Commercial Photography Shoot

I am completely snowed under at the moment so apologies for the lack of entries on the blog. Here's a shot of a fantastic kitchen that I was asked to photograph last week. It always seems strange to shoot inanimate objects, they don't laugh at my best lines .....

The kitchen was built from scratch by en-masse interiors. It always completely amazes me how someone can take a drawing and raw materials and make something so stunning as this. Dave Conlon (Director) has a fantastic talent, I highly recommend his work which not only includes residential but shop fittings and coffee shops etc. Watch this space for more of his work.

The image is low res to make it easier for the web page to load but believe me the attention to detail is second to none. Every vertical line is completely straight (not an easy task to complete I am told).

On another note the Colchester Gladiators had a fantastic win at home against the ex league leaders (Norwich Devils) so Colchester now go to the top. halfway through the season but all to play for, check out their next game here www.colchestergladiators.com .

commercial photographer photographer

Pre wedding Shoot

I always offer a pre wedding shoot to any couple who contact me about shooting their wedding. There are several reasons for this but the main one is to get to know the couple and see what sort of people they are (and how far I can take them).

Recently I shot this couple Sharon and Adam (on the left), it took about 30 minutes but was a very worthwhile excercise. We got to know each other and they now get to see my work before deciding to book me and paying any money. Works best for both groups.

You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive (well most people wouldn't anyway) so why not test drive your chosen photographer? I have nothing to hide and it also helps to realise why there's a differance in the prices people charge. Of course it's not always practical to do a pre wedding shoot (especially if the couple are living in another country) but whenever possible I always do.

Any way if you want to check out some of the images from the shoot click here pre wedding photographs. There are great couple with a real cute little one. I know shootingtyhere wedding will be fun!

Oh by the way the England game was due to be played that afternoon hence the patriotic clothing.

wedding photography wedding photographer pre wedding photographer slide show lifestyle photographer

Lifestyle Photography

Apologies for not keeping the blog updated as regular as normal. I'm right in the middle of silly season with weddings / bahmitzvahs / christenings etc happening and all whilst the world cups going on.

Talking about the world cup I rather smugly thought i had managed to put off any work that may mean me missing any of the england games. Whilst chesking through my diary the other day I discovered to my horror if England win the group I have a booking for the sunday they are due to play!!

The young lad you see in the pic is part of a family i photographed back in Febuary. He was so full of fun and charector. See for yourself I believe he could get a job on the stage or acting if that is what he decides he wants to do. We all had a great day out and although it was windy at the time we managed to get some great shots.

So roll on Tuesday and Englands next game, in a strange way it would be better for me if Sweden beat England. The footballs been getting to everyone, i even heard a rumour that the queen was watching with interest!

Saw the trooping of the colour this morning, makes you proud to be British!

lifestyle photography photography world cup portrait photography

Colchester Gladiators

Sunday saw the Colchester Gladiators travel to Crawley to play the Sussex Thunder. The day started bad when key players couldn't make the journey for various reasons and Colchester were informed they couldn't wear their blue strip.

The day was blistering hot and water was being consumed by the litre, and that was just the supporters.

Although Colchester put on a brave fight in hard conditions it was not enough to stop their first loss of the season. Of course I took loads of images which you can see here . I was trying out a mirror lens for some of the shots and whilst it gave the reach needed the quality was pretty poor to say the least.

For anyone who fancies a day out watching the team check out their web site www.colchestergladiators.com.

sports photography colchester gladiators american football photography

Secret New Pro Camera from Canon

A friend sent me this picture of the new top secret Pro camera body from Canon. It would appear to have some new and interesting features built in of which no other manufacturer (to my knowledge) offers.

Not being a canon user it doesn't bother me but I wonder how many sub menus the gin / coke menu might have, with ice without ice diet or full fat.

I'll stick to Nikon for now thanks.

On a more serious note I heard from another photographer that film was becoming hard to get hold of. I ordered some yesterday and it arrived today! The rumors are very wrong I spoke on the phone to the people who supply my film and they explained the reason some companies were taking so long in delivering film was because they buy it through the channel islands and thus avoid the tax. What this means to the consumer is you have to wait for the particular order to arrive. If you want fantastic service when it comes to ordering film go here mailshots they have never let me down and there speed is second to none.

canon cameras photography camera film canon Nikon

Advertising - don't bother calling me!!

O.K. so here's the deal, if you are one of the UK's online business directories (of which there are 90 million 100 thousand according to google) . Unless you can tell me how a customer will find your site amongst the 90million + sites that there are and then find me in the 100 or so photographers (that you have taken money from under false pretences) DON'T call me. Whilst we're on the subject the local online directories for my home town (of which Googles says there are 292,000 for Braintree) just because you only take a limited amount of people who you think are of the right caliber (incidentally if you have done that how come you haven't seen any of my work?) from each profession doesn't make it any easier for someone to find you / me in fact technically it's harder. I feel genually sorry for anyone who pays these sites for a link the only thing you are doing is throwing money away. Yes I am listed on a few business directories but I can promise you I haven't paid for any of them.

Lets face it 90,100,000 (UK only) sites before they even come to the photographer section, I'd have better odds of winning the lottery.

If you are in business no matter what it is take a good look at advertising because I promise you one thing 90% of it no longer works! Have you noticed how the T.V. adverts are getting cheaper? Smaller firms now advertising on the T.V? That's because the big boys have realised that nobody watches the adverts (with very few exceptions) and have stopped which in turn forces prices lower and enables smaller firms to step in.

Oh and another thing an even bigger waste of money is newspaper and magazine advertising! Unless it is aimed at your specific market instead of placing adverts just burn the money, it's just as effective, in fact no instead of that send it to me instead.

I feel better now but it's annoying to answer the phone to someone selling advertising when I'm in the middle of something. Let's face it if my marketing wasn't working you wouldn't have found my phone number. I rest my case .....

advertising photography
web advertising newspaper advertising photographer

Wedding Album Images Updated

I've updated the images in the wedding album on my site. I looked at the album last week and realised I had moved on from the images that were there. The album now has a more modern approach.

At the moment every plug socket in my office has something plugged into it. Everything is on charge ready for the weekend. It's amazing how one weekend will have nothing and another weekend a wedding on both days.

I've also just added another set of notes to the tips for photographers available from my site. This time a little bit about photoshop and a neat trick about mixing colour and black and white images. If you want to sign up for the course (it's free) just go to my site www.martinwilmottphotography.com and click on the tips section, at the bottom of the page there's a section to add your e mail address and the tips will start being sent.

On another note two really good friends of mine have a feature in this months Professional Photographer magazine. Ryan and Val Harvey from Wales, they are really great people and Ryan's a fantastic photographer. I'd point you to their website but they don't have one????

wedding photos wedding photographer professional photographer