Child's play...

Young lads up a tree, schoolgirls in the park - Jeez,  I'd hate to be trying to get these shots today. No sooner did I blog yesterday about memories of a more innocent time than I pass a lady pushing a baby in a stroller. Well, I say lady, she was probably about 16 years older than her child - but when I waved a little hello at the baby the mother gave me such a dirty look .. and that's without trying to take a photograph, so there you go, instant judgement! I'm a pervert, a paedo, a threat to her likkle precious offspring. Bloody hell! What chance does that kid have of growing up with an open mind? And so the cycle will continue, until it will actually be an offence in the UK to talk to someone unless you do it by text, or smile at someone unless it's on a videolink. God help the next generation! The photograph, since you ask, was taken at a sports day in Warrington in, oooh, 1981... and absolutely nobody took offence! Smile!

All change....

Thought I'd have a little change on my Blog Page - get all modern and clean and white - though the ramblings on the page will still be the same, of course!

Hope you like it!

Not The Chelsea Flower Show...

Ah, simple pleasures!
I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely fed-up with The Chelsea Flower Show on telly! It should be called The Chelsea Pergola Show, or The Chelsea Water Feature Show, or The Chelsea ' I can afford to spend £100K on a bit of decking ' show, 'cos it was all about expense and flambouyance and ridiculousness! Gardening for me is all about the joys of sights like these, all shot in 'my back yard' yesterday afternoon (Yes, between the rain showers!) 99% of the shots I took for my Florescence series came from that same 'yard', by the way! Anyway, I got the added bonus of snuggling up in bed last night, full of a cold (Sympathy, please), and taking great delight in switching over from BBC2 to BBC4 to watch those two fabs shows about The Carpenters. I'm going to dig out all the stuff I own by them and play it all today!
Ah, simple pleasures!

You're hired...

Well, let's be topical, seeing as The Apprentice started again last night! This is a shot of the Sugar Babe I did for EN magazine a couple of years ago. Boy, that guy does not do smiling! I had the last laugh, though, because I had to follow him onto the stage where he was doing a Q and A session, and he tried to put his hands into his pockets whilst he was still behind the curtains. Trouble was, it was a brand new suit, and they were all sewn up, so I had to use a little pen-knife that I always carry with me to slit all the pockets in his jacket!
I'm hired!

Nice falsies...

Well, we've certainly had the flip side of the hot weather haven't we!
Golf ball sized hail, for goodness sake?
Actually, it was lashing down when I drove away from this shoot yesterday (See what I did, there?) when I photographed this young student manicurist as part of a College Open Day.
Couldn't resist her falsies, as we say in the trade!
Lots of PR and Commercial work this week, including a 750-cover dinner/awards evening for the building trade, the start of a sponsored run at an insurance conference, and the installation of a flood control system for, er, the people that make them!
It is vital that a professional photographer gets plenty of variety in his diet!

What a bargain...

Now, then! How's this for a plan?
I've started a series of monthly 'Special Offers' aimed, obviously, at enticing you young couples into signing up to  book me to shoot your Wedding Photography!
May's offer? A free Engagement Portrait, and a print of your choice in a large card matt..perfect for your guests to sign at your Wedding Reception! It's worth £125, so it's not an offer to be sniffed at!
Next month? Ooh, you'll have to wait and see!

Water, water....

Ah, rain! I've been walking around like a madman in the desert, praying for rain as my garden dried up around me! Now, the heavens have opened, and the feeling of freshness is unbelieveable. Simple pleasures! No Wedding today! Childrens' location portraits, instead. Oh no, it's raining!

It's your vote that counts..not!

Local election day here in the good old UK, and here's an image from The Royal Wedding set that you could read as more representative of England..a bit faded, a little ragged around the edges, but still flying defiantly in the face of adversity. Wow, deep!  Truth is, Will and Kate's big day did stir up a heap of national pride, but now it's sadly back to the same old, same old, hard times, every man for himself!














Example: Now, our local councillors have all vowed to sort out this ridiculous and selfish parking around my street, but not one of them, from any political party, has actually got round to doing anything!
As far as I'm concerned, AV still stands for Audio-Visual, so I'm using my voting form as a coffee-coaster and spending my afternoon weeding the garden! As they say, it doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in!

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!

Kate's Wedding...

Now, wasn't that fantastic? Good old England came up with the goods the only way it can, and put on a show to die for! Hope you all enjoyed it! Made me rush to my computer and dig out one of my shots of Kate's Wedding. No, not that Kate, though her Big Day was just as fantastic, all the same!
This was Kate and Tony, at Statham Lodge, in Lymm. Gorgeous!
So, now we wait for the 'official' group photographs, shot in the palace by Hugo Burnand.
Cool gig, Hugo!

Time flies...

Well, that went quickly, didn't it? And now normality has returned..for three days, at least! Enjoyed a very relaxing weekend though, very unusually for me, I didn't have an Easter Wedding this year. That didn't mean I put the camera down, of course, and here's my favourite shot of the Bank Holiday, with a dandelion seed just flying from the 'clock'!
The urgency of Spring always reminds me of shooting a Wedding! You wait and wait, then all hell lets loose for the 90 minutes you get to shoot the Big Day! No wonder I'm always watching the clock!
 

Do you take this woman...?

One week to go until a certain famous Wedding, and the excitement mounts.
Great programme about Weddings on TV last night, though, with the rather worrying statistic that we are now at the lowest level of Weddings since 1895!!
They used the great phrase 'Competitive Wedding Syndrome', too..the one-upmanship involved in having a 'better' Wedding than your friends.
Hey, chuck some Gerbera in a gold-painted jam-jar, profess your love, and the job's done!
Enjoy the break, everybody!

Gizza job...

I'm not giving away any trade secrets here when I say that times are hard in the wonderful world of PR Photography. The amount I do has certainly gone down a lot since 'the good old days!'
Digital photography, of course, has an awful lot to do with that, and I've had two great examples of that already this week.
A friend of mine runs his own PR company, but cannot convince his clients to spend money on photography these days. Why should they, when they own a digital camera? - is their view! They can simply 'snap' away until a useable image appears, and use that for their press purposes. The example he forwarded to me yesterday, though, brought tears to me eyes. It was awful! I won't go into detail, but let's just say that everything I wouldn't do as a Pro has been done on this shot, and now my friend has got to try to convince the local press to use it! If they don't, of course, that will reflect badly on his own PR skills. God, I wish I could show it to you!
The second example came from chatting with a keen amateur photographer friend of mine. He's somehow ended up shooting for a national organisation's website, and he's rightly chuffed to bits about that! He got two hours' work and the prospect of one of his images being seen across the country. Only problem is, he only charged them £40! Imagine a national company ripping off a guy for just £40.
It's no wonder the image of professional photography is nose-diving!

Anyway, it's spurred me to send out another mail-shot today, featuring a shot I had published as a magazine's double-page spread. Got paid more than forty quid, too! Rant over!

I feel better already...

Well, it's all go with the flower photography, isn't it!
I'm shooting like a madman at the moment, just to capture the blossom whilst it's out.
You won't need to rush to see Florescence, though, as it's just gone on display in Culcheth.
The whole set of images, on three 4-foot long acrylic panels, has just gone up on the pristine blank walls of the newly built Culcheth Clinic. I'd like to think I'm doing my little bit to brighten up the day of anyone poorly enough to need the doctor!

Singing from the same songsheet...

Went to a talk about music photography last night. Karen McBride, renowned Manchester snapper, was talking about her experiences in music photography - a life that has taken her on tours with Robbie Williams and the Scissor Sisters. Great to be in a room full of other photographers with a passion for their art. Money and fame - delightful though they no doubt are - played second fiddle to integrity and personal artistic satisfaction, and, as Karen said, if we're true to ourselves maybe one day heart will lead to wallet!
Jeepers, it's a long road!

It's a funny thing but...

 ..despite their seeming popularity, I've rarely been asked for Wedding 'Story-Books'. My couples simply get their images on CD, or opt for traditional 'prints stuck in albums'. However, I've bitten the bullet this week and ordered a new sample set of Story-Books, designed on the Mac and printed on Photographic Paper. This shot will feature on the front cover, in brushed metal..Can't wait to see it!