When it happens, it really happens ...

I've been wonderfully busy over the last week - which is the best feeling in the world. I have had clients each day for 7 consecutive days. Yep - I even work at the weekends!

So here's a quick review of what I did:

• Individual Business Portraits x 3
• Product Photography
• Fashion Shoot
• Business portraits - 23 people in 2 poses 
• Event Photography
• Family Portrait

Written down in a list like that it doesn't seem so great - but believe me it was fantastic. Also as well as that list of shooting I have also been to 5 networking groups, delivered a ten minute presentation on how to get the best out of your phone when capturing holiday snaps and had two 121 meetings to find out more about other people's businesses. 

 

Here's some of my work:

Fashion Shoot

 

 Product Shoot

 

 

 Event Photography

Portrait number 1

 

Portrait number 2

Pose number 1 for 23 members of staff

Portrait number 3

 

 

Family Portrait

Well when you group them together like that it seems that I am mostly a portrait photographer. I have meet some amazing people and had such fun and laughs with them. I have been told there are some lovely testimonials coming my way as well. 

 

Another great achievement this week was that I got to make use of my new lighting kit which I bought at the Photography Show back in March. I like them and will be make much more use of them in the future. Firstly thought I need to sort out a proper bag for them so that the lights and the stands they need can be easily transported/carried/moved about. This week was a little tough in that respect. But I have done a little research on Amazon and think I may have found a solution that saves my back and shoulders.

 

I have learned an awful lot from this week. And I am gloriously happy.

 

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Slightly annoyed

I have messed up a little bit.

 

I decided to take advantage of a deal on getting 100 6x4" prints from Jessops for a very reasonable price. I thought this might be a different way of handing out my work to people, something a bit more than a business card and something nice for people to keep.

 

I also purchased a ink pad and stamp so that I could put my details on the back of the photographs.

6x4" photographs stamped on the back

I love the prints and I love the stamp - look how cool those look?

 

However I had forgotten how none absorbent photography paper is. I have stamped lots of the 100 and the ink on the back - even after a day - is still smudging.

 

Grrrr. If it doesn't dry I will not be able to hand them out as they will smudge onto the front of the photograph they sit next too. Perhaps I could put them into an envelope - but that takes away from the idea. Slightly annoyed with myself. However if they do dry I will be very chuffed. Any suggestions on how to get them dry. I have tried using a hair dryer and also blotting them - but still they remain smudgeable!

 

Answers on a postcard please.

 

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Want a busy week? Here's how ...

I have had another tremendously busy week and one that is varied, interesting and immense fun.

 

It started with a shoot at a Solicitors in Leicester. Lovely people I have photographed them before but as they have taken on more staff and refreshed their website they felt it was time for an update.

Solicitor Portrait shoot using the peeling paint door backdrop

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Next I was in Derby to shoot Alive Fitness. Particularly Susan Booth who is a wonderful woman. She and Debbie are planning a very interesting sounding day (9th April) called Va Va Voom a day for women over 40 to discuss what the changes in life mean to our bodies and how we need to deal with them so that we can continue to be who we are and who we want to be. I have signed up for this day and am really looking forward to it. Susan's energy and straight forward way of delivering information means I will enjoy the day. Debbie's wonderfully clear sighted and relaxed approach helps you clear your mind so that you can be who you want to be.

Susan with her team planning the Va Va Voom day

Debbie and Susan - the terrify twosome

Food will help

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The Easter weekend had me running around in the rain capturing delightful images of a group of children taking part in an Easter Egg Hunt - on horseback. I loved every minute and wished I had done things like this when I was a kid.

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I belong to a couple of brilliant networking groups and this week I was photographing my Friday morning network so that they could have some new images for the website. The 10 minute session was a great surprise as Stewart talked us through his hobby - rather than his successful Drainage business. As you can see his hobby is brass bands and he brought along an instrument for us to have a blow.

Kevin seems to have done this before

Sally loving having a go and making us all giggle
 

 

I love my job, particularly the variety of jobs I do. My clients are pretty impressive too.

 

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What a week

It has been a great week... well that is my feeling as I sit here sipping my cup of Earl Grey on a Friday morning. So let's have a think, why am I thinking it has been a great week.

 

Firstly I was out and about with my camera shooting things this week - this always fills me with joy. Portrait, Architectural and Event Photography and a fabulous photo restoration were in the mix. Having work to do means invoices are being raised and that always makes me happy.

The beautiful Fiona

A rather splendid equestrian property in South Leicestershire gets the star treatment

Rain stops nothing

I have been speaking to my accountant to make sure I understand how my income tax will be affected by having become a Landlord at the beginning of the year. Seems all is in hand, I understand all that I need to do, what to look out for and I also cleared up a couple of things I didn't know about. Now I don't have to worry about this and I can concentrate on pushing my business forward. This really makes me happy. 

 

I started going to a new networking group this week and met some really rather lovely people who, after only that first meeting, are asking me to work with them. This makes me happy.

 

I also met up with people I networked with last year. We had all lost touch when the group closed so we planned to meet for a curry and it was great to catch up. I had missed them. It wasn't long, I think the poppadum and chutney's had been cleared away, before work was being passed around the table. Old networking habits never die. This made me happy. 

 

I have talked through a plan I have to rationalise parts of my business. Hearing myself say the words, rather than just having the thoughts rumbling around my head, has really helped and has made me realise it is the correct thing to do. There are parts of the business that are costing money but not bringing in any money. I have to say this is a little like asking a member of staff to leave - but I think needs must. So over the next few months I am going to be making the changes. I shall keep you informed. Sad as this is, it does make me happy.

 

On a personal note: I bought myself a rather large amount of wool this week, mostly purple, to add to my stash and have started working on a project with it. This makes me happy.

 

In summary: I think I can now see why this has been a good week and why I'm feeling happy whilst sipping my Earl Grey.

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Workwear

Decided it was time to get kitted out with work clothes that have my logo on them. When I am out and about working - and particularly when I have an assistant - then people know who it is that is capturing all these images. I have been networking with Dean who runs ept services for a while now and during that time I have been impressed with his products, his passion, his commitment and I was soon to find out - his prices. Today I was asked to go and approve the embroidery interpretation of my logo - and here it is ...

Soon to be worn workwear

I have allowed the logo to be tweaked a little bit so that it works - embroidery is a very different medium to print - and I think we have landed on a pretty good option. Now it has to be embroidered onto 2 tee-shirts, 3 polo shirts and because I am a wuss - a fleece!

 

It will be a week before I can pick up the finished items and when I have them there will be photos of them being modelled.

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Days like this

Being ill through December really did not help this self-employed one-man-band. All my energies were focused on getting better and trying not to be sick rather than talking to my clients and organising work for January. As a result January has been quite quiet. This has given me the chance to resolve my backing-up issues and to clean the office. I've even found things I thought I had lost but during this time my camera has remained in its bag and the car parked on the drive.

 

However my hard work through early January, as I got better, has begun to bear fruit. A trip to my mentor last week to go through my ideas for the way forward for the business was very interesting and motivating and I now have a plan which is beginning to fall into place.

 

I am going to be rethinking my 60 second pitch that I give at network meetings and have been practising that on the cat over the last week. I now think I am ready to go and try it out on other people - which is good as next week I have three network meetings.

 

I have discovered a new way of networking called 'Netwalking' - fab way to network by going out for an hour and half walk and spending 5/10 mins with each person so you can talk about your business and see if there are ways you can find referrals or work collaboratively. If you want to find out if there is one near you have a look on Skylark Activities website for details. Yesterdays' netwalk was around Moira Furnace, Donisthorpe, Conkers using the Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail.

 

The snow had thawed, which meant a muddy walk,
but that did not dampen our enthusiasm

 

 

I really enjoyed it and made a very good contact. I am hooked so I am going to the Bradgate Park netwalk - my old stomping ground - that should be interesting, old memories will flood back.

 

Also during this quiet time I have been investigating social media and seeing how I currently make use of that. Not efficiently I know. I still need a little bit of training/practical help and that is in the diary for week after next.

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New Years Resolution

I never make resolutions - but this year I did. Simply because I must get on with it and do it. There should be no excuse. The only limit is my knowledge and understanding. So what am I talking about?

...Backing-up... 

Yep backing-up all my business files/folders/images.

As you can imagine I am creating a vast amount of images and there is a lot of (electronic) paperwork to cover issues like quotes, invoices, work progress, account, correspondence, orders, emails etc. 

I have been speaking to various people who are very knowledgeable in this area and, to be frank, they did rather frighten me. I got a clear and concise impression of what could potentially go wrong. I appreciate this and this is why I am anxious to get something up and running. Even though I was scared there was the basis of an idea for a back-up strategy in there.

I have been looking at ways to do the back-ups so that they are incremental and not the whole lot being dumped onto an external hard drive each time. I know from experience that to back up all of it takes more than 2 hours. To be effective and efficient at backing up it cannot take 2 hours each time. So until I have worked out the easiest, simplest, (and possibly cheapest) way of doing that I need to do it the old fashioned way. 

I want to have client images stored on the computer, off the computer and off site. That way I have 2 other places where client images can be found if anything horrid happens to my desktop. On top of that I want to back-up all admin files/folders each week (or perhaps fortnight) and store that information off-site (probably at my mums). 

What I have realised this morning, as I continue dumping all my work onto an external hard drive Santa bought for me, is that I need more external hard drives to accomplish the goals above. I have been onto amazon and ordered more memory sticks and more external hard drives - I do enjoy shopping on behalf of my business. 

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tut tut tut

Such a long time since I have been on here. You'll be glad to hear that it is because I have been busy. Since being distinguished with my Degree the business has gone from strength to strength. I had the most fabulous August and if I can maintain work to those levels then my future is secured.

The exhibitions - at the Making House and the Melbourne Arts Trail - went very well. Learnt so much from putting up an exhibition. They are exhausting, great fun, challenging and rewarding all at once. It is good to get your work out there in front of people and it is an excellent way to gauge how well your work goes down by speaking to people that see it for the first time. Will definitely be doing the Melbourne Arts Trail next year. Next exhibition is PINT Arts Festival, Burton - which I shall blog about separately.

Have helped set up Outline - a network group for creative people in and around East Staffordshire. The second meeting was held last week and it goes from strength to strength. Finding fellow creative people makes life so much easier and we can all help each other out - which is marvelous.

Have enjoyed my new iPhone and challenging myself to capture an image, and post it using Instagram, every day. This can be rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. I shall blog about the  challenge soon and have an idea of showing each months all together to see what emerges. To this end I ensured that September was all one theme - seahorses. This was frustrating because by focussing on one thing I was missing other opportunities, so in October I will amend my challenge.

Great to see friends being rewarded with awards, receiving commissions, getting their dream job, and finding love - oh hang on that's all me. But seriously it is great to see my friends developing and continuing with their love and passion for photography and all things creative.

Photography gang on tour - St Andrews, Sept 12 - shooting every angle

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Behind the scenes

I know I say that this blog is supposed to be behind the scenes of what I do - but I sometimes forget to capture me doing what I'm doing whilst I'm doing what I do.

But when you have an assistant they can grab my iPhone and capture me doing my thing - so I thought I would share these with you from last night.

Catching that shot before the sun goes down

Yes that is a van on a fence post and yes I am standing in the lake!

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Exhibition number one - The Making House

Here is your invitation to my first exhibition. Titled 'Force of Nature' I will be exhibiting alongside Michele McDonald and Mark Smith at the Making House, 50 Bearwood Road, Winshill, Burton.

My work is my series titled 'Liminal' - examining the boundaries and thresholds between man and nature and our perception that we master it but in fact are insignificant in comparison.

Preview night - 17th August 6-9pm

Plans are afoot to make the preview evening - 17th August 6pm-9pm - as much fun as possible with food and drink and goodie bags being prepared.

If you cannot make the preview evening then please pop in on the opening dates shown on the invitation or contact me if you would like a private view outside of those times - which can easily be arranged.

All work is for sale and available in all shapes and sizes to fit all budgets. You will also get the chance to have a look around The Making House, a unique venture set up by Anna Roebuck, after her success with Bags2Riches. Anna is a contemporary artist herself who supports and develops other local artists. It's right on your doorstep so you need to get along and support Anna and appreciate all the local talent that exhibit and sell at the Making House. 

Mark, Joanne and Michele will be available to discuss their work at the preview evening and you can contact them via their websites shown above as well.

Look forward to seeing you there.

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Behind the Scenes - Ghostbusters

I have always said that this blog should be a look behind the scenes. On a job recently I got the chance (with my new iPhone) to capture a set up.

We were all a little worried that photographing a photograph of a scene that is being photographed would result in some sort of disaster akin to the beams being crossed in Ghostbusters - but we were all OK.

Thanks to Yvonne and Laura - it was fun

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Blog Hit - down but not out

Ooooopps - seems like my blog is getting ignored. I have discovered the Instagram app on my iPhone I have been uploading an image a day through July as a little challenge. This means I have taken my eye off the blogging ball.

At the end of July I will produce a composite of the images taken during the challenge, in the meantime - rather than show you my Instagram images because you will have seen the link to those on Facebook and Twitter - I will show you what I did last weekend:

I don't know if it meant just one light or all the lights in the Church?

The view towards Leicestershire and Rutland

We sent Marie up to the tower - she seemed to be enjoying herself

Uncle Pete: "I am havin' a fagggggg"

I am seeing this cloud formation a lot at the moment

This week I am trying to have the week off to get a lot of jobs done in the house and in the office - getting everything sorted so that I can make the transition from student to business owner. So far I am not having much luck, there is work to do and lethargy struck. However, my handyman came round yesterday and is back again on Friday so I will use that to spur me on. Toughest job I have to do is to develop a system for my work flow. I want it to be easy enough for someone to take it over. At the moment it is a jumbled mess (probably resembles my head) I need to streamline, sort, consolidate, simplify and organise - well that will take more than a week. Onwards.

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Keeping Clients Happy

What a fabulous week I have had. Been to 3 networking meetings, made many sales and booked in appointments for 121s and commissions for work.

Whilst I have been doing that I have been working on a number of commissions including one for a local company that have embraced my 'small world' work so much so they have given me toy vans painted in their livery to photograph and called to say "the vans would look great in puddles".

In contrast to that I have been capturing images for a website that will be going live in September to hit the gift giving time of year - commonly know as Christmas. This morning has seen me photographing the owner dressed in boots, woolly jumper and hat on one of the few days this month when it has been bright, sunny and, almost, summery. But we had to capture autumn to fit in with the feel for the website.

Here are a couple of shots from those commissions:

Toy Vans

Christmas is coming

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This is a first

I like my clients  - I enjoy working with them. I love the passion they have about their business. It is that passion I try to capture in images I create for them.

I love to see how much they enjoy seeing the photographs I produce and yesterday was a first ... my client actually screamed when she saw her images. I don't expect all my clients to do this - but it really made me smile. I'd like to point out here - she loved them!  

I have lots more work to do for her - but here are the screamers!

More will follow after the next shoot in a weeks time.

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Printing

Today I am mostly ... printing.

I am making up some products ready to take to a meeting next week where I am hoping I can start to sell them in quanities.

The printer is whirling away and I am limbering up my scalpelling hand. Any excuse to do creative things I say.

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Road Trip

Found my way to Manchester no problem. Discovered a neat thing on the iPhone which was really useful in helping me find my way to my destination. Had a great day before I left - developing relationship with new client; making plans for future; getting some great leads; dealing with customer queries; taking advice of my mentor and putting it into action; and getting to grips with new phone - I'm going to need lessons on a couple of things soon!

All good - now all I need to know is where I'm working tomorrow and I'll be fine, if I hear nothing then I'm off to Manchester's art galleries for the day.

I made it to Media City

I made it to Meida City OK and waited for the call to tell me where I needed to be - unfortunantely this call never came. So I spent my time teaching myself how to use my new iPhone. I was also intreguied by Instagram and so had a play with that.

Instagram turned this ...

...into this

Such fun I am going to have with this.

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My Photograph in the Times

... the Ashby Times.

This does not detract from the immense pleasure it gives me to see my images in print. And on top of that to receive a credit for the image.

Ashby Times - 15th June 2012

For once my love of using the AV setting whilst using flash worked out for the best possible shot. It meant that the people who were sitting still (mostly) were captured good and sharp; and the flags, which I asked to be waved vigorously, were blurry - capturing perfectly the movement, excitement and jubilation.

(sorry)

It also taught me that when I have seen the shot in my head I should not be afraid to ask people to stand where I want and do what I ask of them. As a rule they are generally obliging. This was a great start to Sue's year as Mayor and I hope this image takes pride of place in her Mayoral scrapbook.

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New Look Website

It's all coming together just as I promised myself. But it has been hard work.

I decided that by the time my graduation degree show was going up (Show starts tomorrow) that I would have my new logo designed and incorporated into everything. The final part of this massive jigsaw is my website and today it was finally all-together and looking gorgeous.

I love that I can now showcase my time-lapse movies when I create them. I do need to learn my way around the CMS to upload them myself - but for now there are 5 on there. Please go and have a look.

How cool is this?
New logo, RSS twitter feed, Time-lapse page. 

Thanks go to Jat and the team at 3bit.

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Wingscapes TL Cam 8.0

My new time-lapse camera arrived today. I am testing this piece of kit out so I can extend my offer for capturing time-lapse movies. I have been considering for a while how to capture some over a much longer period - like days or weeks. This little beauty should be able to do it and cope with being left outside. Fingers crossed. Will be putting it through it's paces over the weekend and will give my verdict after that.

Learning about the menus and sub-menus.

My intital reaction is - IT WORKS - phew! However there are improvements that need to be made to the final images. More buttons to explore. I will continue experimenting.

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