South Manchester AOS present RENT- Dress Rehearsal

RENT is going really well and show week generally is taking over my life as always!

Here are some of my favourites from the dress rehearsal. As I write this I am also burning discs for the cast, I took 900 pictures during the dress and 523 have made the final disc!




















I was also responsible for creating the films required for the show (my 1st degree was in film making) which you can see in the background of some of the images. The show is about a film maker so they show his world. Here is the longest film, used to round of the show.



After the show tonight it is my leaving do. Next week I go to Croatia to train to become a cruise ship photographer. I don't yet know what this will mean for my blog but I really want to keep it going as a record of my adventure so watch this space...

Becca and Ed, Losehill House Hotel, PREVIEW POST

Today Becca and Ed got married at Losehill House Hotel near Hope in the Peak District. Unfortunately it rained most of the day but it was still a lovely because of the really warm and welcoming people. Here's my preview posting.











Thanks for a fab day guys, have an amazing honeymoon!

I'm off to bed now, shattered!

South Manchester AOS present RENT- Cast Headshots

Good afternoon! This is my Friday post on a Thursday because I'm photographing my last wedding of year tomorrow (let's make it a good one, come on weather!)

It's that time of year again, show time, and next week SMAOS are performing RENT at the Royal Northern College of Music. I'm not in the show this time but I have been creating various AV projects and will be photographing the dress for a change, my D700 has been ready and waiting for this challenge!

RENT is a gritty, modern musical set in 90s New York and it follows a group of friends dealing with life under the shadow of AIDS. Many famous people have taken part in productions of RENT globally including Idina Menzel, Denise Van Outen, Nicole Scherzinger, Taye Diggs and Vanessa Hudgens. To find out more visit the Wiki page.

SMAOS's production is on at the RNCM next week but there are only a few tickets left for the Tuesday and Saturday Matinee performances. To get your tickets call Gwen now on 0161 445 3599.

So to the photographs. And my first show posting as always is the headshots of our beautiful cast and production team.

















Show photos/videos and an Edale wedding to follow next week. Have an amazing weekend.

Sale Sharks/Charlie's Angels Charity Event Photography

On Thursday I was asked by my lovely friend Jonathan if I could take photographs at an event his work was hosting on Saturday because the photographer they did have couldn't do it at the last minute.

The background to the event is a bit long winded so bare with me! UK Fast is the company Jonathan works for, they sponsor the Sale Sharks and it is Charlie Hodgson's testimonial (10th) year with the Sale Sharks. Fans of Charlie are called Charlies Angels and this was a Charlies Angels event, raising money for the Pink Ribbon Foundation.

The event took place at Harvey Nichols in Manchester and included a catwalk show, auction and the opportunity to have your photograph taken with the Sale Sharks (this is where I come in!).



This is a photo of Rachael and Harriet the main organisers (turns out Jonathan works with some pretty stunning people! UK Fast is an internet hosting company FYI). They are standing against my photo wall for the evening. Obviously this is now second nature to me after Pride (!) however shiny black and flash light is not a great combination for anyone designing these in the future!

I had two cameras on the go, one set up to take 'ready to print jepgs' and my D700 to do the atmosphere. All the photos taken by the wall were printed and sold on the night. And no laptop tweaking so the pressure was on! I definitely need to get better at producing perfectly composed images right out of the camera.

Here's some of the Sharks by the photo wall.



I'd never photographed a catwalk show before so that was a bit of a learning curve (particularly with focusing). However a 'not in a shop' catwalk I guess would have more flattering lighting! Here's my favorites.







Following the catwalk and photo wall I was there to capture the atmosphere of the event. The little silver boxes contained chocolates and for one lucky winner a diamond necklace!



This is the lady who won the necklace.



And it was Jonathan who rounded off the evening with a quick interview with Charlie.



Thanks for thinking of me! I hope loads of money was raised for Pink Ribbon.

Photo Friday- Jenny and Mike's Album Design

It's nearly not Friday anymore and I'm having one heck of an emotional week, but I'm not letting this blog slip, so this week's post is Jenny and Mike's album design as they will have received it this week. I hope you like it.

































I've been asked to photograph an event with the Sale Sharks at Harvey Nicholls in Manchester at the last minute tomorrow so hopefully I'll be posting about that before the weekend is over.

Professional darts photography (random requests!)- Anthony Urmston-Toft

Today I did one of the strangest photography requests I think I've ever done!

Anthony Urmston-Toft is an up and coming darts player who also happens to work at the office of my part time office job. Obviously with our similar, 'this is isn't what I really want to be doing' backgrounds he discovered I'm a photographer, which is exactly what he needed!

Anthony is getting some darts made as his 'brand' and needs imagery for the box and also for the accompanying website with how to throw and about different types of darts stuff on it. (I learned a little about darts today but I still don't really know!)

He gave me an early example of his darts, so to a darts novice like myself the finished darts will look pretty much like this:



I think this is pretty cool, I'd love someone to launch a type of camera with my signature on it!

So the shoot was full of random shot requests. I said to Anthony just describe what you want and I'll do what I can. We did loads of shots like the following. They apparently show the effect of different types of 'flights' and how they look when they land in the board. Is it ok that I just think it looks pretty? ;)



This next shot is destined for the front of the box of darts, oh and this is Anthony if you hadn't guessed!



Then we had some fun with darts mid flight! They don't come out as you expect though because the hand continues moving with the thrown dart...





Apparently the pointing is good technique. I learned a lot from my lighting kit failing me at this point! When I'm a rich, successful photographer I need some powerful static lighting!!




This last image is the 'back of pack' shot I believe.



Interesting shoot right!?

Thanks for asking me Anthony and thank you to Chris for agreeing to help at the last minute, you are the lighting kit master!