Gold Award in September 2008 SWPP Competition

Firstly - I must apologise for the fact I haven't updated the blog for so long!  Things have been so hectic with weddings and portrait sessions in the past couple of months, whilst I'm also building my new website.... no rest for the wicked!!

I'm also conscious that I haven't updated the images on my website for a while with none of my recent weddings being on there.  This should be rectified when my new site goes live in the next few weeks.

Anyway I was pleased to find out this week that I was awarded a Gold award in the latest SWPP monthly competition.  Unfortunately, not for a wedding image (which I would have preferred - instead I was given a silver and two bronzes for the wedding categories) but for a shot I took of a seagull a couple of weeks ago.  Here it is:

New website update

Further to my post last week I am currently working on a new website which I hope to have live in the next month or so.

I am extremely busy at the moment as it is the height of the wedding season at the moment so I have not been able to dedicate much time time to the new site, obviously weddings are top of my priority list, but the site is shaping up nicely and I look forward to putting it online.

The new site will feature my new logo and branding and an availability checker so potential clients can check a calender to see which dates I am available.

National Geographic video

I was alerted to this video recently featuring David Griffin, Director of Photography at National Geographic magazine, talking about some of the magazine's most iconic and powerful images.

I think it's fair to say that the images of the shark caught in a fishing net and the elephant killed for it's ivory were far more powerful than words could have been.

The story at the end about the seal is just amazing!

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_griffin_on_how_photography_connects.html

New website coming soon!

Watch this space....

SWPP Awards - July

The results for the July competition were announced recently and I was awarded 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze, so quite a successful month.

Here are the three images which received silver:

Dancing in the rain - the Great British weather

I have covered two very enjoyable weddings recently, one in Manchester (Kath & Tim) and one in Liverpool (Elizabeth & Austin), which were both affected in part by that great british institution - the rain.

With both weddings I had made plans with the respective couples to take a certain amount of photographs outdoors. In the case of Elizabeth and Austin's wedding in Liverpool we had even planned to travel to an Abbey after the ceremony to take some photographs of the bride and groom on their own.

Unfortunately however rain played a part in both days and we were unable to take the shots we had planned. In Kath & Tim's case we were lucky enough to still take soime photographs outside but not in the area we had planned (which had turned in to a swamp!)

However neither couple let the rain affect their mood in the slightest and both had amazing days. I'm extremely pleased with the photographs from both of these weddings and it is clear from the images I took that neither couple really gave the weather a second thought on the day as they were far too busy enjoying themselves!

So, should the weather not be great on your big day, please remember that it is really not that big a deal. As long as you remember what the day is really about you will have an amazing day whether (no pun it intended!) it be raining, snowing or sunshining - and that in turn will result in beautiful photographs.

Part 2 of my transition to Apple - my new 24" iMac

Following the iPhone I bought last week, part two of my switch to Apple is now complete after I finally purchased a 24" iMac.

Although it is not online yet (just waiting for O2 to take over my broadband) I have already been extremely impressed with the iMac. The huge screen is amazing and will make sorting and editing my photographs far easier and faster. I have already installed Adobe Lightroom (albeit only version 1.1 until I'm online) and it absolutely flies compared to my PC version.

Once I'm online I'll be able to sync up the calendar and contacts on my phone with the iMac, and vice versa. This will make appointment making far more efficient and straightforward. I also bought a package called "mobile me" which means that my email, calendar, contacts and photos will also be stored in an online "cloud" (Apple's words not mine!) so even when I don't have access to my Mac or phone, providing I'm near a computer, I'll be able to refer to all this information.

Despite the fact I've only had it for a few days, I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the iMac. As well as the fact it's clearly going to make my workflow so much faster and efficient I don't have to worry about viruses, trojans, spyware, malware and all the other nasty things PCs tend to attract, to anywhere near the same extent as I have been up to now. One of the reasons my current PC runs quite slowly is because of all the ant-virus software I have installed. Macs are not infallible but they are much more secure than PCs.

Will let you know how I get on when I'm online and using the Mac as my first choice computer!

Neil