Slowing Down!

December already! It's usually a month when things start to slow down and last week looked as if this December was following the usual trend. This week put a stop to that! Three PR photo shoot's and two book designs completed but no partridge in a pear tree!
The first shoot on Tuesday was covering a boxing press conference, promoter Frank Warren with heavyweight's Danny Williams and Sam Sexton who are one of the fights on the February fight card were in attendance. It was all quite civilised, top London hotel setting and a Christmas tree for a back drop! Peace and goodwill to all men!
Wednesday's job was to cover the host city announcement for England's 2018 World Cup bid. Quite a few surprises with Milton Keynes and Plymouth's inclusion as potential host City's if England's bid is successful. Again in London, this took place at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre which is also hosting the Iraq enquiry, so I made sure I was in the correct auditorium! A few week ago I was asked if I could cover the World Cup next year in South Africa but I have a couple of weddings booked up during the tournament so this is as close as I'll get to shooting a World Cup!
Thursday's job was for F.A.Cup sponsors, E.ON with Portsmouth and England goalkeeper David James. I had to set up a studio at their training ground for some PR portraits. Now, that should be easy enough, but the room I was working in had quite low ceilings and David is quite tall!
Luckily, with the travel chaos in Kent caused by the snow today, I didnt have an assignment that involved travelling, just catching up on computer work. So three day's shooting and I stayed warm and dry and had plenty of coffee........it must be Christmas!!

Catching Up.....Part 1

Well, that's summer 2009 done with! It seems like only five minutes since I did a blog in March on the start of the formula 1 season, and here we are in October with a new British World Champion, I dont like to say I told you so but.....! I'v photographed some great events, both sporting and weddings as well as some fun PR assignments. I'm going to catch up with the weddings next week in another blog, but I thought I'd post a couple of images from two jobs from last month.
I started September with a trip to Wales to photograph the school games. The games bring athletes of school age from all across the UK representing their region in a sort of mini world championships. It was really impressive to see how seriously they are about it and the level of organisation was an eye opener, they even produced a mini daily paper reporting from all the different sports! London 2012 might come a bit too soon for most of the athletes here, but you could see there are some very talented kids coming through for 2016 and beyond!
Another assignment was much closer to home, a job at Margate football club with the FA Cup. E.On, the competition's sponsor, bought the cup to Margate to promote Margate's first round qualifying game with Sutton United. The brief was to capture images of the goalkeeper as this year they are putting them in the spotlight, and Margate was a good choice as their manager is the former Everton and Wales 'keeper Nevil Southall. I got a nice set of pictures, Margate were dumped out of the cup after a replay. Oh well, there's always next year!

Helllooooo Wembleeeey!

Yep, the first words from support act for U2, The Hours, just had to be "Helloooo Wembleeeeyyy"! Don't think it would have been a proper Wembley concert if the opening act hadn't said it. I don't do a lot of concert photography, the last one being Moby again at Wembley Stadium for Nike's Human Race event last year. I'm not a massive U2 fan, I like a lot of their stuff but I don't rush to download the new album, but when I got the call to shoot them at Wembley I did get a buzz! Whenever U2 comes up in conversation, it always takes me back to the 90's when I was a staff photographer at a sports agency. As usual, when the home nations football teams (and we included Ireland) were involved in World Cup qualifying games, we would cover them. This particular event had seen Ireland at home on the Saturday and away on the Wednesday so the agency sent a photographer out to Dublin to shoot the home game then booked them on the official Irish FA trip out to cover training and the match on Wednesday. Job done the snapper (no names to protect the guilty!) was duly back on the plane heading home with the Irish squad and the rest of the press. One of the players was chatting to the snapper and slipped into the conversation that U2's Adam Clayton was travelling back with the team and would said snapper like to meet him? Er, yes please! Player duly introduced them to this mega star who said "Hi, pleased to meet you" to which the photographer replied, "Pleased to meet you too....." We didn't let them cover Irish games for a while after!

I love getting different assignments and only having the first three songs to photograph the band was certainly going to be different. No time to waste, no opportunity to check lighting as that wouldn't start until U2 started. No time to change position, I'd been given the long lens pit and that was it. So, as the lights went out and U2 took to the stage, I shot a test pic, from that frame set the camera on manual and shot for three songs getting tight shots, wide shots, stage shots, general views and the Wembley arch shot! Was the show good? Who knows, I havn't even got a clue what the first three songs were, I was totally focused on getting as many different shots as possible! Luckily, as I was shooting for Wembley, after my three songs I was taken up to the TV gantry to get a shot of the Wembley arch from a high position so I had an extra half a song! Luxury. Actually, the extra 2 mins of shooting and a different position really made the set as I manged to get an extra five different pictures using wide, medium and long lens'. And just to round the evening off, I beat all the traffic by and hour and a half as I was out of Wembley in less than 35mins from U2 starting!

The Sport of Kings and a Prime Minister

Well, this year seems to be flying by again, all the winter sports finished a few months ago and we are already in the middle of Wimbledon fortnight! I'v been keeping busy with a varied selection of commissions, from shooting Howard Webb, the FA Cup Final referee at Wembley the day before the final (and are there any football supporters who haven't wanted to shoot the ref at some stage last season!!) to the London Marathon via weddings and portraits.
The first week in June has historically seen the running of the Epsom Derby, it had always been run on the first Wednesday but changed a few years ago to the first Saturday. I'm not a big horse racing fan but I had a commission to shoot this years race for sponsors Investec, with the brief of capturing the atmosphere of the festival. After spending most of the Friday photographing the static branding boards, I had all of Derby day to capture atmosphere pictures. Great, except it was cold and wet, it didn't stop drizzling until around 1.30! Actually, although the rain tried to spoil the day, most people didnt let it get in the way and as soon as it stopped most were outside enjoying the racing, betting, drinks, food, drinks and more drinks.
Fast forward a few days and I'm in quite a different place, I have a job that takes me to No.10 Downing St. and a shoot with a certain Gordon Brown. The job was for the FA, following the players and staff from England's World Cup winning team who didn't get a medal in '66, in those day's it was only the 11 players on the pitch in the final that received the winners medal. It was quite a serreal experience, walking through the door of No.10, up the stairs and into a large room where the players had a drinks reception before receiving their medal from the Prime Minister. It had been quite a journey to get there, and I'm not talking about the years of lobbying to get FIFA to award all the players and staff in the squad to get a medal, it was the first day of the tube strike and central London was a mess! I only just made it to the Royal Lancaster Hotel to meet up with the team. After shooting some nice portraits in the hotel we boarded the England under 21 coach to travel the one and a half miles to Downing St., a journey that should have taken 15 minutes in normal London traffic. However, not only had the tube strike made London's congestion zone traffic move at less than walking pace, as we neared Trafalgar Square, the PM's office phoned the coach driver to say that Whitehall had been closed due to a gas explosion. So, we were late..........65 minutes late! After waiting nearly 43 years for their medals, I dont think the players were too worried but it was a bit of a dissapointment that the team were rushed through, the PM only having a few minutes to spare. It was a fantastic job to be involved with, its not everyday you get to walk through the front door in Downing St!

Start Your Engine

I like this time of year, the days are getting longer, the Champions League is reaching an interesting stage, Charlton Athletic are pushing for promotion (well, they will be next year) and the F1 season is about to start. I spent 11 years traveling the world photographing the Formula 1 World Championship and loved every minute of it. Following the championship around the world, I'v worked in the desert heat in Bahrain, tropical rainstorms in Brazil and 80% humidity in Malaysia, not to mention the cold wet July days spent at Silverstone, happens every year.
My time in F1 was dominated by Michael Schumacher. My first year ('94) was the year he won his first world championship. He clinched it in Adelaid, Australia. We arrived in Oz from Japan having worked at the wettest race ever, 3 days after the race I was still trying to dry out my gear! Micky the shoe retired from the race after trying to punt off, sorry, after a collision with his championship rival, Damon Hill, who had to retire in the pits handing the championship to the German who was still stranded out on the circuit, standing by his Benetton car. He won again in '95 before losing out to Hill in '96 and in '97 he was again involved in controversy, trying to punt off his championship rival Jacques Villeneuve, this time it was Schumi who lost out, Villeneuve winning the championship. A couple of years in the wilderness followed before he came back with a record breaking five consecutive championships.
So it all begins again this weekend in Oz. I dont mind telling you, one thing I dont miss is sitting in cattle class for a 23 hr flight followed by another 23 hr flight home a week later! It looks like being a good year for racing with the various rule changes and new teams at the sharp end instead of the usual McLaren and Ferrari battle. My money's on Jenson Button......you can just feel its his year!

Rugby......It's Just Not Football!

Shot the Worcester v Wasps rugby union match last Saturday. Over the years I must have done 50 or 60 rugby match's, I dont do many now but a few years ago I shot plenty. Guinness Premiership, Internationals at home and abroad and the Heineken Cup. After all those games I'v got absolutely no idea of whats going on. I cant fathom out why they do things, for instance, I obviously know that each team is trying to get the 'ball' over there opponents try line, so why, when they get the ball in their own half, do they kick it back to the other side? When they do start to run with the ball, the opposing team commit GBH to stop them (that could be why the guy kicks it back to them!). Then they just go into what looks like a free for all, people standing on each other, punch's swapped and general mayhem until the ball pops up with someone else who runs another couple of yards before someone grabs them round the neck and it all starts again! On days like this I really miss shooting football. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people enjoying their sport, it would be a dull world if we all supported Charlton Athletic, not to mention the problems you'd have getting tickets, and I'm happy for everyone who enjoys playing it from grass roots to premiership, but the RFU have got to make it a bit more user friendly. If a casual observer cant work out what's going on, he's not likely come come back often. My son has just started playing it at secondary school and he loves it as he can "splat his mates all afternoon". Beats doing geography I suppose. Thing is, he's not interested in watching it, either on TV or live at a match. I offered to take him on Saturday but he wasn't having any of it. At all. That's how football wins every time, kids see it on the telly, they want to play it in the parks and they want to go watch it, because even if they dont know the off side rule, they can see whats going on! If you had 10 youth's playing rugby in a park, it would resemble gang warfare braking out! Shooting a rugby league match in a few weeks time, first time I will have photographed that code. Have all my fingers and toe's crossed that it will be better than the union version!

Late Kick Off's

After my wedding last week, it was back to sport this week with two footy job's. The first was a PR job involving the Russians and the Premiership trophy. It was held in a Russian bar resturant in Clerkenwell Road owned and run by Russian Arsenal supporters and was for the Russian newspapers to highlight Arsenal's new signing, yep you guessed it, Russian Andrey Arshavin. I don't know what the regulars, who were quietly sippin' their Stolly's, thought of what was going on, one minute watching Aston Villa going one nil down to CSKA Moscow (would that be a Russian team by any chance?) the next minute having two PR guy's, the Premiership trophy complete with security and a photographer with an assistant trample into the compact bar!
Think this is the closest that the gooners will get to the trophy this year, but what do I know, I'm a Charlton fan.

I covered the QPR v Ipswich game on Saturday, after a couple of weeks of not shooting football I was looking forward to the game, especially as the days are getting longer again and your shooting with a bit of daylight until the end of the game. Only problem was this was a late kick off at 5.20, 30 minutes after all the other games had finished. Cant complain too much, got some nice images and it was a good game. I'm not sure what the England manager, Fabio Capello thought of Championship football or if he came to watch anyone in particular. I know the Premiership is chock full of players from every nation under the sun, but he'd have been lucky to find a potential England squad member from these teams. QPR had the best of the English players and they were kept quiet by a solid Ipswich side so the Brazilians havent got much to worry about! On second thoughts, I think Mr. Capello came to have tea with fellow countryman and part QPR owner, Flavio Briatore and they just happend to be having it at a match!

Valentine's Day

After a week off from shooting it was good to get behind the lens again on Saturday to photograph the wedding of Amanda and James. And the weather showed it did have a heart after all, with no rain or snow in sight and temperatures managing to get into double figures, just!
The ceremony was held at the Archbishop's Palace, a nice setting for a wedding by the river in Maidstone, a venue I know very well. I was a bit concerned about the group pictures after the ceremony, as the couple really wanted them taken with the Palace in the background. Not especially difficult you might think, but given that it was a Saturday, Valentine's day and the Palace has two ceremony rooms, there was the potential to have six couples outside at the same time if the previous couples wanted lots of pictures and the following couples were early! I had a Plan B to fall back on, but in the end we had a lucky break and managed to get all the images needed.

After the groups, we let the guests move on to the reception while we wandered off around the Palace and did some pictures with just the couple. Lots of good place's at the Archbishop's to take pictures!

The reception was at Priestfield Stadium, home of Gillingham Football Club who were, luckily, playing away. I'v worked at the side of the pitch at Gillingham quite a few times in the past but this was my first wedding reception at a footy ground! It was very surreal to photograph a bride and groom in the Rainham End!

Back to photographing football this week, I have a shoot at a Russian restaurant with the Premiership trophy and some Russian Arsenal supporters mid week and game on Saturday.

Fun in the Woods!

We are very lucky to live where we do, in a rural location but only 5 minuets from Canterbury city centre and 3 minutes from the A2. A perfect location to walk my loony Lab. She get's a good 45 minute walk through the woods almost every day, chasing rabbits and squirrel's and those special animals that dog's just cant catch.........yes, leaves! She runs the whole time we are out, only stopping for a drink of muddy rain water if she can find a puddle.
We returned from our daily run last Wednesday to the news that our local zoo, Howletts, had managed to misplace 20 (or 10 or 14 depending on which raido/tv/internet story you read) wild dogs! They had escaped overnight and although 10 (or 12 or 14....) had been caught inside the park, 4 were footloose and fancy free. Howletts is about a mile away from us as the crow fly's, or the wild dog walks.
According to Howletts, the dhole's “...are similar in appearance and behaviour to a fox....They have been hand reared, and will probably want to return to their familiar surroundings. The dholes will be frightened, and will probably try to return to the park. Like a fox or any stray dog, the public should not try to approach them, but should contact the police immediately".
Now I have to admit to not living out in the sticks for long so I might just have got this wrong, but I dont phone the police every time I see my dog chasing a fox, which she dose fairly regularly. By Thursday morning half the escapes had been captured leaving only two at large. By Thursday evening one more had been nabbed and by Friday it was all over and peace had been restored.
Luckily, the fun and games didn't impact my on my dog's daily walk and she didn't see either a fox or dhole to chase. Still, it was reassuring to know that although a pack of 'wild dogs' had escaped, they had been hand reared, would be frightened and looking to return home. Wonder why, as they are so timid, we had a helicopter buzzing around for two and half days and a team of police marksmen on standby...........

Uncle Bob

One of the things that came up a few times at the Excel wedding show over the weekend was brides using relatives or friends to shoot their wedding images. I would be chatting to a bride who had stopped at my stand and ask them if they had found a photographer for their wedding. "Well, sort of" was the answer I got from brides who were using relatives or friends, 'Uncle Bob' as they are affectionately known! One bride even admitted that Uncle Bob had recently shot a landmark family birthday, "I even gave him a 4 gigabyte card so he should have been able to take hundreds of images during the day, when I looked at them on my computer the next day, he'd only taken 15 pictures......"
The digital age has changed photography over the last eight or so years, most mobile phones these days have a bigger file size than the first pro cameras I had. Compacts and DSLR's are now better, faster and cheaper than ever before and almost everyone has a camera of some description available to them. Just because someone has a DSLR and enjoys photography doesn't mean they can produce a body of top quality work that captures the day. And they can't go back next week and try and shoot it again, you only get one chance.
But this is the biggest day in a brides life and after the cake has been eaten and the champagne drunk, photographs are the only things you have left. I love shooting weddings, I could happily shoot one every week, but it's a full on day. Once started, you don't have a minute to waste to get all the images your couple want. You have to know what's going to happen next, what lens to have on your camera and where to be. You have to know what to do when things go wrong, when things run late (which they always do!) and when the wonderful British weather conspires against you. And after the big day, how to process and edit over 14 gigs of raw images and produce a beautiful book.


If you know a bride who has "sort of" booked her photographer, please get her to think again. Let Uncle Bob take the pictures he wants to take and enjoy the day, let the professional photographer do a professional job.

A Weekend at Excel

Just spent a very hectic but enjoyable weekend on my stand at the UK Wedding show at Excel in London's docklands. Saturday proved to be the busiest day but both days were well attended with my stand under siege at peak times on Saturday and Sunday! Its always good to get out and meet people, let them have a good look at you and your work and find out what books people prefer and that was easily the Graphi Studio book. I love them, really good quality. The coffee table book was also popular. Cant wait to get onto the next wedding now on St Valentines day!

Thanks to everyone that took the time to stop and chat, dont forget to use your flyers!