Olan Mills Goes Into Administration (Again)

We have just heard that high street photography chain Olan Mills has been placed in administration and yet again customers have lost money.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7804393.stm

Sadly this is a familar story as the same thing happened in 2006 prior to the current "credit crunch" and the expected recession.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6183435.stm

We can reassure our customers who have purchased our vouchers for portrait sessions that we are financially secure and have no debts unlike companies such as Olan Mills. If customers of Olan Mills require family portrait sessions we will be happy to help.

Movember - The End Results

The BBC have run a report on Movember that you can view here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7751206.stm

Visit http://uk.movember.com/ to donate.

Preparing to cut the Mo!

Film Vs Digital - Which is Best?

The Gadget Show recently ran a test of film vs digital cameras for a studio image. Their first show did exactly the same test of film vs digital and back then film came out on top.

http://fwd.five.tv/videos/challenge-blow-up-part-3

This time interestingly they judged the digital camera to produce the best image which was felt to be clearer with better colours and less grain (digital noise). Admittedly the test was based on images blown up to 5m across and in a studio setting but in theory a professional digital camera should perform even better in low light real life situations such as a church for a wedding. Low light shots with the latest full frame digital SLRs like the Canon 5D and 5D Mark2 give options that could only be dreamed of with film and with the flexibility to change settings between each shot if needed.

So is your photographer using digital - if not why not!!

Just So - The Musical

We have worked with Tag Productions to provide photography of their performance taking place at Brook Theatre Chatham from 13-15 November 2008. The musical is based on the stories by Rudyard Kipling and features a local cast bringing the quality of the West End to Kent.
You can book tickets here https://www.medway.gov.uk/theatrebookings/show.asp




The TAG Productions website is www.tag-productions.org for more info about the company.

Suporting Mo-vember

are helping support the charity event Movember which is a moustache-a-thon for the whole of this month for charity event in aid of research into prostate cancer.
Known as "Mo Bros" the men clean shave on 31 October, then they are not allowed to touch a razor until the end of November, apart from to shave off their beards to shape their own moustache.
Jeff Hore who arranged the month-long event said: “Movember is a fun innovative way to raise money for prostate cancer. The “mo” can be any shape, colour or length as long as you’re clean shaven on 1 November and you let it grow for the duration of the month.“The number of hairy faces walking around offices across the country may increase over the next month, but it’s all for a good charity.
The money raised will go towards researching a cause for the disease and we hope to raise awareness for men’s health along the way.”Movember runs for the whole month each year and is an international project for individuals to help raise money for prostate cancer across the globe.
Throwing away the razors at the start of the month

Inspecting the mo's growing!

Family Portrait Photo Shoots in Kent

Most of my family portrait shoots are done at the studio but occasionally I get to shoot in someone's house. Yesterday I visited Stacey & Paul for a shoot with baby Beau who is now 9 weeks old. Their house was south facing with perfect light and some great props to use for the shoot. This is one of my favourite shots from the shoot. I only wish I'd got some shots like this when my kids were this age but time races by and they are now at school!

Video and Still Photography

Hot on the heels of my previous post it looks like the prediction of merging of video & stills was spot on. Vincent Laforet a Pulitzer prize winning photographer from the States has produced a video shot entirely with the new Canon 5D Mark2. The quality of the film is stunning and truly shows the potential that this camera can offer. You can view the film here.

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

I will be getting a hands-on preview of the camera next week and will post my followup thoughts after that.