The Big Picture

As regular readers of my blog will have come to learn, Tom and I are big World cinema fans with Tom particularly keen on any new French films that come to our favourite art house cinema The Cornerhouse in Manchester.

Some of Tom's recommendations don't always turn out to be as great as he expected but The Big Picture, a French adaptation of Douglas Kennedy's American novel proved to be a winner for the pair of us. Directed by Eric Lartigau, the film is essentially about a successful lawyer who becomes a photographer via a complex mix of events which includes the murder of his wife's lover - who also has an interest in photography but can't indulge in it to the same extent as his well heeled friend.

The film manages to grapple with what seems, on the face of it, a fairly absurd plot but just about pulls it off to make a number of telling points, the key one being that you can achieve your artistic ambitions without quite realising how you're doing it - and sometimes the rewards for having true artistic freedom are frustrated by the consequences of your past. The Big Picture has a galloping plot (rare for French art house films) but leaves you pondering on a whole range of issues - stolen identity, artistic integrity, the pursuit of truth, money and art, wealth and boredom, and so on.

What was particularly interesting for me as a photographer was the audacious luck that the lawyer-cum-murderer central character (complete with his dead friend's stolen identity) managed to bring his way. If only all photographic assignments had such apparently successful endings.

The film starts the romantically dishevelled Romain Duris, previously seen in The beat that my heart skipped,

Two weddings, same bride and groom

Well it's not often that a bride gets the chance to have two goes at a wedding but when our clients Clementine and Yogesh briefed us on their weddings plans they warned us that our cameras would be needed for not one but two ceremonies.

Firstly, they would be having an English registry office wedding in central Birmingham on one weekend, followed by an Indian temple ceremony a week later in Smethwick.

For a photographer this kind of commission presents a fantastic, and rare, opportunity to record two ceremonies from two completely different cultural perspectives. As you'll see from the photographs Clem's first wedding gown was a beautifully simple dress which showed off her amazing figure and looked fantastic against the varied settings of her city wedding. Starting off in the beautifully Gallic inspired Hotel du Vin in central Birmingham, we then moved on to the minimalist interior of Birmingham's central registry office (which had a hint of the pared down Japanese aesthetic) before heading over to one of two restaurant venues, the first being close to the beautiful St Paul's Square in the heart of the City's Jewellery Quarter.

In complete contrast the following week Clem and Yogesh (Yogi) attended the temple in Smethwick for their blessing, providing us with a ceremony that was rich in colour, ritual and visual spectacle. Temple blessings, I discovered, are a surprising mix of the formal and informal with some truly amazing rituals that give the whole occasion an amazing sense of magic and mystery. In complete contrast to the pared down classic lines of her English wedding dress, Clem's Indian gown was a tremendous mix of beadwork, silks, chiffons and satins and was beautifully arranged to set of an amazing collection of bangles and henna hand dyes.

Here comes the sun - Sue and Mike in Burnsall

Choosing 'flaming' June as the month for your wedding is always a risky business as most of the recent 'Junes' here in the UK have had a habit of being wet and grey. So the morning of Sue & Mike's wedding north of Skipton actually made me question my brave choice of a wool jacket and linen trousers. Setting off with all my gear in the car, the skies gradually turned from a fresh a breezy summer's day to a rather ominous grey, which got me thinking of my Plan B wet weather strategy - indoor shots, umbrellas and set piece compositions around tables.

Amazingly, by the time the big event took place the skies had magically opened and the sun beamed down on the truly picturesque village of Burnsall which, if you haven't visited, is the kind of Yorkshire village TV location scouts flock towards for anything half resembling a period drama.

So, there we were with an exuberant bride and groom who were literally bowled over by the whole event and the fantastic weather that shone down on the all their guests. Just to add to the period feel, they cleverly opted for a Vintage sweet delivery van which pulled up outside the pub and created a real 'vintage' feel to the day. And just to cap it all, Sue and Mike came armed with their wellies for a shot wading into the River Wharfe - a sort of D'Arcy moment but without the wet shirt. Mike looked extremely gallant holding aloft his new wife as everyone watched from the bridge above.

Thankfully, the wellies were needed only for novelty. The start of the day suggested otherwise.

Film: "How I ended this Summer"

Because my husband is a bit of a foreign film-buff, I get dragged to all sorts of films the existence of which would pass me by were it not for Tom. One such is the (apparently) prize winning How I ended this Summer. I later found out that it has indeed won awards at lots of international film festivals - Berlin, London, Sydney and so on....

A Russian film, directed by the acclaimed Aleksei Popogrebsky, it is set on a remote meteorological station and features just two men. To say the film is intense is to understate. However, I have to admit to remaining gripped throughout, the powerful interplay between the two men, one young, a student, and the other a hardened, older family man . Their struggle in a relentlessly harsh environment is aggravated by the delivery of a piece of news on which the film pivots. This element of drama is like an unexpected treat in nutritious but rather abstemious diet.

The film is severely beautiful to look at - brilliant photography or camerawork or whatever the proper description is.

Now I gathered there may be some allegorical angle to the film but don't really know enough about Russian history and politics to shed much light on this myself - even though my good friend Ksenia is a Muscovite. There are plenty of detailed reviews if you are interested in that angle, but my general appraisal would be summed up by the phrase "intense, atmospheric and beautiful to watch"

Check out some of these stills:

Chrysalis Women's Lifestyle Fair

The Villa in Wrea Green was the delightful venue for the Lifestyle Fair. A good day with lots of networking and a chance to meet a range of exhibitors and talk to people about my photography. The photos here show Rheagan Hendry and chef Nigel Smith. Nigel, as you can see, is the resident chef at the Villa who performed an inspriring demo of a fish dish and two scrumptious desert- everyone dived in to try the goodies when he'd finished. He was assisted, (slightly reluctantly - since she professes not to cook!) by Rheagan Hendry. Rheagan has set up a charity in her Mum's name - Denise Hendry died in 2009 after suffering the after effects of botched cosmetic surgery. To find out more, visit Denise Hendry Foundation. The silvery outfit in the photo below was sported by the belly dancer who gave us a really evocative display of her skills accompanied by mesmerising music. There's also a photo of our stand, taken by my glamorous assistant, Tom.

Fence United 2nd Annual Ball

Photographed a very successful fundraising event for Fence United on Saturday. Nearly 200 guests attended a Dinner at The Fence Gate Inn at Fence to raise money for the local village and its community. It was exciting vibrant and full of glitzy glam! Here are some photos:

Creating a brilliant impression on Social Media sites- Chrysalis for Women, Wrea Green, May 22

I'm always game for something with a slight twist so when I saw ads for the Chrysalis for Women Lifestyle event in Wrea Green (near Preston) I wondered if there was half a chance that they would take on board a female photographer for the day.

Chrysalis is a great organisation aimed at helping professional women optimise their potential across a wide range of areas, so it seemed only natural that one of the key issues facing women today is how to make themselves look great on the web and in social media.

With people swapping and uploading photos at the speed of light on a global scale, the mantra that 'you only have one chance to create a brilliant first impression' has even more resonance than ever. So, having won a space at this coveted event, Tom and I set about thinking how we could do something different rather than just rock up with our usual 'local photographer does weddings and portraits' pitch and so came upon the idea of using this window to help professional women create three great photos that they can upload to sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

As you'll no doubt know, each of these three social media sites each has a completely different audience and a unique set of viewer expectations. Therefore, the image that you might place on Facebook (remember the one of you in an Amy WInehouse beehive wig slurping Guinness from a fish bowl) is not exactly the vision you want to present on LinkedIn to reflect your position as Head of Business Development for a firm of Human Rights Lawyers. Nor would quite sit happily if your tweets unexpectedly attracted a following from friends and governors at your local primary school.

So the idea on Sunday is to have a bit of fun and help women create a brilliant first impression with 3 different photos that reflect who they are to the audiences they want to be seen by. In the immortal words of Andy Warhol, 'everyone will be famous for 15 minutes' - on Sunday we want to make sure that our clients are famous for the right reasons.

Check out www.chrysalisforwomen.com to find out more about the event and if you're coming, do visit our stand to find out how we can make you look Facebook Fabulous and LinkedIn Luscious.

Photovision Manchester

Damien Lovegrove

damien's website

Had a fantastic day yesterday at the trade show held at Manchester United's ground. I'm ashamed to say it was my first visit there, and as the daughter of Manchester parents, and a family of united supporters, I did feel a certain amount of illogical pride - illogical because I don't follow football. I was surprised to see so many overseas visitors hanging around having their photos taken. It really is something of a shrine and a world "destination".

Anyway, back to the trade show. I attended a seminar by the great Damien Lovegrove. He started life as a BBC cameraman (perhaps I should say started his career!). He is a master of lighting and gave us an excellent gallop through his working life, illustrated in photos concentrating on his more recent fashion photography phase. He is really excellent, not least because he is so obviously influenced by art and media in general, always willing to move on with what is in vogue whilst never straying from his natural good taste. Reader, I invested in his book.

Tom in the Northern Quarter

Had a shoot in offices Manchester this morning and immediately after it, we dashed to Tom's favourite part of Manchester to take some shots for his coming website, of which, more news later. Anyway, he did a quick change in a carpark into some scruffy gear and hung around trying to look mean. Here are three or four shots:

MARRYOKE!

I just happened to catch part of Fern Britton's new show today, during my annual ironing afternoon. She had a newly married couple on there who'd had a Marryoke video made on their wedding day. This is something like a pop video and involves those featured in miming to chosen songs and then some clever editing turns it into a marryoke video. The couple featured on the show actually had the vicar in shades, swinging along to whatever it was.
I'm not sorry such a novelty wasn't available when I got married, it's not something I'd fancy on that day, but possibly some other celebratory event. What do you think folks, is this something you'd fancy on your big day? Is marryoke for you?

Mr Wrong - Must-have wedding memorabilia

Oh you won't believe your eyes! I had heard about this faux pas, but the reality of seeing the thing is so much funnier. It's worth pressing the play button to hear the music - and notice the "ornate detailing" inset! I'm not saying any more, just follow this link ....

http//www.guandongenterprisesltd.com/

Sunday Cinema - Submarine

Taking Harry, our son, back to Manchester Piccadilly, Tom and I decided to take a trip to The Cornerhouse to see what was doing. Tom was keen to see Norwegian Wood because he read the novel a couple of years ago. When we reached the cinema, we found NW had started half an hour earlier but since we were in film mode, we decided to see Submarine which came out only on Friday (18th March). Most photographers seem to be pretty gripped by film of any sort and I'm one of them.

I didn't know much about it, except for catching the end of a review on the radio where I gathered it was set in Wales in a fairly unglamorous town, and seemed to be a coming of age love story (men, don't be put off hubby was charmed!) between a teenage boy and girl, both on the cusp of adulthood.

I'm no film critic but I loved the school tribalism, the coming together of the two main characters, the grainy Super8 film inserts, the freeze frames, the humour - at times subtle, at times laugh out loud. It's a good looking film with lots of "beauty in the mudane" type shots.

Here's a nice image of the two main characters, Oliver and Jordana (Craig Roberts & Yasmin Paige). Oh and Oliver's screen mum is Sally Hawkins of Happy go Lucky fame.



Talking of beauty, how good-looking is the director of this film? If you're a fan of the IT Crowd on tv, this is the man behind the picture - Richard Ayoade.



A great way to spend a a grey afternoon watching a modern, touching romance - advertised as the best British Comedy of 2011 (How do they know this so early on?). And if I'm not mistaken, I believe I spied my cynical and hard-to-melt husband drying his eye at the ending.

New website up and running

There'll be lots to adjust and add, but at least I've hit the "live" button after two months of putting the site together. It's quite exciting - I keep looking at Google Analytics to see how many visitors I've had, like a school girl watching for "significant" texts.

Have been creating a wish list of photographic equipment that I think I need. It's going to be some time before I can afford everything but you can watch my progress on the blog. For anyone interested in equipment, here's what I am lusting after...

Canon 70 - 200mm 2.8 IS
Canon 5D Mk II - then my 5D would become the second camera and glamourous assistant, hubby Tom would take over the 5D and the 20D would become the spare.
Macro lens - not decided on the spec yet, mainly for food photography
Another 580EX flash - for Tom to use as second camera and also to play with off camera flash etc..

We'll see how long it takes me to tick them all off.

Anyway, how rude of me - thank you for visiting the blog and welcome! - visit again, it won't all be about equipment and websites, I hope to post about weddings I've shot and other assignments, there'll be photos too.