I met the coolest granny & her clan for an 80th family photoshoot, took a 2nd viewing on a house we’re looking at, caught a bit of a New York banjo player playing the Adelphi, saw Alice In Wonderland @ Imax (don’t bother), had a curry in Bradford and caught the Fun Lovin Criminals at the o2 academy. And in between all that, I also did the wedding fair at Woodlands Hotel in Leeds.

I’m one of the recommended photographers there and it was fantastic to meet and chat with loads of prospective couples about their upcoming weddings.  Some couples I chatted with were particularly cool and my fingers are crossed they might ask me on board!

There were also a good bunch of the Woodlands regulars in the house too, including my good buddies Phil Barber, Jill Ryder and Fiona of Firenza Floral Design, who kindly pimped my table with some amazing orchids!  Those and the jelly babies went down a treat.  It was also really cool to be posted next to a like-mind, Alan MacMillan.  Alan runs the excellent MacMillan Films, and it was refreshing to find a videographer that’s actually got some craft and an eye for film.  He used to work in TV and it shows in the quality of his work, but he’s also a thoroughly nice chap.

I like to have a wedding fair to focus on getting the business up to date.  I had some tasty new brochures & business cards printed at the ever helpful and super speedy Wyke Printers and have updated my official website!

www.barnabyaldrick.com has been a stronghold of my wedding highlights for a good few years now, build from scratch by a smart cookie pal of mine Tom Evans at Numiko.  I still love the way the site grows to fit any screen and can be viewed full-screen.  But as is ever the case with the official website, it sort of gathers digital dust while the blog gets all the attention.  It was loads of fun last week digging through last years weddings to create a new stash of laid-back portraits, stunning details and timeless moments.  I’ve added an opening slideshow, have updated and expanded all the galleries, built-in an open sample client-area to show viewers what a potential client area looks like and have generally added larger site backgrounds.

There are still a few teething issues (the contact form has died, so if you’d like me to post a brochure you way, email me with your details) but Mr T’s on it!

I’m really pleased with it, and it’s always nice to get up a fresh stock of highlights up to represent my style.  Click here for a nosey. Make sure you go full-screen!

Finally, tomorrow is…

I’m off down to the Birmingham NEC with my Urbex man James Lester, Booker, Boyd & the Barbers to geek at all the shiny photo gadgetry!

It’s always good form to keep on top of developments in the photo world; be it new framing companies (like the excellent Ultimat above), checking out the other album suppliers or just having a go on very, very silly-big lenses.

If any of you are about there tomorrow give me a bell on 07929 087 982 and we’ll have a coffee somewhere.

I’ve been toying with video more and more, and – even though I’m the first to admit it’s not what I do – have been booked for some wedding videography this year, mainly off the back of this video.  The difference I’ve found between stills and the camera footage is that can’t really get away with handholding video.  You need to steady a video shot – be it on a tripod, ideally with a fluid video head (for a smooth action), on a steadycam or panning along a secure rail.

My flat’s starting to fill up with video toys now; including a solid Giottos tripod, a fluid video head (Manfrotto 700RC2), a Steadytracker and Larry’s video tipped the Glidetrack scales.  2 days after ordering the Shooter I was excitedly screwing it together.  The 1/2m model I’d ordered looked awful short, but Alasdair at Glidetrack assured me it is the most portable, the one he uses and the one best suited to shooting weddings.

So I rounded up fellow UrbExplorer James Lester and we hit Bradford to give the Glidetrack a roadtest.

Check out the fruits of our findings… [in HD if you click the full-size icon in the bottom right]

[if you can't see the video, click here to see it at Vimeo]

It was pretty mad finding the empty homeless camp & some of the graffiti inside was really impressive.

Snips were done in Final Cut Pro, with a bit of toning applied with the Magic Bullet Looks plug-in.

It was an interesting learning curve figuring out how to get more than just a load of smooth pans.  Gliding close to the ground (as opposed to on a tripod) emphasized the movement, and gliding down a rail towards the subject looked pretty cool.

I felt I was just shooting anything of interest, while figuring out the Glidetrack, rather than telling a narrative.  I look forward to playing more!

Back in July last year we were invited to our pals Rob & Nikki wedding AS GUESTS!  I didn’t know what to do with myself!  So I decided to mix things up and have a little fun shooting only video on my camera (the Canon 5dmkII shoots HD video).  I’d done loads of video work and editing when I was younger on Media Studies Courses and came away with miles of digital footage and iMovie to butcher it.  What I ended up with was my first ever unofficial wedding video (check it out here) which I gave to them as a wedding present.  Apparently it still makes Nikki cry!  Hopefully for a good reason.

Since then I’ve been booked for 2 weddings this year to shoot only video.  I’ve had couples who’ve already booked their snapper ask me along to do exactly the same – a highlights reel set to music.  I can’t wait – they’re gonna be fun.

More recently, I shot the winter wedding of Sharyn & Maurice.  They’d expressed how much they liked my video, but didn’t want a dedicated cameraman wandering around all day, so asked if there was any chance at all I could any footage while I was shooting their wedding they’d love to have some moving footage of their friends and family.  I know how hard I have to concentrate to shoot only stills, but said I’d see what I could do.

After pretty much a full week blundering around Apple’s unintuitive but super-powerful Final Cut Pro, I’ve cut a little movie together with stills from the day > hence calling it a ‘Fusion’ video.  Sharyn asked if I could cut it together to the same Elbow ‘One Day Like This’ track (available from iTunes here), so here it is:

One thing I learned was that it’s pretty much impossible to do both photography and video justice on an actual wedding day.  There were times when I was so lost in the stills that I totally forgot to shoot any footage at all (portrait shoot / first dance / speeches, for example – oops!), and lugging tripods with video heads around just isn’t part of my workflow when I’m shooting light at weddings, so it was all new.

But it was great for Sharyn & Maruice to let me play director at their wedding and they seem really happy with the flick.

I wouldn’t say I’m gonna start moving into wedding video just yet, but I’m really enjoying my adventures in motion pictures.  I’ve bought cunning contraptions like a steadytracker, to get smooth moving footage, and a glidetrack, to get smart ‘dolly’ pans, and have a smooth fluid video-head for my tripod, making it all the easier to get quality footage from my clever little camera.

Anyhoos – I just thought I’d share.  Hope you enjoyed.

A recent job took me to an altogether different pile of bricks, up in the sky.

Not long since finished, Sky Plaza hold the *ehem* lofty (sorry) claim of being the tallest student housing in the WORLD at 37 storeys and 103m high.

In other accolades, I also stumbled upon it online on the ‘Bad British Architcture Blog‘. Someone REALLY isn’t keen.

As we went up to the flat we passed a receptionists desk, coffee bar & mini-market, we keycarding into a ‘Premier’ area, with it’s own 60″ plasma…

All the flats have an LCD TV in the lounge and each bedroom too!

After making this chap look studious in his flat (he said he was going back to bed straight after I left) I headed for the top floor to see what was on…

Hello Leeds!

I love looking down on people! If you take my drift.

Those are some seriously tall builings we’re looking down on from 100m up in the air.

Looking North was a dusky view of the 60s tower blocks of less-than-respectable ‘Little London’

The civic quarter, Town & Civic Halls.

Out towards the Victorian Markets, shopping arcades and Corn Exchange.

And finally out South, over towards the River Aire. I like the big dirty building jutting in, as though from a chopper flying by in a film.

It was funny, while I was up there an old Jamaican cleaner chap came and chatted with me.  He was saying he remembers them building it, and when the cranes went up. He said he spoke with a driver of a crane (who he said ‘had a seat in da sky’) who told him when he was up this 100+m high crane and they were lifting massive girders the whole thing would flex over loads and they’d have to stop winching while it steadied itself.  Not on my list of top jobs I can tell you.  Imagine working up there in a storm.

Lordy.

So there you are – you just got high in Leeds!

He filmed it at Shackleton Mill in Ireland and set it to John Murphy’s 28 days later theme, giving it a haunting, menacing quality.

I basically wanted to show it on my blog cos it’s ace, and inspired me cos it was shot on the camera I use.  The thing that really makes this video (as well as the cool location and creative composition) is that it’s all been shot on a ‘Glidetrack‘, which is basically a mini ‘Dolly’, or a rail track you can attach your camera to for smooth pans.  It looks like this.

The quality of the pans gives a real movie-like quality to footage, and it inspired me to keep getting out to do interesting things with my camera.  So I bought one from the helpful Alasdair at Glidetrack (the man in the pic above) and intend to get out and do some filming myself.

Watch this webspace for some personal video projects…

As promised (dear readers!) I vowed to shoot a couple of behind the scenes pics to show how I get what I get on location with limited gear.

Today I’ve got a food and a fashion shoot for y’all…

Starting with a beautiful Japanese ‘Yaki Soba’ Norman’s in Leeds made by this chap.

I can’t decide which I prefer – I like the close up details and depth of field of the above…

… but like the bolder composition of this dish

And here’s the setup.  Pretty basic eh?

A flashgun, set manually (probably at about 1/4 power) and triggered with a skyport transmitter to bounce off a white roof above.

Then we settled down to pie out. Gotta love that pink pickled ginger…

A later shoot was rustled up down an alley (literally round the corner from Norman’s).  Above was one of Ben’s shots showing the This was the first of two setups using my Quadra heads; main flash left and a key light from the right..

The ‘My Favourite Outfit’ feature can be a bit disconcerting for the subject, as they’ve generally never done anything like this before.  So I’ve got about 5 minutes to try and put them at ease so I can leave with at least one killer shot! Elena brought some pals along for moral support and was modeling clothes she’d made herself!

Not bad, but I wasn’t best pleased with the look.

So we switched the fill light to the right and the key right behind.

Check out our subject! What a legend.

Here’s another of Ben’s from the side showing the placement of the heads.

You can’t see the light hidden behind (though I could do with loosing the cable!), but that rear light is nicely ‘rim-lighting’ her hair, arm & dress.

I think this was my fave shot though. Both final shots had a bit of fashiony post-processing (using a bit of Kubota Image Tools ‘Fashion Passion’ photoshop action), but at the end of the day, I think the final shot was made by Elena having a bit of fun, and that shining through.

I’ve known Helen for years and she’s had me booked pretty much since she started dreaming up her big day!

It’s always a little different shooting people you know. But these two made my life nice & easy.

They’re getting married next month at the Fairfield Manor and it’s all starting to get exciting.

Richard had his eye on this little seat. Clearly just wanted a sit down and a snog.

Once upon a time I used to work for Helen can honestly say she’s the best manager I’ve ever worked for.

Round the back of the bins!

I spotted a blue container that made a fun background.

Aww look at these two.

I’m really looking forward to joining these two on their big day! Knowing Helen it’ll be a giggle!

…it took me a moment to spot the significance.

Cedric Delsaux is a stunning French photographer with a wryly amusing take on life. He’s recently created a series called The Dark Lens, where he’s photographed ordinary daily scenes and added a touch of the Star Wars universe.

I love how adding a crashed X-Wing fighter (geek alert!) into the demolition/wartorn building, giving it a sense of stupidity.

I always wanted one of these imperial AT-ATs. Thought I reckon they’d be pretty slow off the lights and a git to park.

Everyone loves the Falcon.  Word is it made point 5 past lightspeed

I love this one.

By adding the Dark Lord to a dull photo of a semi finished apartment block I’m there imagining him dreaming up interior design ideas.

cue mechanical breathing “if I paint the roof a light grey, it’ll really open up this place. I must remember to put railings over all the long drops.”

Don’t you hate it when your R-unit’s Sat Nav goes haywire and you end up in Armley instead of Alderon.

I love the idea that battle droids take five on the Buick after a tough shift.

It takes a special kind of mind to see a building site, churn it up & spit this out.

Some of them look like really clever compositing, some model work, and some just a man with expensive fancy dress & geeky pals.

R2 loves those old Citroens. C3PO generally has a bad feeling about them.

Mr Delsaux’s work is on display at the Acte2 Gallery in Paris.  If you’re knocking round 41 Rue D’Artois any time soon, drop in for a nosey.

Last Saturday I shot the Ukrainian wedding of Nina & Mark round Bradford, Yorkshire.  I shot a ‘Ukey’ Wedding before (check the blog here) & really enjoyed all the fun traditions. There were family blessings in the morning, wedding party vodka shots, clipping safety pins into clothes for luck, an entire ceremony in Ukrainian, throwing of vodka at the wedding party, walking under cakes, drinking vodka with every guest, traditional Ukey dancers, more vodka drinking, more dancing, and so forth (generally + vodka).  As expected, it was a hoot.

But I thought I’d share with y’all a little feature of my wedding services. On the day of the wedding, while the guests get their feed at the ‘wedding breakfast’, I unload my memory cards into my laptop, & import them into Adobe Lightroom & prepare a cheeky slideshow for the evening reception.  Facilities permitting I include it with all my wedding packages, and it’s a great opportunity for the wedding couple and their guests to see my highlights from the day.

Above was a snap I shot of a side table at a recent wedding showing a wedding slideshow on my laptop & one of my signature mountboards.

[Tip: pencils are better than pens, cos the less tasteful comments can be rubbed out.]

I try not to make a big event of the slideshow, just a laptop on a table – but some clients ask me to put the slideshow up on a venue projector.  Either way, I see them as especially cool for guests at the reception who may not have attended the wedding or seen the mornings preparations.  They get to see what happened during the day.

Plus, it’s always my challenge to try to make the bride & bridesmaids cry when they see their pics!

Last year, some buddies & I met an inspirational stateside wedding photographer called David Jay and he pointed out that once we’d put the work in creating an OTD wedding slideshow, why not export those images and immediately slap them up on the blog? As they’d only been lightly retouched (and potentially fully didn’t represent my finished work) I was a tad dubious about doing so, and generally preferred to post images once ‘fully processed’, a few weeks later.  But I’ve grown to agree that it doesn’t hurt to shown semi-processed pictures of the day.

So on Sunday I knocked together this quick video of the OTD slideshow (in Final Cut Pro) of pics I showed at Nina & Mark’s wedding:

[Audio: Groove Armada: Hands of Time, available on iTunes here]

You can click HD & fullscreen to see the video in all its crispy glory.  If you can’t see the video, click here to see the movie at Vimeo.com.

I’ll be doing a full blog post of finished images on here soon, but I hope you enjoyed this little nosey into the crazy world of Ukey weddings!

B

But in his site in his personal ‘about me’ chat he was describing his inspiration & wrote:

“Eight months ago I brought my camera to work as usual and I shot what was going on around me the way I always do. Then something suddenly happened. To me this was one of the best and most extraordinary days of my life and I decided to capture it.

To me nothing will ever be more beautiful.”

Check the slideshow by clicking the image below.

[Or if if that doesn't work, click here]

I found the whole thing quite special – stunning moments & details right there.

It reminded me that you never knows what your going to see as you set out of the house.  It also reminded me to remember to shoot for myself too.

Plus I can show it to my partner when she groans as I take your camera out, again, just around the corner from the last place I had my camera out…