Great time at Bar Destination, Liverpool

Had a great time at Bar Destination, Liverpool last Weds 20th. Adam Johns a fellow photographer set  up the shoot and asked me to attend with my studio flash units so he could get an idea of how to use them. Adam had arranged with four models, Samantha,Rebecca, Markus and Jon to do the shoot in the bar starting at 12ish.

So once I had found the place both me and Adam set about putting together the three 300w flash heads and fitting a softbox to each one, the main light we used a large octobox, which I love, it gives a nice even wrap around light and tend to use it on most shoots now.

Once we had the lighting set up for our first location in the bar we set about taking turns shooting, I love seeing how other photographers work and Adam certainly is a great guy to work with, I do hope we do many more shoots together.

Rebecca, Samantha and Jon are also dancers at the Bar so we also took a few images of them with there "Pout" dance gear on. Well worth a visit to see them dance I would say judging by the outfits ;-).

All in all a great shoot with great people ..... big tanks to Adam, Rebecca, Samantha, Markus and Jon ....We made a great team !!.

Facebook ..... images removed, anyone else had this problem ?

I have over the past few days had a few of my imges removed from facebook and can't think why ?? .... so far I have had four warnings to my email address and also on my wall telling me that an image has been removed. I know two of the images that have been removed (see below) but don't know which others have ??

I can only assume that these images were reported by someone as I can't honestly see that FB would have the time to check every image uploaded on the site, must run into millions a day !!.

Has anyone else had this happen to them ? would be interested to find out.

Here's two of the images I know have been removed.

Microstock Photography ....... Good or Bad ?

Well as some of you know I do a lot of whats known as Microstock. Before I get into the pros and cons of Microstock here's the meaning of Microstock in a nutshell from Wikipedia :-


Microstock photography, also known as micropayment photography, is an offshoot of traditional stock photography. What defines a company as a microstock photography company is that they (1) source their images almost exclusively via the Internet, (2) do so from a wider range of photographers than the traditional stock agencies (including a willingness to accept images from "amateurs" and hobbyists), and (3) sell their images at a very low rate (anywhere from $.20 - $10) for a royalty-free image.
A number of microstock sites also sell vector art, and some sell Flash animations and video as well as images.



So yeah I sell my images real cheap (well some anyway) but for those of you who don't know these images can sell 1000s of times. I also sell my images with five agencies Fotolia, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, Bigstock and a small amount with Depositphotos. My images have been used world wide both in print and on the internet. Quality and quantity are the two things you need in your images to make any real money in microstock, its not a get rich quick kind of deal (but what is??)

Each microstock company uses a different pricing and payment scheme. In some instances the same photo can have several prices. Photographers can upload the same pictures on multiple sites or, with some agencies, become an exclusive supplier and receive an increased commission and additional benefits.

So whats the big deal ?, well Microstock is in some ways a new kid on the block, and a lot of "professional" photographers believe microstock devalues the practice of photography, because of the low prices images are sold at. Myself I love microstock because it gives the hobbyists photographer a chance to make a little pocket money out of the hobby they love.

I do think Microstock is here to stay and will grow and grow and I for one am glad I started near the begining of its growth rather than at its peek :-).

Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments.

http://en.fotolia.com/partner/97054

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=odSXxCRWaK

http://www.dreamstime.com/resp1947310-high-resolution-image

http://submit.depositphotos.com?ref=1005710

http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=536320

Happy shooting :-)

St Mary's church Centenary

St Mary's church Centenary Year

All this year I am covering events for St Mary's church Centenary year. Last week I was left alone in the church all morning to take images for a book which will be published early next year. Ive been in this church hundreds of times, in fact it was in this very church that my wedding took place to Patsy (one of the happiest days of my life) and where Patsy's funeral took place almost a year ago now (one of the saddest days of my life).
Its an amazing building and you only come to notice this when you have the time to have a good look round as I did last week. So armed with my trusty Manfrotto I set about taking images of the church. Exp times where long between 10 and 50 secs but I was very pleased with the resulting images its just a shame I can't post them all here.
Next month they will be having a centenary church service at which the Bishop of Liverpool will be and also our local MP and which I will be covering, so think I will have to dig out the old suit and tie for that job :-)

Happy shooting everyone :-)

The new St Mary's web site

Roller skates + Beautiful girls = Great shoot 14-10-2010

Had a great shoot yesterday with Danielle and Adele, the day started with me picking the girls up from Danielles home and driving to Otterspool, near Liverpool. I have worked with both Danielle and Adele before but this was the first time together (they are best friends as well).
Weather wasn't that good just a tad too dull but hey who was I to complain :-). The girls were ready in the first outfits when we arrived so we wandered down to the park there and started shooting. All the time Danielle, as she does, keeping her eye out for great locations (which she always seems to find).
We then found a nice building in the park which used to be the Cafe, the workmen working there downed tools for a quick break (and a good show!!) as we shot around the building :-).
Once finished there we walked back to the car and Danielle spotted a nice tree for us to do a few shots near (if i could, I would employ Danielle as my artistic director but as I said to her the wages would be crap, in fact none existent) so once the girls had changed it was off to the tree. Both girls looked stunning in the dress's they had brought along....... and draped on the tree ...... well amazing !!
Also found some nice rocks to pose on (which I spotted Danielle !!).
We then went back to the car for another change and to get the Roller boots on The site of two beautiful women getting changed and dodgy old git with a camera made one driver drive past at least three times just in case he missed anything, but it paid off for him as he caught Danielle sat on the ground in her shorts and bra, didn't see his face but it must have been a picture :-).
We had decided to take some shots of Adele with her roller boots on down on the prom at Otterspool. Now the thing is Adele had put her boots on at the car park and it was a rather steep slope down to the prom from there. So it was down to me and Danielle to get each side of Adele holding on for dear life as we tried to get down the slope !!!! think the fishermen at the bottom of the slope thought the circus had come to town :-).
Anyway we got down without  leaving go and letting Adele roll off into the Mersey, and ended up getting some fantastic shots.
Oh and some jogger running by was panting something about wanting to buy the calender for £300, so we made him a deal £200 each........ seems fair to me :-)
Till next time happy shooting everyone :-)

Well I have done it and created a blog. Haven't got a clue what Im doing yet but keep watching (and waiting!!) and I will get the hang of it :-)