Hours at the Computer

The bulk of this week has been taken up with administration. Apart from a quick shoot on Monday morning (pictures to follow) I've been sitting in front of the P.C. typing out quotes for wedding enquiries answering questions via e mail etc.

The picture you see here is a commercial job I was commisioned to shoot. The building is an old barn that has been converted into a fantastic house.

The decor and size of the house are fanatastic. The kitchen area was something totally amazing. As i have said before commercial photography isn't my favourite side of the business but occasionally it makes a welcome change with far less pressure.

Later on today I'm off to shoot the Colchester Gladiators at their home ground, they're playing the East Midland Saxons and it promises to be a great game (again pics to follow). The Gladiators have been getting some pretty good press coverage in recent weeks including, full pages or page dominance in, The Evening Gazette, The Essex County Standard and The East Anglian Daily Times. All of the write ups include my pictures and include my details, great advertising for free!

Also this week i've had another three enquiries from people wishing to come on my portrait photography training day in October. This is promising to be great and places are going fast, if you want details just e mail me or click through to my site www.martinwilmottphotography.com and whilst your there you can sign up to my free photography tips (look under the tips section).

One last thing if you look at the bottom right of this blog you'll see a map, feel free to click on it and add yourself, i love seeing where people who have signed up to my free tips are from, all over the world!


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Colchester Gladiators at East Midland Saxons

This weekend saw another amazing game! Colchester Gladiators travelled north to Peterborough to face the East Midland Saxons. Unfortunately I missed the first half because of other work commitments but managed to arrive just in time to see the last couple of plays of the 2nd quarter.

The sun was beating down making an already very physical game even harder on both sides. Colchester pulled the game out of the bag eventually winning 24 - 23. Every game seems to come down to the wire. It seems the Gladiators always struggle to get started and then somehow turn it on for the second half.

To see my images from the Gladiators @ Saxons click the underlined words. Next week (Sunday 30th July) the Gladiators have a rematch against the Saxons, you can bet it's gonna be serious, loosing by one point after a three hour game never goes down well and you can bet the Saxons will be looking for revenge.

For details of next weeks games (and the rest of the season) check out the Gladiators web page here www.colchestergladiators.com. See you on Sunday?


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Family Photo Shoots

I was lucky enough to be asked to photograph a family recently. The difference between this and a normal lifestyle session? (if there is such a thing). Not much just the amount of people involved, 8 brothers and sisters.

Now anyone who has attempted to photograph more than one person will realise the more people the harder it can be. The trick is to work fast and hopefully make it enjoyable for everyone. Also try and listen to what they want and attempt to get it for them, just because they're young doesn't mean they don't have an opinion.

I've put a few of the images together here I think we managed to capture the true spirit of everyone and all without any tantrums or sulks.

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Only Fools on Horses

Saturday night saw the final of the only fools on horses competition. for anyone who's missed it or not from the UK the basic concept was celebrities were taught to ride horses and then how to jump and competed against each other.

I was lucky enough to be offered a VIP ticket to the final and went along (it was held at Towerlands Arena Braintree not far from where I live). I wish I could say what a thrilling night of energy and fun it was but unfortunately it was anything but. Because it was the Sports relief night the programme was recorded in lots of little bits and for a spectator in the arena it never really got going. The first thing that happened was everyone had to practise clapping and then clapping and cheering and then build up from small applause to a big cheer etc. All very false, the crowd also had to practise the ooohs and ahhhs incase a horse refused or a rider fell.

All in all it was an OK experience but because of they way it was recorded (they didn't want to show it live in case of a major accident) made the evening a bit boring. Having said that all the celebs seemed genually nice with a special mention to Sally Gunnel who went out to meet members of the public whilst the rest were guarded by a Gestapo like security.

No chance of any pics inside the arena though, the Gestapo security saw to that, even with no flash the movement could have upset the horses apparently, yeah right and a crowd being whipped into clapping and cheering frenzy wouldn't!

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Colchester Gladiators at Cambridge Cats

Last Sunday saw the Colchester Gladiators travel to the Cambridge Cats for a re match. When these teams met earlier in the year the game was won by Colchester with a touchdown scored with one second left on the clock. Close is an understatement.

The game started poorly for Colchester as they went behind for three scores, the team dug deep and started their comeback getting back a score before half time. Again it was a completeley thrilling game which could easily have gone either way.

The final score ended being Colchester Gladiators 26 Cambridgeshire Cats 25. Too close for comfort but this means the Gladiators now top the table with a 4 wins 1 loss record, with a record like that theres a real danger they could go through to the playoffs and possibly the Brit Bowl (to be played at Don Valley stadium in September).

Of course i got some images that you can view by clicking here
Anyone interested in the Gladiators can find details of their next games here www.colchestergladiators.com

Look out for there last home game on the 6th August, It's going to be a big major event with varius stuff laid on for children etc. Whilst i was at the game i got chatting to another photographer covering the game, it turns out he works for First Down magazine and covers NFL games in the states, ......... I offered to carry his bags but he already had that one covered.

Work wise for some reason there has been a sudden rush of enquiries for weddings and portraits throughout the year, no sense or reason it just happens like that sometimes.

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Great Weddings

One of the great things about this job is I get to enjoy many fantastic days out (and call it work). I feel sure every bride and groom must spend weeks / months planning every little detail which ensures these fantastic events. However having done the easy bit (capturing the images) its then time to do the hard bit.

Alot of people don't realise how long is spent in post production after a wedding / event and think photographers only work one day per wedding (I wish). I estimate a wedding job takes me about 7 days in total to complete (not back to back). I often wonder when I read about photographers doing 50 / 60 weddings a year what sort of end product they produce?

There are many hours sitting infront of the computer, firstly sorting the images, then adjusting them and then producing them in a way so they can be viewed. That's only half the job done, having been viewed it's now time to plan the albums that are ordered and place the orders to the various companies so they all come together like clock work at the end. It is hard work and stressfull sometimes but i can tell you it is really worth it when the bride is given her album and the tears come to her eyes.

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Bar Mitzvah Photographs

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be asked to shoot a young mans Bar Mitzvah party. The party was a massive success and was thoroughly enjoyed by everybody.

Part of the entertainment was the waiter you see here in the picture, unbeknown to everyone he was actually an actor hired by the young boys mother. As a waitor he started of reasonably well but was a little to over helpfull and got people the wrong drinks. He was also extremely clumsy and fell over on several occasions needing to be carried out by various guests .

When everyone had arrived he called the guests through to the marquee to be sat and promptly announced that the chef had unfortunately eaten one of the starters and had come down with food poisoning, but not to worry as he was going to take control and cook the meal.

As you can see from this next image he wasn't a complete success in the kitchen. To be honest i've seen a few similar style shows to this but I think I can say this was the best of the bunch.
His name is Mark Howard and has his own web site here www.sillywaiter.com.

Having had the oppurtunity to sit and chat with Mark in between courses it soon became apparent that he has worked in some major venues and also for some big names in the entertainment and business community. If you're planning a special occasion and were looking for something a little differant, I highly recomend him.

Bar Mitzvah photographer crazy waitor silly waitor silly waiter crazy waiter

Commercial Photography Shoot

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

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

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

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

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Pre wedding Shoot

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

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

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

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

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

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Lifestyle Photography

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

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

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

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

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

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Colchester Gladiators

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

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

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

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

sports photography colchester gladiators american football photography

Secret New Pro Camera from Canon

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

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

I'll stick to Nikon for now thanks.

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

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Advertising - don't bother calling me!!

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

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

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

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

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

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Wedding Album Images Updated

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

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

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

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

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Online Wedding and Portrait Brochures

It's slowly beginning to dawn on me how important websites are. When I first set about designing mine originally I thought I had everything covered. As you may know I'm deep into some pretty big changes to make it more user friendly for everyone. In particular there'll be a whole section for photographers as well as future brides and portrait enquiries.

I see the internet as like another T.V. Channel with lots of interesting things to watch, unfortunately there are alot of adverts too. How do you rate your site? Is it an interesting show or an advert? If it's an advert (and most are) do you blame people for skipping past it on there search for something interesting?

Here's a link to a sneak peak of what my potential brides get to see when they contact me (feel free to e mail it to anyone you know who's getting married)http://martinwilmottphotography.com/slideshows/wedenquiry/ yes it's an advert but hopefully an entertaining one.

As you can see the internet is moving at a massive pace. Only the other day I sat and watched Top Gear on my laptop (this show just gets better and better). The first time I have ever watched a TV show online! If this is becoming more and more available I can see no need for video recorders in the future. Incidently if you are into photography Top Gear is fantastic for picking up ideas, watch how the shows are filmed in high fashion style colour and often cross processed, fantastic! its already driven me to create some more photoshop styles.

On the subject of sport the Colchester Gladiators game scheduled for this Sunday was called off due to a rain soaked pitch (yes we are still in a drought). This is real bad news for me as the rest of the home games I have got weddings booked on the days! I might have to see some of there away games instead (as long as it's not too far to travel).

photography wedding enquiry wedding photography slideshow

Canon Plans to Stop Film Cameras?

No great shocks but the big rumour that's set the emails going is Canon withdrawing its film cameras. I guess it was inevitable after Nikon announced the same thing a couple of months ago.

Canon are attempting to keep it quiet at the moment as they still have warehouses full of film bodies they need to shift to the unsuspecting public.

Also setting the emails going is the Photoshop CS3 rumour. Depending on who you listen to it's between 2 and 8 months away. Interestingly Adobe have refused to comment on the rumors. Also another interesting thing I read was Microsoft have invented a new form of image that is of a higher quality than JPG but takes less space. They intend to launch it very soon and claim it will fast become the high quality way of capturing images. If it takes off (and who would bet against Microsoft) I guess there'll be a huge rush of digital cameras that use this technology I bet the camera manufacturers love it when everyone is forced to change their cameras again.

Whilst we're on the subject of Microsoft I recently started getting really annoying grey lines around web pages I was visiting which meant I had to double click on web pages to open links etc. I figured it was a setting I had set myself and would eventually find a way of switching it off. However I've since found out that it was an update to internet explorer that happened without my knowledge and was downloaded automatically. ....... I can almost hear you saying , "I thought it was just me" anyway I have now found a solution. I now use Firefox as my web browser so Microsoft because of your annoying stupid grey box you just lost a customer!

CANON FILM CAMERASPhotographyinternet explorerphotography

A Very Muddy Weekend

For anyone who's reading this from another country let me firstly point out that according to every news report England is in the middle of the worst drought for twenty years.

Bearing this in mind the weather gods decided it was about time we had a few years worth of rain in one weekend. Unfortunately it just happened to be the same weekend that the Essex Young Farmers had put on their country show. The young farmers show is one of the few shows every year that I book to display some of my stuff and hopefully meet up with loads of people and maybe get some bookings.

The omens were bad on Saturday when we struggled to get the cars anywhere near the marquee. Tractors were pulling vans and cars around the site in an effort to get people to their areas. Sunday was the day of the show and it had continued to rain overnight so now when we attempt to get to the showground Nothing can move on the site unless it's a four wheel drive. In no time at all the complete site was a thick sludgey mess, the stalls selling wellies made a complete fortune!

Anyway it was great to chat to so many people I was genually surprised how many of you had signed up for the free online training (look on my site under tips). Anyway after a good show (as good as it could be) it was time to pack up needless to say getting the cars anywhere near the marquee was a non starter and anyone that tried ended up stuck and waiting for a tractor.

So after many trips carrying framed images and boards through ankle high mud about 500m it was time to attempt to drive out of the car park. As luck would have it the cars managed to get out of the field (not before spraying mud all over the cars). So that's how the weekend went ... Having said that it was thoroughly worth being there ...... Lets hope this drought doesn't carry on for too long!

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Graduation Photographs

Is it me or do teenager get a better deal these days when they leave school? Not that they shouldn't do but when I left school the best you got was a teacher standing next to the fire alarm to stop it being set off when everyone left.

Anyway it was my nephews graduation day the other day and they had a ball set up for them. The teachers greeted all the kids at the door as they arrived in various types of vehicles stretching from wheely bins and Del Boys Robin reliant to expensive sport cars.

Of course Aaron (my nephew) arrived in style and looked great in his Tux (the first time he's had to where one.) Although the bow tie didn't last too long (about an hour). He even borrowed a set of my cufflinks suprise, suprise which ones he chose to wear, mini toilets. I picked them up in Australia a couple of years ago when i realised I had left mine behind in the UK.

Unfortunately Aarons girlfreind is a year younger than him so she wasn't allowed to go the ball. So he took along one of his freinds who also looked pretty stunning.

From what little I have heard he had a great time, however now its welcome to the real world. Time to find a job and start paying taxes.

I'm feel sure that no matter what direction he decides to take his career he'll be a great success.

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Something for the weekend

This Sunday I found myself with nothing to do. In the previous week I had read in the local paper that the Colchester Gladiators had a home game against the Cambridgeshire cats. It's been along time since I've been to see a game of American football 10 years ago I was really into it and even traveled to Atlanta Georgia to watch the a superbowl where the Redskins took apart the Broncos.

Of course I couldn't go to something as fast action as this without taking along my camera. For anyone that's interested the rest of the images are here http://www.martinwilmottphotography.com/slideshows/Gladiators

I must say it was a fantastic game. The Gladiators seemed to struggle in the first half but put in the best comeback I've ever witnessed. With one second left on the clock they were two points behind, the pass and catch will no doubt go down in legend for the Colchester club and will be talked about for years. The final score finished in a victory for the Gladiators 33 Cambridgeshire Cats 27.

Anyone interested in watching the team can find details of the next game on their website here http://www.colchestergladiators.com I'll certainly make an effort to go as long as I haven't got a wedding on.

See you there ......

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AmericanFootballInEngland

Theo Walcott and England

Am I the only one who's struggling to understand Sven's tactics? He's picked an unheard of player (although Arsenal paid £12 million for him and haven't played him). Now we are led to believe that Sven has heard of and been thinking about him for a while but admits he's never seen him play.

I along with thousand of other England supporters have paid to watch England play friendlies all over the country and watched Sven substitute the whole team on most occasions. On many occasions at half time a completely different team troops out onto the pitch. We watched as a inferior side would struggle through the second half but we didn't mind too much because Sven had a master plan and wanted to give EVERYONE he was watching a run out.

I'm not against Theo, from what I hear he's a good striker with blistering speed, but surely if Sven had got him in mind he'd have picked him before now?

On a different subject unlucky West Ham a very brave effort only to be beaten on penalties. On the plus side looks like Gerrards on form and will actually make a major tournament for England!

theo walcott

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