A little gem ..

It was quick change day at the studio yesterday, with a jewellery shoot and a First Birthday Cake Smash taking place within two hours of each other..

Little Jacob was a little gem, although - as is often the case - he didn't quite grasp the fact that Mum, Dad and a loony with a camera all actually wanted him to thump the beheckies out of the lovely cake we'd just placed in front of him! Photographing the rings was no easier, and it's true to say I had more of a sweat on shooting those than I did Jacob! Both sessions went well though. In fact, you could say I 'smashed it' ..

All good practice for Saturday, when I take on my 'Photo for a Fiver' challenge, offering .. well, photos for a fiver ..  in aid of the BBC Children in Need appeal. There are only three appointment times left now, with there being every possibility of being swamped by people who just turn up on the day. Whatever happens, it's going to be a gem of a day .. 

Just showing my age ..

I awoke this morning to hear of the sad and premature death of poor old former Liberal leader Charles Kennedy. Fifty-five, people are saying, so young! Old. Premature. Young. Don't we have such defined views on age? I photographed a .. here we go .. young (21!) lady in the studio recently who warned me not to photograph "her wrinkles" and, any other day of the week, we'd complain that, at 55, we're 'getting on a bit' but should that person pop it then all we hear is that they were 'too young' to die. I know, it's all comparative and I'm rambling on a bit but I'd already got an 'age' niggle in my head before I even heard the sad news this morning ..

Cake smashes! That's what was bothering me. This (American) idea of sitting a one-year old child in front of a birthday cake and encouraging it to smash the sh*t out of it, all in the name of 'cute' photographs. If you'd read yesterday's blog you may have sensed my unease at the thought of having to shoot a cake-smash that afternoon, but I just can't believe we'd encourage a child to do such wilful damage to anything! Capturing a child if it did cheekily pinch a bit of cake is one thing, but making them do it is a different matter altogether! As it was, yesterday's little baby wouldn't go near the cake. Thankfully, he couldn't grasp the concept that we all wanted him to trash a perfectly good cake and so the shots simply show him sitting by the side of it with a little (added!) icing on his face.

However - and I can hear you all now - I am running a photographic studio and the customer is always right so forgive me going on so. I think I'm just showing my age ..

Getting Smashed ..

Today's all about getting smashed! Not me, you understand .. just a cake! Yes, I have another of those bizarre photo-shoots called a Cake Smash to do! Basically, put a one year old kid in front of a birthday and let the little rascal do its worst! Makes a mess! Makes really cute photographs! What's not to like .. eh? ..

Actually, today's shoot is but a mere warm-up, as I'm shooting a kids' party later in the week with at least 15 six year olds attending! A bulk order of paracetomol has already been ordered from Amazon! Other shoots include a portrait session with a new Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester .. and a Wedding! Must remember not to ask the bride to smash the cake!..

How times change ..

Well, there you go! I've done a Cake-Smash! Smashed it! Ha-ha! I've entered a new phase in the evolution of my photography .. despite most people still not knowing what one is! Never mind, it went well, now you ask, and it didn't take that long to clean up the studio floor afterwards, though I still can't help thinking it's a terrible waste of a good cake and a way of raising a child that I personally have my doubts about. How times change ..

I've been on more familiar territory other than that, with a family shoot yesterday and another booked in - with pet dog - for this morning. Funnily enough, I had a reminder of the 'old days' of press work last night when I got a call from a newspaper asking if I was free to shoot a 'snatch' shot at Preston Crown Court today. A 'snatch' is a grab-shot of the person who's been on trial and it's unfortunate that I'm already booked today but, to be honest, I haven't done one of those since 1978! Still, it brought back fond memories of my years on the newspapers when you'd fly out at the drop of a hat to whatever it was the Picture Desk needed a shot of! After moving across to Wedding Photography I used to joke that my idea of a 'rush-job' meant a bride asking if I was available next September! How times change...

Smashing ..

Staying on the Birthday theme, I have my first ever 'Cake Smash' today! Please, Lord, spare my studio! As I've mentioned before, it seems this is some American idea that is taking off here, whereby a tot - on its first birthday - is plonked behind a large Cup-Cake and basically given the green light to trash the bugger! I can only imagine the mess but, as I also mentioned, the customer is always right and if someone wants shots of their toddler with a smushed-up pile of cream cake all around them then that's what the customer gets! Bet you can't wait for tomorrow's blog!..

Yesterday was great! I enjoyed being Birthday Boy all day long! Thank you for all good wishes! I even got a cake! Smashing ..

Having your cake ..

I couldn't find a single shot with a cake in it when I wanted to illustrate my 'cake-smash' blog yesterday but now, like buses, two have come along at once! On the left, the late great Hungarian photographer André Kertesz, celebrating his 90th birthday in Bradford, and on the right my sister Patricia, notching up what looks like her 12th or 13th birthday in sunny old Eccles! My 54th birthday is on the horizon and I'm wondering - running Studio54 as I do - if I should do something special to mark the coincidence of numbers. I just hope I get a cake .. and that I get to eat it .. but I certainly won't be putting the requisite number of candles on it!

A slice of the cake ..

I had a great shoot at the studio yesterday - the first for my £25 pose and print Summer Offer - and what a cute little live-wire she was! The old shutter-finger goes mad when you get a happy subject like this, and so her Mum will be in the - fortunate? - position of having a massive 80 photographs to sift through today. Not bad for twenty-five quid, eh?...

I've got my first 'Cake-Smash' coming up as well .. and no, I didn't know what one was, either! It's the bizarre concept of baking a birthday cake for a one-year old, and then letting the bugger splat it to bits right there in front of the camera. I'm saying nothing! I'm in business and if that's what customers want - or are being told they want - then who am I to argue? We all want a slice of the cake ..