JonathanBourke.Com

I Hate Flash...

Why? It scares me, it defies me to control it, demands manual control for best results. And mostly, it beats me… so much so that I bought this book, this flash, this camera, and finally, this lens to wrestle back control at the darker points of the my photographic adventure.

If I am honest with myself, I don’t know how to use it correctly, and have the photographic evidence to prove it! This post from Photocritic.Org might just put me on the path to flash redemption, and cure me of my past sins..

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The eccentric Duke Special now features as a new gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. This is a repost of an earlier Flickr based Gallery as I slowly migrate my portfolio content to my own website. In this gallery, I try to capture the eccentricity, the motion, and the colour of Dukes’ performance at Dolans that night. Some of the images could be perceived as being blurred… but for me this accurately reflects the feeling of the gig.

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One Lens Every Photographer Should Own; a Fast 50!

Digital Photography School (DPS) suggests Three Lenses Every Photographer Should Own. Great article. Except…

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20 Years of Adobe Photoshop - But is it Still Relevant for Photographers?

Webdesigner Depot website has a great overview of 20 Years of Adobe Photoshop. While I have Adobe Photoshop CS4; I find myself using it less and less, and I wonder whether it will remain as relevant to Photographers in particular in the future. The touch up tools now available in  Adobe Lightroom / Apple Aperture and the like could very well render Photoshop to the realm of super specialized tool for Graphic Artists and Web Designers.

That said, it really has been a phenomenon; so much so that it is often used as a verb:

That image looks photoshopped!

A result of that is that in popular culture it now stands for all that is wrong with magazine images of skinny models. It is accused of being complicated, difficult to learn and use, and extremely expensive. So much so that it must be one of the most pirated pieces of software on the internet.

Still amazing software though…

Jack L @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

In the continuing voyage of discovery that is sorting my photo collection comes another gallery. This time it is Jack L performing at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on various dates in 2008.

Jack Lukeman (or Jack L) is pretty much unique amongst the artists I have seen perform… he can hold a venue on the power of his voice alone. I must have seen him perform 10 times now; he certainly ranks as one of my favorites. Check out his music at www.jacklukeman.com.

Windows 7 Logon Screen - Your Photos Here?

When you have a love of photography, you want to see your best images as much as possible. For those, like me, who spend most of their working day in front of a PC or Laptop you can always set your wallpaper to display your favorite image. With Microsoft Windows 7, you can even configure that image to automatically change frequently, or use images from an internet feed.

While this is a big improvement over Vista & XP, there are still some tweaks and adjustments which in my opinion should be built in, and could be done without complicating the overall user experience, such as the Windows Logon Screen, and in the case were you have dual monitors. Thankfully, others have stepped in to fill this gap…
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So Many Photos...

Ok, I am a geek. I love good software, and I am always chasing the next “Big Thing”. In photography, the “Big Thing” over the last few years has been Digital Asset Management software. With the announcement from Apple of Aperture 3, and the impending arrival of Adobe Lightroom 3, I felt its about time that I updated my previous post on software for Photographers. So below I outline my views on some of the leading contenders, including Google Picasa, Apple iPhoto, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. In part 2, I will cover the more professional orientated offerings (at least in price) such as Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, and some more exotic candidates.

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Be Careful With The Delete Button

Would you believe that I had deleted this photo?

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Mundy in Profile @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

I know that I posted this gallery previously, but I am taking the liberty of reposting it as it is now the first collection within my Gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. Please feel free to check it out!

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The sun emerging from a storm in the Maldives

So I am finally relaunching the website. It has taken some time, but I believe that I now have the bits and pieces in place to meet my needs for the future. For those who are interested in these things, I will update my previous post on this topic at a later date. In particular I wanted my website to:

• showcase my photography – check out the new “Gallery” section which will grow over time to include images from my Travel, Concert, Sport, and Landscape collections
• facilitate sales of my images – you can now do this by clicking the “Buy Print” links over each image in the “Gallery”
• provide a forum to discuss photography, camera gear, techniques, and my struggles with all of these – see my “Blog”
• let people find out about me, and get in touch – my “About Me” and “Contact” page

And I wanted this all to look in some way professional!

For those who have called around before, you will notice that I have migrated my domain to a “.Com”. The main reason for this is that I now live in Australia, and rather than get an Australian domain to augment my existing “.ie”, it would be simpler to just use the one truly global domain name, despite the fact that “.Com” was never intended to fulfill this role.

I have migrated most of the old content, and implemented a redirect from my old site, but please get in touch if you find anything which needs correcting.