New Blog and Website

The time has come to announce my new photo-training website and blog, which means that this blog is now closed. All new posts, and much more, will appear on the new blogsite at http://turnerphototraining.com See you there!

Goodbye old blog....almost.....

It's almost time to say a fond farewell to this, my first blog, and to welcome in a brand new photo-training blog and photo-resource. The blog has served me well, but as I've already intimated there is frantic activity behind the scenes at Michael Turner Photography as we prepare for a brand new arm to our business for 2010 and beyond.

My next posting will be to announce the new blog early next week......watch this space!

A Little Boy and his Grandad

During the course of a family lifestyle portrait shoot in Lancashire last week it became apparent that the little boy, Charles, has a very special relationship with his grandad. Charles lives in Canada with his mum and dad and baby brother Jack, so he doesn't get to see his grandad too often. So, when Charles comes over to visit, he just loves to copy everything that his grandad does...tidying the garden, setting up the barbecue....and, especially, fixing things in grandad's shed. Lump hammers and spanners are not the first props that may spring to mind for a portrait, but lifestyle photography is all about capturing relationships by telling a story. These photographs will mean the world to Charles when he's grown up and has a shed (and maybe even grandchildren) of his own.

Always looking up to his Grandad...

Lessons from the Berbers

In these tough economic times we can all learn a business lesson from this Berber jewellery trader that Janet and I came across recently in the Lower Atlas Mountains near Marrakech. Every day he hikes up the mountain to set up his stall on this steep, rocky footpath that leads to spectacular waterfalls high above the small village of Setti Fadma. This guarantees him a steady flow of potential customers during the day. Now that's dedication!

Admittedly, his temporary shop is no doubt well away from the attentions of the tax authorities and health and safety (if it exists in Morocco!), but we were so impressed with his sheer hard work that it made him at least one sale that day. Anyone who knows Marrakech will know that the locals are always keen to sell you something (well, anything in fact), to the point where it can become tiresome after a long day sightseeing, but today we were happy to reward this Berber entrepreneur. Janet is now the proud owner of a locally made turquoise and silver necklace (bartered for in true Moroccan tradition of course).

May News Round-Up

You will have heard the analogy of the duck swimming along, all calm on the surface but paddling like fury underneath. It's been a bit like that at Michael Turner Photography lately, with some major changes in the pipeline for 2011 that we're working on now. In the meantime, we've been busy with studio and outdoor portraits, three trips abroad and putting into action the plans for our new photography school. In March Janet and I visited some old friends in Holland and had a city break in Marrakech. What an amazing place! In April we sailed across the Aegean with our good friend Jonathon on Koralia3. Even though these were holidays of course, I've been taking the opportunity to build up material for the photography workshops and add to my portolio of travel images.

As for the rest of the year, I'll be announcing some workshop dates over the next few weeks and updating the web site. We've made a start on the re-structure of the website but there's a long way to go yet. In June we'll be exhibiting at the Cheshire County Show and then in July at the Signal FM Bumps Show. And next January I'll be speaking and judging once again at the SWPP International Convention. Never a dull moment eh!

The hustle and bustle of the souks in Marrakech....

And Spring flowers in Greece.... More travel and portrait images coming soon!

Outdoor Portraits in Cheshire

It's been a great a start to the year for outdoor lifetstyle portraits. Even though we've had a cold winter, February and March have been mostly dry and bright. Perfect!

Here is a small selection of images from recent outdoor portrait shoots in Cheadle and Whaley Bridge.....

T-shirts....in February!

A Walk Around Mellor

For the past twenty years or so I've been going on a monthly walk with a small group of friends. We take it in turns to organise the walk, which is usually somewhere in Wales, the Peak District, the Lakes or the Yorkshire Dales. For the March walk we decided to do something much closer to home, on the east side of Stockport, and were blessed with a fantastic day. Today was all about fresh air, beautiful colours, warm Spring sunshine and, especially, strong light and crisp shadows. The variety of shots I managed today (all on my Canon G9 compact) was amazing. Here's hoping for more kind weather and beautiful light for the photo-rambles I'll be organizing later in the year.

The striking simplicity of this majestic old tree against the March sky.....

Beautiful colours and shadows in Mellor churchyard....

Playing with shadows at Cobden Cross....

Totally unstaged, a couple of locals enjoying the Spring sunshine outside the pub....

One of the many railway tunnels on the route....

Probably my favourite image from the day. Beautifully subtle colours in this detail from an old wooden railway truck being used for storage on a farm near to Roman Lakes.... As the sun sinks slowly in the west.....

Glorious low evening sunlight on this farmyard....

A classic sunset image to finish....

An Easter Break

Janet and I have had a very pleasant and relaxing Easter break. The weekend kicked off with a visit to our god-daughter Sarah. As you know, Sarah has more than her fair share of problems and a recent virus hasn't helped. She still manages to cheer everyone up with her gummy smile though, and is doing well. She has a major heart op coming soon - no one has told her yet!

Then followed a couple of days staying with our friends Jo and Martyn Pearson and their boys in St Annes on the Fylde. After a wet and windy day on Friday we were blessed with a beautiful morning on Saturday, perfect for a walk down the dunes towards Lytham. The combination of dunes and cloud was a photographer's dream, captured here on my trusty Canon G9.

Back at home for Sunday, an Easter day roast with friends and family was followed by a catch-up day on Monday, nicely rounding off a very 'chilled out' break.

KidsCan Campaign 2010

We're thrilled to announce our charity fund-raising offer for 2010. This year we're supporting KidsCan, the children's cancer charity based at Salford University.

The offer works like this : for just a £25.00 donation to KidsCan you'll receive a gift invitation for a Michael Turner photoshoot plus £75.00 towards your order. Now that's an offer you can't refuse! You can download an application form from the KidsCan website www.kidscan.org.uk or contact the studio for more information. http://www.kidscan.org.uk/?pid=72

The Value of Family Photos

I was talking to a lady the other day who had a very sad story to tell. Orphaned as a child, she had no photographs at all of her childhood. In later years her ex husband destroyed all of her photographs from her teenage and young adult years. As the son of a photographer, this really brought home to me the value of family photographs, whether taken professionally or just casual family snapshots. I'm lucky in that we have a wealth of family photographs to look back on, but that isn't always the case.

What concerns me in this digital age is that there are many more photographs taken than ever before, but most of them never see the light of day. They're stored on computer hard drives or even left on the camera or phone, but we all know how fast technology goes out of date, and how quickly computers can fail without warning. Pictures can so easily be lost forever.

My advice is to back your pictures up!! Better still, get them printed - a hard copy is so much more stable!! And take heed of the story that started this blog - get multiple copies and distribute them round the family. One last word of advice - if you're the family photographer, make sure that you get to be on some of the pictures too. They don't have to be masterpieces, but why not supplement your own family snapshots by booking a professional family photoshoot once in a while. Family photographs are one of the few things that increase in value as time goes by.

I just thought I'd take this opportunity to share a couple of family shots from my own childhood....


A rare photograph of me with my dad - he was usually the one behind the camera. This one was taken by mum (not a keen photographer!).

Me and mum....from my 'baby's first year' album put together by my dad. Priceless.

And finally, an action shot of me taken during the last really hard winter I remember.....1962/3.

SWPP Convention Report

January has been an eventful month. The first challenge was one we all faced - coping with heavy snow that we're definitely not used to. Then it was one week spent preparing my lectures for the SWPP Convention in London, a fantastic week at the Convention itself followed by eight days (and counting) completely grounded by a flu virus, probably picked up on the way home. Hopefully things should get back to normal by February!

In the meantime here are a few shots from the Convention, starting with the the opening event, the Business School (overseen by Catherine Connor from Annabel Williams CPT). Two days of solid business advice from a variety of successful photographers and professional marketers, the Business School was a sell-out and rightly so. This is me in action on the first morning, talking about the benefits of Networking.....

Later in the week, after being part of the mid-week judging panel for awards and qualifications, it was on to portrait photography. Now what was that about never working with children and animals...?

After the Saturday Masterclass theory came the Sunday practical, with our young models ready and eager for the small-group 'Superclass'. The concrete and glass landscape of an urban hotel in mid January isn't the most sympathetic environment for capturing natural images of under 5s, but the delegates and I rose to the challenge. Capturing a winning shot of the two children together escaped me on this short photoshoot demonstration - the distraction of a nearby set of revolving doors proved too much to keep them both in the same place at the same time! There was plenty of scope for individual shots though, all taken in natural light. Everyone had fun in spite of the cold - in fact we were blessed with sunshine, the first of the whole week.

Having fun with shadows....

Here's to the SWPP Convention 2011. Hope to see you there.