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 They're stored on computer hard drives or even left on the camera or phone, but we all know how fast technology goes out of date, and how quickly computers can fail without warning.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.

SWPP Convention 2010

Just got back from my weekly boxercise class (aimed to keep me fit for sailing would you believe)....the first one after my annual overdose of Christmas pud. Luckily BJ the trainer went easy on us for the first session of the New Year.

Unfortunately David Williams has had to postpone the Cheshire seminar at our studio later this month, but the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Convention starts next week and is definitely on. I'll be speaking on business and portrait photography topics over the week as well as being one of the judges for the Annual 20x16 Print Competition. There are over 150 seminars over the 6 days so there's something for every kind of photographer. You can check out the schedule at http://www.swpp.co.uk/convention/

See you there!

Light, Colour and People

It's the last day of the decade already, and for my final post of 2009 I'd like to quote our friend and colleague Charles Mifsud, from Malta. Charles is an experienced traveller and very keen amateur photographer who likes to enter print competitions with his travel images. On the final day of our recent visit to Malta it was Charles that drove us around the island to see the sights, and on the journey (he likes to talk....) he was describing just why he loves photography....

"Even if you don't win the competitions [he often does], photography and photographs teach you an appreciation of light, of colour, and of people" he said.

This simple statement summed up in a nutshell why I also still get excited by photography after over twenty years in the profession, and will be the philosophy behind our new photo-training courses for 2010. So enjoy the New Year celebrations, and then celebrate light, colour, people and life with us through the inspiration of photography in the year ahead.

Happy Holiday

After a few minor delays due to snow and ice I'm pleased to say that all of the framed portraits, canvases and multi-frames that were ordered by our clients for Christmas have now been collected and it's time to go home. These are just a small selection chosen from my favourites........

That just leaves me and Janet to say 'Thank You' to all of the clients, contacts, friends and family who have supported us over the year. We hope you have a peaceful Christmas and a fun-packed, healthy and propserous New Year.

A first birthday photoshoot in Cheadle

My last posting was little bit wordy, so here are some recent images from a photoshoot commission to capture Rory at age one, shortly after his first birthday. As you can see, this was just before the autumn leaves disappeared for another year. Rory had great fun playing in the leaves while I used a long lense at a wide aperture to capture him in action. Even though I normally shoot mostly black and white, the colours of these Maple leaves are so fantastic every year that I always like to head to this spot for some autumnal colour shots.