The Future of Computing

If you've got a spare 10 minutes prepare to be wowed by watching this short video. How easy would this make album design etc?

Photography as a Business

I get a lot of e-mails, phone calls and the occasional letter from people from all over the world asking about photography. I must admit, I love helping people and seeing them succeed. I get a real buzz when someone e-mails me their work and says they used one of my tips. It may take me a little while if I'm busy, but I promise I do look at them all.

It was to try and help these for these people that I started my free photography e-mail course (sign up from my web page under the tips section). This also meant I didn't have to spend so long answering each and every e-mail.

The free photography tips have been a huge success. Many of the people have added themselves to my friends map in fact nearly 1000 fellow photography lovers (take a look on the bottom right of this blog, add yourself I'd love to see who you are). However I know that the best way to impart knowledge is to actually show someone and so the "Day of Discovery" course was born. I've had such a ball meeting you all and showing you the tricks that I use that help me get the shots. I absolutely love these days and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the people who have come on them. Some making mammoth journeys to spend the day (Germany is the record so far). For anyone interested the next one is on the 1st July see my site for the details.

However because I like to think of everyone who carries a camera as a friend I realise there's a few of you out there who want to actually take the plunge and make a living from photography. There are also some of you who have taken the plunge that need a little help. I know from experience that gaining customers can be really hard so I've put together a slide show that I hope will give you some ideas on how to search out those important clients. I really hope you find it of use and who knows maybe you might want to join us for the "shoot to Sell" course next month.

The End of Google?

I love techy things and have been a big fan of google for years. However unless they get their act togethor pretty quickly I can see them loosing their crown. So who's the new kid on the block?

The challenger for the search engine crown is called snap.com. From what I can see it's in its infancy at the moment but it has some great new tricks. Best of all is the ability to see the page you are being directed to before you click.

Also (as you may have already discovered) it can be incorporated into sites (like this blog) so any link will pop up and show the page you would be directed to helping you decide if you want to go there or not. This will hopefully eliminate those sites where you think it's what you want only to find it's actually just a page of adword clicks someone has put togethor in order to make money. How cool is that?

I'm guessing this is the first (and only) major challenger that google has had for a long time. In my opinion, if google doesn't do something quickly, snap.com will very soon become the search engine everyone uses.

Photographing Children Growing Up

It is always fantastic to go back and re photograph a family. The last time I saw the young girl in this image she was just a week old!

Its incredible how everyone's life moves on. It certainly doesn't feel like 18 months since we last met. How she has changed is beyond belief.

I take it as the ultimate compliment to be asked back to record children as they grow up. Capturing magical memories is something that can easily be overlooked. Unfortunately, as too many people find out, today cannot be photographed tommorow or in a weeks time.

Photography Business Training

It's been three days since the "day of discovery" Lifestyle photography course I ran. It was fantastic meeting you all and I must say thank you for the images you have all been sending. It's always a pleasure to recieve e-mails from peole afterwards as thats the real time I find out how the course really went. Here's just a few comments taken from some of the guys who have already written:

Martin,
hi, it was truly great to meet you at last yesterday, and I must say that you and Doug were superb teachers and nothing was too small, even the silly questions were answered without a fuss, which believe you me helped immensely. As to the course content this too was great and as i said on my departure I went away with a headache as a result of learning so much. Also may I point out that I have been on numerous courses via the SWPP and the NIKON courses, and i must point out that your course was with out doubt the best one that I have attended for a long time, the course content was informative, interesting and presented in a professional manner, and I can truly say that I will remember every little tip for years to come.

Hello Martin,

Thankyou for a lovely day. The whole experience has exceeded my expectations on every count. I have learnt a great deal of new techniques, but the best of all was to see you and Doug in action and to learn how the pros do it.

All in all, a great day that was made even better with the friendliness of all other attendees.

WOW! I'm SO happy you had such a great time. The weather made it harder but it shows what can be done and lets face it, if you want to take photographs on a regular basis it will at some time rain. As the image of Charlie and I shows (thanks for sending it John) I had a real fun time meeting you all too.

On another note last night I was working late and sent an e-mail out to inform people of the two day "shoot to sell" course coming up next month. Its like the next step and is aimed at people wanting to either start a photography business or to help people who are already in business but aren't reaching their full potential. I new it would be popular but i had a reply come back at 4.30 am. Now thats someone who's not afraid to make a decision!

Photography Training Day

Yesterday (4th March) we ran another lifestyle portrait training day for the budding enthusiasts wanting to learn and improve on their techniques. The weather was really against us and it didn't stop raining throughout the whole day.

Having said that we had a Fantastic day! As a group we managed to achieve the aim of educating and most importantly having fun!! I'll add some more pictures over the next few days and some of the images captured by the excellant students.

Believe me there are people who were on this course yeaterday who will no doubt be making a neam for themselves in the coming months / years. More to come ............