I’ve done a few photoshoots now in collaboration with my friend Jo who runs The Couture Company here at The Custard Factory.

Jo lets us use her amazing wedding dresses for our workshops.

But when she mentioned she wanted me to photograph her new tattooed wedding dress I knew it’d be something truly unique.

We did a few dresses during this shoot but the tattoo dress got lots of attention, including a feature on the uber-cool Rock n Roll Bride blog.

My good pal Steph modelled for the shoot. I shot her wedding in New York.

I love shoots like this!

Just me, a great couple and a whole day to make photos.

We started at The Custard Factory, then hit the streets of Digbeth, Kenilworth Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon and finally back to Birmingham after dark.

I’m kinda proud of this one…

CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEXT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

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…