[Photographer Profile] #9 dirtyghettokid

dirtyghettokid

The idea of these threads is to give some insight as to how some of your fellow photographers operate. Each person invited will write about their photography and provide some examples. This thread will be sticky for about a fortnight (longer if needed) During this time feel free to comment and ask questions. Please allow the subject to answer questions and do not do so on their behalf.

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hi everyone! i'm kind of surprised i was picked for this, but.. here we go anyway! i'm janine jones, aka JB. you all know me as dirtyghettokid.
i'm 32 years young, and i'm a southern ontario native, living in ireland since i was 18 years old.

my hometown: newmarket, on • JB • where i grew up: peterborough, on

i work as a freelance graphic designer, but photography would be my main passion nowadays.

i am a very creative person by default. my whole life, i've been inspired by shapes, colours, and i find beauty in the strangest things.
i spent many of my early years drawing sunrises with crayons -- my mother pinning them up on the wall. it was like i was obsessed. couldn't get enough of sunrises. still can't! you can clearly see that in my photostream! i have this urge to capture those beautiful colours in the sky, every time i see them. i love nothing more than sitting out, watching the sun rise. it's one of the best gifts in life.

growing up, there was always cameras about. i used to love going with my ma to the shopping centre to get film developed. i'd stand outside watching all the prints coming out of the machine, taken by other people. i particularly loved my dad's polaroid camera, because i could see my picture nearly straight away.
when i was nine, i was given a 110 camera. i brought it on holidays with me to florida, and captured the sunset on the gulf of mexico from st. petersburg beach. i love the thought of a memory being captured forever! i filled photo album, after photo album. i'd sit and look at them all, like it was a story book of my life.

when i got a little older, i decided to buy a new camera. it wasn't until i was over here, when i was 19. i went into blanchardstown and bought myself a kodak advantix little point & shoot. i thought it was animal! WOW i could choose what size picture to take! amazing!

drumcondra graffiti • kodak advantix • 2001

around that time, i was big into skateboarding. i used to go to the skate park in drumcondra, and when not skating myself, i'd be taking pictures of other kids skating. i wanted to be a skateboarding photographer. but i was earning peanuts, and couldn't afford anything decent.

ciarán • kodak advantix • 2001

i worked in a design studio, just around the corner from berminghams in dublin city centre. every day when i left work, i'd walk past the shop and look into the window, like a child looking at candy. i thought about saving for an SLR, but digital photography was just starting to come in. i wanted to jump on that! my first digital camera was a fuji finepix that was 1.3MP. i took loads of crappy photos, but loved the fact i could just snap and snap, not worrying about wasting film.

in work, i would get magazine pages to design, and the publisher would send me text and photos. one image in particular stood out to me. it was a long exposure image of the dublin corporation buildings at blue hour. the lights had starbursts, the colours were so vidid, the image was super sharp. i nearly got a shiver down my spine. i wanted to be able to take photos like that.

throughout the next few years though, i was too busy with work to do anything serious. i upgraded my camera a few times. went through a couple of fuji bridge cameras. i liked some of my pictures, but i still had that dublin corporation building picture stuck in my head. i needed to learn. once and for all.

butterfly on flowers • fuji finepix S5600 • 2007 // summer evening sky • fuji finepix S5600 • 2006

it wasn't until i lost my job in 2008, when i had time to take photography seriously. i bought my first DSLR -- the nikon D80. i also bought a couple of books. i shot in auto mostly, at first. then i started dabbling in manual. i was finally able to take those long exposure images! it was like a drug, the rush i got from being able to achieve something i'd wanted to do for years.

i bought more lenses, i read more tutorials, and i took thousands and thousands of pictures. photography was now my life, and not just a side dish.

in 2011, i decided to do a fetac level 6 course in digital photography, as i was still unemployed. funnily enough, it didn't teach me anything i didn't already know. it maybe just pushed me to get out more and try new things. learning is a life long task. i'm always learning something new. i keep pushing myself to get better and better. i can see the progress i've made over the last few years, and i look forward to getting better and better.

i don't really have any ambition to be a professional photographer. i loved design, but having a career in it, ruined it for me. i don't want photography to get like that. i have shot a wedding, a baby belly shoot, a family shoot and i've sold a few prints, but aside from that, my main interest is just shooting for myself.

my favourite type of photography is landscape. i like to take pictures of shoes, cars, flowers and any other things i like also. i shoot with mostly canon cameras now. always shoot in raw format, unless i'm doing a time lapse. i process all images in aperture 3, and touch-ups in photoshop cs3 where necessary. i use filters sometimes; lee & cokin systems. my passion for photography is so crazy, that i sold my old car to buy a 5D mark II, a few years ago! it was really the only way a broke-ass like me could afford such a camera!

so, i guess that's me in a nutshell. thanks for reading! below are links to see more...

500px.com // flickr // my website

Splinters

A great insight into a photographer Im a big fan of, fair play Janine.

Really love that Morning Dew shot BTW!!

genie_us

Loving your sunset shots! Great post

AnimalRights

I thought you were a male!

dirtyghettokid

AnimalRights wrote: »

I thought you were a male!

bahaha many people do!

chisel

Well done, great to read about you....

maddog

Great work Janine :D:D Loving that city shot... get rid of the branches/trees at the bottom and that would be an awesome pic:):)
Also I remember that fab moon/globe shot from last year;);):D


Bren:)

artyeva

i wish i could have bought that lake print from the print auction - my granny [ontario-ian] had friends who had a cottage in havelock and her and mum spent a lot of time at those lakes. love your stuff janine.

dirtyghettokid

artyeva wrote: »

i wish i could have bought that lake print from the print auction - my granny [ontario-ian] had friends who had a cottage in havelock and her and mum spent a lot of time at those lakes. love your stuff janine.

i have a print of that up on the wall here in the house. i have a few others if you still want one?

havelock! that picture was taken like a 10 minute drive east of havelock. in fact, my aunt & uncle's address is havelock. have spent so much time out that way in my life. it's a lovely area. was the cottage on belmont lake?

maddog wrote: »

Great work Janine :D:D Loving that city shot... get rid of the branches/trees at the bottom and that would be an awesome pic:):)
Also I remember that fab moon/globe shot from last year;);):D


Bren:)

that pic of toronto, i was walking with my other half down through tommy thompson park, which curves out into lake ontario, facing the city. on a map you think it's grand and small, so we parked the car as far out as we could and started walking. it was like 35C and we had mild food poisoning from the breakfast.....but we kept walking and walking.. i was desperately trying to get to the end, so i could have a great vantage point of the city. after walking for half an hour, we checked on the phone where we were, and we weren't even close to the end! we felt so crappy, we had to turn and go back. i took that picture at the best possible view i had along the way. the whole length of the park had trees and bushes blocking the view of the city. but yea, if those bushes hadn't have been there, it'd have been better for sure! or if i had a ladder to stand taller over them

this was one i took in september 2009 (before i started shooting in raw!) from ward island


toronto skyline by jbredrebel, on Flickr

S28382

That shot with the moon is epic. Fair play

Balfey1972

Great range of Shots JB. Have to say my favourite is your shot with the moon. Hope the other half signed the model release form ?? :)

dirtyghettokid

Balfey1972 wrote: »

Great range of Shots JB. Have to say my favourite is your shot with the moon. Hope the other half signed the model release form ?? :)

well.. emm... he signed the marriage certificate... so.......:p:D

siobh123

Love love loveee mist by the tiny island. Stunning