There's an editing process that is perpetual in the mind of any creative individual trying to express a particular image, message or idea. It's usually a battle for how much throttle to put behind a single dimension of what could be a complex and multi-dimensional idea.

Love has to be one of the most intricate and impossible aspects of the human experience to truly represent. It can be so beautiful and easy to recognize, or it can be so understated that it would appear invisible before you, were it forced to manifest itself. That is to say, the things people often do out of love might never be discovered as having been derived from that complex and arbitrary emotion.

Still, we can always rely on the simplicity of our favourite form. The love between two people.

I fell in love with the otherworldly landscape of Connemara when I was out there for a work assignment a few months ago. Minutes after arriving, I "saw" many of the images I needed to get that day, and even more which I knew I would have to return for.

Thankfully, with my friends, and Connemara natives, Aonghus and Michelle, I was able to achieve the style and vision I had for this set of photos, and little time had to be spent in the valley hills to capture what I've posted below.

Clothing had to be expressionless because the subjects were going to present the tangible emotion needed. "Any colour as long as it's black", Henry Ford was correct in this sentiment if only for the reason that the onlooker couldn't attach any peripheral emotive meaning that comes with shades of blue, green and red, and has to accept the object itself for what it is. In his case, the modern vehicle, in mine, the modern couple, engaged and due to be married.

I know I say I need to take on more of this work, and I'm fighting with the side of me that says no so often, hoping to put my better foot forward, before my bad one takes the lead yet again.

Photographers Notes*

There's a joystick on the back of my new camera and my nose and thumb kept hitting it, abruptly changing my autofocus point and even activating a kind of centre weight focus mode I couldn't turn off. Also, because I deactivated the "beep" of my AF, it took me a little while in to realize that my main lens had it's AF turned off on the actual lens body and so wasn't tracking targets for my first 30 shots or so.

It weighs around 2.5kg-3kg more than my last camera which doesn't sound like much but you feel it when you're holding it in front of your face for 60 minutes. In any event, the files coming out of the 5DMK4 are crisp, dynamic and very easy to work with. So far a sound investment, although to be fair, not much different to my 6D image quality, but I didn't expect much of a change in that particular area anyway as the 6D is a magnificent stills camera.

All in all, a confident first shoot with my new gear.

Thanks for looking!