Stickin' it on ya!

Greetings, all! Hey, whaddya think of my new magnetic car signs? I'm going to drive around town as my own personal billboard from now on! Mind you, I had to cut the bloomin' things in half to fit across the trim on the side of my car. An easy job, apart from the fact that the flippin' things magnetised to my guillotine and had to be wrenched off in bits!

Had a great portrait shoot at the weekend. Tootled over to Stockport to photograph some lovely kids, and
ended up photographing their friend, too.. He'd been 'volunteered' to hold one of my reflectors, and ended up being a model as well!

Also met another lovely couple who are getting married at Manchester Town Hall later this year. They love my work (of course!!) and it's another tick in the book!

Lastly for today...I've booked some space for my Florescence photography at a fortnightly Arts Market in Leeds. Stay tooned for details...

If I only had time...

Some interesting reaction to Thursday's blog about the shot of the Climate Minister. A pal of mine suggested I should have tried to make more of the shot than I did. I'm the first to agree with him!
I'd have loved to have got a bit more 'arty' with the image, but that was the point of the blog. Sometimes you can only do what you can do in the time restraint you are under. Bear in mind that I had about 2 minutes to shoot this picture then had to get the other 30 people at the event into the shot, too...and then the minister was gone. I was actually happy that I got what I got! An old picture editor of mine once told me that my trouble ..MY TROUBLE...was that I was always trying to take award-winning photographs! Well, I'm so sorry, boss..and here's me thinking creativity, art and style were what you wanted from me. I certainly want it from me!

I joined Linkedin..finally..this week. Hopefully all you wonderful Pr agencies will find it just that little bit easier to find me now!

The image today is the front of a new Wedding business card I'm having printed, and now all I have to say is...Come on Man U !!

Can you dig it?

Sometimes, you can only shoot what the client wants. They're paying the bill, after all ! So it was that I ended up with this shot today. The Minister for Climate Change, Greg Barker, planted a tree to mark the opening of a new office space in Salford. The shot does what it says on the tin and all I could do was put the guys where I needed 'em and add a nice bit of fill-in flash. It's the bread and butter of press photography..job done..and it'll be on the company's website before you can say 'Don't get your shoes dirty!"

Actually, I'll add another shot here. This was taken during a PR job yesterday. I'd finished shooting the third of three speakers and was hanging round the back of the staff canteen, where the presentations were being held. The sun was beaming though the window and..I saw this!

I love the fact that, as a photographer, I'm always seeing photographs. Can't help it! Wouldn't want it any other way!
Can you dig it?

Taking the long view...

Doom and gloom in the economic forecasts, with the fear of another recession casting a long shadow over everyone. Good excuse to dig out this shot take during a trip to Australia. (Shot on Kodachrome, ironically...another victim of our times!)
Nothing to do but hunker down and hope we can all get through all of this. I can see that my bookings aren't as vibrant as they have been, but this is my 33rd year as a professional photographer, so I don't intend to stop now!
I'm off to one of my clients in Manchester for a shoot this morning. It'll be a very entertaining day, I'm sure, as I'm shooting schoolkids in industry...always a source of amusing/interesting photography!

Way to go, Pop!

Cold, grey and wet out there so I thought I'd brighten up the day with this funny old shot, taken during a parade in..ooooh, summer of 1979? It's from Don't Miss That, my collection of 70's photographs. This perky geezer had a go at these passing balloons with his umbrella and the 18 year old O'Neill was on hand to capture it! Hate to say it, but even with the most up-to-date of digital cameras, it's still possible there'd be enough of a shutter delay, or lens-focus search, to have missed this shot. Manual, manual manual, man!..It's the only way!
Now, where's me brolly?

I love you all.....

Had a great afternoon on Saturday at the opening of my Joy Division exhibition. It had visitors from as far away as Belfast and Lancaster, and it's already lead to a new event being planned with the work later in April. Thanks again, everyone, for your interest and effort!

So...moving on, and it's time to put the Commercial Head on! I've got quite a lot of PR and Editorial work to shoot this week, including the visit of a Minister to a client on Thursday. Looking forward to it, as I love being able to direct large groups of people in short spaces of time! (Bit like Weddings, really!)

And so to The Met...

..and the opening of my Joy Division Exhibition..at last!
Was on the blower to Hooky this week. He was joking about all the money I've made out of him and the band. (I'm hiding it well, eh Hooky!!) He managed to blag a T-shirt and some photographs out of me for his collection, and hopes to use a shot or two in the new book he's writing.

Excellent programme on Beeb 4 about Thin Lizzy last night, and some fantastic stills of Lynott and the boys giving it welly! I'd have loved to have seen them, and I hadn't realised they'd had so many guitarists!) Catch it on iPlayer ..

Anyway, first things first...I've an appointment with a new bride-to-be this morning, and hopefully that'll be another booking in the diary for her September Wedding.

The shot today is from my book Don't Miss This!

And so to The Met...

My tasty bargain!

Picked up a second-hand..sorry, pre-loved..85 1.8 for £175 this week, and I've been playing with it in the fog. (Relax, it's a lens, darling!) It'll sit nicely with the £99 500mm mirror lens I snapped up last year.
They're the kind of lenses that I'll use once at a Wedding, as I do my 10.5mm wide, but they make shots that really stand out in a Wedding Album.

Anyway, speaking of bargains...if you pop down to tomorrow's Joy Division opening I'm offering card-mounted prints and some one-off T-shirts and postcards of Ian and the boys at great prices.
Hey, I'll even sign the prints!
One more thing about my music photography. I was delighted to see one of my shots of Ramona, of the Mo-dettes, was sold in December. Have a look at those and other music shots here....

Ok..happy Friday, and keep your eyes out for those bargains.....!

Lost and found....

Who are these guys? 
I've found a whole series of shots of bands from years gone by...and I don't know who they are !! This shot, for example. I've obviously set it up before or after a gig, but I cannot remember where, when or why! (I don't know where their shirts are, either!)
Some shots are at The Band on the Wall (The fact that it says the name on the back wall is a kind of giveaway!), but I'm at a loss as to who all the singers are. I'll sort them onto Flickr soon and if you can help, please erm...help!

Speaking of finding things...a guy's picked up a roll of film in the snow in the US (Film??) and wants to find its owners. Check his film out...

He's Back.....

When routine bites hard...go on holiday. Just remember to come back in time for your exhibition opening! Yes, folks...I have returned..fresh, enthusiastic and ready for the opening of my Joy Division exhibition at Bury Met. Nice and hot where I was...but don't worry, I didn't wear any of these Limited Edition T-Shirts to stay/look cool! I only have 15, and they're all available to purchase for a lovely Limited Edition price on Saturday..Prints, too..oh, and a booklet of all the images.

All very timely as I was told today that Bowdon Vale Youth Club has re-opened. Different building..same name. Must check it out and report back!

Catch you later...gotta get my smalls in the wash!!

It all Ad's up..!

A flurry of advertising activity here, as I launch Ads and prepare Wedding Fayre material for the approach of Spring. (Seems you gotta spell it Fayre when it's connected with Weddings, for some quaint reason!!) Here's my ad for a local magazine that's publishing a Wedding Supplement, and I've got two fairs/fayres coming up within the next month or so. (Details on my website soon, 'cos I know you're dying to meet me!)

Other than that..the launch date for the Joy Division photography exhibition has been announced....
January 22nd, at the Bury Met..2-4pm..Square or there and all that!

Until then I'm looking forward to a few days' break..so I'm going to have to deprive you of my scintillating wit and insightful observation..! A bientot !

Walk on, buy !

Another change to my website this morning...I really like this shot and can't resist putting it back on every now and again. All part of the effort to keep my site looking interesting and, hopefully, enticing!
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, by the way.....from as far as Slovenia, Russia and New Zealand!

Oh, good news on the Joy Division front. Once the exhibition's finished its stint in the upstairs area, the Bury Met now plan to show it in the downstairs bar. I'll drink to that!

What are the chances..?

Talk about coincidences! I write about ear-plugs, pop my I-Pod on shuffle, and what comes on?
Deaf, by those old Manchester rockers Crispy Ambulance!
And it's weirder than that...I'd just come back from Bury Met after putting up my Joy Division exhibition.
The band played there when it was called the Derby Hall, on the night of the infamous "riot" caused by the non-appearance of Ian Curtis. Who stood in for him? My old mate Alan Hempsall..lead singer with Crispy Ambulance! Spooky, or what!?

Anyway, catch the exhibition at The Met until the end of March. I Remember Nothing...20+ shots of Joy Division at Bowdon Vale Youth Club, March 1979.

Speak up...

I pack a mean set of gear when I go to shoot a Wedding.
Three bodies, four speedlights, a semi fish-eye, an 8x neutral density, but I never thought I'd need...ear plugs!

I've just read a photo magazine Wedding supplement which included a half-page feature on protecting one's ears when photographing the first dance! With a review of three different kinds of plugs! In a photography magazine! Honestly! Wow, I never knew Wedding photography was so hazardous!

Pardon?

In the balance...

Feeling a bit like the Waitrose/HMV situation today....walking a tightrope between good times and bad!
I'm going to be honest and say my Wedding bookings for this year are erm, a bit low, and on a day I've dropped my cheapest package to just £495 I've been approached by a classy bridal magazine with an offer of a discount on a quarter page advert which is normally..£2, 316...PLUS VAT!
Talk about two different planets!

Even so, my first enquiry since I launched the new price wanted their whole Wedding photographed, and all images on Cd..for £450 !  Hey, they've even offered to give me the blank Cd to put the shots on !! Thanks, guys!

The public's perception of the importance of photographers is getting lower and lower, and it's becoming very difficult to explain to couples that Wedding Photography is so much more than just wandering around taking a few snaps. One chap I was speaking to lately told me the best Wedding photo he ever shot was when the couple didn't know they were being photographed.
"Oh yes?" I replied "I do 600 of those every week!"

Time, gentlemen....

Three little ladybirds, hunkered down against the cold New Year weather. I took this shot on a walk the other day and saw it as an analogy of the year ahead...
Let's stick together and we'll get through this! (Or had I just had too much Bailey's?)

So, 2011...bring it on! I think last year felt the fastest year of my life, yet trying to handhold the camera for this half-second shot seemed like ages! (Ah, the joys of getting older!) Ironically, the first Wedding enquiry to come in this year was actually for 2012. Seems ages off, yet their Big Day's only 16 months away. Time flies, eh? Enjoy it while you can!

My latest Joy Division exhibition starts this week. It's now 32 years since I took those shots at Bowdon Vale Youth Club, yet they seem to be getting fresher and more popular every year. Catch them until the end of March at the Met in Bury. Speaking of time, it's a shame the brochure got the date of the gig wrong, but who am I to nit-pick!?

Now, must dash...time's a'flying!







 Stop Press: Timing's everything!.....I've just managed to get ONE frame of the eclipse this morning, and even that was through the trees by my house! I sat and watched..time ticked by..and then the clouds parted for the split second it took to get this shot. 500mm mirror lens and framed using live-view, if you're interested!