Food for thought ..

Apparently it's now the done thing to show 'behind-the-scenes' shots from one's PR work. "They" say it helps er .. something or other .. so who am I to argue? A few weeks back I was booked to shoot all the food on the menu of a new outside catering company, but the space we got to do it was .. well, the gap behind the boss's desk! Each dish was brought in from the design kitchen and plonked in front of my camera, and I was then left to work my magic as best I could. I shot mains, starters and a selection of pies, all on a little table in the corner of an office. It ain't glamorous, but it just shows you what a good photographer can do when he has to. Food for thought, eh? ..

Don't take it lying down ..

Off to a good start this morning. A PR job yesterday involved shooting, of all things, a presentation of some mattresses to a charity. I sent the shots across to the PR company this morning and they've already come back with the message "Amazing!"..

Man, it's so creatively satisfying when you can get a good photograph from what seems such a mundane subject ..

Time for a coffee ..

I had a great meeting this morning with the owner of the Hollin Hall Country House Hotel, and we've arranged that I'll be shooting an advertising video for them later this Spring. They had some nice things to say about my work, and it's very flattering that I'm the only photographer they recommend to new brides ..

Coffee and a chat by their roaring log fire was more than welcome after I'd spent the first part of the day in a chilly, wet depot, shooting PR portraits of a Transport Manager for an industrial magazine ..

More coffee now. I've earned it ..

I'm not one to complain but ..

You know I don't use this blog to complain .. (!) .. but I read recently that the Home Office is now accepting passport photographs taken on a phone. Not that I make a fortune from shooting passports, but now I've heard that I think I can expect the numbers to dry up completely. Which is what's happened to the work I used to get from a legal company in Manchester. Their PR bod told me yesterday that one of their managers has bought a ... yes, a good camera .. and so, from now on, he'll be doing the firm's PR Photography. I was out at Tesco this morning and spotted this. I don't know who needs it more. Him or me ..

Note from the editor: This blog is very one-sided, as the moaning old fart booked in two PR jobs yesterday and a Wedding and got a further Wedding enquiry for this April, so ignore his rants and tell him to shut up ..

You lookin' at me? ..

One of my favourite Christmas shots .. the bizarre sight of Father Christmas eye to eye with a fully-grown lioness at Chester Zoo. It was taken at the launch of some new Christmas stamps, back in the days when I used to shoot PR Photography for the Royal Mail, and was a hastily grabbed shot with my Olympus XA ..

A chap sent me a text last night, enquiring about the possibility of a voucher for a portrait session as a Christmas present. Trouble was, his predictive text changed 'photo' to 'potato'. Was it possible, he asked, to get a voucher for a potato shoot? It sure is, my friend. Just £50. Cheap as chips ..

Straight outta me Jim-Jams ..

I was barely out of my Jim-Jams this morning before the phone had rung and I was booked for a shoot with 'People's Tenor' Russell Watson. I burst into song immediately. Something is going on in the world of PR, and I like it!..

I'll be the first to admit that my PR work has taken a dive over the years, I guess because I was focused on my Wedding and studio photography. Just lately, though, it's really been on the up and I'm thrilled. I mentioned on Friday how much I love this kind of work - how I thrive on being in control and thinking on my feet. In actual fact it's no different to Wedding photography, except that modern Wedding photography has become so stereotyped and similar that it's .. oh, don't get me started on that! No, the scope for creativity is fantastic .. nay, expected .. when you work for a PR client. I've just got to get meself a few more of 'em! Perhaps I should send them this montage of work I've shot since September.
Now there's an idea ..

Darn Sarf ..

Off to London today for a corporate PR shoot at a firm of solicitors. According to the brief I'm to photograph every member of staff as they gather for a meeting at their new offices. The meeting starts at 2.30 and they're arriving for their photos at ... 2pm!! Sounds a bit like buses. You wait all day for one, and 15 turn up at the same time ..

Which brings me nicely to today's photograph. A long row of London buses, lined up in front of a hotel in .. Sri Lanka! I was over in Colombo to cover the Viraj Mendez story - and if you can't remember him then don't worry, nobody else can, either! Anyway, I came out of the hotel one morning to find all these iconic red double-deckers lined up on the green. It was one of the most gob-smacking double-takes I've ever done. Apparently, they'd been shipped over to join the ranks of public transport in Sri Lanka. I just had to take a photo. Aldgate East please, guvnor ..

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 ..

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 ..

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 ..

Space ..

Really looking forward to Tim Peake's space-walk on Friday, coinciding nicely as it does with BBC2's 'Stargazing Live' programme on TV all this week and, of course, the constant playing of David Bowie's 'Starman' at the moment! What a Spacetastic time it is, and the perfect excuse to show you this archive photograph of my cousin Neil, shot around 1978..

I've got a couple of big jobs in the next few days. Tomorrow I have a full day's PR photography, shooting the first Passing Out parade that Greater Manchester Fire Service has held in seven years, and on Saturday I'm shooting a family portrait group that's so large we've had to 'borrow' the nearby Scout hut to fit everyone in! Talk about needing space! ..

Would you like to see my holiday snaps?..

It's rained a hell of a lot lately but no, this isn't a shot of me in my back-garden! It's the Great Barrier Reef in 1991, 'cos I spent most of yesterday thinking back a whole twenty five years - 25 years!! - to January 6th of that year, the day I set off on a 6 month round-the-world backpacking trip. My Epiphany, if you like! From that day until the middle of July I had complete and utter freedom to travel where and when I wanted, and it was heaven! My only fear was that, as a freelance and away for six months, I'd lose some of the clients I'd built up over the previous nine years. That didn't happen. Work was so plentiful and diverse then that, as far as I can remember, I picked up the phone and was shooting a PR job the very next day. Those were the days ..

Sweet!..

I think it's fair to say I've put in a shift this past weekend. As well as another morning's 'Photo for a fiver' session with eight kids I've done two venue PR shoots - at the Imperial War Museum North and at Chill Factore, the indoor ski-slope in Manchester. Really enjoyed myself at both as always, and loved the challenge of shooting everything from the freezing slopes, the windowless conference rooms, the War Museum's wall projections, three Christmas parties and .. a Candy Cart! Bizarrely, this is one of my favourite shots from the whole weekend! It was such a lighting challenge, stuck as it was in a purple-lit booth with the brightly lit ski-slope behind it and 100 party guests .. behind me! I even manage to grab a couple of bon-bons! Sweet!..

  

I dig it ..

I spent the day shooting PR for JCB yesterday, so cue the jokes about 'digging' my work! It was a busy old day. A morning spent shooting portraits for their website, followed by an afternoon of processing that work, followed by an evening photographing their awards dinner at The Mere. Happily, all of that is followed by a weekend doing absolutely nothing!..

Well, I say nothing! I have a day at the studio ahead of me. I've had some new flyers printed, so it's going to be a day of handing them out to shoppers at the CPS Centre and then I have a new bride and groom coming to see me about their Wedding next July..

So actually, I'll only get Sunday off. But that's ok! I can dig it ..

It's all about the weather ..

I'm halfway through designing an album from a Wedding in June, smiling ruefully as I remember the problems I had with the brilliant sunshine of a warm summer's day. As I write this, I reckon it's not stopped raining for a good twelve hours now..

Thing is, I've got a PR shoot booked in for this morning that has to take place outside - well, it involves a race-horse, for one thing - and I'm just wondering if we'll ever get a break in the weather to get the shots. Rather annoyingly the job's already been postponed twice, missing out on all that late summer sunshine we've had in recent days!..

The right camera, the correct lens? For sure they're important when it comes to getting the job done, but some days .. well, some days it's just all about the weather ..

Stop Press: 2.30 pm .. Rain stopped, job went ahead! Hurrah! Can't show you the shots yet but here's a bit of background .. a large bag of carrots was involved!!..

  

Pr, Weddings .. and churches!

Ok, that's the Mexican Ambassador shot - Hmm, I'm sure there's a better way of phrasing that! - and I'm onto other things this fine summer's day. Actually, I'm supposed to be photographing a church for its website but the weather's not looking as fine or summery as you'd want on your web pages, so that might get postponed until tomorrow..

I got a great Wedding booking last night. One phone conversation after dinner and a confirmed booking by 8.30pm! Now that's how it should be done! Some people take such a long time to decide on their photographer. I mean, I understand it's a big decision but some couples, like last night's, just go with their gut feeling and get the job done rapido! So, it's off to the Imperial War Museum North next summer. Can't wait ..

I remain, your servant ..

This shot's from another set of images I've been sorting this morning and I don't know why it came back to me, but I couldn't help laughing at something I overheard at a recent Wedding. "Mummy.." said a rather hungry young lady as she sat down at a Wedding reception "When will the servants be coming to our table?" Oh yes, you get a better class of people when I shoot Weddings!!...

Another busy week ahead, with a great mixture of PR, portraits, a Wedding and .. some website shots for a local church. The PR shoot's rather interesting. Bit of a big-wig! I'll tell you about it tomorrow. I just hope he doesn't bring any servants!!...

Dream on ..

The sun dropped below the horizon and the warm, tropical waves lapped around his ankles as he paddled, without a care in the world, across the long, golden beach - heading for the ever-so hospitable bar and that first cold beer of the evening...

Or, I spent all day putting up my new Joy Division exhibition in a cold and rainy Macclesfield yesterday and now I'm off to shoot a PR job in not-quite-so-tropical Cheetham Hill in Manchester! More brolly than parasol, I'm afraid but, hey ho, we can all have daydreams..

 

Funky ..

Busy, busy! In just the last three days I've shot 943 pr images at an Awards Dinner in Manchester, 439 head-shots in the studio for an aspiring actress - sorry actor .. can't say actress anymore! - and 237 pictures of houses for a local estate agent. And Manchester Wedding Photography has taken enquiries from five newly-engaged couples at a Wedding Fayre I attended yesterday! I am, ladies and gentlemen, taking this afternoon off!..

I can't stop playing Kraftwerk! There was a film about the band on TV on Friday and I'm afraid their music's all I've listened to ever since. Trans-Europe Express is playing as I type! I remember buying the Autobahn LP when I was about 15, and being completely hypnotized by this fantastically wondrous, exotic brain drill .. and I've loved them ever since. Must say though, I never got the connection to Black American Funk music before! (It was in the programme!) A musical highlight of my life was seeing them at The Manchester Velodrome - the British Olympic Cycling Team zipping around the track to the thud of 'Tour de France'.. Mein Gott!

Anyway, what's that got to do with photography? Nowt, as they say in Salford, but it's officially my afternoon off. I can write what I like! Funky ..

Just cut the bloody ribbon ..

Three PR jobs today! My God, count 'em! It's been a while since I had three in a day like this! In fact, it pains me to think back to the 'old days' when I'd be so busy - and so in demand, blush, blush - that I was actually able to dictate when jobs would go ahead, just so that I could work them into my diary rather than the other way round! I even had a Wedding like that, once! The couple wanted me as their photographer so much that, when they found out I was already booked on their Big Day .. they changed it to when I was available! Talk about an ego boost!
Well, I am an artist, dahling....
It's funny how work has changed. I'm just glad I'm hanging in there!..

Damn! Forgot to put keywords in again! Erm .. Manchester, PR, Photography! There, that should do it! Doing my own pr here ..