Lost and found....

Who are these guys? 
I've found a whole series of shots of bands from years gone by...and I don't know who they are !! This shot, for example. I've obviously set it up before or after a gig, but I cannot remember where, when or why! (I don't know where their shirts are, either!)
Some shots are at The Band on the Wall (The fact that it says the name on the back wall is a kind of giveaway!), but I'm at a loss as to who all the singers are. I'll sort them onto Flickr soon and if you can help, please erm...help!

Speaking of finding things...a guy's picked up a roll of film in the snow in the US (Film??) and wants to find its owners. Check his film out...

He's Back.....

When routine bites hard...go on holiday. Just remember to come back in time for your exhibition opening! Yes, folks...I have returned..fresh, enthusiastic and ready for the opening of my Joy Division exhibition at Bury Met. Nice and hot where I was...but don't worry, I didn't wear any of these Limited Edition T-Shirts to stay/look cool! I only have 15, and they're all available to purchase for a lovely Limited Edition price on Saturday..Prints, too..oh, and a booklet of all the images.

All very timely as I was told today that Bowdon Vale Youth Club has re-opened. Different building..same name. Must check it out and report back!

Catch you later...gotta get my smalls in the wash!!

It all Ad's up..!

A flurry of advertising activity here, as I launch Ads and prepare Wedding Fayre material for the approach of Spring. (Seems you gotta spell it Fayre when it's connected with Weddings, for some quaint reason!!) Here's my ad for a local magazine that's publishing a Wedding Supplement, and I've got two fairs/fayres coming up within the next month or so. (Details on my website soon, 'cos I know you're dying to meet me!)

Other than that..the launch date for the Joy Division photography exhibition has been announced....
January 22nd, at the Bury Met..2-4pm..Square or there and all that!

Until then I'm looking forward to a few days' break..so I'm going to have to deprive you of my scintillating wit and insightful observation..! A bientot !

Walk on, buy !

Another change to my website this morning...I really like this shot and can't resist putting it back on every now and again. All part of the effort to keep my site looking interesting and, hopefully, enticing!
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, by the way.....from as far as Slovenia, Russia and New Zealand!

Oh, good news on the Joy Division front. Once the exhibition's finished its stint in the upstairs area, the Bury Met now plan to show it in the downstairs bar. I'll drink to that!

What are the chances..?

Talk about coincidences! I write about ear-plugs, pop my I-Pod on shuffle, and what comes on?
Deaf, by those old Manchester rockers Crispy Ambulance!
And it's weirder than that...I'd just come back from Bury Met after putting up my Joy Division exhibition.
The band played there when it was called the Derby Hall, on the night of the infamous "riot" caused by the non-appearance of Ian Curtis. Who stood in for him? My old mate Alan Hempsall..lead singer with Crispy Ambulance! Spooky, or what!?

Anyway, catch the exhibition at The Met until the end of March. I Remember Nothing...20+ shots of Joy Division at Bowdon Vale Youth Club, March 1979.

Speak up...

I pack a mean set of gear when I go to shoot a Wedding.
Three bodies, four speedlights, a semi fish-eye, an 8x neutral density, but I never thought I'd need...ear plugs!

I've just read a photo magazine Wedding supplement which included a half-page feature on protecting one's ears when photographing the first dance! With a review of three different kinds of plugs! In a photography magazine! Honestly! Wow, I never knew Wedding photography was so hazardous!

Pardon?

In the balance...

Feeling a bit like the Waitrose/HMV situation today....walking a tightrope between good times and bad!
I'm going to be honest and say my Wedding bookings for this year are erm, a bit low, and on a day I've dropped my cheapest package to just £495 I've been approached by a classy bridal magazine with an offer of a discount on a quarter page advert which is normally..£2, 316...PLUS VAT!
Talk about two different planets!

Even so, my first enquiry since I launched the new price wanted their whole Wedding photographed, and all images on Cd..for £450 !  Hey, they've even offered to give me the blank Cd to put the shots on !! Thanks, guys!

The public's perception of the importance of photographers is getting lower and lower, and it's becoming very difficult to explain to couples that Wedding Photography is so much more than just wandering around taking a few snaps. One chap I was speaking to lately told me the best Wedding photo he ever shot was when the couple didn't know they were being photographed.
"Oh yes?" I replied "I do 600 of those every week!"

Time, gentlemen....

Three little ladybirds, hunkered down against the cold New Year weather. I took this shot on a walk the other day and saw it as an analogy of the year ahead...
Let's stick together and we'll get through this! (Or had I just had too much Bailey's?)

So, 2011...bring it on! I think last year felt the fastest year of my life, yet trying to handhold the camera for this half-second shot seemed like ages! (Ah, the joys of getting older!) Ironically, the first Wedding enquiry to come in this year was actually for 2012. Seems ages off, yet their Big Day's only 16 months away. Time flies, eh? Enjoy it while you can!

My latest Joy Division exhibition starts this week. It's now 32 years since I took those shots at Bowdon Vale Youth Club, yet they seem to be getting fresher and more popular every year. Catch them until the end of March at the Met in Bury. Speaking of time, it's a shame the brochure got the date of the gig wrong, but who am I to nit-pick!?

Now, must dash...time's a'flying!







 Stop Press: Timing's everything!.....I've just managed to get ONE frame of the eclipse this morning, and even that was through the trees by my house! I sat and watched..time ticked by..and then the clouds parted for the split second it took to get this shot. 500mm mirror lens and framed using live-view, if you're interested!

Goodbye 2010...and Thank you!

So, a rousing cheer for the year, and on we step into 2011.
Exciting, challenging...scary! Let's just wish ourselves all the best..and get on with it!.
See you Next Year !!

Made it!

Welcome to "The Other Side"! We've survived Christmas...even this family member, who's now eaten her "Annual Sprout"! Hope it was great for everyone, and I can't help wondering how many brand-new digital cameras are now unwrapped and causing consternation to their new owners! Hey, perhaps I can help! Try one of my relaxed Shoot 'n Tutor sessions!!..  :-)

So, a real end-of-year feeling to everything now. My Weddings are done for 2010, and there's a quieter time ahead, so I'll soon be planning my Valentine's Day Portrait Campaign and my new Joy Division exhibitions.

Keep warm!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's here again....we made it to Christmas 2010!
Congratulations!!
Here's me and my sister Catherine in, I think, 1964.
(Must have been a hot Christmas 'cos I'm in shorts and sandals!)
We look happy, excited and innocent. I wish you all a Christmas just like that!

With Glove at Christmas...

Some interesting reaction to yesterday's blog...ranging from "Send the shot to the local press"  to "...an excellent example of how photography, in 1/125th of a second, can tell the viewer so much!!"

Ta for the input, guys!

Anyway, there's been a (snow) flurry of Glove activity lately. This addiction (affliction?) is driving me mad...I keep seeing abandoned gloves everywhere! I almost missed my train back from London the other day because of all the glove shots I was taking on the way through Hyde Park. See 'em for yourself in my "On the one hand" series....

Goodwill to all ...

...even to the guy in this car, who parked up on the pavement-engine running to keep warm- and watched as this nurse had to push her elderly patient up onto the shovelled snow to get passed him.
Christmas...a time to grit your teeth and smile at all the selfish, inconsiderate bastards in the world!
Don't it warm the cockles of yer 'eart, guvnor!

Hmph...wasn't this blog supposed to be about photography? You'll have to excuse me...I've got Man-Flu and I'm grumpy! The show goes on, though..and I'm stuck in watching out of the window for the delivery of my new printer. The built-in bloody obsolesence of my old one has meant it's now in the loft and I'm £235 down after buying a new one! (Oh, seems I'm still grumpy!) At least I can invoice for December's work, now! Done some great acrylic portraits for clients this Christmas, and a fantastic 18x20 Florescence acrylic that's so good I don't want to sell it!

Hope my delivery driver doesn't park on the path....

Listen to teacher....

The last-minute gift for the snapper in your life?
A session (or two) on my laid-back Shoot 'n Tutor Photography sessions...of course! 35 quid a pop and ideal for the digital camera owner who erm, wants to be able to use it !

My own initial 'lessons' consisted of reading every damned photography book in Eccles Library, then enrolling on a night-school course in 1977. The teacher, good old Phil Lingard..where are you, Phil?..had just graduated in photography (Fine-Arts, methinks), and the poor bugger didn't have the foggiest idea how to impart his knowledge to us raw recruits! I remember he stuck a light in front of a model one night, and left us to our own devices. (Actually, she was lovely..we had a blast!) Another night we hit Manchester for an evening of low-light photography and we all nearly froze to death looking for defining shots of the city in the winter (Rings a bell !)

If you want to go that step further in photography, though, it takes a lot more than knowing your f-stops from your focal lengths. I actually didn't get on the NUJ Press Photography course when I was 17 because one of my O levels was not of a high-enough grade. I promptly went out, starting shooting news pictures and got a job with the first newspaper I applied to! I perversely loved it one time when I failed to clinch a Wedding booking because the Bride's mother asked me what qualifications I had. "None" I replied..."Just 32 years experience as a Photographer!"

Albums a go-go!

Phwoar..check out my stack!
Story-books, parents' albums, guest books, brushed-metal covers, open-flat pages.....my new Wedding range is in! (Doesn't take a lot to get me going, does it?) It's been a long time in the making but I've taken the decision to join the 'Digital Story-Book' world, and I'm so pleased I'm (finally) able to offer this range to my new couples. The photographs look fantastic, and the design's amazing (Yes, I know I did it but when did boasting ever bother me?)

Speaking of boasting...lovely email yesterday from the proud father of one of my young portrait subjects... "Just to let you know, the photo of Jack was tremendous!!  Really love it!!  It will take pride of place in the lounge...Great work mate!"

I have a lovely warm glow about me...and it's nothing to do with the Bell's in me coffee! 

Fairytale, storybook...

The world's gone white but my fairytale's come in the shape of my new Storybook Wedding Album, a sample of which made it through the snow to get to me this morning. I'm loving the brushed-metal cover, the fold-flat pages and the many and several mini-versions of it that come in handy for passing to parents and pals! Can't wait for 'my couples' to cast their beadies over these beauts!

So, it's snowing...a lot, and I was just one of the weather's victims last night...stuck on a train back from London and finally getting home at 12.50 am. I went down to present samples of Florescence to a couple of the Big Stores there. Hopefully something might come of it, and this time next year you'll all be dining off my placemats and coasters. Well, use plates and cups, obviously, but you get the idea!

Now let's shoot this new range of albums and get 'em on the website...

Ya boo sucks....

Another nipper for you, and this ruffian from a Wedding I'm working on sums up my feelings for Epson this morning! My printer has frozen..telling me that parts of it have reached the end of their service life. So why the heck was it working fine until it 'decided' to stop? Now I'm either going to have to send it back to Epson or ditch it and start again..depending on the costs!! Talk about our throw-away society!

Tell you one thing I am throwing away...a flier that was delivered this morning offering me cheap Christmas gifts of a Deluxe Photoshoot (Gee, thanks...)..and a "Farrari" (sic) driving experience!

Ding, dong...

Ah, the Christmas spirit is finally starting to seep into the old head, and I'm loving all the carols on Classic FM. Reminded me of this little nipper, who you'd swear was beltin' out the songs at this Wedding!

Incidentally, does anyone know how to reset an Epson R1800..'cos if not I'll be asking Santa for a new one soon!

Face the music...

The new image on my home page is the music to 'Here comes the Bride', just one of the detail shots I'd take as I shoot a Wedding, and a good way to say I saw a great gig at the Royal Northern College of Music last night. Our old friends Everything Everything played their album with the backing of a 13 piece orchestral ensemble, and very good it was, too!
Time to take note (Ha!) of the fact that times are hard out there, and I've now decided to introduce an even more affordable Wedding Photography Package, aimed at the smaller Wedding or the budget-concious couple.
Also on the subject of music...erm, no, I won't mention Putin singing Blueberry Hill..although I did have a great night once photographing Bryan Robson and Peter Schmeichel singing Karaoke in a Manchester club..sozzled..at 3am! Music to my ears!

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!