It's not what you know it's who you know

Another fantastic day in the New Orleans area! Today was spent on the LSU campus with my photographer friend Chuck Cook. We started with the press briefing by Les Miles the head coach of the LSU fighting tigers. LSU are the reigning national champions in college football.

Coach Miles briefing covered the weeks previous game which had been a hard fought battle seeing the Tigers loose in overtime. After the briefing we had some spare time and took a walk around Death Valley (Tiger Stadium).

Chuck needed to upload the Coach Miles briefing and so a quick phone call was made to the official LSU photographer who just happened to be a good friend. Five minutes later and we were inside the stadium. Of course I couldn't resist having a walk around the inside. An experience very few people will ever have.

Big thanx goes out to Chuck Cook for inviting me along today and also to Steve the official LSU photographer for allowing me access to the stadium. Next time i'll be in the stadium will be for the LSU v Old Miss game in a couple of weeks time, of course there'll also be another 93,000 people there on that day as well.

As has been proven many many times over, it's not what you know but who you know. I love the way photographers are such a friendly bunch the world over.

Sport how it should be

I've just got back in from watching a high school American football match between Covington and Mandeville. What strikes me about the whole thing is the way sport is such a major part of the towns life.

I'm told that the two schools playing each other have roughly 3,000 pupils. Out of those students they manage to find, about 80+ football players, about 50+ cheerleaders and probably another 50 members of the band. I wonder how many schools in the UK of equal size could even find people who could play instruments.

A good sized crowd turned out to watch the game and were entertained not just by the actual game play but by live music and dance routines making it all to easy to be distracted and miss some great plays on the field.

When you consider that this was just the show put on by two local school teams there's no wonder they produce some excellent athletes.

Whilst at the game tonight i happened to check out the photographers shooting the game and noticed my good friend Chuck Cook was on the sideline. I first met Chuck about a month ago in London when he was in the UK to shoot the NFL game at Wembley. I phoned him on his mobile and asked if he had got the last shot, needless to say he was very suprised to see someone who he'd last seen some 6,000 miles away in another country.

Over a beer after the game Chuck invited me along to the LSU coaches press briefing on Monday (an offer only a madman would refuse). This is likely to be a great brieifng made even better as LSU have a big game tommorow against Alabama.

Does life get any better than this?

Hot in New Orleans

Man it's hot over here!

I landed in New Orleans on Sunday all ready for action. I was met at the airport by my good mate Randy and his wife Paige (who had just returned from London).

I've been in a town called Houma all week and this is the first time i've had to upload some images and update the blog.

Randys company specialises in repairing roofs and down in Houma there's a lot to be repaired. They were hit by hurricane Gustav about two months ago and it has left behind alot of damage. On many estates ther houses are covered with blue tarpaulins to keep out the weather whilst the homeowners are waiting for the repairs to be done.

We're going to watch a high school football playoff game tonight so hopefully should have some imnages from that to upload tommorow. Randys daughter runs the cheerleading squad ..... hard work but someones gotta do it.

Bowing to Public demand

For a long time I've been receiving complaints from my niece that everyone else appears on my blog at some time except her. So in the interest of fairness (and to stop the e-mails / phone calls and verbal complaints) here's a picture of her before her prom day.

I can honestly say in no way did i intend to miss her out and in fact i was very surprised she had never appeared on the blog at all. I apologise for the amount of time it has taken for this picture to be added and hope that it is adequate :-)

In other news last weekend was the NFL game at Wembley when the San Diego Chargers took on the New Orleans Saints (my team) at Wembley. The weekend started on Friday at the Green Man pub where the Colchester Gladiators had organised the now legendary Great British Tailgate Party. I have a feeling that next year they'll have to plan for an ever bigger event.

Finally i fly out to New Orleans tomorrow (9.15). I'm away for about six weeks but can be contacted via my normal e-mails or those that have my skype details can still ring me either skype to skype or on my American mobile number.

Next time i update this blog I'll be in the USA ... how mad's that!

Fishing where the fish are ...

Those that know me know of my love for the sport known in the UK as American football. Next week Wembley stadium is playing host to two of the top teams in the NFL, The New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers.

American Football catching on in England

Whilst the majority of Brits couldn't care about the game, its worth noting that tickets for the game sold quicker than the latest Robbie Williams concert proving there is a growing fan base in the UK. Many have questioned why the NFL would fly two teams to a foreign country to play a regular season game (this is not an exhibition game it really counts). The answer is simple American Football in its home market has reached saturation point. Everyone who is interested in American football in the US has their team, so when the marketeers get together to try and work out how to sell an extra 20,000 shirts the answer is simple, fish where the fish are. The UK has a large audience of fans who regularly watch every weekend, in fact sky TV shows more live NFL football than British football. By bringing over a game to reward those fans it is hoped (and been proven) the fan base will grow and the all important merchandise sales will increase.

The build up to the Wembley game has already started and last night i had the pleasure of spending an evening with a reporter and two photographers from New Orleans. You can see the full report here of the Saints v Panthers which went out in their newspaper (the Times Picayune) this morning.

It's a long story but over the internet i've been speaking to a great many people in the New Orleans area and i've decided it's about time I went over and saw that part of the world (and at the same time watch more American football). In just about two weeks time i sahll be boarding a plane and flying to the big easy. I plan to stay for about 6 weeks but who knows .....

Why the government has to act

For far too long the estate agents and the banks have been allowed to write their own wage packet. Estate agents have been pulling figures out of the air on house prices knowing as long as they were more than the last company they would get the deal. It was in their interest to put the prices as high as possible as they earn a percentage of that price.

Unfortunately they have been allowed to set whatever prices they wanted too because the banks would loan money to people who had no chance of ever paying it back. In short they don't earn enough. However low early payment schemes that rise after x amount of years convinced people they could.

Well eventually the bubble has burst and because of it the whole country (world) is about to have a very rough ride (and that's an understatement).

I believe we're on the verge of a recession never before seen. As the banks continue to fail and the population gets more and more nervous, what happens is everyone stops spending and the economy comes to a screeching halt. Unsure of what tomorrow holds the population starts sitting on any money they have and as such business start going under, people lose jobs and the whole thing gets into a downward spiral completely out of control. The economy relies on people passing around their money to each other to keep the cogs turning. If we all went to the bank and tried to withdraw what we have there's not enough. The problem is the banks have taken it to extremes in the chase of making their profit levels and earning their million pound bonuses.

If the government don't act to save banks businesses use the ability to trade / pay wages and more and more are thrown onto the dole. Not enough people are in work to support the social security so taxes will go up.

In short the government has to bail out the problem. Having done so they should then throw the bosses in prison for bringing down the country followed by themselves for allowing it to happen. Over the next twelve months its going to be very much a case of survival of the fittest.

Unfortunately the financial bail out has next to zero chance of ever being recovered. It is bad debt being bought and the debt is secured on properties that are grossly over valued. In short it's like expecting a heroin addict to return money they're lent.

London Olympics 2012 Oh dear

Having recently watched the opening ceremony for the Chinese Olympics and heard about the clockwork way the whole event has been organised you can't help but think we're going to shoot ourselves in the foot when it's Londons turn.

Already Seb Coe has been trying to dampen the worlds expectations saying that the Chinese Olympics will be the last ones to have such fantastic venues / opening and closing ceremonies and no other country would ever do the same again.

What he means is we simply can't afford to do it properly. Which leads to the question why did we bid? Does anyone believe had New York won the Olympics they would have toned down the event? I very seriously doubt it. If we can't afford to do the job properly then we should never have pretended that we could. Our bluff was called and unless something happens pretty quickly the country will be severely damaged.

The british are a great nation but we regularly over state our abilities and get caught out. Monty Python hit the nail on the head with this sketch about a business trying to be something it wasn't.



The problem is of course that this will have a lasting legacy on Britain's chances in many more ways. The millennium dome was a complete disaster but had little international effect as the whole world was to busy enjoying their own millennium experience. If we get the Olympics wrong the whole world will be watching.

I really do hope we can pull this one out of the bag and make a terrific advert for this great nation, but I have to admit, the signs are not looking good already.

I wait with baited breath to see the handover ceremony and what we have lined up for the entertainment, I have a horrible feeling it could involve double decker buses and bowler hats, please don't let me be right ...........

Colchester Gladiators v Essex Spartans

One of the big rivalries the Gladiators have is with their nearest rivals the Spartans. Earlier in the year the Gladiators had travelled to the Spartans home ground and beaten them convincingly. The Spartans came to Colchester a few weeks ago intent on returning the compliment. Watch the video to see the outcome. Unfortunately I wasn't at the game as I was shooting a wedding. The same will happen this Sunday when the Colchester Gladiators travel to play the South Wales Warriors in the wild card play offs. I will have to ensure my phone is on silent as the text messages relaying the score will no doubt start coming in shortly after kickoff.

Been trying to keep up with the portrait / wedding shoots lately so the blog has been a little idle. I'll upload some stuff soon.

Breaking things

There are two times when anything breaks

1. When you need it.
2. When you've just spent a load of money on it.

Had my car serviced and MOT'd last week. It has decided it doesn't want to work any more.

Campbell and Serenas wedding at the Felix hotel

I was lucky enough to recently be chosen to photograph the wedding of Campbell and Serena.

It was a truly fantastic day and I know everyone had a great time (including me).

Check out their fantastic wedding cake, I can tell you it smelt absolutely incredible. All that white chocolate and me without a fork ...... It was made by a company called choccywoccydoodah in Brighton. Check out their website for some amazing creations.

Click on the image or here to have a sneak preview of some of their wedding pictures. A truly wonderful day.

All around the world

It's been a while since i checked out my stats on my web page so i thought I'd take a look.

Of the last 500 people who visited the majority (348) were from the UK. It would also appear that people in Ireland and America have been paying me a few visits too.

It always amazes me that people from all over the world can come and check out my work. I often wonder what makes someone in Australia or Taiwan type Martin Wilmott into google but they do.

Perhaps they saw my work somewhere or read an interview on line, I guess for the majority I'll never know but its kinda nice when I get the occasional e-mail from someone overseas who I've never met.

My latest project is really starting to pick up steam and is getting very exciting. However it may mean I have to seriously restrict my photography work. keep your eyes peeled on here and facebook (just send a friend request) for hints and announcements.

I've been toying if I should run one last "shoot to sell" course. If you think you may be interested drop me an e-mail.

Ron and Charlene's Wedding at Crondon Park

A few weeks back I had the honour of being asked to photograph Ron and Charlenes wedding.

It was a great day and the weather held out making a fantastic day even better.

For a sneak preview of some of the images from their wedding day click on the picture or click here.

Where to buy cameras that take GREAT pictures

Pin It I had a little chuckle to myself today. One of the things that can become annoying is when people see your work and say something like, wow what a great picture what camera do you use?

I heard the perfect reply today, "I got it from this really great shop where Shakespeare bought all those great pens that wrote his books!"

In short cameras don't take great pictures, people do. I grow tired of people telling me how many mega pixels their point and shoot is .... so what? When people start talking about mega pixels to me, it just shows that they have fallen for the manufacturers marketing gimmick. Let's face it you can get a six mega pixel on a phone these days, does anyone really believe they'll get great images with the lenses they use? ........ perhaps they do.

Note to self

1. Update blog!

But seriously I'm a little snowed under at the moment with several shoots all taking place at around the same time and also a major project ongoing that could see me changing careers .......

More to come when several decisions have been made.

A Commercial Shoot

A few weeks ago I set about a different style of commercial shoot. Basically its an advert for the Colchester Gladiators American Football Club. Being the marketing manager for the team its my role to raise the profile and attract more and larger sponsors. Those that know me know I like to work outside of the box (in fact most of the time I refuse to acknowledge a box exists).

I always stress, "if you want to be noticed do something noticeable."

Anyway after several rewrites and plenty of takes this is what we finished up with. Hope you enjoy it!

This is just the first of four.

Portrait Training Day

Yesterday was the latest "day of discovery" lifestyle portrait training days that I run at the Pontlands park hotel.

I started these courses because I always find it's easier to show someone what to do than to try and tell them.

I always have great fun teaching these courses and meet some great people. It's surprising the energy a group of photographers can create as the creativeness starts to take over and confidence grows.

Big thanks goes out to everyone who came along and I look forward to seeing your images. Also thanks to our great models.

We were really lucky with the weather but I guess as it's the start of the British summer that's how it's going to be from now on ..yeah right.

Andrea Simmons who came along yesterday kindly sent this image of me teaching yesterday. Although I think she caught me mid sentence or perhaps I was chewing a mint.

I'm pretty confident everyone left with a lot more confidence with new found skills and abilities. Also I have a whole new bunch of new friends.

Weddings at the Landmark hotel

Yesterday I was honoured to be employed to shoot a wedding in central London.

The west end of London is not the easiest location to work, mainly down to the 24hour traffic that sucks the life out of the city. I must admit looking out of the window in the morning didn't help, driving snow.

Luckily enough the snow soon melted long before the cameras came out of their bags however it was still very very cold and the wonderful bride and groom were like troopers never complaining once.

The wedding reception was booked for probably my favourite hotel in the city the Landmark. take a few minutes to look around their website and you'll see why its a great favourite with photographers, an absolutely stunning venue.

Not only is the venue fantastic but the staff work very hard to ensure the customers are completely satisfied (including the workers). The serving staff are all full time (rare at most hotels) and as such are well drilled ensuring everyone at the table gets served their meal at the same time. Little things like this go a long way in making a difference.

All in all a fantastic wedding made even better by great service and a wonderfull venue.

Blackberry 8310

I have a new toy!!

The other day I received a phone call from O2 telling me that they were changing my tariff as the one I was on was so old it had become defunct (I've had the same number since 1994).

Taking advantage of the situation I told them I needed an upgrade to which they agreed. I searched the phones available and came across the Blackberry 8310 which took my fancy.

It arrived the next day and after a small hiccup of having to wait a further 48hours to be hooked up to the wireless network I began playing.

The Good points. I can now receive and send e-mail without a computer, a real bonus for me as I spend long periods away from the office. I can search the Internet for basic websites again really handy when looking for hotel addresses phone numbers etc. it has a 1 gig memory which can hold loads of mp3 music tracks and so replaces my mp3 player. The in built camera has a flash (hoorah) so that solves the problem of taking a small camera every where I go (I don't think it will be replacing the Nikon just yet though). It also has various neat widgets that allow things to happen i.e. updating my facebook page or even (so I'm told) this blog (I haven't tried it yet).

Now the bad points, firstly I must emphasis I'm very pleased with the phone and these are just things I have come across and not worked out how to solve as yet. Every time I receive an e-mail the phone vibrates. Also there's no spam filter on the e-mails. When you add together the fact the phone vibrates when they arrive and the fact I rarely turn my phone off I've been woken up several times this week at 2 in the morning by e-mails offering to sell me various gadgets to make a certain member of my anatomy bigger, not very impressed !! The in built sat nav is poor in that although it can give you a root and you can follow it on the screen it doesn't talk so it is of no use when driving, although admittedly would be good if you had to walk somewhere.

After a couple of days surfing I started to get the following message, "a problem occurred while trying to render the page" this started on a few sites and very quickly spread to every web site. The cure I found was this, open the browser, select the options menu. Then select the Cache Operations, delete the content cache ...... make sure the browser configuration is set at the standard default. That did the trick for me and it's now working fine.

All in all a great phone, i'll just have to learn to switch it off at night, although there is a setting for that to happen automatically and then turn itself back on in the morning!

Bingo Lotto

I was asked last weekend to do some publicity shots/ PR for the British American football association and the Bingo lotto TV show.

The basics of it are the Bingo lotto launched last week and had a large photo call in Trafalgar Square. The hosts of the show, Joe Pasquale and Suzanne Shaw were there as well as representatives from various sports from all over the UK.

A percentage of the money raised from Bingo lotto goes back to sports. As well as Joe and Suzanne Antonio Fargas was also their as a guest of British American football.

Antonio is best known in the UK for playing the part of Huggy Bear in the 70's show Starsky and Hutch. He also spent time in the jungle along side Joe Pasquale in the show "I'm a celebrity get me out of here". A slightly less known fact (at least in the UK) is that his son, Justin, plays for the Oakland raiders as a running back in the NFL. As can be seen here all the celebs were more than happy to pose with members of the Colchester gladiators youth team after the all important PR shots had been captured.

Baddow Camera Club

Just a quick line to say thank you to all the members of the Baddow Camera Club for asking me along to speak. I hope you all enjoyed the talk and perhaps found a new approach to taking some images.

If anyone is looking for a friendly camera club in the local area I would certainly recommend they give this club a look.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Wedding at London Zoo

Ever since the laws were relaxed about where people could get married couples have taken advantage of some excellent and exciting venues.

I was recently commissioned to capture a young couples special day at London Zoo.

Click on the picture see some (about a third) of the images.

It was an excellent day with lots of fun and laughter along the way.

Pre Wedding Photography

Would you buy a car without a test drive? In a previous career I sold Land Rovers, without blowing my own trumpet I like to think I was reasonably succesfull and won several holidays for my efforts (including two to Canada).

One of the reasons for my success was letting the product do the selling. Every customer was offered a test drive, so they could experience what words cannot explain.

This is something I have carried over into my photography business. Every couple that contacts me regarding a wedding gets offered a free pre wed photoshoot (where posible). No charge and the pictures are uploaded on the web soon afterwards to help the couple decide.

Picking a wedding photographer is a huge decision for any couple, deciding who to trust to capture their wedding day. I strongly believe couples should have the opportunity to experience how a photographer works and to see their own images. The days of old albums with the best 50 shots of 10 years work crammed in are in my mind over (and good riddance).

Who wants it more?

Last night was the end of the season for the professional American football league (NFL) in America.

The last game of the season is a big match up between the AFC and NFC champions called the superbowl. This year the New York Giants were squared up against the New England Patriots.

The Pariots were favourites by a long way and had managed to go the whole season without loosing a match (American football does not have draws). Neither of these teams are my team but I must admit I do tend to go for the under dog and as the Giants had travelled to London and played at wembley earlier this year I was hoping they could pull off a massive upset.

The game kicked of at about 11.30pm and finished at about 3.30am but was one of the best games i've ever watched. It came right down to the last few seconds with new england leading. A fantastic play saw the Giants QB scramble away from a definite sack and throw a pass to a receiver who made a catch that will probably not be bettered for many years. To cut a long story short the Giants came out winners in a game that a Hollywood scriptwriter would have been proud of.

The catchphrase the NFL had used in marketing the superbowl this year was "who wants it more" The QB scramble and catch were certainly proof that the Giants wanted the win. Who wants it more is something that could be used when assessing your own business ..... you or your competitor.

Safe is risky!

OK it may sound strange but I can promise you one thing, in the business world the most risky thing you can do is play it safe ...... So then it stands to reason the safest thing to do is take risks. Don't believe me? Find a self made millionaire (or for that matter a successful business) that hasn't taken a risk.

Can you imagine the conversation Simon Woodroffe must have had when he was trying to tell people how his Yo Sushi restaurants would work ....... Conveyor belts would carry food past people who would take it if they wanted it ..... a bit like the generation game.

I've always said if you want to be noticed do something noticeable. Believe me it works!

Another Year Older

So yesterday was my birthday and I'm now officially another year older. Is it just a male thing that the mental age stays at around 19? I really believe there's not a guy out there who doesn't believe he could fly a helicopter, run a marathon and serve with the SAS if he wanted too, just life took them in a different direction. Of course we're wrong but we like to believe we could (helps us sleep at night).

January is traditionally a slow time for most businesses and the photography trade is not exempt. Having said that over the last few days the enquiries seem to be coming in again so it looks like there may be food on the table in the near future. In truth the early part of the year is when a lot of people find their wedding photographers and that trend would seem to be holding true.

I've finally managed to find a date for my next two day "shoot to sell course" which will be the 21st and 22nd April. For anyone that's interested its a two day marketing and sales course designed around the photography business. It includes the methods to identify, find and capture clients and then practical advise on selling and sales techniques. It has proved very popular in the past and i don't know of any other courses specifically written for photographers. You can read what previous attendees have said here or here . This course has the added benefit in that I have teamed up with and excellant image display company who will be helping us over the two days by showing exactly what they can do with our images (in display terms).

Also don't forget I'm running a one day lifestyle photography day on the 30th March. This is a whole day spent where i show some of my methods which help me to get natural photographs. A wide range of people regularly attend these days from amateurs who have recently bought a new camera through to professionals looking to have a change in direction. Just drop me an e-mail to martin@martinwilmottphotography.com if you think either course may be of interest and I'll send you the info.

Oh and i nearly forgot I'm booked to give a talk for the Baddow Camera Club on the 26th Feb so if you're in the area why not come and say hi. Full details can be found here, or just go to www.baddowcameraclub.com. The talk is free but you should let the club know you wish to attend.

I really hope we can meet up some time in the near future ....... that's if I'm not busy flying helicopters, running marathons or training with the SAS.

A hard day out of the office

I was recently commissioned by John Pease motorcycles in Braintree to capture some images. As well as web / press image the brief was to show off the newly redesigned parts / accessories area.

One thing that has proven popular with those who choose to frequent two wheels is a good looking woman. Something that has been proven over many years and adverts so who am I to argue.

Some times you just have to go with the flow, it's a times like these photographers wonder if they would be happier behind a desk in some dull boring job ....... for about a millionth of a second.

The shoot went well and we managed to get shots in both the Yamaha and Suzuki showrooms before heading up to the parts / accessories area. I've put a couple of images on here for you to see, the rest you'll have to visit John Pease for or have a look on their website in a few weeks time.

Many thanx goes to Paul the Manager of John Pease, and of course the lovely Marta who was our stunning model for the day.

I must have the best job in the world!

Picture This Channel 4

Whilst setting my video to record the American football on Tuesday night I noticed a programme on channel 4 at 5 in the morning called "picture this".

After a little research it was a TV programme about four aspiring photographers who are to be put through several tasks with the chance to win a book deal and a display in a gallery.

It sounded good so I set the video and actually managed to watch it today. To me it summed up everything that i hate about photographers and photography. Don't get me wrong the technical abilities and photoshop skills were impressive and the finished images were technically correct.

However the photographers were so self centred they completely failed in their tasks. For example one of the tasks they were set this week was to produce portraits of each other. To me a portrait should be all about the person being photographed and should tell their story. So for example if i was commissioned to create a photograph of a photographer I would shoot them at work or in a dark room etc. Between the 4 people one decided the sitter should be tied up on a park bench bondage style ....... How is that a portrait? The guy wasn't into bondage (that we are aware of). The second decided to make the guy look like her and dressed him in her clothes and watch etc ????? the third had his fellow female photographer scrubbing the streets on all fours ??? The last was the only one that came near a portrait and pictured the sitter on a settee in the street next to a graffiti wall, in fairness I liked the composition of this shot.

However what really hacked me off was when they were tasked with photographing people in a British seaside town. One of the photographers got a couple of children to dance with their parents in the background of the shot. He then photoshopped a sign into the parents hands that said "the children are dancing for crack". Personally i found this disgraceful that he would betray the peoples trust to make them look like crack addicts.

At this stage I turned the video off.

I know these are my personal views but I really do believe it's the photographers job when being tasked to take a portrait to photograph the real person. In my opinion a photographer who imposes what they want and not what the client wants is a failure.

If the task had been to create art my views would have been differant but it wasn't. The brief was to take a PORTRAIT.

Winter Wedding at Layer Marney

It seems to be a growing trend that weddings are now taking place throughout the year.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to shoot a wedding at Layer Marney Towers near Tiptree. It was a fantastic day and the wonderfull couple were obviously so in love.

Shooting in the winter brings new challenges, the main ones being lack of light (it gets dark by 4pm) and lack of warmth. We were really lucky on Sunday that all the rain fell the day before and the sun actually came out and did its best to keep the temperature above freezing.

I was really pleased with the above shot, I used the light from the video mans camera to backlight the couple and just natural light to capture the image. All in all a fantastic day spent with fantastic people.

My Favourite Photographs

Being as we are so near to the end of the year I thought I'd put together the slideshow above of some of my favourite images. I struggled to cut down the images and could easily have had treble the amount of photographs but finally settled on these. You can see it larger if you click here.

For those of you still waiting on your Christmas cards don't panic I haven't forgotten you, I'm still waiting for them to come back from the printers so it should be any day now ...... sorry.

Uncle Bobs!

Uncle Bob is an occupational hazard for any wedding photographer. Let me explain, at every wedding there will undoubtedly be someone (normally an uncle, hence the nick name) who has a keen interest in photography and has all the gear his local camera shop can sell him. They are often referred to as "all the gear with no idea".

Normally I have no problem working with uncle Bob's and often have a chat in quiet times and talk photography. However occasionally there's one that gets in the way and physically stops me from doing my job.

I recently had one of these at a wedding. The venue was a top west end hotel in London and the main ball room has mirrors all over including behind the top table. Mirrors make taking photographs harder for several reasons i.e. flash has to be bounced rather than direct, you have to shoot at an angle so you're not in the shots etc.

It was during the speeches that uncle Bob continually stood in the centre of the table firing his flash straight into the mirror (he couldn't have got a single shot) and being in every photograph. Every time I would set up a shot and take a step backwards he would be under my feet ..... a complete nightmare!

I have no problem with people taking photographs but please, have some respect and stay out of the way.

On another note the next Lifestyle portrait training day has been booked for the 30th March 2008 at the Pontlands park Hotel near Chelmsford. Drop me an e-mail if you feel like coming along (it would make a better Christmas present than socks).

Come and say hi

I was recently approached by the Baddow camera club to give a talk on my work and lifestyle photography in general.

The talk will take place on the 26th February 2008 starting at 19.45 and It's completely free (although tea ect will be for sale). You don't have to be a member of the club to come along. The location is the BAE Telford Systems theatre, on West Hanningfield Road in Great Baddow near Chelmsford.

I'll be showing some of my images and sharing a few secrets of how they are achieved, in my normal witty way. There will also be a time at the end where I'll be happy to field any questions people may have.

For more details check out the Baddow camera club website and drop them a line if you intend coming along.

It will be great to see you there!

This didn't happen

Before I start I want to make it clear to my insurance company and any health and safety bods that may happen to be reading this the following story is actually completely made up and totally fictitious.

OK, so today I was booked to do some commercial work which involved shooting a companies lorries at their yard. It had to be today as the shot is required by Thursday and weekends are the only time the fleet is at the depot.

Unfortunately it was also the day we got a weeks worth of rain in one day, but being as there was no chance of a re shoot we pushed ahead regardless. Endless shunting of vehicles back and forth and we were eventually ready for the shots.

Anyone who's read my free down loadable photography tips from my website will know one of the things I constantly talk about is finding interesting angles to shoot from, normally high or low. I'm not afraid to climb on top of something or lie down if I feel it will add to the shot. With this in mind I asked the boss if it would be possible to bring a forklift out for me to get a bit of height.

The forklift trundled out to where I had thought the best place would be with a pallet for me and my tripod to stand on. I mount the pallet grab hold and say to the driver "take it up as far as it will go" at about the half way point I realised that i had underestimated the maximum height of the forklift. I thought it would go to about 6ft where as in actual fact it went to about 30ft (or at least it felt that way).

So I'm now standing 30ft in the air with my camera on a tripod whilst the rain is pouring down, There are no railings and just a pallet to stand on (that seems to have shrunk since we left the ground, unlike my tripod which has expanded to take all the room). There's nothing for it other than to get brave let go and look through the camera, luckily the tripod needed only the very minimum of adjustment to get the composition I wanted. Needless to say I set the camera to bracket (30ft in the air is not the time for light readings) and shot of about thirty shots.

All in all a succesfull day even if the adrenelin was of the brown variety.

New York Giants v Miami Dolphins at Wembley

Pin It Last weekend (is it a week already) The NFL brought over two American football teams to play at Wembley stadium in a regular season game. In sports terms this was BIG, it was not a friendly with second string players it was the real thing with points at stake.

The club I'm a member of (the Colchester Gladiators) are without doubt the most forward thinking club in the country. Over several months prior to the game they had been and booked the Green man pub for a massive pre (and after party). The weather did its best to stop any fun but due to the good natured crowd and the excellent wet weather planning everything went well. The club had organised a massive marquee which housed a DJ trade stands and a bull ride which went down extremely well with the gathered crowds (over 2,000). Added to that the dance performance (you can see one of their performances here ... I'm stood next to the DJ wearing the No.53 shirt) by the Kukri allstarzz and everyone was very happy.

After several pints loads of football chat and being interviewed by Nuts TV (details to follow) it was time to head down the hill to the stadium.

From the outside Wembley is an absolutely stunning stadium and seemed to cope well with the masses all turning up to get into the game. To say tickets were hard to get hold of for this game would be an understatement. The NFL had half a million ticket requests - Wembley at max capacity can only seat 90,000.

Everyone entering the stadium had a search for security reasons. I had my D2x swung round my neck with the plan being if they said i couldn't bring it in I'd run back to the Green man and leave it with the guys there (OK it would be a fast walk). After several of the security men had a chat they decided I could bring it in as long as i promised not to use it ..... yeah right.

The seats i had managed to get were in the upper section and after several escalator rides we reached the viewing are. Stepping out into the arena was a truly breathtaking experience a fantastic venue for any sporting event. One of those things that has to be experienced to be fully understood.

Not only were the seats I had in the upper section they were also very high, in fact if they were much higher you need a Sherpa to guide you to your seat. In fact a couple of times during the game we had to ask God to sit down so we could see.

Having said that the view was fantastic, better than at crystal palace or Don Valley stadium because although you are high you're not far from the sideline.

The game itself wasn't a fantastic spectacle and was heavily affected by the constant down pour (with such a fantastic stadium you'd have thought they'd have put a closeable roof on it). Just before half time i decided to go and grab a programme. in typical British style here's where it starts to go wrong. At every food counter massive ques stretched back after a long walk i found the merchandise stand again with a massive que. Although i didn't eat at the stadium word soon spread that they had run out of beer and food and the staff serving couldn't speak English causing a mix up in almost everyone's orders. In typical Brit fashion we build a fantastic stadium then act surprised when a hungry thirsty crowd turn up. Down get me wrong I love this country but some things really annoy me.

The second half got slightly more interesting when the Dolphins rallied and made an attempt to get back in the game scoring a great passing touchdown. However their plans were scuppered when they attempted to kick an onside kick that simply skidded accross the pitch and out of bounds leaving the Giants to simply run the clock out.

Getting out of the stadium took a little longer than most stadiums had been to (although in fairness they aren't capable of holding 90,000). Also gone were the escalators just never ending rows of stairs to go down. Once outside we headed back up the hill to get back tot he Green man in time to watch the next game amongst friends.

All in all an excellent weekend made even better by the Colchester Gladiators tailgate party at the Green man. the weather could have been better (it didn't stop raining all day) and the service inside Wembley was very poor. The stadium though is well worth a a visit.

Rufford Abbey (near Sherwood Forest)

One of the perks of working like I do is that I'm not tied down in one area. At the drop of a hat I can pick up my gear and go.

Sometimes I rely totally on the client to pick a good venue although I do try and do some research prior to the booking. Recently I took the journey up to Rufford Abbey near Ollerton and did a family portrait shoot for the two sisters seen here. You can see some of the images from the day by clicking here.

I've been asked by photographers how far I would travel to do a shoot, (then i mention i shot a wedding in Australia a while back and they get the message). In honesty i don't think there's a limit as long as the criteria is right I'll go. It knocks seven bells out of sitting in an office all day or even worse a white background studio!

If your name is Katie McKinley (i think e mail is something like katiecolourmc@ I don't know.co.uk ) and you left a message for me this morning on the answer phone can you ring me again as I can't make out your e-mail address .... thanx.

Only 6 days till I go to see the Dolphins v Giants at Wembley can't wait! :-)

The Christmas Rush

It's that time of the year when the organised people (that's me out then) start arranging what they are going to get grand parents etc for Christmas presents.

As a result the diary starts to fill up as families organise themselves. The family seen here had that exact idea (click on the image for a slideshow showing a few more images). Of course the phone continues to ring right through to December with people who are a little less organised (unfortunately that's the bracket I'd put myself into when it comes to Christmas shopping).

My favourite advert (Cadburys Gorilla)

Advertising is not something that often attracts me but i must admit i love the new cadburys one.


and if that wasn't good enough the good old internet soon gets people making their own as seen below ... Briliant!

Portfolio

It seems there are more and more professional people that are needing portfolio images recently.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing a journalist come author who has recently won a very prestigious award for writing. He entered a competition where the first few chapters of a book had to be entered and he won. Since then he's been in demand and it would appear he has a great future ahead.

Click here to see the images we got today. Sometimes when there's only one subject it can be hard to get enough different pictures but I'm really pleased with today's results, see what you think.

A day in the park

I've been completely snowed under recently trying to catch up with various shoots including another two this weekend (images will be uploaded when I catch my breath).

Anyway this Sunday I took a trip down to St Albans to meet up with a good friend Mel Corley . I first met Mel we he came on one of my day of discovery days and since then we've stayed in touch.

I had been commisioned to photographs Mel as he worked.

The brief was to capture images of Mel as he carried out a portrait shoot. The images will be used to help promote him and his business.

Whilst we worked together exchanging ideas, and searching out exciting backgrounds, I managed to get the shot above of our stunning model.

I strongly recommend you go to Mels site and see some of his fantastic work from the day under the portrait section ...... they're great!

Nikon D3

I've always been a Nikon user. Ever since my first steps into photography (in the army) where an FM2 was thrust into my hand and I was sent out with rolls of film to go get some shots.

I love the cameras and have got to know each one I have owned almost personally. In fact I'm so bad I've still got them all (where's the sense in that).

I was very slow taking up the digital revolution as i have always been more than satisfied with the film cameras. However rising film/processing costs eventually made the decision for me (although i still occasionally shoot film). I can't be the only one who still gets inspired when opening a film can and smelling the emulsion on a fresh film can I?

Any way the main beef I had with Nikon was how all my lenses from my film bodies suddenly became different focal lengths when attached to my D2x. I suddenly found I had to be further away from my subjects and it caused me to have to change my approach to the subjects. This of course was due to the size of the image sensor Nikon used as a result I believe several photographers jumped ship and went to Canon who offered full frame. For years Nikon insisted they had no intention of going full frame and instead concentrated on new lenses specifically designed for digital bodies. All that changed last week with the announcement of the D3.

It looks a very impressive piece of kit and boasts several new widgets including, the ability to have 2 memory cards, some new fancy autofocus system and several other techy things (that if I'm honest don't interest me cause they're techy, I'm more interested in what it produces rather than how).

However I'm very impressed with the pricing policy, estimated at £3,300 that's a lot cheaper than the Canon equivalent.

Grab shots

I got a pleasant reminder last weekend of the importance of being ready to get grab shots at all times. We'd just finished shooting some formal stuff at a christening and where walking out of the park when the shot here presented itself.

These are the shots you can't create and just have to be ready for when they present themselves. The trick is never turn the camera off and the lens cap only goes back on when the camera goes away. If I'm honest I prefer these shots to the more formal type of shot that the majority of people want.

Here's another example of the same baby but captured a little more formally. I always try and get a bit of both and that way it's the best of both worlds.


On another note skype seemed to have dropped the ball over the last two days. For anyone not in the know skype is the free online phone company owned by E-bay. They normally provide an excellent and very cheap (and in many cases free) phone service anywhere in the world. Their problems are something to do with a software problem, but for a major provider like this to go down for two days that's major. We'll see what happens over the next couple of days.

Regardless of the current problems I'd advise anyone who has a broadband connection to get skype. Especially if you regularly phone people on the other side of the world.

The NFL in Colchester

For the last week the NFL have been running an American Football school in Colchester assisted by the Colchester Gladiators. Here's some images from one of the days.