Reflections of 2010

Hope everyone is all prepared for Christmas. Feeling a bit smug as for once Christmas Eve will not be part of my shopping calendar.  

End of the year and thinking back on all the things that have happened to me personally and of all of the new people that I have been lucky enough to meet.  So many aspects this year seem to centre on photography. What a surprise !!  This month saw the end of my six month business mentoring with Jeffturnbull and a great six months it was too.  Have arranged to keep in touch via monthly meetings with other students from the course. I feel 2011 is going to be a good year for Headlineportraits and for me and I'm really looking forward to the challenge of new exciting prospects and trying new ideas.

There is so much for which to be grateful in my life............

Two entrants were chosen from my recent wedding photography pictures competition in the local newspaper. Entrants were asked to give their most uplifting stories on their route to the wedding. Both of the two couples had compelling and heart wrenching stories. One had their wedding booked for 2010 but chose to cancel when the groom-to-be lost his mother due to a short and intense battle with cancer. They used their wedding money to pay for his mother to get married due to her rapidly developing illness and any balance was then spent on paying for her funeral. The wedding is now rebooked in 2011 but they had no money left for the photographer so I am able to supply that service to them and am more than happy to do so. 

The second couple had an entirely different story. This relates to a young girl who had always wanted to be an Air hostess. She held onto her dream into later life and finally achieved those dreams but it all collapsed when, coming home from her job, she had a critical car crash which meant she could no longer work for years. Her partners business then went bust due to the recession on top of the extra financial burdens.  She has now battled back to health and is graduating as a teacher, hoping to get married next year. This stoical couple deserve some good luck and I hope my wedding photography bonus, although small, will give them a small boost.
So as I said, it makes me feel very fortunate.............

I am planning to run another competition early next year though this time it will be aimed at helping small new local businesses with marketing and PR images. Early days but watch this space :)

 Have a Great and a very Happy Christmas......and stay safe.

Steve
http://www.headlineportraits.com/

Hardly a Soft Sell ?

Saw a small nugget today in a magazine that I would like to share. This was one company's idea of an effective promotional sales technique. A car dealership in Florida has seen its sales double since launching a new promotional campaign: " Buy a truck, get a free AK-47." Nations Trucks, in Sanford, promises to pay for a Soviet-style assault rifle for anyone who buys one of its used vehicles. "I don't think it sends the wrong message, " said sales manager Nick Ginetta. "You don't need to buy a truck to go out and buy an AK-47."  -  acknowledgement © The Week
Think this will be one sales technique I will not be airing at my pre-wedding consultations!

Alison and Dave's Pre-Wedding Shoot

Thanks to Alison and Dave for a great afternoon's pre-wedding shoot in Ampthill Park, Bedfordshire whose wedding is in July. The sunshine was out and the trees still had their colours. The combination could not be beaten of sun, autumn and a real fun couple. Ampthill Park is extensive and goes up to a high ridge overlooking the open Bedfordshire countryside. This can be seen from one of the shots below whilst Alison and Dave were enjoying some much earned rest on one of the handy benches on the ridge. Hope you enjoy the shots below. I certainly enjoyed taking them and am now looking forward to the wedding.

November is Looking good

Well the weather has given a few signs that we cant take it for granted but I am hoping that it will be good to me tommorow afternoon. I have a pre-wedding shoot which is planned for outdoors. Last weekend was beautiful sunny weather with the leaves turning golden and during the week the wind came and tried to remove them all so my shoot using the colours of autumn may be a little more challenged. We will see by results which will find their ways to my Blog.

Talking of weather I had fun capturing the skies the other weekend as can be seen but I would really be concerned for any bride being faced with such a sky. Lucky this was not taken at a real wedding :)

My Wedding Pictures competition was launched in the local press yesterday and will run for a month. I am giving away two free Pictures packages worth up to £500 in value and 20% discounts to five runners-up.  The route to 'wedded bliss' is often not easy and the winners will be the ones who can give us the most uplifting story of how they coped along that road. Interesting ? We will see :)

This and That !

Hi Everyone.  It has been an interesting  month although it is not over yet of course. New website successfully launched with which I am more than happy with and it is building by the day with little goodies that I have previously wanted but was not able to implement.

I had an idea this month to see if Service personnel overseas would be interested in having a small photobook of their families back home. This would be a good time if they are unable to get home for Christmas. Not winning with one so far but Army said 'Good idea' but did not want to help with any marketing which is a shame. I am convinced that this idea is sound.

Off to a Joel Grimes seminar tonight in London. Joels has sometimes been known as a photographic illusionist, seeking to create images that are "larger than life." I can see why as his dramatic HDR images are very distinctive. Should be interesting.

Saw this great window the other day and it struck me that it would make an interesting background to a portrait image. As I "happened" to have my gear with me, Anne was a willing model and I press-ganged her into sitting. What the image does not show was the stepladder she had to climb to perch precariously at the top of the stairs !! What a  trooper :)

Finally there are now £50 gift Vouchers avaialble on my website for purchase against a photshoot or any other photographic products that I am can offer. You can buy these on-line. Christmas is coming - and dont we all know it !

New New New !

Hi Everyone. Bit late for spring cleaning but I have finally taken the plunge after a lot of pondering and rebuilt my website. One big step was to move my hosting servers. I was doing a fair bit of dodging about between three different organisations including the Domain Registar but happy to say that my emerging business is still breathing :) Nothing got lost in "cyber space" ! It all seems to work as well as my Email and GoogleApps so a big relief from here. As if that was not enough I have adopted a new logo and brand look which you will see. Dont ask me who she is - just someone out of my head, but at least she is now out of it. Interested to get any feedback on what anyone thinks. The new website is in HTML and allows me more flexibility to add little touches and tweaks such as a guestbook and nested links. Quite enjoyed re-visiting my old HTML coding skills which required a little brushing up but I did feel a bit geeky !

Have been working away quietly pushing the business in what I think is the right direction with a 6 monthly Mentoring program and a lot of background work. Even considered what my Personal Values were and found all directly or indirectly affect customers. Came up with seven which I hope you not mind if I briefly share with you. Surprising how powerful they are if you stick to them but it is not easy -

• Look after my health and well being ( if I dont do that, I cant do it for anyone else)

• Protect my family

• Have confidence in my own abilities ( yes....... its coming along )

• Never forget to enjoy life ( Too easy to sideline)

• Invest time in self development

• Treat people fairly

• Be polite whatever the circumstances ( Yes it's hard !)

Already joined a gym with a nice pool and had my first session....and I am still breathing. Never know, might be able to do some networking there once I get my breath !! Good start :)

Studio Shoot

Hi Hope everybody is having a good month ?

It has been a little quiet on the publishing front but I have not been idle ! Apart from today being my birthday :) I did a studio shoot yesterday for Tim which was enjoyable and fun. Anyone who thinks that studio work is 'plug in and go' had better think again.  Whilst I love lifestyle shoots in natural light, I learnt such a lot from this shoot aided by Andrew whom is the owner of Saracen House Studio. Thanks a lot to him.
 http://www.saracenhousestudio.co.uk/Studio-Hire.
Next time the shoot will it be even better !  A few of the shots from the shoot are posted below.

At the end of the week I am assisting Jeff Turnbull at an Indian wedding. That should be really interesting and great experience. Something to look forward to.      

I have signed up to regular monthly business mentoring with Jeff Turnbull Training and the next session is at the end of August. The sessions with 5 other students is going to give me professional photographic experience that would take months, probably even years to learn. The rest is up to me to apply it.

Hope you have some holidays lined up if you are in UK before we get cold rain again instead of slightly warmer rain although there is not too much to complain about at the moment !!

Steve

Lifestyle Photography

Just come back from a good Lifestyle Course in Essex with Jeff Turnbull Training.  Another blazing hot day with two long suffering models, Pete and Amy, who were always cheerful. It certainly looked like they were enjoying it. After two shoots in different locations we were all burning up in the 29 degree heat. Is this really UK ? Many thanks to them and to Jeff who left us all inspired once again.

I have a few images to show you below which I hope you enjoy looking at,  as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Houghton House, Bedfordshire

Today I made a point of visiting a possible shoot location which I have promised myself I would check out for sometime. No, the great sunshine today was not the incentive ( but it did help!).  Houghton House near Ampthill was a 17th Century hunting lodge occupied only during the summer but it became the permanent residence of the Bruce family who installed a magnificent ceremonial staircase. Sadly the house is just ruins now and the staircase was stripped out in the 18th century to go to a local Ampthill hotel. Of course it is reputed to be haunted like most self respecting ruins and it feels as if it should be starring in a Hammer Horror film. This location for a future shoot will take some beating and it will definitely be high on my list of interesting locations.

A few images taken today are below.

Tommorrow for a change I am back in the 21st century. I am checking out a local studio and will have the opportunity to test out all lovely gear there before making a live shoot in the future

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Advanced Wedding Photography Workshop

Hi again.

I have just returned from a very good two days Advanced wedding Photography Workshop in Essex run by www.JeffTurnbullPhotography.com/  The first day included a wedding shoot on an extremely hot outdoor shoot with two models Rees Warren and Alex Lindsay. The shoot was at the beautiful location of Maidens Barn near Chelmsford.  To the great credit of Rees and Alex they bravely bore the high temperatures despite many of the photographers - myself definitely included - wilting in the heat.

I thought you might like to see a few of my images below.

Any further work of mine will be displayed on www.HeadlinePortraits.com/ 

     

Kieran and Carley's Engagement Shoot

Welcome back to my Blog

I was fortunate enough to be asked to do some engagement photos for Kieran and Carley last Sunday. I chose the beautiful House and Gardens of Wrest Park at Silsoe in Bedfordshire. Fortunately the weather was kind to us and we avoided a few dark clouds which were scudding around earlier. Wrest House dates back to the early 18th century and has 90 acres of gardens which were modelled by Capability Brown. He certainly deserved his name ! The estate is now owned by English Heritage.

Thought you might like to see a few shots from the shoot.

Many thanks to Kieran and Carley who made it a lot of fun and my very best wishes to them both.

I am looking forward to catching up on some more training over the next two months. When business is a bit quiet it seems like a really good investment of my time and helps me to keep up to date. On Friday I am attending a two day Advanced Wedding Course with Jeff Turnbull in Essex http://www.jeffturnbull.com/and then a one day Lifestyle course in June.




Over the last few weeks I have been making marketing visits and distributing advertising material in person to 23 different places in Bedfordshire to try to boost my Wedding, Lifestyle and family business. It is refreshing to have face to face meetings in addition to the usual viral and internet marketing. Expect the unexpected ? I had an enquiry from one to photograph her two boisterous dogs. Well - why not !!

A Portrait Shoot with Lisa and her Girls

Last Sunday I was fortunate enough to be asked to do a portrait shoot of some wonderful children named Megan, Aimee and Chloe with Lisa their Mum.  I had forgotten how exhuberant children can be but it was that natural exhuberance that I wanted to capture and which makes such shoots so much fun. Even the dog Zhuki insisted on joining us for a slice of the action after jumping over my softbox. I was obviously in the way whilst lying on her floor but luckily her nudging did not create the dreaded camera shake !  Actually she added a lot to some of the shots and together with Chloe they made a natural pair.

A very enjoyable shoot and thanks to Lisa and all of the girls who made it so. A few shots are below -