This week I welcomed Darren Powell to our studio in Birmingham for our first ever two-day 1-to-1 workshop.

It’s been a full on couple of days and it seems Darren has gone away with a new enthusiasm for photography which is great.

As part of the workshop, this morning we went out to photograph Ellie & Ben who kindly volunteered their time and braved the cold December weather. They rocked it!

Thanks to Darren for trusting me to fill his head with all my ideas. And thanks to Ellie & Ben for making the shoot so easy for us.

Sometimes I don’t need to tell you how amazing a wedding was.

Sometimes I can just let the photos tell the story.

In fact, I guess I should be doing that every time…

Big thanks to Ann-Kathrin for 2nd shooting with me. And huge congrats to Becky & Anthony on a rockin’ wedding!

Yesterday we held one of our wedding photography workshops at our studio. 12 photographers. One super cool couple. Plenty of laughs.

Chara & James agreed to model for us and they did a stella job. The amazing dress was lent to us by the lovely Jo at The Couture Company.

Big thanks to everyone who spent the day with us. And huge thanks to Chara, James & Jo.

Everyone on the workshop had chance to take their own photos but here are some of my favourites from the shoot…

Our next workshop happens 12th October

I recently held one of my 1-to-1 workshops with Helen Batt, a lovely photographer from Kent who drove all the way up to Birmingham for the day to listen to me ramble about all things photography.

After going through lots of info about how I shoot weddings etc we had a quick lunch and then headed out onto the picturesque (!) streets of Digbeth with my friends Lee & Hannah who kindly stood in as our “regular couple” for a shoot.

Helen took lots of photos too but here are a few of my own faves from the shoot.

Last night one of Birmingham’s most popular bands, Ocean Colour Scene, played an intimate gig in the back room of The Rainbow pub, around the corner from our studio. It’s always great to see big bands in small venues and I was surprised to find out I was the only photographer to be issued a pass for the gig.

Here are a few photos from the gig. You can see a full review on the Birmingham Live website.

Emalkay is a DJ and producer who has risen to prominence this year with some huge tunes which have been in heavy rotation on Radio 1 amongst others. His tune “When I Look at You” was The Guardian‘s and Zane Lowe‘s Single Of The Week.

On top of that he’s toured the world DJing. His year ends with a huge event at The Custard Factory in Birmingham, where our studio is located.

Emalkay’s management decided the time was right for some new promo shots and so we met up at our studio before heading to the roof of the Custard Factory and then inside the building before finishing on the streets of Digbeth. Here are my faves from the shoot.

According to Wikipedia, UB40 have sold “over 70 million records”. So when I was asked to take a few photos of them as they rehearsed, I was quite honoured. The fact that their rehearsal studio is a 5 minute walk from my studio meant that it was quite convenient too!

I’m not a huge fan of their music but you have to respect them for being in the business for 30 years. Coincidentally, their first gig was at The Hare & Hounds pub where I’m shooting Catherine Feeny tonight.

I was given about 30 minutes to just shoot as they practiced their set. Here are a few of the images I captured.

Not long afterwards the band played a low-key gig to support a venue in Birmingham called The Rainbow. I went along to take some live shots…

Here’s one engagement session I’ve been excited to blog!

Anna & Simon get married at the end of November. I’ve known them both as friends for years and Anna is actually my second shooter at most of my weddings these days. After joining me on so many great wedding days I know her own wedding is going to be amazing! Both Anna & Simon are super-cool people and we wanted to try a few new ideas for their engagement shoot, which we actually split into 2 sessions – one in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the other at The Custard Factory in Birmingham where our studio is located.

So first…. Stratford.

Then we stopped on the road out of town as the sun was setting..

A few days later we met up at The Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham to create something just a little different. But first, a disclaimer…

These shots were completely inspired by one of my favourite wedding photographers, Jeff Newsom. The technique used to create them is quite tricky and I’m still trying to play with it and perfect it. All these images are pretty much straight out of the camera. No Photoshop trickery is used. See what you think…

Check back in December for photos from the main event…. Can’t wait!!

This coming Saturday I will be heading up to The Ashes in Endon near Stoke-On-Trent for Sarah & Tim’s wedding. I’ve been secretly looking forward to this one more than most. Sometimes I just get a feeling it’s going to be an amazing wedding, especially when the couple is totally on my wavelength like they are.

For their engagement shoot Sarah & Tim decided to meet us at the studio and head out onto the streets of Digbeth and see what we could find. Sounded good to me but I didn’t want to use any of the areas I’ve used before so we wandered slightly further afield and discovered areas of Digbeth I’d never even seen before, all just minutes from my studio. We came back with some of my favourite images yet. Check ‘em out…