My new website...I love it

I have been working tirelessly over the last few weeks to create a brand new website. I have had the earlier website for about two years and I was beginning to feel that it looked a little dated and sterile, so i decided to give the site an overhaul.

My old site was created by the team at Creative Motion Design, they produce some wonderful template based flash sites specifically for photographers. The control panels are easy to use and the servers are reasonably stable and the support is amazing. I decided I wanted CMD to to create my new site, I chose one of their great designs and submitted a few changes and in no time at all I had a new site. The problem started when I had to start loading up the images and writing the text, I am so busy that finding time to actually sit down and do it was just so diffficult. When I actually pulled my socks up and started adding images I had it done in now time. The CMD control panel has an amazing facility to bulk upload the images, its so quick, my galleries were finished in no time at all.

I am really pleased with the site, I hope it shows of my personality as well as my photography. There are loads of great photographers in the Newark area, so having a good website is really important when trying to get noticed. I think my new site is even better than I expected it to be and I am sure it will bring more interest in my work.

I love photography, my family are always saying that I am lucky to be doing a job that I enjoy doing so much. I have to agree with them, I consider myself priveliged to be allowed into so many peoples lives and to actually get paid to photograph them.

Gemma and Nicks Wedding

This weekend was a bit of a rush, non-stop shooting, mostof which I had not had alot of time to prep for. On saturday I photographed a wedding at Prestwold hall near Loughborough, it was a bit short notice as Nick and Gemma original photographer had been injured in an accident earlier in the week. I got a desperate phonecall on Thursday, and I obliged by standing in for him.

The Antiroom at Prestwold is stunning, and served as the ideal location to shoot the groups. I lit the groups with a single Canon 580Ex placed off camera to left of me. The flash was bounced of the wall behind me, even though the wall was not white, it had a soft shiny surface which reflected the light without too much trouble.

The star of the wedding was Harvey the Page boy, this little fella had all the girls after him, even married ones!!

I managed to grab the couple for few moments just before the sun went down, to create a couple of really nice portraits that also showed of Gemmas wonderful dress. I grabbed one of the guest to help, asking him to hold the flash and diffuser while I directed the shots. In all we were outside less than two minutes. Which was ideal, as it was freezing..

Gimme a B, Gimme a L, Gimme a U.....

Last Friday I had the pleasure of photographing a group of lovely young ladies from Newark. The Blue Sapphires Cheerleaders are preparing for a trip to America to compete in an International Cheerleading Competition. By all accounts the girls have great chance of coming home with medals and trophies, so lets hope they do well.

The group was simply lit with my Lumedyne portable lights, another example of why using battery powered lighting systems enables you to work effectively without having to trail cables all over the place. The gym was lit with horrible flourescent tubes, which were giving a sickly green colour to the image. I decided to overpower the ambient light by using a fast shutter speed and white balancing for the flash.

Anyway, being in a room full of giggly teenage girls turned out not to be as scary as I had imagined, they are harmless really.

Go Girls.....

2008 Fight the Flab Campaign





Well here goes, I've spent the last 2 weeks gorging on pork pies, chocolate and roast dinners, and I have drunk more than my fair share of wine and beer, so its about time I started to look after myself abit.

I have always been able to carry a little weight without looking too porky, but just recently I have noticed a gradual increase in my waist size and I have started to feel more tired earlier in the day. Not a good sign for someone who has only just had his 39th birthday, if I was 10 years older I wouldn't feel quite so bad, but I am not exactly old and I feel like I should be wrapped in a blanket, doing jigsaws with a cup of cocoa. "I AM NOT OLD", I keep telling myself, "but why don't my trousers fit anymore?" , because you eat too much and sit in front of a computer too much....easy really, I know what the problem is, so I really must do something about it.

So I am publicly announcing my intention to fight the flab. I intend to lose at least 13 kgs over the next 6 months. I shouldn't be so difficult, cut down on sugery sweets, no snacking between meals, exercise more regularily....arghhhh, I can feel the pressure already.

Never mind, its a case of mind over matter, Alison doesn't mind, and I don't matter.

To help me along, and to give everyone an idea of how I am doing, I have created a Lardometer, a simple scale to demonstrate just how much weight I am losing. I intend to post an update every week, hopefully there will be an change and you will be able to see how I am doing.

Anyway, too all of you who are in the same boat as me, and are willing to do something about it, good luck, I hope you all do better than me.

Happy New year





Paul