Author: Hugh

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photo: pix.ie St. Patrick’s Day bash

The nice folks over at pix.ie have organised a bit of a coup for St Patrick’s Day which will encourage a slew of great Irish photographers out onto the streets to celebrate out national day. Read all about it by following this link.

They’ve collaborated with the Festival organisers to secure some great vantage points, and with Canon to dish out a few nice prizes for the best pictures from the day with a party afterwards in the Guinness Storehouse for 250 lucky Pixiers amongst others.

Please show your support and spread the word.

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music: DYO


DYO for prospective parents from Hugh_C on Vimeo.

 

My daughter plays viola in the Intermediate Orchestra of the DYO (Dublin Youth Orchestras) and I was asked to make a short piece about the DYO for prospective parents. The auditions are being held today. The script was written by Brigitte de la Malene and the video/photography/editing by me. For more information, visit the DYO website.

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misc: this caught my eye

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Ah but c’mon, who’s going to crack out their perfectly good albeit slightly yellowing gnashers and pack ’em off somewhere to be whitened by someone who has dazzling, sterile bicuspids and a white coat, beaming her way round a lab stacked with orphaned enamels, perched expectantly in their slots waiting for the moment of truth, the application of a mildly bleaching gel to enwhiten their flagging smile.

The mere thought of that makes me want to cry, and as a proud possessor of one very slightly chipped front tooth, a chip commissioned on the very day that Michael McDowell (Mícheál Mac Dubhghaill) lost his seat (the 24th of May 2007), I can state that Online Teeth Whitening isn’t my bag. No thanks, nein danke, no-sir-re-Bob. My chip was the making of me and the undoing of the Rotweiller. I suppose you could say he was to blame; I was celebrating his undoing and misjudged my tasting of a dressing I was preparing at the time, my tooth coming into close and calamitous contact with a pestle (or was it the mortar?) thus depriving me of my unblemished gnasher. The fact that I’d taken the celebrations quite seriously and was south of a few G&Ts is germane.

I might at a push change my toothpaste though. I feel I’m in a bit of a rut toothpaste-wise, having been a follower of that pink stuff that smells of Wintergreen, maybe it’s time for a change. The country is looking for entrepreneurs at this time, I’m thinking of developing an Absinthe toothpaste of my own recipe. Any takers? I’m looking for backing.

Just one more thing about the ad, I love that it offers “live help”. That makes my day and my smile all the brighter.

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spicy tomato soup

Ingredients:
1 large red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers
3x400g cans tomato
3x400g tins of water / stock
salt’n’peppa
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp caraway seed

Method:
Chop the onion finely, along with the garlic and rashers and sauté in a deep pot over a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cans of tomatoes and bring to a slow boil. Add the water & stock to the 3 empty cans and add to the pot. Chuck in the rest of the ingredients and allow to come back to a slow boil. Let it cook away for about 15 minutes and then blend to your desired consistency.

Delicious!

If you’d prefer a vegetarian version, just omit the rashers and use vegetable stock instead.

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food: spicy tomato soup

d300_2009-02-21_dsc_43791

Ingredients:
1 large red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers
3x400g cans tomato
3x400g tins of water / chicken stock
salt’n’peppa
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp caraway seed

Method:
Chop the onion finely, along with the garlic and rashers and sauté in a deep pot over a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cans of tomatoes and bring to a slow boil. Add the water & stock to the 3 empty cans and add to the pot. Chuck in the rest of the ingredients and allow to come back to a slow boil. Let ot cook away for about 15 minutes and then blend to your desired consistency.

Delicious!

If you require a vegetarian version, just omit the rashers and use vegetable stock instead.

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Timeless (revisited)

I’ve been revisiting the time-lapse footage I’ve shot over the years and have begin to wrestle with the issues of what resolution I should make this video on my home setup. In theory I could make this all the way up to 2k (film) but I’m a little limited by hardware at the moment.

Here’s an excerpt from what I’m at:


Timeless from Hugh_C on Vimeo.

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I only said

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I’ve been listening a lot recently to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless which, depending on how you measure it, is twenty years old this year. This abstract, noodling record is beloved of shoegazers the world over and I’m still enjoying it after all this time. It suits my current mood, somewhat introspective and a bit concerned about what the immediate future holds. I can’t assimilate how and why our situation has crashed so catastrophically and quickly – it’s time to reassess and figure out what’s next.

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19Hz

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In my meanderings around the web I came across various articles about infrasound, the world of sound below ~19 Hz (cycles per second) and how it can affect the animal world. Experimental pieces of music, laced with infrasound, have been presented to audiences who have related experiences of nausea, anxiety, fear and dislocation. It has also been suggested that animals can predict catastrophic events from ultrasound vibrations they can sense. For example, animals were seen to flee before the Tsunami hit in 2004, perhaps sensing the infrasound travelling through the earth heralding the catastrophe. Whether this is myth or fact, I don’t know, but interesting nevertheless. The resonant frequency of the human eye is around 18 Hz, and reports of visions and ghosts have been accounted for by the presence of low frequency sound interacting with the eye giving rise to visions.

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3 Things, Dec 08

As this year draws to a close it’s time to be thankful for 3 Things in no particular order (I should have made it to 10 but I ran out of time:

1. Ten days in Ethiopia

Through a blind mix of serendipity, hard work and persistence, I had my first ever trip to Africa, ten days in Ethiopia on a film making exercise in the company of a group of students and teachers; more specifically with Tara McGrath about whom we were making a documentary. I was substantially outside my comfort zone in that I was location sound recordist, something I’d never done before and I’m indebted to Cathal O’Mealoid for his crash course. Those ten days have affected me in multiple ways, they have opened my eyes both inwardly and outwardly. I’ve made new friends, I’ve helped people in a small way and I think I’m bigger for it.

I’ve traveled through southern Ethiopia in the back of a Landcruiser, across unpaved roads, though desert and scrub, being greeted by some of the warmest, friendliest people on the planet. The work we did was tough, hot and very rewarding. Especially out in rural Ethiopia, beyond Sodo where we were the first white visitors to one village. A major day.

2. My Family

This is my youngest child, one of three children who, along with my wife and our extended families, make up a pretty solid basis from which I lead my life. I’m not particularly religious so family stability and support is a great crutch. The kids keep me reasonably honest, reasonably young and definitely on my toes. We continue to enjoy life.

3. Square pictures

I picked up an old medium format camera at the start of this year and discovered the joys of square photography. The picture above is from Glendalough in Wicklow, using Velvia film. I’ve been getting a lot of enjoyment out of photography for the last few years and thankfully it is being enjoyed by a few other people as well. I also spread my wings body-wise and upgraded my digital camera to something which really stretches me – a good thing – a Nikon D300. I can use it to make square pictures too.