I'm like, a creative, man ...

A small set of Corporate Portraits for you today, seeing as I spent yesterday afternoon shooting some new ones for one of my clients. I love arriving at what is basically a bland, empty office and being told "Get on with it!" - having to come up with a whole series of images from, well .. nothing! The portraits I shot yesterday are going to be made into posters to be hung all over this particular company's Manchester offices. They'll be seen by thousands of people, but I got just an hour and a half to recce the room, set up the lighting, shoot the shots of 20 staff members and de-rig so that the office was empty again for its next meeting. But that's - like - totally my scene, man! Hey, I even got to incorporate a little bit of sunshine into the picture! Just check out the image on the right! Ooooh, creativity! Je t'aime!...

Adapt or perish ..

Big Spring push now to get my portrait work up to speed! I need to be shooting more kids - if you'll pardon the expression - and I hope that, now we're coming out of the winter, the bookings will start to pick up. It's all just a matter of getting known around town! With that in mind I rigged up a new montage of images yesterday and added it to my website. I have to say I'm rather pleased with it and, looking at the great variety within it, I think it's fair to say I offer everything that 'all the other photographers' offer .. with a little bit less of the 'twee'...! Coincidentally I went to a photography talk last night, by a friend who was giving an honest and frank view of the 'hard times' we snappers are going through at the moment. One section of his presentation was about 'Adapting' to all the changes that have gone on in the photographic world. Me? I think I'm adapting!..

Funnily enough, I have a whole afternoon of shooting portraits today, but these are for a PR company so they're all - ironically - on location! Wouldn't you just know it! I'm really looking forward to it though, and I have to remember to leave space at the top of each shot for a 'speech bubble' to be inserted because, when the pictures appear as posters at the company, the staff will be appear to be voicing' their ideas about the way forward for their firm. Perhaps I should shoot a selfie, and drop the words "I will survive!" into 'my' bubble...

Flummoxed: Bewildered or perplexed!..

I admit it! That's me! Flummoxed! I just do not know the best way to promote my work anymore! On the face of it I seem to be doing everything right, at least as far as 'Social Media' is concerned. Blog? Check! (Obviously!) Facebook? Check! Twitter? Check! LinkedIn? Check .. and so on .. BUT .. none of it seems to be bringing in any work! So, yesterday, I decided I'd run a Google Adwords campaign - a small run of online advertising designed to point people to my website. I began it on Monday morning, and spent the day logging back on - with a desperate paranoid compulsion - to see if anybody had looked at the ad! Well, by last night, over 2,000 people had! (As I write, it stands at 2,408 views!) Nearly two and a half thousand views! Amazing!..

Except .. of those 2,408 people, a mere FIVE clicked through to my website! Five! I mean, I don't know .. was that a good click-through rate? Was I doing really well with that figure? The phone rang as I stared at the screen. It was a friend of mine - another Wedding photographer! "Martin .." she said "I'm flummoxed!" (She didn't actually use that word but let's leave it in there for good effect!) "I just don't know the best way to promote my work anymore!.." she wailed "I've not had a booking in absolutely ages! I'm going to start a blog and do Facebook and Twitter like you do!" "Why?.." I said, gulping audibly "What do you now?" "Google Adwords.." she said "I've run an ad for the last six months. Haven't had a thing from it..."

Waiter, another shot of bourbon....

©Martin O'Neill 2014   

Still shooting .. (?)

It's been a bit of a quiet time at the studio lately, and the only thing I have on today is a passport shoot for a young lady who's off to America shortly. It got me thinking about this shot, which has resurfaced thanks to the work I'm doing on my archive of slides. It was taken in Luxor, Egypt, and is of a chap who was taking portraits for passports and official papers. His clients sat on the stool in front of his glamorous backdrop and he would expose a tiny piece of photographic film in his wonder of a camera, which then doubled as his darkroom as he developed and then printed a small photograph inside it. (You can see his bottle of developer and his 'wash' on the floor next to him!) I wonder what he's doing now? Is he still making a living as a photographer, or has digital done for him, too?..

Thwarted ..

I was up bright and early and off to shoot more PR at the Cheese Factory this morning, and barely had had time to put on my glamorous hair-net and hi-vis jacket when everything went quiet and we were plunged into darkness. They'd had a power cut! It was estimated the lights would come back on at around 3.30pm. I'd been thwarted! I drove home ..

Still, it's given me time to work on my website re-vamp, and I'm finding some lovely old Wedding shots to add that I'd forgotten all about! This one, for example, from about six years ago. Ruthin Castle, North Wales. Lovely!..

Right! Off for lunch. Any cheese?...

Heaven knows I'm (not) miserable now ..

On a good day I can be up and have three of my old Kodachrome slides spotted before breakfast and today was no exception but, just as I was wallowing in the memories of a back-pack trip round Oz, came the reminder - on Facebook, inevitably - that it's 30 years to the day since The Smiths' first album came out. OMG! 30 years! Thirty years? Where has 30 years gone? Thirty years!! OMG!..

Yes, it came as quite a shock! It goes without saying, though, that the LP still sounds absolutely brilliant! I'm playing it as I write. It's as fresh and exciting and with just as much hair-raising-on-the-back-of-the-neck .. ness as it had when I picked it up as a 23 year old Manchester whippersnapper.
(And yes, I did call it an LP on purpose!) Oh, Morrissey...

Ahum! So, I took a bus to Nullarbor, in South Australia, 'cos I was really interested in seeing what was out there, in the middle of nowhere. Do you know what's out there? Nothing! You're in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much like the music scene before The Smiths, eh?...

Whip it up ..

When a problem comes along, you must whip it! And I think I have! ..

It's no state secret if I tell you that enquiries for Wedding Photographers have slowed down, but I think I've found the answer to my problem...

ManchesterWeddingPhotography.com!

That's going to be the name of my new website! I know! I can't believe it either, but I was contacted by a chap last week who asked if I'd like to be the owner of this fantastic domain name. "Well, yes.." I said "But surely it's already taken!?" "It is!.." he said "By me!.." And so it comes to pass, my brothers and sisters, that -  once I've got the pages sorted out - I will be the proud owner of a fab new website that's gotta be guaranteed to whip up new business!

Sad to hear of the death of Devo guitarist Bob Casale yesterday. You can't be of 'a certain age' and not know the band's 80s hit 'Whip it', so what a shame to know Bob's just died of heart problems at only 61 years old. I was lucky enough to see Devo twice, both times at Manchester Apollo. The first gig, in 1980, cost £4! When I saw them about 5 years ago it was £40 but, with apologies for the puny 'whip it' line in today's blog, I just wanted to say 'Thank You, Bob! It was worth it..."

Life, and cheese ..

Funny old few days ..
Two birthday parties over the weekend, a client from hell and, today, my friend's wife's funeral. All life's ups and downs in three days flat! The parties were great and I'm sure today will be a great send-off for Julie, but I'll save for another day the tale of my experiences with 'the client'. Let's just say he was one of the most awful men I have ever dealt with! Today's funeral has put all that into context, though, and my focus is elsewhere..

Speaking of focus, another trip to the cheese factory looms this week! I can't wait for this visit though, because they want me to "wander around taking snaps" to capture a .. wait for it .. flavour of the place and I'm really looking forward to getting some interesting black and white reportage under my belt.

Anyway, first things first ..





 

It must be love, love, love ...

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! I hope you're all soaked in love and swamped with cards and chocolates. Of course, I also hope you're down on one knee proposing, then heading off to book me for your newly-imminent Wedding photography! God, I'm so romantic! (Hey, everything's commercial, these days! I just need to figure out a way to connect Easter to my website next!) I'm actually offering a free engagement portrait and Signing Board to anyone who proposes today and books me by the end of February - an offer worth £150 - so hurry up off your knees and get cracking!

Pregnant pause ..

This morning I had to be in the studio at the crack of sparrowfart - or whatever the expression is - to take a Wedding booking from a chap who called in to see me on his way to work. His fiancé only 'found' me last night, and decided to book me without even meeting! Mind you, she was in a bit of a rush! Turns out they'd already booked a photographer but she called them yesterday to say she was pregnant!

Now, how's that for a USP? Martin O'Neill .. guaranteed never to be pregnant for your Wedding!

Anywhere but here ..

I wrote last week about one of my studio photo-sessions being postponed, which gave me the time to pile into my extensive slide archive and get some Kodachrome scanned. Well, wouldn't you know it, this week .. every job I've got booked has had the dates changed! Every one! That must be a record! What is it? The weather or something? Has everyone left the country? Actually, with all this rain, I wouldn't blame 'em! Anyway, don't worry - as if you were! -  'cos at least the work's only been postponed and not cancelled so, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to drown out the sound of the rain with 'Going to Barbados' on repeat and let my travel shots take me away to somewhere warm and sunny ...

I think I'll become a plumber...

We had the plumber in over the weekend, helping us finish off our new kitchen. He fitted the sink, and moved the dishwasher, and sorted the repositioning of the tumble dryer. He did a really fantastic job. In fact, we were so pleased with it that, instead of paying him, we suggested he sign his name on the wall by the taps and, whenever we have someone over to the house, we'd point out the fantastic plumbing and, in that way, he might get extra work from our 'showcase'! Well, he wasn't very taken with that idea! Not at all. In fact, the second word he used was "..off!" so, somewhat red-faced, we paid him and he left, seemingly a lot more satisfied than if we'd just offered him the chance to have his work seen by others! Weird!..

Now, you know as well as I do that we did nothing of the sort. It wouldn't even have crossed our minds to insult the guy by suggesting he do the work for nothing, on the off chance he gets another job on the back of it. So why, oh why do people think they can ask this of photographers? What is going on in the world, eh? When did photography become so suddenly undervalued? (Don't answer that! I think we all know when, and God bless the dawn of the digital age!)

I covered a PR event a couple of weeks ago and one of the companies who took part has since seen the shots, thinks they're "great" and has asked if they can use some of them on their Facebook page. "Of course you can .. " I said ".. and I'll only charge you ten pounds per image! Nominal fee, and all that!" Smile, smile! Their reply was priceless! (Ironic, that word!) They said, and I quote "We invest quite heavily in the show case as you can imagine so I don’t want to pay for photos of an event that has cost us hundreds to put on."

In other words, they wanted my photographs for free!

Oh sure, they'd put my name alongside the images - ooh, goody! - but, basically, they wanted my photography for nothing!

They won't be getting any of my photographs!..

I think I'll write a blog ..

Hmmm, so what to write about today?..

Whoa, you caught me - having a quiet moment's musing on that all-important topic of the day! Oh, alright, it's not me .. you guessed .. it's one of the slides I scanned yesterday after I piled into my back catalogue for a day of digital archiving! And man, what memories I found! I spent the day photographically travelling the globe, all from the comfort of my scruffy little office! I have shots in my files from as far afield as Tahiti to Nepal, the Amazon to the Outback .. and one shot of this literary figure on the banks of the river Nile. And to think it was all shot on Kodachrome! Now that's knowing your stuff, that is! Correct exposures, accurate framing .. proper photography! Makes me smile when I think of the instant gratification we get with our photography these days. Take the shot, check the screen. It's almost become a single head movement! Well, back in the early 90s, I took six months off for a trip around the world and shot the lot on Kodachrome 64, sending the undeveloped rolls of film home for my Dad to post on to Kodak's lab at Hemel Hempstead. God! Imagine what it was like not knowing - for six months - what my stuff was like! Hard to imagine, these days!..

Hey, hang on! I've just thought of a topic ..

Hello, blossom ..

It's a funny old day today, mainly because a portrait session I was supposed to be shooting at the studio has been put on hold because the lady forgot she'd made the booking! There's a first! I phoned yesterday to confirm, but it had completely slipped her mind! At least she's going to re-schedule it for next week!..

Time for Plan B, and what I am going to do today is use the time to go through my extensive collection of slides and get some more of those babies digitized! I have boxes and boxes of the little blighters - mainly 35mm but quite a few on medium format - and it'll be great to get them into the archive and used in future projects. Here's a shot of cherry blossom from the Spring of .. well, who knows when?..

I can't mention the 'archive' word without talking about Joy Division, and I'm delighted to say that one of my images of Ian Curtis has been chosen to be part of an exhibition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the PRS -  The Performing Rights Society : The people who make sure musicians get paid for the use of their work (God, we need a body like that for photographers, don't we!..) Apparently my shot is going to be printed onto aluminium and displayed alongside a number of other images at a show I'll be going to in London next month.

Looks like 2014 is blossoming already..

Cutting edge ..

So I'm shooting all this cheese - hands slippy with brie, sticky with cheddar - when I decided it would look much better out of its packaging. I carefully reached into a pocket for my little pen-knife and took to slicing off the polythene with the blade. Then, bizarrely, I started to look at my little red knife and began to think just how much I use it when I work (Hey, gimme a break, it gets boring shooting cheese! Actually, that's a big fat fib! It was as challenging as hell; took almost five hours to get 11 shots .. and I loved every minute!) Anyway, back to my Swiss Army Knife! Yes, I thought, we're inseperable! I mean, here it was in action on a PR job - ripping through the wrapping - and yet it's invaluable at a Wedding, always ready to snib off that ubiquitous single dangling thread from the bride's or groom's .. er, threads! It trims card, opens envelopes with cheques in, and it's even handy when things go quiet on a job, 'cos there's never a bad time to cut your finger-nails and file the edges, is there? (I won't say anything about the tooth-pick!) The funniest use of the knife came, though, when I was photographing Sir Alan Sugar one time. I'd shot some portraits of him one afternoon, and was due to cover the Q and A session he was involved in later that evening. As we stood, backstage, waiting for the introductory video to play out, he suddenly decided to put his hands in his pockets. Well, it was a new suit, wasn't it, pockets all sewn up! His hands bounced hilariously off the stitching but we were straight in there, me and my knife, and I'll never forget having to unstitch Alan Sugar's pockets seconds before he went on stage at that seminar!

Cheesy Portraits ..

More PR shots at the Cheese Factory this morning, but today we're concentrating on the cheeses themselves rather than the production processes. Basically, portraits of the cheese! I won't go on about it. I'm probably driving you crackers ...

Fab Feb ..

You can smell it, can't you? Spring is just around the corner. January is over and it feels fab to be in Feb! Daffs, snowdrops and the songs of Great tits and Song-thrushes! As I write this it's just gone eight minutes past eight, and the morning sun is already shining through my window. I love it..

It feels like the sap is rising in the photographic world, too. This is now month eight of my studio, and things are really starting to move. Already this year I have several portrait sessions under my belt, and the enquiries are really starting to flow. The PR has picked up too, and I have some exciting news to (nearly) announce on that front! I'm going to be signing a contract soon to start shooting PR photography for a major national supermarket! Alright!! The seeds of success have been planted, it's the start of a budding new career, it's, er... Oh, I've run out of Spring-related clichés! Here's to a great month, everybody...