.E. for the use of their shop.

About a month back, I worked on an editorial inspired by Nevermind’s 20th anniversary with stylist Rosemary Mac Cabe and some other very talented people. In Rosemary’s words:

“”We wanted it to be very 1990s, with two girls giving off a very teenage best-friend vibe, channelling My So-Called Life and photoshoots featuring Cindy and Naomi in Vivienne Westwood plaid.”“

Make-up: Emma Farrell // Hair: Byron Yeates

Styling: Rosemary Mac Cabe // Stylist’s assistant: Ailbhe McNeela

Models: Niamh and Jessie at 1st Option

(One of those queued posts that never posted: some shots from last month’s Culture Night.)

Delorentos (Acoustic Set)

Little X’s for Eyes

Rory Grubb and the Flood

I was given my first-ever photopass by Cock & Bull TV for Electric Picnic this year. Here are a few snaps from Friday & Saturday, in no particular order. (The reason there are no photos from Sunday is that I had to crawl home on Saturday night with some sort of stomach bug - the last band I shot was Yuck, which is pretty fitting!)

Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros 

Warpaint

Blonde Redhead

James Blake

Yuck

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Le Galaxie

Adebisi Shank

And their biggest / tiniest fan:

I can finally show you the photos from my shoot with Aliquo last month! Aliquo is Alice Moyon, who handcrafts and sells a number of gorgeous & unique jewellery collections under the name. She has a stall in the Loft in the Powerscourt Centre, Dublin, so do keep an eye out for her if you’re there anytime soon.

We had a great time on the day & it was lovely working with everyone involved! I hadn’t worked in a studio in ages, so it was great to get back into one.

Here are my favourites:

And here’s a picture Alice took of her stand at the Éclat de Mode tradeshow in Paris last week, with some fine big prints of my photos! ;)

Jewellery: Aliquo // Styling: Lisa Byrne @ Lisa Lú

Models: Laura Hitchings (Brunette) & Chloe Keogan (Blonde)

Hair & Makeup: Emma Farrell

So! Yesterday we (The Ambience Affair) could finally announce our big news: our debut album, Burials, will be released in Ireland on Bluestack Records on the 14th of October. 

I’m really pleased with the positive reactions to the artwork so far, which (after much brainstorming & changing of mind) I put together myself from a photograph, photocopy & drawing for the album. 

I have to thank Alex Synge for his valuable opinion & support while Jamie & I were trying to decide what direction to go in for the cover; fans of the band will have seen his work on the cover of our Parting Patterns EP. (Check out his ace stationary company, Keep Sketch - you can help fund it here).

Thanks must also go to my good friend Phil Brett who, besides being the chap in the mask on the cover, provided the original inspiration for the image. Months ago, we headed out in the wet fields around where we lived in Co. Galway and took, among other shots, this photo:

Jamie really liked it, & wanted to work out a way to use something like it for the cover. After a few brainstorming sessions in lovely Anseo on Camden St, we came up with the general concept: rocks, shovel, wolf mask. Phil & I headed out to a derelict quarry (conveniently located beside his house) to shoot an image with the album in mind. A few hours of edits and sketches later, and the cover image was ready to go. 

Preorders of Burials on vinyl and CD, as well as a digital version, will be available soon. If you’d like to see us play, you’ll find details of the launch tour on our Facebook.

PS: Thanks also to Phil’s brother Eamonn, who made the wolf mask in a workshop years ago!

PPS: The cat also deserves a mention, I guess. ;)

My good friend Byron Yeates came to stay a night with me in Dublin ahead of an editorial we were due to shoot last Friday morning (more on that in a few days!). We got out & about to take a few snaps the evening before.

He’s a talented hair & wardrobe stylist (not to mention a great DJ) who is destined for big things - keep track of him on his blog, byronyeates.blogspot.com.

My new business cards from Moo.com have arrived! This was my first time ordering their round-edged cards, & designing my own full image for each side of the card. I’m pretty pleased :)

What do you think?

Behind the scenes at aliquo’s A/W ‘11 shoot today :)

Jewellery by Alice Moyon at Aliquo Boutique
Styling by Lisa Lú
Hair & makeup by Emma Farrell Makeup
Brunette model: Laura Hitchings
Blonde model: Chloe Keogan

I was asked to cover the opening of a new exhibition and launch of the new layout at the National Print Museum last night. As a printmaking graduate, I’m surprised I’d never heard of the place before. The mechanical nerd in me had a field day. I was practically drooling on the old albion presses, typesets and linotype machines.

It’s great to see all this old printing technology being preserved. There were demonstrations of some of the machines by a group of older men who would have worked with them professionally years ago, when they were essential technology in every newspaper office in the country. You could see them all chatting to each other about their past work and the machines, with pride and nostalgia in their eyes.  I was told there are training courses run there, so the skills are being passed on to another generation of printers. 

Here are a few of the photos from last night:

See www.nationalprintmuseum.ie for more information. 

A few behind-the-scenes shots from our shoot on Sunday. We got rained on, blown about and verbally abused by a strange man with a beard, but we got the shots we wanted! I would heartily recommend all the girls - they were a pleasure to work with and did a great job.

Here’s to the next shoot..!

See previous blog posts below for the finished shots.

Herbert Park, July 2011.

Model: Oksana Lastovetsky // Stylist: Lisa Marie Byrne

Makeup: Emma Farrell // Hair: Michelle O’Halloran