Bring it on..

March tomorrow, and with a fresh month ahead, and the main Wedding Season approaching, I thought I'd change my homepage picture to convey the fun and excitement that is Wedding Photography. These guys really knew how to party, and even had pints of Guinness -icing! - on their Wedding cake!
My kinda couple!

Passports at the ready!

I must say this blogging mullarkey is rather exciting, and it's getting me all over the world...well, in word and picture form at least! Checking my stats for this week I see I've had readers from as far afield as the good old US of A, New Zealand, and Oz, but then from amazing and completely far-flung places like China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia and Israel. I don't know how to say "Thank you for your interest" in those languages..but I do, I really do!

An old shot from Manchester Airport for your delight today. A Pan-Am 727 and a British Airways VC-10..shot as I got into photography in about 1975. Talk about history!

Anyway, crossing the border myself, today...going to Yorkshire!

Great Weekend, everybody!

It's all happening!..

Thought I'd show you one of my favourite Wedding Photographs today. An odd one, you might think, but there's such a lot happening in there..from the mascara going on the scruffed-up bride, to the champers being poured, the bridesmaids getting ready behind and the inevitable mess all around. Just feels right, compositionally, too, but that's so difficult to explain to a non-photographer. How can a picture 'feel' right? Just another of the joys of being able to 'see' photographs.

Off to Leeds this weekend to check out a new Arts Market there. (New to me, anyway!) I'll be running a stall there in the Spring,  offering the good people of Yorkshire the chance to buy my flower and documentary prints. Just another of the joys of being able to let people see my photographs!

Who do you think you are...David Bailey?

Takes a lot to become known as a Photographer in the UK, unlike, say, America or France. I was watching an interview with the maestro yesterday - the one and only David Bailey - and he said the trouble with England was "People think the camera takes the picture!" Well put Mr B!
Nothing wrong with people taking their own pictures, in fact, it's brilliant..but there's a big difference between taking a photograph and making a photograph. Times are hard but I do wish more young Wedding couples would take that fact on board!

You Gotta Laugh!...

My God! No sooner do I write about Libya than we get the earthquake in New Zealand. My heart goes out to everyone, especially my pal in Wellington who knows a photographer with a studio right in the centre of Christchurch. No news yet!

*Stop Press: News just in. All safe but building rather battered!* Thank God!

Anyway, I've been invited to give a presentation to a Manchester PR Company, who are keen (I hope!) to work with me. To that end, I've been ploughing back through my archive to get a few images together, and completely randomly came up with three images of comedians I've shot in the past. I don't want to make light of the awful things that are happening out there, but I just thought I'd throw these up as a reminder that there is just as much joy and laughter in the world as there is anything else.
Keep Smiling!

Tripoli!

Terrible things happening in Libya at the moment, and I hope things work out for the best very soon. My blog's just about photography, though, so without wanting to be trivial I just wanted to tell you about the time I was on assignment there. A reporter and I travelled to Tripoli for the Manchester Evening News to cover a story back in the 90's - during the 25th anniversary of Gaddafi's rise to power, actually! You couldn't fly directly to the country, so we had to first fly to Malta, where we caught a cockroach-infested ferry from Valetta for a 14 hour journey across the Med. Once in Tripoli we firstly had our Duty-Free whiskey confiscated, and were then collected by our 'minders'. It took a couple of days for us to get settled, find the subject of our story and arrange a meeting. That meeting happened briefly, one night, in a crowded bizarre 'holiday camp' on the outskirts of the city. It didn't go quite to plan, and I ended up having to snatch shots with a telephoto and flash..in the dark. Pretty obvious where the photographer was! All the time we'd been there, though, there were jets zooming overhead and tanks rumbling down the streets. Not as dramatic as it sounds! They were rehearsing for the 25th Anniversary celebrations of Mr G, and I decided I would stay on to cover them. Our minders, however, decided that, no, I wasn't going to stay on to cover the event, and as we'd finished the story we came for we were politely pointed to the boat, and off we went back to Malta! Of course, this was still back in the days of film, so once back in Manchester I zipped into the darkrooms, desperate to see what shots I'd got. Well, the pictures were fine, and the paper rushed to get the story out. I went home, happy and unwashed, then dashed out at lunchtime to buy the first edition of that day's newspaper. There it was - a front page picture- and a story all about how "Our Reporter" had returned from Libya with his exclusive story! No mention of me at all! Tut!! More on that tomorrow.....

Making a stand...

So here's a shot of my stand from this weekend's Wedding Fayre, my wares on display for all to see!
Some great people passing through the lovely church of St Laurence, in Frodsham, and I can't wait to shoot there, as there was lots of interest in my work from couples getting married there.  As usual with Wedding Fayres, though, it's a waiting game to see who checks out my site and gets back to me. Rather encouraging then to see an email enquiry in at 4.25 on Saturday afternoon..when the show only finished at three..though I know one young lady who won't be contacting me...The bride who has a "keen amateur" shooting her Wedding. So far, so bad I hear you say. but wait for the punchline, guys!..It's her DAD !! Call me old-fashioned, but isn't the Father of the Bride supposed to be doing other things on the Big Day. Very odd, very unusual..and slightly worrying for the young lady, as far as I'm concerned!

Right, the site...

Yep, you gotta put the footwork in in this game, so here I am about to hit the road for my first Wedding Fayre of the season. Come on down to St. Laurence church in quaint old Frodsham town! Any time up 'til three and I'll be there. Any time after that and I'll be haring home to watch THE match of the FA cup so far..Man U v Crawley Town!  Don't you just...wouldn't it be good if...Ooooh! Hey, for once I can shout 'Come on you reds' and support both teams at the same time!

Anyway, promised to tell you about the Website I'm on! I've just joined UKBrides, the largest Bridal Website in the country, so hopefully I'll be discovered by even more of you lovely brides and we can get together to plan your Big Day! Have a look..there's tons of useful stuff on there. Just don't check out any other photographers, Ok! Well, why would you? You've found me! ;-)

Anyway, off to Frodsham...Have a nice weekend!

Out in the field..

I'm putting myself about a bit this weekend! It's time to let all you lovely brides know all about me!
I'm involved with two Wedding Fayres this weekend, and I've just signed up with the biggest bridal website in the UK. Saturday sees me at St. Laurence Church, in Frodsham,  for their annual Bridal Event. I'll have a stand there with a cool slide-show presentation and a nice selection of my fab albums. On Sunday it's the first of the bi-annual Fayres at Chester Race Course. I was actually supposed to have a stand there, too, but due to .. erm, let's say an admininstrative error by the staff there, that's not going to happen. I'll be there in 'spirit' though, as  they've offered to put my flyers into all 1, 500 goody bags. Not a bad prescence, eh? Why not pop down to either event and take advantage of my Wedding Fayre Special Offer. If you book me to shoot your Big Day I'll thank you with a free Engagement Portrait session and a  card-mounted print for your guests to sign at your reception! Ooh.. is that the time? Tell you about the Bridal Website tomorrow!

Spice of Life...

Variety, that is! The Wedding head was off and the Commercial head went on as I had to shoot some Industrial units yesterday for a Business Park's Brochure. Steel shuttered doors, dark brick walls and signs hanging off their screws..it was what you'd call a photographic challenge! Not helped by the fact that after 30 minutes's shooting the sun went in and dull became duller. I knocked it on the head and shall return when the nice light does! The shot above is from my archive, taken during the rejuvenation of Salford Docks..so by my count I was three when I took this shot ..yeah, yeah!!

The Emergence of Convergence!

So, if I was Paul Whitehouse, I'd be walking along now with a woolly hat on shouting "Aren't digital cameras..BRILLIANT!" -  I mean, the things they can do! I remember when they were first appearing alongside us film boys and the proud owners were smugly announcing that you could change the ASA (Sorry, ISO..I'm still on old money!) in between shots! I fancy some of that, I thought..and plunged headlong into a Fuji Finepix S2 (There's one on Ebay right now for £51...Bless!)
I loved the ISO capability, and now almost subconciously flick it up and down during Weddings. White balance, too...who'd have thought you could flit from room to room to exterior without a bag full of filters, grey cards and tungsten film! Oh joy, oh joy! And now video! Two of the bodies I run have HD video capability though, I'll be honest, I've not entirely taken advantage of it. Now, for the first time, I've had one of my clients book me for a shoot, and ask if I can shoot some video alongside the stills. How exciting! Convergence, they're calling it..stills and video in one!
Now I just need to buy an HD-DSLR rig, Z-finder, Editing suite, microphone.....aaaagh!

Hard work never hurt no-one!

Terrible grammar but you get the point! Lots on at the moment...and I'll start by telling you about a Corporate shoot I had yesterday, photographing new appointments to a Manchester company. Had to shoot them individually - suited and booted - and then they each had to get changed into the company's branded shirts. Problem there being the shirts were branded just above the left nipple..which leaves a lot of blank space between the faces and the company logo, but the PR chap insisted I shoot it that way. We downloaded the shots straight to his laptop, and by the time I was back here the first image had gone live...and they'd had to crop off the logo! Told you, told you!!
Anyway, back to making a rather large Wedding album - 150 images! - and in between that I'm preparing for the first of my season's Wedding Fayres this weekend. Just designed and taken delivery of a new banner and 1,500 flyers to go in all the goody bags! Oh, and I'm going live on the website and newsletter of Birchwood Business Park in Cheshire today. I've come up with an introductory offer for all the firms on the site to get some PR images shot economically.
Erm, what else did I have to do..? Oh, breakfast..must eat breakfast!

My first love!

Well, Happy Valentine's Day, everybody, and here's a picture of my first love!
She's called Paulette! The Halina Paulette Electric, my first ever 35mm camera! Cost me £16 in 1975, and I had to pay the whole price in weekly installments before I could get my sweaty hands on her! She guided me through the basics of photography, and I've been passionate ever since! What fun we had, what lovely days out together. Oh, we were inseparable, until I dumped her for a Yashica FR1!
Have fun !

Colour me up!

I was listening to an internet radio station based in Dallas yesterday, and they played a band called White Lies. Now here's me writing about old duffers Iron Maiden and completely missing this new band...!
I hastily googlified them to find they're playing Manchester next week..and it's sold out! Oh, sob, sob..but at least it's an encouraging sign. My mates reckon my musical education stopped circa 1985 ! Anyway, on the subject of white, nice to see snowdrops instead of snowflakes this morning, tinkling their little heads in the breeze. White band, white flowers...new beginnings...oh, calm down Martin!

No denying that Spring is on the way, though. There are buds appearing, the daffodils are coming, I watched a robin collecting nesting material, and I swallowed a fly whilst out walking yesterday! It's time for a bit of colour again.

Now, speaking of colour (tentative link #365), I've just finished making a Wedding Album that's a bit of a first for me. After all these years it's the first one I've ever done completely in colour. All the reportage, that I normally print in sepia, was requested in colour. It brought up an amusing moment, as I was trying to correct a colour cast on a bridesmaid's hand. Obviously not a problem in black and white, but I couldn't understand where this weird orange glow was coming from. Then it dawned on me...it was the remnants of the poor girl's fake tan!

Right, only one colour to talk about now...Come on you Reds !!!!

For those about to rock..

Did you ever see the film Flight 666? It was a fun, rock-filled documentary following heavy-metal band Iron Maiden as they flew themselves around the world so that they could gig in 'hard-to-reach' places. Excellent film, and this from one who doesn't own a single Iron Maiden song (I don't really like most Heavy Metal, it's too slow for me!) Anyway, the buggers are at it again, and they leave today to do it all over again! They'll gig right through into the summer, and you can bet your sweet wotsits they'll put 110% into every night.
That's what I'd be if I wasn't a photographer...a rock drummer! I just love the passion of musicians. The effort and energy and ability to move people. How could you not be passionate about that?
Just thought I'd mention it in passing, as that's a word that was used to describe me this week. I was also called wacky, colourful and quirky, and I'm happy with all of those descriptions...particularly as every one of the people who described me thus..booked me as their Wedding Photographer!
Rock on!

The Fame Game

Now here's a nice picture of Meryl Streep for you. Oh, no...it's really Maggie! I thought the resemblance was striking! (Streep's playing Thatcher in a film, if you're still baffled!) I photographed Our Maggie for the Press way back in 1978, whilst she was still 'trying' to become Britain's first lady PM. I shot her a few years later at a private event in Manchester. Now it doesn't matter what you think of her politics..long silence..but you have to admit she's famous! So, I did what I always do when there's someone 'BIG' standing in front of me...I asked for her autograph..and she gave it me! She wrote "To the best photographer in the world, love Mags!" No, she didn't..she just signed her name, and it still sits nicely in my little book next to signatures fom heroes like Mohammed Ali, George Best and Morrissey. Funny old thing, fame, isn't it. My pal doesn't get it, but I love the fact that I've met these amazing people, and I suppose the autograph is literally the proof that I did so. It has to be in person, though. For example, I have a book signed by the great photographer Joel Meyerowitz. Fair enough, but it's just a signed book. It wasn't me that got it. Now I find that the great man is giving a talk soon in Derby. I could meet him and get his autograph, but  I've got a Wedding Fayre* on the same day. Aaaagh, what to do?  Guess I'll just have to wait until he's back in the UK! At least another great snapper, the fab Terry O'Neill, is now following me on Twitter!

Fame!

*Commercial Break...The Wedding Fayre is at the Park Royal Hotel, Stretton, Cheshire on March 6th...See ya there?

Bear with me, dear reader!

 Sorry to intrude..this has nothing to do with anything current. Well it does, but only if you like motor-bikes! It's just that a client of mine, Carole Nash Insurance, is running some editorial on the Carole Nash Irish Motorbike & Scooter Show and their little PR chappie asked if I had a pic of one of the Carole Nash Babes they could link to. I’ve photographed these young ladies a good few times and this is a typical shot. Taken at their big November UK show, Motorcycle Live, at the NEC, I HAD to go around the show with the gals to show the kinds of bikes Carole Nash insure. Why’s it here? Well, my Wedding and PR blog is the easiest place to post to give them that all important link....apparently! Search Engine Wizardy and all that!  The PR whippet tells me the Irish Show’s worth a visit so if you’re in Dublin early next month....

I've been Framed!

Had a great day yesterday! Took another Wedding booking for this year, and got a cool set of portraits of a little lad in Cheshire! I've decided to shoot my portraits on location this year, so went round to a lovely converted barn on a huge farm a few miles from here. It was like walking into my own private gallery!
I'd shot the Parents' Wedding a few years back, so there were framed photographs from their Big Day all over the house, but in pride of place in the kitchen was a huge framed print of their first son, giggling gorgeously in black and white! I'd taken his photograph about two years ago, and now it was time to put the new arrival on the wall next to him. The session couldn't have gone more sweetly. The nipper laughed and gurgled and dribbled (Sorry Mums..it looks so cute!), but he was most in his element when we let him play with his big brother's train set (Sorry Big Brother!). Numerous bits of train later, I made my exit..a great set of shots in the bag! Lovely to be part of the family!

Time, gentlemen!

Another one bites the dust! This pub's called The Harrow, and now it's shut. Harrowing! Mind you, I'm not surprised. I was paying £3.25 for a pint of Guinness at the weekend. (Not in there, obviously!) It's getting too expensive to go for a pint! And I notice price becoming more and more relevant in all aspects of my business, too. Brides ringing me for the first time often begin their calls with "How much?", and I've just had one chap looking to have his Wedding photography costs reduced by suggesting he does all the 'tweaking' if I just hand over all my images to him!! Only yesterday a PR firm called with a list of three press jobs they needed shooting. Their fee was..£75! Seems I've been saying 'No Thanks' a lot lately. Get me a drink!

Oh, just great!

I've just spent good money advertising in a local magazine's Wedding supplement. The ads look great and one of my photographs was used as the cover shot. Very happy! Then I read their article "Weddings on a budget"! It says "Look for a student/new photographer who's starting up in business. Not only will it be cheap, but you can almost guarantee they will put ALL (Their capitals!) their effort into capturing the right pictures." Well, thank you very much!

Now, I'm not going to quote this article out of conext..it does go on to say "Hire the photographer for a few crucial hours and ask a trusted friend to take more informal pictures"..but what an image to present to a newly engaged couple! It even uses the word "cheap!" Ugh!..although my favourite part is the giveaway line "You can ALMOST (My capitals!) guarantee they'll put all their effort into capturing the right pictures!! Ah, relief..I'm a professional! You can DEFINITELY guarantee I'll put ALL my effort into capturing the right pictures.

Heard a line the other day. "If you think it's expensive to hire a Professional to do the job, wait 'til you hire an amateur!" How true! Rant over!

Stop Press..It wasn't me, Guv!...Whoops!! 

Trouble with the wind!

I thought we'd talk about wind today! Not that kind..the gale force stuff that's been whipping round the country. Fortunately it's not the terrible kind like the Australian cyclone, so we can smile at this nice tale!  When I was laid off from the Warrington Guardian, it was a real hard time as I couldn't afford a car to get me  'on the road' to freelancing. I ended up with one camera and a bicycle! One windy day, a lorry blew over on the M62 high-level bridge, close to where I used to live. From my window I could see the traffic backing up, and eventually the motorway was closed, as the lorry was causing too much of a blockage.
I grabbed my one camera, (Yashica FR 1, if you're interested, with a 35mm lens!), and got on my bike. Eventually, headlong into the gusty gale, I cycled right to the top of the flyover. A policeman watched my progress. When I reached him he said "I've watched you cycle all the way up..I haven't the heart to send you back!" So, I got my shots, and headed back to the Manchester Evening News with my film. Two shots in that night's paper and a satisfying glow of a press job well done. But the really best bit?  Cycling down the flyover with the wind at my back! Felt like 100 miles an hour!

Sing it, baby, sing it!

You'd swear this little baby was joining in with the hymns at this Wedding, wouldn't you!
It's one of the shots on a slide show I present to couples who are thinking of booking me to shoot their Wedding. There's been a real flurry of enquiries lately, though it's a funny time as I'm still dealing with at least four Weddings from last year.  I'm currently working on an album from a Wedding last September, and rather oddly the bride has asked me if I can remove everyone else from one particular shot, to leave only herself and her Mother on the picture. Only problem? The Groom just happens to be standing between them !

Pick of the Day !!

Happy February, everybody...and goodbye January..Phew! A shot of good old Robin Day to start the month, from an event in Manchester many moons ago. He was giggling because I'd got Paddy Ashdown to hold my reflector..though I don't know why he was picking his nose!!

Still working on my Google Optimization here, and pleased to see I'm nosing up to the top of the second page now. (When did being a photographer involve so many other disciplines??) Hopefully that'll allow more people to find me and I'll be able to shoot even more Weddings!  Funnily enough, it was a great day for bookings yesterday, and I also received a rather unusually large number of enquiries. Has somebody opened a Wedding gate and you're all flooding out looking for a photographer?
Brilliant ! Pick me!