Plan ‘b’ was to use the lovely Tea Rooms at Beth Chatto Gardens where there is plenty of light to learn about the basic controls on the camera and then in the afternoon we would go outside into the covered poly tunnel for some practice.

I quickly realised that this cloud had a few silver linings.  First of all, each of the students were immediately faced with lower light conditions which meant that  they were forced to learn and use more of the controls.  I felt that because of this they mastered them very quickly which was great.  The second silver lining was that we had more time to ‘play’ with light so we used torches to burn light onto the sensor and create all sorts of effects. 

The third silver lining came later in the day when we used the covered growing area.  The wind howled making it a bit on the chilly side BUT the diffused light was terrific for great photographs.  Here are some photographs taken on the day:

It was great to see everyone looking for that creative angle, even if it does involve laying on the floor….the results were definitely worthwhile! 
            
                                         

And the final silver lining?  The cafe looked after us with great hot chocolate and toasted tea cakes to warm us up afterwards!

Next workshop Saturday 16th June, Beth Chatto Gardens. 4 places left.

And just before he left, one more pic in his ‘normal’ attire! 

John said that he’d like to have one of the photographs produced on canvas as a surprise for his wife, Shirley.  He chose the image that she most liked and put in his request.  I delivered the canvas and she was thrilled…

Take a look at John’s website to find out more about him and the band.

Each style is photographed in the studio and also outside which gives another dimension to the look…

And then it’s back inside for the next look…the flat top!  I’ve purposely left the back wall of the studio brick and it’s regularly used in shoots to create a ‘street’ style background.  I think it suited this look.

I love using some garages which are local to me for different backdrops and looks.  In theory, some of these garage doors need serious attention from a paint brush however I love the effect so very much hope they continue to be neglected! 

And finally, the skinhead!  These shots make the model look incredibly mean…but between me and you he’s actually a very nice guy! 

Thanks again Andrew & Adam for visiting the studio, look forward to the next time! 

Thank you for doing such a great job for me in the photo session. The shirts and the haircuts looked fantastic. I shall definitely be recommending you to my friends and colleagues. You bend over backwards to make your clients feel relaxed and confident and it shows in the final prints.

If there are any guys out there who would like to model some creative new haircuts for my business ClassicCrops please do get in touch.  Thanks, Andrew.

The beautiful flowers were by Sam at Wild Poppy    www.wildpoppies.co.uk

We took the opportunity to capture the inside of the venue as well as the outside as they were both equally as stunning.  

Congratulations Marlini & Paul! 

Before that though (well we needed to drink tea and wait for it to get dark!) we welcomed a really interesting talk and a look a some terrific photographs from light photographer, Eddie Bacon. He’s just opened an exhibition at the Library in Colchester and kindly shared a preview of his shots with us.

Eddie entertained us with stories of his night-time hobby and his dedication to his favourite past-time.  I’d strongly recommend popping into the library in Colchester to look at his work which is on display until 1st May.  Thank you Eddie for coming along, we loved your photography.

Afterwards, we took our cameras and our imagination down to Queen Street to capture some light trails.  Eddie’s talk had inspired us to get really creative with the lights and oh, the excitement when a bus came by!  Their lights made for some really cool shots (and so did the red man at the crossing!) 

It was great to hear the ‘whoops’ of excitement when another great shot was captured.   Interesting too was that on my workshops we learn how to keep the camera steady and still whilst taking slower exposures but by the end of the evening we were experimenting by waving the camera around to create different effects.  It’s great when then text book goes out of the window! That’s the beauty of digital photography, you can just keep playing and experimenting without wasting valuable film.  

Our next meet up at 15 Queen Street is on Thursday 3rd May and I’m pleased to confirm that photographer Nadir Khan will be coming along to talk to us about his adventure photography.  We will also talk about using a shallow depth of field in portraiture and then we’ll be off to the Castle Park to practice.  Bring along suitable clothing, your camera and smile (well you might be in the pictures too!)  It’s light until about 8.30 so providing it’s dry we should get plenty of time to snap away again.  Hopefully it’ll be a little warmer this time! 

I was asked by local marketing experts, Elan Marketing, to photograph some of their client’s products known as ‘Fresh Clean’.  This company have innovated a powder based cleaning product which mixes with water.  This means that more can be transported, it takes up less storage and it’s cheaper.  Not surprisingly they are rapidly expanding and they needed some fresh new images for their website.  I collected the products from Elan and we discussed the shots required and the image they are looking to portray.  We decided on crisp white backgrounds and a nice blue to match their company colours.

I wanted to provide them with exactly what they were after and also add some creativity in there too.  I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of getting creative with tubs of powder and spray guns.  Needless to say it made the studio smell nice too! 

Using soft boxes and reflectors to light the background I set to the task of capturing the products…

After they’d seen their images, they invited me to their premises in Buckinghamshire to capture the products and their process.   They’d planned the day so that the photographs could include the full ‘journey’.  Couriers arrived and kindly posed for shots, the warehouse staff thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the shots driving fork lifts and lorries, the sales staff were all on site so they could have their pictures taken and we even captured them busy working in the boardroom.  I seemed to spend a lot of the day laying on the ground, all for the love of photography! 

 Capturing a story of these products gives the buyer a superb insight into the company and their processes. Their website is almost ready so I’m very much looking forward to seeing the final result.    In the meantime I am thrilled to have received the following testimonial:

We were looking for a new photographer who could meet with the creative standards we set for our work, and the quality of Sally’s product and locational photography she carried out for our client was exemplary. I cannot recommend her skills as a photographer enough. We will now be working with Sally for our commercial photography requirements from herein!

Mark Fiddes

Creative Marketing Director, Elan

The day started with some introductions and a chat about our cameras.  Interesting that the majority of people had Canon SLRs, some had creative compacts too but not a Nikon in sight.  Very unusual!

I like to find out why people have come on the course and what they hope to get out of it.  Some just said “I need to take better pictures” whereas others were more specific such as “I’m interested in sports photography” or “I love my garden and want to get that nice blurry background”.  Some just needed a great excuse to spend time with their cameras in one of Essex’s best loved beauty spots. It’s important for me that everyone achieves their goal by the end of the day.  Obviously we weren’t going to come across any sports however a good understanding of freezing and blurring action will make a difference to the photography of this subject.

After a few camera handling techniques we got stuck in and learned how to freeze and blur action by using ‘Shutter Priority’.  Now that’s as techy as I get on my workshops, I do like to keep it simple and see no need to blind anyone with science!

Off we went outside with our sparkly windmills to practice and perfect our shutter speed.   We also learned how to focus properly and made some adjustments to our cameras to ensure perfect focusing every time.  The sun glinting on the windmills attracted the attention of the very well loved and respected Beth Chatto who came to see what we were up to.  She spend time chatting to us and talking about how composition in photography is very similar to that of gardening.  She even posed for a photograph with the group…

Workshoppers with Beth Chatto

After lunch and more photography chatter we cracked on and learned how to choose how much of your image you would like to be in focus.  For this we used Aperture Priority, with a lovely wide aperture (the hole in your lens!) we can get that blurry background that makes your subject stand our or with a narrow aperture (small hole) we can get more of the shot in focus.   Understanding the focal point on your camera is imperative so we practiced these things first before going outside to play.

A quick practice before going outside

And then it was out into the sunshine again to capture the Spring colour and beautiful gardens that Beth Chatto has lovingly created.  The workshoppers were now taking control of their cameras and deciding what they wanted from the shot, instead of the camera deciding it for them.

I love seeing shots that my workshoppers have taken so I’ve included some for you to see…

They all left asking when the next course was running…ooops, I think they’ve been bitten by the photography bug!

Thanks for reading.

A cracking start with a great mix of people, abilities and gadgets!  It was clear from the  start that everyone was itching to pick up their cameras and get playing with light which is fantastic and the absolute purpose of the club.  I’m keen for people to use and have fun with their cameras and it’s good that I’m not alone.  

We started by using a torch to write our names in light, to some this was very new and to others it was something they’d already practiced so they got cracking on other experiments.  With the camera on a tripod, we slowed down the shutter speed and chose a 30 second exposure.  We focused the camera before turning off the lights and pressing the shutter button.  Jump in front of the lens and paint your name with a torch….oh and you have to do it backwards!  Here’s one I made earlier…!

Painting with light.

Once that was mastered everyone started looking for other opportunities to capture light.  We were pleased to welcome Ed to the club who had brought along his bag of tricks which included plenty of multi coloured led lights.  He spends lots of time creating some beautiful art with all sorts of light and kindly allowed other club goers to use his bits and pieces.  Others found interesting shots by photographing traffic outside creating exciting light trails and ‘ghost cars’.  Here are a selection of images taken by members on the night:

Images from Photography Club

We also experimented with 2nd curtain flash, quite advanced stuff really but once we’d set everyone’s cameras up and explained the concept we were off…

2nd Curtain or Rear Curtain Flash

Ok it looks like we’re at a rave!  Actually what happened here is that the slow exposure started and then the flash fired at the end of the shot.  Because the camera was hand held, the light trails painted all over the image before the flash illuminated the subjects…ie us!  A great way to capture some really cool shots.

Finally, we set the challenge to get everyone out there taking photographs.  The theme of the challenge is ‘Close to Home’.  There is a photograph everywhere you look, if you take the time to look so go out into your garden and look for those opportunities! 

The next photography club is on Thursday 5th April at 15 Queen St, Colchester – 7pm – 9pm.  I’m pleased to confirm that Ed is going to return as our guest and share some of his art with us.  We will then be going out (so bring a coat!) to photograph more light trails in the street.  Bring a tripod if you have one but don’t panic buy if you don’t as we can share.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Off I trotted for a fun Friday afternoon at her studio in Burnham on Sea armed with various colour backgrounds, my studio lights and of course the camera.  I was so impressed with her studio, it has five poles and far too many mirrors!  I regularly attend Zumba classes and such like however  learned a lot about this style of fitness class and now fully appreciate the way in which Pole Dancing can sculpt and strengthen your body.  Apparently these classes are available at various gyms however as she has five poles, people who attend get plenty of time to practice and don’t have to share their pole avoiding lots of hanging around.  

This was the second time I’d photographed Crissy, she’d also been to my studio for some Hula Hooping photographs. It was the first time I’d been near a pole (and yes I tried to have a go!) and out of interest I asked Crissy why she chose me.  She said “After I first met you I looked at your website and I felt the style matched what I was looking for.  You also didn’t cringe and listened patiently to all my past Pole Dancing photographic disasters!”

We kicked off by starting with one light, lighting Crissy from the side.  She started with some simple moves and sat on the pole patiently whilst I perfected the lighting.  Yes, she just sat there…making it all look so easy!

Then I brought in the grey back ground to give Crissy a bit of variety in the style of her pictures.  This will allow her to use them on her websites, in blogs, on social media etc so she’ll have plenty to choose from.  She quickly popped into a different pose, she looked like she could have stayed there all day..

Then it was time for the more difficult moves, we used a white background for this to give a nice clean image.  Crissy warned me that that because of a recent injury she might not be able to hold the poses for too long this time.  She said she felt comfortable enough with me to be able to shout “QUICK” or “NOW” once she’d got herself into the pose!  Crissy is very particular, quite rightly, and was keen to perfect the poses for the camera.  She’d brought along a fellow pole dancing friend to ensure that the poses and angles were spot on for the camera.  The three of us worked together to get the exact results Crissy was looking for.

And then it was my turn…

Oh dear! 

You’ll have a list of things to do and one of those things will be to find a photographer who can capture your day.   You’ll be faced with a huge number and variety of wedding photographers, so how are you going to find the one that’s right for you?

There are plenty of things to consider, here are some thoughts to get you started.. 

Personality   You need to be able to ‘connect’ with your photographer as they are going to be with you for the majority of your day.  The chemistry has to be right and when it’s right it brings out the very best in your photographs.  If you don’t connect or like your photographer as a person then you may find it difficult to relax in front of the camera.  If you are not relaxed, it will show in the photographs! Meet with your photographer before making a final decision.  

Style  Formal, informal, reportage…plenty of choices so have a look at some portfolios and see what style suits you.  Would you like some formal photographs as well as some natural reportage shots?  Chat to photographers about your preferred style before making any final decisions.

Portfolio  Ask to see a a full set of photographs from one wedding.  It’s easy to pick out images from different weddings but you want to see one photographed from start to finish.  That way you can be sure that you will receive a full story of your day in a style that you are delighted with.

The End Result   How would you like your photographs to be presented?  There are many options available from beautiful elaborate albums to high resolution images on cd.  If you opt for the latter, ensure that the photographs are copyright free and of high resolution so that you can print and share them with friends/family. 

What’s Included?  Consider how much you would like to spend on your photography.  Wedding photography is available from £500 to £2000+ so spend time understanding what you will get for your money.  Does the photographer use an assistant/second shooter?  These may be options or as standard but it’s worth asking the question.  An assistant to the photographer is useful to help ’round up’ guests for photographs to save you having to nominate a guest for this task.  A second shooter can provide some of the reportage shots whilst the formal shots are being taken, not essential but a nice way to capture  the essence of the day.

Meeting  Arrange to meet your photographer at your venue to talk through the day.  This is a great opportunity to have some photographs taken by the photographer so that you are used being in front of the lens on the day.  Some photographers offer a pre-wedding or engagement shoot which is the perfect opportunity to practise those smiles.

Experience  How experienced is your photographer, not only behind the lens but in their handling of people and children.  It’s so important that your photographer has excellent communication skills and can develop a great rapport with your and your guests.  Other experience within the hospitality industry is also a plus as the photographer is heavily relied upon to stick to the timings! 

On the day  Do you want your photographer to photograph you and your bridesmaids ‘getting ready’?  These can make lovely photographs and a great start to the story of the day.  The Groom and Groomsmen can be captured as they arrive at the venue and your photographer should liaise with the persons conducting the ceremony to ensure that all requirements are met.  After the ceremony, how much time would you like to spend on photographs?   Often the photographer will use this time to capture some lovely photographs of you both whilst your guests are enjoying some champagne, just make sure that there will still be time for you to mix and chat with your guests.

The contract  What’s on it?  What happens if the photographer can’t attend on the day for any reason? What are the payment terms?  Details of their insurance and the timings of the day.

Thanks for reading and happy planning!