I have to admit, though, that I directed it. I also have an equal share in the production company that made it. So, you know, you might want to take any comment I provide about it with a pinch of salt the size of a sand dune.

That said, where else are you going to get first-rate instruction from two top landscape photographers and watch them duel it out at dawn using tripods? Dynamic Range Episode 1, the first installment of an irreverent educational series under the Circle of Confusion umbrella, is that kind of video.

The underlying philosophy is that the best learning comes from a combination of education and humour. Surely that’s worth the price of admission alone? (If you agree, you can purchase a download by clicking here: Dynamic Range Episode 1).

The return of the podcast

Meanwhile, there is news about The Circle of Confusion podcast that Peter Cox and I produced for much of last year. It is back. And we have Neil McShane, the third partner in our video production company, on board.

Another change is that it is going to be a weekly podcast of around 20 minutes, released every Thursday.

You can listen to our relaunch episode by clicking here: The Circle of Confusion Episode 11.

It’s a rough-and-ready affair recorded yesterday to celebrate the release of Dynamic Range Episode 1. We’re looking to refine it in the weeks ahead.

Ideally, any new endeavours would have a link with photography. That isn’t always possible. As a professional photographer, the important thing is to get yourself into a position where you are still able to produce photography, even if it is on a much reduced scale. The worst thing you can do is cling to a sinking ship without taking some form of action.

For me, the sinking ship is wedding photography. Note that I say “for me”. While I don’t see wedding photography as a viable business for me to be in beyond 2012, that doesn’t mean others with different circumstances and skillsets can’t make a sensible and fulfilling living from it.

I’ve been looking at a range of alternatives that will allow me to continue to provide professional photography. Video is an obvious one.

Moving into movies

When video-enabled DSLRs first came out, I was quite keen to explore the possibilities. I never really got round to it. I’d watch the progress of someone like Vince Laforet, admire what he was doing, vow to get involved, and then do exactly nothing.

This year, an opportunity arose to break that cycle, and I jumped in with both feet.

Peter Cox, Neil McShane and I decided we wanted to produced a different kind of photography tutorial video. We devised a formula, established a video production company and set to work.

The experience has been frustrating, stressful, taxing, exhausting and utterly wonderful.

We’re nearing the launch of the first full episode of ‘Dynamic Range‘, our first series of downloadable programmes. It should be available for purchase in the course of next week.

New skills, new income stream, new opportunities

We’ve all learned a new set of skills, and that process will continue. In fact, we’ve learned so much, we are very close to being able to offer our services as a fully-fledged production company to others. That was never our intention, and we may never do so, but it is an option that is now open to us.

We have also created an additional income stream. How rich it will be, we don’t yet know. We have ambitious plans. If they come to fruition, the company will provide us with a rewarding supplementary revenue source.

What is most exciting of all is that we can’t predict where this adventure will take us – both in a geographical sense and from a career perspective. When you embark on a new venture, you start opening doors you didn’t even know were there.

A still from the first episode of the new Circle of Confusion Ltd video series © The Circle of Confusion Ltd 2011

Editing a video is a very time-consuming process. That much I’ve learned over the past two weeks.

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew from the short films I’ve produced on my own that the editing process is very involved. On a project as ambitious as the first hour-long episode of a new photography series I’m working on with Peter Cox and Neil McShane, the post-production becomes exponentially more complex.

So far, we have spent around 96 man hours working on the edit, or 12  eight-hour days. And the end still isn’t in sight.

Late last Saturday evening, we thought we were there. We were wrong. Watching the episode back, we realized it was unbalanced. More tweaking was needed. Another day’s work for two of us later this week.

That doesn’t include the time our sound engineer will spend ironing out the audio track when we’re done.

The strain you put on others

This is all of our choosing, so there are no complaints. The mental and physical drain are part of the deal.

That’s fine for us. What about our families? The project has kept all of us away from our wives and children more than we intended.

I can only speak for myself, but I couldn’t contribute to the project (or undertake any endeavour, for that matter) without the unwavering support of my wife. She shoulders the burden of keeping the home front straight on her own – a mammoth undertaking at the moment for reasons I won’t go into here.

She does this because she cares about me and has faith in me. Peter and Neil’s wives feel the same about their husbands, I’m sure.

Priceless and unpaid

Take a second to think about that. That is wonderful trust to have. It is priceless support, based on nothing more than a hunch Peter, Neil and I have that we can produce a great product that will be successful. We can’t prove that to our wives. Nevertheless, they have met the disruption that the production of the first episode has brought to our households with incredible understanding and grace. They look for nothing in return.

If the project is a success, it will be as much theirs as ours.

We all need the support of other people when pursuing our dreams. Largely, they go unnoticed and unremarked. They are our silent support.

Who is yours?

Last year I produced a series of documentary photographs that were intended for use on the packaging of Java Republic’s new chocolate drink for children. The product was launched a little while ago, and because Java is the kind of considerate company that likes to keep in touch, it sent me down a sample of the new product. Not just a small sachet. No, that’s not Java’s style. It sent a big tub. Classy.

Ugly fits the bill. (c) Roger Overall 2011

Mostly as a photographer you’re asked to produce beautiful, or at least attractive, photographs. You don’t often hear a client say: “Make me/my child/my wedding/my product look as pig ugly as possible. The pigger the better.” Even documentary photographers aim to take aesthetically-pleasing pictures of what they are photographing. That’s what makes their job so hard.

Yesterday, for once, the brief was “ugly”.

Dominick Cullinane is a friend of mine. He is also a magnificent garden designer and curates the Mallow Garden Festival each year. There are about 20 gardens in total and round about now is when he and his team start knocking them back into shape after lying dormant for the best part of a year. Our plan is to produce a short film showing the gardens before and after. To get the best contrast, we need as ugly as we can get for the initial part of the story.

I have to say, “ugly” was a lot of fun.

It's a good look for me, isn't it? (c) Neil McShane 2011

I think landscape photographers are borderline certifiable. Well, maybe not all of them, but Peter Cox and Neil McShane definitely are in my opinion. I’m confident that this is an accurate assessment having filmed them over a 24 hour period for a new video series the three of us have launched together.

For instance, Peter and Neil think that 3.50AM in the morning is an acceptable time to get up to drive an hour-and-a-half to a remote coastline and stand in swirling drizzle to take a photograph of nothing because localized mist is obscuring the subject. They’ll happily accept this as normal, and shrug it off as “One of those things”. Apparently, it’s all worth it on the occasions when the weather does co-operate. Which is almost never, because we live in Ireland. Personally, I think that if I have risen from my bed at 03.50AM (a feat that I could only best if I were to rise from my grave), Mother Nature owes me fine weather. That just seems fair.

The plan to produce a film under The Circle of Confusion banner was hatched pretty much immediately after the recording of the final episode of podcast. Peter and I enjoyed the whole podcast adventure together, and the prospect of not continuing our working relationship was a sad one. I’ve written about what happened next on The Circle of Confusion blog, so I won’t repeat the story here. Instead, I’ll restrict myself to some thoughts on the role video will play in my career.

I’ve wanted to explore the possibilities of video since camera manufacturers started enabling the sensors in stills cameras to capture high-definition video as well. All of last year, I kept saying that I needed to get involved with video. It just didn’t happen. I dabbled, but that was about it. This year, I’m getting more serious. Much more serious. The series that Peter, Neil and I will be producing is only the beginning. I have clear-cut plans to add video to my corporate service offering. Doing so will allow me to pursue a range of new commercial opportunities.

Therein lies a key benefit to me of working with Peter and Neil. Apart from having a bundle of laughs (“The Talent”, as they like to refer to themselves, won’t forget to turn off their lapel mikes while going for a tinkle ever again, I can tell you), I learned a huge amount in a short space of time about video production – filming, directing, sound recording, editing, pre-production, post-production, catering*, you name it. These are all skills that I can transfer to my own business.

I do wonder how it will impact on me as a photographer – a job I love. Will I make a full transition to film-maker, or will I remain a hybrid? Can you be both equally well, or will one discipline inevitably suffer? There’s only one way to find out.

What is certain is that there will likely be many more 03.50AM starts in the years ahead if the series of programmes that we want to release under The Circle of Confusion banner actually happen.

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen it, here is the trailer for the pilot programme that we made:

* Together Peter, Neil and I mustered an arsenal of 12 cameras and at least as many lenses to bring with us on the shoot. None of us thought to bring a flask of coffee, or even a single biscuit.

This is the best portrait photograph ever taken of me - (c) Anne O'Leary 2011

Saturday was quite a day.

Somebody told me I “sucked”. Someone else called me something even worse when I forgot to press the record button on the sound recorder during a video shoot.

To be fair, I think the first was in jest and the second insult came from Peter Cox, so it was as good as a compliment. Besides, lots of people said really nice things about me on Saturday as well – many of whom I’ve never met, so that makes their words even kinder and I’d like to say a few thank yous.

Firstly, thank you to everyone who booked in for one of my IPPA Happy Faces portrait sessions at The Ambassador Hotel in Cork on Saturday in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI). You were so fabulous to take time out of your weekend and come along. There were 13 portraits taken in all, with all the donations going to the IPPA Happy Faces fund to help the CFAI. Thank you.

Thank you to Anne, who was at my side to help out at the Happy Faces shoot, and to The Ambassador for the gift of the room.

The next round of thanks goes to Peter Cox’s wife, who graciously allowed Neil McShane and me to disrupt half her house for a video shoot. She also cooked for us. And did I mention she’s looking after a baby as well? Not only that, she has a newborn to care for too. (The eagle-eyed among you will have just noticed the subtle revenge taken on Peter for his earlier name calling*).

I’ll have more about the video shoot soon. For the moment, I’ll just say that despite the ridiculous 03.50AM start on Sunday morning (or is that still Saturday night?), it was fabulous to work with Peter and Neil. Even if they did develop the habit of referring to themselves as “the talent” and insisted on traveling in a separate vehicle from the crew. Mind you, the camera man, sound engineer, focus puller and microphone operator (and likely the video editor) all won a national award on Saturday evening while the “talent” didn’t, so we were happy in our own company. Besides, you should have heard what the crew said about the “talent” behind their backs. I tell you, our sound engineer knows some phrases that would make sailors want to wash out their ears with holy water.

What award did the crew win?

Best Photo Blog at the 2011 Irish Blog Awards.

Which brings me to my final round of thanks.

Thank you to the person who nominated the blog in this category. You still haven’t come forward (which I actually think is a sign of integrity and character), but I’d like you to know that I am very grateful to you.

Thank you to the people who gave of their time to read and judge the blog.

Special note here is due to Damien Mulley and his team for organizing the awards for the last six years.

And finally, thank you to everyone who sent such wonderful tweets and messages on the night and during Sunday. My apologies for not being able to respond properly. I hope you’ll forgive me as I was in the wilds of southwest Ireland babysitting “talent”**.

* I just called Peter Cox a baby.

** I just called Peter a baby again, and Neil too for good measure. (Never mess with the crew).

But why post any of this on a blog allegedly given over to the art and business of documentary photography?

A good question.

I hope I can give you a good enough answer.

I’ve stated before that I don’t see a future for video in my wedding business. But I can see a big future for it on the commercial side of things. I would love to be able to offer my corporate clients the option of video in addition to stills.

There is much to learn. Video photography is very different from stills photography – while at the same time being very similar. That’s the sort of paradox that’ll wreck your head.

To get anywhere near as good as I’d like to be as a film maker, I need practice.

That is what “The Cat Princess” was all about – at least on at technical level. On a human level, it allowed me to spend some time with my daughter and produce something together – a magical experience that leaves me quite emotional.

From a hard-nosed business perspective, it was all about the exercise, the training, the practice – the learning.

I can hold my own as a photographer. As a film maker, I have a lot to learn and a lot to experience before I can express my voice through moving pictures. Yesterday’s video is another step on that path. It helped me gain a better understanding of the tools available to me to produce a short film.

I’m already planning my next film, which will have a more documentary feel to it. Even then, it will only be the next step on the way to where I want to be.

I’ve been interested in the video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mrk II since I got it over a year ago, but never got round to actually doing anything with it. Chiefly because I couldn’t see a way to fitting it into my wedding photography capture.

I still can’t.

But I can see a place for it in my corporate work. It’s still early days and I have a lot to learn.

An opportunity to expand my knowledge presented itself when I took some photographs for Dominick Cullinane of the recent Mallow Garden Festival. I decided to test the waters – literally.

This is what I produced.