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!