Wemberleeeee ....

I was at Hollin Hall Hotel again this week. Not for a Wedding but for a PR shoot, taking shots they can use on their website. Have a click on the images, see what you think ..

Hard to change from that to the subject of my next topic, so let's just go for it. I'm going to Wembley today to watch Manchester United! First time I've ever been to Wembley to watch a football match, as I've only been for the American Football. I'm a guest of Emirates airline - name drop, name drop - and I'm so looking forward to it I've been been for a hair cut!..

Have a great weekend .. oh, and come on you reds ...

Gone ..

And so another one bites the dust. Poor old Prince, and just a day after poor old Victoria Wood. Actually, neither of them were old and that just makes it all the more sad. As soon as I heard of the death of Prince I hit my record collection and pulled out .. both .. singles that I own by him. I think it's true to say I wasn't his biggest fan but it's just the shock, isn't it? The suddenness, the surprise, the knowledge that the world of your youth has changed just another little bit ..

I'm afraid to say my only memory of Victoria Wood is a bad one. I was sent to photograph her at some charity thing or other, and she wouldn't play ball. Just wouldn't come on a picture, and who knows why? Busy day? Time of the month? Didn't like my ugly mush? Whatever the reason, she wouldn't pose for me and, as much as I enjoy her music and humour, and as funny and talented and nice as she was, I'm afraid I've never been able to forget that one negative impression of her. First impressions do count. Mess those up and the moment, like all the stars that are dropping dead around us, will be gone forever ..

Get off yer arses ..

If you shop at Sainsbury's supermarket you'll be asked at the check-out if you're collecting 'Active Kids' vouchers. I always reply 'Kids shouldn't need vouchers to be active' (I know, what a wit!) .. and think nothing more of it but, yesterday, I saw a big advertising poster for the scheme announcing 'Let's get our kids active' and I thought 'what the hell is going on'? How come we suddenly need large companies to try to get kids off their arses? Eat well, move well and live well is the aim of the project. Well, the weather was gorgeous yesterday and, when I was a kid, that would have meant getting home from school, having a meal invariably involving chips and getting outside to play until it went dark. You couldn't keep us in! Now that, my friends, was living well ..

Ps: Today's shot is another from my archive at Martin O'Neill Photography ..

Come on you reds ..

It's amazing how things work out sometimes. I had a portrait session booked at the studio yesterday morning and I was determined I'd try out a new red backdrop I'd recently bought. Well, who should walk in but a lovely redhead .. in a red dress! You can't make this stuff up! What a fab shot, and what a great debut for my backdrop. Hey, perhaps it's a sign. Maybe The Reds will come up with the goods at Wembley next Saturday. I certainly hope so .. 

What a load of rubbish ..

As I turn more and more into Victor Meldrew - an ever-complaining fictional TV character for those of you reading overseas - I thought I'd share a photographic project I started a while back. It's nothing I work on too much, just a slowly-growing collection of photographs taken as and when I see them. It's called 'Bush as Bin' and features items of trash/rubbish/litter that have been left in our gorgeous green hedges. People in this country are so lazy! England is becoming one big trash heap! Ironically, the slogan on this discarded MacDonald's bag reads 'Some things we'd love to share'. Well, thanks for the thought you moron - now pick it up and take it home you lazy git ..

Good things come in threes ..

As 'Feel-Good' Thursdays go, this one's got off to a cracking start. First things first, of course, so we'll get the subject of football out of the way. I watched the Man U game last night with my fingers, toes and eyes crossed and what do you know? The boys came good and beat West Ham to get to play in the game at Wembley for which I have tickets! Phew ..

Second feel-good moment is the fact that Manchester Wedding Photography has just booked its 'furthest-away' Wedding - not in distance, but in time. I'm now booked for the August Bank Holiday weekend, next year!..

And, as all good things come in threes, I woke this morning to an email from Japan telling me that one of the designer clothing shops in Tokyo is going to produce a Limited Edition run of T shirts featuring one of my Joy Division photographs!..

As I look out of the window it's started to pour down, but no amount of rain is going to dampen my spirits today ..  

Upping your game ..

A new set of Wedding albums was delivered yesterday and I felt I had to show you a photograph of them. I can't wait to present them to the bride! Of course, these things aren't cheap and it's timely that there was an article in the 'paper yesterday about a couple who have been disappointed by the photographs produced by their Wedding photographer. Amazingly, this couple weren't put off by the fact that the person they booked to shoot their Big Day was a "student" with prices starting from £125. More fool them - you get what you pay for in this game ..

Speaking of games brings me nicely on to the subject of football. I don't write about it very often but today is different. We've managed to get tickets to the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley next weekend, with the prospect of seeing Manchester United playing for a place in the final. The only problem is .. they've not got through to the semis yet! That all depends on them beating West Ham this evening. I don't think I've been this keen on a football result since I was 13! Come on you Reds ..

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 ..
 

After dark ..

Excuse the rather grainy camera-phone image, but I wanted to show you what my studio now looks like at night. I've had some new canvas prints made and the two in the window are a portrait of a little baby and a shot of a bride who married at Peckforton Castle. I've rigged up a couple of lamps to shine through them with the aim, obviously, of drawing people's attention to the fact that I'm up there.

I'll be up there most of today actually as I have a lovely family shoot to do, as well as two appointments with prospective 'Brides-to-be'. After that, funnily enough, I'm back at Peckforton Castle. Not to shoot a Wedding, but to enjoy afternoon tea as part of a family birthday celebration. I'm thinking it'll be after dark by the time I get back home again .. 

In with the new ..

There's a kind of Spring re-vamp going on at O'Neill HQ. I've just taken delivery of four fantastic big canvas prints which I've put up at the studio - you can see the Wedding and the baby portrait here - and I've also ordered a new sample Wedding album which will be the first I've designed with glossy pages. It's being delivered today and I'm like a kid at Christmas! And, yesterday, I was invited to meet with a great Marketing and PR company in Liverpool. Things are looking good there. Let's put it this way, I was greeted at the door with a hug and a plate of toast. Doesn't get more friendly than that, eh?..

Some days are just perfect ..

What a great start to the working week! Monday began with two emails from brides enquiring about booking me for their Weddings - one at the wonderful Willington hall and one at a private venue in London. If that wasn't enough I then went across to the studio to find this Thank You card waiting for me .. from Claire and Stephen, whose Wedding I photographed at Mere Court in between Christmas and New Year. My favourite line? "You seem to have captured every little detail.." - a statement that I hope is not lost on all the great Brides-to-be I met yesterday at the Hollin Hall Hotel Wedding Fayre.

All this and, as it's Lesley's birthday, I get the day off, too! Life is sweet ..

April Fool ..

I honestly believed I'd been the victim of an April Fool's joke this morning. I've been chasing an outstanding payment for four months and, this morning, I got it! I had to double-check to make sure it had actually happened! But what a state of affairs to have to wait so long to be paid. I shot the work on December 5th and you can probably take it as read that it's the last time I'll do anything for this particular company ..

However, it's in the bank at last and I can turn my mind to other matters. Main thing at the moment is Sunday's Wedding Fayre at Hollin Hall Hotel. I'm thinking BIG for this one and, to that end, I've had a whopper of a canvas print made - all of almost four feet long! I love it! If you're thinking of tying the knot any time soon then come down and see it ..

A quick explanation of today's photographs. These were shot in Bali a long time ago - they're transparencies - and I remember watching this guy videoing (as it would have been) whilst standing in the shallows. Doesn't he realise - I thought to myself - there are some quite big waves that come into that shoreline? I guess he didn't! What a fool ..

Baby, look at you now ..

This week's all about babies! I photographed a Christening at the weekend and I have four photo-shoots to come with young families at the studio. In between all of that I'm getting myself organised for the first Wedding Fayre I'll have done in eight months! Wow, where did that time go? I'll be down at the lovely Hollin Hall Country House Hotel on Sunday from 11 o'clock. Free engagement shoot and signing board if you book me from this event, by the way! Sounds good, baby ..

If I only had time ..

I was down in Birmingham yesterday for the annual UK Photography Show and I'm pleased to report that my credit card has survived intact. Boy, I could have done it some serious damage there .. you can imagine all the new gear that was on display! As it was, I actually came away with a couple of bargains. I spent a mere £20 on a gorgeous orange/red backdrop - normal price way over £100 - and a book that I wanted to get was in a buy one/get one free offer! Brilliant! Highlight of the day for me was during a talk I attended on 'The art of the quick portrait'. The guy giving the demo showed us lots of shots of 'celebs' that he took mere minutes to produce. He then got into a bit of a technical mess with a camera that wouldn't tether to his laptop properly, and came out with an ironic quote that I'll bet has been uttered by every Wedding photographer under the sun.
"I wish .." he said ".. we had a bit more time.."

 

A complete whitewash ..

Look what I had to photograph today! Doesn't look much, does it, but I've had to wait almost two weeks for that space to be turned back into a white wall! It was the site of an amazing mural, the creation of which I covered as a Stop Motion video a couple of years back and, if you click here to see it, you'll understand why it took so much emulsion paint to get it back to 'normal'..

Still, all good things come to an end and now that the company has moved to bigger premises it remains to be seen what the new residents will make of it .. 

Thirty seven years ..

It's very strange to think that 37 years have now passed since I took this photograph but today is the anniversary of that Joy Division gig at Bowdon Vale Youth Club. Thirty seven years ago, as a wee 18 year old lad, I rode on my little Honda 50 motorbike to the gig and took two rolls of film of a band that 'felt good'! Unfortunately, I failed miserably in getting my local newspaper to use the shots and they sat unused for the next 25 years! It's good that they're out there now. It's just a shame that Ian isn't ..

My feminine side ..

Brides are given lots of advice by Wedding magazines when it comes to choosing a photographer for their Big Day .. 'Make sure you like their style' - 'Are they someone you feel you'd actually like as a guest at your Wedding?' - 'Are they within your budget range?' .. and so on .. and when I meet a new bride all these things naturally come into play. However, if a lady decides she doesn't want to book me I'm always, obviously, curious as to why not. I don't take things personally - you can't win 'em all, as they say - but none of that prepared me for the reason I was given by a lady who came to see me recently. She'd decided not to book me  - she said - because she wanted a female photographer ...

 

The tears of women ..

I popped down to London to see a band over the weekend, and got to the Lee Miller exhibition whilst I was there. She was a woman photographer in the proverbial 'man's world' - covering the Second World War and beyond - so it was rather ironic that my progress down Oxford Street was halted somewhat when I had to stop to let this women's rights rally pass. I felt the word 'Gap' was rather well placed..

Anyway, the band were great and the exhibition was worth seeing, so I headed home for Mother's Day only for both our Mums to be too poorly to see us! Oh, dear! Get well soon, Mums! I did get some good news though, as I'd printed a portrait of two youngsters I'd shot in the studio which was given as a gift on Mother's Day. Apparently it caused "happy tears" .. the only kind of tears a lady should have!.. 

Nice to be remembered ..

I was having a chat this week with a young lady who got married last July - I'd seen some of her Wedding photographs on her Facebook page but don't worry, I'm not a stalker, there was a reason but never mind that now! Who did your photographs? I asked her. She stopped and thought about it. "Er, **** somebody, I think.." she said, but I was very unhappy as she didn't do any of the pictures I really wanted!..

Ten minutes after that I welcomed to my studio a couple whose Wedding I photographed at Tatton Park ten years ago. They wanted an anniversary portrait-shoot and instantly, as they say, they thought of me! Not only that, but they told me they'd gone round their house that morning and counted twenty-two of my Wedding photographs on their wall! Ten years on! How lovely to be remembered!...

Just saying ...

What a load of rubbish ..

The first of March, so technically Spring - Hurrah! - and a good excuse to show you my Flickr photograph of an amusingly 'disguised' wheely-bin next to some privets..

Funnily enough, my PR work today is a load of rubbish. Erm, let me rephrase that .. today I'll be shooting for a recycling company and some of the shots on the list include close-ups of 'people recycling cans' .. told you it was rubbish!..

Actually, the client is a new one to me and, when I asked how he'd found me, he told me he'd Googled 'Manchester PR Photographers' and .. to quote, he replied "I thought your website stood out and was a lot better than other photographers websites" Hmm, not so rubbish after all ..