May Portraits!

May has so far been my busiest month this year. On top of the weekly weddings, I’ve squeezed in a few studio and location portrait shoots. I’ve been playing around with different lighting and post production stuff and have worked with a make-up artist to get variety to my portfolio. Here’s a few of my favourite shots taken.













Thanks to my willing models Micah, Claire, Natalie and Emma for letting me order them about on the days. Thanks to Jodie Dean for the excellent make up work on Claire and Natalie. Thanks to Len at Elegance Photography Studio in Bury (www.elegancephotography-studio.com) for allowing me to mess up his studio and thanks to The White Room in Whitefield (www.whiteroom.uk.com) for allowing me in before they opened up to do the shoot with Micah.

New Exciting Promo Stuff!

I attended a marketing workshop yesterday to try and get some new ideas for promoting my business. Right at the start of session, the lady running the workshop asked who had business cards. I was the only person to put my hand up. She asked me to show her my card and as I was getting my wallet out, I felt a shiver of embarrassment run through me. This was because I knew full well that I’d given my last business card to a close up magician I'd met in a Parcel Force collection office the previous day. Anyone who is friends with me on Facebook may have noticed that I've had a bit of a running battle with Parcel Force this week over their 'Express 1 day service' that I eventually received 3 days late after 3 phone calls, 2 visits to the depot and a strongly worded letter! Anyway this magician did a trick for me whilst we were waiting to be served and was quite good so I said I'd recommend him to my clients where necessary. He didnt have a business card on him so said he'd email me his details through, which he is yet to do.

Anyway, I’ve digressed into a babbling and ranting idiot now. Back to the marketing workshop. So I didn’t have a business card and felt quite ridiculous admitting this after just saying that I had one. The workshop leader gave me a mild dressing down and instructed me to never leave the house without them! I wanted to tell her that I was leaving to pick up a batch of business cards (at a 3rd attempt) immediately following the workshop. But I didn’t as this would have made me look like the a schoolboy (that I used to be) making excuses for not doing his homework.

Here they are anyway, I love them! I got 13 different photographs printed onto the front of the cards. It's like carrying a mini portfolio around in my pocket. I've simplified the contact details on the back going for a 'less is more' look. The print quality is superb and I couldn’t be happier with them. (Which is more than I can say for these poor quality iPhone photos of them.)


Pics!


Lots of pics!


Back of the cards


The postcard front


Postcard rear

The only problem I have now is that I really don't want to give them away!

Terri and Rik Get Married at The Bolholt, Bury

Last month I covered the wedding of Terri and Rik over at the Bolholt Hotel in Bury. I’ve worked this venue a few times now and have enjoyed every single event covered here. The venue seems tailor made for weddings and the highly professional coordinators work tirelessly to make sure everything on the day runs smoothly.

I started off at the madhouse that was the bride’s mothers to capture the preparations. Loads of people crammed into a terraced house, loads of noise, kids fighting, champagne flowing – ACE! Terri seemed cool as the proverbial cucumber as I followed her and the bridesmaids about whilst they sorted themselves out. I had to capture the bride making the final adjustments to her dress in the smallest space imaginable. All good fun.

I headed off to the venue around the same time as the bridesmaids and met up with Rik and the lads, struggling to find an open bar at the venue to sneak a cheeky pint in before the ceremony (unsuccessfully I might add). The venue was dressed up in spectacular fashion by Organza Occasions. The room truly was breathtaking. If you want to see anymore of their work check out www.organzaoccasions.co.uk

Anyway, I’ve known Rik for years from working together in the past, and he is generally a cool customer. But seemed to be bricking it a bit before the service (haha, sorry lad). Rik and the groomsmen pre-warned me about a trick that they were to play on Terri during the exchanging of the rings (switching his wedding ring for the one you’ll see below).

The trick was played and taken in great humour, setting up what was to be a great day. Weather was a bit windy, but the rain held off. We had a free reign of the entire venue as no other weddings were due to arrive until later on so took full advantage. Highlights below…

































The photos probably tell the story of the day better than I can, great venue, great people and a great laugh. Thanks to the pair of you for allowing me to be a part of your special day. As Rik said in his speech, PARTY ON DUDES!

So it begins....

OK, it's finally come around! This coming friday I'll be dusting off my equipment, unzipping the suit bag and polishing up my shoes in preparation for my first wedding of the year. It's been two whole months since I have covered an event so i'm really excited to be getting back to work on capturing those special moments. I went down to visit the venue yesterday, which is one I haven't covered as yet, and met the wedding co-ordinator who showed me around. The venue was gearing up for a wedding fayre that was being held the following day which got me stirred up for pushing me on this year and to start showing off my work this way.

I'm also looking forward to the Focus On Imaging event at the Birmingham NEC at the beginning of March. I'm hoping to attend a couple of seminars by some of the other professionals I respect, to get some inspiration, plus some hints and tips for moving forward both in my photography and my business. Exciting stuff.

So keep your eyes on the blog over the next few weeks to check out the preview pics from my latest wedding plus details of my new website and upcoming offers!

Ant

PS, this is a photo taken of me at a christening recently by Hipstamatic Fanatic Inga! I'm quite impressed at how handsome and charismatic I look haha (joke). Goes to show that the camera sometimes does lie!

Sharon, Pete and Leila Home Portrait Shoot

Continuing on with updating this blog (erm... with stuff I did ages ago), time to showcase some of the portrait work I’ve done recently. Regular readers of this blog (yeah right, ha!) will remember the portrait shots I took documenting my friend Sharon’s last month of pregnancy. Well a couple of months later, she made her husband Pete the proud father of their daughter, Leila, and I paid them a visit to do some family shots.

Tracy and Glenn at Buile Hill Park Hall, Salford

Ok, time for more catchy uppy!

Tracy and Glenn tied the knot at Buile Hill Park Hall in Salford. I arrived at the bride's house to the scene of Tracy’s army of bridesmaids helping her prepare for this great day. The park hall was a belting venue for the service and the reception with the staff working effortlessly to make the day run smoothly. The couple chose an outdoor barbeque for their wedding breakfast, which was served just in time to miss the typical Manchester shower. For evening reception the DJ made countless costume changes and had a team of dancers to help get the party started! Highlights below:























Congratulations the pair of you. What a great day I had at your wedding, thanks for letting me be a part of it!

Hayley and Pete

After a couple of weeks involving some travelling time and lots of driving, it was nice to get a local wedding this week.

Hayley and Pete held their service and reception at the Novotel in Worsley, Salford. This was quite different from some of the weddings I’ve covered of late, this being a very intimate and personal civil ceremony with only very close friends and relatives in attendance. The very real threat of rain was looming all day but it held off thankfully until the wedding breakfast and stopped conveniently after the speeches, with the sun making a welcome appearance once everyone was fed! This gave us plenty of time to make good use of the beautiful gardens to the rear of the venue.

Hayley and Pete are a great couple with a cute but completely fearless handful of a son who did his mum proud walking her down the aisle. The best man wimped, sorry I mean missed out, on the chance to give his brother a verbal bashing after the meal, leaving it instead in the very capable hands of the bridesmaids who both gave emotional speeches to leave the bride in tears (of joy of course).





















All the best for the future you two. I really enjoyed covering your special day and was made to feel very welcome by your family and friends all day. I hope you both had a wicked time in Cuba on your honeymoon (JEALOUS!) and I can’t wait for you to see your finished album.