Hic, burp!

Where am I? What day is it?....

Ah yes, our annual Photographers' booze-up is now done and dusted, and I'm guessing there won't be many more opportunities this year to reminisce about leaving HP5 to stew in Microphen for nine minutes...Oh, we know how to have fun! (That's film, developer and darkroom technique to you digi dudes out there!) The picture's not really from the 'do', by the way..it's from my Don't Miss This series!

Anyway, on with the show, and time to get all the portraits ready before Christmas..oh, and the one 8x6 print that's been ordered from a wedding in 2002! It's a 6x6 negative. Aha, maybe my darkroom dealings aren't over just yet!

And before I go boozin'....

..I'll get a bit of work in.

Busy making my Florescence 'Wall Art'..(Picture frames to you and me!!) These 9 image sets are now just £35. Lots of different images, all genuine photographic prints on Fuji Pearl high-gloss paper.You want one, you know you want one!

Party, party...again!

Time to dig out the dancing shoes for tonight's Freelance Photographers' Christmas Get-together.
Ok..time to stand at a bar, get drunk and moan about the lousy state of Photography these days....
I'll be seeing a lot of my old muckers from the Manchester Evening News and even, heaven help us, some of the guys I've known as snappers since 1978! The event's changed a lot over the years..in relation to the fortunes of newspapers in Manchester. Once..a long time ago..there were actually so many Staff Press Photographers in the city that we had an Association, the MPPA, and the Christmas booze-up was a black-tie, sit-down 'do' in a swanky hotel. Now, we're all freelance and settling for a bowl of chilli and a few pints!  A full bowl? You were lucky.....!

The image is from Don't Miss This, my Olympus XA series.....

Yeah but no, but.....

I tweeted last night about a couple who decided against booking me as their Wedding Photographer.
They couldn't afford my lowest price package of £595 because they'd only budgeted for £850 !!? Go figure, as we don't say in England!  I know we're all looking to shave a bit off prices at the mo, but I'm hearing some great excuses to avoid spending lately! Like the guy who asked if his Wedding Photography could be cheaper if he did his own processing...or the lady who pondered buying some of my Florescence placemats but decided against it as she wanted them in orange. She was looking at pictures of lavender!
Anyway, here's a lovely example of the cut-price world of Wedding Photography, from a 1980 edition of the Warrington Guardian, with a £39.99 package being undercut by one at £39 !
Just think what you could have got if you'd gone that extra 99 pence!

Hot Dog!

A cute shot of a puppy to let you know that my shots from last week are hitting the media now...with the dogs getting a starring role! My little hot-dog shot is from my Olympus XA series, Don't Miss This, with the book still available as a great Christmas Gift Idea!!

Oh, and whilst we're talking about dogs, could someone please tell my neighbour that just because she goes to work and can't hear her dog barking all day...doesn't mean it doesn't !!
Grrrr.....

Corrie for the Nation...

Eeeeeh, Annie..have you heard what's happened on't street?
50 years of Corrie, eh? I celebrated my own half a century this year too, and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't get a bloody tram dropped on me 'ead!
Here's Annie Walker and Bet Lynch, aka Doris Speed and Julie Goodyear, getting down to a good old chin-wag and a fag at some 'do' or other in Manchester back in the day. Working for the Manchester Evening News, I got to meet a whole lot of the actors, and often went to Granada TV for photo-calls and promotions. I once shot a 'real' Wedding for OK! Magazine where many of the cast were invited. I set up a studio in a room at the V&A hotel (as it was), and the actors were grabbed and yanked upstairs for their photoshoots by a poor, hassled OK! lacky. Shoot over, I dismantled the 'studio', and slept in the room. When I checked out I got charged a fortune for 'emptying' the mini-bar. The lovvies from The Street had all helped themselves to the costly booze when they got to my room!! Have to say though, that the cast were, on the whole, a really great bunch of lovely people, although I remember Jean Alexander moaning at me once for wearing a Hilda Ogden T-Shirt! (Still got it, Jean..you're a legend!)
Happy Birthday, Corrie...see you at 100 !

Not to be sniffed at...

Budgets are being slashed left, right and centre, and quite often a PR firm can now dictate the price for which it wants a job shooting. Professional photographers are being squeezed hard by the financial constraints of clients on the one side, and the blatant theft of our work by the multitude of Shamateurs out there...the already-employed of this world who fancy making a bit of pocket-money at the weekend by knocking out Weddings for peanuts!
Still, once a pro always a pro, and it says a lot that I keep on getting a kick out of my work, especially when I pick up something unexpected like this shot. I was on a PR shoot for a client promoting a new "Art Gallery in a house". I wanted to retain the homely feel of the place by keeping the client's dogs in the shot, and I think it's safe to say I achieved the objective!
Good Boy!

Ooh, Matron!

No apologies for the repeat here, 'cos we're all in need of a good laugh in this weather!
I'm working on a Wedding from the summer, and I'm so pleased the Bride & Groom have selected this shot for their album. It was their reaction to a line in the Best Man's speech. He wished the happy couple a great honeymoon in North Wales.

"I think that's where they're going" he added.."He said he was going to Bangor for a week!"
Bum, bum!

Stop Press: No Blog tomorrow, as I've an early start at my Altrincham Market stall. Come down and stock up on your Christmas prezzies...!

Here comes the commercial break...

Ok, I need to be honest...my Weddings are a bit quiet this Christmas!
I love Christmas Weddings, but have nowhere near as many as I had last year so...make that last minute booking and I'll upgrade your album to the Package above....saving you  £250 !!!

Santa's come early, folks!

Yeah, December...whatever!

Whoosh...December! Where did that come from?
It's just dawning on me that Christmas is only three weeks away and as usual, I've done nothing about it! "Dear Father Christmas, I'd like a new 85mm 1.4 lens, three new SB-900 flash guns and a train set!" There, that should do it!

I remember when I worked for the Manchester Evening News, I'd be covering Christmas fairs from mid-November, carol concerts from about now, and burglars stealing gifts from around peoples' Christmas trees any time you like! Ho, ho, ho...!

Inceidentally, I've become a victim of my own "On the one hand"...
I lost a glove yesterday!! Bah, humbug!

Tis the season?

Bloomin' nippy out there, but I'm keeping warm with memories of those far-off sultry summer days! This year's sunshine brides are all making the final print choices for their albums at the moment, preceded by the obligatory question..."Can we have it for Christmas?"  Here's a nice shot from June!

So, a really busy weekend down at the Motorcycle show, followed by a portrait shoot with two little sisters, an afternoon in a busy Call Centre where I was selling Florescence in the staff restaurant, and now I'm gearing up for a two-day brochure shoot for a hospital, although the exteriors are going to look a bit erm...wintery !!!

Motorbikin'...

Gettin' on my Hog and headin' south to shoot the annual Carole Nash Motorcycle Show in Birmingham this weekend. I'm booked for it every year but it's a good job my shots are more about the people than the gear, 'cos I know bugger all about motorbikes! I do have a shoot list, though, and it includes things like the K1600, the CBR125R and the TE630...!! I hope the client adds things like.."That's the red one in the corner"..helpful hints, you know!

My photo shows the old Emmerdale actor Richard Thorp. I went over to Yorkshire for OK! Magazine way back in the day. It was about this time of year, too. Cold, grey and dark...and that was just his motorbike, ha ha !!!

Launched my site for the new "Shoot 'n Tutor" sessions yesterday. Book your places and learn from the master! Jeez, the modesty of the boy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My old pen-pal and a well stocked fridge in Concord, New Hampshire! That's the image I've chosen to wish all my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving Day! (Obviously it's not a day we celebrate over here, but fair enough, we've just had Bonfire Night and we're getting a Bank Holiday on April 29th!)
The shot's from my book Don't Miss This, pictures taken with an Olympus XA in the 1980's. I've just had a series of them selected to be shown at Photosocial: A Christmas Party and Slideshow in London on December 2nd.
Oh, and if anyone knows my pen-pal Vallerie Holloway..tell her to drop me a line!

Ooh, give us a kiss...

No apologies for a third 'snog' shot in a row because coincidentally I've just received a letter..yes, a letter..from a Bride's mother complaining about them!
Remember my Blog about Mother-in-laws from hell?  This one's got to top the lot...she's written to say she found my 'kissing' shots in "poor taste"..!  It's a bloody Wedding, woman...they're in LOVE !!!
Ah, I feel better after that...!

So, it's going to be April 29th. So that's two four-day weekends in a row..we might as well just write off April and go travelling or something..Nice!!

Should receive my new wide-angle zoom tomorrow. Another £600 to add to my costly camera bag, but hey, you gotta have it, haven't you!

Tickled Pink !

Chuffed to bits with this fantastic piece in a new Wedding Magazine!
I shot the Civil Ceremony of Tamara and Julia in the summer.  They'd picked up on me from an ad in Tickled Pink - A Gay Wedding Magazine - and now their own ceremony has featured in the new edition of the publication! Tamara's American, Julia's Lithuanian..and the ceremony was in Manchester! The shots look really cool as they've only used my black and white reportage, but the best thing is the special mention I get as a stand-alone piece within the article. Entitled Note to Photographer Martin O'Neill, Tamara's written "Thank you for being part of our special day. Everyone loved you and enjoyed how you made them all feel special while feeling like you were another member of the family"
(Oh..and the site adds "We found the perfect photographer thanks to Tickled Pink")
Make way for my huge Ego...

Stop Press: April 29th, eh? You're in luck, guys...I'm still available !

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!

Stall in a Day's Work

Another good day at Altrincham Market yesterday..and very encouraging to hear the comments made by people seeing Florescence for the first time. (I'm all for a good ego-boost!)
The coasters and place-mats seem to be the most popular items at the moment, and the blank greetings cards are going down well.
More enquiries, too, about my "Shoot 'n Tutor" Photography lessons, so I'm re-arranging the date of my first lesson to December 12th. I've even been asked to give lessons as a Christmas present. Now there's an idea!
Fancy it? 

I heart you!

So I sit at my Mac and babble on, wondering who the heck reads any of this...and then I check my Stats and see I have readers from as far afield as Germany, Russia and...Vietnam.
Wow! Big Kiss...I love you all !!

The Place to be...!

Working last night at The Place Hotel in Manchester, shooting PR photographs at the 20th Birthday party of Emirates Airline. Fab crowd, groovy mood and one hell of a funky venue! I ended up with almost 500 shots as everyone was having such a good time and proving to be really 'photogenic' (Ok..tipsy!!)

Portraits for a new Golf Captain tomorrow, and then gearing up for my annual visit to cover the Carole Nash Motorcycle show at Birmingham's NEC next week. Added to that, my Summer 'brides' are now all coming in with the image choices for their Wedding albums, so it's quite a busy time all round.

And...like the proverbial wait for a bus and two turn up....I've been invited to take part in a new Joy Division exhibition! It'll be in London early in the New Year, when I'll already have a show running at The Met in Bury! Details to come! Oh, to be popular!

Have you met my Mother-in-Law?

Well, congratulations to Willy and Katie (Ooops, Catherine!) and now we all await the naming of The Big Day. I wonder if I'm already booked...and how popular the day, when announced, will prove to be for other brides-to-be.
One thing's for sure, the Royals won't be allowed to have the Wedding the way they want...Liz might have a few words to say about that! It got me thinking about some of the "Mumzillas" I've encountered over the years. I've just had one, for example, who fully expected me to stand at the church porch and shoot a portrait of every guest so she could see what they were wearing!!!...and then there was the one who berated me for taking "too many pictures of the Bride and Groom"..and the one who complained about me taking shots of the "biscuits and grapes"!! She meant the canapes..but I'm always going to shoot the detail of the Day for you because, rest assured my young lovers..if you book me as your Wedding Photographer your views will be the ones that matter when I shoot your Wedding.

I think it was Les Dawson who came out with that immortal line.."Have you met my Mother-in-Law?"....Nuff said!

The Signs are good...

These cold, dark days are making me want to travel again. Ok, I've got two visits to the Midlands planned, but that's not quite the same, is it!
I was looking through some of my old trannies the other day...film, darling..not cross-dressers!...and was transported (ha ha) back to America and Oz and happy memories of some of the trips of my youth.
Now I don't usually 'muck about' with my work in Photoshop, but couldn't resist twiddling some of these images, and I've come up with some Wall Art that would make great Christmas presents! Shots range from this Rail-road crossing to Camel-warning signs in Oz and bicycle number plates in China!
Click to see 'em..and I'll cancel all journeys in order to get your prints ready...sigh!

PS...Congrats to Willy and Katie....I think I'm available that day...do you a good deal!

We print £50,000 topless Di shot....

The recession drags on..and no end's in sight. Bit like 1993, when I shot a project called 'Boardom'.
I went into Manchester and, on one 12 exposure roll of film, shot a collection of boarded-up buildings.
To make it more interesting (Hey, it was Valentine's Day and I didn't have a date..!) I stuck a copy of a Sunday Newspaper in each of the shots, with the headline referring to the building as much as I could.
Point in case...a shut-down nightclub called Dick's Last Resort...subtle, eh? I stuck the Sunday Sport to the door, with the headline 'We print £50,000 topless Di shot'...see what I mean?
The roll of negatives is still in my office..one frame of each shot..uncut.
It's a pain to think I could go out today and shoot a whole new set of images, as our high streets take the brunt of the cut-backs in spending. Anyway, you can see the whole set here....

They're lovin' it!

A fun Saturday at Altrincham market, kicking off interest in my Florescence range of Flower Photography products. People are lovin' the stuff..and there's lots of interest in people who want to re-visit my stall to stock up on their Christmas prezzies!

One of those days...

Is it really Friday the 13th ?
Woke up with a stinking cold..Man Flu definitely!...and feel awful!
Workmen are outside my house repairing the mains..so they turned the water off at 8am.
Knowing that, I dashed downstairs and filled a kettle so I'd be ok for lemsips and coffees as I settled down to process a batch of Wedding photographs. Half way through them, and the power went off. The workmen had cut through the main electrical cable! (Lucky day at least for that guy!)

Cold, thirsty and bored for a coupla hours..but now I'm up and running..Not!
My email has gone down and my website's not accessible!

My neighbour's just been across because the strong winds last night blew his fence down, and his printer broke so he needs me to scan some stuff for him...and a snapper mate of mine has phoned to ask why I hadn't replied to his emails...he wanted to tell me his laptop and a lens have gone kapput !

I'm going to bed!

Snap!

I did my first stint as a stall-holder at Altrincham Market yesterday..selling Florescence prints and tableware to the discerning Cheshire shopper! Saw this guy's gloves and couldn't resist getting him to put his hand on one of the glass placemats that was on show.  There's my flower photography and glove shots all in one!
Back there on Saturday, and then as many weekends as I can manage before Christmas, although hopefully not next to the glamorous fish market where I watched a guy sell fish all morning..and then go to the chip shop for his lunch!

By the way, it looks like my first Photography course is going ahead! I'll be taking a group of 'digi' virgins into Dunham Massey for a couple of hours shoot 'n tutor! If you wanna join in let me know!

Oh, Joy!

Great news!
My Joy Division exhibition is going up again! I was contacted yesterday by the Director of The Met..Bury's "Live music venue". He said they were asked quite often about a show I had there a few years back, and wondered if they could put my collection back up in the New Year. Naturally I said yes, and now it's full speed ahead to get the prints ready for a three-month stint starting in January. The shot above is from the Unknown Pleasures Exhibition that ran in Macclesfield during the summer. I was privileged to have my shots running in a slide-show with those of Anton Corbijn for what turned out to be a really successful exhibition.

Me and my shadow

Sorry guys...couldn't resist 'getting in' this shot during this week's Wedding!
Ah, the joys of that low Autumn sun...casting shadows everywhere and causing everyone to squint!
At least, as they say, it stayed dry, and yes, it is nice to actually have some good light to shoot a Wedding.
So, mustn't grumble, though I received a reminder from some New Zealand photographer friends that it's their Christmas 'barbeque' soon...Guess the tan's had it for this year!

Sparkling!

Another cracking Firework display by the guys at Twiss Green Primary School in Culcheth.
Well done, you lot!..and another cracking Wedding in the sunshine and autumn colours..congratulations Carly and Stuart!

An interesting week coming up for me, as I'm starting a stall at Altrincham Market, where I'll be selling cards, prints and tableware from my Florescence series. Hoping it goes well!

Division of Time

I've just picked up my copy of Kevin Cummins new book on Joy Division, and a good little piece of work it is. I'd love to have had access to the band like he did. After all, I only photographed one gig of theirs..he was actually with them for quite some time.
He admits, though, that he wasn't rushed to add new shots to his collection...he'd have time again to shoot them in the future. Of course, there was no more time for Joy Division..no future, and the rest is history.

That is the incredible thing about photography and photographers. We're always looking to the future..to get on in our careers, to make great work, to plan projects, book assignments..and all to capture history! For no sooner do we take a shot than it is already 'in the past'...gone, a memory.

I apply that to my Wedding Photography, and shoot as much as I can at all times.
(Hey, thank God for digital!).
That split second of the bride's nerves at the church door...two frames..and it's gone. That fleeting touch of hands as the couple sign the register..click..gone. Let's hope the paranoia and fear of photographing on the streets doesn't mean big chunks of our history are gone, too!

Wake Up !!

Check out this incredible photograph!
What...this snap of a tramp asleep in a park? Yes..incredible isn't it?

Well it's incredible in the literal sense of the word, in that it's really hard to believe that this boring pile of plop has been named as the Single Image International Photography Award Winning Photograph from the esteemed British Journal of Photography.

No, it really has!! One of the judges (In his long-winded cultural clap-trap explanation) said that "good photography should challenge, otherwise it could so easily be ignored".

I say this photograph should so easily have been ignored so that good photography can challenge!

PS..Here's one of mine from my Olympus XA series 'Don't Miss This'
...and may I say it gives me great pleasure to accept this award tonight..I'd like to thank my Mother, my Father....zzzzzz .....Wake Up !!

Embrace Technology!

Well I sure put some graft in at the conference I covered on Saturday. Didn't finish working 'til 1 am, and have just spent nearly four hours editing down the shoot..to 671 shots!
Imagine doing that with film? No way!

Funnily enough I recently found a 1994 copy of the British Journal of Photography. It talks of 'digital photography' as being "on the horizon", and ponders the question of whether "digital imaging equipment" will ever completely replace film. For quite a while I've wondered the same, as I was always unhappy with digital colour and the fact that it looked...erm, digital! Now I think it's fair to say I've truly embraced the medium..love it !..and hardly feel a twinge of nostalgia for film. Jeez, the number of times you'd look at your film counter and think, Cripes..I've only got two shots left!
Speaking of numbers..this same issue of BJP has a Wedding Photography feature. There's an amusing story of a photographer shooting a "28 print" wedding, and another "shooting off" eight rolls of film at unlimited locations! However, it does begin its article with "The current wedding and portrait market in the UK is, unfortunately, far from bouyant"
Ring any bells!?

Cushy number...

The rain's hammering down this morning,
but I've not got a Wedding today so I don't care!
Instead I've got a nice, day-long conference to cover..indoors!
Did I say cushy number? Just me and Lord knows how many delegates...until 10pm!
I won't know which way to turn!

Time flies...

Wow, where's a year gone?
It's 12 months since I started my Blog, and I'm still here..ranting on! (But is anyone listening?)
October's obviously an important month for me event-wise, as it also exactly marks 32 years since I became a Professional Photographer. I was 18, and I was given a Honda 50 motorbike to get around on as I hadn't yet taken my driving test to get a company car! On my first day as a 'real' photographer I remember photographing Martin Buchan, a former captain of Manchester United.
This is it, I thought...I've hit the Big Time..I'm a cutting edge journalist on Day One....

He was opening a wallpaper shop in Altrincham !

Stop Press...Speaking of Man U...make your bloody mind up, Rooney!

Another one bites the dust...

Ari Up has died! The leader singer with fab girl-band The Slits..at just 48! What a shame....I still love and play their 1979 album Cut..on vinyl! Such energy, fun and originality..in a world now full of dirge, X factor and Taylor Swift..Typical Girl she was not!!

RIP Ari..and thank you!

Off ya go, then!

Today's the day we all get slammed by the spending cuts, just as we hear about ol' greedy guts at Man U.
Two hundred and fifty grand..A WEEK...! Please tell me how the hell anyone needs that much money in their life? Personally, the sooner he shoves his coveted red shirt on that hook and buggers off..the better!

Ah..that's better! And now, the photography news!
I spent yesterday helping to judge the O2 North-West Media awards at their offices near Frodsham. Enjoyable it was, too..if not a little difficult at times. 16 categories and yes, some entries by people I know. (I was unmoved by the bribery offers...joke!!) Interesting to be on the other side of things, though, and I must admit it wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined to pass judgement on my fellow press snappers. The standard was so varied that the winners just jumped out!

Just need Mr Rooney to jump out, now!

With a bump...!

Sad to hear that the Harrier aircraft is being scrapped in the forthcoming defence budget cuts. It was my fave jet when I was growing up, and I must have built a dozen of 'em from Airfix kits in the 70's. I remember as a lad being absolutely deafened by one as it hovered over us during some kind of RAF display at Manchester's Heaton Park (None of yer elfensafety then!) and it was only in July that I watched one give its trademark 'bow' to the audience at RAF Fairford.
Having said that, I remember leaving an air-show in Lincoln early in the 'noughties, my mind still buzzing with the speed and power of the Tornadoes. As I got in the car the newsreader announced that a number of people in Iraq had been killed in a bombing raid by just that type of jet, and that's when I came back down to earth..with a bump. Thrilling as they are, these incredible, sexy machines aren't built to entertain a paying public..they're there to kill people. In the ideal world wouldn't it be wonderful if all they did was zoom round airshows and get photographed!

Excellent!

It's late and I'm knackered but I wanted to share today's Wedding with you...Louise and Robbie wed today at the Marriott Park Hotel, Worsley. 10 hours shooting for me, and just finishing an hour and a half dropping everything onto the comp....but great shots and fab memories of two young people in love and tying the knot!

Right, that's that off my chest...whiskey and a good night's kip now!

The Gloves are off..

Well, I thought I was cured, but with the first chills of Autumn come the first new additions to 'On the One Hand'!  I've started seein' gloves everywhere again! Here's a nice patriotic red, white and blue set to start off the new season...

...and here's something else you can't avoid seeing on our streets! Smoking causes fatal cancer...and smokers cause litter! What is it about smokers that they can't carry an empty packet or a cigarette end to a litter bin?  They managed to carry the packet when it was full, for God's sake! Mind you, if they can do that to their bodies, what do they care about what they do to our living environment!

Everything Everything..again!

Oh, by the way...Saw Everything Everything again the other night..and managed to get a little closer than I did last time! Practically on top of them, in fact! Great gig, guys!

Yeah!

Just added another Wedding Booking to my ever-growing list for next year. A lovely bride-to-be who's getting married at a venue I'm at this weekend. I've told her to check out next week's Recent Weddings page..where every couple I shoot get their own page on my web-site.
Meanwhile, Florescence grows in stature, and I've now been approached by a retail outlet that's looking to stock my work..Hurrah!

Go whistle...

Got my own parking spot right next to the church for the other day's Wedding, and the frame across the image put me in mind of something I think I saw last night...a compact camera with the two-thirds rule lines shown on the viewing screen! Did I see that? Please tell me there's not a camera out there that even tries to teach you photographic composition..!! It just goes to show that you've either got it or you haven't! Like an adage my friend told me the other day.."A person who buys a flute is a flute owner..a person who buys a camera is a photographer !"
Grrrrr......

The ad's done!

Alright, already! I've just shot and designed the new advert for Florescence!
This is going to run in the Christmas editions of two local magazines, and will hopefully get my range launched into a wider public field...(No pun intended..what with it being flowers and all!)
There are now placemats and coasters available, as well as a superb range of framed colour and sepia collections, all using genuine pearl photographic paper. More hot news tomorrow....

10.10.10

I know it's only the 9th, but if all goes to plan I'll be too hung-over to blog in the morning...the morning of TEN TEN TEN..so I thought I'd mark it now with a far-out picture of a globular cluster and we can all ponder the quirks of man-made calendars versus the timelessness of the universe, the mysteries of love and...oh, blimey, is that the time?

Three Little Words..

Ah, the power of words! Now, 'those' three little words are quite important to a Wedding Photographer. One kinda relies on them being said to actually make a living! But, as I blogged recently, it's generally true that hearing nothing from a client is the only way you know you're doing ok! So, I've had three 'three little word' moments this week that have steered my working mood. Shooting a house for an estate agent on Tuesday, I was busy moving furniture around and lighting dark corners. The lady in the house commented that she was getting the "Rolls-Royce treatment".. Excellent mood! Then, a client for whom I'd shot a business portrait got back to me. "Send more images"..Worried mood! The job was a rush affair and they'd asked me to send two upright and two landscape versions of the shoot. More images? Why? What was wrong with the ones I chose? Don't you like them? "We love them", came the reply "That's why we want more"..Excellent mood!
Finally, a couple came round to the studio to chat about their forthcoming Wedding. Early stages..still looking for a Photographer. I gave them my slide-show and the chat and they seemed pretty happy with what I was telling them. An hour passed, we laughed, chatted, planned their day...and then off they went. His parting words as they left?  "Well, thanks anyway!"
Bugger, bugger bugger!

Speaking of threesomes (Eh?)...this triptych is from my Florescence series!

Here comes the Judge!

Just added this funky foot-fetish Wedding shoe picture to my home page! Great picture..or is it? You be the judge! No, hang on...I'm the judge, or at least I will be. I've just been invited to join the judging panel of the 2010 North West Media Awards. Ironically, the one and only time I ever entered it (A long time ago) I won Picture of the Year! Looking forward to seeing the finest from our hard-worked northern press photographers, especially as this invitation came on the same day I heard about the snappers on one regional paper being told they were getting a three thousand pound pay....cut !

Thank you, Norman!

Goodbye, Norman Wisdom! Listening to all the lovely obits about this brilliant man has prompted me to tell you about the time I met him. He was at Manchester Airport, about to catch a flight to the Isle of Man, when I bumped into him in Departures. I asked if I could take a photograph of him, assuming he'd simply stand and smile for me. Oh no, not Norman..he waltzed over to a busker standing by the door, borrowed his guitar and case and gave me this great 'poor me!' expression. Everyone says he was always performing..and he performed just for me. What a laugh, what a guy!

Sorted!

Well would you Adam and Eve it....God bless the British weather! It hammered down all of yesterday morning right up until...the bride and groom came out of the church.! Then.. the rain stopped, the clouds parted and by the time we all got to the reception it was too sunny!
So, a good time was had by all, as they say, and Katie and Anthony are now married.
Nice to have an unstuffy priest as well...His way of announcing they were man and wife was "That's it dudes..you're sorted!"

Touchdown!

Got a real kick out of yesterday's Wedding. Widnes Rugby Ground was the venue for Liz & Pete's bash, and what a blast it was! Liz is just 'my kind of bride'! She was all too happy to get stuck in on the pitch, kicking a rugby ball with her lovely Wedding shoes and grabbing hubby in a headlock for that corny photographer's pictures! The guests enjoyed their outing too..one guy getting so excited at being on the field that he booted the rugby ball...straight into my camera! No harm done..I hope..as I'm out again today for what's looking like a bit of a wet one!

Man Flu !

Yep, that's how I'm feeling this morning...full of snot! I've had this bloody cold all week. Two Weddings this weekend and the bugger's still here! Hey, ever the pro..the show goes on. Touch wood I've never been too ill to shoot a Wedding, although it's an obvious concern for Brides-to-be. Happily, I'm in an organisation that can supply a 'stand-in' photographer should I be too poorly to shoot..and it does help that 99% of my pals are snappers, too!
I'll toast today's bride with Lemsip!

Everything, Everything..

The boys (Everything Everything, that is!) kicked off their new tour with a gig at The Academy in Liverpool last night. Sounded great but we saw er, Nothing nothing! And why is it that young gig-goers these days seem to love nothing more than talking all through a performance? 'Scuse me..I've spent good money and time to get to this gig..shut up !! (Note to self..get a bit closer to the stage when you see them in Manchester later this month..and send off that audition tape for Grumpy Old Men!)

Two great Weddings coming up this weekend...Saturday sees me at Widnes Rugby Ground! I've never done a Wedding there before and am really looking forward to having some fun on the pitch! Corny, I know, but apparently a rugby ball is produced for the photographs! I shall use it tastefully! Sunday is a Wedding for another sister from a family for whom I've shot before. Always flattering when you're booked in those situations, and you really feel a big part of the Day. Mind you, I've got an eye on the weather again. It's not looking too promising, but I'll give it my everything, everything...groan!