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Back in March April time this year I was approached by Andy Rao the editor of a brand new FREE Lifestyle Magazine for Shrewsbury, I’d previously taken PR shots for the In the Know and The Best of Shrewsbury (add a testimonial about my business) staff and being a fan of my photography Andy asked me to write my top tips to help people improve there photography. I jumped at the chance as I do enjoy writing and sharing my photography knowledge with people but the challenge for me was trying to keep things simple, as the article needs to have tips for everyone to understand. So after removing all the technical jargon and advanced skills from my mind I thought about all the things I point out to my mum and friends who are snapping away with there compact cameras, all the simple things you can do to improve your photographs and this is what I ended up with:
I’ve been asked to write another piece for “In the know” this month which will be out this month and don’t forget its free so pick it up! I was surprised how much good stuff was in the first issue, cooking, CV advice, property advice, health advice,fitness advice, photography advice, events and film reviews, advice for first time fathers! the list just goes on and on! After the success of the first issue you can expect more of the same and even more in this issue! Enjoy!

 

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Ant and kat’s wedding was an unusual one for me, I needed to be wrapped with a bow and possibly should of leapt out of a box! I was brought as a wedding present by one of their friends Dean who’s also a good friend of mine.

Once Dean had contacted me about the wedding my first question was do they already have a wedding photographer and the answer to that was yes, this posed a problem straight away but one with an easy solution, the expectations of the day had to be managed, I couldn’t get heavily involved and do all the traditional shots or take prime position during the ceremony as they were paying someone to do all that and whoever that photographer was would not be happy with me getting in the way. So after a bit of thought on the best way to do this, I realised it would be a great opportunity for me to shoot a wedding fully “Reportage” something I’ve always fancied but not something you can just do on a whim during some ones big day! I always mix styles on a wedding day capturing all the best parts in various traditional, reportage, high impact styles but with a relevance I feel fits that point of the day and the subject but I have never done a whole wedding reportage.

So it was decided, I would come along and shoot the day in a purely reportage style, keeping myself out of the way and not interfering with the booked wedding photographer Ant and Kat had already chosen.  My plan was to process all the images in black and white and have some fun with the day and try something new!

The wedding was in Essex, at the Fennes, Braintree and I had a room booked for the evening which was great as I could have a sociable drink or two after the work was done! I left Shrewsbury really early in the morning and got to the venue about 2 hours early but I’d rather be early than late! The venue was fantastic, a beautiful old mansion house and the bridal suite was actually a little cottage on the grounds, the venue only has a few bedrooms just enough for the main party and really allows the wedding to take over the old mansion making it a really private affair, giving me the normal feeling of being very privileged to be there.

The bridal party turned up first in a white stretch Limo, and I finally met Kat in person, we’d spoke on the phone but as they are all the way down south we’d not had chance to meet in person. Kat was whisked away to start the preparation and the boys arrived, I linked up with all the lads and joined them while they all got ready and sank some Fosters! Spirits were high and Ant didn’t seem nervous at all until he started getting changed and I could see a bit of reality hitting home in his face. At this point the wedding Photographer Ant and Kat had booked arrived, so I made sure I said hello and had a quick chat, I explained I was also on a paid job as well but will be shooting reportage and keeping out of his way as he’s the main photographer and he’s got to get all the standard shots in the bag, he seemed happy enough with the situation. I could tell he was a seasoned pro and had the confident energy and vocabulary to get the wedding pulled into line to allow himself to do his job with the minimum disruption but the right amount of direction, another bonus was I learnt quite a bit watching him work.

The venue itself was a beautiful old mansion house and the ceremony was in glass sided function room at the rear facing out to the gardens, the wall of glass provided some great lighting for the ceremony itself, allowing me to capture some really intimate moments between Ant and Kat, may particular favorite is this one just after they service has ended and they are now man and wife!

Once the ceremony was over everyone was moved outside for canapés on the lawn, while the main wedding photographer organized everyone for the couple and group photos, I hovered in the background and just photographed all the action as it happened.

Kat had these kind words to say:

“Mike hubbard was a recommendation from a friend who kindly sorted our wedding photographer for us. We were a bit apprehensive as Mike lived a few hours drive from us and our wedding venue and he had never been to the venue before. But we had no reason to be, Mike arranged a few calls with us both to get to know us, what our wedding would be like, all the details of timings, venue website, how we wanted our wedding day to be and what kind of photos we would like. We discussed some set up shots but really wanted natural shots of the day, us and our guests.

I arrived at our venue at 10.30am to find Mike already there scoping out the venue for shots, Our ceremony started at 2.30pm!! Mike throughout the day was professional but friendly and we thought we hardly saw him, until we saw our photos! He was polite to all our guests, made everyone feel at ease and worked brilliantly with the venue front of house and our timings.

The day after the wedding before we flew on honeymoon Mike kindly sent a couple photos by text to us, a brilliant idea as we were desperate to see some wedding pic’s before our honeymoon. We weren’t disappointed and couldn’t wait to see the rest. Mike sent down the photos and the DVD of the wedding snaps, WOW! I was completely amazed that the photos had captured every emotion of the day, the DVD is excellent. Mike had used our wedding songs to create an amazing modern slide show of the wedding day. Every time we watch it we can’t believe how the photos make you feel every emotion from the wedding day. Mike captured everything, we got all the photos we had asked for and much more. We can’t express how much we thank Mike for the photo’s he took, we now have an amazing gift to treasure our memories with.”

Jorge and Kelly got married at Delbury Hall South Shropshire on the 4^th of June. They asked me to take the photos at their wedding just over 12 months ago and of course it was my pleasure to do just that.

Before the wedding we had a pre wedding shoot and a look around the venue a month before. Although it can seem a bit unnecessary sometimes, especially as you get more experienced and if the couple are confident, I really think this is one of the most vital things to do. It gave us ample time to discuss the timings of the day in a relaxed setting and any particular shots they would like. There is always something you notice on the pre-visit that might trip you up on the big day itself. Also, on seeing the venue I was excited as it was a beautiful location and with some nice weather it would be a fantastic day for a wedding.

So when the day itself arrived after packing and unpacking my kit several times the night before and again in the morning I was good to go. The sun was shining and it was thankfully forecast to be sunny all weekend! On arrival to the Delbury Hall I had a good walk around again picking out some spots for the photos, the one problem I had was the weather was getting too good! Bright sunshine was beating down everywhere, so I had a good scout around for some shaded areas that I could use to photograph Jorge and Kelly. Luckily I remembered spotting a good spot on my pre-visit so as ever that trip was worthwhile.  Apologies for teaching people to suck eggs, but as I am sure you know, if you take photographs in direct sunlight you’ll end up with harsh shadows, with wrinkles and all sorts of things appearing on the skin, if you find some shade you will get a nice even covering of light across the face.

I met up with Jorge and the ushers at the venue, Jorge seemed pretty calm even when for a short period they thought one of the brides maid dresses may have been left back in Shrewsbury! Thankfully not one of the Photographer’s responsibilities. Relief all round when they found it!

Once the usual fumbling around with cufflinks and ties was finished we took a walk from the hall to the church. Delbury Hall is a great location as not only does the hall face onto its own small lake that you can walk all the way around but the Hall has its own access to the church via a short walk through a wooded area. A perfectly tended foot path led up to the church adding a great extra element to the whole experience for the bride on her way to the church.

I then high tailed it back to Delbury Hall to capture the bridal preparations. In true bridal style things weren’t running on time but Kelly looked stunning. Due to the schedule slipping my time (as ever you have to be brutal with timings) with Kelly in bridal prep was very brief and then it was time to go! Instead of a fancy car the bridal party had a really beautiful walk to the church. This meant I got my exercise for the day running ahead shooting then when they were almost on top of me running ahead again, so after pepper potting all the way to the church I said a quick hello to the vicar and got ready for the service.

Once the service was finished I asked the ushers to hold everyone back while I took the short walk through the trees with Jorge and Kelly, once I had got everything I needed we got all the guests to catch up so the whole group were walking back towards the Hall.

Once everyone was back at the Hall it was a perfect afternoon the sun was shining, the bubbly was flowing and the atmosphere was fantastic. I stole Jorge and Kelly away for 20 minutes to get some photos of the new Mr and Mrs. This is also a really nice time for the bride and groom to spend alone in the mass of greetings and well wishes from everyone. You can tell them this at the pre-meet and make sure they really enjoy this bit.

The plan was then to get the group shots in the bag but just as we got back it started to rain! Everyone headed over to the reception and some shelter, luckily it was only a brief shower and everyone was straight back out in the sunshine. Note it is vital to have a Plan B if this happens.

The meal and speeches soon followed, an excellent round of speeches from Jorge, Kelly’s Dad and the two best men, it had the full mix of tears and side splitting laughter! I don’t think Kelly and Jorge could have asked for a better day! From my point of view it went well. I was glad that I had done a pre-visit so I knew where the nice shady areas were. I also really learnt how you have to be prepared not just for a raining day, but if it starts raining mid-way through the group shots – I got away with it this time, but definitely learnt for the future.

Comments from Kelly:
“I could not recommend Mike enough. He was very professional, flexible and generally made the photos a very enjoyable experience, even at my most most stressed moments and there were a couple! From the first time we met up with him at the pre wedding shoot he really went through how we would like our day to go; so he could work with us to achieve this. I was not the most organised bride in the world and going through things with him at the pre wedding shoot, actually helped me plan my day!! He made at us at ease very quickly and really worked hard to get the best shots he could.
The wedding arrived so quickly , and as normal I was not running to time ! Mike worked around this very well and worked with what he could ! He really made everyone in my wedding party at ease and even though last minute on the day we decide to break up the photos in to two parts of the day, Mike worked round this to ensure we had all the photos we could ever need. All in all we were very please with Mike’s work, he was professional, great to have around on the day and most importantly we were very pleased with the end product. All our guests have been commenting on how good these photos are. Thank you”

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Another packed weekend of photography for me! I had the final shoot for Severn Radios New you for Summer competition winners, they came to me for some “before” photos 2 months ago and have been on a training regime planned by the Welti health and fitness centre in Shrewsbury over the last 8 weeks and it was now time for some “after” photos. We did the before and after photos on a white background and once we got that out of the way we took some proper photos, I’m slowly losing interest in the use of a white background and enjoying getting more creative with light and other backgrounds. Here’s some of the photos:

Severn Radio have used me before to get some images of there Breakfast presenter Neil Bentley, these images are now used on all Neils advertising and the Severn website.

Next I had to fly over to Longden to take some photos for Tim at Shropshire Hog Roasts, they were catering for a whole wedding not just providing the Hog roast, they provide everything you need for a wedding as well as Hogs! And needed some photos so they could advertise this fact. I wanted to catch them before the wedding party arrived at the venue so I could get photos of the brilliant rustic decore (and a grass bar!) they had set up inside the marquees as well as the pies and Hog! So here’s some of the images:

Well what a great couple of bank holidays it’s been, sunshine, BBQ’s and a Royal Wedding thrown in for good measure! I was actually lucky enough to be the wedding photographer and Katherine and Anthony’s wedding last Friday! it might not have been the royal wedding but it was a right royal affair! (I’ll be writing a separate post about their wedding)

I have finally finished getting my small studio set up, I moved into my new house last November and I’ve slowly been converting the ground floor into studio space. After advice from Damien Lovegrove and Catherine Connor, a lot of time, plastering and painting and I made a final investment into a new set of Bowens studio lights last week. I was ready to get things going last weekend so I asked for some volunteers to be test pilots via my facebook page and I had so many volunteers I sadly couldn’t use them all! But I did select a couple and give things a test run, these are a selection of those images.

The new studio space is brilliant it gives me the room to do all the things I want to do and more, also I have made the space a grey colour dulux “ice storm 2″ and that gives me the ability to control the light more and use coloured gels to achieve an endless amount of vivid colours! So watch this space for more shoots soon!!

Also here’s just one picture from Kat and Ants wedding this weekend just gone, I’ll be writing a full blog post about the wedding and sharing more images but hopefully this will give you a hint as to what they will all be like, I tried to capture as much natural emotion as possible throughout the day.

Another wedding and another fantastic location. 

I work with Vicky (when I am not being a photographer) so I already knew her very well and had also met Darrell a couple of times before. 

They booked me to do their wedding early in January 2010. At the time Vicky wasn’t pregnant but then a month down the line the good news arrived – Vicky and Darrell were now expecting there second child! This was obviously brilliant news for them, but it meant that Vicky would be nine months pregnant on her wedding day. After re-checking the dates (and with a silent prayer) they decided the wedding would still go ahead and Vicki would keep her legs and fingers crossed baby would hold out for one more day! 

A month before the wedding I went to visit Vicky and Darrell at their home in Birmingham. We discussed the wedding and the format of the day and how we could fit the photography into the precision operation that was the Mustard wedding! 

Taking the points I learnt from the last wedding with me into this plan: 

1. As the wedding was going to be at Dumbleton Hall (near Eavsham), 2.5 hours drive away I had requested a hotel room for the evening as part of the fee.  Note – see also the point further down about a hotel room for the night before!
2. I suggested we do the portraits of Vicky and Darrell after the ceremony before the groups, allowing less risk of losing time to the groups but also a chance for the two of them to have some time together nearly alone after just going through the emotional marriage ceremony.

We agreed the timings, discussed any particular images they wanted and they showed me some photos they had seen on the Dumbleton hall website. Darrell had also taken some photos of the grounds on his mobile and suggested some places they would like to have their photos taken. Before getting to this stage of discussion detailing plans of shots indeed before the booking is even confirmed, I always make sure the couple are happy with style of imagery. Also when we discuss the finer points of the day I am always open to suggestions about shots they would like and I will see if it’s possible on the day and at the same time still be able to keep to my own creative direction. 

Well the big day arrived and they had arranged for the ceremony to take place at 11.30am. Earlier than usual, but it worked really well. They had lots of time in the afternoon for drinks and photos and took “some” of time pressures away. 

Here’s what Vicky had to say about the day: 

With the ceremony at 11.30 and a 2.5 hour drive I needed to leave Shrewsbury early.  I agreed to get to the bridal party for 10.30 then allowing me 30 minutes or so with them and then time with the boys before the ceremony. Allowing for half an hour for traffic and another half hour for my assistant, we left Shrewsbury at 7 am. Have I mentioned my assistant? For this wedding I took an assistant with me, in the guise of my girlfriend Jo. She is very interested in photography and so it was a great opportunity for her to see me at work.  It worked out really well as she captured some brilliant reportage shots during the ceremony while I was organising the groups and taking the couple portraits. They complimented the overall wedding collection really well. Over the next year I plan to get some budding young photographers involved as assistants for various jobs as it helps me and helps them as well. I may be new into business but I know my way around a camera and can share that knowledge with them. 

So with another early start and a 2.5 hour drive I came to another conclusion/learning point – if the car broke down now we’d be up the creak – the job would be ruined and the bride very unhappy!! From now on any jobs a good distance outside Shrewsbury request a room the night before as part of the package to prevent a disaster. 

On arrival we drove up a sweeping drive way and we were presented with Dumbleton Hall in all its glory with the sun cresting behind it, “if the day holds out like this we’ll have a cracker!” (but what about the light – I hope it is not too bright). We pulled up and found Vicky walking out of the front door looking surprisingly relaxed for a 9 months pregnant bride just a couple of hours away from the ceremony. 

Jo and I spent some time with the girls getting ready. Then Jo stayed with Vicky while I nipped of to get some shots of the Darrell and the best man, Marc. I caught Darrell putting the finishing touches to his speech and there was even some early morning whiskey flying around, which made for some nice shots. 

The ceremony itself was held in a grand room covered with wooden panelling, the ceremony took place in front of some nice big windows so light wasn’t a big concern, Vicky came down the isle in a beautiful red dress. Vicky and bump looked amazing. I spoke with the Registrar before the ceremony and she explained she didn’t want any photos taken until they reach a certain sentence. The problem was that once they started I couldn’t for the life of me remember the words I was supposed to listen out for. Eventually, after racking my panic stricken brain, I remembered my cue. I stood there poised waiting. It was so frustrating as I kept seeing these great pictures forming in front of my eyes, but had to wait. Eventually they got to the sentence and I could commence shutter action. 

With the ceremony over, I managed to prise Vicky and Darrell away from all the champagne and congratulations, it is very easy for the bride and groom to lose track of time so I needed to keep an eye on the time and usher things along. We had pre-agreed that it was a good idea to do the couple portraits before the groups. They had a nice walk together and some quiet time to reflect how now they are married. Except for me bouncing around and keeping them both entertained. Remember though, that it is these moments which will create the photos they will look at for years to come and have on there walls.   

With the couple portraits and groups done, we dived straight into the meal and speeches. While this was going on I backed all my flashcards up and captured lots of candid shots. 

Finally the first dance came around and I was ordered by the bride and groom to put my camera away and have a drink! So I followed orders and the rest is history! Sambucas anyone? Let’s just say I needed a fry up in the morning!! 

Big thanks to Vicky and Darrell for a fantastic day! and congratulations! x

As I’ve develop my photography business I have concluded that weddings are going to form a large part of what I do. But weddings have always scared the life out of me!

I remember back in 2008 a close friend of mine, Nicky, asked if I would take the photos at her wedding. I had never really thought of wedding photography before and the whole idea was a bit worrying. It’s a one shot deal, you can’t ask them to get married again if you don’t get the images first time round! But at the same time I did kind of like the idea so I suggested Nicky and Guy get a professional in and I would bring my camera to the wedding and take some photos too. This would allow me to take photos at my leisure without the added stress and responsibility of being the main photographer.

When I look back now considering the kit I had and how much I know now about cameras, light, lenses etc (and didn’t know then) I did okay. Nicky and Guy were really pleased as well – which was the main thing. I didn’t then go on to conquer the wedding photography world. Far from it I knew I needed more experience before I took the plunge.

A few years later, and what seems like a lifetime away, I returned from a tour in Afghanistan and picked up the British Army Amateur photographer of the year award. Thoughts of wedding photography were far from my mind. Then out of the blue I was contacted by Christine and Tony Fox, a lovely couple who were due to get married in March 2010. I explained I didn’t have much wedding experience, but they said they didn’t want an official photographer and they were going to collect all their friends’ images at the end anyway. So we came to an agreement and I covered their wedding – helping them out and giving me some much needed experience. As ever it is the results that count and they were over the moon with the images. My confidence grew and I then knew that I could do it.

So a few weddings down the line business is really picking up and I thought I would document the weddings I cover for two reasons. Firstly so potential brides and grooms can see my work and get a feel for how I work on the day (after all you need to be happy with the photographer you choose on such a special day). Secondly so other photographers out there or those considering making the move into wedding photography can also share everything I learn on my journey.

I will begin with “Struth what a wedding!”

First of all here’s what Stu and Ruth had to say about the day:

Mike was a really good choice of photographer. Before the event he took time to understand what it was we wanted – a relaxed casual affair full of fun not formality – and adapted his approach and manner accordingly. Although we’d asked Mike for a list of set photo’s he was at it all day and all the best pictures are the un-planned snaps perfectly capturing the occasion.

Mike’s relaxed mood got the best out of us, neither of us particularly enjoy being in front of the camera, and meant we could enjoy the occasion rather than run away and hide from all the attention!

I think our friend Naomi summed it up the best ‘”Loved the photos! There are some beautiful ones of you & Ruth! Think the photographer has done a great job of catching everyone’s expressions and the general happiness of the day!”

As with most weddings early on in any photographer’s career, the bride and groom were already friends of mine. Speaking with other photographers this is very common. Of course it’s still a stressful time for the photographer, but you do feel a bit more at ease when you already know them. My jokes always seem to go down better as well. Although maybe that’s not a good thing!

I knew Stu from work at BT, he used to be my manager and I had met his bride to be Ruth once before on a work night out. So when Stu approached me I was more than happy to take on the job. Although, as with any wedding, I still had to make sure my style of photography is what they want. It is absolutely vital that the bride and groom have seen your images and really like them, after all that is how their wedding photos will look and the last thing you want is a deeply upset bride because the reportage style images you took are not the traditional images she has been dreaming off for the last 20 years.

Before accepting any booking I always go and meet the couple, to make sure we all get on and my images are the images that they want. Having a good relationship with the couple is so important – you are being invited to the biggest day of their lives. I do think of it as a privilege to be involved and invited to such a personal day. You are being part of and recording segments of the day that some of their closest friends and family won’t see.

Stu is a very organised chap and sent out full information packs to all the guests with, photos, maps, graphs, spreadsheets, time tables, retina scans, in fact the works. This was most useful for me as this was all information I needed before the big day. As ever planning is the key to success and a smooth day. It is so important to make sure photography is included in the planning for the day. Trying to squeeze photography into a plan that’s already written is the road to disaster. I would go as far to say that you must insist on this with the couple and explain to them how long it can take to round people up and how stressful it can be for the couple. Also I explained that it is one day where people will do what they are told – no questions asked – so you just need to have a plan and timings in place.

Included in the information Stu sent out:

Struth – we’re getting married!

www.chicheley-cottage.co.uk
www.struth-wedding.co.uk

After getting engaged in Cornwall in summer 2009 we’ll be getting married exactly a year later on the 18thSept 2010 at St George’s Church, where we first met.
After the service at St George’s we’ll be heading to a lovely Georgian Manor (Cranford Hall) near Kettering for afternoon tea in the gardens followed by an informal Lincolnshire Hog Roast in the evening. We’re planning on making the whole day as relaxed as possible so don’t expect the traditional wedding but we hope it’ll be a day to remember! Pimm’s anybody?

When the day of the wedding came I needed to be in Stamford to meet the boys at the Perwig pub at 11.30am. The worst thing that could ever happen is to be late for the wedding! So with that in mind, allowing 2.5hours for the journey and adding an extra half hour for delays plus another hour to find the church and get some pictures before meeting the boys, I got up at 6.30am and left Shrewsbury at 07.30.

I found http://www.stgeorgeschurch.net/ easily, a beautiful church situated centrally in Stamford and surrounded by lots of old buildings, cobbled roads and side streets, all perfect for great photos! Unusually I didn’t have to meet the bridal party to get some pre wedding photos as Ruth didn’t want any, I am normally quite keen on these images as they really do start the story of the day off well, plus you can capture some really beautiful images during the bridal preparations. But it was her choice of course.

With no bridal party to meet I set of from the church where I’d been getting my bearings and introducing myself to the vicker and headed for the Perwig pub to meet the boys. I arrived to find everyone stood outside the pub. It seemed that Stu’s meticulous planning, pie charts, time tables and spreadsheets didn’t involve checking the pub opening times! Which provided some laughs and good photos whilst we all waited for the doors to open half an hour later.

After a few beers (unfortunately none for me as the consummate professional) to settle the nerves it was time to get the groom to the church.

Once in the church I had already spoken with the vicar that morning and figured out where I could shoot from and when I was allowed to take photos and use flash etc. This kind of early prep really does help as everyone has so much on their plate and they all have their own role in the wedding to worry about.

Ruth arrived and, in true bridal style, she looked beautiful. Another reason I like to get some bridal preparation shots in the morning is so the first time the bride sees you isn’t seconds before she’s walking down the aisle. Having a camera pointing at you takes a few moments to get used to so if she has had the morning to get used to it, that’s one less thing to add to her nerves on arrival at the church.

Into the ceremony there isn’t a lot of moving around you can do without causing a distraction – I try to be invisible! Just me, the camera and the limited church light. I think the key here is confidence – you are doing your job so just be confident and get on and do it. People expect the photographer to move around and filter it out – but don’t run around like a mad thing either.

Once the ceremony was finished and Stuart and Ruth were officially husband and wife! It was time to head over to Cranford Hall a fabulous Georgian Manour, on arrival you were ushered to the back lawn where a fantastic selection of canapés and drinks were laid out.

I found a great spot for the group photos, one of the most important lessons I learnt from this wedding was about group photos. Before the wedding I asked Stu to provide a list of the groups they wanted so I could arrange the groups quickly and efficiently, at this part of the day you’ve got two parts to think about, group photos and the couple portraits. Personally I think the couple portraits are the most important. After all its one of these images they are going to have on the wall to remember there special day for the next 20 years. During the planning we had arranged to do the groups first then once they were out of the way do the couple portraits. Once we started the groups it was all going well and half way through it started raining! I only needed 10 more minutes and the list would have been done! The rain may have brought a halt to the photos outside but as they say the show must go on. I always have some studio lights in my car just in case, I had checked with the staff at Cranford hall and they had a drawing room we could use, so I got the lights out of the car and set my self up in the drawing room to get the last few groups done. Once in the drawing room and I was set up the groups just seemed to keep coming and the time flew by and the light started to go outside. When you get married at lunch time you’re going to be slipping into late afternoon very quickly. I suggested to Stu and Ruth we really need to knock the groups on the head so we can get some quality time for their photos and they agreed, point to note always keep an eye on the light. One we got into the portraits we were done quite quickly, it was great having the old drawing room to use.

Once the speeches and cutting the cake were over, it was time for an amazing hog roast, not least because I was in need of some food. I had survived all day on a McDonalds breakfast and it was a lesson to me to pack some snacks. Then it was time for the first dance at 9pm and the last task for me. Once the dance was over that was my cue to get off and go home.

One last thing though – I needed to make sure all my images are backed up so I went back to my car and plugged the memory cards into a portable card reader. It is 300gb and you can plug any card into it and it backups up all the images. Sitting down while the card reader did its thing I suddenly felt very tired. A wedding makes for a very long day, up at 6.30am and on the go from the minute you see the wedding party until you’ve bagged the shots you need from the first dance – over 12 hours and your mind is racing the whole time. Well mine is – I suspect some seasoned veterans do it in their sleep but I’m still thinking a million miles an hour. My mind suddenly stopped whirring and I then had the 2.5 hour drive home, 20 minutes into the drive I had to stop for a cup of tea and I think it was the best cup of tea I’ve tasted!

Final point to note – any wedding bookings outside of Shrewsbury add in a hotel room as part of the package.

Lifestyle Portraiture from Mike Hubbard on Vimeo.

Lifestyle Portraiture from Mike Hubbard on Vimeo.

The last 3 weeks have been hectic!! I really don’t know where to start!

Over the last 2 weeks I have been lucky enough to have received photography training from 2 totally different sources! The first week was at the Defence School of Photography, RAF Cosford, which was nice and local. This is part of my training programme with my TA unit Media Operations Group (Volunteers), getting me up to the standard to work as part of the media gathering combat camera teams that are on operations around the world. Over the week at DSOP I received training in Static Camera Surveillance, it was a really interesting week, a bit back to basics to start with as the course is tailored for those who have not handled an SLR before but it really never hurts to work on your foundations again, we worked on Manual focus and exposure all week as you can’t rely on auto focus when your hiding in a bush! By the end of the week I’d got my hands on the 600mm lens, got to grips with photographing number plates at distance on moving vehicles amongst many other things and finished top of the class! Mind you I think that was down to bringing the teacher an apple each morning!

So the next week… well I had a great phone call during the last day of my course in Cosford! Well 2 actually, one from Catherine Connor and the other from Terry Hope the editor of Photo Pro magazine. A while back I actually wrote into Photo pro magazine as they were doing a monthly feature helping out photography businesses, I wrote in explaining I was just getting setup, just buying a house hoping to use part of it as a studio and could they help me with some guidance, really not thinking they would pick me and they did! Much to my surprise I had a call from Catherine Connor who at the time was part of Annabel Williams’s contemporary photographic training, fantastic!! Catherine arranged to come down and meet me and discuss my plans, we met and talked about my ideas, Catherine had a look around my new build to try and get an idea of my vision and really quizzed me thoroughly about my plans, she offloaded shed loads of advice and ideas and that was that, but it wasn’t….

When Catherine came to see me, she gave me some home truths about running a successful photography studio and the fact I really couldn’t run it from my home, she suggested meeting clients at other studios, hiring the space or even meeting clients out at coffee shops and taking some photos outside, all this was very new to my bubble the bubble I had created, I had a plan in my head and that was the plan I had convinced myself would work. When you’ve some one like Catherine, the best in the business advising you otherwise it’s a bit of a knock back. When Catherine left I didn’t totally understand what I needed to do or maybe I didn’t want to understand the drastic change in direction I needed…. Catherine luckily had a plan, the phone calls I received were both to ask the same thing, am I available to go on a course next week? When Catherine explained the course if I could have, I think I would have bitten her hand off but the phone was in the way!

Catherine Connor and Annabel Williams parted there business and Catherine has set up her own new empire with Jane Breakell at a beautiful location in Cumbria, Dalton Hall, The Stable Yard and the studio is part of the old stable yard converted into new stylish units that still keep the character of an old stable yard, ideal for photography training. The new business is called Aspire Photography Training and the course Catherine put me on was The A to Z of Photography and Business. The course was 4 days, fast paced and packed full of information! all of it brilliant and vital to any photographer setting up a business. The main thing I took away from the 4 days for my business was to knock it all down and start from scratch! Everything Catherine had tried to explain to me weeks ago suddenly clicked, the penny dropped. To actually run a business I need to create a business, it needs to run like a business, it needs to feel like a business and it needs to look like a business. The most important thing is my brand, I don’t have a shop front but I have a product, my photography is something people want to buy but with no shop to display it in my brand is based around my website and me, if the shop looks shabby do you go in…

I now don’t even think I want to take many photos in the studio especially of family’s, I love the lifestyle concept, your not just selling some photos, your providing a great experience to a family, being invited to spend time with your clients family given the opportunity to capture those amazing moments of happiness and emotion, getting chance to see the natural characters within their family dynamic that you just can’t in a studio environment, don’t get me wrong in the studio you can still create and capture stunningly beautiful images that captivate a different style of emotion but I get a different feel from lifestyle photography. Then once the images are captured it’s all about there presentation, they aren’t just jpegs to stick on a CD, they are portraits and deserve to go into beautiful frames, on a high quality canvas or acrylic to really appreciate the beauty of the images.

The A-Z course is fantastic it not only gives you the tools to get all your ducks in a row but Aspire take each duck and explain it in detail, leaving you with piles of useful notes to refer back to. Go on the course as a skilled photographer wanting to set up a business and you will come away with the training to set your business up from scratch and have the foundations to make it a success. Bearing in mind Catherine and her team have helped set up some of the most successful photographers in the business; you can tell the course is based on mountains of experience, all the lessons learned and mistakes made.

The A-Z course will give any one planning on setting up a photography business the perfect foundations to build something amazing but also provide the tools to build and run that business successfully, a lot to do in 4 days but Aspire do it perfectly!

We explored the concept of Lifestyle photography, with the help from 2 great photographers, Ian Scott and Stewart Randall. We had a day with each, they were both very knowledgeable and brilliant photographers! It was nice to be taught by 2 different photographers as they were both very different in there choices of equipment and technique, it just proved that there is no concrete right or wrong way, the fundimentals are the same but you can go about it your own way and still produce the goods. Lifestyle is something that has passed me by until now I’ve been so very blinkered with, family portraits, white back drop and smile! Of course they are great and will always have there place, I intend to keep working hard on the mail/female fashion and style studio shoots and hopefully some more commercial work, so the studio is always going to be some where I love to work! I’m actually booked onto a studio lighting course tomorrow with Damien Lovegrove to fine tune my studio skills.

So what now, i’ve just got freebird on board to begin the redevelopment of Mike Hubbard Photography and I’m really keen to get stuck into Lifestyle portraits, especially with the autumn colours and winter knocking at the door! Its colourful wellies, hats and scarf season!!

These first shots are of Sonny Wharton he is a professional DJ and the images from the shoot were for promotional use by him and his agent at Strong Hold Artists. We spent about 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon going to several locations in Shrewsbury and getting a varied collection of shots, we went to 3 different locations, under a railway bridge, the Shrewsbury column and a pedestrian subway, we got some great shots at each location.

This first shot was under the railway bridge. I had an SB900 to my left set to 200mm, this will be the key light, the great thing about the new SB900 is you can zoom the flash up to 200mm this gives you a smaller area of light so you can really focus it in on your subject, by getting Sonny into position and angling the SB900 so it was pointing down his nose at 200mm I new it would hit him square on in the right place. The second flash a smaller SB600 I had over to the right, this would provide a backlight and by adding a blue honl filter it would give the image that extra punch. I zoomed the SB600 out to 100mm this would give a larger pool of light covering more of the wall, at the same time only a small amount will spill onto Sonny and what does will be over powered by the focused flash of light from the key light.

This is a diagram of how the flashes were set up.

The next photo i selected from the days shots is this one of Sonny stood in front of the Column by the Shirehall in Shrewsbury.

Again for this shot I used both flashes, the SB900 for the key light and SB600 providing the back light, I had my 18 – 70mm lens at 18mm and lay down on the floor with the camera on the floor, the wide angle of the lens and looking up from below I’m able to really play with the perspective of the column in the back ground, using the trees to the right and the column to frame sonny against the sky in the back ground. By having the backlight lined up behind Sonny it really picks him up and lifts him out of the photo, if the backlight wasn’t being used he would blend into the background allot more, I’ve even had a few people ask if I added him to the photo using Photoshop and No we were definitely there but that’s the impact you need, the subject of the photo should be what your eyes are drawn too.

A Sketch of the lighting setup we used at the Column.

I’m still learning all the time and I really enjoy these type of shoots as it gives me chance to practice and try out new things. Great sources to learn from are The Strobist a great blog that also has a massive Flickr group. My favourite however has to be the master of photography Damien Lovegrove, I have watched lots of his DVDs and enjoy reading the articles he writes for Photo Pro magazine, most of the new skills i pick up are from his tutoring whether its DVDs or reading. I’m also booked on a few of his courses over the coming months to really start to push myself on technically. Damien also has a great blog prophotonut.