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 ............

Focus on Imaging

It was the last day of Focus on Imaging at the NEC today. For those that don't know this is the big event for photographers that happens once a year and really is considered a must.

I always manage to find something of interest when i go and amongst others i discovered this camera cover seen in the picture. Basically it's a rubber body that slips over your current camera (they do other colours too). I can see the advantage of something like this especially when the cameras tend to be thrown in and out of open bags when working. However they didn't have one that would fit the D2x so that saved me some money! Apologies for the picture quality, it was taken on my phone, as its considered very very uncool for a pro to be seen with a camera at focus.

Again Canon didn't bother to be there (2nd year running) in my opinion a disgusting way to treat the pro users! Nikon were there with their new stand and put on some excellent talks and had hands on for every camera model and lens that they make with experts available to answer questions ..... Great service AGAIN for Nikon users.

Interestingly another big player that weren't there this year was Kodak! Having talked to the manager at my lab (Redwoods) it would appear that Kodak have no interest in the consumer market anymore and are chasing the mini do it yourself print labs.

I also talked myself into buying a Fong Dome. I've been looking into them for about a year and decided to take the plunge. I'll give it a go and then post some stuff up on here on my thoughts. All in all a good show and happily different to last year.

Free Money, I don't think so

I received an e-mail today (see below) and i thought i would share it with you. I wrote back to this guy and told him i didn't want the money and to donate it all to charity (I'm all heart). I also said that if it would save time would it be easier if i just sent him my bank details and pin number. Suprisingly he answered almost immediately .... strange that.

From The Desk Of:
The Auditor General:
Korea Exchange Bank,
30 Old Jewry
London
EC2R 8EB.

ATTN:Martin Wilmott,

I am Dr Edward Organ. The Auditor General Korea Exchange Bank London. In the course of our auditing I discovered a floating fund in an account in the Bank company which was opened in 1990 belonging to a dead foreigner late Mr. Mark -Wilmott(untill his death),used to be a private contractor with the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Saudi Arabia. He was involved in an auto crash, unfortunately led to his demise.

Since then, I have made several enquiries with his country embassies to locate any of his extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.I decided to track his last name
over the Internet, to locate any member of his family
hence I got in contact with you. I have contacted you to Quietly assist me in repatriating this huge amount of money left behind by the deceased in my Bank before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the BANK/INSTITUTION. The deceased had a deposit presently valued at USD25.2 million.

After going through the company records and files, I
discovered that :
(1) No one has operated this account since 1993; (2)
The owner of the account died without a heir, hence
the money has been floating. (3) No other person knows
about this account and there was no known beneficiary.
AND IF I DO NOT REMIT THIS MONEY URGENTLY, IT WOULD BE
FORFEITED FOR NOTHING.
This money can only be approved to a foreign
beneficiary with a valid international passport or
driver's license and an account, hence I am contacting
you. I will require your urgent reply so that I give
you the next step
I am willing to give you 15% of the entire funds.

All I require is your honest Co-operation, Confidentiality and Trust to enable us see this transaction through.I guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect from any breach of the law.
All I ask from you is the following:
1. Your full name
2. your telephone/mobile and fax numbers
3. your physical Address.
Your urgent response will be highly anticipated and appreciated.
Best regard.
Dr Edward Organ.

Lifestyle Photography Shoot

I'm completely snowed under at the moment but had to add this slide show from last week.

I think the images came out really well and I'm sure everyone enjoyed the shoot too.

For anyone interested in the Lifestyle portrait training day on the 4th March there are just two places left until we close the books.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Photography Training Day

It always gets me excited when I chat on the phone to the people coming on the next lifestyle photography course.

I can feel the energy and enthusiasm of the people and I just know we're all going to have a great time. The next course (4th March) is already proving to be great, and theres some cool tricks we're going to share.

There are very few places left so if you want any information on this course just drop me an e-mail (martin@martinwilmottphotography.com) or even better pick up the phone 01376 567995. Here's a quick slide show of the last course we ran.

One of the things I have noticed about people who contact me is, aswell as wanting to learn my methods in photography there are a hard core of people who need to learn more. These are the gys who have a talent for taking pictures but need help in how to make it pay. With this in mind the " shoot to sell" course has been devised. The dates will be the 23-24 April 2007. The course is designed to take a person who can take a photograph and give them a structure into launching that skill into a succesfull business! It will cost £495.00 and will include meals but not accomodation.

For those of you who've already registered your interest watch your email box very closely the details will be arriving shortly.

If you wanted to be added to the hot list to get the information about the "Shoot to sell course" just drop me an e mail to martin@martinwilmottphotography.com. I truely believe these two days will kick start peoples careers into the photography world. What are you waiting for? An e-mail costs you nothing but could earn you a life!!

Finally here's the link to a few of the images from the portrait session I mentioned from last week enjoy.

Superbowl

Last night was the final of the professional American football season in the states, which is effectively referred to as the superbowl. It was a great game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago bears. The colts eventually took control of the game by about the third quarter and finished worthy winners.

A couple of days before the game i'd received an email from Wayne Paulo, he's a pro sports photographer, who I had some business dealings with a while back and we've semi kept in touch since. He was in Miami preparing to shoot the game. Now this is a job that many photographers (probably including myself) would easily have cut an ear off to have had the chance to shoot .... well maybe not, but it would have been nice.

Whilst I'm on the subject of sport I must mention this website, it's one i've had my eye on for a few days now. Check it out it's really worth a giggle. To me it just shows the typical Brit sense of humour in not being afraid to be laughed at (aka the office etc).

I'm up to my eyes in editing at the moment as I shot another fantastic family at the weekend, and i stil haven't finished the wedding shots from last week. Sometimes I really do miss the ease of shooting on film!

Another Busy Weekend

I had a really busy weekend!

Firstly Saturday morning I had a family portrait shoot. The young fella you see in the picture here was one of the stars of the shoot. He was only two weeks old and in fairness was as good as gold and hardly made a squeek. (i'll put up a slide show once the family have seen the images).

It was whilst I was on the way to the portrait shoot I took another call on my mobile from someone I used to work with a long time ago. He'd got married in Florida and was having a small party in the UK tonight, was there any chance .......

So I finally get home at about 2 o'clock on Sunday morning and download the images. Sunday I travelled up to Chesterfield in Derbyshire to meet up with a few photographers. It's nice to sit down with other like minded folk and share ideas and see what the latest gossip is. Several hours of technical and business talk later it was time to come home having made some new friends.

Photoshop Magic

Yesterday was my birthday and a great friend of mine, Emma Duggan kindly made the effort to
come up and see me for the day. Emma's also a professional photographer who has a similar but also differant style to her photography. Emma Kindly bought me the coolest and most perfect birthday card ever (see picture here) how cool is that!

As i'd promised when she arrrived (late as usual) we went to the park and I introduced her to my favourite photography props. We spent a couple of hours feeding and shooting the squirrels.

We had a great laugh and left the park when it started to get dark. We then set about playing with the images in photoshop.

One of my complaints about shooting digitally is how flat the pictures tend to be when they come out of the camera compared to film. Emma showed me some neat quick tricks (look at the differance between the two shots here) to getting the images to wake up which I will now use all the time.

Having sorted out the photoshop we went for an Indian and set the world to rights. I always find when two photographers meet up and start chatting its like nothing else. It's as if you live in a foreign land and you suddenly discover someone else who can speak the same language! Hours and hours of great conversation.

After the meal we went back to my house and started what was supposed to be a little run through on how to use flash, and how to have fun with it. I won't go into too much detail but we ended up at 2 in the morning, with stands, tripods and multiple flash guns scattered throughout the house. We then set ourselves the challenge of working out how to get a person in the same photograph twice in differant positions without photoshop. After many nearly attempts and stumbling around the house in complete darkness between flashes we finally got what we were after. GREAT FUN !!!

Yamaha R1 Launch

Friday night was the official launch of the new Yamaha R1 motor bike. I'm no expert on bikes but judging by the massive turnout of interested people at the John Pease showroom my guess is is going to be pretty popular.

The evening started with wine and sausage rolls with the bike being covered in the showroom. Slowly people began drifiting in untill there was no where to park and the showroom was completely packed out.

Loud music pumped and for the official unveiling smoke and a light show. talking to the people who had come to see the bike i think most were impressed. I heard that a few had placed orders on the night too.

As a job it went well although i'm already sarting to pander over that 12-24mm Nikon lens ..... mmmmmm

No Sleep for Weeks

I think i've drunk more coffee today than I do in a normal year. Today I had a job in London of shooting 4 differant apostrophe coffee shops. I was commisioned by the guy (Dave form Enmasse) who made all the furniture and fittings to travel around and get some images of his work in situ. Many miles via black cab and tube have been covered and I must say its a pleasure to be back home at last.

I treated myself and hired a 12-24mm wide angle lens from the pro centre and i have to admit I think i'm in love. This lens is a very impressive piece of glass, the width was exactly what I needed when working in tight areas. I don't think it will be very long before I invest in this lens.

I heard some GREAT news today! The NFL have agreed to send two teams to Wembley stadium this year to play in a regular season NFL game at the new Wembley stadium. It's not positive who yet, but it will probably be the Miami Dolphins v New York Giants.

Fun on the Ice

This Saturday the Chelmsford chieftains had a home game against the Invicta Dynamos. In case you weren't aware the Chieftains and the Colchester Gladiators (american football club) are sporting partners. As such the Gladiators travelled over (on mass) to support Chelmsford in this cup game. As the official Colchester Gladiators photographer I went along to capture what happened.

The first period was hard fought and very close, however by halfway through the 2nd period the Chieftains had made the game theirs.

After the game the Gladiators along with the Essex Flames cheer leaders were invited onto the ice for some photographs. Not something I've done before photographing on ice, needless to say I didn't venture very far from the barrier in case I went A* over T*.

The other problem was ice hockey players don't tend to be as big as American football players as can be seen in this shot. The ice was so slippy I had a word with the Chieftains general manager afterwards and advised him to put some grit down in case someone slipped ..... I don't think he was too impressed.

In all seriousness it was a great night out and we were felt to be very welcome.

Make This Your Year !

Yesterday was a pretty tough day. My cousin was knocked off his motorbike just before Christmas and died. Yesterday was his funeral. he was dearly loved and had so much to live for, his family are torn to pieces.

One thing that makes you sit up and take notice is death. It is so final, no more chances, that's it.

If one good thing came from yesterday for me it was, to find something I want to do and achieve it. the new years resolution list is going to be pretty long this year!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

As anyone who knows me will know i'm constantly researching succesfull companies and their methods (always looking to steal good ideas). Whilst reading a book (I think it may have been Customer Evangelists) I came across the story of a Doughnut company in America called Krispy Kreme. To cut a long story short the company started small and word spread of the excellent doughnuts that they sold. Not only that but they also became famous for helping out in community projects and delighting their customers.

So what? Well today whilst finishing off my Christmas shopping in Lakeside I bump into a Krispy Kreme stall. Needless to say I HAD to try there wares, i had a couple of doughnuts and a coffee and sat and watched. The que never got less than 12 people, they each bought one or two. Many people returned and bought boxes of the doughnuts as word spread. It would appear that they are going to have a major succesfull business on this side of the pond. My opinion, they are outstanding!! although I dread to guess the calorie count.

On a business point i've finished my final portrait shoot of the year, can't wait for next year got some great plans .......

Olan Mills Goes Bust!

I've just been e-mailed that Olan Mills have gone bust! The BBC news report states "Photography company Olan Mills, which employs 950 staff in 97 stores across the UK, has gone into administration."

To make it even worse having looked on the Olan Mills web site it would apear they've been shooting right up untill the last second, taken the money then closed the doors. This leaves the customers with no way of getting their moneyback or their pictures.

Apparently they have been running at a loss for the last three years and could no longer afford to continue. Personally I find it sad a huge company like this was unable to modernise its approach to the photographic world. I guess they continued in the old style of photography that so many studio's shoot (white background brigade).

As such they all merge in the customers mind to being the same and at that stage it becomes a case of who's cheapest. Any business will tell you if you're only getting business because your cheap your not going to be in business long.

I find the key to any business success is to find out what the client wants and then make sure you offer it to them (and more). Treating clients as part of a production line by forcing your own styles and ideals onto people is a sure fire way to make sure your customers are left unhappy and worse that they tell others about it.

Interestingly i just read this on another blog. A true account of a real customer that Olan Mills put through the production line service. As I said before, give the client what they want, not what you think they want ..


Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude,

I realize it's your job to sell me pictures. And I realize that you don't make any money off of me when I just bring my family in to get a free church directory photo taken. But, can I be honest with you Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude? You're pictures? They're not so good. My family doesn't look attractive lined up in a row in front of a blue marbled background with fake smiles plastered on their faces. I wish we did, but we don't. Ok, now I've lied to you, I don't wish we did. And also, Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude, it's ok if Presley wants to put her fingers in her mouth when you take the picture. She's a baby, that's what she does. It's actually considered a good thing to capture her personality in the photo. It's not, however, considered a good thing when she's screaming her head off because you keep pulling her fingers out of her mouth in attempts to make us look like the Cleavers. Just a friendly tip. I mean, I'm not a photographer or anything. :)

In closing, I'd like to apologize for cutting our photo session short and, in doing so, preventing you from taking loads of pictures that I have no inclination to purchase. I can see that you were more than a little irked about that. But, to be honest Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude, I'm more than a little irked that our staff got Jason photos and we didnt. So ;p.

Good day,

Paparazzi

As I mentioned in the last post Friday night was spent 'papping' outside the Hippodrome in leicester square. this is not something that I would normally consider but it was for fun more than hassle. The company who's Christmas party it was had decided their staff deserved to be treated to alittle bit of fame.

Actually it wasn't my job and I was purely there to give my good friend Doug a hand and be part of a three photographer team. It was him who took the image of yours truely seen here to the left.

Between the three of us we photographed everyone as they came to the party. having done my bit I was finished by about 22.30 and after a quick drink left Doug who was to stay and capture the rest of the evening .


For anyone who's read the last entry you'll know what happened when I got home ........

Death of a key board

Apologise for the amount of time since the last entry on the blog. This has been for two reasons, firstly i've been bonkers busy with shoots Friday Saturday and Sunday and all the post production joys that they bring.

The second reason and probably the real reason is this. On Friday night (saturday morning), I arrived home from shooting a job at the hippodrome in leicester square at about 1 in the morning. I settled down with a couple of cans of beer whilst my computer downloaded the nights shots (i'll put some up when i get chance). Needless to say everything was going smoothly and I checked e mails and buzzed around the web. However, my second can of lager decided to explode when I opened it and gave my keyboard and carpet a wash.

Now if someone can explain to me how a can of lager that has sat in a fridge for at least two weeks and was not dropped or shaken in any way (to my knowledge) suddenly decide to explode when opened for no reason, i'll be a happier man.

Anyway the long and the short of it was several keys stopped working on the keyboard. At first it seemed to be just the numbers and the full stop, however whilst typing an e mail i soon discovered the space bar was also not working making anything i wrote completely unintelligable.

So to cut a long story short I had to invest in another keyboard and at the same time a new 4 way usb port (my last keyboard could plug usb connection into it). As you can see in the picure my old keyboard now has a new place to live (the bin).

Chelmsford Chieftains

Last night I went to the Chelmsford Ice and Leisure Centre to watch the Chelmsford Chieftains play the Telford Tigers. The Chieftains won the match 6-1. The game was heavily attended by the Colchester Gladiators American football club, strengthening the bond between the two teams. The Colchester Gladiators and the Chelmsford Chieftains are due to announce very soon the sporting partnership and will jointly promote each others seasons (which run opposite to each other).

A big thanks goes out to Marky Mark (the chieftains DJ) for giving the gladiators a mention and for pushing the fact they are looking for new players. He also kindly wore a gladiators hat all night (see image). Also a big thank you to Andy Driver (Chieftains PR and marketing) for making me / us feel so welcome. I know the two clubs will both benefit from the new partnership.

The Chieftains certainly put on a show worth watching and i would suggest anybody who has spare time on a sunday evening throughout the winter goes along and cheers.

Essex Blades v Kent Falcons

Another Sunday and another game of American football to shoot. This time the Essex Baldes took on the Kent Falcons. Essex again looked very impressive with a big hard hitting defence allowing very little of the other teams offence to gain yardage. You can see the american football slide show by clicking here.

It's that time of year again where I go a little mad and shoot my christmas card. For anyone that sent me a card last year you'll know that my cards are not the norm. In fact last year they were so popular I had to have more of them printed. What started as a laugh between friends has suddenly become a big thing with people e mailing and asking if the new card was out yet. It's something I enjoy doing and as it's only once a year who cares ........ wanna see this years card? Sorry I only send them to people who I recieve cards from (better get one in the post quick).

Theres been a sudden rush of people enquiry about the lifestyle portrait training day (click for slideshow) to be held on the 4th March. It would appear that alot of people have decided this would make a great christmas present. If you're thinking of coming you'd better get on the phone quick to reserve your place. looking forward to hearing from you ....

Barmitzvah Photographs

Another double header of a weekend. Saturday was a wonderfull wedding (although a little cold) and luckily for me it was reasonably local for once. I must admit I did feel slightly sorry for the eleven bridesmaids outside trhe church whilst we were doing the group shots (working as fast as possible .... honest)

On Sunday (yesterday) I was honoured to be asked to photograph the barmitzvah party of the young man who can be seen in the centre of the picture above. It was a wonderfull party with, fantastic music, stunning food and great guests, although one of them I thought at one stage was going to tell me I was fired (see image).

The whole party was West Ham FC based, the ballons, table decorations and the cake all decked out in Claret and blue. All the tables were named after famous hammers of the past and present (I guess that may be why Sir Alan was not too impressed).

Essex Blades v UEA Pirates (a mad Sunday)

This Sunday was probably the busiest day i've had in a long time. Sunday morning was the first of 5 new player days for the colchester gladiators. A good attendance and some good new players were found.

I had to leave the players day early and drive to Billericay to do a test drive pre wedding shoot for a couple who had contacted me. I always offer a free of charge pre wed shoot to all my couples before they decide if they want to book me. I find it shows them exactly how i work and also the quality of the product they are likely to recieve for their wedding.

Having succesfully completed the shoot it was time to jump back in the car and head back to Colchester where the Essex Blades were playing the UEA pirates. The Essex blades are the Colchester University American Football team. Alot of their players play for the Gladiators in the British league throughout the summer, the two teams have an excellant partnership. The Colchester Gladiators turned out in force to cheer on the Blades in there first game of the season which they won reasonably easily.

Unknown to me the game had been started late (I was on the A 12 at the time) and so by the 4th qtr I was really struggling with the light. I finished shooting the game with the Nikon D2x set at Hi3 (iso 3200 equivalent) and it shows in the images. I always find the colours go completely flat when shooting at high ISO's as well as the grain becoming obvious. Having said that they're shots that I wouldn't have bothered shooting if i had been shooting film.

So having shot the A/football it was time to head back to Chelmsford for a meeting with a guy that is going to make a big differance to the Colchester Gladiators for next year. For the time being i'll keep it under wraps. keep checking out the blog to be updated ......

The Borat Movie

I went and saw the Borat film yesterday. There has been so many people talking about it it was one of those things I just had to do.

I loved it, normally when you take something like this and try and make a film about it it doesn't work, but somehow the plot was just enough to keep it going.

I guess you have to be into this kind of humour but some of the film had me rolling with laughter, whilst others have you cringing with the no he didn't did he effect.

Apparently it is wiping the floor with all the other films in America which I find a little suprising. I always thought the Americans don't tend to get the british humour of laughing at yourself (perhaps the office has had some effect). One thing I noticed which i wasn't aware of was how rude the general american public were to him on the tube. O.K. he was being completely in your face but even a comment of my name is Borat what is your name received a reply of mind your own ******* business is my name ...... hardly friendly.

But seriously if you need a laugh you'll find plenty here.

Nuisance Calls!!

Today I took two phone calls from telephone numbers 02920 240069 and 02920 368701. Both of these calls were from phone companies trying to get me to change supplier (probably the same one).

If you are bored at work or don't pay for phone calls I'm sure they would really appreciate it if you would dial any of these two numbers and offer your services to the person who answers the phone. You may get lucky who knows! I did it and it made me feel great!! Spread the word to everyone you know and I'm sure between us we can get the message accross.

Oh and the other thing to do is tag there numbers on your mobile so your phone is on silent mode if those numbers call you.

Slideshow of the last Photography Training Day

I've just finished putting together a slideshow showing some of the images taken from the last lifestyle photography training day in October. The images in the show were taken by either Doug Toni or me. Just click on the highlighted word to load the show.

Anyone interested in the next date for the portrait training day (Sunday 4th March 2007) should drop me an email to martin@martinwilmottphotography.com and i'll be glad to forward the details onto you.

Motor Cycle Show Birmingham

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be offered a VIP ticket to the Motor Cycle and scooter show at the NEC in Birmingham.

It was a terrific day with stacks to see and loads going on. Many thanks must go to Yamaha for the excellant food they put on on the VIP area, very much appreciated.

Now to own up. I'm not particularly into bikes and at times was having conversations with some big names in the racing world without realising it. You can see some more images of the motor cylce show by clicking here (perhaps you can tell me who some of them are).

All in all a great day out and if anyone was thinking of going I highly reccomend it although it may be alittle busier when its open to the public.

Subscribing to my blog

A couple of days ago I received an e mail from someone who pointed out to me that they had tried on several occasions to sign up to have my blog sent via e mail and it had failed on several occasions.

After investigating and trying everything I could, I couldn't get the subscription service to work. There was no contact or useable help with the last company so I have decide to try a differant company. If you do attempt to sign up and it doesn't appear to have worked please do let me know and I can try and sort it out straight away.

I have no idea how long the last one hasn't been working for, but all those people who had signed up will still recieve this blog via email. This new company seems straight forward so hopefully there shouldn't be any problems .......... just add your e mail address in the box on the right. Oh and your details are sacred and will never be passed on to anyone else.

Wedding photography

I saw this and it made me grin. I guess i'm not the only person who gets this happening to them.

Portrait Training Day Next Date Announced

Just a really quick note as I've already received a few e mails from people who couldn't make the last training day. So for those people (and anyone who wants to come back again) the next "Day of Discovery" where you can learn the tricks of great lifestyle portraits will be on the 4th March 2007.

There are also some other plans in the pipeline that those of you who came last weekend will know a little about so keep your eyes peeled to this blog. As soon as possible an anouncement will be made but pencil the 23rd and 24th April into your diaries and keep that date clear.

Be aware this could just about change your life forever!

Feedback From The Portrait Training Day

I have received some really great e-mails over the last few daysand i thought I'd share a few of them. This is a snippet of one sent by Karen Petry who attended the Lifestyle Portrait Training Day at the weekend. Karens a real star in the making she had travelled down to be with us in Essex from Carlisle (our second furthest travelled attendant Keith Bott flew over from Germany). Any way here's what she had to say ....


Apologies for the delay in sending you email. I would just like to thank Doug, Toni, Viv and yourself for the truly fantastic day on Sunday.

It was a real pleasure to meet you all and i thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the day. It was 2.30 am when I eventually walked through my front door on Monday!! I had to stop off on route and sleep for 3 hours in a service station car park!! (it was well worth it though!!)"

Here's a comment from Anthony Phillips who also has a great look on life and will no doubt succeed ......

Hi Martin
Just a quick line about Sunday. Really enjoyed the day, I have already started to put your methods into action. I now have the confidence to photograph families and children, to a high standard. Thanx very much.

Don't leave it to long for your next training day"

Davide Palisciano sent me a dvd of images he had taken on the day which were completely outstanding, here's some of his comments ....

" First of all can i thank you for an enjoyable and educational day. It's hard to quantify how much one has learnt, however if all i gained was more confidence in my own ability thats priceless.

I took around 300 shots! That says it all. I have narrowed them down to about 40 I like, that is subjective. I will send you a copy in the post.

As a relative newcomer to photography other than family, I thouroughly enjoyed it. Please pass on my thanks to Doug and toni. Dougs enthusiasm is infectious and you can see the passion that drives him.

I would again like to thank you for your patience and obvious understanding that there are a lot of people about who just need to be nudged into the right direction and off they go.

If there is a follow up course keep us informed.

Adrian Smith is already running a succesfull photography business and came to our portrait training day looking for a differant approach, here's what he had to say .....

Hi Martin

Just a quick note to say thank you for a great day yesterday.

I have been through my images and i am delighted with lots of them - also learnt an enourmous amount from the failed images about me and my cameras capabilities. Need a faster lens too much camera shake on some images!

I have no doubt that yesterdays course will help me raise my business to the next level.

Please pass on my thanks top Doug, Toni, Viv and of course the brave families that modelled for us"

Catherine Thomson wrote

Thank you

I had a great time, i think you made a great job of engaging a very diverse audience with the obvious enthusiasm and undoubted skill you are both abundant in.

I was impressed with that last presentation of images, it so splendidly sealed the day and the music was a great touch.

Thanks once again

Catherine.

Lifestyle Portrait Training Day Part 2

Just a quick note to mention some of the excellant images the people from the photography training course that Doug and I ran this weekend have started sending. The couple i've put on here were taken by Catherine Thompson. Great job Catherine you should be extremely proud of the results you have achieved here.

It was a real pleasure meeting with everyone on the course and I know it's not the last time alot of us will meet. I truely expect to be reading about some of you in various magazines in the near future.

After the course finished Myself Doug Toni and Viv discussed when we could do it again and decided the next one day course will be in March so keep your eyes peeled. Also another thing we discussed was a longer more in depth course over two days ..... we are in the very early planning stages for this but keep your eyes peeled as we will be announcing dates very soon.

As soon as the pieces are in place i'll anounce it on here and my portrait website also everyone who has signed up for my free photography tips via e mail from my lifestyle photography web site will also be informed as soon as we are ready to make the announcement. You can sign up for the free tips about lifestyle photography by going to the tips section and adding your email adress. if you have a problem signing up drop me an email to martin@martinwilmottphotography.com and i'll add you manually.


Lifestyle Photographer Lifestyle Photography Professional Photographer Photography Training

Lifestyle Portrait Training Day part1

Yesterday was a FANTASTIC day. It was great fun meeting with everyone who came along for an insight into the way Doug and I work.

I know from the e mails I have already received you all had a great day too. I've added a couple of images and will add some more as I organise them and when the people who attended the course send them in including a slideshow.

Check out the top image of Doug getting attacked by one of our fantastic younger models ... can there be any doubt that the tricks we discussed and practised yesterday work?

It was a truely great day yesterday and I would like to thank you all for coming and sharing your time with us and also a big thankyou to our fantastic models throughout the day who were all incredible!! I can't wait to see some of the images you guys send.

Lifestyle Photographer Lifestyle Photography Professional Photographer Photography Training

Sandisk Memory Cards

This arrived in the post this morning so I now have a little more capability when shooting with my new D2x. Aparently this is the new extreme 4 version that reads at up to 40mb a second.

Sandisk have also just announced a 16 gig memory card ... now that's huge. Whilst we're on the subject of memory cards i must warn everyone to never buy any cards from ebay.

I have received e mails from several people who at first think they are getting massive savings only for the memory cards to give up working halfway through a job with all the information being lost. A large price to pay for saving money! Here's the link to the details from e-bay in case you think you may have bought some of the fake memory cards.

Looking forward to meeting with everyone traveling to the lifestyle portrait photography training day this Sunday.


Lifestyle Photographer Lifestyle Photography Nikon Professional Photographer Photography Training Nikon D2x Sandisk Memory Card

My New Nikon

Ok so i've moved to the dark side of photography!! About time I hear you say. Lets first say that in a way its something that has been half forced onto me and i'm not sure yet it has been the right move. Only time will tell. For the time being my F5 and other film cameras will still feaure heavily in my work.

So why change? Well part of the reason is the upcoming training course this Sunday. On previous courses i've always hired a D2x so students can see the images taken on the day. This time I decided the fact that the D2x has been out a while and the D2xs has just been launched there was a high chance of picking up a good second hand body for a fair price. So I check out e bay and sitting there was a Nikon D2x being sold by someone in Colchester (30 mins drive from me). To make a long story short, I bid and win, then drive out and inspect the camera, perfect condition exactly what i'm looking for so payment was made ... job done.

So far I haven't used it in actual work but a couple of things i've discovered from playing, the screen protector (see image) is pathetic. I have no doubt it pops off as soon as the camera is slung around someones kneck to be lost or trodden on. Also when will Nikon make the flash synch cover attach to the camera body!! I have lost count of the amount of those annoying little covers I have lost after using a flash synch lead.

I have no doubt the D2x is a great camera, but for me it's too early to judge. It has a hard act to follow as I believe the F5 is probably the best 35mm camera ever made ....... the jurys out.

On anopther note I had a long chat with Doug earlier re: the training day this Sunday, It's going to be great and i'm looking forward to meeting everyone who's coming. If you want to check out the details of the training day check out my lifestyle portrait website under the tips section (look for training). i'll add a few pics of the day on here after the weekend.


Lifestyle Photographer Lifestyle Photography Nikon Professional Photographer Photography Training Nikon D2x

Wedding Photographs Sharon & Adam

At the start of the month I was honoured to be asked to photograph Sharon & Adams wedding that took place at the Essex Golf and Country Club. It's not a venue i've worked at before but everything went smoothly and a good time was had by all.

You can see a few of the wedding photographs in a slideshow by clicking here. The weather just about managed to hold out and give us enough time before the heavens opened.

The shot on the left here is amongst my favourites for the day although i did have a bit of trouble convincing Sharon to trust me and it would look good. I was realy pleased with it, I don't think I would have had been forgiven if it had looked wrong!

On another note the lifestyle photographic training day is getting near is maximum number of delegates and i can't wait to meet up with everyone who's coming and share some ideas and tricks. I'm meeting up with Doug tommorow to have a run through and ensure everythings going to plan. If you wanted to come on the day you can still book but be quick the details can be found on my portrait photography website just look under the tips section, or just give me a call on 01376 567995 and i'll talk you through it.


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Brit Bowl 20

This Sunday was the British American football finals held at Don Valley stadium in Sheffield. I went up on the Sunday to watch the Divison 2 and 1 finals. I must say the whole day was fantastic, and very professional a real showpiece and advert for the sport in this country. A long time ago i was lucky to go to the superbowl in Atlanta and whilst the BAFL have a way to go in catching the NFL in showmanship they can truely hold there heads up high.

Both games were excellent, finishing very close with The Oxford Saints beating the West coast Trojans in the Div 2 final and the London Olympians beating the London Blitz for the Britbowl trophy.

The picture here is of Antonio Fargas who most people will know as Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch although he was also recently in, I'm a celebrity get me out of here. Apparently his son plays for the Raiders in the NFL. He was sitting two seats in fromt of me for the Div 1 game and was introduced to the crowd at half time. Aplogies for the picture quality as it was taken on my new phone, not too bad for a phone but not up to work standards.


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My New Digital Camera

So after the last 3 months of my mobile phone playing up so no-one can hear me when i talk i decided it was time to have a face off with 02 and demand a new phone (i've had the same number for 12 years).

I pluck up all my, I'm not going to take any nonsence attitude and make the phone call explaining how in my opinion i deserved a new phone at no charge. After talking continually and putting across my arguement the guy on the other end of the phone says ..... ok i have the choice of these three phones you could have. The one I chose is on the left here, the guy on the other end of the phone tells me it has a 2 megapixel camera, and thats a big deal (his words not mine). Having played a little I don't think i'll be retiring the Hasselblads and Nikons just yet.

On a slightly more serious note it's true that camera manufacturers have noticed a massive drop in compact camera sales as everyman and his dog now has a perfectly good camera on there phone. No wonder the smaller camera manufacturers have started to go bust.

Changing the subject the numbers for the lifestyle portrait photographic training day on the 8th October are going great. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with everyone and sharing some special images. if you're interested in this course check out my site and look for the lifestyle portrait training under the tips section.


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Lifestyle Photography Training Day

The last week has been a planning week getting ready for the lifestyle portrait training day i'm due to host on the 8th October in Chelmsford. Already the numbers are filling up and I can hardly wait to meet up with and share some ideas and methods in order to help others get great images.

There's so much to organise but thats part of what makes it so much fun. Seeing the day slowly coming together speaking to the attendees on the phone. I find it incredibly encouraging (and a real compliment) when I realise how far some people are willing to travel to come on these days, spending many hours on the road and this time we even have someone flying in from Germany (hi Keith looking forward to meeting you in the flesh).

I so look forward to these days, it such a pleasure to meet up with you all and chat during the coffee breaks as well as answer all the questions you have (when i can). If you're at all interested in attending you can find the detailsd on my site under the tips section, look for photography training. Just drop me an email or ring if you prefer and i'll let you know what the day involves. I'd love to meet you and hopefully show you some of the tricks to getting the natural style of images that I love.

If you wanted an idea of the style of images we will be capturing check out this slideshow that gives a little more information about the day (make sure your speakers are on it has sound).

Speak to you soon.



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American football season is over!

Damn!! I was just starting to get into the British American Football scene and the Gladiators go and get knocked out in the wild card playoffs by the Norwich Devils.

In fairness Norwich were by far the better prepared team and took Colchester out of the game by half time.

My images from the Colchester Gladiators v Norwich Devils can be found by clicking here. I may go to the finals at Don Valley Stadium at the end of September but other than that its eight months till the season starts again.

On the work front the wedding season is starting to slow to normal levels again. As soon as a get chance (and permission) i'll load some more slideshows. Last night I was working at the Savoy in London. The venue and staff were exemplory as always but parking was awfull. When i get chance i'll put some images up.


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