This past week I got to do something a little different ... a commercial piece of work that not only involved photography but also some graphic design. The commission was from Heathrow Police in conjunction with BAA (British Airports Authority) and the brief was to create a series of posters that would inform travelling passengers through Heathrow about the potential consequences of carrying sharps / knives in their hand luggage.
Right ... now back to some photography :o)
Well I've not long got back from another trip 'Up North'. This time along with my mate Mark, I was photographing the Wedding of the now Mr & Mrs Richard Taylor. The day started off with me photographing Richard at his home address along with his ushers and best man, whilst Mark photographed Amy at her parents'. Then it was off to the All Saints Church in Berwick in Elmet for the ceremony and finally the reception and evening celebrations at the Thorpe Park Hotel & Spa in Leeds, Yorkshire.
As seems to be the 'norm' lately, the weather has been wet to say the least, but amazingly it stopped for the Wedding which gave the opportunity for some outdoor shots that we didn't think we'd get. Richard and Amy, along with their guests, were great to work with; very relaxed and extremely helpful which made photographing their big day a joy.
Last Tuesday I was over at Oxygen Hair & Beauty Salon in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire to take the 'Hair Up' shots that are going to be used in their promotional material. I got there at around 5.30pm and found Phil, the head stylist and his team busy working on some models that had kindly volunteered their own time to help out. During the course of the evening which finished around about 9pm, I took some 270 shots from differing angles, of the different hair up styles that the team had created.
Overall a very successfull night for everyone concerned, made even better by the free flowing Bucks Fizz and selection of Pizzas provided by Angelo, the owner/manager.
Carrying on with my portrait project, here's one of the shots I took yesterday of a friend of mine, Johnny Woodiss-Field.
Now, the image I've attached to this blog entry isn't one that I'll be using in my project cos they're all gonna be having the same post production treatment as the photo of Steve Harriss, in an earlier post; this one though I just couldn't resist making up. Johnny is a qualified instructor in just about every advanced driving course / technique going so I thought it apt to use the logo once used by BMW ... "The Ultimate Driving Machine" ... all in the name of fun of course :o)
I always like to have a few projects to work on in between photography jobs and one of the ones I have running at the moment is all about faces. It's an ongoing project that quite simply will be finished when I feel I've taken enough photos (maybe around 25). The photos are all going to be of men's faces ... expressionless and staring straight into the lens, and what I'd like to do at the end of it is to arrange all of them in roughly a 5x5 grid. There's no particular reason or purpose behind it other than it'll be interesting to see so many varied faces, all shot with the same lighting and style in one place.
I guess you can learn alot about someone by the things they get up to in their spare time huh :o)
This shot ... the first one taken for the project, is of my good friend and neighbour Steve, who you may recall I took a photo of with his motorbike some weeks back. Click here
A few weeks back I received an email from a guy by the name of Scott Kelby. Now, I've mentioned him before on this blog but to refresh you ... based ,in Florida, USA he's a best selling computer & photography book author, internationally acclaimed photographer, Photoshop Instructor and President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals ... quite a mouthful, but you get the picture ... he's a bit of a legend :o)
Scott was organising a World Wide Photowalk where photographers would get together for a couple of hours in cities around the world and take photos of whatever took their eye. Not only was this to be a social event, but there were prizes at stake ... approximately £5000 worth of prizes. Scott asked if I would head a Photowalk in the UK, and I would guess that after a nano second of giving it some thought I said yes!!! 
Anyway, Saturday just passed (23rd August) and we had a blast! The 'well attended' Windsor group stealthily (as well as 30 photographers can) made their way around locations within the town centre pointing their cameras in all sorts of directions hoping to create that winning image. After a couple of hours we all met up at Browns Brasserie which looks out onto the Thames, for coffee and lunch with just a few sneak peeks at what each other had taken.
All in all a great couple of hours. Nice to get out and do something completely different, and certainly a great social event where I'm sure alot of new friends and allies have been made. All that remains now is for me to decide on the winning image that will then go forward for the overall prize along with the winning entries from the other 100 or so cities around the world.
The picture of the group below (that's me kneeling down) was taken by a complete stranger that I coerced into holding my camera ... so whoever you were ... thanks :o)
Hiya ... just thought I'd add one more photo of Lynne from Friday's Wedding Shoot. This was taken just after 6pm when the sun was still quite bright, so to guarantee some nice light, Lynne was stood under some cover in the form of a grapevine and lit using off camera flash.
Enjoy :o)
Yesterday was Chris Steward and Lynne Phillips' Wedding Day ... and what a great day it was! 
For what seems like an age, it's been raining here and it looked like it was set in for Friday too, but unbelievably the day couldn't have been better ... blue skies, sun beaming down and not a sign of rain ... I tell you, it's fate! My very able assistant was my good friend Dave Gurnhill ... his first time helping me out, and I don't know who was more nervous ... the groom or Dave :o)
We started taking photos of Lynne getting ready just after 10am, and as the she lives in Eastbourne (just under 2 hours away) this meant setting off rather early to pick Dave up and then get down with plenty of time to spare. From there we went and met up with Chris and his group of ushers and best man, and then onto St Mary's Church, Westham for the midday service.
The reception was held at the Powder Mills Hotel in Battle, Hastings ... a stunning venue, which is actually where we photographed Chris & Lynne's Pre Wedding Shoot last month. 
All in all, a wonderful day spent with a wonderful couple.
From Sunday, Chris & Lynne are away for a couple of weeks on their honeymoon, so ... it's editing time for me :o)
Wednesday last week I was over at Oxygen Hair & Beauty Salon, Beaconsfield for a Wedding hair style test shoot. Basically, the idea behind this is that the owner / manager Angelo and the head stylist Phil are looking to design a Wedding Beauty Package for prospective brides and to then roll this out at Wedding Fayres where we'll both be having stands promoting our work and each other.
The photographs that I take will be used in their advertising material which in turn means more promotion - a bit of business 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours'.
The series of photos attached are from our first test shoot where Phil was experimenting with styles, which gave me an opportunity to test out suitable lighting. We'll be doing the 'real' photos v.soon where the models, Anna and Holly will be dressed like brides for full the full effect.
The last few days have seen me back in North Yorkshire photographing a wedding with my buddy Mark. This time we found ourselves at the Golden Fleece Hotel in Thirsk for the Wedding Ceremony followed by a surprise trip on a vintage bus to Byland Abbey for Champagne and canapes.
Byland Abbey has to be seen to be believed. Now in ruin and cared for by National Heritage, it's a truly magical place - the perfect location for Wedding Photography.
I'm guessing we spent around an hour and a half there having great taking photographs and then it was back to the Golden Fleece to continue the celebrations with the new Mr & Mrs Moore.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day spent with wonderful people :o)
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