Wildside Photography

Happy New Year

2012-01-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

Hi there, first post in a while ! January is always a busy time for us as it is our end of financial year! We have had a few events in January so instead of trying to cover them all in one post I will list them individually . Suffice to say we are looking forward to a good 12 months of frolicking and fun :-) I wish all of our customers both old and new a very happy new year and thank you for all your support over the last 12 months.

Zoe & Greggs Photobooth pictures

2011-11-07T04:36:00.001-08:00

You can see all Zoe and Greggs photobooth pictures on our facebook page, photo party booth hire.

Here are a few samples.

zoe & Greggs wedding 5th November

2011-11-07T03:07:00.000-08:00

Zoe & Gregg were married in Cyprus but had a wedding reception at Blackpool football club on saturday 5th November, we had a great time on the football pitch and got some great shots. Zoe and Gregg also had our photobooth, all the guests had a fantastic time.

Portrait shoot more shots

2011-10-19T17:27:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would upload some more shots from tonights portrait shoot. Bear in mind these a low resolution son that I could upload them quickly.

Portrait shoot

2011-10-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your messages of support and understanding, we had our first portrait session since re-opening tonight. It went really well and I think a good time was had by all!

Christmas Baby competition

2011-10-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

Throughout November we are going to hold a christmas baby competition, it will run on specific days throughout November, these will be posted on our websites, facebook and blog nearer the time. The winner will recieve their favourite picture as a mounted and framed picture, acrylic, canvas or floating print worth £250 !! more details will follow.

WE'RE BACK !!

2011-09-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello once again, after what has been an eternity we are back up and running, I have had a particularly bad virus but am now on the mend. We had over 15,000 photographs to process, we've managed to knock it down to 13,000.

We will be contacting people over the next week to arrange for them to come in and view their photographs.

I'll be glad when we are back on track and everything is up to date.

I will keep everyone posted.

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THE STUDIO

2011-08-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

We have had a really busy summer what with the baby & toddler competition, that kept us out of the studio for four weeks, I returned with a severe virus and have been unable to open the studio since. Hopefully I am on the mend and will be returning to work in the near future. Please bear with us,we have not closed or ceased trading. It has just been an unfortunate set of circumstances that has left us out of the studio for so long.

I apologise for any inconvenience and hop to speak with you all upon my return.

New face book page

2011-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since i updated this page, but I thought I'd say hello and tell you all about our new facebook page to promote our fabulous Party Booths,log in to face book and find our page at wildside party booths. The booth is going very well it has been out a few times this month and has had a great deal of interest. Click here to go straight to it.

Photo Party Booth in full swing

2011-05-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Three Generations having fun

2011-03-29T03:48:00.000-07:00

John & Sheila Cross brought their wonderful family for a portrait shoot in early March, a good time was had by all. Looking back we have three generations all together what a wonderful memory imortalised in print for eternity!

Thank you for sharing this experience with me, we got some great photographs and hopefully you all had as much fun as I did.

Thanks

Paul.

FANTASTIC OFFER ONLY AVAILABLE FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS!

2011-03-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

One hour portrait session
Over 200 photographs to choose from
Fun filled, laid back shoots there to enjoy
DVD with all images taken as hi-res JPEGS
6 8x6 prints

This package is worth £175 for a limited time only it is yours for only £45.

Whats the catch ? There is none, except of course to pay me £45 !

You walk away with 6 8x6 prints and a dvd full of the pictures from the shoot, with a full print licence to do with them what you will.

THIS IS A GENUINE LIMITED TIME OFFER ... PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY.

I WILL COME TO MY SENSES, THEN ITS FINISHED !

Check it out here - http://www.wildsidephotography.org/html/special_offer.htm

Photographic Party Booth

2011-03-11T04:49:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Just thought I'd tell you a little bit about our Photographic Party Booths. The booth looks similar to the old passport style booths, however that's where the similarity ends. Our booths are much bigger and can accommodate up to six people comfortably. The booth is fully automated and prints the images out there and then.

Your guests will love it and depending upon what package you go for you get either a photographic guest book or the images on a hires dvd as a memento.

Originally we started with two packages, £495 and £595, details of all our packages can be found at http://www.eventphotographerblackpool.net/ , however we understand that if you are having a 21st birthday you may not want to part with that much money. So we are offering budget packages from £175. The main difference is that in the budget packages your guests pay something towards the prints, for example on the £175 package, your guests would pay £3 every time they wanted to use the booth. These package prices are for the basic booth only, extras include personalised layouts, photographic guestbook, props box and stand, the list is endless. Needless to say that the £495 & £595 packages still include many of the extras and totally unlimited FREE photographs for your guests. Visit our website above for further information and we hope to see you at your party !!

Hilton Prom fair 17th Feb

2011-03-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry this one is out of sync but I forgot to mention about the Hilton Prom fair, we had a great time, as always and got lots of new leads. Here are some of the photographs from the fashion show.

Wedding Fayre Savoy Hotel 3rd March

2011-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Come and see us at the Savoy Hotel on Thursday 3rd March from 6pm. Look forward to seeing you there.

Wedding Fayre 27th Feb (This Sunday)

2011-02-24T04:14:00.000-08:00

£100 off our Gold package or higher when you see us at the wedding fayre and mention you read our blog !

Thats right, £100 off any of our luxury packages (Gold package or higher) When you mention this blog at the wedding fayre in Leyland.

So come along and have a chat, we'll be happy to spend some time with you explaining our packages.

Red Shoe Dance Evening on 12th Feb 2011

2011-02-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

The red Shoe society holds a dinner dance every so often at the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool. It has been our good fortune to photograph the event for two years on the run. The latest get together was held on Saturday 12th Feb, I can only say a great time was had by all and we are very grateful to be invited to share in the fun. Many types of dance are performed from a nice waltz to a bit of rock and roll, I was certainly impressed by the moves of some of the elder members who seemed to be able to show us young ones a thing or two!

I would like to thank the organisers for having us along and hope everyone enjoyed their pictures as much as they enjoyed their dancing.

For more information on the Red Shoe, check out their website ; www.theredshoe.co.uk

Debenhams Wedding fayre

2011-02-20T02:32:00.000-08:00

Hi,
just a quick post to say we are at Debenhams for a wedding weekend again thsi weekend, so if anyone is out and about you can find us there.

Hope to see you there.

Preston Prom Fair

2011-02-11T04:57:00.001-08:00

Well its that time of year again, the prom season is upon us, each year we attend prom fairs organised by schools, colleges and the Evening Gazzette to promote our services. These include Pre-prom shoots, which is similar to the before pictures of a bride preparing herself for the big day, then afterwards once she has transformed into a princess for the evening. Proms have become an important part of year 11 school life, so it is important to get some nice momentos of the occaision. The shoot usually includes family members and other friends as and when they meet up. If the prom goers are being chauffered in a limo then we capture those moments too.

We also attend School Proms as the official photographers, it involves setting up a back drop and studio lights and taking pictures of individuals, couples or groups throughout the night. All images are printed there and then and are reasonably priced.

Last night was the Preston College Prom Fair, it was well attended, much better than I thought it would be, with many different exhibitors. We were giving away free photographs and keyrings to promote our services. It was all well recieved and we recieved some good leads and a couple of possible bookings. Unfortunatley the Blackpool Gazzette who organised the event were struggliing for a photographer to cover the cat walk show, so they asked if I could do it for them. I found it funny that a newspaper would struggle with finding a photographer, but I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to get some of my photographs into the newspaper! I have attached the ones that they have settled on this morning, but obviously they may not use all of them, we'll have to wait and see. It won't be the first time I have had my photographs in the newspaper and hopefully it won't be the last.

For anyone that is interested we have another prom fair at the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool next Thursday, its good fun and if you come and see us you'll get a free photograph !

Portraiture - A different take everytime

2011-02-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

You would think that after a while Portrait sessions would practicably be the same, but I was sat here looking over old work and realised that could never be farther from the truth. Looking over the last few months every portrait has been an original. I had two shoots one after the other, both included three children, yet the shots for each were totally different. There were a couple of shots that were similar but on the whole I reached in and pulled out a whole new set of ideas for the second shoot. Thats not to say that you couldn't make each one exactly the same, but then you would be on autopilot, you would lose that spark of enthusiasm that you have every time you get a new subject in front of your camera. Consequently you would lose your business.

If you stand there taking photographs and not showing any emotion or enthusiasm how can you expect your subject to get in the flow? The reason I believe each set is different with me is that the whole experience is shared by both the photographer and the subject, we should all have fun and bounce off each other throughout the session. Likewise each has an input, you learn to work with your clients, take a seed, something they may have hinted on or stated in a throw away comment and build upon it. Don't be arrogant to think that you know everything, if a client has an idea, take that idea and build it into a workable shot. Their idea might not be a good one, but you may see something else nestled in there that will work. You have to be adaptive to the situation and your environment, learn to think on your feet, look for opportunities that may make a great shot and I promise your photography will improve. This is applicable to all photography, whether you are shooting a portrait in the studio or a wedding in Stanley Park.

All that said, always respect your clients wishes, if they want to just sit there smiling at the camera then let them. You can only work within the parameters set by your subject. At the end of the day I am in business to make money and I do that by making my clients happy and giving them what they want. Always listen to what people want, some of us think we are listening, but then ride roughshod over other peoples ideas without any consideration. I have taken wedding bookings on the strength of the fact that I listen and understand the needs of my customers.

Studio Lighting

2011-02-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

Well here we are another week, thought I would share a snipet of wisdom with you. Well thats wrong Me and wisdom in the same sentence. Here we go;

High Key lighting can be tricky, it all depends on what you want to achieve, we get a lot of reqests for lifestyle candid shoots, even when doing lifestyle shoots I always try and get a couple of posed shots especially where kids are involved. That said even life style shoots require direction otherwise they look haphazard and just wrong! Lighting with kids can be very difficult, gone are the days when you take fifteen minutes to set up your lighting for a particular shot, (Well in modern family photography anyway). Your lighting has to be fast, efficient and able to cope with any situation. Fast and able to cope are actually the same thing, it just sounded cool :-) It is no good if you have to alter your lighting because little johnny has gone for a wallk around the set. You want to be able to continue shooting from any angle without worrying too much. This is the holy grail of modern family photography, how to achieve this. By efficient I mean that the lighting needs to provide adequate light, you don't want to burn out your subject if they move closer to you, and like wise you don't want to underexpose should they have moved too far back. Up until recently I have used four lights for high key work, two background lights, and effectively two key lights. The two light system is something that has been used for glamour models for ages, it provides a nice even light and can be quite punchy if done properly. The problem you get is that if you are stuck for space it can be a difficult one to pull off, if your subjects hits the floor crawling you find yourself adjusting to compensate, then they stand up and off you go again.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine Sheila from Dove Photography (Check out her website) came to the studio with her family to do a few shots, wile we were having a break she mentioned Venture photography (A large franchise photography studio with studios all around the country). Being a photographer you are alway curious about the work arounds of other studios, so we chatted about their lighting system. Just as Venture do we shoot into a corner, I have produced something of an infinity cove, Sheila said they reflected the light of the corner walls and this provided soft light. I was intrigued and a little annoyed I had spent the last two years finding ways to cut the over spill of this light back onto my subject. Here they were using that spill light as a key light of sorts. So it was that the following Monday I had a play with the lights and hey presto, we have a lighting solution that is fast, efficient and able to cope with any situation. I actually use three lights, I have two 600's bouncing off the highly reflective walls, which have a dual purpose they light up the background but also provide a great soft lighting solution to my subject. I also have a 300 shooting onto a reflector to the rear and high up so that the light bounces back into the area. It means that I can shoot from anywhere around the studio at any angle and the light is pretty good (Even) The shots below are examples of the new lighting, the first one is with my subject in the middle of the studio floor, the second one I have not cropped, so you can clearly see that the little tyke is heading off the edge of the studio floor, even so this side on shot is very well illuminated. I will go through the shots and see if there are any other clear examples of various angles correctly lit. Once the lighting had been set up I could concentrate on taking the shots, not once did I have to adjust anything.

2011-02-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well we have had two portraits today, both went well, however they always say don't work with kids or animals, personally I find animals to be great to work with. Seriously the kids today were just kids, such is the job of the family photographer, its can be hard work when a two year old gets one on them. Perseverance ...and patience are the only ways to ensure you get some good pics. I will upload some of them once they have been developed. It was Alexs' first experience with a portrait session, hopefully it didn't put him off!!! Alex has been working for me for a week now, he is settling in nicely and I hope he sticks with it, because he has really contributed this week and made my life easier.

Some of Shannons work as promised

2011-02-04T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well its a week now since Shannon Young came here for work experience, hopefully she learned something, I like to think that I make their week or two weeks training interesting. I promised Shannon that I would upload some of her work so here they are, can I just say that I gave Shannon a few bits of advice but then left her to it in the studio and this is what she managed to produce. WELL DONE !

New Horizons

2011-02-04T02:57:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone, what an awful wet and windy morning, just so glad I haven't any weddings on this weekend. We do have a Portrait session tomorrow and and Christening to photograph on Sunday but that should be relatively easy. Yesterday saw us finalising our plans to have the van sign written up. I'm really excited it will look great, all we have to do is have the invertors and the dual battery system installed and we are ready for the summer ! Currently we have a small portable invertor, but it is limited in what it can supply. This will make us truly self sufficient, we will be able to cover outside events, horse shows, sporting events and have a center of command where customers will be able to come along and view and buy the images on site. We print them and they get to take them away there and then. We obviously do this now but we rely on a power source on site, this way we could set up in a field and be able to offer the same service.

Leanne & Leon

2011-02-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Lean & Leonne were married last year, I really can't wait to get their album back from Graphi it is going to look fantastic. They were married in Pitlochry in Scotland then had an evening reception in Blackpool two weeks later. They have a fantastic family and it was a real pleasure to be a part of their day. we are anxiously awaiting the arrival from Italy, I'll let you know how it looks once I have it at the studio. Designwise the album is perfect, Leanne had one or two changes she wanted to make to get it just right, but hopefully they will both be pleased with the finished product. The album was so big that I can't upload all the pages, but here are a few to give you a taster.

Oh go on then just a couple

2011-02-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

Oh well thought I would upload a few now to wet the appetite !

Happy New Year

2011-02-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hi there, thought it was time to finally update this blog. We had a very nice young lady on work experience last week called Shannon. I promised her I would update this blog and put up some of the pictures she took during her work experience week. I was very impressed with her, I do think she has been one of the best we have had so far, Shannon has definately raised the bar for the future.

So thank you Shannon for working so hard and doing such a good job, you should be really please with yourself and the photographs you have taken.

Well onto the rest of last year, we had a good one, plenty of weddings and a very sharp upturn on the number of portraits, I will upload some more images as I get round to it :-) Too busy at the moment with album designs and portraits to deal with. Our first wedding of the year will be taking place in 17 days, it will be nice to get back into them although we had weddings last year right upto the 4th december so not so much of a break.

Jessica's 18th Birthday bash

2010-05-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

I would just like to congratulate Jessica on reaching that magic 18 ! I would also like to thank her for having us along to capture the fun. Jessica had planned a masquerade ball, and when the guests first arrived I thought I had walked into an audition for phantom of the opera !!.

Jessica had a fantastic time, as did all her guests, the party was fantastic, with a big surprise for Jessica when her mum & some friends perfomed an amazing THRILLER dance routine.

The only problem I had, was that I was too close to the chocolate fountain and several marshmallows and cream puffs perished by my hand....Oh the horror !!!!! If you were at the party and want to see all the images taken then click here and enter the password, which is available from Jessica or by emailing me with your contact details and full details of the party. After I have verified you I will email you the password.

Girl Friends

2010-04-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hello there, I do hope everyone had a great Easter. We went away to Scotland for the week, and to be honest the weather wasn't that bad.

We had an unusual shoot in March, a group of friends came for a photo shoot after one of the girls boyfriends had organised a treasure hunt which included the group being directed to a florists, then onto us. Once the shoot was over I had to give them the next clue and off they went.

What a fantastic idea! We had such a great time, lots of fun, which hopefully will be evident from the selection of images that I have posted here. So to the Little Ladies I say thank you for letting me be a part of your great day.

Bon Soir photo session

2010-02-27T04:21:00.000-08:00

We had an interesting shoot recently an up and coming duo, Bon Soir are an accordian and keyboard duo, I have listened to a demo of their music and was very impressed. We had a really good time and got some wonderful photographs for their album demo. Anthony and Lindsay are wonderful people and talented musicians so if you are looking for a great act, then look no further.

Gift ideas for Mother's Day

2010-02-24T03:04:00.000-08:00

We have decided to celebrate Mother's day for a whole month, so for the whole month of March you can get a special deal for your mum, or make use of our 10% off all our products.

A gift of a portrait of mums Children or Grand children can be a great idea, alternatively bring Mum along to a special portrait session which will include a bottle of bubbly, a one hour portrait session and a framed 12x8 print gallery mounted and framed for only £100 !

Click on the poster below to enlarge :

Happy New year

2010-02-09T01:58:00.000-08:00

It seems like an eternity since my last post, actually I think it was ! I have been so busy, but before I talk about that let me give you an update. We managed to get everything done in time for Christmas, although I was delivering wedding albums at 5pm on Christmas Eve !!!!!

Since we returned from the holidays we have moved our studio to a larger premises that offers us good sized seperate changing facilities, a sepearte office and framing workshop. This is so much better than making frames in a cold dank workshop at the bottom of our garden. My wife is also very happy because the last remenents of equipment and materils have now vacated the house !! Unfortunately she now wants me to decorate the house !! It never ends.....

We have had a busy January what with portraits and a wedding at the Norbreck castle Hotel. I will upload some images from the wedding once the happy couple have seen them. Although it was cold and blustery, everyone had a fabulous time.

Wednesday 16th December

2009-12-16T04:11:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is almost upon us and our STUDIO has been extremely busy. Debbie brought down her two lovely children for a photo session on Monday, with an urgent request to get out two 20x16 FRAMED PRINTS by Friday ! As you can see above we got some wonderful images. Debbie popped back to the STUDIO yesterday to make her choice. I have ordered the materials and hopefully we will be able to get them out, along with a FRAMED PRINT for Angela & Phil Donaghue, and three FRAMED PRINTS for Rosalyn who has become quite a regular, I posted a print of her two boys Alfie & Ryan in one of my earlier posts. I'll let you know if i get it all done by Friday ! I always hate having to let people down but I have one PICTURE to FRAME for Liz & David Haslett, that I am having real difficulty with. My supplier is out of stock of the moulding they have chosen, but hopefully will be getting it in soon. Call me a pessimist but I can't see them getting it in before Christmas now!

Anyway I better get on I have another client coming in to view their portrait proofs this afternoon and I have mounts to cut ready for framing tomorrow.

Just before I go, if anyone out there is thinking of giving a FAMILY PORTRAIT as a gift for Christmas, we do a range of PORTRAIT GIFT VOUCHERS that start at £25 upwards. The £25 GIFT VOUCHER gets the recipient a ONE HOUR PORTRAIT SITTING and a 10x8 PRINT included. So unlike some other PORTRAIT STUDIOS you can actually walk out of the SESSION with a PRINT, without having to put the £25 towards a more expensive item. We have lots of fun during a shoot, with the emphasis on natural shots rather than formally posed shots.

Busy weekend

2009-12-14T03:24:00.000-08:00

Good morning, I hope you all had a good weekend, I certainly did. One thing I didn't mention in yesterdays Blog was that Tom & Helen Stuart came to pick up their WEDDING ALBUM on Saturday. The prints had arrived that morning and I had originally ask them to pick it up on Tuesday, but I made the fatal mistake of looking through the prints, and that was it I wanted them to have it immediately. So I cleared all the work I had planned to do on Saturday and got to work assembling their album. I get really excited when clients are coming to pick up their albums, as I have said before its the best part of the job to hand something to a client that you have created. I never tire of it.

2009-12-13T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hi again,

I was out last night at my wifes Christmas party, so I am a little hung over this morning! Yet here I am working yet again, I have so much to do right now that I am working seven day weeks to try and ensure I get everything done for my clients for christmas. Who ever said working for yourself was easy, I put more hours in now than I ever did when I was employed. The only difference is that I really love my job and that coupled with the gratitude of your clients when you give them something truly bespoke that you have created, makes the long hours so worthwhile.

Yesterdays portrait shoots turned out to be one shoot and one no-show, but the lady who didn't make it booked in for next Saturday so that is still going ahead. We took another booking for a portrait session on Monday, this will be a real quick turnaround because the client would like a canvas print in time for Christmas, which might be pushing it at this late stage. As always I'll see what I can do.... Think I'll have that on my headstone !!

While you are here reading this how about popping over to my website to let me know what you think - www.wildsidephotography.org

2009-12-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

I have two portrait shoots later this morning, I'm really looking forward to both of them. I wake up in the morning and think to myself how lucky I am, I have the perfect job, not many people really enjoy what they do for a living. Our PORTRAIT STUDIO is open from 10am until 5pm Monday to Friday, we do have approximately two afternoons a week where I close the studio so that I can FRAME ARTWORK for bespoke commissions. The FRAMING SERVICE that we offer is going really well, but then it always does in the run up to Christmas.

Recently we started operating BISPHAMS ONLY DIGITAL PRINT KIOSK, our customers can PRINT THEIR OWN IMAGES from as little as 25p in either GLOSS or LUSTRE/MAT.

We are hoping in the near future to sell, the HARDWARE FOR HANGING our FRAMES safely, we also want to be able to offer our clients premade reasonable frames ready for them to slot in a favourite print, so watch this space !!!!

2009-12-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well here we are, my very first blog. I wasn't sure what I was going to write but I thought that I would start by giving you a run down of our business. We started trading 5 years ago, we supply WEDDING, PORTRAIT and EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY, IN BLACKPOOL, BISPHAM, POULTON-LE-FYLDE, FLEETWOOD and the surrounding area.

Our WEDDING photography starts at a mere £400 and goes up from there. We offer reasonably priced GRAPHI STUDIO packages and TRADITIONAL ALBUMS from GF SMITH.

Our EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY has really taken off recently, we find ourselves attending BIRTHDAY PARTIES, ANNIVERSARIES, as well as CHARITY EVENINGS and BLACK TIE EVENTS.

Our PORTRAIT STUDIO opened in January of this year, it was a key turning point for us, our PORTRAIT sittings have increased ten fold and it has given us lots of opportunities to experiment with new ideas.

Come along and visit our website : www.wildsidephotography.org