On a wing and a sun-bed ..

As promised, a selection of photographs of people who travelled all the way to Lincoln this weekend, spent good money to get into an Air Show then .. went to sleep! I told you I'd find some, and I honestly don't know how they do it! I mean, those jets are loud! Anyway, just to let you know I did photograph one or two of the aircraft but, yes, I generally used the cameras to 'crowd-watch' yesterday - hey, how many flippin' shots of the Red Arrows does one man need? Top show, though, Waddington! Well done ...

Back to the studio this morning, and I aim to have all the blinds fitted to the windows by close of play today.. or maybe tomorrow (Hey it's sunny out!)  My first 'baby portrait' is booked for Saturday morning and I want the place to be fully operational and swinging!

Before that, a quick edit of Friday's Wedding and erm .. oh, yes! Breakfast!
Must fly ..

#culchethportraitstudio

There is hope...

I'll drink to that! A smile has been spotted at the National Portrait Gallery! Yes, folks! They're showing a photograph of a smiley person in their heavy, heavy Annual Portrait Photography exhibition! You see, every year I go down to London to put myself through the torture of viewing wall after wall of dour, serious, "important" portraiture, and every year I come away depressed. They just don't like smiles in their pictures! No smiling in our show! But .. what's this? They've let one slip through! And not only that, they've thought it so unusual and striking that .. they've put it on the front cover of their catalogue! I got so excited that I gave 'em fifteen quid of my hard-earned dosh just to own it! Hurrah! There is hope, after all. I'll drink to that! Glühwein! Get me a hot toddy, pronto!..

The next part of this blog was supposed to be about the Hyde Park Christmas market but, er .. I can't remember anything about that!...

Oh, and the photograph's another from my ever-expanding archive! Just loving what I'm finding..

Party party...

Well, it's that time of the year again, folks! Today's the Annual Office Christmas Party - hurrah, hurrah! Trouble is, being a self-employed one-man-band, that can turn out to be a pretty boring affair, so it's off into town to meet up with all those other crazy freelance photographers out there. Yeah, both of them! I've complained about this before, but do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bunch of freelance photographers together for a booze-up? They won't - not even for an annual get-together - give up any work that comes their way. Mind you, I can't blame them, so it's just me and two mates who're set to meet up at the Christmas Market later. I guess it says a lot about the state of our diaries eh, so spare a thought for the three saddo snappers sipping shandies in the shade of the super-sized Santa in Manchester's Albert Square this afternoon! (Cue violins!)

Naaah! We'll have a blast! Of course we will! It's a tradition we've upheld since the heady work-filled days of the mid-eighties, and it says a lot that the three of us are all still working as photographers to this day! I'll have to watch the suds though, because tomorrow I'll be working as a stall-holder in Culcheth. I'm setting up a stand in the CPS centre to offer my Florescence work, as well as Gift Vouchers for Portraits and Camera Tuition. Come on down from ten o'clock! Bring Paracetomol! Cheers!

Scary...

I love the way this pumpkin's been carved into the image of the late, great Robin Day and the.. oh, it is the late, great Robin Day, picking his nose during our photoshoot! The funny thing about this session was that my lastolite reflector was actually being held by Paddy Ashdown, who was appearing on the same episode of Question Time when it was being broadcast from Manchester.

Speaking of portraits, I was busy photographing that dinner with John Sergeant as speaker the other evening, when a chap came up to me in the foyer of the hotel. "Take a portrait of me and the wife.." he ordered "Come and see us later, we're on table such and such.." I looked at him blankly. "Do us a canvas.." he continued "We can put it up in the dining room for Christmas!"

Yeah, right! 500 guests in a dark and crowded function room, with waiters whizzing everywhere, 13 award presentations to get through, all the sponsors to photograph, dry ice fogging everywhere up nicely .. and this guy wants a professional portrait shooting there and then! "Here's my card, sir.." I said "I charge £100 for portraits and you can call me any time you like to make an appointment!"

Pay peanuts, get monkeys...

I've just picked up a lovely half-term portrait booking, as a lady I know has asked me to get a shot of herself and her grandkids. "I'll dress them up in their outfits again" she said. Outfits? Aha! Seems they'd all been to her daughter's Wedding and the photographer didn't get a shot of them all together. Well, I say photographer - the technical term is actually 'Friend of the family who owns a good camera'. See?  Pay peanuts, get monkeys!