Nice link ..

Following on from yesterday's blog, this is about as Hallowe'eny as I get, I'm afraid. Still one of my favourite albums, it's by top ace sorted Manc band The Fall, and it came out in 1979, when I was still just 18. Of course, the Witch Trials were in Salem and hey .. that's where the Wedding is that I'm photographing in America next year! Nice link, Martin ..

Scary ..

I'll hold my hands up! I don't 'get' Hallowe'en! I have no idea why so many people get so much fun from it! Brought up as a Catholic, I only ever really knew the end of October as All Souls', the time when - get this - the veil between earth and purgatory grows thinner so that we can get a glimpse of all the poor sinners stuck over there! That's who we prayed for on Hallowe'en, see? And somehow now there's a big party night out of it!? So, in our over-commercialised world, that means all I see is shop after shop selling ton after ton of tacky, plastic crap that people will wear once and throw away. Like Christmas, with corpses.
Bah, humbug .. or whatever the Hallowe'en equivalent is ..

When I was growing up it was all about Bonfire Night. Never mind dressing up as a zombie - all we could think about was getting a big pile of scrap wood together to build a bonfire in our back garden. Then it was Catherine wheels, bangers, rip-raps and sparklers waved in each others' faces as a huge pile of timber blazed away just feet from our houses! What's not to love?..

In a way I suppose it's sensible that we don't have all of that health and safety nightmare anymore. Kids today will just have to make do with thinking that dressing up in fake blood is exciting. Scary..

Ps: Sorry, a picture of Black Flag's Henry Rollins was about as ghoulish as I could get for today's photo...

Heavenly bodies ..

I was blabbing on yesterday about my calendar girl pictures, shot to raise money for charity and, before I'd even finished typing the blog, I had an email about another 'heavenly body' I'd photographed recently! This is an image I shot at a local church in the summer and the vicar wanted to talk about the possibility of having it printed up as a fund-raising .. tea-towel! Hey, whatever gets your work out there, right?..

And, from tea-towels to T shirts, I was dealing yesterday with another company who want to start selling T shirts showing my music photographs! Things are looking good and I'm pleased with the samples they sent me to try out. By the way, I now have enough free T shirts to last me 'til 2077!
I'll let you know how this pans out!..

Joy Division? Did somebody mention Joy Division? Another email I had to deal with yesterday was an interview for an online music magazine. They're going to do a piece on my photos of the band and of the gig I shot at Christ Church in Macclesfield with Hooky last May. Funny how things work out!..

God is watching me ..

Calendar girl ..

Hello, hello, what's going on here then?..

Well nothing actually, it was all coming off .. ha, ha .. but all for a good cause, I promise you! Yes, I forgot to tell you about a little Boudoir shoot I did at the studio recently with a very nice lady called Janice. Actually, I didn't forget! She just made me promise not to say anything until now, as the shots are for a charity calendar she's organised, and it's not being released until this week...

Well now the wraps are off, so to speak, and I can show you the two images I took for it. Apparently it now seems only one is going into the calendar but that's ok - I used to work for the Manchester Evening News, I'm used to having my work chopped!! ...

Boudoir shoots are something I've always offered although, I'll admit, I've not had very much interest from the ladies. Recently, though, I launched a service offering brides-to-be an opportunity to give their new hubbies a nice framed Boudoir print as a Wedding present, but it occurred to me that the guys might want to do the same thing for their ladies, too, so I named the offer 'For His/Her eyes only'. I should get my copy of the calendar this Friday. I wonder how many of those shoots I'll be marking down in it .. 

All good ..

I've had such fun at the studio over this past week, with everything from new-born babies to this trio of funky sisters going in front of my lens! Now the push is on for Christmas, and I'm starting a leafleting campaign this week to let people know about my great Gift Voucher offers..

PR photography's been good too, and it's nice to see one of my former 'regular' Autumn bookings back in the diary again. I'll be off to the National Motorcycle Show at Birmingham's NEC at the end of next month!..

And the Weddings? Well, nothing to shoot for a few weeks now but the enquiries are starting to pick up again as people realise that 'next year' is only ten weeks away! Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring ..

Attitude ..

If you saw my Facebook and Twitter pages yesterday you'll have already seen this photograph, which I took at the playgroup session on Tuesday. I absolutely love the attitude on this young lady's face. Of course, shooting as many kids as I did, I was presented with quite a range of expressions. Tears, bewilderment, shyness, giggles - and that was just the Mums!..

I've been booked for a rather interesting shoot next month. A lady who is leaving her home to move abroad has asked if I'll go over and photograph all her rooms, so that she'll always have a memory of the 20-odd years she lived in the house. She found me on Google and obviously had a good look around my site because she said to me she wished she'd known about my Wedding photography when she got married seven years ago. "Our photographs are that bad .. " she told me "That we still haven't gone to pick them up .. seven years on!.." Now that would give you an attitude..

Back to the future ..

Apparently today is 'Back to the future' day - the day to which, in the film, Marty McFly chose to travel to from 1985. I only have to flit back to April to bring you today's Blog Shot, a picture of me and the famous DeLorean car, which I was photographing on a PR shoot over in Knutsford. Martin McFly strikes again..

If you want to get all dreamy and wispy about it, I actually spent a lot of yesterday helping people plan for the future. Namely, I was taking photographs of children at a pre-school group, capturing the images that will travel on in time as a reminder of how they were in 2015. Well, it's what photography's all about, isn't it? And, if you want to talk about time, I can tell you honestly it's taken me over two years to reach the stage of being invited to photograph these children! When I opened my studio I contacted every school, nursery and playgroup I could find in the local area to tell them about my services, and got absolutely nowhere! Not one contact - and I'm talking about 40 organisations here - opted to try me out. Well, boo hoo for me, but you can imagine how pleased I was when the ladies from yesterday's group got in touch with me to ask if I'd be interested in going in. Will this lead on to other work? Only time will tell..

Weird ..

Our local Post Office has just re-opened after a two-week refurbishment and, when I went in there for the first time yesterday, there was a new chap serving behind the counter. I put my parcel on the scales and filled out the return-address label on the back. "You're not posting Wedding photographs, are you?.." he asked, completely out of the blue. "Yes.." I gasped "How did you know..?" "Just a wild guess.." he said, bizarrely..

Turns out his daughter is getting married next year, and he asked if I had a card. I told him about my studio, which is just up the stairs from the Post Office, and said she was welcome to come along any time to have a look at my work..

I'll tell you what! If this booking comes off it'll be one of the weirdest references I've ever had ..

How lovely ..

Well, you could knock me over with a feather! Just gone 10 on a Sunday morning, and I've already received an email from a young lady I've never met saying I was a "very highly recommended" photographer and she'd be "happy" to have me as her Wedding Photographer next year!..

Am I still in bed, dreaming? What a fabulous start to a Sunday! Thank you so much, Melissa! I'd love to be your Wedding Photographer!..

How lovely ..

I dig it ..

I spent the day shooting PR for JCB yesterday, so cue the jokes about 'digging' my work! It was a busy old day. A morning spent shooting portraits for their website, followed by an afternoon of processing that work, followed by an evening photographing their awards dinner at The Mere. Happily, all of that is followed by a weekend doing absolutely nothing!..

Well, I say nothing! I have a day at the studio ahead of me. I've had some new flyers printed, so it's going to be a day of handing them out to shoppers at the CPS Centre and then I have a new bride and groom coming to see me about their Wedding next July..

So actually, I'll only get Sunday off. But that's ok! I can dig it ..

Confetti ..

Collecting confetti! It's every kid's favourite game at a Wedding.  I think there's definitely a case for throwing away all their electronic games and just chucking bits of coloured paper around your front room for them to pick up. It'd keep 'em quiet for ages...

Anyway, this is just one of the hundred and something shots I've added to my website's front page. A pal of mine told me that "less is more" but, when it comes to Weddings, I personally think new brides want to see as much of your work as possible, so I decided to scrap my 'Gallery' page and just throw everything onto the front page. It looks like the best confetti ever..

Passion ..

I see a lot of Wedding Photographers using the word 'passion' on their websites. They're passionate about their photography - usually since they packed up their job at the bank and decided to give Wedding Photography a go! Well, check out this shot for passion! It's a 'selfie' - before the word existed - of me as a 16 year old kid in sunny Eccles. Check out the posters! Football teams? Pop stars? Playboy Bunnies? Naaaah .... cameras! I had a whole raft of photographs of cameras pinned to my bedroom wall, probably all ripped from Amateur Photographer magazine! Now that's passion! I've been nuts about photography since I found it/it found me in 1973! I knew even then that I wanted to be a photographer and, this month, celebrate 37 years behind the camera!..

It's about time I added the word 'passion' to my website!!...

Good leads ..

Well, the second Culcheth Wedding Fayre has come and gone, and now we're all hoping we've made some good leads from the brides who visited last night. As the organiser of the whole thing I had quite an insight into the ups and downs of trying to pull one of these events together, after a total of seven of my exhibitors pulled out .. including three who simply didn't turn up on the night. Needless to say, after letting me down like that they won't be asked to attend my next Fayre!
Ooh, b*tchy! Hey, it's my fayre!...

The exhibitors who did turn up, however, were a great bunch of suppliers, and it was fab to meet up with a videographer I used to work with who I've not seen for absolutely ages. We're planning to put a package together that will save all you brides some lovely dosh if you book the two of us together! Keep an eye on my Facebook page for details...

So, onwards and upwards and top marks for corny links with my choice of photograph today. Good leads! Get it?...

It's Wedding Fayre Day ...

It's today, it's today! My second Wedding Fayre takes place tonight at one of our local pubs, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it goes! There'll be lots of local Wedding suppliers there, with no duplication of any speciality, as is often the case at other fayres. I'll admit we've been a bit hit by sickness, with no less than four of my exhibitors pulling out through ill health - must be the time of year - but we've still got an exciting array of stands to visit, with everything from a singer to a DJ, cakes to cars and, of course, a rather good Wedding Photographer! If Wedding Bells are reinging for you then I hope we might see you at The Culcheth Arms from 7pm tonight! Free admission, too...

Beware the cowboys ..

I've probably told you that I play badminton. Unfortunately, I'm the man who put the bad in badminton as, despite all the years of trying, I'm still absolutely hopeless at it! I sweat, I strain, I try to take on the advice of fellow players and yet nothing improves my game. I am not a natural sportsman. I just can't do it...

But the thing is, I look like a badminton player! I've got the expensive racket and the fancy 'wick' sports shirt, not to mention the serious looking strap to keep my tennis elbow in check, so when I turn up on the court I look like I know what I'm doing. A bit like all these people who say they are Wedding Photographers, in fact! Good camera = proficient photographer, eh? Not so! The thing is, I've joined yet another Wedding site on Facebook and am encouraged to see a lot of posts from Brides-to-be about the dangers of 'cheap photography'. Don't tell me the message is finally getting through!??..

I thought this shot of a 'cowboy' atop a Wedding cake would illustrate today's blog perfectly. Now where's me shuttlecock?...    

Pulling together ..

Stomp it! That's the name of some new software I bought to pull together these funky montages. Saves me flippin' ages! I've dropped a few onto Pinterest already..

I'm also busy pulling together the strands of my Wedding Fayre, which takes place on Monday and has more suppliers attending than my last fayre in March. Sixteen at the last count, and not a single duplication of skills to be seen. Let's just hope it pulls a few brides in, too..

Tomorrow sees a full hair and make-up shoot at the studio, and pulling this together gave me the idea of offering this as a whole package - hair, make-up, photo-shoot and 12x10 inch print for £99.
No, I'm not pulling your leg...

It's all about the weather ..

I'm halfway through designing an album from a Wedding in June, smiling ruefully as I remember the problems I had with the brilliant sunshine of a warm summer's day. As I write this, I reckon it's not stopped raining for a good twelve hours now..

Thing is, I've got a PR shoot booked in for this morning that has to take place outside - well, it involves a race-horse, for one thing - and I'm just wondering if we'll ever get a break in the weather to get the shots. Rather annoyingly the job's already been postponed twice, missing out on all that late summer sunshine we've had in recent days!..

The right camera, the correct lens? For sure they're important when it comes to getting the job done, but some days .. well, some days it's just all about the weather ..

Stop Press: 2.30 pm .. Rain stopped, job went ahead! Hurrah! Can't show you the shots yet but here's a bit of background .. a large bag of carrots was involved!!..

  

To America ..

Well, I know where I'll be next December. I'll be in Boston, USA ..

I was delighted yesterday to be invited to shoot a Wedding there next Winter. A chap who was the Best Man at a Wedding I photographed here moved over there last year, and has just got engaged to his lovely American girlfriend. He emailed to ask if I'd consider shooting their Big Day and - after 0.2 milliseconds consideration - I said Yes! How exciting!..

It's been a while since I've been to The States, although I used to visit frequently when .. well, when I had more money! I once flew to Detroit on an airline's inaugural flight just because the tickets were so cheap .. but when it dawned on me that that flight would only be about two weeks after returning from New York I had to come up with a reason for going back to America. I came up with the idea of a fund-raising challenge, whereby I'd spend an entire week travelling on Greyhound Buses and see how many cities I could visit. Folks, I got to 27 .. and it took my backside another four weeks to get over the numbness! I think I'll be in for an easier ride next year ...

It's in the bag ..

Today's the day when it'll start costing you 5p to take a plastic bag from a supermarket, and about bloody time, too! How did we ever get the stage where it was 'normal' to pick up a bag and throw it away straight after use? Who else had a childhood like mine, when your Mum would send you off to 'the shops' with a list and a wheelie trolley to chuck everything in? Can you imagine our super-trendy teenagers doing that these days? Nope, me neither, but I thought my archive shot of these two love-birds with their 'Virgin' bag would be a suitable shot for today's blog .. 

Only a week to go until my Wedding Fayre at The Culcheth Arms and I'm hoping I might bag a few new Wedding bookings for the coming year. Bag! See what I did there?...

Big Wedding! ..

Man, I'm shattered today! Yesterday's Wedding brought in a haul of 1,655 images .. a record by a long chalk! The fact that there were five after-dinner speeches and twenty-four seperate family and friend group shots - before I even started on the shots I wanted to do - might have something to do with that but wow, it sure was enjoyable! You can check out Liz and Richard's page on my website here. So, feet up and live American Football on the Beeb for me today, for tomorrow I shall edit ..

Oh, and speaking of Big Weddings! Downton Abbey! 9pm...

Don't get me in the picture ...

I treat you today to the business card of the  taverna we liked the most on our holiday last week. Was there ever a picture designed to put you off going to a place?..

"Oh, God! Don't get me in the picture.." seems to be the attitude of the guy there on the left, with the old dear on the right ignoring the camera by gazing intently at the green rubbish bin on the beach! "Has he gone yet? That bloody bloke with the camera?..."

Fortunately the taverna was better at cooking than photography!..

I'm back at another of my favourite 'tavernas' tomorrow, with another Wedding at Willington Hall, near Chester. Slapped botty to anyone who hides their face with their hands ... 

 

Home, James ..

Just had a week in Greece! First week off in ten months and it was bloody fantastic! It was also the first time I've ever taken my 'reading material' on holiday on a Kindle, although I did get nervous when I was packing and shoved a 'real' book in the carry-on as a comfort blanket..

However, it was straight back into it yesterday and before I'd even unpacked - with Mythos beer breath and a nice Chicken Souvlaki stain on my T shirt - I headed off to a fantastic new Wedding venue in Manchester called Victoria Warehouse, where I met with Jennifer, their delightful Wedding Co-ordinator, who - I'm super-chuffed to say - has added me as their first ever recommended Wedding photographer! Now that was worth coming home for ..