Sean M. Leahy Photography

Sean M. Leahy Photography is a Green Machine er…website…whatever! its green, are you?

In an effort to continually reduce the amount of waste and pollution I leave behind as my carbon footprint it is my intention to make an improvement by taking any steps that are reasonable and affordable for me to reduce my energy usage. If you are at all curious as to an estimate of your carbon footprint checkout this site Carbon Counter . While I do not expect myself (or others for that matter) to completely change their life overnight to a super clean energy efficient machine, I do take the opportunities where I can to make a difference, if everyone did just a little bit it would be a massive change!

I have taken some simple approaches to reducing energy consumption, like driving less, riding my bike to work weather permitting (fortunately I live close enough to the office to have this option) using energy efficient light bulbs, recycling etc. One thing that I am proud of is the very service I use to host this website (DreamHost) is carbon neutral.

So if you are in the market for an environmentally freindly hosting service, or just a new service check our DreamHost besides being Green they also have wonderful hosting options and are very affordable.

Well, this site has been alive for less than a week and it finally has a new custom look. Not that the theme’s available for Wordpress are not great, I just wanted my own custom theme to stand out and look exactly the way I want it. So, what you see now is version 1.0. I will be continuing to modify and tweak the site as needed to allow me to display certain objects (pic’s videos, etc).

In addition to the site, I have been working to develop my own branding, a new logo or two (you can see my first sml photography suedo crest, I have another one in the works and once it is finished I’m sure it will find its way onto the page.

Okay, so the site has been styled whats next? Well I am currently working on putting together more static pages for the site, including a page on my gear (along with a wishlist) and of course a portfolio gallery. So check back soon for more content. It is my intention to have some project photo shoots up by mid June.

More to come after the holiday weekend!

Several weeks ago I switched my official print lab to Mpix. I was so impressed with my first order of gallery 16×20″ prints that I recently went back to them to process a few more prints with their Kodak Professional Endura Metallic paper. Let me say this, I was absolutely blown away by the quality and sharpness of the print. The image just seems to jump right off the paper. I had the luxury of comparing the same image printed on standard paper vs. the images printed on the Endura metallic paper, bottom line, no comparison. The Metallic paper is just so vibrant and captivating it just makes your prints come alive. I would highly recommend Mpix to anyone serious about the quality of their work, and I would hands down recommend that you try out the metallic paper (and hey, its only $4 more per print for 16×20″s). This image is the most recent gallery print I ran using the metallic paper.

Checkout all of the printing options at Mpix has to offer at www.mpix.com

While in Washington DC recently I was strolling around the city looking for interesting images. One image that really caught my attention was a scene I happened upon in Arlington National Cemetery. Among the rows and rows of headstones rose a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, something about the brilliant life growing within that tree juxtaposed with the hundreds of somber tombs around really stood out to me. Looking at the image as it was it was rather disappointing in the fact that it really did not convey the emotional impact as the scene had in person. So after a few minutes of processing I have derived the following image.

This image is the result after converting the original to black and white, adding some dodging and burning to enhance the “moody” sky which really helps this image convey a sense of feeling. Also a layer mask was used to allow for a little color (the cherry blossom) to show through.

Welcome to Sean M. Leahy Photography. This website/blog will undergo several changes over the next few weeks as I prepare for its “official” launch. So don’t be surprised to see the theme change several times as I develop my own custom layout. This website is to serve as a presence for my photography, and as a personal showcase to display gallery information and prints etc. I intend to keep a regular blog update as to what projects or photoshoots I am currently working on as well as providing short tutorials on image processing in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

I am excited to have this site up and running…

Thanks for dropping by my site!

-Sean