Can I quote you on that? ..

"I'm so happy for you .." said one of the guests to this lovely bride.
"Yes .." she replied "I'm so happy for me, too!"..

What a great reply, and what a fab sentiment. Happiness is what Weddings are all about - the happiness of 'tying the knot' with the one you love - and it's something I never forget. That's why I always try to shoot the Wedding in as much of a natural way as possible. In fact, that reminds me of another quote I heard from a bride who came to see about booking me. "We're looking for a photographer who'll take the shots we want .." she said "Not just the stuff they want to add to their portfolio .."

Well said ..

Sex on the beach ..

Well, this is the life! Another cocktail, darling?..

Actually, I'm not lazing on a hot Greek beach today. In fact, right now, I'm between PR jobs, having shot some corporate portraits in a Cheshire office this morning, and getting ready to cover an Open Evening at the Imperial War Museum North. Not quite Halkidiki but, with the autumn sun warming my chops, I'm quite happy in good old Manchester, thank you very much ..

I could still go a cocktail, though ..

Nice weekend, Martin? ..

What a crazy couple of days ..

I had a Wedding at Leigh Golf Club on Saturday and a Wedding Fayre to exhibit at on Sunday and, in between, I went to a gig in .. London!

I've liked Nina Hagen since her first album came out in 1978, and when I found out she was playing a one-off gig 'darn sarf' I just knew I had to go. The thing was, could I fit it into my already busy 'Wedding' weekend? Well, dear reader, I did! I got to Shepherd's Bush Empire just 25 minutes before Nina came on, and got back to the Wedding Fayre at Lymm's Statham Lodge hotel a whole 20 minutes before it opened to the public. Result! ..

Even more of a result is the fact that I've already had two enquiries from couples I met at the Fayre and, if I get their bookings confirmed, I'll have Weddings to shoot right up to September 2018. Wow!..

Ps: What do you mean, you've never heard of Nina Hagen??...

And a ribbon-cutting, too? ..

I'm showing this little montage to let you see the variety in my work. One minute I can be photographing someone's pet dogs, the next I'm working on a half-a-million pound house for an estate agent. Another day it's a big PR shoot for an American 'tech' company then a nice portrait session at my studio with two brothers .. oh, and a Wedding .. and a portrait shoot with an author for a shot to go in the biog section of her new book. See how much fun it is to be a professional photographer? Click on the shots to see 'em larger ..

Thing is, I've shot all of this since last Friday. This is just seven days' work. The only day I didn't take any pictures was Sunday .. and that's 'cos I had a stand at a Wedding Fayre. On the 'office' side I took a booking to shoot a new Solicitor's offices in London, had an enquiry for a Wedding in 2019 (!!) and successfully chased, for the second time this month, another blatant unauthorised use of one of my images (that I know of!) On Saturday I have another Wedding and, on Sunday, another Wedding Fayre ..

Oh, I forgot about the pictures at the top of the montage. They're from the opening of a new laboratory test facility that I did for an engineering company and yes, I'm afraid that is a ribbon-cutting you see. In the PR world some things never change ..

Ps: I'm having today off ...

Here comes the sun ..

 Ah, the first day of Spring. Well, it is if you're my pal Simon in New Zealand (Hi, Simes!) but, for us, the equinox marks the day when we officially 'plunge' into Autumn and Winter and, suddenly, the thought of hot summer Weddings seems a long way away ..

Of course, being colder doesn't mean it can be any less sunny .. it's just a 'different' kind of sun. A lower sun, a dazzling and squinty-making sun that casts long, fab shadows across the ground. I've already had cause to 'battle' with it. At last Saturday's Wedding it was so bright and sunny that I could see it causing flare in the lens as I shot my group photographs. I moved the camera position, of course, but it's funny how fashions change. Flare is now 'in' and, after years of avoiding it like the plague, I'll quite happily point my lens straight at it for a dreamy, romantic shot like this .. 

The good thing of course, is that as the nights draw in, the 'golden hour' for this kind of shot gets earlier and earlier, so there's always more possibility of shooting it at Winter Weddings. A bit of a sunnier outlook, you might say ..

Bazzin' ..

Just spent the morning taking tablets in an ambulance! It's ok, there's nothing wrong with me - although some of my pals might argue otherwise - no, it was the last part of a PR shoot I started on Friday for an American tech company. I had a brief to photograph their 'Industrial Strength' tablets in situ in various 'workplaces' - the ambulance being one of them. Last week I photographed them in factories, storage depots and on building sites and, after a rush to beat their initial Friday evening deadline, was treated to a text from the PR company saying they thought the shots were Bazzin'!

If any Americans are reading this, that's a bit of Mancunian slang meaning they thought the shots were "really good".

That'll do for me, our kid ..

On yer bike ..

I have a sign above my desk which says 'Deadlines amuse me'. Well, I certainly laughed in their face yesterday. I had a PR shoot for an American IT company, photographing their 'industrial strength' tablets for a new UK website. They needed the shots ready by last night. The hardware arrived at the PR company at 10.30 yesterday morning! 300 shots later, from an afternoon spent in a very noisy factory, and a frantic editing session as soon as I got to my office, and I had a selection of 37 images sent over by 6.30pm. Today's Wedding is going to be positively sedate by comparison ..

As it happens, things are moving so fast I haven't yet had the Ok to show you an image, so here's a lovely picture from my archive of another form of speed .. and I just thank goodness we didn't have any 'punctures' during yesterday's marathon! ..

Phew ..

A pause for breath .. I have such a busy few days ahead of me. Fresh from shooting a house for an Estate Agent yesterday, I'm off to shoot some website pix for an American IT company this afternoon, and then I have a portrait shoot at the studio and a Wedding tomorrow. Sunday? That'll be time for my first Wedding Fayre of the season, at the lovely Willington Hall in Cheshire and then, on Monday, I have a PR shoot at the launch of a high-temperature facility for the nuclear industry, with further jobs in the diary for both Tuesday and Wednesday. Looks like I can have a breather on Thursday ..

Phew ..

Job done ..

I've only gone and flippin' well done it! I've published my book at last!
I am sooooooooooo happy!..

A project I started in about 1985 but which got put on the back-burner until five years ago is finally, finally finished and out there for all the world to see. My book - The Boy who missed Next Year - went live on Amazon Kindle yesterday evening and has already sold its first copy. Ok, Lesley bought it, but it still counts! It's an adventure story, written for older children upwards ..

Anyway, this blog supposedly being about photography, I'd better tell you about today's photograph. One of the main characters in the book is a little shubunkin called Cedric so, on Monday afternoon, I went out and bought the little fella you see here and set about getting a shot for the front cover.
Easier said than done. This picture, dear reader, is frame number 258! Yep, you heard me right. It took two hundred and fifty eight shots to get the one where the fish 'looked' at the camera.
I was exhausted ..

The skull, on the other hand, was the perfect model and never moved an inch all afternoon ..

Anyway, did I hear you say you wanted to read it? Well, just go here and dive in.
Buy it for your teenager, and have a sneaky peak yerself! Enjoy!  
 

Now we're cookin' ..

I had a great time on a PR shoot for a Thai restaurant earlier this week. Food, chefs, cooking, flaming woks, layout, raw ingredients, staff training, drinks, decor .. I shot the lot. And I got fed! I also got into a lot of funny positions ..

Gearing up for my fantastic 'Steam Punk' Wedding on Saturday. I cannot wait! This is going to be so different to anything I've ever shot before. It's going to have everything from pink hair to a '57 Chevvy and a cross-dressing chief bridesmaid. Now we're cookin' ..

Like, international ..

Just back from THE MOST fantastic week in France. I love it! I've never been to the country 'proper' before - just a couple of weekend trips to Paris - but Lesley and I have put about 2,500 miles on the clock as we pottered up and down les autoroutes. Great weather helped, as did the warmth of the people, the beautiful scenery, the complete and utter lack of litter, the amazing - and very polite - driving, the food, the .. oh man, I could go and on ..

Speaking of food, I'm straight back into it this week with a PR shoot for The Chilli Banana, a fantastic Thai restaurant in Wilmslow. I'll be working with renowned chef John Benson-Smith to produce all the images the restaurant will need for the coming year's menus and promotions.
Tasty ..

A bientôt, tout le monde ..