Buxton March 2011

Ok, so what AM I on about Buxton? Well I have just returned from a week of full on residential training with a bunch of mega talented photographers, three gorgeous models and four hardy souls called trainers. We also filled a kitchen full of food and consumed about a lake of red wine. We think of it as creative lubricant ;)

So what does happen when you lock the aforementioned in a large country house in the middle of nowhere for a week with creative lubricant on hand?

Well the first thing we did was consume some wine.....did I mention we had wine? But then we did get down to the serious business at hand. Learning! As Mark Pearson commented to clients yesterday, people assume that because we are professional photographers that we know it all.....we don't, and who do we go to when we need an answer? Well this is our chance to leave any baggage at the door on the way in and bare our souls. And there were a few laid bare and hopefully a problem shared became a problem halved (or more since there were so many of us!)

The first morning saw the lovely Julie Oswin lead a group on shooting a bride in the landscape. This was a complete revolution to me as Julie set out to do the exact opposite of everthing I had ever been taught. I'd have been running for the shade while Julie popped Maria, our gorgeous bride for the morning in full sun, backlit! Wow, day one and first lightbulb moment! No longer shall I scurry for shade when there is light like that to be used!

From there we also explored in the studio with the wonderful Richie Crossley who is quite, quite mad as well as having a wealth of photographic talent and experience. It does not get much higher in this industry than Vogue Italy and that is the standard of Richies work. I've never been in safer hands and Richies giggles all week despite having a cold were a real highlight.

We talked long into the nights on everything from album design to sales and pricing and all the other business "stuff" that takes over our lives. If I had to add up the years of experience in the house last week it would be a very scary number indeed!

We shot boudoir with Paul Haley (who organised the whole week and deserves a medal!) We shot off camera flash with our resident DJ and image processing expert Sean McCormack. We were also blessed with great weather (it was still March and could have been freezing) and very hardy and super talented models who braved the elements to shoot editorial and art nude in stunning landscapes for us. Thanks to Steve and Richie for leading those sessions.

Back inside to end the week on a real high for me. I had some time with the gorgeous Lily and wanted something a bit special. I spoke to Richie and got some great advice about having a starting point and letting the creativity run from that starting point. So armed with his laptop and "inspirations" files I went hunting. It took me less than a minute to find my starting point, a Helmut Newton inspired shot and off I went. The style seemed to suit me and Lily got right into it and here is where it took us. (Thanks to Mac for the light holding duties :))

The value of the week spent with my peers simpy cannot be underestimated. I have learned techniques, I have learned business skills but most importantly I know a lot of very kind and wonderful people that I did not know this time last week. And for that I am extremely grateful.

More to come on the value of training and how to value training itself.

New digital package launched

I have launched a new digital only package for those couple who don't require a wedding album. Available to couples getting married at a single venue and it includes 5 hours coverage by me and a folder with several of your favourite images and the high res DVD of the fully photoshopped images from the day.

Why did I launch this product now?

Well quite simply, because I listen!

The last two wedding fayres I have exhibited at, couples told me that they were going to have a friend shoot their wedding images. Sorry guys and gals unless your friend has been around weddings for a long time they are simply not the best placed person to do it. Nor are they likely to be equipped for the job and they won't have access to the professional range of products I do. And they won't have insurance either.

And the other reason is because of people like this :-
http://www.u.tv/News/Couples-left-heartbroken-by-wedding-snapper/1df92be6-d13d-4d64-82e6-a468030a2d78

So I have introduced a £500 digital package to help to take the risk out of these situations. Why trust your wedding photography to anyone other than a fully insured photographer who is qualified, experienced and equipped to do the job?

Click on the title to follow the link :)

Discussion Time

I was exhibiting at a wedding fayre on Sunday and the first couple I talked to came out with the immortal line "We are not looking at photographers, we have a friend doing it"

So let me share my response to them :-

I am not here to convince you of the error of your ways but I will educate you to the risks you are taking. It's then down to you to make your choice but at least you will be making that choice from an informed position.

Your friend might have a big black camera, I have some decent knives and pots and pans......does that make me a chef or does it make me someone who owns knives, pots and pans? Would you ask me to cook your wedding breakfast because I own those?

Does your friend know about weddings? Do they know what comes next and where to be to capture it? Do they know the 6 essential shots to be taken during a ceremony? Or will they just shoot everything in the hope that something might be right?

Do they know how to design an album, whether a shot should be landscape for a double page spread or portrait for a single and do they know how to shoot complimentarty images of similar tones so it will work as a cohesive album? Or will they simply stick a load of pictures together? Do they have access to the albums that pros do?

Lets look at that camera again, what's the max aperture they can shoot at? What is the highest ISO they can shoot at. Do you like blur in your images? What is the slowest shutter speed you really need to keep people sharp again?

And you had best ask your venue about insurance because your friend won't have any and if someone trips over their gear or is injured doing something at their direction.....errm you could be very out of pocket with that one. And at the end of the day, if they ruin the lot, lose the cards, have the camera stolen (It has happened) then you have nothing and no recourse either.

So there you go, risks explained.

Good luck with your choice and I hope you have a great day and you get the memories to go with it and you don't end up falling out with your friend.

I've linked this post to an article written by a venue owner who spells out the difference from their observations. Well worth a read. Just click on this blog title to be taken straight to it or paste from the link below.

http://southalleden.com/farmweddingblog/2011/02/why-you-should-never-skimp-on-wedding-photography/

Slideshow for Aisling and Robin

Why does my wedding photography cost so much?

It is a question I see posted on bridal forums and I have been asked it a few times myself so I thought I should really address it here.

Like any self employed business, photographers have overheads. Take your electrician, builder or plumber as an example. You expect them to have to pay for a van, tools, business cards, phone etc and so do we. We need to pay for a vehicle to come to your wedding so it had better be a reliable one! We need to pay for our cameras and lenses and trust me when I say they are not cheap. My own camera bag contains £10K of cameras, lenses and flashguns.

Why so much kit?
Yes you can easily get by with less than I carry but trust me, I don’t carry around all that kit for my health, it weighs a ton! It’s all there to provide my clients with the first rate service they expect. I don’t have one camera body, I have two. I need two simply because I cannot take the risk that one may just malfunction or pack up altogether at a wedding. If I drop it, it could be the end of the photography. So I don’t take the risk and I have two identical camera bodies. Those need replacing every 2-3 years. The lenses last a lot longer but I also have backup lenses in my big black bag. If one lens develops a fault it will be while I am working so I have a selection of prime lenses I can switch to that covers the zoom lenses. Again, I don’t take the risk of not providing the service. Same with flashguns, two of those are nestling side by side.

The cameras are on a three year replacement and the lenses are costed over five. So over a 5 year period I will write off £10K of equipment. That’s £2K a year I need to budget for their replacement. And that cost is spread over the amount of weddings I expect to shoot. If I shoot 40 a year, then £50 of each wedding needs to go on equipment.

Oh and it is all insured…as am I. The insurance is for equipment, public liability and professional indemnity. That means if I fail to photograph your wedding, you are covered!

The other one that I include is training. Now you might be surprised to find that there is a bit of the budget set aside for training but it is continuous professional development and if I don’t keep my skills up to date then my product and my service suffer so it is an integral part of my business. As is sourcing new products. I try to offer premium quality products at as reasonable a cost as I can so I go hunting on your behalf. Trade shows and album suppliers are on my radar and I keep up to date with their offerings.

Then there is the marketing, wedding fayres, sample albums, website costs, leaflets for the wedding fayres. Again a cost to the business.

I also have to pay my accountant at the end of the year which is actually one I like because over the years I have saved more than I have paid!

And last but certainly not least there is the cost of the album, prints, canvas that you order as part of your package.

And after all that has been paid the Government immediately run off with at least 25% of what is left.

Now let’s have a little look at some of the other things that I do that you might not consider.

One thing I don’t do is turn up on the day of your wedding unprepared. It is absolutely vital that I plan properly for your wedding and I leave nothing to chance. As well as meeting with you at least twice before your big day I also visit the venue(s) If you are getting married in Church or Chapel I also take the time to meet with your Vicar or Priest. It is important for them to know I am going about my work in a professional manner. The ceremony itself is a very important moment and it is always beneficial for the person conducting your ceremony to know that I am professional and discrete. I will also attend your rehearsal so I can walk through it with you.

I also work out the route between venues and the time it takes to make that trip. I work with the wedding planner at your reception venue to make sure we have allowed plenty of time to fit in your photography and make sure you are ready and available to begin your wedding breakfast on time. I will liaise with your DJ/band to make sure your first dance is planned and takes place on time.

After the big day when my feet have recovered, I am hard at work at the computer processing your images. We usually shoot around 800 images on the day and I work through them selecting out the very best ones for you. Those are then corrected for exposure, colour balance and crops before exporting to be processed individually. Yes I really do individually process around 300 images. That takes almost a whole day to complete.

Then you pick out the ones you would like for your album and I get to work on your album design. All the albums have their own software and that takes me around 4-5 hours to go through the design and make sure it works as a coherent album.

So when you add up all the time I spend on your wedding it comes to around 4 days of work.

I hope that you can now appreciate just what does go into planning your wedding photography and producing your album. It IS a fantastic job and when I see the look on couples faces when they see their album it makes every minute worthwhile. I would not swap it for another job and being part of your wedding is honestly an honour and a privilege

Thoughts on album design

One of my winter projects has been working on album design. How on earth can you spend time actually studying album design? I hear you ask. Surely it’s a case of shooting a load of images and then just sticking them in a book?

Errm no, that’s not really how it works so let me go into a little more detail about how I think about albums. It is fundamental to understand certain principles like how our eyes actually move over pages. Top left to bottom right is normal for us here in the Western World so I won’t use a design that goes bottom left to top right. It is counter intuitive and therefore won’t sit right. So with the mechanics sorted ( there is a bit more to it than that but you get the idea) let’s get onto the shooting.

Firstly I want to know if the album is portrait, landscape or square because that will influence which way round I hold the camera for certain shots. I know, for example that the ring exchanges are going to be shot from the back of the venue so ¾ length and portrait will be best for a portrait album. If, however I want to use a ring exchange shot in a landscape or square album for a background on a double page spread, it’s best shot in landscape……see where I am going with this?

I actually have a very good idea what the final album will look like before I have even picked up the camera. This is what we call shooting for the album.

Same goes for bridal prep shots. Our bride has something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue? Great! That’s a page in the album. Four shots?…..nope make that eight. Shooting both ways round allows me to place those images anywhere I want for a 2 landscape/2 portrait page. I will also shoot all four with a very similar background so there are no overall distractions to the subjects.

On the subject of backgrounds it is also important when shooting images of our lovely couples to keep the images we want to use on facing pages of the same overall tone. There is no point in putting a deep red toned image next to one that is green. They just won’t work. There are complimentary colours and there are clashing colours and we need to be aware of these and shoot enough of the same or complimentary tones to make the album work.

Black and white images can work very well in an album but are usually best suited to reportage or candid shots. A page or two of smaller black and whites can work really well in storytelling the events of the day but should not really be mixed with colour images. So we need to make sure we shoot enough quality candid images both of our couple and their families to complete those pages.

So this is where the plan of the day meets the vision of the finished product. We shoot our bridal prep images to fit the pages as described above, we shoot our ceremony shots to fit the album the best way depending on what shape it is. Our couple are shot in locations we know will work with the design and our candid shots are produced with those black and white images in mind.

Add the plans of the timings, who we are shooting where and when and with what equipment and hopefully you can appreciate just some of the planning that goes into making that wedding album that you will love for years to come.

New year and new horizons

I am utterly delighted to announce that I will be joining Mark Pearson and Paul Brown as a lead photographer at Mark's photography business Mark Pearson Photography based in Leeds.

http://www.markpearsonphotography.co.uk/blog/archives/2290

The role of a lead photographer means that I take on the responsibility for the couple on the day and make sure that we look after our clients exactly the way that Mark has been doing for 20 years now. Mark has a fantastic reputation for customer service for a very good reason and venues that have been asking for his assistance for years can now be assured of that service from not one, but a team of photographers working to the same high standards.

So where does that leave Alison Bailey Photography? Quite simply, business as usual but......here's the great thing.....I can also call upon all these extra resources :)
So I already have weddings in 2011 and 2012 where I know who I will be working with, I have the resources to call upon to ensure that my clients also benefit from this great service.

So 2011 and beyond offer new horizons for all of us and some great deals for our clients with all this extra expertise as we bring our skills together.

Bring it on

Winter weddings, planning for the worst!

This weekend saw myself and my glamorous assistant (my wonderful second shooter Ian) photographing the wedding of Aisling and Robin. This wedding, like most others, has been some time in the planning and when planning in the winter months it does become a whole load more tricky and absolutely vital to get it right!


In the initial plans I could see that we were going to be VERY tight on time. The ceremony scheduled for 1.30 was unlikely to be finished for 2.30. We also had five locations to deal with. Bridal prep at the couples house, groom prep at an hotel, the boys were then making a pit stop at a pub prior to arriving at the church and then onto the reception. Now that is not too demanding on a nice warm summers day. On a winter day with four inches of snow and sub zero temperatures it becomes a different ball game!

I was glad to be allowed to attend the rehersal on the Tuesday night and to meet Father Stephen who conducted the ceremony. An exceptional man and we hatched a plan between us that would keep the congregation indoors if we needed to. If we were at all late or the weather bad then that is what we would have to do. There was no way I could rely on getting to the reception venue in time to shoot anything in daylight! It is eight miles from the church. There was also the not inconsiderable fact that my scheduled second shooter was stuck in Barnsley with both roads over the hills closed due to snow and ice. Ian was an absolute star and stepped in to help for which I will be eternally grateful!

So Saturday dawned cold, crisp and clear with a decent snow fall. Thankfully Ian and I both had access to 4x4's so, having liberated those from our respective families, off we went. Ian did a great job with Robin and his family, even managing a snowball fight with his brother Simon. I was a little more conservative with the girls not wanting to trash the dress just yet! The road was like an ice rink and I could not even get the Land Rover to reverse into the drive!

We got to the church just about on time and I arranged with Father Stephen that we would indeed take up his kind offer to shoot the larger group shots in the church. I had already prepared an A5 notice which was put in all the pews to let the congregation know that we would be going this so they could be ready. Father Stephen also kindly announced at the recessional for the congregation to wait behind for a moment. We shot the 6 large group shots inside the church and headed out.


When we got out of church it was minus 4 deg and the light was going fast! So off to the reception we went.












Arriving at the reception the light was plummeting over the horizon at an alarming rate so poor Aisling and Robin dashed off out into the snow.

Time for the Wedding Breakfast so back indoors for some very,very welcome hot food! Downloaded everything we had shot thus far, backed it all up, changed cards, checked batteries and set up some lighting to shoot the rest of the smaller family groups.

Speeches made, it was time for the families to adjourn to the other barn where we had already set up the lighting and we shot the family groups there. Back outside for the last few Bride and Groom shots in the dark before cake cutting and first dance.

It was now minus 10 deg and WAY too dangerous to have anyone outside, not that it was ever very comfortable at minus 4! It was time to leave these two lovely families to celebrate into the night. 12 hours of work completed :)

Thanks to Ian for the valuable assistance and...

Aisling and Robin, thank you :) xxx

Hmmmmmmm new album :)

and it's rather scrummy. Just managed to get home today in time to get some pics done in daylight.

It's a fairly weighty tome and the quality is just great. So good I phoned the supplier this morning just to say thank you!

I am really looking forward to working with Jorgensen. :)

Christmas has come early!

Thanks to the UK supplier of Jorgensen albums. My lovely new Jorgensen sample album has arrived. I'm really impressed because it has been delivered bang on time and at their busiest time of the year. Not only that but it looks and feels terrific and I'm really happy with the assembly too. Great quality album and one that I will look forward to showing clients next year.

Now to get it photographed so I can get some lovely pics on the website and on here.

Can't wait.......but it will have to wait till I call the supplier in the morning to say thank you. I'm looking forward to being able to offer that quality service to my couples. :)

Watch this space

I have been busy this last few weeks. Busy sorting out hardware in terms of setting my office up with dual monitors so I can process better and faster. Been doing some training with the wonderful Dave and Emma Nunn on post processing and album design so working my way through several thousand files in the last week sorting out the archive and a few albums still to finish. The graphics tablet is next!

I also have some new albums due to make an appearance. It's something I have been working away at quietly in the background for the last couple of months but they new lineup and pricing will be ready for the new Year and I have new sample albums to design and order in time for the new year.

So watch this space, lots of changes and all of them good! :)

Alison

Just finished processing the images for Bramall Hall for their wedding brochure. I love doing this kind of photography too. OK so it's not a real "live" wedding and there is less pressure in one sense but then there is a slightly different pressure to get the images that the venue managers want to portray the venue the way they would like it to look. Of course it also leaves a little room to play around and get some images for our lovely model Branka and some for myself and my fellow partner in crime David Goodier. It's not every day you get a "closed doors" venue and a talented model to play with. Hair and makeup provided by the amazingly talented Danielle. Her details are on my website for anyone who is in need of a real professional! Enjoy, we did :)

Wedding Slideshow fun

Have been playing with making a slideshow for Clare and Paul so let's see if it works here!

Wonderful Welsh Wedding

I had the pleasure of shooting the wedding of Clare and Paul at Gresford Parish Church and Ruthin Castle in wonderful Wales this weekend.

Friday saw a dry run from Gresford to Ruthin, a recce of the castle only revealed that the only problem was that we could spend all day shooting there and not run out of ideas! The rehersal at the Church was great and the Vicar positively lovely. Saturday saw a gorgeous September day, clear and cold. Our bridesmaids all in the most gorgeous yellow. A huge thanks to both families and to Paul Brown for coming all that way to work with me. Providing customer service is often as important as good images and Paul helps enormously in both, even if he does sing down the headset of my radio!

Refreshed and ready

Been off to Skye for a few days to recharge the batteries and sit on a hillside breathing fresh air. Fabulous little road trip in the camper and saw a part of Scotland I'd not been to before.




Shot the wedding of Martina and Stephen at Leeds Cathedral before I went and it truly was an amazing day. Two wonderful irish families getting together to celebrate was always going to be a good day and we had a ball. Much hugging and happy families is just how I like to leave at the end of the day. :)

Busy bee

Like a lot of my colleagues it's a busy time of year. Two consultations with brides in the next few evenings, one wedding on Thursday and another long one on Saturday that I'm really looking forward to because they are a lovely couple and I want to squeeze every ounce of style out of the venues.

Also just been asked to shoot the new brochure images for Bramall Hall and I've already agreed that my images can go into the Stockport Town Hall one too.

Hoping to go and see Trevor and Faye Yerbury again in November when it's a little quiter and booked a great model for quite and edgy outdoor shoot.

Off to Scotland next week to go and play with landscapes and plan to catch up with John Baikie of Captiv8 Photography to do some shooting up on the North Coast. Now can I have some good weather please? :)

How annoyed am I right now

I went to see a venue today. One that I have shot at a few times and I have further bookings for. The management are the most awkward characters to deal with and today I had to put my foot down. Not content with asking me to pay for advertising and not content with me supplying them with 2 albums (one of which they lost) they had the utter nerve to ask me for a kickback on any weddings I book through them.

Their grand plan is that I increase my prices for their venue by 20% so I can pass that 20% back to them as a kickback. So not only do the couple have to spend £10K on their wedding venue, the venue want the photographer to get even more money out of them.

So no. I won't be subscribing to that thank you very much. I pride myself in supplying top quality products to my couples and that certainly does not involve stitching them for more cash on behalf of the venue!

I'll be cancelling my advertising with them, demanding my album back and sending them the invoice for the one they "lost" If their wedding planners are only going to recommend certain photographers via a kickback then there is no point in me advertising and certainly not a venue I wish to be associated with. The link to their website will be removed in the next few days. I cannot and will not condone that kind of behaviour and I have no wish to be associated with them. I feel sick!

It's city time

Finalised the details with Martina and Stephen for their Leeds city centre wedding in three weeks. Martina and Stephen are a fab young couple from Ireland who's families enjoy a laugh so that should be fun :) Leeds Cathedral and Malmaison are our venues for the day with a 10 min walk in between the two. We are indeed blessed with this one because there is no shortage of locations. The church is stunning the city centre is amazing with everything from BIG columns to black marble facades. Traditional meets cool and funky. Talking of funky Malmaison is unbelievable. The designer has created a photographer's dream with accent lighting everywhere and cool things like mirrored lifts!

Can't wait!

You can paint a rainbow!

Jo and Darren had the most awful luck because it started raining right at the end of their ceremony but thanks to my car breaking down and having to wait for the RAC I spotted this one brewing and they were kind enough to dash outside once more before the heavens opened again.

I hope there is a pot at the end of their rainbow :)

Some from yesterday's wet wedding. We were lucky to get some breaks in the clouds and I'm off to process some rather tasty rainbow images. :)