21/02/2024

A Delighted Viewfinder!

 



This month I was so happy to write my first post as a regular contributor to the photography site Viewfinders .  Its a site I've followed and enjoyed for many years and you can see my first contribution HERE

22/09/2023

Back to School :)



In a strange turn of events I've found myself back in college (after a gap of just a few decades) to do a higher diploma in art in NCAD. This was my first piece of classwork, I'm destined for great things lol 😉 

16/02/2023

The Blank Page

  (First published on Viewfinders on February 3rd 2023)

Okay, I’ll come clean, I’m one of those people who has a few too many notebooks and a thing for stationery, paper in particular. One of my favourite early memories is finding a ream of paper in a bag from a well-known Dublin city centre stationery shop, on the side of the road, in our far flung city suburb, just before a shower of heavy rain completely destroyed it.

That block of clean crisp white paper was such a departure from my usual art supplies of colouring books and the backs of advertising leaflets that it was a creative shock to the system, with it I had weeks of fun: folding fortune tellers, cutting out chains of people, and helping snowflakes escape from those sheets of paper; it started a lifetime love affair with the stuff.


For me, the blank page offers so much. There are times it becomes the symbol of my frustration and lack of ideas–and all that goes along with creative block…



…and then again it has the ability to be anything from a simple abstract…



…to a spaceship…

…or a cabin in the woods.


The only limit is my imagination and, I must confess, on occasion my building skills.


As a resource it’s there to fold, cut, tear, shred, or mould into something to photograph…



…and with the addition of my lights I can give it presence and place.



The blank page has become a constant as a conduit for both my creativity and frustrations and a staple of my 365 project I started back in 2011, which has seen me take a photo, video, make an animation, or an illustration, every single day. I’m now in my 13th year and haven’t missed a day yet, in part due to the blank page. www.flickr.com/photos/catmacbride/albums


All images available to licence on Stocksy

02/02/2023

Getting Messy

I have been thinking a lot about my 365 project recently, I even thought about ending the project at the end of last year, but I realised I very much enjoy having a creative outlet in my day.  

With well over 4,000 thousand days under my belt now, and having tried so many different things from paper-craft, animation, video production, painting and more, I realised things have gotten a bit messy on my photo stream.  

Yesterday I tried to look at my images and categorise them by putting them into albums on Flickr, my old faithful photo sharing site and home to my 365 project since it started back in 2011. 

It seemed to make sense, but it got me to wondering; how do artists with a large body of work in different mediums present their work? Do they create different profiles for each medium? Have different agents for each type of work? or just pile it all together like a giant image jumble sale? 

I really don't have the answers to these questions or any idea where to start to find them, but in the meantime I do have some slightly better organised albums HERE 

Cat :)


01/06/2021

The Royal Photographic, Visual Art Magazine




I'm so delighted to receive this in the post this morning!

My image on the front cover, and an interview in, the Royal Photographic Society, Visual Art Magazine. Thank you so much Nicki Gwynn-Jones and all at the magazine.








18/05/2020

My RedBubble Shop

I've updated my Redbubble shop adding lots more images that can be bought as prints, cards, clocks and many more products, pop over and visit :) https://www.redbubble.com/people/CatMacBride





16/01/2020

My Image in The Winter Open in Rua Red


My Image is part of the Rua Red Winter Open Exhibition which runs until the 24th of January.  The exhibition is a wonderful collection of pieces and well worth the visit :)

06/12/2019

Rua Red Winter Open Exhibition


I won't lie...

I find myself very out of my depths among a collection of really wonderful Irish based artists as one of the contributors to the upcoming Rua Red Winter Open Exhibition. The Exhibition launches later this month on Friday the 20th, 6pm-8pm.

More information is available here where you can also book (free) tickets to come along to the launch and see what is always a great show (and say hello to me while you are there).

Cat :)

25/07/2019

I'm on the Flickr Blog :)



It only took me twelve years but I finally made it onto the Flickr Blog in a lovely piece written by Leticia Roncero. you can read it Here.

22/07/2019

Video





So over the last year or so I've been trying my hand at producing short little video clips for sale on my Stocksy portfolio and I have to say I've really enjoyed the challenge.

It involved learning a whole new editing software (DaVinci Resolve), which I'm still getting to grips with, but like everything else the more I use it the easier it gets.

I now have over 100 video clips for sale which I'm rather pleased with.

27/09/2018

I'm a 500px Ambassador :)



I have no idea how I forgot to tell you but I was made an Ambassador for 500px at the end of 2017, come find me there https://500px.com/catmacbride

24/08/2018

That time of year again...




For decades the end of August, beginning of September always meant the return to books.  All through school and college and later in my life while teaching, this time of year always had the buzz of new books and new pencils and the excitement of learning something new to look forward too.

This year I wanted to celebrate this time of year and do something different, so I gathered together some of my (many) favourite books to enjoy again and use as the basis for a small series of paper craft scenes.

I hoped each scene could become a little world on top of the piles of books which hold so many magical worlds within their pages.

These images are available to licence on Stocksy

27/10/2017

Featured on the Stocksy Blog...





Delighted to have some of my work featured in the Stocksy Blog today. You can see it HERE.

25/09/2017

My Fellowship in Photography




I'm delighted to say that I was awarded a Fellowship in Photography from the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF) on Saturday the 23rd of September 2017 :)

My written statement: 

It may seem a little odd, but I have always loved paper. As a child I would sit, scissors in hand and cut-out chains of people & free snowflakes from sheets of paper just to entertain myself.

When I started a 365 photography project back in 2011 it didn't take long to run out of things to photograph. Once again I turned to a blank sheet of white paper; this time to make something to use as a prop.

2458 days later I'm still taking a photograph everyday. Making stuff from paper has become my “thing” and with my camera I try to bring my imagination to each paper scene.

This panel of 20 images comes from my on-going photography project and represents a glimpse of how I imagine the night would look if the world was made of paper. 

If you want to see each shot bigger and a selection of images that didn't make it on to the panel click here

04/04/2017

Photography Masterclass Magazine, April 2017




I'm the featured photographer in "Photography Masterclass Magazine" this month (issue 52).

23/06/2016

2,000 days in a row!




I've been taking a photo everyday since the 1st of January 2011, yesterday I made it to 2,000 days in a row! you can see some of my favourites from the last 5+ years here :)

03/03/2016

RUA RED Exhibition, March 1st-31st 2016




I'm delighted to have a collection of my images on display in RUA RED Dublin as part of their Cafe Wall series more information is available on their website www.ruared.ie

29/01/2016

I'm in Photographize Magazine :)

 I'm delighted to be in issue 29 of Photographize Magazine, I'm on pages 75-85 :)