Modelling ..

Glamour Photography .. circa 1977! I think it's fair to say I wasn't exactly cutting edge, but it brought a smile to my face when these photographs emerged the other day. Both girls worked in the same office as I did at Gardner Diesels in Eccles - in my pre-photographer days - and I'd obviously persuaded them to pose in order for me to gain some experience in the mysterious world of 'modelling'. How quaint ..

I was shooting a different kind of modelling yesterday. Three dimensional modelling of ear moulds! Not quite the same, eh? I was shooting PR for a firm that makes custom 'ear products' .. noise protection for musicians and such like and, as much as I enjoyed it - and I did, it was a really interesting lighting/posing challenge - I don't think I had that in mind as a nascent photographer all those years ago. Still, modelling is modelling ..

Michelle's little helpers ..

There was no shortage of help at the Wedding yesterday at Hollin Hall Hotel. The bride's pals were only too happy to dive in and shift lights or straighten veils for me. Thank you, ladies. I just wonder if I should expect to receive an invoice! Many congrats to Michelle and Ben, and check out their page on my website ..

Now you see it ..

I'm writing this on a typical Friday night before a Wedding. I'm charging batteries, cleaning sensors, dusting lenses, formatting memory cards .. all to make sure I'm good to go in the morning. So it was nice that I got a chance to get out this afternoon, walk the dogs, get some fresh air .. and notice all the blossom, already falling to the floor. That's Wedding Photography in a nutshell. A Wedding Day is such a fast moving, fleeting thing that it's vital you have a good photographer to capture the entire feel of the day whilst it's there. Sod this modern "fashion shoot" approach to Weddings. Get in there and get some proper documentary photography done. Sermon over ..

In floods ..

My nose is running, my car isn't running ..  and a leak in the kitchen has brought down part of the ceiling. I'm in floods ..

I'm suddenly full of a cold that's absolutely knocked me for six, my car's developed an oil leak that's put it in a garage since Tuesday and now a drip from the bathroom (I think) has made a bloody big hole in the kitchen ceiling.
On the plus side, er ..

Well, of course, the plus side is that my cold will be gone by the time I shoot Saturday's Wedding, the car will be ready tomorrow and I've got a mate called Terry who's a plasterer. Sorted. Don't sweat the small stuff, eh?..

Ps: Any excuse to show this archive shot of my cousin fixing my old Fiat 127 .. in his socks!

Hels Bells ..

Bad weather? Well, I'm not saying it was windy at yesterday's Wedding but just take a look at this. The bloody veil blew off! Then it drizzled, then it rained, then it absolutely hammered down .. and all the bride and groom's family group shots had to be done indoors. Still, we managed to get every picture the couple wanted, and more power to Helen and Simon for braving the elements just to please little old me. Many congratulations, guys. Oh, and Hels Bells? It's not a misprint, it's Helen's name on ye olde Book of Face.
Hell's Bells indeed ..

Safe hands ..

As I plan my trip to a Wedding tomorrow there's a family in France gearing up to visit our gîte. I'll be heading off to the countryside of south Cheshire as they travel to the rural peace of Deux-Sèvres, and this is how my summer is going to be. I'll be photographing Weddings here as our gîte rental business takes off there. We're lucky in that we've found an English couple in France who will 'run' the gîte for us until we can get over there permanently in September. It's nice to know it's in safe hands ..

Today's photograph features a bride enjoying a game of cricket with her ushers at Heaton House Farm. That's where I'll be in the morning and, happily, tomorrow's bride will know her Wedding's in safe hands, too ..

Number One Fan ..

I was looking at gig listings in the Sunday 'paper yesterday, checking out tours coming up later in the year, when I was suddenly struck by a thought. I won't be here! I'll be living in France by the Autumn. Oh wow, how exciting. Having said that, there's absolutely no-one I want to go and see any more and, even if I did, I wouldn't be able to enjoy them like I show in my archive shot, leaning right on the stage with my ear-'oles shoved into the speakers! I know it's a generational thing but I haven't heard of most of the 'stars' listed in the 'paper anyway and I had a taste of how 'out of touch' I am when I shot the Food-Eating contest at The Trafford Centre last Thursday. When I got home I tweeted a photograph of one of the organisers, a young actor called Danny Miller. Now, lovely lad that he is, and no disrespect to Danny, but I'd never heard of him until last week. I had to have him pointed out to me as someone I needed to photograph. Well it shows you what I know 'cos the image began to get hits and shares as soon as I tweeted it and, by this morning, it had had - let me check - 8,465 hits. The most I've ever had for a tweet. (Out of curiosity I waited for a moment after I typed that and that number rose by another three hits.) He might be a stranger to me but he sure as hell has a lot of fans out there. Perhaps I should join their ranks. Get with the programme, grandad ..

Ps: The programme? Emmerdale .. but then you knew that already, didn't you?

Stop Press: 4pm Tuesday .. now 8,888 hits! Dey like dat boy ...

Enjoy ..

Spring is well under way now - it's just a shame it's so damned cold - but I braved the chilly dawn to bring you today's shots from my garden ..

I had a fun PR evening last night, photographing a 'Food-eating' contest for Manchester's Trafford Centre. Ironically I didn't get a scrap of nosh myself and was too far past it to eat anything by the time I finished work just after ten.
Maybe that's why I'm feeling the cold ..

One of the nice things about last night was meeting up (again) with the evening's compere. We used to work together when I shot the PR photography for the long-shut Camelot Theme Park near Preston. I shot his Wedding too, although I got a shock when he reminded me when that was. The year 2000. My God, where does it go? I learnt this morning of the death of an editor who used to give me lots of business portrait photography. Dead at 54. Enjoy it folks, enjoy it ..

Sharp exit ..

A Ryanair jet approaches the north coast of France, and more guests flock to our new gîte for their holiday. We woke this morning to news of our eighth booking - a fantastic start to the day and one that amazes me considering our standing start! Ironically it's now costing us money. Because we're not yet there full time, we have to pay somebody over in France to clean the gîte and turn it round for new guests. Still, we're doing our bit for the local economy ..

I'm at Manchester's Trafford Centre tonight to shoot a PR event featuring five .. er .. celebrities. Folks, I haven't heard of a single one of them. I think I might be getting out of this game at just the right time ..  

One thing leads to another ..

Well, the fresh green shoots are certainly budding, and I don't just mean the arrival of Spring. The start of our new lives in France is really taking hold. Yesterday we took our seventh successive gîte booking, meaning we now have guests to stay every month from now until September, and I've also made a contact over there who's putting me forward for press work with a couple of the UK's national papers. Hey, we're even being considered to appear on a TV programme. Sacré bleu ..

I gave the first ever 'public' reading of my new book on Monday, to a group of youngsters at a children's book club. I wasn't sure how it was received until the leader of the group told me "They stayed quiet .. that's a good sign!" This first reading has now meant that one of our local primary schools has booked me to give a reading there and, amazingly, the owner of a local pre-school group has booked me to come in to photograph the kids. Isn't it funny how one thing leads to another? ..



 


  

And we're off ..

Say hello to a couple of bona fide French gîte owners! Yes folks, we have the first ever guests at our place in France, and I went over at the weekend to meet them. Man it feels fantastic, after all our hard work, to be finally renting out the house, and I hope Julian and his family (and his dog) have a blast whilst they're there ..

So now our 'change of direction' feels real. Our next guests arrive next month, and we have bookings up to September already. The ball is rolling and there's no looking back. It is bloody exciting!
Allez les bleus ..

Goodbye Europe, Hello France ..

It's so ironic that, on the day the UK says tatty-bye to Europe, Lesley and I are getting closer and closer to living in France. We've got the house, the gîte and near-as-damn-it a leaving date, and my God it's exciting! ..

Our first ever paying guests arrive at the gîte this weekend, and I'm off across the channel tomorrow to greet them. I'm thrilled and nervous all at the same time. It's the start of a whole new life for us both so we really hope our visitors kick us off with a most splendid visit. You can follow my progress by reading our 'gîte tweets' ..

Funnily enough, my car's been at the garage all this week and I've been given a courtesy car whilst it's being fixed. What kind? A Citroên. It's a sign! ..

Taking the plunge ..

I'm moving to France!..

How's that for the start of a blog? You may have already read that my partner and I bought a gite over there, and we now aim to move out full time later on this year. The gite's called La Galerie, and we already have six bookings for it - not bad from a standing start! In addition, I'm going to be running One-Day Photography Workshops for our guests, and I already have two people booked on that too, so I'm going to have to go to France just to do it. Any excuse, eh? .. 

Exciting, or what? It's a whole new change of direction for us both, and we cannot wait! In the meantime, I have a summer full of Weddings to shoot, and then my focus will be on getting bookings for Weddings and property in France ..

So, if you fancy a great holiday in France, with a day's professional photography tuition, then please get in touch. We'd be delighted to see you. Ooh la la ..

For you, Mum ..

It's summer! It's Mother's Day! It's .. my Lord, it all comes at once, doesn't it? Anyway, Happy Mother's Day, Mum! Here's to you and all you've done for me ..

This is a lovely memory for me. I once took my Mum on a pleasure trip on Concorde. We went from Manchester Airport to Heathrow and I think it took about 14 minutes! One of the best quarters of an hour I've ever had!
My Mum enjoyed it, too. Can you tell?..

That's it, I'm done ..

Lovely catch-up with an old mucker this morning, and we both felt truly at home amongst the old folk having coffee at a local garden centre! Man, how the years fly. He's been a photographer even longer than I have! We reminisced about the 'old days' - he shot The Ramones and Blondie - and we talked about the future of professional photography in the UK. We've both decided there isn't one! As excellent a photographer as he is - and, dare I say, I am - we both see our bookings declining, but I have a plan ..

So today, no PR job or Wedding editing (Wediting!) .. instead coffee and cake and a nice stroll amongst the camellia in my garden. My photographic future lies elsewhere and I can't wait to tell you about it ..

Mad for it ..

Down to The Photography Show at Birmingham's NEC yesterday for a talk by renowned photographer Albert Watson, who's still clicking away at the grand old age of 74. I take that as a good sign for my own future, as I found myself nodding vigorously when he described his love of photography not as a passion .. but an obsession. Me too! I'm mad for it! Like, totes baby, totes ..

Ps: As a follow-on from Friday's blog, I'm pleased to tell you that I did get Albert's autograph! 

Sign here ..

I've been in Photography heaven lately (Am I ever out of it?) ..

BBC Four has been running a 'Photography' series, with a particularly good night last night featuring a fantastic look back at some of the Beeb's programmes about famous photographers. (It's on catch-up if you fancy it). I've met quite a few famous snappers in my time, including Elliott Erwitt, David Bailey and Mary Ellen Mark, but one of my most enjoyable encounters was with the late, great André Kertesz, who I met on the occasion of his 90th birthday. He was an absolute delight, and I look back with warmth at the autograph he gave me after I'd taken his photograph. It's so fantastic to meet the people who actually took some of your favourite photographs. Tomorrow I'm off to hear a talk by Albert Watson. Hopefully he'll add his scribble to my ever-growing autograph book ..

Follow me .. I'm not lost!

I've just been asked if I'd mind being followed around by a 16 year old girl. Hey, it's been along time since that's happened. However, this youngster is an Austrian photography student, who'll be spending some time over here in the summer. One of my contacts has asked if she could shadow me for a while and of course I don't mind in the slightest, as long as it doesn't look like she's there to take care of her grandad ..

Teaching photography will be one of the things on which I'll be focusing (ha ha!) at our French gîte. I'm offering a one-day workshop, covering the basics of that magical being called photography, and am delighted to say I already have two bookings later this year.

It's going to mark a major change in my life ...........................!

Getting my fix ..

I've had a fantastic weekend, with a Wedding on Saturday and a Wedding Fayre on Sunday. I actually had to leave a photograph of myself on the sideboard so that Lesley would remember what I looked like ..

Saturday was fab, with the Wedding of Jane and Christian in Winsford and a reception at the delicious Willington Hall near Chester. I love this intimate little moment as the newly-weds emerged from the church. Many congrats, you two ..

Sunday was spent at Hollin Hall, where I had a stand at their Wedding Fayre. I spoke to lots of lovely new brides and have my fingers crossed I'll be shooting for at least a couple of them very soon ..

There's now a break in my bookings until next month, so it's just as well I got a good Wedding 'fix' when I could ..

It'll all come out in the wash ..

I don't know why, but this photograph of mine has always pleased me. It was shot in a launderette in my home town of Eccles in about 1977. Perhaps it's the repetition or the pattern, or the humour of the three trolleys queueing to be used but, for me, it just 'works' as a photograph. I'm in the process of designing a one-day photography workshop, which I will offer to clients staying at our gîte in France, and I'm trying to get to grips with teaching the concept of the 'photographer's eye' - that ability to just see/feel when a photograph is right. I think I might be wasting my time, as I feel it's a skill that is innate, and can't be taught. Still, if I can't teach it, perhaps I can awaken it in people who have never before given it any thought. It'll all come out in the wash ..