Top Bombing..

Another aircraft, I'm afraid, and another significant date to remember! It's 30 years since Vulcan Bomber 607 made that epic journey down to The Falklands to drop what turned out to be a single bomb on the runway at Stanley - an amazing feat and one that we couldn't even begin to think about doing today. I'm not gloating over the war, I'm just marking a time in our history and the history of our technology .. oh, and it also happens to be a great way of mentioning that my image of a Vulcan is one of the prints I have for sale on my stall at Botany Bay!

I heard that plaintiff cry again this weekend... "We asked a friend to take our Wedding Photographs, and we've been let down! Can you help?" Ladies, ladies .. will you ever learn? There's a lot more to Wedding Photography than pointing a 'good' camera at the chick in the white dress, and I've lost count of the amount of times a friend that's been drafted in has got the collywobbles and pulled out at the last minute. I'm pleased to say that, on this occasion, I was able to take on the booking and get the couple out of a mess! Think on, girls, think on. You don't want your Wedding memories to bomb now, do you?..

Six months in a leaky boat...

 

I managed to book a hotel right under the flight-path at Heathrow Airport when I went to London last week, which didn't matter until the first of the morning's long-hauls came hurtling over my head at 5.20 in the bloomin' morning and that was my sleep done for the day, thank you very much! Amazing to think how far all those people on board had travelled through the night though, and this is just me getting a little reflective as this weekend marks the 223rd anniversary of 'The Mutiny on the Bounty', and the start of six weeks of hell for another of my heroes, Captain William Bligh. I know that Hollywood didn't do him any favours, but in my book he was one of the bravest, most talented sailors our country ever produced. And do you know how old he was when he was tossed into that jolly boat in the middle of the Pacific? Thirty three! Just 33 and yet he had the experience and knowledge to be able to navigate back to Indonesia, saving the lives of a boat full of men and managing to sketch and map the islands they passed as an aid to future shipping! Man, I'll bet they'd have loved a 777 zipping over their heads!...

Now, remember 1982 and that huge flotilla of our ships heading out to rough up The Argies in The Falklands? It was a bad time all round, and no more so than for one of my favourite bands of all time, Split Enz. I still laugh at the good old BBC for banning their new single ... Six months in a leaky boat!

Weird, eh?...

Mission accomplished..

Apologies, Facebook fans, but I've got to get my money's worth out of this photograph! Yes, look everybody .. it's me .. and David Bailey! Aaaagh! How much of a groupie am I... ? And who cares? I've met David Bailey!! And I got his autograph! And he asked what camera I was using when I got this shot - and no, he didn't mind that it wasn't an Olympus Trip! - so all in all a fab trip down to London and well worth the effort to meet one of my heroes! He might be 74 but he's still got his great sense of humour and a cool knack for telling a good story. The place was packed too, which shows you the influence the guy still has. My fave quote of his from the entire evening? "Seeing takes a lot of looking..." he said " ..and I'm still practising!" Modest, or what?

Right, reality calls ... I'm off to shoot an Awards lunch in Coventry.
Hmmm, now how would Bailey do it? This way, darlin'...

David Bailey? Who's he?..

Oh my giddy aunt! I never in a million years thought I'd ever write what I'm about to type right now...
I'm going to see David Bailey tonight! Yes, that David Bailey! Sixties' icon, photographic trend-setter from the get-go, shameless plugger of the Olympus Trip  - you've just got to watch this ad - and the scruffiest man alive! I'm hitting the road to 'Down South' this morning and by 7pm will be slack-jawed, dribbling and gob-struck, swooning in the presence of a God! Now I've just got to see if I can get my photograph taken with Him! Wonder if he'll mind me using a Fuji?..

I know my rights...

St George's Day, and let's hear it for the red, white and blue of Great Britain! (I know that's not the 'English' flag, but who's checking?) So what better way of celebrating our great nation than showing you that you can do anything you want here! Park on the pavement? No problem! Use your phone whilst you're driving? Carry on! Hog the middle lane? It's de rigeur! (Ooops, that's French) The point is it's YOU that's important in this wonderful country of ours, and my photographs are just a small way of showing that it's what YOU want to do that counts in England, and sod the rest of us! National pride? Ha! Putting two quid in a Help for Heroes collecting tin is about as 'proud' most of us get these days, and then it's back to 'My Human Rights' and 'What this country owes me'! Just go kick through the litter in my town centre, or dare to sit on a bus-seat being used as someone's foot rest, or try deporting a known terrorist, or ....

Phew! Great Shoot 'n Tutor session on Saturday morning, with an emphasis on product photography for two 'students' who wanted to learn how to photograph for their company's websites. Next one's coming up on Saturday, so book now .. it's your right!

Do you copy? ..

So Moz has popped up on my radar twice today already, and it's still not half past ten! Firstly, the MEN is running a story about the precious little darling having blunt razor blades and.. oh, read it here, I can't be bothered .. (and no, it's not what you think!) The second reason he's appeared is because someone seems to have ripped off one of my images of him and is selling it as T shirts on ebay! The pesky varmints! How very dare they! I am investigating...

By the way, this image of mine is from a design being launched in Japan at the end of this month. It's a 'proper' T shirt! It is legitimate, legal and not in breach of copyright! (Are you reading this, dear image thieves?)

Fanfare!! Botany Bay is Open! My new unit is up and running and looking mighty fine, with its collections of place-mats and coasters, framed flowers and, yes, Morrissey pictures! Jeez, I'd buy them myself if I didn't already own the complete set! Get down there before everything sells out, but please don't rip them off!

A PR friend of mine has emailed to ask for some images from a shoot I did for him in ... 2001. He can't find the disc anywhere. Do you know why? It was shot on film! Ah, the good old days, when your images were yours and not out there for every Tom, Dick and Harry to steal and use as they liked.
Copy that?..

A Bay! For Botany! ...

It suddenly occurred to me last night that Botany Bay was the perfect place to sell Florescence, my flower and plant photography. Botany! Flowers! Geddit? What an ideal name! Maybe I could call my new unit my very own 'Botany' Bay! Hm, maybe not! Anyway, I mention this because the ball is now rolling and my new stand at Botany Bay, up near Chorley, will be open for business by tomorrow! This image is one of the signs I've made to go over the top of the unit, which will also be an ideal place to promote my Wedding and Portrait Photography.
How exciting!

And this was us on the beach..

When I worked for The Press there used to be times when you'd be sent to the home of a doddery old dear for some story or other - usually related to gas bills or being left asleep on a bus at the depot - and she'd pull out a big pile of curled, tatty snaps and insist you looked at 400 photographs of her old dead cat! Well, I had a moment like that this week although, for fear of losing all of my mates, I obviously can't say where! Let's just say that we were all having a jolly good time when one of the group pulled out a scrawny old compact camera and commenced to scrolling through six million snaps of the holiday he'd just returned from! "And this was us on the beach, and that's us in the shopping mall..." and all that jazz! Trouble was, of course, that only displaying his piccies on a dusty, scratched 2 inch screen meant he had to go through that whole palaver for each and every one of us. It made dead cats seem suddenly really interesting!..

If the shoe fits..

I'm intrigued! Yesterday, one of my blogs  - this one - suddenly started getting hits from all over the world .. I mean, China, Slovenia, Egypt, Indonesia .. 95 hits from France, for goodness sake!! Mon Dieu, what's going on? Why did that particular blog suddenly start attracting such interest? Did everyone get an instant interest in that current trend for the 'Vintage' look at Weddings? Curiouser and curiouser!

Anyway, I'm merrily tootling along, doing my own thing which, at the moment, means getting ready to set up my new unit at Botany Bay, near Chorley. I've got heaps of Florescence and music prints all ready to go, as well as piles of flower photography place mats and coasters, and I hope eventually to start selling my books there, as well as T shirts and postcards. My Wedding bookings are ticking along nicely too, and last night I went to see a new couple who booked me for their May '13 Wedding at the Park Royal Hotel in Cheshire. Sneaking onto my radar, though, is a Wedding coming up in May of this year, when I'll be a guest instead of the photographer! Help! I don't know how to be a Wedding guest! The shoe will definitely be on the other foot that day...

Bring back Derrick! ..

Ok, we all know him as Mr Motivator, but if we're ever going to sort out our national obesity problem then he'd be the guy to get the kids off their fat arses and start exercising. Playing out, we used to call it .. no thought of 'keeping fit' or being healthy .. we just loved being out of the house and able to run free with our friends. Ok, I know it is different these days, and I'll bet most kids would jump at the chance to play football or marbles or 'Japs and Commandoes' in the street - sorry to any Japanese or, er .. commandoes reading this! - but it can't just be all blamed on 'too much sugar', can it? Actually, I've just worked out the best way to get children running about .. invite them to a Wedding! There's something about being in a crowd of adults that sends kids bananas, and has them running around any reception in seconds .. knocking into waiters, tripping over handbags, and generally having a blast! There ya go, that's your motivation .. Fun!
We all need more of it!

Just a word on my shot of Derrick! I took it for OK! Magazine on the set of Coronation Street with Angela Griffin and .. erm, that other girl off the programme! Sorry, whoever you are .. I never would make the paparazzi!..

Lucky for some ..

Friday the 13th and boy, do I feel lucky! I've just signed the lease on a new unit in an arts and collectors' 'emporium' up in Chorley. From next week I'll have my own 'shop' at the Botany Bay Shopping Outlet, just off the M61, from where I'll be offering you lucky people my whole range of Florescence flower imagery - from greetings cards and framed montages to mounted prints and place-mats. In addition, I'll be giving visitors the chance to purchase some of my other black and white work, including prints of Joy Division and The Smiths, and shots from my book Don't Miss That, featuring photographs of Eccles in the late seventies. Who knows, now I've got to grips with my new X10 you might even be able to get your hands on some of those photographs, too! Oh, you lucky buggers!..

It's X10 time....

My new camera's arrived! I spent £400, waited almost a week for delivery and then shot .. flowers, a glove, and a photo for my 'Seen..' Flickr project!  D'ya think I'm stuck in my ways?? Seriously, it's so exciting to finally get my hands on this little beauty - the Fuji X10! It has a silent shutter and a 'normal' viewfinder, so it's going to be fantastic for all those sneaky Wedding shots! It takes me back to the first time I saw the original magazine ads for the Olympus XA in about 1981. I just had to have one, and I've felt the same about this camera ever since it came out. And who knows where my work with it will lead? My Olympus photographs got me on TV, got me to the finals of national photographic competitions .. and got me a self-published book called Don't Miss This, that went on to be stocked at The Photographers' Gallery. Bring it on, X10!..

Something old, something new .. eventually!

It's Vintage, darling, Vintage .. though I still maintain that, as they look through their Wedding albums on their Golden Wedding anniversaries, many of today's newly-weds are going to wish they'd had their photographs printed 'properly'!
Hey, ho.. the customer is always right!

One area of my work that is definitely not de-saturated is my Florescence flower photography. I've spent a lot of this Easter weekend having a big sort-through of it, and I will have exciting news about it .. soon!

By the way, my new rangefinder camera still hasn't arrived, and I've turned into a squrimy impatient kid watching for a ParcelForce van to turn up ... I want it, I want it!

A Signature Shot..

Wow! The writing was on the wall at yesterday's Village Hotel Wedding. Well, it almost was when Laura and Steve's signing board proved to be rather popular with their guests! Anybody booking me as their Wedding Photographer before the end of this month will receive a free Engagement portrait, made up into a Signing Board like this (Hey, I even throw in the Sharpies!) I've never seen one fill up so quickly as this one, though. That's one popular couple just married! You can check out their Wedding here...

Right, time to go hunting for Easter eggs....

The heat is on...

Probably hard to see, but this thermometer reads thirty-five degrees, so it obviously wasn't photographed here because it's a Bank Holiday, and the cold, wind and rain are right on cue to spoil the long weekend! They'll make a pickle of today's Wedding too, I fear, as it's being held in a, well let's say less-photogenic hotel in Stockport, with any amount of car-park to choose from for my shots should the weather behave, and any amount of dark, crowded corridor should it decide not to! I will, of course, rise to the challenge, and the results will be on here for you to see by Tuesday.

I'm waiting excitedly for the post-man! I've bought myself a new Fuji rangefinder camera, and can't wait to start playing with it. I've ordered it from Jessops on-line shop, and can expect it any moment with free next-day delivery. Thing is, I did actually go to the shop to buy one, but get this.. It costs £50 more in the shop than it does online! Fifty pounds .. from the same company. Is it any bloody wonder our high streets are becoming deserts? Makes my blood boil...

PS: My shot was taken in Dallas, and the thermometer was in the shade. Get me back there ..  please!!

Stop Press: 8.15 pm .. home from the Wedding! Man, I rose to the challenge!!

Today's lesson...

Good Friday, 1979. I was at home, doing my ironing when, suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and another lad that worked for The Messenger appeared at the door, flustered and annoyed. "What are you doing?" he barked. "My ironing!" I replied, accurate and concise as ever! (I should remind you that this was back in the dark and dingy days of the seventies, and I did not possess a phone) "But you're supposed to be at work.." he gasped. "Work?.." I wheezed "But it's a Bank Holiday!"...

And thus it came to pass that, at aged 19, Martin learnt that as a Press Photographer he would never, ever have a day off again!

Amen!

0800 Snap Me ..

I can still remember the day someone came up behind me at a Wedding and took a photograph .. on their phone! My God, I was still getting over the shock of being able to shoot without film, never mind without a camera! And now here I am, merrily aiming my Samsung at anyone and anything, and whizzing shots up to Facebook and Twitter as if I've always done it! Today's image, for example, was taken on my mobile at the Blackburne House Wedding Fayre last Saturday. Now I know that means we're now in the age of the 'Citizen Journalist', and the power of a mobile phone shot or video is becoming ever more obvious - the best camera, after all, is the one you have with you - but for me the old adage still stands. Simply owning a camera doesn't make you a photographer! As I get more and more into my Shoot 'n Tutor sessions it amazes me that I can stand right next to somebody and we'll shoot the same subject with completely differing results. Why, I think to myself, can't these people frame that shot the way I just did? Because they do not have The Photographer's Eye, that's why, so my teaching sessions
will always be about photography's mechanics, not its aesthetics. Now, where did I put my phone? ..

Hand it over! ..

There was a time when, now and again, you'd shoot a PR job and then have to hand the film over to the PR company. Various reasons - the company might want to take the film back to process in London, for example, or deadlines were tight and there was no time to get prints across to a company. (There was no duplicating of images onto parallel memory cards, or getting photographs emailed back to you after the job in those days!) The thing is, I did it twice when it really hurt! Once was when I photographed a band called Take That - who you may have heard of!! - but who were the support at a Radio One roadshow I was shooting, and once when I was the official photographer to the Queen. She opened The Festival of Food and Farming in Hyde Park in 1989, and I was the only photographer allowed to cover her doing the honours for the sponsors, ASDA supermarkets, who took all the film back to their HQ to make a big song-and-dance exhibition of it all. Well, I've long given up on the Take That shots, but I've been trying to get hold of some of my photos of Her Maj to show you in her Jubilee Year. The thing is, I don't think half the staff in the offices there were even born when I shot them, so trying to explain about negatives is unfortunately falling on stony ground.  However, the search goes on, and I'll keep you in the picture .. but you can't have the film!! By the way, the picture today shows me -aged 18 or 19- shooting Princess Anne on a visit to Manchester! I can't remember who gave me this print, but at least somebody kept hold of their negatives! ;-)

You de man! ..

How're these for compliments?  They came in emails last night, and sent me to bed with a smile on my face! I photographed the Wedding of Suzanne and Paresh at Tatton Park last September, and they've just finished trying to choose the images they'd like for their album. It was a difficult job for them! "Well what a task cutting down our photo's..!! " they said "The job would but so much easier if you took c**p photos but hey ho, we picked a top notch photographer so we could only expect top notch photos!!!"

Now that, my friends, I can live with! Top notch! Ooh, I do like to start the week by being called Top Notch! Makes me feel dead good!

The other reason to feel good was that, for the second week in a row, I got a booking from a Wedding Fayre right there and then on the day, and I can't wait to shoot the Big Day for Alun and Karen in September. They met me on Saturday at the Blackburne House Fayre in Liverpool, and their's was the second great email that came in last night. I'd mashed together a price and package for them, based on what they were looking for from their Wedding Photography, and they emailed back "That's great, we're very happy with this!"

Cue contented sigh! Ladies and gentlemen, this Blog is brought to you today by Martin O'Neill Photography - Top Notch! Bringer of Happiness!..

Goodbye, Winter ..

April, and the hawthorn leaves are springing up like Zebedee on acid! It's lovely, and I've enjoyed a leisurely stroll around my burgeoning back garden this morning as I reflect on yesterday's fab Wedding Fayre. It's always early days with these things, but I'm pretty sure I'll get at least two confirmed bookings out of Saturday's event. Oh, and wow, what a place to get married is Blackburne House! Nestled in the shadow of Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, it's full of fab nooks and crannies for all those sexy Bride & Groom portraits. Can't wait to start working there!

Bacon and eggs now, and a day off in the sunshine!