Keep your eyes open...

Eye, eye....got these girls in my line of sight this morning..shooting a company's aspirational 'Ambitions' workshop in a Manchester hotel...(They went on to play Samba drums as part of their team-building exercises!) Just another example of always looking for an unusual angle or moment to keep you on your photographic toes.


Exciting times ahead for Florescence! I've sourced some fantastic wooden picture frames that look fab around my flower photos. Once the Weddings go a little quieter I'll start rolling them out to shops around Cheshire. Picture to follow....

Eh ?

Harriet Harman and Jack Straw were two of the invited guests...who didn't turn up at a 'bash' I was shooting last night! It was another Law Society get-together, this time as part of the Labour party conference in Manchester. I did bump into a face from the past though..my old editor on the Manchester Evening News. He now runs his own media advisory company and may well be able to book me for some future work!

That would make more sense than a contact I seem to have gained on the 'net! I was reading my Google stats, which tell you all sorts of weird and wonderful things about your Blog. Most popular entries, where they're being read from etc.. Turns out my blog was linked to from....a sewer and drain cleaning company in Sacramento, California. Go figure, as my new Yankee friends no doubt say!

So, in that quirky frame of mind I now find myself, today's picture bears absolutely no relevance to the blog. It's from my book Don't Miss This, which I've just had printed on the same wonderful pearl paper that Florescence is printed on.
It amuses me and I hope it amuses you, too!

My mate's got a good camera!

Had a good laugh watching Channel Five's "How to take stunning pictures".. the one about Wedding Photography! It just proved yet again that "My mate's got a good camera" does not equal "My mate is a good photographer!"....There's so much more to Wedding Photography than simply standing back and capturing those unguarded moments. The photographer 'drives' the Wedding - steering people and deadlines towards the moment when everyone can sit down and tuck into their nosh. Something that often happens at a Wedding is that a guest will come up to me and tell me they once got a good shot at a Wedding and the Bride and Groom loved it because they didn't know it was being taken.
"Wow!" I reply, "I only do that 400 times every Wedding!"

Room with a view..

A lovely shot of the Rose Room at Room Restaurant in Manchester. Finished off a brochure shoot for the venue yesterday and now it's time to get the suit on again for today's Wedding Fayre. Catch ya there? Debenhams in The Grand Arcade, Wigan!


Stop Press: Well, I'm back from Wigan! What a disaster! I stayed for three hours, in which time a mere two people came to my stand. One was a little boy who started playing with the mouse on my Mac..resulting in him bringing up a menu and pausing my slide show..and the other a woman who asked me where the tills were! All the particpants were as quiet...wrong venue, wrong clients, sharp exit...You live and learn!

Hello Blossom...

Well, my 'Florescence' range of flower photographs is picking up momentum! As well as the photographs still being exhibited at Wilmslow Garden Centre, the greetings cards are now available at yet another outlet in the North-West. They're on sale at Plaza Cards, on Lord Street in Southport. I'm also gearing up to supply a series of new framed sepia prints, and a set of glass place mats and coasters. Please get in touch if you think you could stock these in your shops or outlets!...Ideal Christmas presents, folks !!

Couple of other things to mention...I have another photo-shoot at Room Restaurant in Manchester today. That'll compliment the sessions I did earlier and mean the brochure can now be finished and put out there to the discerning public.
Speaking of the public, I'm out at the Debenhams store in Wigan for their Wedding Event tomorrow. Come down, say hi..take advantage of my £50 engagement portrait offer!

End of Commercial Break !

Autumn!..April ?

Summer's over and it's Autumn...or is it April 1st?
I've just been sent an email promoting..triangular Wedding Albums! How's that for a new angle (See what I did there?)  Gee whizz, I'm all for trying to offer a new way of promoting one's work..but who on earth would want their Wedding photographs in a triangular album? Reminds me of John Cooper Clarke's old song Gimmix. It came out as an orange triangular record, and in it he sings (shouts?) "Like an orange triangular record, you're a gimmick that nobody needs!"
(Damn it though..of course I bought it !)

Polishing my bestest shoes for a swanky 'do' tomorrow evening. I'm going to the Great Northern Ball as a guest of Emirates Airlines, where I've donated a Portrait Sitting as a prize in the Silent Auction. Hope it raises lots of dosh for charity and erm, gets me a bit of publicity into the bargain!

Pat on the back...

You know, I've now been a professional photographer for 32 years, and 28 of them have been as a freelance..so I know I'm doing something right! It's still a fact of life though, that when you work on your own you generally only know you've done a good job when you never hear a word from the customer! Made it all worthwhile last night, then, to actually get some feedback! I was shooting a Law Society soiree at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool. The president of the Law Society praised my energy and said I was really "proactive" (I don't just stand back and wait for shots to happen..I'll pull people together to make things work!) and. at the end of the evening, the client's words were "Lovely Job!"
A pat on the back! Ah, that's all it takes to soothe my artistic ego!

The photo today is of the 100th Wedding I shot (It was about eight years ago!).
I bought the couple of bottle of champers and asked them to pose by my corny number plate!

What a load of rubbish !

No, not you dear..my work this morning! The PR head was back on today as I had a shoot for McDonald's in Manchester City Centre. They've launched an anti-litter campaign and I was there to provide shots for the press. I made it look like I was in the bin and the various organisational reps were dropping their rubbish in! So, all those shots have gone off to the client, and now I'm heading to Liverpool for a Law Society event at the Lib Dem Conference. Variety's the spice and all that...

Quick word about the Weekend's Wedding.  Well...it rained! From the moment my bride and groom came down the aisle as Mr and Mrs until they sat down for their Wedding Breakfast! Had to shoot all the group shots under a canopy on a verandah, though Karen and Darren braved the monsoon and headed out to where I'd spotted a good site for an autumnal shot. Tell you what though....it might have been raining, but I still came away with a choice of 600 shots for them!

Who nose?

Not the most flattering angle for a portrait, and one I'll certainly try to avoid at today's Wedding!
This is the sculpture 'Dream', at Sutton Manor, near St Helens. 60 feet high and 100 feet above sea-level, you can see it from the M62 as you head to Liverpool. My Wedding today is just down the road from it, and I thought it might make a good backdrop for an interesting Wedding photograph. Trouble is, the nearest parking is a good ten minute - uphill - walk...so I'm guessing I'll not be using it today!
Then again..who nose?

Florescence Friday!

Bloody gorgeous, innit! Just added it to my Florescence range, and that's as good a reason as any to point you to a little video I've made of all the shots in the series.
More Power to your Flower, dudes!

Photoshop Handsome..

..is the title of one of the tracks on the new Everything Everything album. Features great lines like "What have you done with my Father? Why does he look like a carving?"..and "My teeth dazzle like an igloo wall"..!

Looking through other photographers' websites it seems Photoshop is often more important than Photography! Brides are soft-focussed to buggery, albums carry overlapping images that bear no relevance to each other, and competitions feature portraits of people without a single pore on their face! Photographers 'do' the retouching because they can..it's in their 'toolbox' so they're going to use it! Of course, I use Photoshop, but only to tighten up my pictures from their basic camera form. My friend asked me if I was going to get the upgrade to Photoshop 5. I told him my version of Photoshop is so old it doesn't even have a number!! Thing is..it does what I need it to, so why just get more and more gimmicks? I'm more into reality, in that I don't generally take a shot and wonder what I can do with it later. I'd rather get it right in the camera and leave it at that...

Anyway, here's a shot I Photoshopped earlier...
Ok, ok..it has its place !! ;-)

The word on the Street ..

There's a new book out called Street Photography Now. Very good it is, too!
I sent them an email to let them know about my own work (Well, better late than never, eh?)..and now they've very kindly linked from their site to my Flickr set of 'documentary' photography.
The shots form the basis of my book 'Don't Miss This', and were all shot on an Olympus XA camera in the 1980's. I have to admit it's a tough time to be trying to sell Photography Books, or indeed any kind of Photography as "art"..certainly in the UK..(Well, unless you're David Bailey!), but I get so much pleasure from my "hobby" that I feel it's worth sticking with and hoping that eventually people will actually get their own pleasure from the work, too!

I'm guessin' that's Summer done?

Working on a couple of albums from Summer Weddings as the rain lashes down outside.
Memories of heat and light and the World Cup (Ok, I didn't say they were all good memories!)
Autumn Weddings are great, of course, with lots of colour and mists, but as they begin for this year I'm already having to consider the quality of light in the evening. By seven the other day things were already getting dodgy outside, and that was on a 'good' day...it'd really going downhill on a day like this. Just something to think about if you're planning a Wedding in the later months of the year!

Oh, one of my Summer 'couples' had two "Lushers" at their Wedding.
Lushers? Lady Ushers, of course!

Power to the people!

This is the new photograph on my homepage. I was shooting a Wedding at Forrest Hills Hotel, above Frodsham in Cheshire. This is the view from the hill so..I used it!
Just had a discussion with a couple whose Wedding is in Manchester City Centre. They talked about going to a local park to shoot their formal groups. Why? The Wedding is in the city because they love the city, so we're going to use it. Think architecture, crowds, buzz! Wedding backdrops don't HAVE to include trees and a lake! (Ugh!) Many's the time I've been at a gorgeous 'rural' setting and not been able to use it because of bad weather. Personally, I love the idea of romantic shots in the rain, but you try telling that to a gal whose hair frizzes up at the very thought of drizzle!

It's gonna get wet !

Well, I'm still talking about clothes..and thank goodness for brides like Joanne! A rainy, wet day at yesterday's Wedding, then a break in the clouds and I decide to go for a group photograph. Of course, the floor's wet, but good old Jo troops out and leads a great group picture. A Wedding magazine once asked several photographers to give a line of advice to its readers. "Don't worry about the bottom of the dress", was my contribution.
You can't get away with wearing yards and yards of white material and expect it to stay pristine all day!
Enjoy the dress..wear it, use it..get it out there in the pictures! (If you see what I mean!)
Way to go, Jo!  

......................Oooh, Man Alive! Well, sorry to jump in and add more to today's blog, but Mr Postie's just brought me a nice delivery. The long-awaited debut album by Manchester-based combo Everything Everything.
It's actually called Man Alive, and I promised me Mum I wouldn't swear on the blog, but By Jove, it's flippin' good! Well done, boys!

Dress sense...

Still on the subject of clothing...I have to admit that when I went to photograph 'Tracy Barlow' on Wednesday I didn't know who she was. I don't watch Coronation Street so she meant nothing to me. In fact, the last time I shot anyone from the soap it was 'Annie Walker and Bet Lynch'!
Reminds me of the time fashion designer Jeff Banks was filming a TV programme from a house in Manchester. I had to cover it for the Manchester Evening News but didn't know who he was, either. I went to the house, introduced myself to the guy who opened the door, and followed him upstairs. When I asked if he'd arrived yet everyone burst into laughter...Yes, it was Jeff who'd opened the door!
Good to see a famous person who wasn't 'up himself', though!

Last bit of clothing news (Jeez, I sound like Gok Wan!) Check out these great T-Shirts! They're from the Lad Musician range in Tokyo, and feature my shots of Joy Division and Ian Curtis. Sixty-five quid a pop they're going for. Even I can't afford one, and they're my pictures!!

Anyway, Wedding in Altrincham today, so I'd better stop writing about clothes and get me bloody suit on!

PR...

Had my PR Photography head on yesterday...with a job for Marks & Spencer, and another for BOC Gases. Shot the desk portrait in 15 minutes...just playing around with lighting and position on a pretty 'ordinary' shoot, until this dynamic angle popped up. The client emailed "This is exactly what I wanted".. Job done!
Tracy Barlow, her off Corrie!, was my other subject. She was launching a Marks and Sparks charity event whereby the store collects clothing on behalf of Oxfam. Basically, it was the actress and a big cardboard box full of old clothes! (I did ask if she'd jump in the box, but she was having none of it!!)
Not much scope for fancy lighting in a store full of shoppers, but I used a big dish reflector to soften the spread of direct flash, and here's the result. Marks' PR said "Great working with you today".
Job done x 2 !

Prayed!

Still on the England theme, it seems..but I just love this shot of a quintessentially English Wedding scene in God's own county of Cheshire. Gentlemen in tails, ladies in big hats, fresh cut grass, the bells pealing.. (Ok, you don't get that from the picture!). Shooting in black and white adds to the timelessness of the scene, of course, which is why I do shoot so much monochrome when I cover a Wedding.

And, it seems everyone's prayers were answered..England have won two games in a row and, God help us, Rooney's scored at last! (Let us now pray the wingnut can keep his pants up. Amen)
Hallelujah, my brothers and sisters!

Proud!

Florescence to Flickr...my flower series is now up there for y'all to admire!
Yes, I'm proud of it!

Pride!

It's the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, so here's my shot of three Spitfires, taken from a series I did at RAF Fairford earlier this year. Rubs uneasily with my view of a lot of people in England these days.
The types that throw litter from their car windows, for example. How ironic they were generally in cars that were flying the flag of Saint George during the World Cup! Don't get me started!

Oink!

Caroline 'hams it up' as her Dad mentions in his speech that she looked "a little odd" at birth, and I unearth another great photograph from the 902 images I shot at her Wedding on Saturday. It's great to sit down and start editing one's work. Sometimes during a Wedding the shots come so thick and fast you forget what you captured. Lovely then, to be reminded and rewarded afterwards!

So, another busy week ahead, with PR jobs for BOC Gases and Marks & Spencer, as well as another Wedding on Friday.

Must remember to eat at some point...really fancy bacon and eggs!

What a day!...

Had a fantastic day yesterday! I had the honour of shooting the Wedding of Caroline and Rob at Rostherne Church, in Cheshire. Caroline is the daughter of Lord and Lady Grey, so after a ceremony conducted by the Bishop of Stockport it was all back to their fab house in High Legh for the reception. When I say all, I mean 327 guests! What a crowd. Ended up hanging out of a bathroom window to get a shot of them all on the front lawn! (One of the ushers showed me a shot he took of my big head stuck through the window..I'll blog it when he sends me a copy!)
So, a very busy day, with quite a specific list of formal shots to get, but with so many guests for the bride and groom to greet it was getting quite late in the day before I could even start to set up groups. The light was going, and it started to drizzle a little but, hey..job done!

Actually, I was on a little bit of a high before I even got to the Wedding. A shot of mine was just voted 'Wedding Photo of the Month' by visitors to a Wedding Organiser site. I actually used it on my blog the other day...No prize..just more kudos and an even bigger head!

Finally, a lovely moment from yesterday's bash. A couple came across to me and asked if I remembered them. The penny dropped as soon as the chap spoke. His American accent took me right back to Shrigley Hall, where I photographed their Wedding on a snowy day just after one Christmas. Turns out that was TEN years ago! So lovely they thought to say hello after all that time!

Ah..I love being a Wedding Photographer!

Kids today.....

A lovey innocent shot of some young kids, enjoying a rainstorm that flooded their street.  And yesterday, I was taking a photo for the front cover for our local magazine. It was of two girls in a beautiful wildflower patch of our village green. As I finished and walked back across the park I was instantly targeted by two seperate groups of young lads, accusing me of being a pervert and a paedohile and suggesting...well, let's leave it at that!

What has society become when a photographer working publicly, legitimately and identifiably, is placed under immediate suspicion as some deviant and weirdo? It's yet another nail in the coffin of the 'standing' of photographers and photography in today's world. I wish there was a way to let these lads know that any sick 'ideas' are all in their heads and they should grow up..rapido! Time was if you went out with a camera you'd have to fight to keep the kids off your shots! ( Actually, this time, there's hope..the editor knows the boys' parents...and words will be had! I'll let you know the outcome!)

Anyway...two big things today. My Society Wedding of course, with the daughter of Lord and Lady Grey of Codnor,  and..the grand opening of 'Cards by Samantha', my friend's card shop in Thelwall, south of Warrington. She calls it a Craft Store and Hand-Made Wedding Stationery Boutique. That sounds much better, eh?

Best foot forward....

Jeez, it's Autumn! Some plonker was letting off fireworks near my house at 10pm last night, my local's been advertising Christmas dinners since..Oooh, March!..and Robbie Williams switches on the Blackpool Illuminations this evening. Reminded me of the time I used to do some PR work for the Pleasure beach. They'd just opened the 'Walk of Faith' at the top of the tower, and I had to photograph a Russian weightlifter jumping up and down on it! Rather him than me. Ok, I did have a go, and my therapy finishes next week! More shots here...

Anyway, just back from shooting a 'Kids at Work' day for an engineering company in Manchester. Lots of fun with liquid nitrogen and frozen bananas...!

Time to polish my wide-angle now...big society Wedding to shoot tomorrow and a massive 330 guests to get into one shot! Had a recce yesterday and the best place to get it is from, of all places, the small bathroom window at the front of the house. At least I can have a piddle mid-Wedding!
Let you know how I get on....

Think Big!

Networking..that's the way to do it! I'm busy tying up with three new companies to promote all our services.  I'm going to supply flower images to a company that designs Swarovski crystal-encrusted artwork to restaurants; a new Wedding stationery business in Statham is to use my wedding photography on its walls, and I'm going to be the nominated Wedding photographer for a new Wedding reception venue in Stockport. I'll be adding links to my site soon!
Watch out, Branson!

This just in...

Woo hoo....the crowd built, the tension mounted and then...our first glimpse of the new Emirates A380 Airbus, floating down from a lovely blue sky after its flight from Dubai. Amazing how something as simple as a plane landing at an airport could bring out so many people, but it really did have a 'presence' as it glided in. Earned a big round of applause as it touched down, too!
Just need to start saving the pennies if I'm ever going to use that on-board spa!!

Happy September...

..and a big raspberry to August, one of the worst months I've ever had in terms of bookings and bad weather! However, onwards and upwards, and September's looking great! Busy few days to start, with a morning's PR shoot on Friday and the Big Wedding on Saturday. There's even time for a bit of plane-spotting, too. The new Emirates A380 Airbus makes its inaugural landing at Manchester Airport today, so I'm off to snap the beast for posterity!
It'll hardly be an exclusive shot, though. 3,000 have booked places at the Aviation viewing park!