We have lift off!

More Red Arrows but using this fab print to try a new sort of photographic selling online...

Yeah !

Now that's what it's all about....a really fun Wedding with a funky, happy Bride & Groom.. lots of laughs...challenging light (Sunny! Grrr....!) .. I've come away tired, sweaty (ugh!) but creatively satisfied as I struggled with the constantly changing light and the er..stiff breeze!

Had a blast....and so pleased for Jane & Brian...

Flies by!

Time, that is!
Just reading the other day about the Red Arrows crash in Cyprus. Took my mind back to this picture, which I shot when I was a mere lad of twenty (1980..save you the maths!)
It was the Manchester Air Show, and the Arrows were wrapping the show in their typically fantastic fashion. I was trying to get a shot of the two 'singleton' jets as they crossed each other. Show over, I shot back to the darkroom to develop my film (Sigh!) and was disappointed to see this was the shot I got. Yes, disappointed...you couldn't see the two jets and their lovely crossed smoke trails.
Luckily for me my old boss, the legend that is Eddie Fuller, had a second look at the negatives, and saw the frame. He made me print it..it went front page of the paper and won me Photographer of the Year (with a nice congratulatory letter from the head of the Red Arrows!)
They say a photographer sometimes doesn't spot his own good shots...I certainly proved it that day!

Flower Power!

Wow!!!

I'm just finishing a project that's taken me...quite a while!
It's a montage of 158 flower photographs, measuring 9 feet by 3 feet!!..
All shot on trannie, then scanned, then individually spotted and photoshopped..then added to the giant finished product!

It looks incredible and I'm really pleased with it (Thank God!)
Can't wait for 'my public' to see it..Grand unveiling to be announced!

Tweet, tweet!

So, I've joined Twitter, which gives me an excuse to use my picture of this wonderful bird in Egypt. I think you can tweet me at Motakesphotos ...give it a go!

Anyway...the week ticks on and I've just taken a Wedding booking from a Lord and Lady, no less. September Wedding, 300 guests..better make sure my wide-angle's in the bag that day!

The Artist at work...

Sorry, couldn't resist adding a shot of myself. I've been kind to you all and left myself way outta focus!!

Twice as Nice!

See...you wait three months for a Bride, then two come along at the same time!
I was shooting my bride at The Midland Hotel in Manchester when in came another bride heading for her reception. I couldn't resist inviting her over for a quick fun shot with Steph.
In fact it was so quick I didn't even get the lovely lady's name...but congratulations to you both!

Have to say it's great to kick off my ELEVENTH year of wedding photography..lots of great bookings ahead .. fab people and groovy venues.. Bring it on!!

Ah, down to business!

Hurrah...My 2010 Wedding Season starts today and I can't wait !
First day of Spring, cameras dusted and charged, suit ready and.....rain!
At least it's a little milder than the last wedding I shot!

Anyway, off to the lovely Midland Hotel in Manchester for what will be a hectic event..with just an hour and half to get all my shots taken...but I thrive on that kind of deadline and am dying to let rip with all cameras blazing!

Talk to you later and let you know how it all went!

SPRING...At Last !!!!!!

Spring, at last.....and the frogs are up 'n spawning in me little pond.
But first they took time to pose for a family portrait!
Move over bruv!....Ribbit!

You're 'avin' a larf!

Great example of the way photography's value has declined in the eyes of others...

I've just been approached by a company to shoot a few trial shots of their new product, just to see if we could work together. I spent a whole morning in my studio trying out different lighting arrangements / product set-ups, etc., and showed the company the photographs. They liked them so much they asked if they could use two of these 'pre-shots in a magazine.

I was really pleased, until they said they'd pay TEN POUNDS per image....They didn't get the images!!!

That's a real shame for both of us, but I'm gonna stay on my high-horse and defend the worth of all that work. To them, they just saw images that they liked and wanted...to me that was a morning's shoot and 32 years of experience..(working on my own, without the client present, I might add!) coming together to get what the client wanted, but didn't want to pay for.

That's another reason I don't "Just put our wedding pictures on a CD"....like amateurs do.
Why am I going to give a client ALL my photographs, without getting sufficient financial recompense? I mean. the option I offer, with a choice of 200 Hi-Res CD images for £1,000 works out at a fiver a photo, for goodness sake!

Moan over!

Tasty!

Exciting! A new range of designer T-shirts has been launched in Japan, featuring some of my Joy Division/Ian Curtis images. Trendy label 'Lad Musician', based in Tokyo, is selling a range of eight different shirts, plus the full set of 26 prints from the Joy Division Bowdon Vale gig in 1979. This shot is from the company's flagship store in dowtown Tokyo, and rumours are that the exhibition is off to Saudia Arabia next !!!

Say Cheese!

Oooh...a nice bit of cheese on toast!
One of the photographs from today's shoot for a cheese-maker's web-site.
Next week....shooting for a dentist's website and covering the launch of a Polar Expedition!
Good, eh?

Variety is the Spice of Life...

Interesting and varied work on at the mo....portraits this morning of a prospective parliamentary candidate for an election brochure, followed by a quick re-jig of the studio to shoot a new range of Flip-Flops ready for their forthcoming UK launch...oh, and I'm in a cheese-factory tomorrow!!

Dear Charities....STOP !!!

I mean...how many bloody clothes do you think I throw out???
Enough with the plastic bags already...
Here's me trying to do my bit with my re-usable shopping bag and you buggers keep chuckin' these through my door.
Have a care, dear charities......for the environment !!!