Archive for June, 2009
Susan & Family – Bucks Herald Competition Winner
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on June 28th, 2009
You never quite know what the outcome will be when you run a competition. After all, you really don’t have any control over who will win and what it is they are looking for in a shoot. You hope that the winner will be thrilled with the prize and will be a really nice person to work with. But you can’t be sure.
So it was, with naturally some degree of apprehension, that we ran a competition with the Bucks Herald – the prize being a session with us and a not inconsiderable quantity of prints/frames of the winner’s choosing.
And then we waited to meet the winner.
We should not have worried. It was with a great deal of satisfaction that Susan, the lucky winner, turned out to be another wonderful client. I know I bang on about this all the time, but I can’t stress enough how proud I am of the client base we’ve built up over the years. This is an utterly people-oriented business and it only works because we have a lot of very personable clients that make my job the pleasure that it is!
We held the session at Susan’s family home in Chilton on the most gorgeous day. You have to say that the weather this season has been stunning so far – albeit with the odd serious storm thrown in (we arrived back last night during the most monumental thunder storm to discover water pouring across the floor of my office from one side to the other – no idea how it got in and absolutely no idea how it flowed out again!).
Anyway, on this particular day back in April, with glorious sunshine and a stunning location up on the hills, how could this be anything other than a wonderful session?
And it was exactly that. A wonderful session.
Three generations of the same family and a set of pictures that will be treasured for a lifetime. Oh, and a mental note that competitions are definitely a good thing.
Just perfect.
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
Catharine and Jon
Posted by Paul in For Website, Pre-Wedding on June 28th, 2009
Ah, for the eagle-eyed out there, you may have spotted that we photographed Catharine and Jon’s engagement party last year – and we’re thrilled to say that we’re going to be photographing their wedding later this year.
There’s something particularly magical about photographing a couple’s pre-wedding images partly because it’s such an honour to be involved in the build-up to the big day but also because I think there’s a real emotion to the images we capture. And this seems especially evident in the pictures we captured from this session!
I’m not sure why, but you can really feel the excitement and romance between them both. And how nice is that?
Just brilliant.
And if this is just the pre-wedding session, you can only imagine the images we’ll capture on their wedding day in September. And I, for one, can’t wait!
Cheers
P.
A lovely thing to hear
Posted by Paul in Chat, For Website on June 27th, 2009
A short post this one but something was said to me the other day by a long-standing client – I shan’t be naming names of course but it’s a commercial client who I just love working with – who’d been forced by an agent to use a couple of incumbent photographers for some images. Now I always hate to know that I’ve missed an opportunity for a piece of work but hey, it happens and there are always going to be times when another photographer’s style or experience (or availability of course!) is more suited to a job than ours.
Anyway, my client ultimately wasn’t happy with their work – though I think they paid an awful lot of money for it – and I was booked for the next session. When I talked to them about the other work they were disappointed in what had been delivered by the other photographers and had subsequently insisted to the agency that from that point onward they would bring their own photographer – someone who they had worked with previously and trusted to get the images they wanted (their words not mine.)
Ahem, obviously on hearing this I reacted in a very professional manner and said a huge ‘thank you’ but, underneath my normally cool, suave, sophisticated ney handsome business persona I always portray (OK, OK, I admit that I may be stretching the truth just a little… Oh OK, maybe a lot…. OK, maybe an awful lot – particularly around the suave, sophisticated and handsome bit, but one has these ideals!) I have to admit I felt unbelievably flattered and very proud to be considered in such terms – it was all I could do to stop myself giving them a big hug. Something (apparently) that you really shouldn’t do to your commercial clients.
Still, it was such a lovely thing to hear!
Wow, what a week!
Posted by Paul in Events, For Website on June 26th, 2009
I know people think that photography is a pretty glamorous way to earn in a living and, in some senses, possibly that’s true. At least, if you view being out in all weathers on hilltops, inside darkened studios and sitting in front of a whining computer at all glamorous, then glamorous it most certainly is.
Now don’t get me wrong here – as anyone who has had the misfortune to be within chatting distance of me will attest – I absolutely love my job. I’m just saying I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as glamorous. Not in the ‘OK Magazine’ sense anyway.
However, this week does pretty much qualify.
It has been our great pleasure to provide the photography for this year’s Thames Water “Love Water Ball” in support of Water Aid – a notable charity providing the means for developing countries to have clean and safe water (something we take far too much for granted in this country I reckon.)
The ball was awesome. Now I’ve been to a ball or too but this was way out there. For a start, The Old Billingsgate in London is a magnificent venue with it’s Victorian facade, it’s huge gallery and a wonderfully atmospheric arched basement. Then add on that some unbelievable interior and exterior designs and two A-List acts (Michael McIntyre and Will Young) and you have pretty much a guaranteed atmosphere in which to raise money for an excellent cause. And so it proved to be!
We couldn’t have asked for a nicer client in Thames Water (one thing I’m extremely proud of is our ability to attract and work with some of the nicest people you could wish to meet and the guys at Thames Water – and at their production company for this event, Crown Business Communications – are absolutely amazing!)
For this job, we needed more than just me to be capturing images and so I was really thrilled to be able to add two hugely successful pro photographers – Dan Richards and Kay Young – to our regular team of myself, Kelly (my ever-patient assistant) and Sarah (my even more patient wife and business partner!) And, with 5 areas to cover and 1000 guests, we needed all five of us (and radio headsets – which, as Mr. McIntyre encouragingly pointed out, made us look somewhat like airline pilots!) working flat out to cover everything properly!
And, quite literally, we had a ball!
Though of course, the reality afterward is that we have just spent the past two days, battling the inevitable sleep deprivation, working through the 3000 or so images that we captured to sort them in time for all of the guests to log in (during their coffee-break of course) when they arrive back at work on Monday morning.
So, here just a few images from an absolutely amazing evening in London – enjoy!
Cheers
P.
Presentation to the Metropolitan Police Photographic Society
Posted by Paul in For Website, News on June 14th, 2009
I know. Came as surprise to me too! Didn’t even know there was such a thing. But there is and – and I say this with much relief – it’s a hugely vibrant and friendly society!
I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I arrived at New Scotland Yard to present to the society. I’d had a couple of phone calls and emails in the months leading up to me going over there and both Steve (who had initially approached me out of the blue) and Chanon (their ents coordinator) seemed really really nice. But still. The Metropolitan Police Photographic Society? What would they make of a portrait photographer?
Shouldn’t have worried. You could not have asked for a nicer crowd. As it turns out, they’re a mix of police and ‘civilian’ enthusiasts and pros with a hugely wideranging interest in photography. You couldn’t ask for a nicer crowd to present to and, as usual, I enjoyed every second of it!
Now, I do have a slight admission to make here. And that is, I rather enjoy showing my work to people. Can’t help it. I’m immensely proud of what we do and, based on the feedback we get, we make a lot of people happy doing it. I have the best job in the world and I am always happy to talk about it. Possibly a little too happy given the glazed-over look that people who’ve been around me for any period of time develop.
Still, in this particular instance I had been asked to go and talk about our work so I hope it wasn’t a great surprise to the audience that I bounced, laughed and generally chatted my way through two hours of photography and stories. Some of which were actually on-topic!
So, a huge thank you to a group of really nice photographers who took the time to listen to me drone on in their auditorium and then (as if that weren’t enough) bought me a beer or two – which is never a good idea given my ability to wax lyrical about all things photography!
I can only hope they enjoyed it as much as I did!
All the best
Cheers
P.
Emma, Oliver & Henry at Wendover Woods
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on June 14th, 2009
I love this time of year – though, yes, I do freely admit that I probably say that throughout the year. Can’t help it. Every season – and particularly the changes between the different seasons – seems to bring a new perspective on the photography and a whole new set of interests for us.
This session was up in Wendover Woods, possibly one of our favourite haunts. It works for us on so many levels – the light, the woodland, the freedom etc. (oh, and you can get a nice cup of tea at the end!)
Oliver and Henry seemed to thoroughly enjoy the shoot from start to finish and we have an absolute bucket load of gorgeous images of them having a great time. I lent them one of my cameras to have a go with which, inevitably, means I also have quite a few pictures of me taking pictures of them!
Loved this shoot. Lovely client, (eventually) fantastic light and ultimately, great photos. Oh, and a nice cup of tea. Perfect.
Let us know what you think.
Cheers
P.
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