Have a break?..

Are you kidding? There's no rest for the wicked this weekend, as I'm in the middle of a two-day Wedding event taking place at Debenhams in Liverpool. In all honesty it started slowly yesterday, and not least because, out of fourteen stands at the event, four of 'em were photographers!! Aaaagh! Anyway - whilst I'm having a moan - the first conversation of any length I had with anyone turned out to be with - yet again - another Father of the Bride who has decided he'll be the one who is going to take his daughter's photographs! Now, that is just crackers! He's the father of the bride! He's already got a job to do on the Big Day! Please tell me where he's going to find time to carry out his duties and enjoy the emotion of the day and stand back to photographically capture it all....! The most aggravating thing about this guy was that he'd only come to the Wedding Fayre to "get a few ideas" ...!! Give me a break!

Foreigner?...

I know, another shot of a band on my blog, but stick with it! I was searching for an insurance policy in a box of old documents this morning, and came across an old diary from 1981 - the year I was 21 and working for the Warrington Guardian. It was a timely find because, yesterday, I was talking with a pal about going to gigs 'in the old days'. His son, it seems, was going to his second gig of the week last night. Second gig of the week! I only managed three in the whole of last year .. and one of them was an eighties' tribute night! Anyway, I started reading through this old diary, and in particular, the February of 1981. You would not believe the listings in there! In just that one month I went to 12 gigs and saw acts as varied as John Cooper Clarke, The Rezillos, Bad Manners, Discharge, OMD and the UK Subs. There was even U2 at Manchester Poly, and Duran Duran although, tellingly, I can't remember anything from that gig! I once photographed Devo - that's them in the picture! - in 1980, and remember the ticket cost me £4. When I went to see 'em more recently the same band cost me 40 quid! Anyway, the thing that shocked me most whilst looking through my history was a listing for Foreigner! Foreigner? I don't even like Foreigner, so why would I go and see 'em? Then it dawned on me! It wasn't a listing for the band, it was a booking to shoot for somebody other than the Warrington Guardian. It was a foreigner, not the Foreigner! Phew!...

The signs are there...

Frogs in the pond, new leaves on the hawthorn, the sun in the sky and snowdrops in the fields! IT'S SPRING!! Well, ok, early signs of it ..  but what with a new Mac, cracking new software and a raft of new Wedding bookings it finally feels like the year is starting at last! Hey, you want more? Abba's "I do, I do, I do" has just come on the iplayer! It's a sign!!

So, I'm just gearing up for a busy two-day Wedding Fayre at Debenham's store in Liverpool this weekend, and let's hope the change in the weather will bring out all those lovely brides! I've signed up a fab florist for my own show, too - the One-Off Wedding Fayre - which I'm staging on March 25th.There's more prosaic work to be done before that, though .. as I'm shooting anti-theft invisible paint for a motor-cycle insurance company this afernoon. Hang on! Invisible? Oh, I'm sure I'll find a way to shoot it! Apparently you shine UV light on your hidden markings and all is revealed. Now that's a sign! ..

That's not music...

Don't you think it's time Bruce Springsteen called it a day? That new single of his is the pits, and sounds to me just like the Lightning Seeds' 'Life of Riley'...

My friend laughs at me all the time, saying my musical tastes are stuck in the 1980s but, do you know what? .. I don't care! Bring it on! As I heard that bloody whining Adele on the radio again this morning it just made me feel so glad I grew up when I did! Yes, I know .. I've turned into my Dad .. but apparently The Brits was on (were on?)  last night and I now have so little interest in 'modern' music that I forgot it was even being held! The Butthole Surfers! Now they were exciting! (That's them in my picture, by the way!) Music that made you move, music that made the hairs on your arms stand up! If punk was the break-out from the garbage that was around in the mid-seventies -musically and socially - then I can't wait to see what's going to smash us out of the musical doldrums we're in at the moment!

Now, where did I put my Val Doonican CD?...

Cold Turkey!...

Ten days!!! That's how long I've been without Photoshop, and I'm going bananas! Ever since my Mac went to iHeaven I've not been able to do any work on any of my images, short of a little bit of tweaking in my newly acquired Lightroom software.

I need a red-eye fix! I need a line of lasso! A Gaussian mask to unsharpen my brain! I need to dodge! I need to burn! Gimme some hue, baby! Gimme some saturation! I gotta fix my levels, man! Aaaagh! Ahem, sorry! Oh, but please hurry up, Mr Postman. Lay some CS on me, dude! I'm gonna go crazy!

Oh, you are NOT going to believe this! He's just knocked on the door and handed me a lovely new CS5.
Kindly mother, father disregard this letter......

(PS! That backside? Belongs to Brian Connolly, the late, great lead-singer with The Sweet! Let's just say I think he'd been enjoying some tasty sampling, too, when I went to his house for this shoot....!)

©Martin O'Neill 2012

Wacky..

.. that's what I was called yesterday! And that from a young couple who'd just decided to book me for their Wedding Photography! (Hi, Sam 'n Steve!) It made my day! Wacky, quirky, off-beat .. you can call me that all day long! Hey, who wants boring? I love being recognised for having a slightly off-kilter way of looking at things, and it really gives me a buzz when I get to shoot a Wedding for people on the same wavelength as I am. I guess that's the only thing I can't get across to a couple when they come to see me about their Big Day .. the fun I have when I shoot their Wedding! My laid-back attitude really helps to unlock the nerves of a Wedding Day and that, over the years, has translated into thousands of relaxed, happy photographs and hundreds of delighted newly-weds! Now, why wouldn't you want that?

Treated myself to a second pint of the black stuff yesterday afternoon, as Sam 'n Steve's Wedding was just one of two bookings I picked up in about ten minutes flat! Both for next year, too, so things are looking good for the big Thirteen! Crazy!...

Furry cup-cakes...

No, not a sexual fetish - as far as I know!! - more a photographic challenge .. as they were the preferred choice of Saturday's bride over a more traditional Wedding cake. Thing was, how to get across their fluffiness? A nice of bit of back-lighting with an off-camera flash fired by remote .. that got the job done .. and despite not having yet received my new version of Photoshop I can get a fantastic image straight out of the camera in Lightroom! Just reminds me how modern photographers see themselves more and more as computer technicians, rescuing/rejigging their images after the event. Me? I like to get it right when I shoot it, so stick that in your cup-cake and eat it!...