O'Neill Photography

THIS BLOG IS MOVING!!!

2010-12-06T05:11:00.000-08:00

This Blog has moved see:

http://mikeoneillphotography.wordpress.com

Botanic Media Acts @ La Boca Retaurant in Belfast

2010-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Junior Johnson

Paul Corrigan

Halloween @ Laserforce NI

2010-11-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

I was invited along to LFNI to cover their Halloween event and it was a good laugh, calamities aside.

A couple of guys had some great outfits which was good to see as I was judging the fancy dress competition. It was a good night and I did some great networking.

Here are a few of the images...

Pro Show video to follow soon!

Licentiate

2010-10-20T02:18:00.001-07:00

So, I have finally gotten round to getting in my application and images and finally by big certificate and extras came through the post.

I am a happy bunny :)

Mike

Belfast Fashion Week Opener

2010-10-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

I applied for a Photo Pass for Belfast Fashion Week, to my surprise, I got one. I went to collect it from Victoria Square Underground Car Park, where, that night the opening show would be.

Upon arrival I noticed there were around 20 photographers waiting to get their pre-press shots. I couldn't be bothered with the scrum of it, so just watched amused. One lady photographer had her 9 month old son in a baby sling... Committed!

I went back that evening and took a lot of images. Here are the results... {Watch the video file}

Laserforce NI

2010-09-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been looking at ways to provide imaging services to local businesses. I approached a local laser combat company with a view to providing them with new imagery for advertising etc.

The initial talks went well and last week I finally had some spare time (which is not a

bundant for me these days) to make a start. I browsed the internet for sources of this kin

d of imagery and found that there is very little and what there is

amateurish and somewhat cheesy.

I began with photographing some simple interiors, however I soon realised that any flash

would certainly ruin the ambience of the place. Many rooms

/areas were covered with neon or reflective paint and would look quite harsh. In the end I opted for the use of gels to add to whatwas already there.

I went back in the evening to photograph the front of the building, lit up at night the place

looks great. I was then offered the opportunity of photographing a few games in process.

The combat arena itself is quite difficult to photograph in. It is very dark with minimal li

ghting, most of which is UV/black lighting for the neon and reflective strips. My initial plan was to rig flashes in the arena which would hopefully be fired by the SU800 however this failed to fire so I switched to the Pocket Wizards. This fired off one of the flashes. With more time I may have perfected the setup however th

e game was about to begin.

To start with I tried to get in on the action with the hope that the flash with blue gel would provide the extra ambient to my action images. I failed to get a single shot, it was just too dark. I needed a 'Plan B'.

So, with the guys on a debrief, I had about 5 minutes to rig a new setup.

This time I looked for 'action areas' for me to have a good ambush point. A few test shots and I was good

to go by the next game. Even so it was still quite difficult and I adjusted the positioning of the flash a few times to try and get a shot. As with all action you may take many shots just to get the one!

In the end my patience was rewarded with this image.

The job isn't finished though, I plan to practice some more with the flashes to obtain the killer Laser Combat Shot!

INCOMING: Hog N' Bog 2010

2010-07-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

A side project Ive been gearing up for lately is just around the corner. I am looking forward to this one so watch this space.

Provincewide HOG: Meet n' Greet Bangor

2010-06-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

Whilst covering the Armed Forces Day in Bangor, I came across a group of Harley Davidson Motorbike owners. They were holding a group meet and greet so I asked if I could photograph their bikes. I think this has started a new love affair for me, move over VW Camper I think you may have been replaced.

Slimming World Scale Up to Scale Down

2010-06-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited by a friend to walk up Slieve Donard with Moira Slimming World group whilst photographing them for a feature for the Slimming World Internal Magazine. I havent walked a fell in ages and as Northern Ireland has no mountains to speak of it should be a breeze.

Or so I thought...

The Mourne Mountains lie in the South East Northern Ireland and Slieve Donard is its highest peak at 2789 ft.

As we drove towards Newcastle I realised I had totally underestimated it. I watched as the peak loomed before me and said "Ooh its bigger than I thought..."

I enjoyed the day overall, the last ascent was a bit cheeky but I was left humbled by the performance of some of the ladies of the group. One was 64!

Enjoy these images from the day...

NI Landmarks

2010-05-05T05:59:00.001-07:00

The final one: Giant's Causeway

Landscapes NI: 2

2010-04-22T07:24:00.001-07:00

The second batch of my NI Landscapes:

Landscapes NI: 1

2010-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

I was busy out shooting Landscape images of recognisable places from around Northern Ireland. Here are some of the results:

The big freeze: NI

2010-01-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

When the freeze came to Northern Ireland, Lisburn was relatively unscathed. It wasnt a problem on the roads either, it did get a bit tough pushing a pram though...

Best Overall Image: Army Photography Competition 2009

2010-01-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Downtime

Backround

The image ‘Downtime’ was taken on my birthday whilst I was on the Combat Camera Team in 2009.

In the final stages of Op Panthers Claw, The Light Dragoons Battlegroup had taken objectives around the town of Babaji in the Gereshk district. A Company 2 MERCIANS had taken up residence on at a location where voting registration could now take place for local Afghans. The CCT team went in to cover the voting registration and I was busy filming and gathering and footage.

Once finished I asked my photographer colleague, Sergeant Dan Harmer RLC, for his camera so I could get some images.

The Image

The image itself was part of a wider portfolio of how soldiers spend their ‘downtime’, the time that is their own and they are not on duty.

The soldiers of A Company had made best of their surroundings and had moved into a half built subterranean dwelling.

I was originally brought into the scene by the light coming through a small window and the meagre setup of the soldier who was just making the best of it. Doing exactly what he may do at home, having a brew and reading the paper.

I set about trying to emphasise the light and his existence with the boots and the mess tin, his tea is in a cut down water bottle.

I was tempted to crop the rifle but chose not to as I feel it adds the sense of the nature of Operations in Afghanistan.

On the job but not quite...

2009-12-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when out on a job, something will catch my eye and Ill take it with a view to edit it at some point. Most of the time it just becomes disk space when I have forgotten them, here are some examples

2009-11-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

I was asked to photograph the Drumbeg Branch of the WI's 50th anniversary dinner which was held at Stormont, the seat of Government in Northern Ireland.

It was to include a group shot of about 60 ladies and some generics plus some images for press publication.

Prior to the evening I visited Stormont to recce the stairwell to see what I would require.

Thankfully I had a twin set of Bowens I could make use of.

The Nikon D3 camera kit had not arrived so I had to make do with the D1's. Which are not very good in low light.

I placed the Bowens (without softboxes or equivalent as none available) at 45 degree angles to the stairs which I think did an ok job of it.

The customer was happy and it was published in the Ulster Star.

2009-11-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

A recent job in Ballykelly took me to a previous military barracks which is now up for sale. Formerly an RAF base it also houses its own runway and other buildings and was last home to an Infantry battalion.
Now it sits empty and overgrown.

Knights of the Empire: Emerald Garrison

2009-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

As a young boy growing up in the early eighties I couldn’t have escaped the all the great films from around that time. Films such as Back to the Future, The Goonies, Big, and the phenomenon that was Star Wars.

Ill always remember playground games re-enacting scenes from the film with everyone running around doing the Darth Vader breathing thing.

At one point I must have had like 40 Star Wars figures and the Chicken Walker thing (AT-AT?).

So during my well deserved time off, I managed to take the family to see the Knights of the Empire: Emerald Garrison at Belfast Odyssey Arena. These guys spend thousands on their costumes and I thought it would make for interesting

photographs plus it amused my daughter for an afternoon, as she was scared of the Stormtroopers.

Enjoy the images.

One of my images

2009-08-19T04:09:00.001-07:00

I dont get much chance to take photographs, video work is very time consuming! However every now and then I will grab a camera from my colleague and set to work getting some images. Here is one I took of a Mortar Team firing the 81mm Mortar. I managed to capture the mortar round leaving the barrel!

Me at work: Afghanistan

2009-08-19T03:33:00.001-07:00

This image on the right was taken on my first day on the job, OP PANCHAI PALANG (Panthers Claw). We had just started out.

The image on the left was taken around 3 weeks later whilst on another phase of OP PANCHAI PALANG this time with 2 Royal Welsh.

A Herrick Update

2009-08-19T02:57:00.000-07:00

Wed 19 Aug 09

So I am over halfway through my tour no and it has been quite a ride. We spent a month covering OP PANCHAI PALANG (Panther’s Claw) with the Light Dragoons Battlegroup and also 2 Royal Welsh. My footage was shown everywhere and I still see some of it and Sky and the BBC now. We have covered the voting registration and a Shura to which Governer Mangal came to.

We have spent time in FOB Price and its outlying areas around Gereshk such as Spin Masjid and Babaji.

We have been to Sangin to see reconstruction and rebuilding.

We have spent time with the Medical Emergency Response Teams and saw how casulaties, both soldiers and native Afghans are dealt with by flying them by Chinook back to Camp Bastion for treatment.

I have also been in the Manchester Evening News and was interviewed by BFBS Radio yesterday.

See links below for videos I filmed and published by the MOD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Ji5q3EoMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PSh9MklC5U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smg9KAaZ0rQ

Now we are in Lashkar Gah for the Afghan Elections. We don’t know what to expect so we are just cracking on with the Brigade films for Decompression and for the end of the tour.

My wife Joanne is going to see her Maternity consultant today so I hope that goes well for her and our little munchkin Anna doesn’t give her any trouble whilst she is on her own.

I am very much enjoying my tour but I miss my homelife badly. Anna has become a little girl who loves her dolly and is no longer a baby with little wobbly legs. My dog Alfie is pining too. Who would believe a dog can sulk. I cant wait to go home...

Start of Herrick

2009-08-19T02:37:00.000-07:00

Wed 24 Jun 09

I arrived at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan in the early hours of Monday morning after a gruelling 18 hours travelling and waiting to transit to Camp Bastion. We were ushered to a bed and told ‘get your heads down and we will get you up for breakfast’ by a Media Operations Group (Volunteers) (MOG(V)) Major from the media team .

After breakfast we were told that a live broadcast to ITN would be happening that evening with CDS Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup. A Captain from MOG(V) woke us up flapping before midday and he wasn’t even anything to do with it, what an idiot. Sgt Jon Bevan filmed it whilst I watched and refreshed myself as to how to set it up.

My team’s first big job is with The Light Dragoons next week but I can only write about them afterwards. Clive Hasn’t arrived yet but should be with us for next week.

We managed to sort weapons out today as we thought we were signing over from the previous Combat Camera Team (CCT) but this had fell through. Thankfully, The Light Dragoons have sorted us some SA80 Carbines which are the stumpy version. The laptop I’ve been issued hasn’t had all the programs I need for the job so after setting up the satellite I have managed to get one or two of them gaining the other programs from Jon and the surge CCT who are also in theatre.

The weather isn’t as hot yet as I thought it would be, don’t get me wrong though, it’s still hot. The accommodation here is excellent for an operational tour; I am in the Tier 2 Corrimec with remote Air-con! You can’t argue with that!

Tomorrow we start RSOI which is what all soldiers have to conduct once they arrive in theatre. It helps to update everyone to the latest skills and drills, we will also need to ‘zero’ our weapons on the range.

Test

2009-06-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

A test blog.