Portrait Shoot in a Blizzard (almost)
Anneliese was on her way over for a family shoot in the park when the skies blackened. By the time she arrived with her husband Richard, their three kids, her brother and his family, the weather was looking somewhat grim! I put the kettle on…
Luckily it wasn’t too long before the skies began to look a little brighter and the rain eased off. We decided to head to the park. I grabbed a few shots of the kids and some group shots and then the weather turned again. It was even worse this time and we ran for cover.
We must have only had about 20 minutes to get some images but I reckon we got some good ones. Here are my faves…
OK… cute alert!!
Wedding Photographers in Birmingham & The West Midlands
There are so many Birmingham wedding photographers (go on, Google it!) that it must be daunting for couples who are planning their wedding and have no idea where to start when it comes to finding their photographer. I often mention to couples that they spend thousands of pounds on the day itself but it’s only the photographs (and occasionally a video) that will stay with them until they’re old and grey.
Obviously, given my choice of career, I place enormous value on photography and the clients we tend to meet generally feel the same way and invest their money accordingly. Some couples spend more on their cake than they do on their wedding photography. As amazing as some wedding cakes are (see Ben the Cakeman for example), in twenty or thirty years time, having a beautiful wedding album which brings back all the memories of your wedding is priceless.
With so many wedding photographers in the West Midlands many people imagine us to be in fierce competition with each other but, in reality, many of us are friends who are more than willing to help each other out. Photographers like Emily Quinton and Claire Evans are good friends of ours and we often recommend each other to clients when they enquire about a date where we’re already booked.
A lot of people also seem to think that they have to choose a wedding photographer from their local area. I was recently asked if I would travel as far as Lichfield for a wedding. Lichfield is less than 30 minutes from our studio! After doing weddings in Devon, Cornwall, Brighton, Newark, London (see image above) and more recently New York, Lichfield seems almost walking distance! But maybe not with all that equipment! This weekend I’m shooting Kate & Dan’s wedding in Somerset 
So, how do you choose a wedding photographer?
For me, the first thing to decide is if you like their style. Every wedding photographer is different and each has their own unique view of the world. Some are very formal and traditional, others specialize in reportage photography where they document the wedding without interacting with the couple or their guests. Some photographers are influenced by fashion magazines, others by movies. For me, our style incorporates many different influences to produce a style which is unique to us.
Once you’ve found a photographer whose style you like, the next thing is to get to know them. It’s important to gel with the person who will be so involved in your wedding day and to understand how they like to work on the day itself. We hear so many stories of nightmare wedding photographers who throw strops, boss people around, take hours to do the formal photographs or don’t even turn up to the wedding! None of the photographers we know would act like that, but there are still plenty of wedding photographers around who give the rest a bad name.
Obviously meeting photographers in person is a great way to get to know them but these days you can also get a sense of a person’s style and personality through their blog. Not all photographers have blogs but, for those that do, it’s a great way to see their recent work as well as getting a sense of who they are as a person. It’s the reason I post about days out with my wife, Evelyne and my son, Elliott, as well as weddings, portraits and my band photography. You could even keep up with what I’m up to on Twitter.
There are plenty of other questions to ask when choosing your wedding photographer but, for us, most clients book us because they appreciate good photography and we get on well when we first meet. They may also love our Queensberry albums or the fact that we stay for the whole day but if they don’t like the images we capture they obviously won’t book us.
Many couples remain friends with Evelyne and I long after the wedding day has passed. Some book us to photograph their newborn babies. Some arrange to meet us when they go to a concert. And it’s great that many will recommend us to friends when they decide to get married.
Whoever you choose for your wedding photography, we hope you have an amazing day that you’ll remember for the rest of your lives…. with a wedding album worthy of the occasion
Arriana & Kiri
Winter time tends to see less portrait shoots due to the cold weather but I recently met up with Funbir and Resh to photograph them with their 2 girls, Arriana & Kiri. The girls were fantastic and instantly relaxed in front of the camera. I think I may be Arriana’s new best friend!
We took some more posed shots but my favourites, as usual, were the ones where the kids forgot they were being photographed and just enjoyed being kids.
After a break for pizza we headed outside into the autumn afternoon and added some variety to the shoot.
We’re hoping to do a lot more family portrait shoots in 2009 as part of a major new project (more details here soon).
For the photographers reading this, I normally shoot most of my outdoor kids portraits with my 70-200 IS lens but the focusing broke on the day of the shoot! It’s fine now thanks to ACS who fixed and returned it in 24 hours, but most of the images above were taken with a simple little 50mm 2.5 lens.
Many thanks to Funbir, Resh and the girls for making me so welcome. I’m off to New York tomorrow for my first US wedding shoot. It’s gonna be cold but I can’t wait!
Emma & Pete
More and more we’re booking weddings further afield than the Midlands, which is great. As much as we love living in Birmingham, it’s always good to have an excuse to escape. This year we’ve had weddings in London, Devon and in December we have a wedding in New York. Emma and Pete got in touch with us after quite a thorough search for a photographer and, as they live a couple of hours away in Newark, it was another excuse to escape and visit an area I’ve not visited much before.
They’re happy to spend time to make sure we get great photos for them and their pre-wed shoot was one of the most fun pre-wed shoots I’ve done. We started off exploring the streets of Newark while trying to dodge the rain…
We were on our way back to their house when I spotted this field with that great sky. Favourite!
Their wedding also took place in Newark and this time the sun was shining. Emma looked amazing. I mean, just look at that dress!! Pete scrubbed up pretty well too 
On to the church…
Then we headed off on our own to get some portraits of the new Mr & Mrs Dowse..
Unfortunately this gorgeous building is also the cheesiest nightclub in Newark according to Pete. What a waste!
Check out the table plan - hand-made by our blushing bride…
And what an amazing venue for the reception…
Later in the day we decided to grab a few more photos of the couple…
Great couple, great venue, great weather…. Thanks for a GREAT day guys. The album will be stunning.
Wendy Dawn Thompson and Paul & Becky’s pre-wed
It’s a long way from shooting rock bands when photographing somebody like Wendy Dawn Thompson. Wendy is a mezzo soprano opera singer from New Zealand and was looking for some new press shots, so we headed out on a sunny Tuesday afternoon and came back with some great, relaxed portraits. We got on really well and I even learned a little more about the world of opera!
Here are a few of my favourites…
This weekend is the wedding of Paul and Becky at The Belfry and I’m really looking forward to covering their day for them. They’re such a cool couple and Becky is sure to make a gorgeous bride. Here are some photos from their pre-wed shoot…
See you tomorrow guys….
Restyle Me
The new issue of Live 24-Seven magazine is out this week, featuring a shoot I did with Rachele who won a full makeover including shopping spree, nails, make-up and hair. She didn’t want anything too over-the-top as she works in A&E at the hospital and wants to be able to get ready quickly in the mornings. She still had quite a transformation though and was so easy to photograph.
Here’s the spread from the magazine. The only image that’s not mine is her “before” shot which she sent in for the competition…
This is my favourite..
This Bank Holiday weekend was great fun despite a severe case of miserable weather. Saturday’s wedding with Matt & Sarah was a really nice easy-going day and they were lucky enough to have the only good weather of the weekend. Highbury Hall in Mosely, Birmingham is a dramatic and grand venue and the couple were up for escaping to get some great images of them on their own. (PHOTOS HERE SOON)
The rest of the weekend was a wash-out due to the weather so we used the time to chill out, catch up on some TV (”Dexter” mainly) and try to teach Elliott how to walk. He’s getting good too! He also tried a little pizza for the first time and seemed to enjoy the experience…
Peter The Apprentice
A few days ago I did a shoot for a great guy called Peter Kent from Atlanta, Georgia who was looking for some portraits with a difference to pitch himself to potential employers. Over a couple of hours I set out to get him a great variety of shots, some quite formal, some more edgy.
Peter almost made it to the US version of The Apprentice. He may not end up working for Donald Trump but I’m sure he’ll do well in his chosen field.
And my favourite from the day..
I wish Peter all the best for his future in business.
I just had to take a photo of this sign which is on one of the most heavily graffitied walls in the city!
Rock & Royalty
Easter weekend is often a time for taking it easy and sitting in front of the TV with the family while deliberating on how best to eat a Cadbury’s Creme Egg. The past few days, for me at least, have been quite the opposite. From photographing Velvet Revolver on Saturday to spending all day Easter Sunday shooting Amy & Imran’s wedding. Then on to a family lifestyle shoot on Monday morning followed by Amy & Nigel coming to view their wedding pictures later that day. And then today I got to meet up with Niki Evans from X-Factor to do some photographs at her home in Tamworth. All in all it’s been another hectic but extremely fun few days, and it looks set to continue…
Photographing a band like Velvet Revolver can be a surreal experience. Standing two or three feet in front of a rock icon like Slash is a real buzz and I feel privileged to have pictures of him in my portfolio. The band played superbly on Saturday too and it was great to hear “Patience” make it into the set. The venue was bustling with rock royalty that night too. From the ex-members of Guns N Roses and Stone Temple Pilots to the support acts which featured Meat Loaf’s daughter, Pearl, Anthrax guitarist, Scott Ian and Robert Plant’s son drumming for the first band of the night. Robert was even there to show some fatherly support. You can see a review of the gig and more photos on the Birmingham Live! site.
Sunday’s wedding was one we’d been looking forward to for a while as it was the wedding of our friends Amy & Imran. The whole day was fantastic and great fun and the couple were easy to work with, helping us to capture some fantastic pictures for them. When we asked to borrow them for a few minutes in the evening they were well up for it and seemed to enjoy being photographed in a slightly more creative way. The video light came out and we went for a bit of drama to contrast with the smiles and laid-back vibe throughout the rest of the day. I’m sure they’ll love the results. It was amazing to have Evelyne working a wedding with me again too. She’d missed the last few to look after Elliott but this week my parents were back from Spain and happy to have him for the day.
I didn’t know what to expect when I met Niki Evans. I’ve never seen X-Factor so I never knew anything about her but we got on great and discovered we had a lot in common. She’d even been a regular at Edwards No.8 where I began my DJ career back in the 90’s. We got some nice relaxed shots of her with her two dogs and it looks like I’ll be doing more shots for her portfolio in the future.
Days off are hard to come by at the moment but we did manage to squeeze in a day to visit the Cotswolds with our good friends Emily & Stef and their little girl Imogen. It was truly fantastic to escape, even if it was only for a short time. While we were there we took some pictures of the three of them. Emily’s a photographer but wanted to be on the other side of the lens for a change. Hopefully she’ll like the pictures. We stopped in the small town of Tetbury for lunch, only to find out that Prince Charles and Camilla were there to open a shop. I had my long lens with me and managed to grab a shot of them. You just never know who you’ll bump into while you’re out with a camera…
I have to admit that keeping this blog up-to-date on a regular basis has been tricky due to lack of time but I’m determined to update it more regularly now. If I don’t, please feel free to contact me by phone, text, email, Facebook, Myspace, Last.fm, Linked In or any of the countless other ways that people stay in touch these days! When’s the last time you wrote a friend a letter?!
Weddings Rock!
Tuesday evenings aren’t meant to be this manic! In the past 6 hours I have met Steve & Debbie at Weston Park (home of the V Festival and the site of their upcoming wedding), photographed a fancy French restaurant for Live 24-Seven magazine, shot 3 bands including the Futureheads at the Barfly and finally DJ’d a set of 90s alternative music. Talk about multi-tasking! Add to that working as roadie for the bands (well I lifted an amp to their car) and I’d say it’s been a pretty full evening. Most of it was fun…
The gig tonight was pretty good actually. Futureheads don’t normally play such intimate venues and, with their new material sounding better than anything they’ve done before, I’m looking forward to the new album. They were supported by a band who make a photographer’s work somewhat more enjoyable thanks to half the band being extremely easy on the eye. Gundogs also have some great songs to back it up and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went to the next level fairly soon. There’s a review of the gig on Birmingham Live! where you can also find some photos of the Envy & Other Sins gig I shot on Friday night.
Saturday was Charlotte & Steve’s wedding at Homme House in Herefordshire and it was a fantastic day and definitely the most rock & roll wedding I’ve covered yet. The groom played a 40 minute set with his band The Batemans which featured songs by Motorhead, Foo Fighters and even System Of A Down. The bride looked stunning in a gorgeous dress and I came home with loads of great pictures for the couple. Charlotte even brought a present for Elliott. She runs a company called Traces Of Rock which sells cool kids’ clothes with a rock edge. Have a look at the website. Here’s Elliott in one of her baby-grows…
After getting back from the wedding at 1am you’d think maybe I’d get a lie in on Sunday morning but oh no! Instead I was over the other side of Birmingham to photograph an event for Aston Martin with probably my favourite cars on the planet. The same model currently driven by a certain Mr James Bond was just one of the cars I got to admire through the lens of my camera. Probably the closest I’ll ever get to one too! The lovely Daniela from Aston Martin looked after us and it wasn’t a bad way to spend a Sunday morning after all.
From there I went to meet Lyndsey and Simon whose wedding we’re covering next month. We did their pre-wed shoot over near Brindley Place in Birmingham which was great fun despite the lack of really great locations. They’re a very laid back, lovely couple and I’m looking forward to the big day in a few weeks time.
When I got home Elliott was wide awake and practicing his newly acquired kissing technique. He’s also started pushing himself up on his arms. I had my camera out anyway so…
It’s always nice when we meet a couple who are looking for a wedding photographer and there’s an instant rapport. It was like that with Alex and Richard on Monday evening and I really hope they book us for their wedding next June. We got on so well I was with them for almost 2 hours chatting about everything from weddings to Peter Kay to Steven Gerrard (the footballer)’s wedding photos. Richard will even be at the Velvet Revolver gig I’m shooting in a couple of weeks.
Evelyne has been busy this week too. She’s been redesigning our company branding, using new colours and trying to improve the look of our stationery. I have to admit she’s done a great job and the new look will help re-launch the business when we finally move into the new studio.
Album of the week for me is the new one from Kathleen Edwards, Asking For Flowers. I’ve been listening to it repeatedly. I’ve yet to see her play live so I’m keeping my ear to the ground for UK dates.
Out In The Cold
I’m writing this blog from a freezing cold Barfly in Birmingham where I’ve been asked to DJ on Tuesday nights. It’s a 90s night and gets full of students every week, most of whom come for the cheesy rubbish in the main room. Supposedly the most intelligent people of their generation who see nothing wrong with dancing to Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls. Luckily in the back room I get to reminisce to when I first started DJing alternative clubs and can play anything from Blur to Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine to PJ Harvey. Only trouble is it’s SO cold in here. I’m not used to having to wrap up in hat and jacket to DJ!
I came here tonight straight from the Korn gig in Wolverhampton. I was there to photograph the gig but a mix-up with the guest list left me without a photo pass and therefore unable to shoot anything. It happens occasionally and it’s very very frustrating. And there’s nothing really I can do about it by the time I’m at the gig. I met up with Helen who was there to review the gig for Birmingham Live! Looks like it’ll be the first gig on the site without any photos to accompany it!
There’s been plenty of gigs in the past couple of weeks. Quite a variety too, from Sam Amidon playing a tiny bar in Coventry to Editors headlining their biggest show ever; Mayhem delivering a dramatic death metal set complete with pigs heads on stage to Megadeth going through the motions before a sea of hardcore fans. And I enjoyed every one. The new issues of Rock Sound and Terrorizer hit the streets with my photos of Prong and Bullet For My Valentine inside. Rock Sound even featured my review of the gig, although they did make a few changes this time. That’s fine though. I don’t pretend to be a reviewer.
At the other end of the photographic spectrum, last Monday I got to spend a few hours in the company of my favourite wedding photographer, Mr Jeff Ascough. Over 3 seminars we got to see a bit more of Jeff’s approach to photography as well as how he uses Photoshop in his workflow and how he deals with celebrity clients. He’s a big Radiohead fan and recently shot guitarist Ed O’Brien’s wedding. As a music photographer, and Radiohead fan, that’s the stuff of dreams. One day perhaps..
Jeff Ascough has just taken his first £15,000 booking for a wedding and we’re also thinking about increasing our prices. Not
that much though! Not yet! 2007 is getting booked up fast and we’ve confirmed a few weddings for 2009 now. When we move into the studio (soon!) we can hopefully justify slightly higher fees as well as having a great space to welcome clients. I’m looking forward to it.
We have just shown Claire & Dave the photos from their wedding and, happily, they were made up with the results. Here are a few from their day…
Our next wedding is Charlotte & Steve’s this weekend and I have a feeling it’ going to be a really fun day.
Saturday morning I was awoken by messages from people saying they’d just seen me on TV. It was the programme following Envy & Other Sins after they won the Mobile Act Unsigned competition. The photo shoot we did featured in the programme with a quick interview with yours truly which wasn’t too embarrassing. They even called me “top music photographer Steve Gerrard”. If only that were true…
I have started getting a few enquiries recently from models looking for new portfolio images. It’s not something I’ve done
much of yet but for those that are happy to go with my way of working it can be great fun and hopefully we come back with a
bunch of pictures which are different from the norm. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with the stunning Anna-Maria. Here’s a few photos from the shoot…
I want to wish all my friends who are headed for SxSW this week a safe and eventful trip. I’m sure they’ll be bringing plenty of
stories back from Texas next week.
Lastly, there are some fantastic new albums around at the moment so I just want to recommend everyone check out the new releases from the Gutter Twins, Kathleen Edwards, Cat Power, Feist, Elbow, The Kills and, for those who like things a little more extreme, The Red Death and The Cavalera Conspiracy.