Mama Mamiya ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, the last break before that long, slow slog to Christmas. The date means something else to me now because, six years ago this weekend, I photographed the last wedding I would ever shoot before I moved to France. It began at a church in Altrincham and moved to a reception in Manchester city centre, and I remember sitting at a roof-top bar whilst I waited for the meal to finish, reflecting that I would probably never do anything like that again ..

The thing is, I thought I'd miss it like hell. After all, I'd concentrated on wedding photography for seventeen years up to that date. But the surprising thing is, I didn't. Once I'd got into the swing of life in France, I never gave wedding photography a second thought. (In fact, I've even turned down the offer of shooting a couple over here). Those days have gone. I'm a different 'me' now. A retired 'me', a more relaxed 'me', a 'me' that doesn't have to work all the hours God gives me just to maintain a presence in a completely flooded and clichéd market. So never again will you see me at Peckforton Castle, up a ladder with a Mamiya RZ67 Pro strapped to the top, shooting a mere twelve frames before I had to change the film ..

Come to think of it, they were bloody great, those days ..   

Falling down ..

Still one of my favourite Wedding photographs, and I think it's nice that it takes a second to clock what's actually going on in the shot. I couldn't resist it and I've decided to have a canvas print of this image made to go with my collection of 'big' shots in the studio window ..

It was nice to be back at Peckforton Castle on Saturday, although strange as I wasn't there to take any Wedding photographs. We had a family get-together to celebrate an 80th birthday and all I can say is "Peckforton, your afteroon tea was delicious!" Of course, as I was drinking tea, there wasn't much falling down done ..
 

Splashdown ..

So, the funny story ..

I was shooting a Christmas Wedding at Peckforton Castle, literally on this Monday a year ago. The weather was abysmal. It rained non-stop all day, and I didn't get a single photograph of anybody outside .. much to my frustration. However, just before the Wedding Breakfast, the rain stopped and I practically pleaded with the Bride and Groom to come outside for a quick photograph. They reluctantly agreed, as long as the Bride could hold her dress up and away from the soaking paths, so it was lights, cameras and a hasty walk down to the gate-house at Peckforton to enable me to get the whole of the Castle in the shot. I parked the couple under the huge tree there, plonked down my tripod, set up my light and .. a Rook dropped a big blob of poo straight onto the Groom's head! (It was easy to see .. the guy had no hair!) I automatically pressed the shutter, even though I hadn't set the exposure or white balance, and was just about to shoot again when the Bride screamed in dismay and set off back to the Castle at 100mph. The big, black splish had bounced straight off the Groom's head.. and all over her dress! The shoot was over!
No shots of the couple outside the castle.
So close!!..

Next there were tears, and then I got a ticking off from the Bride's dad, but I was more concerned that I hadn't got a shot of the couple with their venue in the picture! Still, everything calmed down and, by the time the pair came to Manchester Wedding Photography to pick up their Wedding album some months later it was all a great, big, funny part of the day. It goes to show that these things are always worth shooting 'cos, when it's all done and dusted, a dress is for a day, but a memory is a memory for ever!..

"I'd love to Blog that one day.." I said to them. "You should.." they said.
I just have..

Happy Anniversary, guys!...

Concentrate! ..

Moving house! I can't see it ever happening for me! It would take so long for me to go through all my 'stuff' that I'd forget why I was trying to clear it all out in the first place! Take this morning, for instance. All I needed to do was find one old Wedding photograph to add to my new revamped website. A ten minute job! Ha! I have been so side-tracked! I've looked through 1970s diaries, old programmes and exhibition flyers, stored negatives, autograph books, boxes of god-knows-what .. my old cub-scout necker, anyone? - and a heap of archive CDs. You'll be pleased to know I did actually find what I was looking for - and I've already added it to the new website of Manchester Wedding Photography - but I also dug out some really cool 'old' shots of yours truly at work! I say 'old' .. the CD I pulled this off was dated 2004 .. yet look at it! Here I am at Peckforton Castle, still using my lovely Mamiya RZ67 camera to shoot this Wedding scene and yes, I did used to hike it up a ladder and tie it to the top rung to keep it steady!..

I actually met a 'photographer' on a job last week who'd never heard of an RZ! Imagine not knowing of such a wonderful machine! Imagine never having used film! And yet this guy gives 'lessons'! (I looked him up on his website!)  How can a guy who's only been a photographer for two years give lessons? What experience could he impart to an eager young snapper?  How can ...  Oh, I'm getting side-tracked again ..

Just in time for .. October!

I heard an ad on the radio yesterday for one of those ubiquitous sofa companies, proudly boasting that orders were guaranteed to be ready in time for Christmas!  
I should bloody well think so, boys! It's September!..

Anyway, I've had Christmas on my mind these past few days, as I've been designing an album from a Wedding at Peckforton Castle on December 23rd last year. Now, I see a lot of photographers' blogs that basically just consist of a huge selection of photographs! One never-ending line of shots from a single Wedding. An easy way of blogging but then, I suppose, also a great way to show off one's work to the general public. So, for once, I thought that's what I'd do, too! I'm showing you a selection of pages from this album. The Wedding Day itself was one of non-stop rain and murk - so all the photographs were shot inside. (You can see a few more from The Big Day here!) Anyway, Emma and James emailed me their choice of photographs only last week, and their album is being printed as we speak! Ready by Christmas? Dude! Try October! ..

Life's a gas ..

A lovely shot from the Wine Cellar at Peckforton Castle just before Christmas. A lady 'pinned' one of these Wedding photographs to her 'board' yesterday, which was nice of her, 'cos it finally lets me know that at least someone has been looking at my photographs on Pinterest! God, sometimes I despair of all this 'Social Media' mallarkey! You join Facebook to be told you need to be on Twitter; you join Flickr to be told you need to be on Tumblr; you post on Pinterest to be told you need to link it to a blog...

And does any of it work? Does it??....

Anyway, as I said, I now have one of my photographs pinned to someone's cyber board, and very glad I am, too! I guess it's yet another example of digitization, and I'll probably no longer see young brides lugging around a huge scrapbook of cuttings from bridal magazines. Just think of all the paper that won't be needed in the future. After all, I didn't use any to print the shot, did I? All those spared trees! All that extra oxygen in the air, replacing all that nasty C02! It's the end of global warming! We're saved! Oh, joy ...

Calm down, Martin ...

Home, James ..

1000 ISO at f1.4! That's what it took to dig this photograph out of the 'atmospheric' light at my Peckforton Castle Wedding yesterday! It was bloody dark! The horrendous storm outside and the fact that it was December the 23rd meant that I really was almost shooting by candlelight, and I'm so glad I decided to take along one of my studio lights to shoot the groups I needed to get. I think that might be the first ever Wedding I've done where I didn't get any shots of the bride and groom outside! (I've got a great story to tell you about that, but I'll save it for another day!) Still, it was a 'brill' Wedding to end on and Emma and James were fantastic! And that's it! My last Wedding of 2013! Bring on all the clever couples who've had the wisdom to book me for their Weddings next year! I probably won't blog tomorrow, so I'll say Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers and say what I said as I left after shooting last night's First Dance! Home, James ..

Wedding, weather, wonderful ..

Monday morning! The wind is howling and the rain is starting to come down in sheets as I prepare to leave for today's Wedding, so I thought I'd remind myself of a lovely warm summer shoot before I set off. Of course, I can tell from the position of this bride and groom that the sun was too bright to work in, as I've plopped them down in the shade and lit them with a bit of off-camera flash! See? Every season has its challenges, and I'm more than ready to deal with today's! Aw, a Christmas Wedding at Peckforton Castle. It's going to be fantastic and what I like is that, whatever is going on outside those castle walls - gales, Christmas traffic chaos, plague - we'll be wrapped up in a warm, snuggly Wedding bubble and having the time of our lives! Now that's my idea of a working Monday ..

It's a date ..

Well, it's nearly here! It's next week! It's .. my last Wedding of the year! Oh, you didn't think I meant .. oh, never mind! Yes, my last Wedding of the year and, unusually, it's on a Monday. I'll be at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire for the Wedding of James and Emma and I can not wait! It'll have everything! Location, beautiful people and the challenging vagaries of light and weather that can only mean it's a late December Wedding! Get yer batteries charged, Martin! Actually, if we're talking dates, it's exactly a month today until my next Wedding Fayre - at Statham Lodge, in Lymm. I'm looking forward to a good set of bookings next year, once we'll have got that pesky number 13 out of the way. Yes, I really do think that couples have held off getting married because it's been 2013. Well, it's almost gone so come on down to Statham .. and let's make a date!

A toast to the master ..

A 'back-scene' shot for you from my recent Peckforton Castle Wedding. Now, I'll hold my hands up and say that - sometimes - I don't enjoy working with Toastmasters. They can intrude too much on my work with the bride and groom, and can annoy me with their dictation of the timings. Plus, I like to be the one that shouts at the top of my voice when it comes to organising group shots! Having said that, there's a chap I bump into every now and again who really makes my day go with a swing. He's called Stephen Sanders and he'll do anything to help out a busy snapper at a Wedding. Here he is, lugging the bride's veil and my lighting back to the Castle after a photo-session in the woods. (Behave!) The most pleasant of people, he even takes it upon himself to buy me a Guinness after each Wedding we work on together! Anyway, I'm pleased to say that Mr Sanders has now added me as the only photographer on his web-site. Flattery indeed, so I'd like to propose a toast to the dude in the red coat! ..

#culchethportraitphotography
www.studiofivefour.com

The sun shines ..

I had a great day at Peckforton Castle yesterday - albeit slightly rushed as we didn't get too long between ceremony and soup - and absolutely everybody wanted to say hello and congratulations to Claire and Bobby! Oh, those pesky wedding guests!! I love this shot on the stairwell, though. I just knew the bride was going to hit this shaft of sunlight as she walked down to the ceremony, and got myself ready to smack that shutter as soon as she got there.

I'm hoping there'll be shafts of sunlight aplenty this weekend, as I'm off for my annual 'Jet-fuel' fest .. the air-show at RAF Waddington. The Red Arrows, The Vulcan - hopefully! - and lots of shots of weird people who choose to travel to Lincoln, lie down in a field full of noisy aircraft .. and go to sleep! Never quite worked that one out, but it's incredible how many people you see snoozing on the air-field. I will show you photos on Monday .. just to prove it! Set myself a challenge there, but I know I'll come up with the goods. The sun always shines on the righteous, and all that ...

Dat's what I'm talkin' about ..

I feel brilliant today! If I were in a film right now I'd be on a sunlit patio on a Tuscan hillside, leaning back from a wine-laden table after a hearty, healthy meal. I'd smile smugly, wave my cigar at the scenery and say - in a gruff Bronx Gangster accent - "Now dat's what I'm talkin' about!..."

You see - and I'm sorry if you're just about to spend all day in an office - it's a glorious summer's morning, with clear blue skies and the sun already warm .. and I'm off to shoot a Wedding at Peckforton Castle. A gorgeous couple, a happy crowd, an amazing backdrop and three sizzling Nikons! Oh .. and I get paid, as well! Now dat's what I'm talkin' about!

Give 'em the bird...

I was in Jessops yesterday, collecting my newly-repaired Fuji X10 - for the second time - and I picked up a leaflet on some Photography Courses they offer. From 'just' £119 you can spend the day being introduced to digital SLRs, compacts and Bridge cameras, but the thing that amused me was their 'Advanced' course for "fairly experienced photographers who want to progress in a specialist area."
The examples they give? Wedding photography and.. er, Birds of Prey! Well, I never knew there was such a market in that! Perhaps they've teamed up with Peckforton Castle, where I shot today's photograph. You can get the 'two-in-one' there of a falcon or an owl delivering your rings up the aisle during your Wedding ceremony! (I know, I know!)

Of course, you can rest-assured that if you booked one of my two-hour Shoot'n'Tutor classes you'd be watched like a hawk!

Better with age...

Had a cracking day at Peckforton Castle yesterday - the first Monday Wedding I've ever done - and despite a few spits and spots, as the weather forecasters now say, I was able to shoot all my pictures outside, apart from this requested one in what's known as The Wine Cellar. (I seem to remember ending up there around midnight on the day I was a 'guest' at my last Peckforton Wedding. Burp!) Anyway, I'm hard at the editing suite now, and then that's it until .. oooh, Saturday, when I'm zipping over the Peak District for a Wedding near Sheffield.

I did the first part of a Press Photography course at a college in Sheffield in 1980, and happened to bump into the current course leader last week. I asked him where the hell the students were going to get a job in these times of cutbacks and newspaper shut downs, and the best he could do was shrug and admit that he mostly teaches video these days, as most 'publications' are more concerned with getting short films online rather than photographs into hard print. Sigh! I used to love that rush down to the newsagents to buy a copy of the day's Manchester Evening News, flicking eagerly through the pages to see how many shots I'd got in (My record was 27 .. in one day!) A lot of those newspaper cuttings are still on my shelf, yellowing in their scrap books, and Lesley for one would have them down the recycling before I could say "Have you sorted my expenses?"

I refuse to let them go! Apart from their historical physical prescence as newspapers of days gone by, they're a fascinating reminder of styles, trends and habits that have changed so much in the space of only 34 years. Like the wine that used to be stored in that cellar, they just get better and better with age... 

All right on the night...

Flippin' 'eck, that was a bit good, wasn't it? Danny Boyle's opening ceremony? Very good indeed, especially the magical chimneys and the parachuting Queen! One is most amused! Could have done without Paul McCartney, but apart from that it was pretty much all right on the night! Cripes, I'll have to be careful here - there's a little bit of a positive vibe coming out of all this, and I might just have to knock one Z off the Olympiczz ... it's starting to wake me up! Speaking of a great show, this shot was taken back in day when 'they' tried to introduce American Football into the UK. These young Manchester Allstars fans were up behind the posts at Salford Rugby Ground! As you can tell, it didn't quite take off!...

So, I went to see Morrissey on Saturday night. First time I've seen him in absolutely yonks, and damn near enjoyed almost his whole show, the rabscallion! It was practically all right on the night! (Meat is Murder went on far too long!)
By sheer coincidence, that afternoon I was approached by a Photographic Gallery in Bedford, asking if I'd like to contribute to an exhibition of Smiths and Morrissey photography, scheduled for October. Er, that's a yes, please! More details to follow...

Now, I'm going to say something I've never said before! I'm off to shoot a Wedding .. on a Monday! Feels weird! I've never shot a Wedding on a Monday before but hey, bring it on! Sunny Peckforton Castle here we come! Last time I was there I was a 'guest' at a Wedding, and that felt weird too, but normality is restored today and I'm back behind the camera where I belong. Actually, did I say sunny? It's pouring with rain as I write this, so it's safe to safe at least one thing is back to normal, unlike the spelling on the back of this kid's head! Not quite all right on the night!..

Dear, oh dear.....

I don't usually use my blog to gloat, but hey.. there's always a first time!
Remember that Wedding I went to as a 'guest'? Well, the reason I was a guest and not the 'official' photographer is because I am the groom's mum's partner, and there was no way she was going to let me work on her son's Big Day! Still, I took the gear anyway and managed to squeeze off 1,150 shots to make a fab CD for the lovely couple. Good job I did, 'cos you should see the state of the 'official' photographs! Man, I have never seen a grimmer job done of a Wedding. Just look at this group shot, for example! I mean, come on! And this was how it was presented to the couple on their CD, by the way - as the one and only choice of group photos! As for the rest of the CD .. well, there are a mere 267 other shots on it, from an entire Wedding day shot by two photographers! They're shot with direct flash, at awful angles and without capturing any of the spontaneity of a Wedding Day.

Dear, oh dear? You betcha!
They charged over two thousand quid for this sh*te!!!....

When ya gotta go....

Well, what to Blog about today?... Libya? The Economy?  Weddings? Naa..it's Friday! Time to chill and let it all hang out whilst I can! There's a big Wedding Weekend coming up, after all! I can't wait to get cracking at Tatton Park on Sunday but, before that, I'm off to Peckforton Castle in my new role as Wedding Photography Advisor! (I just made that up!) The couple whose Wedding I'm actually going to want me to walk them around the venue and show them the best locations for their photography. Just gotta keep telling myself that I'm not actually shooting it!
Oh, I did end up talking about Weddings, after all! What are the chances?...

Peckforton Castle...

Thoughts today are for Peckforton Castle, its owners and all the couples who are planning to marry there soon! There was a pretty bad fire there over the weekend and I don't know how that'll affect everyone's plans for the future! I've shot many a Wedding there in the past, and have bookings there for the future myself!

Fingers crossed for all!