Back to the future ..

Apparently today is 'Back to the future' day - the day to which, in the film, Marty McFly chose to travel to from 1985. I only have to flit back to April to bring you today's Blog Shot, a picture of me and the famous DeLorean car, which I was photographing on a PR shoot over in Knutsford. Martin McFly strikes again..

If you want to get all dreamy and wispy about it, I actually spent a lot of yesterday helping people plan for the future. Namely, I was taking photographs of children at a pre-school group, capturing the images that will travel on in time as a reminder of how they were in 2015. Well, it's what photography's all about, isn't it? And, if you want to talk about time, I can tell you honestly it's taken me over two years to reach the stage of being invited to photograph these children! When I opened my studio I contacted every school, nursery and playgroup I could find in the local area to tell them about my services, and got absolutely nowhere! Not one contact - and I'm talking about 40 organisations here - opted to try me out. Well, boo hoo for me, but you can imagine how pleased I was when the ladies from yesterday's group got in touch with me to ask if I'd be interested in going in. Will this lead on to other work? Only time will tell..

A gentler pace ..

Child and animal studies taken at a reasonable price! Sounds so quaint, but I think I might market myself like that from now on! The line's from this fantastic 1980 classified newspaper column I found in my archive. Portraits, canvas or standard; magnificent album from £39.99; samples in your home, without obligation! It all sounds so civilized and gentlemanly, not like the rip tear of modern marketing and I for one would gladly go back to putting a nice 'ad' in the paper to get my work.
There's just so much info out there now and, sadly, getting work's very often not about the quality of your photography but your skills with SEO and getting your name up the Goggle ranking! (Not a spelling mistake!) ..

Sit down, Martin! Have a cup of tea!
Ah, now there's an idea for your new Home page picture ..

In the pink ..

What a weekend that was! Started out with a lovely photo-shoot on Friday afternoon when I welcomed little three-week old Matthias into the studio. He reciprocated by peeing all over the floor .. and his dad's shoes, and my trousers!  Fab pix, though, Matthias!

Saturday saw me at the fantastic Wedding of Nichola and Lee. Nichola has Cerebral Palsy and brilliant taste! The theme was Fifties Rock'n Roll, with Nix in a genuine vintage bridal dress and the bridesmaids in stunning floral summer frocks and .. pink Converse Allstars! We got great weather, too! Many congratulations, guys!

I then spent Saturday evening in our local social club watching my mate play in a punk tribute band! Big up to Glam 69, who can make even the most stoical grannie get up and boogie to the Sex Pistols! You rock, guys!

Sunday? Well, Sunday was my birthday, so it was time for pizza and beer with mates in Manchester. One of 'em managed to knock off this shot of me whilst I was trying to photograph a hoarding around the Central Library! Cheers, Mike! Speaking of Big Words, I've got a great pr shoot coming up this week involving 200 staff from a Manchester firm spelling out a logo on the company car park!  So, all in all, everything's in the pink and here's to the first day of my 54th year!

54? Hey, now there's a good name for a studio...

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

It's an age thing..

I spent yesterday afternoon shooting a lovely set of baby portraits for a young couple who've just had twin girls! Double trouble, eh? When one was happy, the other was crying - when one was feeding the other was being winded - when one was .. oh, you get the idea! I did ask if I could just go back for a re-shoot in 15 years! Only joking, it was lovely, and the smiles on the faces of the grandmas said it all! (Eeeek! The 'G' word! Oh boy, am I in trouble for that!)

My new exhibition opened on Saturday and, for the third month in a row, I am part of the work that's up on the walls of Eccles Community Art Gallery. Music photography this time, and it kicked off some really interesting chat with people who came to see the pictures. One fascinating chap was even telling me about going to see the Human League .. before they were the Human League! That must have been Almost Medieval (That's a Human League joke but I guess you had to be there, ho hum!)

Anyway, the Wedding bookings are looking healthy, I'm pleased to say, and guess what! The bride that booked me yesterday for her Wedding next August is one of twins, and her sister will be the Chief Bridesmaid! What a coincidence! I worked out that if Sunday's little nippers get a move on I could just about shoot their Weddings before I become an Octogenarian!

OMG!....... 

Portraits, Weddings, Anything...

Loving the portrait session I had the other day with little Amy. She wasn't too sure of me at first but it's amazing what a pot of bubbles can do and, by the end, I was having to keep putting the camera down as she kept running up to me and shouting "Cheese!"...

Saturday's Wedding's going to be fun too, in that it's not actually the Wedding I'm shooting but the 'party' afterwards. This weekend's couple are already married, having just tied the knot in the bride's native South Africa, but I'm meeting up with them to cover the evening 'bash' for all their pals. The great thing is they want me to shoot some portraits of them around Liverpool before they go to their venue, so I get to wear two hats in one night. Mind you, with all this rain around, I'll probably need 'em!..

New Shoots...

Normality returns, and I feel great after the break!
I've shot hundreds of images this weekend,  mostly at our Village Community Day, for a local magazine, though I enjoyed a lot of walking through our nearby parks and fields, watching the buds and leaves practically pop open in front of me! The feelgood factor of the Royal Wedding seemed to carry on through the whole break, and as long as I don't mention the Manchester United score, I can safely say that it was a perfect Bank Holiday weekend!

So, back to work and the first thing I have to do is finish a couple of recent Wedding Albums, then it'll be back to shooting portraits of youngsters. I'm doing a new shoot of a young lady I photographed as a baby. She's six now, and she has a new baby sister, so it's time to change those pictures on her Mum's wall!