TPS Photos

London Pride 2011

2011-07-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's a sign of increasing old age that each year seems to get quicker than the last one. I was amazed that suddenly here we were again shooting another London Pride. Brilliant sunshine prevailed and apart from the rantings of the Christian Right, a few cuts and bruises treated by the LAS and the repeated failure to make the event fully accessible for disabled people everything went swimmingly. Pride is free to attend every year because of the generosity of those who donate to it. The above link also has a section where you can make a donation to keep pride FREE.

Pictured here with the lovely Miranda (AKA Claire Anderson) is Joel Ryder, the man voted as the best Pride pouter three years running. He is a very generous and lovely man and I would like to thank him for the opportunity of working alongside him and the posse (sorry for the dated Steve Wright terminology I don't get out much) with my trusted camera in hand. Hugh Hill also joined me in the VIP area again with his press pass.

Prior to today's event I had no idea how LGBT-friendly Simon Cowell was. No less than 4 groups or artistes from the X-Factor/Britain's got talent stable took to the stage. Stavros Flatley above (AKA Demetrious & Michalakis) later posed with the most reliable political Pride regular, the Deputy Mayor of London, Richard Barnes.

Stephen K Amos (AKA that bloke from "Have I Got News For You" as I overheard one of the front row describe him) did a short stand up routine and warm up for the act that followed.

The first London Pride took place in 1972, two years after the formation of the UK's wing of the Gay Liberation Front. One of the key advocates then and now is the human rights activist Peter Tatchell According to the history books only 700 people turned up at that inaugural march, so I guess the years that have followed haven't been in vain. There's still largely a lip service from most of the politicians though. "Might lose us a few votes being too LGBT friendly" seems to prevail rather than "I don't want their votes" (ie the votes of the bigots or for that matter any bloody votes) proving once again that very few things that are political are ever correct.

No Pride would be complete without Peter or Stonewall this year's chosen charity for the TPS image sales. A full set of saleable images can be viewed here TPS Pride 2011. Don't forget every penny goes to Stonewall.

Another name from the X-Factor posse was Lloyd Daniels above.

It was lovely to see Bucks Fizz up on the stage too. For an old fart like me, they were one of the few acts I recognised. The women (Cheryl Baker & Jay Aston) looked amazing considering their Eurovision hit was 30 years ago. Sadly the blokes didn't fare so well. Only a 50% show from the men (Mike Nolan). The band has had quite a few line ups over the years though. There's a couple of cracking shots of Cheryl and Jay on our web site.

I can't remember when Eurovision was first recognised as having a huge Gay following, but I'm sure the pink pound in the UK has kept Terry Wogan's annual pilgrimage propped up (yes I know he's now retired now). I'm sure I can't be the first person to have seen the irony/hypocrisy of the bloke. When he had his own BBC TV show, he used the term "pouffs" to describe his guests who evangelically proclaimed they loved women! In the same season he had a big gushing obsequious interview with his hero Rock Hudson. He'd apparently left his Gaydar key in the locker room.

Once again the armed services were out in force (pun entirely intended). Here the Royal Navy delegation was led by Lieutenant Commander Mandy McBain, the Assistant Royal Naval Equality and Diversity Policy Officer. Now that's a really brave woman! Going to sea and getting torpedoed or a missile fired at them is one thing that the public know our senior servicemen and women risk facing, yet there are still mile long queues to do that job. One of Mandy's previous RN roles was as the spokesperson for the armed forces in Bosnia, so it's not exactly been pen pushing. Actually I object to the term "pen pusher" as a title of castigation - we should celebrate poets, authors, lyricists - all of whom are "pen pushing" writers - I digress sorry.

There's a camaraderie and uniting force that's difficult to explain to people who have never gone into war zones and felt the need to be backed up by the rest of the team and maybe that's part of the attraction of service life. The grub was never that good and few people in HM Forces would ever get shot at for the money.

I'm certain that the list of volunteers for Mandy's post was significantly less voluminous than those who merely wanted to see the world and wear a uniform that got them laid - Maybe things have changed, but that's what many of my peers joined up to do! Challenging the status quo of overt and largely unchallenged sexism and other hate crimes however (like the aforementioned Peter Tatchell) comes with it a sense of when you look over your shoulder for the backup, there's something of a void. I didn't have time to debate these issues with her, so Mandy is free to post comment and tell me I'll talking out of my port hole, but I'd lay a month's salary that I'm right on this occasion having spoken to some of her peers almost 30 years after I left the service myself.

It's not exclusive to the services of course. Challenging the school bully or bigot down the pub comes with it a special sort of bravery that most people just don't have. Part of it is a British thing I suspect - we like to tut and disapprove, but we're buggered if we're going to speak out. Of course there are those who thankfully do speak out, do the right thing and make a difference.

These are the people I most admire and who generally those who get the least recognition for what they do - because on the job description of the person who constantly has to shout "Booh" at the public meetings comes with it the legacy of "you're largely on your own mate". Another reason why Pride is so empowering and important. It was lovely to meet Mandy albeit briefly. It brought home a timely reminder that despite the obvious progress there's still lots of work to be done.

Until such time as we can eradicate hatred and ignorance and embrace the absolute need to share the love with like minded lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight people, the future of Pride is assured. I had a lovely day. I hope you did too.

PS The "Christian Right" are neither.

Kerry and Tam

2011-06-26T14:33:00.001-07:00

This is Kerry Baigent (the one on the right in case you were guessing) with her dad Dave on the way to Taunton Register Office on Saturday 25th June 2011.

Waiting patiently for her arrival is the groom (left) Thomas McFarlane or Tam to most of his mates and best man George. This was our closest wedding to midsummers night this year, but the weather in the lead up to their big day was more than a bit disappointing. On the day of the solstice I wore a jumper at home I was so cold, but after an overcast start, the weather just kept getting better and better on Saturday.

Taunton has an excellent Park & Ride service, which is just as well because there's absolutely nowhere guaranteed for wedding photographers to park. The bus driver couldn't have been more helpful and she gave me directions to where I needed to be and the best place to wait for my return journey. Not only is parking quite restricted in Taunton, but space for a decent sized group shot at the register office is also somewhat limited as you can see from the above shot.

Thank goodness for the full frame of the Mk ii 1DS and 15-50mm zoom. This could be my last wedding using this though as I'm intending to upgrade to the Mark iii at the start of next month. Despite the obvious benefits of using decent kit (I'm not particularly evangelical about brands by the way - Nikon's array of cameras and lenses are spectacularly good as well) it's not the camera that determines the results of a shoot, but the person using them. Two photographers I have admired for years Jon Jenkins and Richard P Walton have never been particularly fussed about purchasing what some see as the next "must have" kit yet they have achieved Associate level of their craft by examinations and submissions and always leave my work looking somewhat flat in comparison. All the best photographers I know are overly self critical however, so I'm hoping I fall into that category too.

As always there's a much larger set of these images on the TPS Website. The best way to view these images is by clicking on the slideshow option. If you don't want the music that goes with it you can turn it off with a single click.

Laura & Mark's wedding 30th April 2011

2011-05-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Pictured above with her father Gerry, here is the lovely Laura. Sadly at some of the weddings we have attended, the bride's dad didn't make it. My mum was given away by her Uncle because of her own father's severe Parkinson's disease and his fear that he wouldn't be able to walk her down the aisle. My own dad was absent from both of my own weddings having passed just five weeks before I married Chris in 1987. In the space of about 5 years I'd lost my grandfather, my dad and my first wife, so eulogies and other speeches are usually quite poignant for me. With just 5 wedding shoots to go to our 400th I have heard a significant number of speeches from a variety of bride's fathers, but Gerry's has to rate amongst the top ten of all time orations. Not only did he deliver it without a script, but it was from the heart.

This bunch above were partly responsible for our attendance at the wedding as I've been photographing four of them since the mid 1980's. Danny & Keri (far left) were married in August last year (see previous blog post).

I've been planning to do this shot (above) for ages, but was waiting to replace my monopod before I did it with real people. the one I'd ordered hadn't arrived by 30th (so many bank holidays had delayed all of our deliveries) so I used what I had to hand. The idea was to use a wide enough lens to capture everyone at the round table and get everyone's face in view.

Table shots rarely end up getting purchased for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is common to share a table with people you've never met before and as nice as they might be, you don't actually want a framed shot of them on your mantelpiece. The second reason that table shots are unpopular choices is that if those closest to you turn around to face the camera, they are huge compared to those who remain at the other side of the table so it's not a particularly aesthetic shot.

When I work with Marta Demartini from HM Digiart Weddings she has a great way of getting everyone round one side of the table and her resultant shots look like everyone actually likes one another. This can work really well when you have a rapport with everyone on the table, but can be problematic when the venue is really cramped or where guests have impaired mobility and getting round the table becomes a painful task - resulting in painful expressions on their faces.

In all the years we've been shooting, table photos are routinely requested but rarely used in the album or purchased separately.

So - holding up my ageing Manfrotto tripod which weighs a tonne, with the 1DS (full frame) digital SLR and a 15-30mm Sigma lens attached on manual focus using a cable release, I attempted to get a shot where everyone at the round tables was equidistant from the lens. I think the greatest success of the day was in not inducing a hernia as I lifted the 14kg rig at arms length above the heads of the guests. Problem 1 was that I needed Nedine to fire the trigger as my hands were somewhat full. Problem 2 was that even at 15mm setting on the lens, the table was too wide to get everyone in. Problem 3 was that I needed Nedine to tell me to go forwards, backwards right and left as it wasn't easy to place the lens correctly given my posture. Problem 4 my antics were far too entertaining for the guests so instead of looking up at the lens as directed, they'd be laughing about the bloke having a seizure balancing the heavy kit above the table or chatting about the bride's father's speech.

Back to the drawing board methinks, but I haven't given up yet. Any tips would be gratefully received, but as I don't see anyone else doing these "aerial" shots I think it could be a non starter. The shot above was the best of ten attempts at this wedding.

So here they are newly married and coming back down the aisle. Mark and Laura spent most of the day smiling and laughing without a single prompt.

My second shooter was Nedine O'Brien from Fera Photography above. Nedine covered Danny and Keri's wedding with me last August and as Keri is Laura's cousin, we already knew many of the guests. Not only was it great for us to have familiar faces to shoot, it also reduced some of the potential for distress by people who might worry that we'll post images they don't like of them on the internet or mess up their big day. TPS Photos has a motto of "Nothing without consent" that generally diminishes any of the concerns that clients may have in this area, but word of mouth recommendation also tends to put minds at rest.

Keri with her brother Liam (left) at the Church of the Most Sacred Heart in Ruislip.

This is one of my favourite shots of the day above - taken by Nedine just after Laura had put her veil on.

Laura, not content with organising most of her own wedding, managed to study for and gain her Masters Degree at the same time in 2010 (a point highlighted in her father's speech). Part of that arrangement was this fantastic classical duo from The Guildhall School of Music. Martin Wray on violin (also a master of the viola) provided the pre-dinner vibe with a cellist whose name I didn't get (please get in touch and we'll rectify that).

Laura's five bridesmaids consisted of her two sisters (Emily far left and Julie Anne far right) and Clare, Clara and Fran. Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely and lovely are words that immediately spring to mind.

So after our fourth April wedding we have a brief hiatus. August this year is already fully booked, but there are still gaps for the rest of 2011 which will be filled with teaching A level photography students, our annual training day in Roundwood Park on 15th May and catching up on all the wedding album design, family portraiture and the host of other events and activities that keep us all busy.

Natalie & Andy - 23rd April 2011

2011-04-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

My starting point for today's wedding was the Manor House at the Norton Park Hotel in Hampshire where the bride Natalie was getting ready. It's the first time I've shot at this location and was overwhelmed at the variety of places to take images with an aesthetic surrounding. There's a huge lake and beautiful wooded grounds with a number of rustic outbuildings and a Hampshire barn, which is used as a wedding venue, albeit not ours today. We were destined to travel about 10 minutes away.

I shot with an old mate and impassioned full time award winning pro photographer Paul Shergold - a member of our cooperative who runs his own photography business Sheer Gold Photography from Gosport in Hampshire. Paul is getting married to the lovely Nicola Saxon in August this year and I'll be shooting that one too with Nedine O'Brien. Paul is pictured above at the venue for today's wedding - The Clock Barn at Tufton Warren farm in Whitchurch, Hants.

All the suppliers to the Clock Barn are as local as possible, reducing their environmental footprint and making their impact on our planet's finite resources more responsible. I get fed up with hearing "greenwash" propaganda by opportunist companies seizing a marketing ploy and cashing in on environmental trends without actually doing anything significant, but the staff I met at the Clock Barn seemed genuinely committed to making a difference. The level of service was excellent and grub was fresh and locally sourced. I'd certainly recommend it to others.

There were four generations of Andy's family in attendance today, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to photograph them all. On the far right, on grandma's lap is Amy the daughter of Andy and Natalie. In the centre of this shot are Amy's three great grandparents and far left is her granddad trying unsuccessfully to look like he loves having his photograph taken.

This is an internal shot of the barn. 60 minutes beforehand, the Deputy Registrar Tim had been conducting the wedding ceremony.

Andy and Amy having a stroll in the grounds of the Clock Barn.

None of these cars were hired for the wedding. Andy's family and friends are enthusiasts and mechanics and the cars ended up featuring in a number of the day's shots. The sun was cracking the slabs for most of the day with a 27 degree high ensuring that those wearing suits were melting for most of the afternoon. The grounds of the Clock Barn were fortunately landscaped well with good trees for shade cover.

Not one cake but about 200 cup cakes and a regular fruit cake topped this stack. To say they were well received would be the understatement of the year. Made by hand and with love by Jenny from CutiCups.com pictured here with her work (or should that be works) of art.

As always, we only show a handful of the day's images on our blog. For a larger set please feel free to click the link here for the TPS Website. Back in London for next week's wedding (no not that one paid for by our taxes, but the lovely Keri's cousin Laura. I'll be working with Nedine again for that one, so watch this space folks.

Joanna and Allen 16 April 2011

2011-04-19T06:56:00.001-07:00

Beautiful weather predominated on Saturday 16th April for the wedding of Joanne and Allen. I had the honour of working with one of my favourite wedding photographers Marta Demartini from Genoa. Marta's work is exceptional and she is one of those people who inspires me to do better each time I take the camera out. If ever I get a bit complacent, all I have to do is look at her outstanding work and it prompts me to try harder next time.

Our lovely bride Joanne is a school teacher so the two of them are having a short honeymoon break in Cornwall over the Easter holidays and then going to the USA during the school summer holidays. If the current weather keeps up for them, Cornwall will be beautiful (they know this already of course). I'm not sure that Cornish pasties or clotted cream will be their top priority, but I'd welcome either if you have room in your suitcase folks.

The fantastic bridesmaids dresses were all hand made by Joanne's mum Joan. Now that's what I call dedication and creativity! I have difficulty in sewing on a button so am always impressed by people who can put things like this together (I'm rubbish at DIY as well, but that's probably too much information sorry).

This was my 393rd wedding shoot and like most of the others, it came from a referral. Avid readers of our blog will possibly recognise Keri (last bridesmaid on right above) whose wedding we covered last year. After over 30 years of taking wedding images, word of mouth is still tops for getting the next event on our books. With so many people now using on-line peer reviews before buying anything, the method of recommendation may have changed, but it's still a recommendation from happy customers that count for most consumers. Clearly no service provider is going to tell clients "Our limousines keep breaking down. We turn up late frequently" or "We're really rubbish at catering and our hotel rooms smell of cats" etc, so it's really important for our potential brides and grooms to check out what the feedback is from real clients. Although there's a selection of quotes on the TPS web site "Testimonials" page (taken as verbatim quotes from people we've photographed) anyone can write a good CV that's economical with the truth. Thankfully, we have 30 year's worth of customers you can ask directly if you doubt our integrity.

This blog always has a short bit of prose and a handful of images from the event on display. For a much larger selection, go to the TPS Website page for Joanne and Allen.

We've been fully booked for April this year for some time now. Two more consecutive Saturdays to go before a bit of a break. Thankfully I love what I get to do with a camera. The best thing about the job is the people - vitally important of course when pretty much all I take photographs of is human beings. Saturday's crowd were great fun, even though jumping for joy wasn't their most finely honed skill. We wish Joanne and Allen a long, beautiful and happy union together. A pretty easy wish if what we witnessed on Saturday is anything to go by.

Laura & Kent's wedding

2011-04-04T07:04:00.001-07:00

I've been photographing both Laura and Kent at events and other people's weddings for well over a decade now, so was very pleased when I was chosen to cover their wedding in Aston, just off the M1 motorway near Sheffield. The All Saints Church, where the ceremony took place was constructed in the 12th century and is mentioned in the Doomsday book. The Reverend Ian Jennings conducted the ceremony.

A selection of the images can be found on our web site at TPS Photos

The affection that Kent and Laura have for one another is so obvious to anyone who knows them, that I was quite surprised they took so long to decide to tie the knot. Regardless of the procrastination, everyone I spoke to said it was well worth the wait. I was briefly assisted by their son Ben (pictured above with dad).

Ben's sister Ruby decided to have a power nap after the group shot was over (others followed suit later and had to be woken up to witness the first dance, but I wont name names). Ruby was wide awake for the speeches though, chuckling above with dad. The speeches were really funny, but moving enough to ensure that Kleenex sale prices increased too. I managed not to sob myself on this occasion, but it's always a bit easier when I'm working.

The reception was held in the Aston Hall Hotel a stones throw away from the church (unless you're using GPS in which case it's a 10 minute drive!) I would like to wish Laura and Kent a long, fruitful and happy life together. As that's reliant on them getting on, I reckon they've already proved to everyone that my wish will be an easy one to come true. Congratulations and thanks again for including me on this fantastic day.

Jillian and Malcolm

2011-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday 12th February and Jillian & Malcolm make a big commitment and publicly share their love in Wycombe. A full set of these images is available to view on the TPS website.

Ably assisted by another TPS Cooperative photographer Nedine O'Brien who shares a studio and lighting with us.

There were lots of children running around and generally having a great time. They helped us out and kept saying words like "please" and "thank you". Disconcerting - I'm not used to such lovely manners - they were a credit to their parents. Thanks especially to D'Shawn, Lavarh and Rashaun.

Another gig at the Fulham Wheatsheaf

2011-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Fulham Wheatsheaf

For the benefit of the technophiles and photographic enthusiasts, all today's images were shot in available natural light, using a Canon 1Ds Mk II using two lenses The Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8 L and the Sigma 15-30mm F3.5 - 4.5. Shot at 400 ISO in manual mode.

At the time of writing this, the pub is still designing its own web site, so the link above is from an independent listing. The pub has its own Facebook page though. I've been commissioned to do a number of shoots there over the past couple of years and so we are fairly regular visitors there. Today the venue started its first of a series of indoor Sunday markets with a number of local traders in attendance selling services and goods plus one charity The Cairn Trust. The latter raises much needed funds to educate the children of rural Nepal.

I love the format of this market as most of the people there today were fairly local. This gives them the opportunity to network with one another and increase the interaction and familiarity between local businesses and the people who run them. This, in turn, provides the opportunity for shared transport costs at future events to improve green credentials and also reciprocal arrangements or shared facilities with neighbouring businesses if the will is there.

This is the way our workers cooperative TPS Photos has operated for over 30 years (our 30th anniversary was last Thursday). It's become routine for the 25 photographers in our team to pass work to one another, lend/borrow lenses and other kit and exchange services. It's also commonplace for us to barter too. Last year our ground floor was decorated by New Look Décor in exchange for John the proprietor's daughter's wedding images. Win and win are words that spring to mind, although only our labour was exchanged this way. We had to pay for paint etc and he had to cover the cost of his daughter's album and other products.

Hannah Rose Reflexology

Another site still sadly under construction is that of reflexologist Hannah Rose M.A.R. Some time ago I used a reflexology practitioner in Chiswick West London as did my wife Sian when she was pregnant and my mum on one of her trips to London too. If you've never tried it, I would recommend giving it a go, particularly if you are feeling stressed out.

Reflexology can assist in the relief of a variety of conditions from sinusitis to lumbago (back pain) and in all the years I've known about this complimentary health service, I've never heard anyone utilise the services of a qualified reflexologist and not sing their praises afterwards. By "complimentary" service I mean one which can be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to the NHS provisions - not complimentary as in FREE you understand.

Unlike the now-retired practitioner we used in Chiswick, Hannah also does home visits. I bought Sian a reflexology session with Hannah as a gift and after seeing her and those who followed her enjoy it so much, I latterly regretted not booking one for myself too. I'd been up most of the previous night though and taking off my shoes might have emptied the pub!

Amy Leavitt - AMO 21 Ltd

Amy specialises in artwork featuring correctly proportioned (but varying colours) of the Union Flag. Erroneously called the Union "Jack" by most of the public, this latter term applies only to the flag flown from the Jack staff of one of Her Majesty's ships or submarines. Actually she (the Queen not Amy) doesn't technically own any of the Royal Navy ships as they are paid for by the tax payer (AKA Not Vodaphone). I digress sorry.

Yet another web site under construction, so you'll have to wait until it's finished to see any more of her lovely work or go to the next pub market day. These are held on the second and last Sunday of each month.

The pub restaurant has enjoyed a consistently positive feedback score since its change in management a few years ago. Most commentators in their peer reviews in the on line eating out guides state that the Wheatsheaf's kitchen provides good quality food at a reasonable price. Based on all of my previous visits, portion sizes are always good. A full English breakfast costs just £5.00 and breakfast is a major feature of the Sunday markets.

Today the table we sat at had a selection of the Sunday papers and there was tennis on the overhead TV's going on silently in the background. This suits me as I don't want to go out to a pub where a sports TV channel is blaring out, ruining the opportunity for a bit of conversation or peace and quiet when I'm trying to read the papers. Although I went there to work today, after I'd finished shooting the images I managed to have an hour to chill with friends and family who had turned up and sip on a cappuccino or two. There is a beer garden at the back which also serves as a heated outdoor refuge for the nicotine addicts.

Poppy Tallulah

OK folks - no "site under construction" message here, but the "gallery" page with items for on line sale don't have images so you can't see what you are buying and other bits are also missing. With all the dead and missing links on this post I'm afraid this must be looking like a ploy for me to get everyone into the pub to see for themselves. I give readers my word I am not on commission here. Really lovely jewellery though.

ML Chiropractic

At last - a fully functional working web site! Dr Barny Lucas DC MChiro Pg Cert MCC is seen here plying his craft on one of the pub customers. Based at 604 Fulham Road, a short distance from the pub.

Also in attendance today were the following:

Samsara Studios - What do they do? What don't they do would require a shorter answer. Wedding photography at a price I couldn't afford to offer; make-up and facial treatments, Cellutherapy & stretch marks body treatments, personal fitness training, Reiki, pedicure, manicure, sports massage, nutritional programmes and hairstyling. For rates and availability go to their web site in the above link. Sadly there don't appear to be any actual wedding images on the gallery pages and the link to their shop was not working when I viewed it, but the rest is very professionally laid out.

The Pet Parlour - the link (left) will take you to a web site that's almost complete. Only the testimonials page is still being built and it's a very easy site to navigate. Based in SW6 The Pet Parlour is run by Lesley West. The Pet Parlour provide a professional dog grooming service salon and boutique.

Tony Benn

2011-01-13T04:05:00.000-08:00

On 5th December last year I had the privilege of leading a portrait shoot of one of my political heroes. Tony Benn has been a staunch supporter of the trades union movement and I'd met him at previous events like the Tolpuddle Festival but such huge events don't facilitate the opportunity for a quiet chat over a cup of tea. In December we had the opportunity to put the world to rights and take photos at the same time, exchanging thoughts with a room full of people I respect immensely - it doesn't get much better than this for me. So who were "us" exactly?

My old friend and social justice photographer Hugh Hill came along and brought his nephew Jordan Gallagher with him. Jordan ended up assisting at the shoot. I had to keep reminding myself that he was 10 years old. He assisted, doing the tasks that are normally incumbent on adults. I'm not sure if this qualifies as child labour or not though. He certainly seemed to enjoy the shoot and the company of our hosts. The shoot was set up by Tony's only daughter Melissa.

Here she is taking control over the Canon 1DS with her dad flanked by her two daughters Sarah & Hannah. Jordan (bottom left of shot) looks on after moving one of the tungsten modelling lights with his Uncle Hugh.

Tony Benn and Hugh Hill

All proceeds from the shoot were donated by Tony and Melissa to the Fire Brigades Union Hardship fund and the 2010 project respectively. One canvas image from this shoot was latterly signed by Tony and sold at a fund raising auction for the FBU, raising another £165 for the hardship fund.

At the time of writing this, there's just a month left until the closing date for the 2010 project entries - any photographers (professional or enthusiast) please have a go at entering an image. You know you want to.

Angie & Sham's Winter Wedding

2010-12-27T04:01:00.001-08:00

Angie had made her preference for a winter wedding known to Sham some time ago. Her other main request was that they also had a Routemaster bus. Angie's wishes were both realised. On Friday 17th December 2010, Angie Ashley and Sham Rekhaye exchanged their vows and publicly expressed their love for one another at the Weybridge Register Office. It was out 390th wedding and this was the loveliest register office in our almost 30 year history of wedding photography. A much larger set of these images is available on the TPS Website

From the register office where we took loads of group and family image shots (again more detail at the TPS site) we then progressed back to the Warren Lodge Hotel where more surprises were in store for us. The main surprise for me was how the hotel only had 3 stars. I concede that I didn't take a room, so my overview of the premises is based on that of an observer who photographed the venue and staff and watched the interaction throughout the day, but what I saw, the food I ate, the arrangements and meticulous attention to detail for getting orders and instructions correct made it 5 stars in my somewhat less than humble opinion. Nothing appeared to be too much trouble and the grounds were beautiful. The hotel also (like me) has an interesting rock and roll history too.

The rear of the Weybridge Register Office. With less than a week until the Winter solstice, the group shots had to be taken here and with some concerns about mobility and inclusion, I was very pleased that our compromise on location allowed everyone to be included. A truly lovely bunch of people there to share in a lovely day.

Angie gets her Routemaster.

Morocco

2010-10-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

The 12th October was my wife Sian's 50th birthday and earlier this year it was planned for us both to travel with 4 other friends to Morocco and climb up to the top peak of the Atlas Mountains Mt Toubkal. I had travelled to Tangiers during my time in the submarine service 30 years ago, but this was my first trip to the Marrakech region.

Our first stay was at the Kasbah du Toubkal. A breathtaking locale with great food and hospitality. The downside of this was the obvious inaccessibility for anyone with impaired mobility, but that's certainly not an issue that is exclusive to North Africa. My wheelchair-using friends can't get off the tube at Willesden to see me at home because of a flight of stairs that are just as inaccessible as the final footpath to the Kasbah. The short ascent to the accommodation was via foot over a steep rocky path. Our luggage was transported from our taxi in the village via mules for the last 500 metres of the journey.

Kasbah du Toubkal

The venue runs, like TPS, as a workers cooperative and a 5% levy is applied to the food and accommodation bill to support the local village. The site is decorated with stunning images taken by Alan Keohane whose work appeared on the walls at almost everywhere we went in Morocco. Both the Kasbah and Alan's photographic work are linked to another project that funds education for all in the country. By the time we'd left the area, our group were already planning their own fund raising events to support the education initiatives there.

At 4AM on the intended day of our final 900 metre ascent to the summit of Mt Toubkal, we encountered 85 MPH winds and snow. As the primary reason for climbing this was to take some panoramic images from the Toubkal summit (at 4165 metres, it's Morocco's highest peak) we decided that staying in our bunks at the refuge would be a better option.

In retrospect, this was a very good idea and later that day we walked back to the Kasbah. My blood glucose meter which had been in a bag, within a bag, within a bag was soaking (that horizontal rain gets everywhere) and gave me error messages instead of recording my blood glucose levels. One of the real problems with diabetes in cold climates is that if someone suffers a low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) one of the additional difficulties encountered is that in order to save depleted energy/glucose, the body automatically slows things down when hypoglycaemic. The really dangerous legacy of this is that you involuntarily stop shivering. Hypoglycaemia can therefore be quickly followed by hypothermia. In lieu of a working meter and despite having really quite good warning signs of low glucose I decided to top up with sugary snacks on the way down as a prophylactic measure. My resultant glucose level on return to the Kasbah and a dry working meter was 25.6 mmols/L (this is far too high - normal range is 4- 8 in people without diabetes). This was particularly annoying as I had remained in homoeostasis (normal levels) throughout the previous day's strenuous ascent. Still - worse things happen at sea.

On the two day trip up and back down the mountain we passed a number of small isolated shacks and refuges where people from the village would trek to each day in order to make sufficient money from passing climbers to support their families. Improvisation and business acumen seemed to prevail everywhere here. Below is a home made refrigerator for cooling soft drinks - the water supply hose is pressurised from a stream above.

We left the Kasbah du Toukbal on Sian's actual birthday and returned to Marrakech where we stayed at the best "hotel" I'd ever encountered. The Dar Zemora is more of a small palace than a hotel and if they ever introduce a category of 6 star, based on the attention to detail and customer service, then Dar Zamora will qualify in my somewhat less than humble opinion. Their web site just doesn't do the place justice and it was luxurious, friendly and relaxing. The venue has been reviewed by so many high profile travel publications from UK national broadsheet travel supplements via Tatler to Conde Nast.

We spent a couple of days walking through Marrakech city centre, a sharp contrast to the decadence of our accommodation about 3Km away. Any traveller who's been to Morocco will know of the street hassling and abject poverty. Tourism is the mainstay of income for most people there, so hopefully our small contributions made a bit of difference.

Adeloa and Aniru

2010-10-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday 1st October 2010 - Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence day, Adeola Ramsay and Aniru Shyllon tied the knot at St Mary Magdalene in Enfield Middlesex. Reverend Gordon Giles runs a tight ship up there in Windmill Hill but his service was so very relevant to the future lives of this lovely couple.

What I've been careful to do for the blog is use images only taken inside - which most of them were. At the times most of these images were taken the wind speed was 18 MPH and from 11:00 until midnight we had a pretty solid downpour of rain. Of course a soggy day wasn't going to stop the wedding or diminish any of the love that Adeloa and Aniru have for one another, but it was a shame that the grounds of the church and hotel were out of bounds due to horizontal rain.

Church entrances, arches, doorways, coves and green bridges almost always provide a bit of shelter with great light for images even in the rain, just like this one above of the bridesmaids.

My two lovely accomplices Sarah and Nedine (below) were given the opportunity to shoot from the bell tower and the view (above) was what they had to look at. It's a tough old job being a photographer you know. Actually taking the images is usually the best bit because it's fun and what we like doing best.

What clients rarely see is the hours of work that follows ...backing up images, clearing out the shots that don't work (flash didn't fire/granddad walked into shot as it was taken etc) then arranging them in some form of viewable package, be it proof book, slide show or disc of images, then the blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, press releases, follow ups to the 20 emails given to you by the guests, the design, editing, clearing up of albums, thank you cards, recharging batteries, replacing and reformatting memory cards, sending back up discs to a remote locale. "Archives are lost via three main methods - Fire, Flood and Theft" (source Tony Benn's diaries, albeit he was quoting someone else when he wrote this). So the images are safe and have been dispatched for the perusal of the bride and groom and the next day it all starts again. I wouldn't have it any other way, but I could do with a months worth of lessons on how to do things better on the computer (like throw the thing out of the window sometimes).

Anyway - because of the late running of the day and more relevant, the weather - we set up theBowens kit in a lovely huge space in the Royal Chase Hotel. The staff at the hotel were fantastic and it was a breath of fresh air to work alongside friendly people who had clearly been really well trained. Decent customer attention always gets a recommendation from me. 5* venue and the grub was great too.

The idea of the mini studio was for couples and groups of up to five to have a picture taken using proper studio lighting and backdrops. We rarely do this at weddings as the grounds of the venue normally allows for use of props with natural light. Adeola was ready to party now the speeches and other formalities were out of the way, but she let us grab this one before she went off dancing. A much greater selection as always is on our web site, but you'll need a password from Adeloa or Aniru to be able to see them. They're at TPS Photos Adeola & Aniru.

HDR Software - a recommendation.

2010-09-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

I'm usually the first to shout "foul" when things go wrong so believe it's only fair to give credit where due on the occasions things go right. It's only usually when things go wrong you see just how good or bad any company is. I really get infuriated when I'm on a pay to complain number on hold listening to recorded music that would be banned from a prison to prevent rioting inmates. Or the on line alternative AKA sifting through a labyrinth of useless absolutely useless FAQ's whilst desperately looking for the email direct button. I'm quite capable of writing up an explanation that qualifies my query, what I need and even how I can pay for it, but that of course involves employing people to read my enquiry.

Enough bitching, but I'm sure I can't be alone in being a responsible person who pays for licensed software and registers everything to ensure that the inherent customer service/technical support is there should anything go wrong and then can't get anywhere near even basic "support". No wonder forums are so successful.

So I upgraded to a 64 bit PC a while back and also wanted to reinstall one of my two licensed copies of Photomatix Pro 3 which I bought in a bundle a short while ago. When I visited the Photomatix site I noticed that there was an upgrade available, but there was a problem sorting out the transfer to the new PC because my codes didn't match. A quick email answered very quickly by Andreas sorted out my problem (which was actually my fault).

It has renewed my faith in customer services and places Photomatix' software even higher up my list of people/companies I'm happy to do business with.

So for the non photographers, what does this HDR thing do? Well the previous link to their site gives a much better description and some great images of what it does, but I thought I'd post a few examples of stuff that Tom Ivory has done for the coop in recent weeks.

This work was all done with the now replaced V3. Free upgrade cometh today to V4.

***

In order to get the darkest corners of the church illuminated, we would have needed to crank up the exposure so high that (as in the above image) the light coming in through the main window would have burnt out the whole area surrounding it. All these images were taken at Sarah & Richard's wedding earlier this month and subject of a previous blog entry.

***

To expose the main church window correctly however would have put the rest of the church in darkness. Photomatix Pro used a selection of images (usually at least 3) that cover the range of exposure levels from darkest to lightest and in lay terms merges them. The result can sometimes look awful as skin tones might make Gran look like she's made of leather etc, so it doesn't always work but tone mapping software is integral to the Photomatix arsenal and included within the software pack, helping to create much more realistic tones and colours.

***

The image above is the result from this work.
Tom also used HDR for this salvage shot after we'd run out of light and they wanted an outdoor group shot. We used 3 Canon off camera flashes triggered with the ST-E2.

Natalie & Arber

2010-09-27T04:02:00.001-07:00

On Saturday 25th September Natalie and Arber married at the Ponsbourne Park Hotel. The venue is a great one stop wedding shop with impressive grounds creating so may great photo opportunities. The joy of this sort of venue is that if we experience horizontal rain and need to use studio lighting, sheltered doorways and umbrellas, we only have to empty the car once. If it's a two or three venue event, then it all has to be unpacked and packed up again (in between sweeping up the confetti from the church steps and getting to the reception to shoot them getting out of the car).

Having everything under one roof where there is ample parking and facilities is a real joy. Sadly it's being knocked down in 2011 and a state of the art training centre is to replace the grand old buildings apparently.

These images were taken by me with Martin Malocco riding in the second seat. Martin covered Rod & Teresa's wedding with me just over a year ago and I'm also to shoot his daughter Maria's wedding to Kevin in September next year with the legendary Marta Demartini from HM Digiart.

Natalie's bridesmaids were predominantly women she'd gone to school with. The sororal networking in the years that have passed since their full time education was evident throughout the day and featured in Natalie's father's speech which reduced several people to tears as well as fits of laughter as he jumped from moving to mirth. After 388 weddings I've heard quite a few speeches but Natalie's dad Brian offered an outstanding performance that people were still enthusing about 5 hours later as I left.

During our consultation earlier this year at their home in Hornsey, North London, the two of them expressed the desire to have a traditional mounted album. It was the first time I've been asked to do this since our transition from film to digital cameras, but within 6 weeks we'd had another two bookings with the bride and grooms also requesting mounted albums. From talking to some of my peers at the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers It would appear that this trend towards "proper" printed photos in mounted albums is enjoying a resurgence across the UK.

As with most weddings, dancing featured towards the end of the day and an impromptu training session took place on the dance floor between dining courses.

We have always prided ourselves in adding something special for our clients and their guests if we can help. Over the years this has ranged from use of a set of jump leads to start the vintage Daimler that had broken down to sewing up a torn seam on the grooms trousers. On this occasion a couple of the guests had run out of things they needed that the hotel couldn't provide, so after a 7 mile drive and lots of "sorry mate not here" we managed to get what they needed. All part of the service - or as they say at Tesco's who own the property "Every little helps".

A full set of images are available on our TPS web site.

Sarah & Richard

2010-09-27T03:48:00.001-07:00

On Saturday 18th September after a decade together, Richard and Sarah tied the knot at Hanwell Methodist Church.

Given away by her father Keith, Sarah looked stunning and drew a gasp from Richard as she entered the church. There were a number of readings, some fun, others more serious and the best choir I've ever encountered in almost 30 years of wedding photography.

The reception was held at the Trailfinders Sports Club, refurbished after a major fire destroyed their old premises.

I worked on this shoot with Tom Ivory, an established member of the TPS cooperative whose artistic eye always has great value in our post production. His Photoshop skills are legendary and although we always try to get things right in camera, he's been known to carry out some very tasteful cosmetic surgery from time to time. None were needed on this occasion however.

We'd like to wish Sarah and Richard a long, fruitful, happy and loving marriage that they deserve.

As always there are a full set of images at the TPS Website.

Keri and Danny's Wedding 7th August 2010

2010-08-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday 7th (that's yesterday everyone - less than 24 hours after the event - I'm finally getting quicker at this blogging milarky) saw the wedding of Keri and Danny in St Joseph's Church Harrow Weald. The day started (unsurprisingly) with breakfast. Here's Keri at her mum and dad's place in Stanmore, NW London.

I've worked a few times before with TPS cooperative member Nedine O'Brien of Fera Photography and it's always been an absolute joy to do so, but yesterday was our first wedding together. My 385th wedding but and far from Nedine's first attempt, but just the first one we'd done together. Here she is pictured with her yellow BWM limousine. Apparently it has a name!

Next blog issue will be on our return from Zeeburg and the 5 yearly Sail Amsterdam shoot. watch this space folks....

Pride 2010

2010-07-04T06:32:00.001-07:00

The long overdue heatwave and bright sunny day blighted most of my attempts to get decent marketable London Pride shots without an assistant. I usually post a whole selection of my Pride images on our web site, but not this year given the poor quality/low volume - partly because of the restrictions on my movements, part exhaustion from carrying too much kit and mainly because (unusually) I was working for a client organisation whose permission I didn't have to freely post the images I did take whilst in their employment.

Peter Tatchell got on stage and helped celebrate the 40 years of achievements since the Gay Liberation Front first came to the fore. He also wrote a piece for Saturday's Guardian about the progress that had been made in his lifetime.

The event seemed to go well and most people were in great spirit, but I have to say I preferred the event when it finished in a park. Trafalgar Square (no pun intended on the use of Square here folks) unlike a big park, lacks huge open spaces for people to rest on the grass and take in the entertainment.

Anyone with even fairly mild claustrophobia I reckon would have been deterred from attending the post march event as it was just too congested. Disability access also appears to have been overlooked yet again. Westminster Council doesn't recognise blue badges and that's just the start. Whilst not everyone's disabilities are visible, I can't ever remember a time when there were fewer wheelchair users than I saw yesterday. I wasn't sure if it was a protest, or just that people with impaired mobility were prevented from getting in, in significant numbers.

Disability access and provisions have been the subject of a number of complaints in past Pride events. Last year a 28 page damning report was written on the failing of organisers to facilitate even the basic requirements of their licensing conditions with regard to heath & safety as it applies to people with disabilities. One of the senior appointed organising personnel repeatedly failed to respond to communications from key players within the disability movement.

The organiser's legal requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act and (despite Pride receiving funds from the public purse) the Public Sector Duty to Promote Disability all appear to have been largely overlooked.

I'm waiting to hear from the people I trust within the disability movement to see if this year was again fraught with problems caused by malaise, mismanagement, lethargy, contempt, a lack of funding or some other reason why it couldn't be made fully inclusive. It's a real shame if such an important event can't be properly joined up and accessible for people who already live with enough barriers because of their sexual orientation without adding disablism to the pot. Despite the lovely warming welcoming hug from a steward as I arrived at the side of the stage, I didn't dare venture anywhere near it with the aforementioned over packed bag of camera gear and restricted space.

If anyone on the organising team reads this - Can we have it in an accessible park for 2011 please?

In these times where everyone (well mainly politicians and dodgy employers to be precise) keep talking about "Modernisation" when they actually mean "Cuts" it strikes me that real modernisation would be a move away from people receiving "Empire" medals. (eg BEM, MBE, OBE, KBE etc). The word Empire is steeped in racism and is really so out of date that it should be scrapped in favour of some sort of award for British excellence - an idea I first heard from Benjamin Zephaniah in 2003.

I'm also puzzled that we live in the United Kingdom when we haven't had a King in over 50 years. Surely it's now the United Queendom? I never got to find out if this person agreed or not as I was moved on by the stewards. I must get a press pass next year.

Queens Park Community School

2010-07-01T03:25:00.000-07:00

Last night - 30th June 2010 the upper sixth form (well that's what we used to call it) at Queens Park Community School held their end of school party and awards celebration. Here are just some of them.

Amy Permaul is in the centre of the above image with her sister Ella next to her. You may recognise them from the January 2009 snow shoot in Roundwood Park. Inevitably my work crosses paths with my social life and it's so lovely to have a photographic archive of friends, colleagues and neighbours to look back on in years to come. Below is Ella again with her Dad Mark - another good friend whom I've known for over 20 years.

And finally this image is a real joy for me. I've known Beth since she was in primary school with my daughter who's a few years younger, but despite her loveliness she has remained one of the most cameraphobic people I've encountered.

With our commitment to displaying "nothing without consent" I knew that getting pictures of Beth that she approved would obviously require a very special set of circumstances or someone worth getting photographed with. This is Mizan. Obviously worth it methinks.

It was a lovely night of celebration and the school Jazz band played too. A full set of images are on our web site at QPCS gig and all profits go to the Queens Park Community School PTFA Registered charity - number 110069

Natasha & Ryan

2010-06-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 12th June 2010 we shot Ryan and Natasha's wedding day. I shot with Tom Ivory that day and it coincided with the world cup game between England and the USA. Thankfully both Natasha and Ryan and footie mad so coverage of the game was an integral part of the evening's schedule.

The best man speeches created a number of great opportunities to capture the audience reaction to his dry wit and perfect timing. Throughout the beautiful sunny day we felt more like guests than people on contract to cover the big day. A really lovely bunch of family and friends made this a fantastic and fun day for all.

Tash and Ryan went off to Mexico for their honeymoon. Their album is going to be spectacular methinks.

Tash poses by the family West Wam picture prior to leaving for the church with dad.

Lucy King Baptism

2010-06-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

On 16th May 2010 Lucy's baptism took place in Willesden with the usual entourage of proud family and friends. Lucy is the daughter of Mike and Joanna King, two of the loveliest parents on the planet.

Michelle & Eric

2010-06-26T03:47:00.000-07:00

The up to the minute blogger that I am clearly not, leaves me all too often with events and images that don't make it to the TPS blog because they are ancient history by the time I get to write them up. on 6th April Michelle and Eric tied the knot in Enfield.

This first shot was taken by my work experience student Amy Permaul, a rising star and tremendous help on the day.

6 March Dr Alison Mathewson and Neil Isherwood

2010-03-08T12:11:00.001-08:00

Today was undoubtedly one of the calmest weddings I have ever shot. Even the most positive and upbeat brides and grooms at most weddings get the jitters at some point. It might be their aversion to public speaking or worries about dropping the ring or Uncle Albert falling off the stage like he did at the bride's sister's wedding etc. Today however Alison and Neil were so wrapped up in having a good time on their wedding day that anything else was pretty much an irrelevance. And rightly so. It was a beautiful day and quite clearly these two young people are so right for each other. It was as Alison later said, a perfect day.

***

Part of our consultation involves explaining what we will be doing and for how long and what the bride and groom can expect. To summarise it's a case of "leave the photography to us and enjoy your day". Neil and Alison certainly didn't need a second telling.

***

They're now off to Colorado for a skiing honeymoon in Vail and Aspen. Come back safely.

***

Steve Brill RIP

2010-01-20T15:45:00.000-08:00

Caron & Steve - Sunday 17th January 2010

Drafted 20th January 2010.
Approved by family for publishing 21st January 2010.

Today I received the news that Steve Brill had passed away. Only 3 days ago I photographed his and Caron's wedding at their home in NW London. Caron and her dynamic, sweet and beautiful family arranged 2 wedding services - one Registrar and one Rabbi, catering, flowers, cake, dress, makeup, hair, shoes, shiny shiny shoes and more love than a big box of lovely lovely love. Add to that all the other stuff that normally takes 18 months to procure done in one week. No wonder they were exhausted.

The images taken that day (by everyone - not just me) are by definition highly intimate, powerful and poignant. Despite me being welcomed like some long lost son, at times I felt I was invading the privacy of this exceptional family. I wanted to make sure I could produce images that Steve would love too and was thankfully able to deliver them back to him and Caron some 20 hours later.

Those images are private and will only be uploaded if the family expresses a desire to have an online presence. We will always do our best to ensure that "nothing without consent" is so much more than just a catchy slogan.

Caron & Steve's wedding was our 381st since January 1981 and like all the others, it was unique. During my time in the submarine service (Oh no Uncle Albert's off again) letters would arrive with "381" on the back (3 words 8 letters and 1 meaning - I LOVE YOU). There was no mistaking the love, perspective, humility and occasional despair that prevailed. There was more tangible love on hand than you could shake a hairy stick at. It was like an episode of "The Waltons" without the enamel coming off your teeth. At one point the entire congregation was in tears. I wouldn't have missed it for the world but I truly regret not knowing Steve better and for longer.

The image shown in this post was taken by Steve on the morning of his wedding. He was the only person allowed to see his portrait work until today.

My thoughts, my love and my offer of anything that might be useful to Caron and the family remain sincere.

2009-12-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

Another disability-related event took place today. This time at London's Battersea Park. for the charity Disability SnowSport. http://www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/

The weather was perfect this year and everyone appeared to be on really good form. This first shot below was taken from the park's bandstand with Santas as far as the eye could see.

I'm not sure if this was a case of sororal compassion or just laziness, but runner 1808 didn't seem to mind carrying her buddy. If you feedback and let us know your names I'm happy to edit the blog with the details. At the time of posting a few hours after the event, I was in the dark as to who was who though.

I did recognise this pair below though. The bloke Dave Shannon is one of the world's most accomplished and talented diatonic harmonica players (he does a pretty good job on Chromatic too) specialising in blues harmonica and founder of the band Bea and the Honeytones - have a butchers at http://www.myspace.com/beaandthehoneytones

The woman behind him in the image below is his beautiful and long suffering wife (aren't all wives long suffering?) Ange and mother of their twin boys. Dave and Ange now live in Finchley, but when I first met them, they resided in Willesden's fashionable Kings Road where Dave's Harp University was built in their back garden with help from yours truly and his brother in law Toby Jacobs - an extremely talented photographer whose work can be seen at http.www.tobyjacobs.com (I'm such a name dropper sorry).

Below are Lisa and Jeff. Lisa has participated in the Santa run every year since it started but this was Jeff's first running event in the red suit. They were both kind enough to slow down sufficiently for me to give them a card. I love these shots as they seem to convey the spirit of the event. It'll be on next year too hopefully, so keep your eyes peeled if you fancy a fun way of making some money for a great cause.

Below we have Laura Denham-Jones and her 9 month old son Julien. What is it with women and this multi-tasking thing? Julien could have stayed and watched the whole event alonside with his father Tim- but I guess the view was better from the buggy. Nice wheels Julien!

Asian Fire Service Conference - Birmingham

2009-11-24T00:22:00.000-08:00

On the 18th and 19th November 2009, The Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA) held their national launch at its 3rd Conference, which was held at the Second City Suite, Sherlock St, Birmingham.

Jagtar Singh (National Officer) Duncan White (NDFA Chair) Zahoor Ahmad (AFSA Chair)

Jagtar invited me to the conference to take the event photographs, speak about the last 20 years disability advocacy I have been undertaking and also about the benefits of networking. These are subjects close to my heart and I shall be running two masterclasses on Networking at the annual conference of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers in January next year with my hero Zoe Richards. http://www.zoephotography.co.uk/

It's not uncommon to hear people at conferences saying the sort of things that the delegates want to hear and then not follow them up. Empty rhetoric exposes the lack of integrity of so many people who are (as my parents would say) old enough to know better. On this occasion however, there was a tangible passion in the words I heard from many of the people there and it left me feeling hopeful that it was really going to make a difference to the people who had attended.

On the first evening entertainment, dancing and great food added to the networking opportunities. During the evening £2500 was raised for three different charities:

MacMillan Breast Cancer Awareness, http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Breastfemale/Breastcancer.aspx

Water Wells in India http://thewaterproject.org/wells_for_india.asp

Indonesian Eathquake Appeal. http://www.baitulmaal.org/us/asia/37-asia-projects-/154-indonesia-earthquake-appeal-2009

Zahoor Ahmad, Chair of AFSA, said “I am so proud today to see that all our efforts to bring the Association onto the national stage recognised, and to see the efforts of the founder members rewarded by the commitments from Chief Fire Officers, Government Officers, Equality and Diversity officers, Sponsors and, of course, our members acknowledged in such a positive way. As someone said today, if we could bottle the energy and commitment in the room we would become millionaires very quickly.”

Jaggit Kaur Hayer

I was ably assisted in the 2 day shooting by Marta Demartini from HM Digiart http://www.hmdigiart.com/ and Jagtar's sister Jaggit, heself an active member of the AFSA who assisted with the NWFS conference 3 day shoot earlier this year.

AFSA is a consultative body, which consists of serving and retired members from various Fire and Rescue Services within the UK, who aim to assist, support and enhance the work being undertaken in Fire and Rescue Services, both nationally and locally, in achieving their equality and diversity commitments, ranging from recruitment and retention, and positive action to community safety and religious and cultural awareness.

Fire Minister Shahid Malik Signs up to join the AFSA

The main keynote speaker was the Fire Minister Shahid Malik. Like any MP who talks at events like these, he'd arrived with a speech drafted by advisors. I've been to so many conferences where the government representative merely reads out sound bites and claptrap avoiding any probing questions and then consuming a free lunch. I was therefore heartened at the AFSA conference when the minister deviated from his prepared script and without prompts or an autocue, delivered something stright from the hip - or was it the heart?

It's the first time I have encountered Shahid Malik as directly as this and of course only time will tell if his words are matched by his actions, but in a world of increasing cynicism and hypocrisy, I have to say his words gave me some new hope about the future of public services and the lives of people who are so often marginalised and let down.

Graham Ogilvie

Graham Ogilvie spent the two days creating snapshot cartoons from the text of the speeches and the dialogue generated in workshops. Not only was his artwork incredibly thought provoking, but he worked at a speed that qualifies as mass production. His artwork was displayed around the conference and delegates were asked to indicate which ones resonated with them as the two day event progressed. On the final session, people were then asked to add their own observations on the cartoon whose message covered the most important issue for them.

It's the first time I'd seen use of imagery this way at conventions and one of the main benefits as I understand it are that art and poetry enters the right side of the brain and are therefore made much more difficult to place barriers against them getting in. A psychologist once told me that music, art and poetry are the mediums to enter an open mind, although recently at the Tate Modern I was somewhat less than impressed with the work there on one of the floors and it only served to annoy me for travelling there to see such rubbish - maybe that was the intention of the artist! Who knows, not my area of expertise - but Grahams work was brilliant and inspiring.

http://www.ogilviedesign.co.uk/

2009-11-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, my son Lance took over as landlord of the Wheatsheaf Public House on the Fulham Road in Fulham, London. On 31st October, the somewhat unsurprising theme of Haloween was chosen for the night.

The Wheatsheaf serves really good grub (not normally apples floating in buckets however) and on the 31st Lance also arranged for some live music.

The Wheatsheaf is the "sister" pub to the Union Tavern in Clerkenwell (near Kings cross) where TPS currently has an exhibition of their architectural monochrome images. The grub at both of these venues is outstanding and links are below should you wish to find them. Please note that at the time of posting this, the Wheatsheaf's web site was still being designed.

http://www.uniontavernlondon.com/reviews.html

http://www.fulhamwheatsheaf.co.uk/

Billy Joe Strummer Bailey at Loftus Road

2009-09-14T01:09:00.000-07:00

You may recognise this chap as Richard Bailey. A fellow within the coooperative of photographers and the creator of a multitude of stunningly beautiful images. I have a link to some of Richard's work at the foot of this post. Richard's photography may be beautiful and of course vitally important to put food on the table it being his full time work, but photography is just one of many of Richard's passions. His lovely family always come first and on Saturday, his eldest daughter Billy Joe was selected to be a mascot for Queens Park Rangers in their home game against Peterborough.

Richard Bailey

Billy Joe at the sponsors' board

The Loftus Road tunnel

The mascots were allowed a short knock around prior to kick off, a quick formal shot with the teams and referee and then as the pitch was cleared for the game to start, Billy Joe helped to direct the club's tiger mascot back to his seat.

Billy Joe's two siblings Daniel and Cydney were also at the game (and coincidentally my son Lance). Below Daniel celebrates the equaliser goal from QPR whist Cydney tries to follow in her father's footsteps.

1-1 Daniel celebrates

Another Bailey with a camera! Little Cyd.

Richard Bailey links:

"Knit Hats" and "To be a dad" are two of the books published by the Bailey Hart Publishing company which Richard runs with his wife , the CEO of Knit and Kaboodle Fiona is also a star in her own right.

http://www.baileyhartpublishing.com/index.html

Richard's web site:

http://www.richardbaileyphotography.co.uk/

Richard's Flickr site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38055015@N00/

And finally... For information about the Downs Syndrome Association and future "Shifting Perspectives" exhibitions go to:

http://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/

Christenings, Carnivals, Bicycles and Weddings

2009-09-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

I can never work out how my peers get their blogs posted almost ten minutes after every event they cover. Whilst my own blog updates may or may not be of some vague interest to my clients, friends and peer group, the first priority for me is always the post production, album creation, web updates etc for our clients.

People like Crash Taylor and Zoe Richards (links at the foot of this post to their fantastic sites) not only to do all of this other creative and important work, but also manage to provide their followers with stunning blog updates and galleries seemingly effortlessly. I think I need to go and work with them both to see how they juggle their hectic lifestyles! Some call it espionage, but I prefer the term networking!

So since the last post on 15th August I have taken the images of the injuries sustained by a poor Italian cyclist when a builder's hoarding collapsed on him. The law firm commissioned me to record the damage done, scar tissue etc (and no I wont be posting these ones). the prognosis is good, so I would like to wish Samuel a full recovery.

On a happier note, on the 29th August I held another training day for a new second shooter on the cooperative called Martin Malocco. The weather was lovely and Martin, who normally shoots with Olypus kit, had a swift induction in the use of Canon DSLR's. He proved to be a very fast learner which was just as well given the 5 days notice of our next wedding in Hampshire (more of that later).

The following day, the beautiful Isabel had her Christening in St Mary's Church in Denham.

Isabel Grace Ivory

The day after that, on the bank holiday Monday 31st August, I travelled the short distance from home to record the Notting Hill Carnival. I've covered this annual event on most years since the late 1980's. By definition, most carnivals and festivals are so colourful, that my mono work takes a back seat, but this year, my favourite image (below) is one in the latter format. You may recognise the teenage women here from our January snow images. It's that Amy getting into my shots again with her sister Ella. We stumbled across them on our travels.

And to get completely up to date, on 4th September I travelled with Martin to Hampshire for the wedding of Rod and Teresa. This was the 380th wedding that TPS has shot since 1981 and it was a return to where it all started in Fareham, Hants. Horizontal rain had been forecast, but thankfully meteorologists lie like politicians and the day went very well indeed. Here are three of my favourites.

The venue provided a great opportunity to play with some off camera flash, whilst still having the premises illuminated by in-house lighting.

Rod & Teresa - 4 September 2009

So - those links I promised you all....

Crash Taylor: http://www.crashtaylor.com/

Zoe Richards: http://zoephotography.co.uk/

Hunger striker's 19th day

2009-08-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

On 15th August 2009, I went to meet up with the hunger strikers from the Iranian Liberty Association outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London. The ongoing protest is largely over the treatment of peaceful protestors in Ashraf City in Iraq. The Ghandi-like protestors (all peaceful and unarmed) have been met with chains, bricks, stones, batons, iron bars and live ammunition from the Iraqi military.

There are a number of reasons these peaceful people appear to have encountered such open hostility. Firstly, and probably the most likely reason is that their leader is an Islamic woman who is secular (believes that the church and the state should be separate).

The Ashraf City culture is one of fairness and equality and a profound belief in human rights. The activities of the Ashraf City residents has been supported by Amnesty Internationational and other human rights groups.

Partly because of the secular nature of the Iranian Liberty Association, some of the people who came to speak today were not Muslims, just human beings who share the Association's hopes for peace, harmony and fairness.

Many of those people present today have lost family members, solely because they spoke out against oppressive regimes. Some had been tortured or killed because their views differed from those in power. There are few members of the Iranian Liberty Association who haven't lost someone close in the fight for justice and equality.

At the foot of a statue of Dwight D Eisenhower outside the Embassy is the plinth below. A statement from the wartime president's opening address that most people would have difficulty in disagreeing with, yet there are so few people around the world who are truly "free".

As I see it, there is an irony here that so often gets overlooked. The citizens in developing contries who yearn for the sort of freedom we taken for granted in the West find that freedom is so often denied to them because of interference from the very countries who boast about democracy.

The fact that the government of this or that democractic country wants their oil or other natural reserves, means that they will collude with and line the pockets of dictators who have something to sell them. In payment, (some) governments of the developed world turn a selective blind eye to the human rights violations of the corrupt governments around the world.

Every government should contain a government health warning. Nothing political is correct.

For more information about the Iranian Liberty Association go to: http://iranliberty.org.uk/

Annabel Williams Bumps & Babies Course

2009-08-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

As the title might suggest, on 20th July 2009 I attended a 1 day course in photographing pregnant women (bumps) and fairly newborn babies.

The venue was the Annabel Williams centre of excellence in Cumbria. Annabel's Contemporary Photographic Training has just moved premises, so I think we might have been the last course in this brillaintly lit studio cum classroom. The grub was great and the "models" (volunteers) seemed unphased by a dozen bonkers photographers snapping away and asking lots of questions. Thanks to all involved. Here's a few shots from the day.

For more information on the courses available at the Annabel Williams studio visit: http://www.annabelwilliams.com/

Gay Pride London 2009

2009-08-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 4th July, I attended a breakfast hosted by the London Fire Brigade for this year's London Gay Pride.

I was accompanied by Hugh Hill and Marta Demartini and we shot our images as we marched amongst the others celebrating and commemorating and remembering and thinking. I love the fact that in the UK we have the right for consenting adults to love one another without breaking any rules. This is not the case everywhere in our world of course, nor is my above statement an attempt to get away from the fact that hate crimes resulting in murder or serious injury still occur. Why one human would kill or mame another becsuse of their sexual orientation, skin colour, gender, religious belief, disability, age - is beyond me.

That ism list that so many people talk about but so few actually deal with properly proves again and again that nothing political is correct. Well if I'm going to be so late posting my blog items I guess I might as well make them lively....

Right up the front representing the Greater London Authority was the Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes, pictured below with Rhona Cameron. There are 200 images uploaded to our main site at https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=7635&Action=_VC&id=32968450&ppwd=nc3835pr

During the entire time I worked in the Royal Naval Submarine Service, where I was trained as a photographer by the Fleet Air Arm Phot Section, if anyone had come out as gay, it would have immediately terminated his employment. The perverse rationale argument from the MOD(N) on applying an absolute ban on gay men in the navy was that the person would be a potential blackmail victim, being forced to sell state secrets to the enemy in fear of being exposed! So the argument is that if it aint banned, it aint concealed. It must have taken military intelligence years to fathom that one out, but at least in the 21st century people like this two badge submariner below, no longer have to live two secret lives.

Boy George put in an appearance surrounded by some colourful mates.

To view Hugh and Marta's work too, go to https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=7635&Action=_VC&id=32968450&ppwd=nc3835pr

2009-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Mary Poppins meets Brent Parks Department

Creatives at work

Photographers4Charity - Image by Cyd Hoy-Griffiths

On 24th May 2009, 14 photographers from the Photographers4Charity group plus Richard Bailey, Hugh Hill and Marta Demartini descended upon Roundwood Park in London Nw10 for a training day I'd organised. Our "model" bride and groom were Maria and Kevin whose real wedding I'm shooting next year with Marta. This was a great opportunity for some reciprocal altruism and networking. Maria's father Martin Malocco is also a member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP).

Kevin & Maria

I'm sure that in order for a Blog to be most effective it needs to be fairly current/newsworthy so I've failed on that count not having uploaded this bit until 2 months later. Do other Bloggers have this problem of work overload displacing their posts, or do you have staff? (answers in a plain brown envelope please).

Nuns on the run

2009-05-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today I took the cameras to shoot a fundraiser for the children's charity Barnado's. A four mile run including 4 of the Thames bridges starting with the most famous Tower Bridge. So what made this one so special? Well I guess the most obvious difference is that all competitors were required to dress up as nuns.

The runners were offered a warm up exercise in the form of an aerobics session near the starting line. This was well attended and provided a great opportunity for a shot against the imposing buildings of the city.

Whilst the runners were finishing off their warm up, I walked quickly to the South side of Tower Bridge to get a suitable backdrop for the runners as they came by. I shot the London Marathon runners (albeit running in the opposite direction) from this locale in 2008 for the Muscular Dystrophy charity with the award winning photographer Richard Bailey (name dropper!). The sense of fun was tangible and thankfully (unlike in 2008) there was no rain.

Funnier still was the reaction from passers by. Whilst it would be difficult for people visiting London not to know that there was a marathon going on in the capital, this was a much smaller and shorter event and the runners had to share the roads with traffic and other pedestrians. At times, people were walking directly in the path of the running nuns, oblivious to their presence until they had passed. The stewards did a tremendous job given the circumstances and most people I saw looking on seemed to have an obvious sense of humour.

There is always a serious side to these events of course. Barnado's does vital work for children who are vulnerable and like almost every other charity, needs events like this to raise their profile and their funds to do the very best they can. The following quote is taken from the Barnado's web site.

"Whatever the issue from drug misuse to disability; youth crime to mental health; sexual abuse to domestic violence; poverty to homelessness; Barnardo’s believes we can bring out the best in every child. We run almost 400 projects around the UK: discover the work we do in your region."

The Barnado's web site can be found at http://www.barnardos.org.uk/

Reduce, reuse, recycle – buy Brooks.

2009-04-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Tim Hoy in Nico's Street (Gerrit Van Erkelstraat) - Zeeburg Holland

Have you ever noticed how customer service almost everywhere appears to have been dumbed down? With increasing unemployment figures and another recession in full swing, one might think that service providers might be a bit more proactive in ensuring that their customers have feelings of loyalty to the brand and want to continue doing business with them. Staff who have to deal directly with customers who have received little or poor training to do so, do such incredible damage to customer relations and the company’s reputation.

Increasingly I have to deal with automated telephone systems or on line customer service lines that requires a convoluted labyrinth of useless frequently asked questions only to be put on hold or have to start all over again when links are broken or systems fail.

This is not just an experience from Messrs Bodgit and Legit, but just as likely to be encountered when dealing with multi nationals and other corporate entities – I suspect I wont have to give readers any specific examples of those who operate in this frustrating manner as most people I discuss this issue with always seem to nod in agreement that pay to complain telephone lines and far from helpful on line services do indeed damage their relationship with the companies involved.

Having to deal with software companies, printers, wedding and event album suppliers and the host of other service providers that our photography workers’ cooperative entails often leaves me feeling somewhat let down when other people don’t seem to share my appreciation of reliable customer service. Thankfully, it’s not always like that and rather than bemoan the cut throats and corporate bunglers, why not instead use my blog to celebrate areas where it’s as good as it gets? So here goes.

Zeeburg at bedtime for most bikes.

Occasionally I am reminded that not every business operates on the rather perverse principle of “don’t talk directly to customers if you can help it”. I was thankfully reminded of this recently when I went to procure a new saddle for my hybrid bike.

New imported gel saddles last between six and seven thousand kilometres or about two years riding for me. They cost in the region of £30 a time and so I decided that the next one bought would be for life – I’m 49 now so wanted something to see me up to my 90th birthday. If I make it that far maybe I’ll buy another one. Whenever I asked the questions about reliability and longevity, the name of Brooks came to the fore.

Just before I went in search of the replacement, I was contacted by Nico Van-Zanden, a long standing friend of the family who administers the Netherlands office of TPS Photos. It’s a voluntary position, but one we hope to make functional and full time when the planned one stop wedding shop is completed.

This service currently runs via a series of independent providers who are disparate from the workers’ cooperative that is TPS, but it is a well organised network and ideal for anyone who plans a wedding in the Amsterdam area and needs a canal boat, DJ, band, dressmaker, florist, hairdresser, caterer, cake maker (you get the picture – or you will if you use us anyway).

Nico was to be our host for our 8 day cycling, live music and photography for stock & fun over the school spring holiday. Three others travelled to Holland with me; my wife Sian, daughter Cyd and her schoolmate Melissa. Prior to our trip we made a few telephone calls to Holland sort out the finite details of the itinerary.

During one of these conversations Nico stated that he’d broken his 40 year old Brooks saddle. This gave me the opportunity to take a more useful gift with us than the usual T shirts and socks.

Nico’s 40 year old broken Brooks

Because of the rather awful exchange rate (£1 virtually equal to 1 Euro) at the time of our visit it was a cheaper option to get the saddles in the UK. This might be seen as stating the obvious, but despite Brooks being an English company, the Netherlands bike shops purchase such a large volume of these high quality products (and probably experience lower council tax and other costs) that historically they were able to provide them cheaper than in the country of origin.

Nowadays I use just one bike shop in London – an independent family business called Central Cycles in Ballards Lane, Finchley. The father and daughter team of Rick and Daniella Scicluna have provided me with a first class service for all my family’s cycling needs for years. No nonsense, sound advice and reasonable costs – nothing ever appears to be too much trouble and even with a short deadline for the second saddle, they delivered on time.

http://www.centralcycles.co.uk/

After our arrival in Zeeburg, Nico was over the moon with his new comfy sprung seat, but on inspecting the now broken one, it was clear that it could probably be repaired.

Nico and Alex StClaire in Snelbinder’s rear yard

Alex StClaire – inside Snelbinder

Holland is of course full of bike shops – a wonderfully flat landscape for pedal power and the provision of safe cycle lanes in almost every street provide them all with their stock in trade. It’s a far cry from London with lots spoken about cycling provisions but little actual evidence that much is being done to make the streets safe and efficient for the most environmentally sound bit of road transport available.

I have been moaning about this for years, yet between my front door and my town hall where I go to attend the public road safety meetings, there is not a single metre of cycle lane on route.
For the past decade or so Nico has used a local bike shop called “Snelbinder” about a kilometre from his front door. There the proprietor Alex StClaire works in a similar environment to Rick & Daniella – no frills, no overpriced shelf fillers, but a down to earth waffle-free reliable service that involves trust from Nico and his friends that doesn’t appear to have ever been misplaced. At the time of writing this, the Snelbinder web site was still under construction.

http://www.snelbinder.com/home.htm

When we went there to purchase a couple of tools, an adaptor for the brand new Brooks saddle, two new pedals and some lights for the bikes we’d borrowed for our trip, Alex produced a box full of used Brooks saddle parts. One of the real joys of these robust saddles is that most of the construction is individual modular units such as springs, coils, the leather itself and so each part can be replaced if repair is not possible.

The term “modular” has been used by companies to imply progressive and environmental as each constituent part can be replaced and therefore less waste. Whilst the term modular may be seen as modern, it’s the way that Brooks have been building these sturdy and sustainable products since 1866.

Alex’s box full of Brooks bits

Within 10 minutes of our trip to Snelbinder, we now had three serviceable Brooks saddles, one of which had been made up of bits made by Brooks from as long ago as 1979. The refurbished saddle below has today been attached to a 30 year old bike in my shed at home In Willesden.

I took over 1000 images – 200 stock and the rest social stuff with family and friends and bikes and musicians. I got to see about half a dozen bands and played harmonica on about half of our nights out. Best of all I never used a single bus or tram – all my social and photographic trips were on the bike. All in all a lovely working holiday.

All fixed and ready for another few years.

Free Wedding Photography!

2009-03-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

Andrea "Andy" Lane

In 2008 a rather remarkable photographer called Andrea Lane was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully the disease was successfully treated, but these events always have a profound effect on those closest and the experience lit the blue touch paper on Andrea's subsequent quest.

As an active member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) and a prolific writer on their forum, she asked if any of the other professional wedding phtographers within SWPP would consider offering their services freely in order to raise some much needed funds for cancer research. The overwhelming support from this group of magnanimous people has ensured that Adrea's work was cut out in the months that followed her request. We're now on track to ensure the series of events goes to plan and makes enough money to make a difference. So - how can you help?

Do any of you know anyone who is planning to get married in the UK in October, November or December 2009? Particularly anyone who has been affected by cancer - which is actually most people at some time in their lives. What about a mate with a really tight budget who needs a decent break?

So far over 100 photographers from all over the UK have volunteered to help. They have donated a day's photography to the couples in exchange for them pledging to raise at least £300 for Cancer Research UK. The bride and groom (or both partners in same sex unions) don't have to do this by themselves and even if they only have 30 guests and each guest makes a token donation of £10 then the minimum target will be met. Tim at TPS Photos is amongst the volunteers for this venture.

There's a great incentive to make more though. The couple who raise the most for the charity will also receive a beautiful album in their prize.

Anyone interested in applying on behalf of themselves or their friends and families, should in the first instance apply to their most local Liaison Officer (the details of which are on the website at http://www.photographers4charity.co.uk/ ). The closing date for applications is 30th June 2009.

Not interested, but know someone who might be? Please pass on this information to them. Just 3 months to the closing date, so don't delay.

2009-02-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

This blog has been started by Tim Hoy, founder of TPS Photos (or Tadhg Photographic Services to be precise). TPS has operated on the principle of a workers' cooperative since January 1981. Our online galley is always open for viewing at http://www.tpsphoto.co.uk/

To coincide with the launch of our blog, we've also started to provide wedding photography gift vouchers for our clients. So many brides and grooms we meet don't need another toaster, but are struggling to find the money for the catering, the dress, the honeymoon, the venue, the band, the DJ, the gifts, the free bar (yes sometimes) the everything else that accumulates whilst they are planning that special day.

The good news is that your guests can purchase vouchers for the TPS wedding photography services. This gives the bride and groom the opportunity to upgrade to one of our top packages or merely reduce the cost of their existing contract.

From networking since 1981, we have been extremely fortunate and proud to serve with a number of other high quality wedding service providers. There are links to the many other people within our network from the TPS web site links page.

This month's earlier snow gave me the opportunity to take the camera to the park with the kids whilst the schools were closed. What started as a family snapshot opportunity turned into an event more akin to a wedding and portrait fair. Total strangers were asking me for my card. Thanks to everyone involved. Within this first post are a selection of my favourites taken that day.

5 people's work to tickle your fancy - starting with my own.

Tim Hoy http://www.flickr.com/photos/tpstim/

Tom Ivory http://www.flickr.com/photos/tpsphoto/

Hugh Hill http://www.flickr.com/photos/hughhillphotography/

Richard Bailey http://www.flickr.com/photos/38055015@N00/

Jon Jenkins http://www.flickr.com/photos/jinxyo/

More links later - this is MY blog after all. The first attempt. Started on 24th February 2009. It's my intention to do a monthly update - more frequently than that would require more staff!