100% OFF JANUARY SALE!!!

So January is generally my quietest month of the year. Hardly anyone gets married in this month, most people are skint and those who aren’t, want to spend what money they have in the shop sales. So I’m going to use the next couple of months to start a couple of personal projects that I’ve had in the pipeline for a while now. But in order to keep myself active in photographing people, I’m having a little sale of my own…

It will work like this: I’m going to allocate 4 days (either Saturdays or Sundays, dates to be confirmed) during the month, in which I can be booked, at a location of your choice (indoor or out) to do a photo shoot for free. Yes FREE – that’s 100% off the advertised price! No more than 1 hour per shoot and you will get a disk with selected images on to use as you wish.

Now I’m not sure how much of a response I will get to this. So if I get a lot of requests I’m afraid I’ll have to reserve the right to be selective on who I book to work with. I expect the majority of emails I get will be doting parents wanting portrait shots of their adorable children. Which is fine and I don’t mind doing. But I’m looking to push myself with this, if I’m going to work for free then I want to be challenged and have some original photos to show for it. I am only willing to work around the Greater Manchester area and can only offer so much of my time so please don’t be offended if I cant fit you in. If the shoot involves any costs (ie location, props etc) then these will have to be met by you.

So if you are or know of any artists, musicians, bands, writers, wannabe models, actors/actresses, business men/women or if you just like the way you/your kids/your pets, your house, look and want it captured then drop me a line. I’ll be looking to do something that bit different with you so have a think about what you want. What kind of image do you want to portray in the photo? Where will the location be?

If you want to take me up on this offer, you just need to send an email to enquiries@anthonymoran.co.uk and put JANUARY SALE in the subject line. Send me your name, phone number, who you want photographing and where it will take place along with any ideas you may have for the shoot. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can and hopefully we can sort something out.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Bryanna

I've been desperate to get out and take some photographs since the snow fell in Manchester this week but have been unable to until today. So before it went dark this afternoon, I grabbed one of my neighbours to come for a walk and have some photos taken. The light wasn't the best and I hadn't brought any flash gear, but got some good shots anyway.













Thanks to Bryanna for being a willing and freezing model for half hour or so. Hope you like the pics.

Dee and Paul

This was my final wedding of the year, and what a way to finish it off. Dee and Paul got married in the Castlefield Rooms in Central Manchester last week. The whole event was held at the venue with the wedding happening at 4pm. By the time it came round to doing the formal shots, the sun had set leaving us to do the portraits around Castlefield in the dark. The couple were absolute stars, with Dee proving the perfectly fearless bride, marching high heeled across the cobbled streets in the freezing cold and dark, not afraid to get her dress on the ground in order to get the shots they wanted. And it paid off, we got some amazing portrait shots which I am really proud of. A few can be seen below. These two had to have been the most chilled out people I’ve ever photographed. They were so relaxed throughout the entire day and were up for almost anything photography wise. Top stuff. The 3 tiered wedding pork pie was a fantastic idea. Congratulations guys!























My special thanks goes out to Audrey who was my assistant for the day. Audrey was invaluable in everything to do with photographing this occasion; coming visiting the venue twice prior to the wedding to help find locations, suss out how to light areas and pose the couple. The portrait shoot wouldnt have gone even half as smoothly without your help Audrey so a big BIG THANKS for everything.

Lisa and Martin

This was where my illusions of being a good weather charm were rained on from a great height (ho ho!). Lisa and Martin tied the knot at the Royal Toby hotel in Castleton, Rochdale. Fantastic venue this is, the wedding moved from the function room, to the beautiful Italian restaurant downstairs, and back to the function room seamlessly. The couple had the genius idea of having the DJ bring karaoke gear along which really made the night special. Some highlights below.

















Congratulations to the pair of you, you make a fantastic couple. Thanks for letting me capture this day for you and I wish you all the best for the future.

Gemma and Ian

My second wedding in a row at the Bolholt in Bury, this time in a different suite. For some reason I always talk about the weather on this blog (typical Brit), but we again had some great luck. It had lashed it down all week, long causing much worry all round. But come the morning of the big day it was nothing but glorious sunshine, most surprising for October time! I had a great day here with Gemma and Ian and had some fun capturing their special day. Some highlights below.

















Congratulations to you both! Will be taking you up on that night out when your album arrives!

Emma and Simon

Emma and Simon got married at the Bolholt Hotel in Bury last month. Fantastic venue this, perfect set-up for weddings with top class co-ordinators making sure everything is perfect on the day. It was lashing it down for almost the full week leading up to this day and had me worried we weren't going to get good use of the fantastic exterior of the venue. But as luck would have it, it stayed dry for long enough to get some good shots of the happy couple. Highlights below...

FACES OF ECCLES

Last week I held an open photoshoot at Eccles Community Gallery. The idea was to photograph as many people as possible in one day, then display the photographs in the gallery for everyone to see.

I realise I didn't post any information about this on this blog and there were 3 very good reasons:

1) I have been busy wedding wise recently and have lots of work to do (photos to appear soon)

2) I don't even know if anyone actually reads this blog - 2 followers? LAME!

3) I forgot.

Now I'm under no illusions about this... Rankin Live it definately wasn't! To prove it, take a look at my state of the art studio set-up below...



A sheet of black fabric from Dunne Elm nailed to a wall. I forgot an attachment to my light stand so the flash and brolly were strapped on using masking tape! The brolley was actually broke. In the room, I had the choice of either bright flourescant strip lighting or pitch black darkness, no natural light at all So I chose pitch black darkness and a 60 watt lightbulb in a desk lamp for a model light.

Despite all this I had a really good day and met & photographed many wonderful and weird people. Some photos below.










Took photos of over a hundred people on the day, all of which will be displayed from tomorrow (Satuday 19th Sep) for 4 weeks. If you can get yourself down there please come down and have a gander. The art gallery itself is a great little place, made from an empty shop front in Eccles precinct. It is the personal passion of a lovely lady named Karen Illingworth who runs it on her own with no funding, relying on donations and the help of volunteers. I've made her a little website to help with promoting the place, check it out if you get time at www.ecclesgallery.moonfruit.com

Thanks to Salford Online for running numerous articles promoting the events, the most recent one can be seen by clicking here.

Oh and special thanks goes out to Roxanne, Sharon and Charlotte! My glamourous assistants on the day worked wonders - fluttering eyelids, flashing pretty smiles, handing out flyers and frog-marching people to the gallery. The event wouldn't have been what it was without yous!

All Saints Church

I had the pleasure of being invited over to All Saints church in Whitefield, Manchester this morning to take some photos. I've been past this church countless times and have been in awe of the architecture every time. Have wanted to photograph it for ages but have never gotten around to sorting it out until now.

As I was snapping the outside, I was approached by an elderly gent who informed me that the church is a 'Waterloo church', meaning that it is one of a hundred and odd churches that were built to celebrate the battle of Waterloo. He also told me that the architect who designed this church also designed the houses of parliament! I was given a leaflet with some more history once I got inside, but I cant be bothered typing it all up on here for you.



















Weather today was of a typical summer day in Manchester, so decided to greyscale the outdoor shots. The inside was every bit as nice as I imagined it to be, hope I get to shoot a wedding in there sometime. I didn't really go very well prepared so I intend to go back to re-shoot the inside of the church with some proper lighting gear.

Up in't 'thills!

Took this up in near Burnley somewhere last week.. Doesn't quite have the same effect when it is small on this page but I can't be uploading massive files on here unfortunately.

Manchester

Man, I love this city... so here are some photos that I have taken of it!

TWISTED

OK so not really photography related but I've always fancied myself as a bit of a graphic designer too. My friends have started up a club night called Twisted, held on the last Saturday of every month at a club in Bury. They asked me to do them a poster advertising each night so I thought i'd share the first 3 with you!

Beccy and Mike

If there is one thing I've realised recently is that I am rubbish at keeping this blog up to date.

OK so here are a selection of photos taken at the end of May at the new Mr. and Mrs. Bates wedding. Venue was Scaitcliffe Hall in Todmorden, a beautiful place which seems to have its own microclimate! Weather was threatening to be against us all day but luckily it stopped raining for just about long enough to get some cracking shots!
















Congratulations to the pair of you, it's been great making friends with you both and hope to have a few beers at another gig soon!

Jo and Mike

So my second wedding in May was with Jo and Mike. The service was held in Salford Cathedral, an absolutely breathtaking church. I've wanted to photograph a wedding here since I first visited it a few years back. The reception was at Lancashire Health and Racquet Club in Middleton. After a shaky start to the day, the weather came good just at the right time and we got some quality snaps.













Congratulations the pair of you, I had a really good day and had some fun shooting you two.

Dom and Jamie 02/05/08

I covered the marriage of the new Mr and Mrs Comiskey in Prestwich earlier this month. The wedding was at Our Lady of Grace with the reception at The Orangery in Heaton Park. What a top day this was - beautiful weather, fantastic venues and all round jolly nice people! A select few highlights from the day below.















Congratulations and many thanks to Dom and Jamie for letting me capture this great day. Can't wait to get your album to you!

Wainhouse Tower

I'm quite conscious of the fact that I haven't posted anything on here for a while. Been mad busy these last 3 weeks with weddings and sorting through the photos. Will post some of the highlights on here real soon. In the meantime, here are 2 pictures I took last month of Wainhouse Tower in Halifax!

Snowdon 11/04/09

Finally gotten round to processing the photos I took on my little trip up Snowdon a couple of weeks ago. Had some fun processing the shots in photoshop. Comments and critique welcomed!

The Almonds and the Robinsons.

I had a great day today photographing 2 families in their homes. I couldn't wait to get the photos on my computer and check them out. I'm well happy with the results and think they will be too!

The Almonds.









The Robinsons.

Syd Bozko 07/03/09

Got a bit (lot) drunk at a gig the other week and took some live shots for local up and comers Syd Bozko. Genuinely don't remember taking any photos of them but ended up with some alright results.











There is an interview with them in this weeks Urban Life magazine so look out for it. Also check out their Myspace page www.myspace.com/sydbozko

Blog Cherry Popped!

Oooh it hurt so it did, but I bet it's a lot more pleasant the next time!

I thought it was time I got off my lazy rear end and start up some bloggage. It promised to be a gentle experience but proved quite rough and has left me a tad sore!

I'm not sure I approve of the green theme I have chosen so it will probably alter a number of times before I am comfortable with its appearance.

I think I will kick it off with posting my latest business card. I've been meaning to update it from my crappy previous attempt at moo-cards which I ordered rashly and have been embarrassed and ashamed to hand out ever since. I reckon these ones look a bit better. I've done an order of 50 through Moo to start off with and will order more if they please me.

Back of card

Card 1

Card 2

The two pictures are ones that I am quite proud of. One is from a wedding I did last August and the other is my wifes cousin who provided a willing model whilst attempting some off-camera strobist tomfoolery!