Hittin' the road..

Bit of a quickie today as I'm getting ready to hit the road...off to London to see about getting my new Greetings Cards stocked in the trendy tourist areas!
Just to say that I've had yet another couple round to the studio who've been let down by a 'friend' who was going to shoot their Big Day. Turns out this guy bottled it and even got his girlfriend to text the groom to tell him he couldn't do it ! ( He's now an ex-friend!! )
I say it so often..owning a good digital camera does not make you a photographer!
Don't risk it, guys!..Having a pro photographer cover your day isn't just about getting the shots right. A confident professional will 'drive' your day in the right direction, and 'steer' you and your guests to where you need to be. That reminds me, I'd better hit the road...

Known Pleasures!

Went to Macc last night for the opening of the big Joy Division exhibition...Unknown Pleasures, at the Heritage Centre, Macclesfield! My photographs run in a continuous slide show with some of those by Anton Corbijn. Steve Morris, the band's drummer, is joint curator of the show, and that's me and him jawing in the corridor. Said Hi to Jon Savage, and New Order's Gillian Gilbert, and had a great time looking through some amazing memorabilia. Best bit for me? The actual Set List written by Steve for the gig I shot at Bowdon Vale Youth Club. Wow! The show runs for a mere week until August 7th.
Don't Miss it !

Up in the Air...

 Just dropped a few shots of Aircraft onto my 'Photo-Shop'...prints at £17.50 for a gorgeous Pearl Metallic Print...Check 'em out!

Up the Wall...Again!

Everything's up the wall today! Firstly, my Florescence Cards are now on sale
in Plaza Cards, a "proper" card shop in Culcheth...look, my own racks and everything!
And secondly, my Joy Division images are being projected up the wall at the new Unknown Pleasures exhibition in Macclesfield. Official opening tonight then up and running until August 7th..it's a must, Curtis fans!

Head and shoulders!

Today I thought I'd show you a couple of different portraits I've worked on lately.
The first was this copying job for a chap who wanted an enlargement of his friend. All well and good BUT the friend just happened to be one of hundreds of university students in this five foot long 'portrait' from the '50's. No probs...and as you can see I pulled out a great 7x5 print for him, retouched, scratch-free and contrast-boosted!
The second shoot was a 'Proms night' student from last month. She loved her new shoes so again, no probs..let's get 'em on the shot and have a giggle.
Made me think, though...It's a shame people are holding back on having pro portraits shot at the moment. For the sake of a few pounds you avoid the possibilty of not having that reminder of your youth, or your family, or your kids....Money well spent!

Martin O'Neill Week !

It's gonna be a busy week for self-promotion..so stand back and here I go!
First up is Florescence at Wilmslow Garden centre. Well, some of it !
Turns out the walls are not strong enough to take the weight of my four-foot long acrylic mounts, so I've had to opt for Plan B and put up a set of smaller montages and single images instead. Looks good though, and sets off the restaurant quite nicely. The shot of me (Ugh!) is for the Wilmslow Express!

Second up is the Florescence range of greetings cards, which go on sale today at the Plaza Cards shop in Culcheth. They're stocking 26 different images from the range as a trial to see if we've got a viable product. Naturally, I think they'll sell well, so stay tuned and I'll blog a shot of them in the racks later.

So with that, the Joy Division opening on Wednesday night AND a piece about me in the Warrington Guardian it's totally Martin O'Neill week ! Ego? Me?

Ah, chill....

No Wedding this weekend, so time to tootle round my garden and enjoy the sunshine!
Get the Pimms out....

PPS...

And this one, too!

PS..No thanks!

All I can say is I'm glad I didn't get THIS Wedding booking!!

Light at the end of the tunnel?..

Just been trying to complete a business survey about how I see things going for my company.
How on earth can I predict that in these funny old times? I can't make people want to be photographed!
All I can do is be out there, visible, advertising...but...*

Things seem to be picking up, though. There's been a whole raft of enquiries this past week, and I'm keen to meet all these prospective new brides to discover what's kick-started them into looking for a photographer all of a sudden. (I do know that one couple have been let down by a friend who had promised to shoot their wedding! I keep telling you all it's not a good idea!!)

Anyway, back to but*....Of the brides I've spoken to this week, a couple googled me and one or two picked up flyers in hotels, but the rest were all 'word of mouth'..the best form of advertising! I've shot siblings' weddings for two of the young ladies...and one recommendation came from a groom's aunt who saw me working at a wedding...five years ago! Glad I made a good impression!

Oh, the shot was taken when I was about 15 years old...those are my schoolmates on their way to St.Pat's in Eccles! Where are they now?

What are the chances?..

The hosepipe ban continues..yet flooding is rife with all this rain we've had. I even went in B&Q yesterday and the roof was leaking! Reminds me of a poster on the wall of a pub plugging a singer called Midnight Johnny....he was on at 8 pm !! Best of all, a photographer pal of mine has bought some of my Florescence pictures and had them framed in their hall. Now THEY get complimented on the shots!
Grrr....
Anyway...the cards are on sale at the annual Culcheth Open Gardens event this weekend, helping raise funds for St Rocco's Hospice and Culcheth Methodist Church, and the shot of this little bruiser is from my Malaysia tour!

The past is getting closer...!

Hmm...a sign of the times, eh?  A pub...closed down...called The Museum!
And, speaking of museums, the big Joy Division festival starts next week at Macclesfield Silk Museum, and publicity's picking up, with Mark Kermode and Kevin Cummins among the names that will discuss films about the band as my photographs are projected on the walls.
Reminds me of the time I went to the opening of Control, the film about Ian Curtis made by Anton Corbijn. The bigwigs were buzzing in the foyer of Cornerhouse as TV and radio interviewers piled in. I proudly presented a set of my postcards to this tall, long-haired chap whose work I admire. "For me?" he asked, delightedly. "Yes" I replied, "I love your work!". Well, he was really pleased to get them and I was so happy he accepted them. Then someone shouted that Anton Corbijn was coming. So who the hell had I just given my cards to? The chap who played Anthony Wilson, that's who!
Oh, well..!

Tell me you love me!..

I was tidying the studio the other day and came across the book I use to collect the 'Testimonials' that people send me.  It made me realise I don't seem to get Thank-You letters anymore....(Is it because we're in an email era? Are people too busy? Do people just take you for granted? Is it embarrassing to pay a compliment these days?...Gulp, maybe it's me!!). Anyway, being the sensitive artist I am I like to know I've done a good job for customers. It's true you should never rest on your laurels, but sometimes when you work on your own you only know you're doing OK when you don't hear anything from anyone! Well, I got my dose of flattery when a Gay Wedding Magazine called me to say they wanted to use one of my Civil Partnership shoots as a 'Real Life' Wedding. Ok, I advertise with them and they wanted me to renew, but it was nice when they added that my current advert is one of the most popular in the photography section. It gets comments from readers, and they've just used it as an example to show their own clients in London. Ah..that's better!

God, what a Big-head !

Chocks away....

Just spent a funky weekend at the annual Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford...well done, guys!
Of course, you figure a gerzillion shots of the planes are going to be taken...so how to get something new? I enjoyed myself by playing around with the multiple exposure button on my camera.
Turns out the shots look like your worst hangover, but it kept me amused for an afternoon!

Anyway, lots of wedding enquiries in this week. Looks like the market's picking itself up again, and I'm sure it bodes well for the 2011 season. Just remind me to take the camera off multiple shots !!

A nation of shopkeepers..

..and I've just joined 'em...Virtually!  People often ask if they can get hold of prints of my work, and although it's always been possible from my website it's dawned on me that I could make the process a lot simpler. So...I've set up a link on the home-page of my website that takes you discerning print collectors straight to my "Photo-shop"! (See what I did there?) Prints of Joy Division and The Smiths are on there, as are exclusive images of The Hacienda and The Boardwalk.  My Florescence series is there (Greetings Cards now available, roll up, roll up!) as are photographs from my two books, Don't Miss This and Don't Miss That. The shot above is from Don't Miss That...a series of shots from Eccles in 1977.
Yeah, a long time ago. Well, when was the last time you had your pears weighed?

Lights, camera, erm.....

Yep..it's me! Just posted it as the new intro image on my website...and I've already been called "cute".. (Well, it WAS 37 years ago..!) Anyway, a lovely link was posted on Facebook today from Tamara & Julia, whose civil partnership I photographed recently. They're big in AFFA, the Alliance for Full Acceptance (An American social justice organization achieving equality and acceptance for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people) We had a great day in Manchester, and ended up swiggin' champers at The Living Room, on Deansgate. Anyway, now they've 'bigged' me up with Tickled Pink magazine, from where Tamara had found my details whilst trying to plan her English Wedding from sunny South Carolina. Not bad for a lad in National Health specs !

You have to laugh...

A rather amusing clip of a Wedding Photographer mailed to me this morning....poor fella!
Thankfully I've never had anything like that happen to me (Touch Wood!), although I've heard a few funny things over the years! Once, a bride came to the studio to pick up her new Wedding Album, saying disappointedly that she couldn't believe I'd seen the album before her!!

Those who can, do....

You know I'm not revealing anything new when I say that times are hard for photographers, but I was rather depressed the other day to hear of a new course being run by one of my competitors. This lady Wedding Photographer is now offering to teach your friends how to take your Wedding Photographs!
Yep...if she's not going to get the booking because you don't want to pay a professional, then she'll attempt to show your pals with their swanky new digital cameras how to do it for you! How depressing!
For the cost of the course you could get a great set of photographs from me...with the knowledge that they'd be great and, more to the point, that your Wedding would be guided professionally and not let to wander by someone who hasn't ever done that job before.
Why would you risk it..??

Put it away...

..Your hosepipe, dear!
The ban starts today and we're heading for a summer of drought...
A far cry from the flooded roads I photographed for the Warrington Guardian in 1980.
I brightened up an otherwise boring shot by getting these kids to have a splash in the pool of water under this bridge. Won 2nd prize in the newspaper's  'Photographer of the year' competition!

On a completely different point..my Joy Division booklets and postcards are now on sale at Macclesfield Silk Museum as part of their Unknown Pleasures exhibition, and Floresence comes to an end at High Legh Garden Centre..soon to reappear at Wilmslow Garden Centre.

Oh, and I've just finished making a Wedding Album from a December Wedding. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt, looking at my Bride & Groom dashing through a white-out snow storm. Ooh, there I go, talking about the weather again!

England, my England...

One game to go, and then we're done with it all for another four years...but I did enjoy that short burst of national pride and hope! Back to reality, I bought this week's copy of Amateur Photography magazine.
It's had a great idea and is giving away a free lens cloth printed with Photographers' Rights...(It's not illegal to photograph people on the streets, etc, etc...)
Mine had been nicked !

It's on the cards...

My new range of Greetings Cards is blossoming! The cards are blank inside and feature photography from my 'Florescence' range...an amazing collection of 144 flowers, blossoms, buds and leaves!
They're made with a genuine Fuji 'Pearl' metallic print and every one is individually signed, so they can be used as framed 'wall art'..(Don't you just love that term!)
I'm launching them in a suitably quirky way...they're going on sale on Saturday - for just £2.95 - at the Summer Show of Culcheth & District Horticultural Society!

Interestingly, a lot of people who've seen the shots assume that I've 'photoshopped' them in some way.
They're so vibrant, with such specific points of focus, that people just think they're digital and 'worked on'.  Nothing could be further from the truth...they're all shot on 120 transparency film, using a Mamiya 645. So there!

What do you do in the week...?

A quick rant!
It's getting tough to be a photographer these days. PR Budgets are shot, newspapers are closing..and everyone has a digital camera. Suddenly, in the eyes of the public, photography is easy! The old "mystique" of photography..."Will it come out?"...has gone. One look at the back of the camera and there's your answer. Doesn't matter HOW it came out..it's enough that there's an image. Job done...why pay the pro? (Ask me nicely and I'll tell you my story about the accountants Grant Thornton!)

At a recent Wedding I had two seperate incidents that really highlighted peoples' current perception of professional photography.  One guest asked if I was a friend of the Bride and Groom. "No" I said "I'm a professional photographer!"...and another guest asked "What do you do in the week?"
I've been a professional photographer for 32 years. It's awful to think that I'm now viewed as someone who's bought a digital camera and is shooting weddings for a bit of pocket money!

Rant over!

Oooh Baby....

So, off with the Wedding Hat and on with my Baby Head!

Shot some absolutely delicious shots of little Chloe the other day...what a smashing performer she is!
Mum 'n Dad love the shots, and have ordered a set of three images of their daughter pictured as she pushed her toy pram around the studio.Won't be long before she's in her Prom Dress and all glammed up for a big night out, like my next 'subject' Hannah.
I'll pop a shot of her on The Blog when she's decided which one she likes best!

Can do !...

Just shot a brilliant Wedding in Formby. Two Doctors, a crazy crowd and the perfect setting of Formby Golf Club. FOB (Father of the Bride) opened his speech by thanking Rooney, Capello et al for not qualifying against Germany...the relief of the guests knowing they weren't missing England v Argentina!
Funnily enough there wasn't a hitch all day until it came to the first dance, when there was no band to be found...they were in the bar watching Spain v Paraguay!!!
A long day, with hundreds of shots to edit this week, but a really creatively satisfying Wedding.

Fringe benefits...

A gorgeous day and another Wedding to shoot..I'm really buzzing today!
I'm going to be spending the day with lovely people, in a lovely place, on a happy day..with off-the-cuff shots just waiting to be grabbed...It's great being a Wedding Photographer!

My Tape's Gone...

An obscure home-made 45 by The Freshies...fronted by good ol' Chris Sievey (Aka Frank Sidebottom).
Pictured here at Bowdon Vale Youth Club in 1979...check out the wallpaper in the Joy Division picture below!!
However, it's the day of Chris's funeral. How sad!

You've Been Framed!

Well, you will be when you opt for my new products, including this lovely nine-piece acrylic frame set.
Perfect for a selection of the fave shots from your Big Day.
Speaking of Big Days..it's off to Formby for tomorrow's Wedding...looking forward to shooting at a new venue, the Golf Club..and I think it's fair to say I might enjoy quite a challenge with the weather, too!
Plans are afoot, too, for my Florescence show to hit the road and open up in Wilmslow...stay tooned!
Happy Friday, everyone!