Crawfish Boil

Crawfish are a Louisiana delicacy, a small lobster type creature that live in the mud (nick named mud bugs). Boiled up with various Kajun spices and fruits they make excellent eating.

Randys cousin Keith has a big party at his house on Good Friday every year. This year I was lucky enough to be in the area at the right time and was invited to experience the fun. Click on the picture or here to see the slideshow of pictures from the party.

There's a trick to eating them, twist the head pinch the tail then suck out the meat ...... it must be a Lousiana thing because it took me 3 attempts to get one, guess i'll just have to keep practising.

Wedding photographs in Amite, Louisiana, USA

Pin It Occasionally I get really lucky and this weekend was no exception. I was chosen to photograph Corie and Josh's fantastic wedding in Amite, Louisiana (near New Orleans).

Click on the photograph or here to view some of the pictures.

Because I had a shot a wedding on the previous Sunday it meant I hadn't managed to get a flight till the Wednesday. So there was little time for a pre wedding planning meeting or reconnaissance of the venue. To add to that I was told that for the previous week it had pretty much rained every day, so it was looking likely that the English weather had come in front of me.

However on the day the sun came out and gave us a fantastic day to work with, i don't think I've ever worked with so much light, a truly fantastic event.

Click here to view a slide show of some of the pictures.

Wedding at the Royal Majestic

On Sunday I had the honour of photographing Emma and Barrys wedding.

The venue they had chosen for the reception was the Royal majestic. I've photographed several functions at this location, as a photographer this is a great venue. There's a large area to the rear of the hotel with some interesting garden areas, across the road there's a lake and the actual venue is large enough to cope easily with large groups.

An added bonus for Sundays party was that they had booked fantastic band (mixed feelings). I've seen mixed feelings many times at functions all over the UK and I can honestly say they have never failed to ensure everyone packs the dancefloor all night, as you can see in the top image even the toast master (Howard Robbins) couldn't resist :-).

All in all a fantastic wedding and a great time was had by all.

Now I really, really must start packing for Saturdays wedding (6,000 miles away) ....

Christian the Lion

I first saw this about a year ago but thought it so touching it deserved to be shared. This is not a fake and is absolutely true. The two brothers were interviewed recently and stated that they believed Christian had moved further north in Africa.

Another piece of proof that the internet can be used to retell old stories to new generations.

Baby Photographs

As any mother will tell you babys change on a daily basis. it's always a complete joy to be asked to capture a new born in the very first days of its life.

Click on the picture or here to see a slideshow of some of the images.

I was lucky enough to be asked to capture some images of this young guy as he was welcomed by the rest of his family (including his big sister).

In true new borm style he slept through the whole shoot only waking in the very last few images to be taken.



Click on the picture or here to see a slideshow of some of the images.

The Death of Advertising

I noticed today that ITV (TV company) are laying off a large number of staff and are stopping the production of some of their programmes. This fascinates me as it fits perfectly in to some ideas I've been putting on paper recently (due as an e-book soon). ITV claims that because of the world wide economic crisis and the fact that major businesses have no money to spend advertising on their channel they are having to take these measures. I beg to differ. I believe the reason is because their business model no is longer relevant and has stopped working.

For years the successful way to attract more customers has been to shout louder than your opposition. If you wanted to make more sales you took out a larger advert or ran it more often. It started in newspapers then as technology moved on it went to radio and then TV. This was fine and worked well when the choice was reasonably restricted. People had to sit and watch adverts as there was little choice, now what happens in every household when the adverts come on is either the TV gets turned over or the toilet gets used. We have all chosen to ignore the marketeers adverts. The hard truth that ITV is being taught by it's traditional advertisers is the shotgun type of advertising to the masses no longer works.

As a consumer why would I watch something I don't want to? All I have to do is switch over, and that's if i want to sit in front of the TV. I now have the internet and all the endless possibilities that that can offer, why watch someone elses channel when if I wanted to i could create my own at no cost? If i want information on my favourite NFL team (New Orleans saints) I don't look in my local paper, I read the Times Picayune website. I can then join any number of forums and talk to other like minded people about issues that interest me.

TV is not going to survive in its current state for much longer (except the BBC which is funded without advertising), newspapers are also in the same situation. Radio has a better chance because of its unique arrangements with the motorcar.

So if spending money on advertising in the traditional places no longer works, how should a business go about finding new customers? Well to hear my ideas about that you're going to have to wait a little longer (till I've finished my e-book) :-)

Facebook changes its terms and conditions

Has facebook created it's own downfall by getting too greedy? Before you read this understand i'm not personally opposed to facebook. I don't like some of it's terms and conditions but on the whole it's a positive thing.

For those who aren't aware facebook is a social networking site that is very popular (yes I'm a member) millions of people regularly use it to keep in touch and store images etc.

The problem many people (photographers especially) have with facebook is that they claim (yet to be legally challenged) that they own the right to everything that anyone uploads onto their website. Now if you're a photographer and someone uploads an image that means that facebook now owns all rights to reproduce it. For the majority of people they don't see it as a problem. However what they don't realise is, if for some reason they are thrust into the public limelight, lottery winner, X factor or maybe on a murder charge, facebook will sell every image and every word you ever wrote to the highest bidder.

How many people would want their drunken stag/hen night pictures on the front page of a news paper? That's exactly what is happening to everyday people and facebook are earning the money from it.

Recently facebook tried to change their terms and conditions to say that even if you left the group they still had the rights to all of your stuff. What happened was some eagle eyed bloggers noticed the change and began informing the world. Very quickly facebook realised they could be in trouble and issued statements trying to explain their stance. Two days after the managing director withdrew the changes and reinstated the old terms claiming they were reviewing their stance.

Have they left it too late? What they need to realise is nobody owns a social network, they are just entrusted by their members with it. If they try and enforce rules and regulations onto it they will leave in their millions as people did with myspace. The internet has changed the world and now more than ever before the customer is king.

Here's a group against facebook selling your images join up if you feel that what they are doing is wrong, send them a message that their customers aren't happy.

History Repeating Itself

I've recently restarted writing a project I first began probably twelve months ago, I feel it has become more relevant in today's market and I'm hoping it will be a big help to anyone willing to listen. Every day I'm adding a bit more and the plan is to release it to the photographers who've signed up for my free photography tips on my main website (go to www.martinwilmottphotography.com and click on the tips section, sign up its free).

Anyway whilst doing some research it occurred to me how the music industry is now going back to historical ways of earning money. The Internet has changed the way music is bought, in truth most people under 30 don't buy music any more, they just take it. Now as much as the music industry threaten and occasionally take a few people to court the music industry cannot beat what is happening (incidentally nor can photographers).

In the days before records (and mega big deals) performers and bands would travel around putting on shows and making a living that way. What happened as records became available the tours were geared to selling the new album / record etc and less about making money. What's happening now is the complete reverse, brand new bands are now releasing music free to download to attract people to their tours.

I guess the lesson is the rules of business have changed. The big companies can no longer just destroy the small competition by outspending them, the time for the small business is here and now. There has never been a better time for a small business to pitch itself against the big boys.

Rain rain and more rain

Ok so i know the english are famous for making small talk about the weather but you've got to admit we have got something to talk about.

A few days ago the field at the bottom of my road was full af laughing and screaming families knee deep in snowball fights and building snowmen. Today when i went down there the river had burst it's banks and completely floooded a massive area.

The photograph i've attached was taken on my phone (blackberry quality is pretty poor). The circle of logs sticking up in the air is in fact a kiddies play area that was put in last summer. This is normally about 15 metres fropm the river bank. I would guess it's at least two foot under water at the moment. The bridges accross the water are impossible to reach unless you use a boat.

The weather men are saying we had a months worth of rain last night in 8 hours. Hmmm all of a sudden New Orleans is looking very inviting again.

Family portraits in Covington (La)

It seems like so long ago since I was in New Orleans. One of the last things I did before I left was a very quick family portrait session for Debbie with her mum and dad (or should that be mom and pop?).

Finally i've managed to get them uploaded, click on the picture or here to see a short slideshow of the images.

It's looking highly likely that i'll soon be heading back across the pond (maybe even in the next few weeks).

Taking photographs in another country is such an adventure!

Portfolio Shoot

I recently was requested to carry out a portfolio shoot. As you can see we got lucky with the weather (sunshine in January).

It was a fun afternoon and I'm confident we got the images we needed. Click the image to have a sneak peak of some of the images or click here.

Howard Robbins Wedding

Congratulations to Howard Robbins and his beautiful new wife Janine on their excellent wedding.

Every wedding is different, some organised, some less so but when one of the highest ranking toastmasters in the country is getting married it's like a military operation.

The actual wedding took place on New years eve with the party going on till the early hours of 2009. It was a truly fantastic day and the guest list read like a who's who of the wedding industry. Some of the best caterers, toastmasters, photographers, videoographers in the country were there to wish the couple the very best.

It felt great to spend new years eve at a party where I knew a lot of the guests. The reception was at the Royal Majestic which is fast becoming a very popular venue in London.

It was one of those jobs where you new everything had been taken care of, including the excellent "surprise" entertainment after the meals.

Even though he was the groom he just couldn't help making sure everyone was briefed correctly .... "Howard that's why you have a toast master ... lol"

Winter Weddings

First things first if you're reading this today, happy new year!

As a pro photographer on of the biggest challenges of a winter wedding is the lack of light. Especially if like me you love to shoot out side. Capturing a good exposure in the dark can be extremely challenging and takes a lot more than putting the camera in programme mode and attaching a flash. At the same time the Bride and groom are normally freezing and all they want to do is get back into the warm.

I was lucky in the early part of my photography career there were no digital cameras and I used a manual Hasselblad. exposure and flash settings all had to be worked out manually which meant unless you didn't want to stay in the business long you soon learnt how to work out the best settings for different lighting. I guess with modern cameras we've all become a little bit spoilt, but it's occasions like the one above (taken last week) that can separate the people who take pictures and those that make them.

A piece of advice for anyone wanting to learn photography would be, go and buy a cheap film manual camera and learn how shutterspeeds and apertures work together. Modern cameras are fantastic at working out exposures but they can't think and can (and often do) get things wrong.

Home for Christmas

So I finally returned to the UK about a week before Christmas day. I had a fantastic time in New Orleans and made some lasting friendships. It's looking likely with the work building up on that side of the pond I may well be flying back over there as early as February.

However having returned to the UK and it being Christmas doesn't mean I've had any time off. I've already shot a wedding with another one New years Eve. Truth be told I'm at my happiest when I'm taking pictures so I have no complaints (editing them is a different story though).

Anyway happy Christmas to anyone and everyone and I hope the New Year brings you everything you ever wanted.

Coincidently, If this year didn't bring you everything you wanted how much of that was your own fault?

Saints v Falcons (and loads of other stuff)

My final chance to watch a live NFL football game this year came as the Atlanta Falcons visited New Orleans. the game was a fantastic nail biter and very good advert for the game finishing in another win for the Saints (that's 3-0 when I watch them live).

The stadium was its normal noisy self for anyone who has never been to a regular season game the home filed advantage is hard to explain as the noise created by the crowd in an effort to put off the opposing teams offence is incredible. The crowd are whipped into a fury by several dressed members of the public. In the section where we sat the most prominent was Holy Moses and also a guy dressed as a robot.

I was extremely lucky in that my trip coincided with the State high school Championships which were also held in the Superdome. As I have already mentioned I have been really impressed with the high school football I've seen since I've been here but the level stepped up when it came to the finals.

It also gave me a chance to experience what the view was like from the middle tier on the fifty yard line .... awesome.

Friday Night Lights (again)

A mega busy week saw my first ever American thanksgiving on Thursday. From what I can understand it's based loosely around when the initial settlers first met and broke bread with the native Indians. The modern version is a large family get together and a huge meal and is a sort of dress rehearsal for Christmas.

Friday saw us travelling down the Belle Chase where the local high school team were in the football play-offs. Whilst the NFL and the College games I have taken in whilst I have been here have been fantastic there's something special about high school football. I guess what has impressed me most is the absolute professionalism shown by the kids on the field and their coaches. To witness the play changes on the line of scrimmage was nothing short of amazing as every player firstly looked to the sideline then their wristband (to read the play being called).

As usual there was all the pomp and circumstance of bands, cheerleaders and fireworks.

Saturday (today) we went in search of the school Brett Favre attended. Brett Favre is a legendary quarterback in the NFL and until this season he played continually for the Green Bay packers. He is currently playing (well) for the New York Jets.

The school is called Hancock High and is based in Kiln, Mississippi. After a bit of searching we found the school and its football field where the statue of Brett Favre has been erected.

Although it was raining at the time (and most of the day) It was well worth the trip.

Saints v Packers in the Superdome

Monday night football in America is sacred. Most NFL games are played on Sundays, the Monday night game is traditionally the only game on that night meaning the whole nation watches that game.

This Sunday the New Orleans Saints played host to the Green Bay Packers and it promised to be a mouth watering shoot out with both teams having high scoring offences. Whilst I have been to NFL games before this is the first time i've truely experienced what a home field advantage is all about in the NFL. When the hometeam is on defnce the crowd really does play its part in making sure the opposing offence has trouble being heard.

Travelling to the game

Saints Score (again)

The first half with just three points seperating the two teams although in the second half the Saints completely dominated eventualy winning the game 51-29.

LSU v Ole Miss College football

Yesterday (Saturday) was the last home game of the LSU Tigers college season. Previous plans were that a large group of us were to go to the game however due to flight delays ect it fell to Brandy and myself to go and watch the game.

Everyone around this area supports LSU as it's their local college however Brandy had been a cheerleader for Ole Miss and had no trouble letting everyone know who she would be shouting for.

College football in the States is more of a full day experience rather than just turn up for the game and then go home. All around the stadium fans turn up early and start to tailgate long before the game is due to start.





LSU drum section in amongst the tailgating




LSU Tigers walk from their bus to the stadium




Opening kick off



LSU really only had one spell of about five minutes in the whole game where they looked like they could make a game of it. In truth Ole Miss were by far the better team so it was Brandy who was very happy at the end of the day. The final result was Ole Miss 31 LSU 13.

Mud bugs etc

One of the big things the people of the New Orleans area are into is sea food. All sorts of crab, fish and oyster can be found in most restaurants.

On Thursday I experienced (was talked into) trying my first mud bug or crayfish to give it it's proper name.

It's a small prawn (shrimp) type creature that getting to the meat is a bit like solving the Rubiks cube. Of course the locals can skin and eat about ten in the time it takes me to do one but i guess that's the perk of experience.

The French Quarter New Orleans

Saturday night we decided to spend some time in down town New Orleans and check out the French quarter.

My friends Randy and Paige were excellent guides and made sure I saw all the things the French Quarter is famous for.

I didn't take my camera but instead borrowed Randys small point and shoot. For a small camera it doesn't take bad pictures and I even experimented a little with the night shot feature although in fairness it really should be used on a tripod. Another added bonus is the ability to shoot video ....

The Quarter holds much history and many places remain as they were originally built by the French settlers. In amongst the history are many bars and clubs where the locals and tourists let their hair down and party all night long.