What a square ..

I've set my Fuji X10 to 'Square' again in an effort to emulate the 120 film in my old Yashica 124 camera. I love the challenge I get from fitting the world into a square, with no advantage being gained from shooting either portrait or landscape. The thing is, I find it very easy to have my subjects 'look right' when they're put into that format so I know it's going to be a great new project. However, the privacy laws in France mean it's not legal to take photographs of people in the street without permission, so I have a feeling that this series will generally be landscapes. No problem. There's nothing square about that ..

(Click the shots to see them larger) 

Earning my stripes ..

My first by-line in France! You can just about make it out in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. It's the back cover shot of our local village monthly magazine and if you ever needed proof that we now live in the depths of the French countryside then here it is. We all got excited about the installation of a new zebra crossing! How amusing ..

The photograph's also one of the first shots on my new - old - Fuji X10 camera. I wore out the first one I bought just under 6 years ago so, as the camera's now discontinued, I've had to source a nice second-hand model to replace it. The funny that was that, despite the fact that I thought I knew the camera so well, I glanced through the instruction book that came with it and discovered that it's able to take panoramic 360˚ shots. Guess what I'll be shooting a lot of soon ..

More Christmas shots coming up this weekend, too. I've been asked to photograph the village's childrens' Christmas party on Sunday. Memo to self. Do not shoot them on the panoramic setting ..

Squaresville, Arizona ..

My Fuji X10 camera has an option on it that allows one to shoot square images and so, suitably inspired by Vivian Maier's 6x6 self-portraits, I've decided to try and shoot a few of my 'snaps' in a square format for a while. (By the way, how do you make the symbol for 2 and a quarter on a keyboard?) Of course, I'm well used to shooting square photographs, as I shot all my Weddings on a Mamiya RZ67 and I've used a Yashicamat for years, but it's nice to rethink one's framing techniques again after a long time with a 'normal' camera, and these four pictures are good examples from the last three days.

My next Wedding Fayre is on the horizon, and this one is the first opportunity to really push The Culcheth Collection in person! Both myself and Decadence Wedding Carriages will be at Statham Lodge in Lymm on Sunday - the Car and Camera parts of The Collection - and we'll be promoting a special offer whereby if any of you lovely brides book us both you'll receive an added 'extra' from each of us! Be there or - ho ho - be square!..

Born again..

The resurrection! The re-birth! No, not Easter, but the fact that Jessops has been brought back to life by that Dragon's Den dude off the telly! Today sees him open 30 or so of the camera shops back on the high street in a relaunch not many saw coming. His strategy? Sell the goods in the shops at the same price people can buy 'em from the internet! Radical, eh? However, if you're a blog regular, you'll know that I myself witnessed at first hand the ridiculous approach that got Jessops in all that trouble in the first place. I went to buy a Fuji X10 from their Warrington store and was told, after I'd had a good look at it and decided I wanted one, to go home and order it from the 'net as it would be £50 cheaper! Not only that, I could come back to the store and collect it! Work that one out! So, here's hoping Dragon's Den can work its Easter magic on the brand, and Jessops turns out to be an all-round good egg after all!

Technical note : Today's picture, a charming portrait of one of the new twins in our family (No, I don't know which one!) was shot on the aforementioned X10, set to f2 and super-macro. Now go out and get a life, why don't you!..

A load of old flannel...

Just towelling down after yet another typical British Bank Holiday, and I can only hope we're in a for a belter of an India Summer after the wash-out! Sadly, it spoilt the chance to kick-off my 'Presently.." project when a Fun Day I was due to attend yesterday got cancelled 'cos of the rain. I had 100 gladioli, alliums and anenomes all ready to go, but at least I won't have to water them until my next event!

Off to The Village Hotel in Warrington for this week's Wedding, and really looking forward to spending the whole of a fab, fun day with Kerry and Norm! Not often you shoot a groom called Norm, is it?!

I've managed to bust one of my Fuji X10 cameras .. :-(
For some reason the shutter doesn't fire fast enough anymore to catch the shot I wanted it to, so it's off for a quick wash and brush up at the repairers and I'll hopefully be cooking on gas again before you can say "Who stole the summer?"...

Hand in Glove..

Just back from a great weekend in North Wales - with exhilirating walks in Anglesey, fine dining near Caernarvon .. and gloves on the beaches and the verges! Yep, looks like the seasons are changing again, and I'll soon be inundated with abandoned gloves, stopping me in my tracks as I go through the autumn and the winter! Oh, Gawd!!...

It's flowers that will be keeping me busy this week, as I get together my 'Presently..' range of Flowers and Greetings Cards, ready for their 'debut' on Bank Holiday Monday. Feedback has been favourable, and the signs are very encouraging so far. Just got to get M&S interested now, ha ha! (Actually, not ha ha .. but I can dream, can't I?)

I am now the proud owner of TWO Fuji X10 cameras, both of which I took to Wales at the weekend.
I just love, love using them! Their quality is amazing, and now that I'm au fait with using them they'll definitely be making an appearance at the next Wedding I shoot. F2 at 28mm is just heaven for those shots of the bride coming up the aisle. You could say they go 'Hand in Glove' with Wedding Photography...

Come in Number Six..

Wow! What a fantastic day! I got back from my foreign assignment last night - my Wedding in Wales! - with such a great feeling of  'a job well done'. It was a blast, and great exercise, too! You're either going uphill or down steps in Portmeirion but even with the high heels she was wearing Nadine was game for anything, and took the orders of her demanding photographer in her stride - clomping up towers and tiptoeing down steep steps with a big beaming smile on her face! I was exhausted by the end of the day, with a two hour drive still to go, but it was one of those days when you just know you've done a great job, and I couldn't wait to start working on my images. Have a look at them here...

So, the next Wedding I go to is on Saturday, where I'll be a guest! Help! I don't know how to be a guest at a Wedding! How will I be able to keep my hands off the bride and groom? How will I feel about another photographer having control of someone's Big Day? Oh, Lord!.. Good job I've got my Fuji X10 to keep me snap-happy! Phew...

The clock is ticking..

A tulip, already going over in my garden, and because we're freezing our doo-dahs off it's difficult to remember that it's already May and summer is fast approaching! It's a shame for today's brides that the weather is so unreliable these days, and I'm just hoping Portmeirion has a lovely little 25 degree micro-climate going on when I go there for Sunday's Wedding! Mind you .. 'Cast ne're a clout' as they say, ''til May is out!' The shot, by the way, was on my X10, at f2. (Fast shutter speed to stop my shivering, ha ha!)

Nice to get caught up in the 'other' side of a Wedding! What I mean is that if I ever go to a Wedding it's because I'm the photographer, of course, whereas next week I'm going to be a guest. I just emailed Nicky, the bride, and dropped in the fact that it was only nine days until her Wedding.
"9 Days 4 Hours and 24 Minutes :-)" came back the reply !
God, even I'm getting excited!
Roll on the heat-wave!..

All on yer lonesome..

I was reading a magazine article the other day - yes folks, I actually found time to sit down and read one of my many photographic subscriptions - and in it an 'expert' Wedding Photographer was going on about how hard it is being a self-employed professional. The long hours spent alone, the isolation, the lack of 'interaction with other people' and the fact that he felt he was in a rut with the 'grind' of it all. His solution? Shoot your own personal project to freshen up your passion again! Brilliant! Only thing is, my passion never goes away! I can't stop taking photographs and yes, whilst there is a truth to his article in that it is a rather solitary life (Aw, poor us!) it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have been doing my 'hobby' for the last 34 years! Personally, I love working alone, and daily I bow in thanks before Tripodius, the great God of Photography!

The picture I'm showing today is from one of my earlier photographic projects - the 'Don't Miss This' series shot on an Olympus XA. To my mind I can see echoes of Robert Frank here - now there's a photographer I'd love to meet! - but hey, we can't escape influence, and Robert Frank's as good a starting point as any! Some of this work -mine, not Mr Frank's! - is still up at Corvino's Wine Bar in Culcheth, by the way. The show's been extended by popular demand! (Ok, the owner said I might as well keep 'em up there as she had nothing else to cover the walls!) and in the same way I fell in love with the XA, my new 'camera of choice' - the Fuji X10 - is now hard at work, and the foundations of yet another photographic project have been laid down. The camera's given me a whole new way of shooting and, ironically, there's no way I'd be getting the shots I am if I wasn't working alone.
Intriguing!...

Lucky for some ..

Friday the 13th and boy, do I feel lucky! I've just signed the lease on a new unit in an arts and collectors' 'emporium' up in Chorley. From next week I'll have my own 'shop' at the Botany Bay Shopping Outlet, just off the M61, from where I'll be offering you lucky people my whole range of Florescence flower imagery - from greetings cards and framed montages to mounted prints and place-mats. In addition, I'll be giving visitors the chance to purchase some of my other black and white work, including prints of Joy Division and The Smiths, and shots from my book Don't Miss That, featuring photographs of Eccles in the late seventies. Who knows, now I've got to grips with my new X10 you might even be able to get your hands on some of those photographs, too! Oh, you lucky buggers!..

It's X10 time....

My new camera's arrived! I spent £400, waited almost a week for delivery and then shot .. flowers, a glove, and a photo for my 'Seen..' Flickr project!  D'ya think I'm stuck in my ways?? Seriously, it's so exciting to finally get my hands on this little beauty - the Fuji X10! It has a silent shutter and a 'normal' viewfinder, so it's going to be fantastic for all those sneaky Wedding shots! It takes me back to the first time I saw the original magazine ads for the Olympus XA in about 1981. I just had to have one, and I've felt the same about this camera ever since it came out. And who knows where my work with it will lead? My Olympus photographs got me on TV, got me to the finals of national photographic competitions .. and got me a self-published book called Don't Miss This, that went on to be stocked at The Photographers' Gallery. Bring it on, X10!..