First time is a charm...

I have a love-hate relationship with titles of blogs. Is it a titles prerogative to be odd and potentially pretentious, luring you in to a blog post, or should it be straight to the point? Who knows! More importantly, who cares!

This weekend was a first for me. I had my very first pre-wedding photoshoot. It was for some good friends of mine (and Beccas (well, actually they were very much Becca's friends first!)) who's wedding I am photographing in July.

Pre wedding shoots are a great idea for photographers. They allow the couple to get used to having a camera around and the personal/professional manner of the photographer. It also allows the photographer to get used to the couple(!) and learn a little about how they tick! It gives also gives the couple (hopefully) a great set of images away from the formalities of the wedding. Many if not most photographers offer this "service" as a complimentary part of the wedding package. If you're getting married soon (which I know some of you are!) and your photographer hasn't offered this, it may be worth asking him or her why!

I had been looking forward to and planning (as much planning as I do (which isn't much!)) this shoot for a while. Often the couple have a favourite place that means something to them or somewhere that's just nice nearby that would make a beautiful backdrop.

For this shoot we had two locations. The first was the couple's local church that had a recently put up/made a delightful wooden gazebo. The second was the magnificent Royal Holloway University. Unfortunately the weather was very much not on our side! It was raining fairly constantly all day so we were unable to use the outside of the elegant late 1800's red brick building. They stayed under the gazebo and I stayed under a tree at the church, then we tried to avoid the outside at the university.

We had really a really lovely day. It certainly made life easier that I knew them before so there was already that personal connection. It was also aided by the fact that Becca was there so she kept the mood light and came up with some wonderful suggestions and even held a flash when I got in a little bit of a sticky situation! We also discussed all the necessary things for the actual wedding day. Becca and I had been to Nandos the night before and written copious thoughts on a napkin so we managed to get through all of that before we all needed to go our own separate ways.

So that's that done and am pleased with the results. I look forward (with nervous trepidation) to doing a shoot with a couple I have never met before. It will obviously have a different dynamic but I think (/hope) I am a person who can get on with strangers!! We shall see. As I have this job interview I haven't been advertising as a wedding photographer to strangers as I'm assuming I won't be able to do weddings on my own if I'm working for a wedding photographer! So I don't have any of these types of shoots with strangers planned.

I apologise for the potentially poor use of apostrophes. It's one of the (many) grammatical issues I have.

Here is a nice little slide show of some of the photos from the shoot.... I hope you like!



I'm also seeing if I can get my website MacMac Photography to turn up on google by adding little links like this!

Outside that metaphorical box.

I write this evening in the middle of my scariest exam week, after a few glasses of wine and an evening to myself. So bare with me (especially the spelling and grammar!

It's been quite some time since I last blogged and I've been meaning to so why not do just before bed time!

Lots has happened recently! And I don't really know where to start!

Firstly exams. I am coming swiftly to the end of my exams. I have had two that have gone remarkably well, and I have two more that I fear won't go quite the same way. The first is the day after tomorrow (Wednesday) and the second is on Friday. 

It's quite bizarre knowing that everything I have worked at for the past four years is coming to an end! I've loved uni. It's been an awesome time and I shall be sad for it to end, but it has to at some stage and post grad work doesn't really interest me at the moment!

In terms of photography I have been given a wonderful opportunity. I had randomly been emailing wedding photographers in the local (Hertfordshire) area to see if any would give me any experience or would like a second shooter. I hadn't had many replies until one guy rang me.

He said that he used to live in Berkhamsted although has moved to Vauxhall (London) since. He said he was looking for a second assistant to help him in his wedding and fashion work.. Amusingly he was just about to send out an advertisement asking for a second assistant but my email got in just before he did, and I assume that he thought that it would save him sifting through lots of cv's and images so he invited me for an interview the day after he rang me! So I scooted up to London and went to the interview which was quite scary! We had a chat about various bits and pieces relating to photography and life. I also discovered that not only had he lived in Berkhamsted for 5 years (where I grew up) but he was born and grew up in Hebden Bridge (West Yorkshire) which happens to be 3 miles from where my parents moved to a year and a half ago (hasn't time flown!). So that was a happy coincidence! 

I then had to do a photoshoot with him as the subject. This was the bit I was most scared about. I had thought out lighting situations and gone through various scenarios in my head about how I would go about it. But all of these flew out when I got down to it. Fortunately he didn't really care about that! He knew I could take a good picture because I sent him a link to my portfolio. He said that you can learn lighting, you can learn camera techniques. What he cared about was personality! What he was looking for was how relaxed and fun I can be. The first half of the shoot was a bit rubbish and I thought it was not going well (and it wasn't!) but after he had given me some tips then the second half went much better!

He didn't offer me a job there and then. He asked for dates that I was free and unfortunately (job wise) I am busy for 4 out of 5 weekends of July I am busy (stag-do, wedding, photographing a wedding, best man at a wedding!) But he has offered me two trial dates. One in June which is a pre-wedding photoshoot with two separate couples, then in August to assist with one of their weddings. Should they go well, I may have a full time job! 

I was a little annoyed because he asked me if I was free the weekend of the wedding I'm best man for. Obviously I am busy, which he thought was a shame because he asked if I could help with a wedding that's taking place on centre court of Wimbledon! Talk about your once in a life time chances! It's the daughter of the chairman of the LTA! 

I've been thinking about ways I can expand my photography and apart from just getting out there and "doing it" one of the things I picked up from this guy was something as simple as cropping "outside of the box!". I almost always crop to 2"x3" just because that is the format of my camera. The standard photo you see when you print photos is usually 6"x4" (so a ratio of 3:2). He was talking about doing something a little crazy. "Unlock" the ratio and just try something different. So that's what I've been doing! 

I did a quick photography "gig" (I'm sure that's not the right term but I seem to be using it a lot recently so I shall continue!) for the Kent Music Matters blog (which should be going up in the next couple of days) of a workshop run by the conductor of the fantastic Ronnie Scotts Jazz Band. I tried to think out of the box, putting my photos into odd proportions rather than the standard 3x2/6x4. Here are a couple of the results:

The photos are a little average if I'm honest. I didn't want to get in their way, and the room was awful! It was in one of the bars. Bright sunshine outside thus blowing out the windows, a mixture of tungsten and fluorescent lights inside! Ah well. Joe McNally always says something along the lines of "As a location photographer you never get an ideal situation!".

But it was a good experience!

The other amusing and so far very fun experience I've had is doing a calendar shoot. The second year drama students here at uni have decided they want to raise money for breast and testicular cancer research by doing a "Calendar Girls" style calendar. It's been such fun so far. The shoots have been divided by two of us photographers. So far I have done two. We had a great guy open up the library 2 1/2 hours early just so we could get in and take (semi) naked photos without lots of people trying to survive! That was a 5am start! And then using the nightclub we have here! The people involved have been such good sports, they haven't complained, and they have all been such fun and the photos (in my flawed, self-indulgent opinion) look great! I can't put up the photos here. But the calendar will be a 2011 calendar so if you want a copy let me know (they should be cheap, between £3-£5) It's for a very good cause! I may well try and flog you some in November/September anyway! 

So that's me! That's where I am, that's what's been going on. 

To sum up. Exciting photography opportunity. Thinking outside the box, and cool calendar. (This is the only bit of this you really need to read! But if you're reading this you've probably read the rest! Sorry about that!

Awesome times. My degree finishes in 4 days. AMAZING!