Three day week ..

A busy three days beckons, and there's a first for me today as I'm photographing a Wedding in a Mormon church! I have no idea what to expect, but I'm gearing up for a great ceremony with a reception to follow at Macclesfield's Hollin Hall. After that I'm shooting an event at the Imperial War Museum North and then Sunday sees me at another Wedding, this time at the funky Didsbury House Hotel and its sister venue, Eleven Didsbury Park. We've got bagpipes and a little procession down the street at this one! Variety, eh? I love it..

Up and running ..

Safe to say my new studio space is well and truly up and running after a great photo-shoot yesterday. The lovely Charlotte displayed the patience of a saint as I fussed and faffed about with my lights, trying out the best places to put them and checking out my different modifiers. My new venue is a lot bigger than the old studio I had and oh, the joy of all that space. I was in heaven! Ok, I was in The Village Club in Culcheth but it looks like I'll be there for a long time to come ..

Don't forget, I have an opening offer of a family portrait at just £20, so gizza bell and get a booking arranged toute suite! Meantime, check out a selection of shots from yesterday. Not bad for a 'dress rehearsal', eh?..

In the summertime ..

Saturday's Wedding was incredible! A bloomin' big teepee, pizza and ice-cream vans, orange bow-ties and braces, a ceremony in a community centre in Woodford (The first they've ever held there), a conga as the first dance .. and a field full of tents for the guests to camp in .. it had the lot!

It also had sunshine on and off, too, which is a bit of a novelty at Weddings this summer, I can tell you. Bad weather will never bother a bride and groom, though. I say this to every new couple I talk to. When it's your Wedding Day the weather can do what it wants and you will not be bothered. You will be on Cloud Nine and having a ball .. it's only the poor photographer who'll be running around like the proverbial blue-bummed fly ..

So, don't worry if you're planning a Wedding in summertime. Go for it. What's the worst that can happen? A heat-wave and blinding sunlight? Ah, there's another story ..

But do you like me?..

 A "PR' bod I've been working with lately suggested I get a few more 'Client Recommendations' on my website. Big myself up, get the good word out there and all that. Well, it feels a bit weird to ask but I've sent out a few requests by email .. and now I wait to hear. The thing is that, generally, silence is golden. When a client is happy they just use your shots and - eventually - pay you for your work. There's no thought of a 'Thank you' or a 'Nice work, Martin' and why should there be? The payment is thanks enough but .. but .. it's nice to get the occasional pat on the back. Especially as I'm freelance and have worked on my own since 1982. We are all artists after all, darling ..

I say this after finding a cutting from a 1981 Warrington Guardian, featuring yours truly as a chisel-chinned 21 year old at a Press Awards Ceremony in Manchester. I won some award or other - I'm too old to even bloody remember what - and got presented with something or other to mark the event. It was a nice feeling! Having spent the following 35 years photographing other people's award ceremonies, I'm just hoping I get a good word or two in return ..

Stop Press: My pal Chris, second from the left, who now works for the Financial Times, has just reminded me we won North West Young Journalist/Photographer respectively. Hurrah for us!..

Good God ..

It seems that Wedding photographers' blogs these days consist of nothing but a big show of shots from a Wedding. Where the heck they find time to do all that I'll never know. Plus, they manage to list every supplier, the make of the dress, the style of the shoes, the colour of the bride's lipstick .. the works! I really do need to start turning up at Weddings with a note-book. Until I do, you'll have to make do with a little montage of shots - these were from Saturday's Wedding and yes, I know the shot with me in it has snuck back in .. sorry!

There was a report on the news this morning that the Bishop of Salford is considering the closure of 40 Catholic churches in the area. 40! Having said that, I just checked and I haven't done a Wedding in a church since last December and, as it stands, I only have two at churches for the whole of this year. Can you believe that?  Good God ..

Best foot forward ..

Here's an intriguing photograph for you! I took it last weekend during what will probably be the last shoot at the studio, as I'm now busy taking down all the gear to move it over to its new location ..

The picture will be used at Bent's garden centre near Culcheth as part of a children's adventure game. Not quite sure of the details but I'm looking forward to seeing the shot in situ ..

So yes, the studio is on the move and I am - as they keep saying at Euro 16 - on the front foot.

It's going to be great being based at The Village Club, as I'll be able to work at any time from 9am until 'chucking out time' at 11pm and anyone coming in for a shoot will be able to get refreshments whenever they want ..

Anyway, time for me to hot foot it to Salford. I have a great Wedding tomorrow involving the Tudor grandeur of Ordsall Hall and the stark modernism of the Imperial War Museum North.

A boat trip down the Manchester Ship Canal will connect both venues. I can't wait!..

Cold showers ..

Oh no .. not more showers! Hahaha, see what I did there? A little play on words, reference the Great British Summer, seeing as it's raining again as I write this and I'm bloomin' well fed up with it. Anyway, that's not the subject of today's blog ..

Actually, just to put you in the picture, this shot was taken in Greece on my 6x6 Yashica and was part of an exhibition called 'Trace' at the old Cornerhouse in Manchester. They printed me some postcards featuring the shot and if you'd like one just let me know, 'cos I've got about 5 million of 'em left ..

I told you I'd had some good news. I announced on a Culcheth Facebook page that I was closing my studio and, within about two hours, I'd been phoned by a chap at our local Village Club asking if I'd like to use the facilities there to shoot any future portrait sessions. Would I? You betcha! So, the upshot is that I'll be shipping all my gear across there and will be up and running by the end of this month. I can't wait. People coming in for portraits will now be able to get a coffee or a beer, or something to eat, and make a proper day out of the whole photography experience. How brilliant! In fact, I'm getting so excited I think I'd better go for a cold shower ..    

News just in ..

Firstly, an apology. My email has gone AWOL, so if you've been trying to contact me over the past couple of days you now know why I've not replied ..

I have a long-running, ever-growing collection of photographs that I call 'Social Seen' - basically images that amuse me from functions I've photographed and, last night I was covering the 20th anniversary party of the Chilli Banana restaurant in Wilmslow. These two shots presented themselves as additions very nicely, thank you. Check out the rest here ..

I'm off to the Imperial War Museum today to cover a conference and, funnily enough, I'm back there again on Saturday to photograph a Wedding. In between that, two cracking Euro '16 semi-finals and some fantastic news about my new 'studio' ..

Tell ya tomorrow ..

Strange times ..

A chap who 'reads me' on a regular basis emailed yesterday to say "I love reading your blogs. They are a great lift - just like a daily Giles cartoon" ..

That statement gave me a great lift, as I'd just come back from the funeral of my pal, who died suddenly aged 68. I wasn't feeling at my chirpiest. Thankfully Boris Johnson then provided another reason to be happy by ditching his plan to run for Number Ten, although can I say 'Thanks very much BoJo, for leading us into this sh*t heap and then sodding off"..

However, no sh*t heap on earth is ever going to compare with The Somme. These poppies blossomed, right on cue, in our garden this week and, as I watched the commemoration of 'Zero Hour' this morning - tears rolling down my cheeks - I could only nod my thanks to everyone who fought in the trenches and realise that, whatever happens in Europe from now on, it will never be as bad as it was then ..

You have to have optimism ..