Your Manchester Wedding magazine

The latest issue of Your Manchester Wedding magazine will hit the shelves this week. I have a preview copy which has just arrived. One of my Manchester city centre weddings is featured - Sinead and Luke, who were married last May at The Midland. I remember the day oh so well - it was a real test of my professionalism. You see, City were playing in the FA Cup final - which happened to be showing on a 50" plasma screen in the bar area, where everyone was gathered before the wedding breakfast. I had promised myself to watch the game on Sky+ when I got home, but it took every ounce of strength to concentrate on my job, working like this -  under such pressure. Man...the job's pressured enough at times without this!

Anyway, I don't think anybody noticed, and I was very pleased with the collection of images - most of which were shoe-horned into a gorgeous Italian black leather album. Sinead keeps in touch from time to time, and has pencilled me in for a family shoot in March...it's OK, the Derby's not until April...;-)

Location, Location, Location

I thought I'd show these two images from my personal collection. Taken at Whitby in North Yorkshire, and the view from my balcony at home, both were taken with the same camera and lens combination. Both are landscapes, (arguably the image of Manchester is an urbanscape), but both images show the location with an almost tangible quality. Compositionally they are very close, with the main focus being on the left third of frame, whilst both images sit within a natural panoramic framing, be it from cloud cover or a lens filter. Though the two images and locations couldn't be any further away from each other, in terms of subject - they work perfectly together as a set

Your Merseyside Wedding Magazine

A new wedding magazine has just been launched for the Merseyside region - Your Merseyside Wedding. I was asked by the editor to supply a recent Liverpool-based wedding to be published as their first Real Wedding feature. I've photographed a few weddings in Liverpool and Wirral, so thought it best to send Hannah & Dan's lovely wedding from last June - at the lovely Palm House in Sefton Park...well, it'd be rude not to!

The magazine in sale now, but you can check them out (together with the other titles in their group) here.

A Walk In The Park

The wedding season doesn't start for another couple of weeks yet, so I'm enjoying a little more family time than I normally get. Today we took little Sophie to feed the ducks in the local park - a last minute call really with around forty minutes of daylight left. I took the baby Nikon compact with me - just in case. Amongst the usual 'daddy shots' of Sophie playing on the swings and getting generally all muddied-up, was this tranquil scene. 

Yes, it's possibly a bit twee and 'chocolate boxy', but it sums up our short time in the park beautifully - quiet with virtually the whole place to ourselves; the only sounds were the ducks bantering with each other. Nothing else. Bliss!

The image has been given a slight colour film grading to add to the mood....hope you like it.

Aviation Stock Photography

One of my recent personal/commercial projects was shooting stock images for a specialist aviation photo library. Now, NOT being a plane spotter (though there's nothing wrong with being one), I approached the whole project differently from most other photographers. Not knowing anything about the aircraft, I spent a few hours here and there down at Manchester Airport's Aviation Viewing Park - a very therapeutic 'escape' on a summer afternoon; a great way to get out of the office with the mobile phone switched off for a couple of hours (so nobody can hassle you!) You really should try it...

I got to meet with (other) plane spotters, blending in perfectly as the 'Newbie'. The friendly bunch used to give me the gossip as to what was expected in that day - all a bit secret squirrel. I felt like an undercover reporter on a big story a lot of the time, whilst I stood there with my sandwiches and coffee eavesdropping on the scanners and general chit chat. Some of the spotters there actually travel round Europe spotting planes at all the major airports, summer-long. Each to their own I suppose...

The folio of images has been building up over the past few summers, with my shooting vantage points varied all around the perimeter of the airport's two runways. The agency loved what I was doing - very different from the usual stock images, so I stuck at it, as best time allowed. I didn't spend days camped out, just the odd morning or afternoon where I had 'windows of opportunity'.

These days, when not on wedding duties,  I spend my time shooting other commercial and personal projects. This aviation project has  now been 'grounded'. I have had a success with several images being sold around the world...

 ...including the official cover for FLIGHT 93, the book on which the film is based. So....still unable to tell the difference between an A319 and 737-200, my time spent shooting the big metal birds taught me nothing, apart from how to escape from my working 'bubble' from time to time, to enjoy the sunshine and relative tranquility, and to plough some energy into a random project. A bit like fishing, but with the smell of aviation fuel thrown in!