Ring in the New Year ..

Time to ring in the New Year and it's slightly confusing that all the Wedding enquiries I've had lately have been for the year after next .. 2017! I've already got two wall planners up in my office! I shalln't be jumping the gun, though - we've got a whole New Year ahead of us and I for one can't wait for it. My thoughts go out to my furthest flung blog reader - a pal in New Zealand - who, as I write this, has only got a couple of hours left before he pops the corks on next year. Our fizz is in the fridge too and I'll raise a glass to us all as we swing over into '16.
Happy New Year, everybody. Peace and love, peace and love .. 

Let the sun shine .. a bit longer!

Sunday saw my last Wedding shoot of the year and I must have been a very good boy this Christmas because, after all the rain we've had this month, the God of Wedding Photography smiled down upon me and a glorious winter sun shone down all day long! However - as I always say - no Wedding Day is ever completely perfect, and poor old Claire and Steve's Wedding Car refused to start when they got in it to be taken from the church to their reception, and there was horrendous traffic on every route to the hotel. The couple took it in good humour but, for me at this time of year, every moment they spent going nowhere was another minute's less light so, despite the stunning start to the day, I had to shoot the majority of my pictures indoors. Still, that's what flashguns are for and I've come away with well over 1,100 shots to edit once the Christmas break is over..

And so that's it! My 2015 Wedding year is ended and now I have to wait another .. oooh, three weeks until my booking! Looks like 2016 is going to be a great year for my Wedding Photography! Can't wait ..

No standing around ..

Christmas done, and I hope you all had a cracker! No time to stand around for me today as I'm off to photograph my last Wedding of the year. I'm heading for our local church and the lovely Mere Court Hotel near Knutsford and .. whisper it gently .. the sun is shining as I write this. It looks like Claire and Steve are going to be lucky! Oh please, oh please can I have a nice day for this Wedding!..

Catch ya later..

Dad ..

I'm writing this at lunchtime on Christmas Eve - a time that is inextricably linked with memories of my Dad. I can remember him coming home from work one Christmas Eve lunchtime when it gently began to snow. By the time we were woken to go to Midnight Mass the light dusting had frozen over and I can always remember the crunchy noises we made as we walked down the street to the church. A few years later, as a spotty 17 year old, lunchtime on Christmas Eve was the time I met him at the pub, as we both worked in factories across the road from each other, and I can still remember the crush and the cigarette smoke that filled the pub. Sadly, Dad's latter Christmasses were spent with dementia in a nursing home when he had no idea what day of the year it was..

Today's photograph is actually of my Grandad, larking about with my sister Catherine in about 1964, and it makes me think how much my Dad must have missed his own Dad when he'd died. Enjoy 'em while you've got 'em, folks!
Merry Christmas to all ...

From on high ..

A look back at the history of Health and Safety here as, in around 1977, I was allowed to go up in the cherry-picker being used by these council workers as they put the lights on the civic Christmas tree in Eccles! No 'clearance from the top', no straps, no 'emergency' lecture, no hard hat! I just asked and they took me up! What a simpler, more relaxed era! If I could have one wish for Chrimbo I'd have the return of that 'take responsibility for yourself' attitude...

.. and a train set!

Here comes the summer ..

Right, that's the Shortest Day out of the way, and off we go towards summer.
I swear it got light a little earlier this morning!..

As you can tell, I'm not the biggest fan of wintertime, and my idea of heaven is being able to grumble at the cacophony that is the dawn chorus on a spring morning when it's already getting light by five. However, you make the most of what you've got, so my flash guns are charging, ready to light next Sunday's Wedding..

Last shoot of the year at the studio this morning - tomorrow's has been cancelled due to tonsillitis - but what a way to end 2015. I had the most awkward two-year-old I think I've ever had in the studio today, and I know I can say she was because Grandma agreed! She just would not play ball .. and then blew me a kiss as she left the studio! The kid, not Grandma! It brought a ray of sunshine to the morning..

My Christmas sELFie ..

My festive message to you all and yes, I was sober when I did this! Hey, you gotta get into the Christmas spirit, innit?..

It's the shortest day of the year today! Downhill to summer now and, even though it's not really been cold here, it's been really gloomy, wet and grey for what feels like months already. Roll on summer, that's what I say!..

Roll on Sunday, too, when I have one last Wedding to shoot before I wrap up 2015. Really looking forward to it as it's been a couple of months since I last shot one. Might even see if I can squeeze in another sELF portrait..

Christmas catch-up..

I suppose I should call this my 'Post-Party' post as it is now the morning after the night before, and that's another freelance photographers' Christmas booze-up done and dusted! As usual there was lots of catching up done, and much toasting of each other's success in making it through another year and still being a photographer. Shock revelation of the night was the fact that a photographer we'd all known from about twenty years ago had been found dead in his flat after lying there for a week undetected. Oh yes, we're a chirpy bunch when we get going!..

On with the show now and this last week before Christmas seems to be all about last-minute portrait sessions. The studio's going to be heaving with families flying in for eleventh-hour gift ideas, and Santa's sack's going to be bulging with gorgeous family photos...

Speaking of Santa, here's a nice juxtaposition of Father Christmas and the fairy lights lined up with the moon over Manchester's Christmas market. I managed to shoot it on my 'phone without spilling my Gluwein and I do believe - if you look very closely - you can just see Tim Peake in the top left hand corner!..

Get that down yer neck ..

Party time! Off for the 'Office Do' this afternoon, which has the potential to be a sad, lonely affair seeing as I work on my own! Fortunately there's my usual bunch of freelance renegade chums to call on, and we'll all be crawling out of the woodwork to descend on Manchester in about three hours time!..

I'm feeling the most un-Christmassy I have ever felt this year. Something's just not switched on! At the moment, the day I can't wait for next week is the 27th, when I'm off to shoot a Wedding in Cheshire. Maybe a few mulled wines and some hearty chortling with me muckers will put me right.
I can only hope..

To Bury, and beyond ..

Well, it's a big smiley sky for Tim Peake today, heading off to the International Space Station and the start of six months flying around our l'il ol' planet!
How exciting!..

As a kid I was spell-bound by the Apollo moon missions, glued to the box as grainy spacemen bounced around a monochrome moon in what was the most exciting adventure .. ever! Tim Peake was born in 1972 - just as the Apollo project was nearing its end - so he might not have been around to experience the excitement of seeing a Saturn V lift off from Cape Kennedy, but the lucky bugger will certainly be a lot nearer to the action today than I'll ever be! Safe flight, Tim ..

As Tim heads off to space I'll be driving to Bury! Not quite as glamorous, I grant you, but I like to think we're working towards the same goal today, Tim and I. I'm off on a PR job, photographing children involved in the promotion of household recycling and so, like Major Tim, I like to feel I'm doing my bit to enthuse the next generation's interest in science and technology and the ultimate security of the Earth!

To Bury, and beyond ... 

Double or nothing ..

There's been a roll of film sitting on my desk for well over a year now but yesterday, finally, curiosity got the better of me and I took it to a lab to have it processed. First surprise? This double-exposure at the start of the roll..

You just don't get these happy accidents any more, unless you specifically set a digital camera to 'multiple' but, by then, it ain't no accident 'cos you've told your darling device that a double-exposure is what you're aiming at!..

It just reminded me that, as much as I love digital, a lot of the 'magic' of photography has gone. The 'not-knowing' what you'd shot, the anticipation in the dark-room - behave! - and the sheer raw 'hands-on' satisfaction of knowing that, from shot to print, you made that photograph in front of you. Still, I'm saving a fortune in Polaroids!...

That's so last century ..

There was a programme on telly last night called 'That's so last century' in which guests reacquainted themselves "with the gadgets and games of their childhood, including ... 35mm cameras!" Talk about making a man feel old!..

I did feel old this morning! I haven't watched the programme yet as I was out on the first of my Chrimbo booze-ups last night, and boy, did I know about it when I woke up! Last century? I think that was the last time I was able to cope with a heavy session..

Anyway, that's me in the party spirit now, much like I was in this photo of me and me little sis Catherine, circa 1964. Yes dear, the nineteen hundreds..

Strut yer stuff ..

Now I'm not one to blow my own trumpet .. sorry, I'll just wait for the laughter to die down .. but I had two lovely things said about me this past week.
Unsolicited testimonials, as it were!..

The first concerned my pr work at the Motorcycle Live show last week. I was tasked with getting lots of detail shots of quite a number of machines on show, and the company I was doing the work for then fed them onto their Facebook page throughout the week to show the range and style of the motorbikes. They received a comment which they passed on from a chap who wrote to them saying "With images as good as this, you almost don't need to go to the show!.."

The second feather in my cap was very unexpected. One of Lesley's friends was married at Crewe Hall a year or so back, and I was invited in the evening as a guest. Well I'm not very good at doing 'Wedding guest' so, of course, I passed the time wandering the room and taking the odd shot or two. At one point the bride jumped onto the illuminated dance floor and started to 'bust some shapes'. She was wearing some really high shoes, which I closed in on - foot fetish and all that - and shot with a hint of movement. Lesley told me on Sunday that that shot was the bride's favourite picture from her entire Wedding!..
   

Sweet!..

I think it's fair to say I've put in a shift this past weekend. As well as another morning's 'Photo for a fiver' session with eight kids I've done two venue PR shoots - at the Imperial War Museum North and at Chill Factore, the indoor ski-slope in Manchester. Really enjoyed myself at both as always, and loved the challenge of shooting everything from the freezing slopes, the windowless conference rooms, the War Museum's wall projections, three Christmas parties and .. a Candy Cart! Bizarrely, this is one of my favourite shots from the whole weekend! It was such a lighting challenge, stuck as it was in a purple-lit booth with the brightly lit ski-slope behind it and 100 party guests .. behind me! I even manage to grab a couple of bon-bons! Sweet!..

  

FAQ!...

Darlings, I have a new page on my web-site. I've added a FAQ page - Frequently Asked Questions - to help brides and grooms in their efforts to find the right Wedding Photographer. I hope I've covered a lot of things that might be on the minds of newly-engaged couples..

One question I'll be asking tonight is "Could you move out of the way, please!?" .. as I'm off to The Imperial War Museum North to shoot another room set-up for them. Trouble is, it's set up for a party, so people tend to get in the way rather!..

And one last question will be "Can Salford win tonight?" as they take on Hartlepool in the FA cup! Ooh, questions, questions, questions ..

Ho ho ho ..

Well, this is all very exciting! I woke this morning to a tweet announcing that a new range of my T shirts had been launched! Just like that! It was quite possibly my equivalent of Santa arriving overnight! A company called StonedLove is putting out a new range of Ts featuring some of my photographs of Joy Division and The Smiths, and they're available in white or grey for a mere £22.99! More designs will follow but, ya know, Christmas rush and all that..

By sheer coincidence - and I swear I'm not making this up - I was contacted yesterday by the Tourist Board in Macclesfield who asked if I had any Joy Division T shirts to sell, as they were asked for a lot by Ian Curtis 'Pilgrims' visiting the town. Well, happy to help, young lady, and thank you for asking! I tell ya, if the T shirts were Santa then this request was that magical little extra sparkle of fairy dust by his elves! Ho ho ho, that Christmas spirit is definitely kicking in now... 

That's the spirit ..

It's not all plain sailing during a kiddy photo-shoot ya know! There's often a lot of snot and tears going on in front of my camera! I thought I'd share a few images that parents don't get to see when I've photographed their little 'un! Hopefully everyone will be rather more well-behaved when I shoot my next 'Photo for a fiver' sessions this coming Saturday...

I wrote yesterday about getting into the Christmas spirit. At the last count there are now five Christmas parties in the diary! My next Wedding is on December 27th. I just hope there's not too much spirit going on out there .. 

December will be ..

Wow, December .. already! The thought crossed my mind the other day that this will be my 56th Christmas on the good old Planet Earth, and then it dawned on me. Fifty six days is eight weeks. Holy Sh*t! Eight weeks of my life has been Christmas Day! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!..

My mates will know I'm not the keenest fan of Christmas there's ever been. Such a hoo-ha over one bloody day I have never known. Like everyone, I've had good ones and I've had bad ones but I'll confess to always having a sense of relief when Boxing Day comes and I'm asked "Did you have a nice Christmas?" Past tense, for another year! Phew ..

Of course, Christmas as a grown-up is never going to be the same as it was as a kid, and the 'Christmas record' was always a part of that magic. December the first is a good excuse to dig out this golden oldie - Kate Bush's 'December will be magic again'. I'm pleased to report that this came out for my 21st Christmas, so the 'festive spirit' was alive and kicking in me even up to adulthood. Given the state of the world as we head into this year's season of 'goodwill to all' I think it's time I listened to Kate and let some of that magic dust sprinkle down on me ..