Manchester Christmas Party Photographer

 Well it’s that time of year again when I start to take bookings for Christmas party photography. If you are having a Christmas event this year and need some pictures of your event please give me a call for a competitive no obligation quote and to check my availability. Based in Manchester and covering the North West I am an experienced and reliable professional events photographer with over twenty years experience. I cover all sorts of event photography from corporate to private functions from Xmas party photography at balls through to informal parties and functions. My photography services cover your event from start to finish, from informal photographs of guests arriving through to awards and prize-givings . If you want to get value for money from my photography services why not combine the event photography with updated staff profile shots ? We offer a quick turn around service at no extra cost. I am able to provide you with a gallery of images the next day and even prints within 3 days. Prices start at £185.00 for two hours including editing, parking and travel. If you want to see what my other clients think of my work check out my Google Plus review page – Google Revue  Merry Christmas. James

Editorial Photography

I was looking at adding some new examples of portrait and editorial photography to my website. I thought I would look for a local project to photograph. My local cycle shop turned out to be the perfect venue.

Eddie McGrath Cycles in Urmston, Manchester are your classic ‘old school’ high street bike shop selling everything from a puncture repair kit to a full mountain or road bike. What surprised me was that they also build and sell very trick carbon bike wheels under their brand ‘Sixth Element’. I thought the wheel building process and the shop would make an interesting faux editorial shoot.

I wanted to tackle the photography like an editorial photography commission. I aimed to show the wheel building process in a selection of reportage style photographs from small detail shots through to overall shots showing Graham, the owner, with a finished wheel. I also wanted to take some interesting environmental portraits.

Equipment – everything was shot on my canon 5D Mk3 using a 24-105 zoom lens . To light the shots I used two canon 600 flashes, using Pocket Wizards to sinc them. One flash was fired through an umbrella and the other one from floor height as a ‘fill’. I’ve been trying to reduce the equipment I take on jobs. I would much rather use a couple of lightweight flashes than portable studio lights. If you are interested in using off camera speedlights there is a great website and resource called The Strobist/blogspot

Technique – I like to create mood in my photography by using strong sidelight from a single flash and then just a little bit of fill light to soften the shadows. My main light and working aperture were set at f8 and the fill light at f4. Small speedlights and a stand take up no room at all and were easy to position around the shop. Also, as they aren’t mains powered they can be easily moved without having to trail lights across the floor or be near to a mains socket.

Overall I was pleased with the images and it just goes to show that you don’t have to travel miles to take interesting photographs.

There are other examples of editorial photography commissions and portrait photography on my websites gallery pages.

Estate agents photographer

Here’s a recent job for a home owner over in Sheffield who was unhappy with the photography taken by her estate agent. She didn’t feel that the photographs did her house justice and was having very few viewings. The photography made the rooms look small, were generally badly lit and weren’t showing her house off to its full potential.

Theresa, the client, understood the advantages of paying a professional property photographer to take some good quality images of her house. Showing the house off to it’s full potential would hopefully get more viewings and attract a potential buyer.

Most buyers now look online before deciding to view a property. It’s at this stage that you really need to stand out from the competition by having professional images taken that really sell the property.

Property developers, architects and estate agents all use professional photographers to show their properties off, so why shouldn’t home owners do the same? By commissioning a professional photographer you’ll get bright, well lit interiors, shot with professional quality wide angle lenses that will make the interior look its best. Result for you; more viewings!

As a professional photographer I have a proven track record of working with property professionals, ranging from estate agencies to architects and interiors magazines. You can view other examples of my work on the Interior Photography Gallery of my website.

If you fancy having a go at taking you own Estate agency photography click here to have a look at these tips from RightMove.

If you would like a competitive quote please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Regeneration photography in Old Trafford,Manchester.

I have recently been undertaking an architectural photography commission for Trafford Housing Trust , updating their stock image bank for use in future publications.

The first part of the commission was to photograph the regenerated tower blocks on the Tamworth Estate and two high-rise towers on the Hullard Estate in Old Trafford . The five towers , were looking a little tired and run down. Built in the 1960’s as part of the slum clearances they desperately needed a face lift. PRP Architects, Trafford Housing Trust and their contractors Seddon have certainly made vast improvements to the blocks .They look stunning against a blue sky. PRP architects and Trafford Housing Trust won an Architects Journal retrofit award for their work on the estates.

As usual, with this sort of architectural commission, getting good light is half the battle. I use an app called SunCalc to work out the sun’s direction so that each image is shot at the best time of day.

A good selection of shots was requested from Trafford Housing Trust, from photographs of individual blocks to groups of towers and then some detailed and angled shots. I was lucky enough to have access to the roofs of the blocks to get some images looking down. Unfortunately the external landscaping is not yet finished so I had to get creative with the angles to avoid any muddy area. I look forward to going back when It’s all completed.

You can view other examples of my architectural photography here or examples of my social housing work here.

Photographic Artwork copying and Repro.

Photography of paintings and artwork in Manchester and the North West.

I’ve just finished copying a batch of 10 images for the janet bell gallery. Janet is a landscape artist who paints and runs a gallery in Beaumaris, Anglesey.

I’ve been doing repro photography of artist’s work for a number of years using high quality, digital photography to copy their work. The files are then used to produce limited run, colour accurate Glcee prints.

All the work is photographed under studio lighting, colour balanced in Photoshop and saved as a high quality Tiff file. I prefer to work in my own studio but equally I can copy your artwork in your studio if this is more convenient. I have portable studio lighting and a plain white backdrop that can be brought to any location.

If you decide to copy your own artwork here are a few tips.

1. You need very even lighting, preferably from two sources. If using flash or tungsten lighting place the lights one on either side of the art work at 45 degrees. If you don’t have any lighting place your art work in indirect sunlight.

2. Use a tripod and line up the camera to the mid point of your artwork, try and keep everything as level as possible.

3. Use a light meter to make sure that the artwork is evenly lit.

4. Before you photograph the artwork it is useful to include a photographer’s grey-card or include a piece of white paper in one of your test photographs. This gives you a reference colour to work with in Photoshop.

5. Once you have taken the image, open in Photoshop and use your image with the grey-card or white paper to set the colour balance.

6. In Photoshop I would then square up the image and make any adjustments in 16bit mode to keep the file integrity.

I can now offer this service to other artists, whether you require flat art work copied or 3D sculpture. You could do all of the above yourself or simply contact me for a competitive, no obligation quote !

Retail Photographer

I was recently commissioned by Lush Cosmetics in my capacity as a retail photographer. They wanted a selection of images to show their 9 North West branches.,

Other retail photography commissions over the last year have been for Shoppertainment and Space and People. Each shoot is different but the bottom line is you need great shots of your retail environment, this is why you should use my professional retail photography services.

Any retail photography commission starts with a brief. What are you trying to communicate with your audience ? Are you trying to make your retail environment look busy , large and airy, clean and uncluttered. Do you want me to highlight the branding or the point of sale displays ? Whatever your requirements I’ll follow your brief and make sure you are 100% happy with the results.

I photograph using only the store’s existing lighting. This causes a minimum of disturbance to staff and customers. Retail lighting is an integral part of shop design so it’s important to let it do it’s job, as the designer intended, not blast it away with a load of flash lighting !

Using advanced digital photography techniques combined with a detailed knowledge of Photoshop I can bring out the very best in your retail environment.

Click here to view other examples from my Interior or Exteriors architectural photography galleries.

Johnny Vegas Book Signing Event, Urmston

Here are some photographs taken for Urmston Bookshop, of their book signing event for Johnny Vegas’s new autobiography ‘Being Johnny Vegas’.

I seam to be having a run on celebs at the moment,like the proverbial bus…none for ages then three at once!

Event Photography

I recently did a bit of event photography, photographing Barry Gibb of the BeeGees visiting his old school, Oswald Road in Chorlton, Manchester.

The School were after a record of his visit. Barry was opening a new nursery extension being built by Willmott Dixon construction.

This was certainly different from the usual press and P.R. photography I do. Barry arrived in a blacked-out Mercedes followed by two Mercedes vans with family and his head of security following behind.

With event photography I try and get a mixture of candid documentary images and a few staged ones that the school had requested.

It was really great to be part of this event…. felt a bit like photographing musical royalty !

Business Head and Shoulder Portraits.

I seem to be having a run on business head and shoulders portraits at the moment. AA projects in Sale, Manchester are currently having a new website designed and wanted to update their staff and directors’ profile images.

Here is a selection of ‘head and shoulders’ portraits. As well as the standard formal head and shoulders portraits they were keen to try and get a bit of ‘personality ‘ into the imagery. I tried to get some expression in the photography and show some hand gestures too. I actually got some quite interesting hand gestures but these were consigned to the cutting room floor !

As with previous portrait shoots I took my portable studio lights and a white background into AA Projects office. My portable portrait studio can be quickly set-up in your office. I can usually take 25 -30 staff portraits in an hour.

Whether you require an individual portrait of your MD or ‘head shots’ of your entire workforce please don’t hesitate to contact me for a competitive quote.

Head and Shoulders Business Portraits for WCHG

I am currently undertaking a head and shoulders portraits commission for Parkway Green and Willow Park Housing Trusts prior to their new group structure.

The new group is called Wythenshawe Community Housing Group. I was commissioned to take staff head and shoulders portraits of every member of staff for their new website.

Here is a selection of ‘head and shoulders’ portraits. Not the most exciting photography but a lot of it !

This sort of photography looks easy but you need to light the background separately from the person being photographed to get a nice clean white background. A lot of people to photograph too. I had a queue of 25 people waiting outside my room to be photographed;felt a bit like the school nurse!

My portable portrait studio can be quickly set-up in your office. I can usually take 30-40 staff portraits in an hour.

Whether you require an individual portrait of your MD or ‘head shots’ of your entire workforce please don’t hesitate to contact me for a competitive quote.

Manchester Event Photography.

Event photography is something I’m frequently asked to do. This event was a particularly interesting conference with a great speaker; futurologist Magnus Lindqvist. I know I’m at these events to work, but it’s good to hear what others are up to in these tough times and to come away from an event like this with a bit of inspiration for 2013.

Here is a recent job for St Vincents Housing Association, photographing their 2012 staff conference at Media City, Salford Quays.

It’s the first time I’ve photographed a conference at Media City, and the lighting conditions made the photography really easy. A nice bright venue complete with a Tardis and Darlek !

When photographing a conference, or similar event, I always try to get a selection of formal and informal images. The obvious formal ones are things like the speakers (both head and shoulders and while at the lectern). But it’s also nice to try and show audience reaction, along with any of the interactive elements of the conference. I also like to try and capture any merchandise or branding that’s been created for the event.

Have a look at my other events images on my P.R. and Events Gallery here,or my Social Housing Gallery here.
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