Friday Night Lights (again)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saints v Packers in the Superdome

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

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

Travelling to the game

Saints Score (again)

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

LSU v Ole Miss College football

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

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

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





LSU drum section in amongst the tailgating




LSU Tigers walk from their bus to the stadium




Opening kick off



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

Mud bugs etc

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

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

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

The French Quarter New Orleans

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

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

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

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

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.