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).