Archive for April, 2009
Wasing Park wedding photography – Stephanie and Simon
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
I see all manner of chariots to transport brides and grooms between church and their reception venues. One of my recent favourites includes a brace of Morris Minors. Lovingly restored and kept by husband and wife team John and Ann from ‘Minors 4 You’ (link via Breathe Recommends to left) these beauties make you dream of living those halcyon days, long before Swine Flu, greedy hedge fund managers and Britain’s Got Talent. Thanks John for your utter devotion to the cause that is the modest and subtle classic motor, and thanks Ann for indulging me on a ten minute joy ride. On that note John, Ann touched my leg several times and had the cheek to blame it on the fact her car didn’t have the syncromesh gearbox! Anyway, thanks too to a fabulous couple. Loved your wedding Stephanie and Simon!
What to do with your photo CD!
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009Use it as a coaster. Hang several from a string on a branch above your veggie patch to scare those seed eating birds away. A mini Frisbee. Make up mirror. Attach it to your forehead via a loop of elastic to look like a doctor at a fancy dress do. Or… take it to Snappy Snaps of Newbury and let them print the images contained at high street prices. For a long time now many of my local photographic peers have berated me for selling digital images instead of purely prints. And to an extent, I can see the method behind their angst. Traditionally, negatives drove the currency behind a photographer’s life and business. It’s true that many a photographer would more willingly sell his Grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal than relinquish ownership of one single strip of archived negative. (That’s one for the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans.) And digital images of course are only a modern extension of the neg. So why do we let our precious digital negs loose for clients to ‘use and abuse?’ Well since I’m quoting verse from the classics, let me reinvent Jimmy Saville’s 80s ‘Age of the Train’ sonnet… this is the age of digital photography. We watch, use and share digital files as daily habit, so why shouldn’t photography be a part of that process? We have been quick as photographers to embrace the advantages digital imaging provides us on a business and creative platform, so it seems somewhat selective practice to only share half of this new technology. There is an argument that clients may well take your image, recolour, stretch, mutilate or sell it for their own gain following hours of your own hard work. But as a business colleague from Planet Corporate used to say to me years ago; “Move on!” Why let files collect digital dust on your server, when they should be doing the one thing photographs were designed to do; share. So yes, I’ll proudly continue to include digital files in my wedding package, and yes, I’ll proudly continue to sell digital files to my portrait clients. I may well guard my rights on a commercial level, but in the social photography field, I believe it’s time to share. In closing, allow me the absolute honour to recommend a digital print shop that all my clients can contact; Snappy Snaps of Newbury. I have access to many print specialists in the UK and use differing skillsets from each, but time and time again I return to my local favourite. The fact they print on site means they are accountable for the quality at a consumer facing level. They use the highest quality papers and employ staff that know how to produce a black and white. (I’ve seen how green a monochrome print can be emerging from a supermarket lab!) More to the point, all staff members own cameras and practice the artform. And here’s proof…
Back from Austria
Monday, April 13th, 2009So, we’ve just returned from our ski trip, with a clutch of photographs and medical bills from the Austrian health service. Fear not any forthcoming wedding clients who may be reading this. There’s not one sprained joint, fractured bone or ripped oojamiflipp between us; ‘merely’ the wonders of a one year old on holiday for the first time deciding to experience an allergy. I thought I’d post a couple of favourite pics up. First up, the lad! One cute moment and the obligatory snow shot.
I didn’t shoot even a fraction of the scenes I could have captured during our week away, as I spent much of my time in adult ski preservation mode just trying to stay on my feet. But here are a couple of shots from a ski region called Dachstein. It’s one big bowl essentially, a glacier in the Styria state. Nine thousand feet up is the home station from which you ski into the glacier bowl in one direction. The other direction is, well, this. Very rarely do I get a chance to photograph a scene which looks like it could have been shot from a passenger window in an Airbus. And then below this, my foot, in ski boot, standing on reinforced glass (though the cracks do little to reinforce your trust) – the drop below, hundreds of feet of nothing until you hit rock. I didn’t stand there too long.
Jay and Katy – prewedding shoot
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Jay and Katy
The farm right now (home of Breathe’s studio) feels fabulous. During the winter I rarely use the yard, grounds and fields around us – so it’s great when some kindly weather drops by. Much of my social photography calendar is and will be taken up this year by wedding photography and pre-wedding shoots. A couple of shots from Jay and Katy’s pre-wed shoot featuring some new colour work; textures and the sunburnt look of old Polaroid stock. Boundary pushing is very important in this business, and I’m really trying to edge away from what’s around me, so the post production work being carried out at ‘Chez Breathe’ is entering a new era of development. Hope you like them!
