Polperro Part 1

How about some holiday pics then?!

Every Easter for the past few years, Emma and I, my Mum and Dad and my sisters and their other halves have descended on the historic fishing village of Polperro in Cornwall for a week's walking, resting, eating and drinking and generally taking it easy. And so came Easter of this year and more of the same!

We actually did SO much on this holiday, that I'm going to split the stories and pictures up into different posts!

So we'll start with a little bit of walking shall we?!

One of our favourite walking destinations is the beautiful Talland Bay. There are three or four walks that we do that incorporate Talland and we love nothing more than watching the world go by on the bay whilst tucking into cornish pasties and cafe lattes!



What a difference a day makes! The two shots below are both taken on Talland Beach a day apart. Guess which one was the more enjoyable for a picnic!





The walk from Polperro to Talland follows the coastal path which has stunning views out to sea. The halfway point is this memorial for the local heroes killed in the Great War. It's also the only place in Polperro that you can get mobile phone signal so it's usually rammed full of people texting and ringing!





With the exception of one day (when it absolutely lashed it down with rain all day, but that's coming up in another post!) we walked everyday whilst on holiday.









This is the beautiful church at Lansallos, which we've been visiting for the last few years since it was the sad victim of an arson attack. The local community have done a fantastic job restoring it and every year we're amazed at how much closer to being finished it is.

My Dad's favourite part of visiting this church however, isn't seeing the restored beams, the bells hanging back in the tower, the original stone flags painstakingly restored. No. It's visiting the grave of an unfortunate smuggler who was killed by cannonball in the 18th Century! What a way to go!



As well as taking shots of us enjoying the walks that we were doing whilst in Polperro, I also took the opportunity to shoot some landscapes - here are a few of my favourites.








Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of our Polperro trip!

Urban Angels opens in Didsbury!

What a great afternoon this was! Fiona opened Urban Angels late 2008 on School Lane in Didsbury village but was so busy for the first few months that she only got round to the official launch party a couple of weeks ago!


Friends of the salon descended for the afternoon and were given complete catwalk hair makeovers to ready them the really genius part of the day - a walking fashion show through the streets of Didsbury village!




Fiona and senior stylist Lisa, went to work on the models and created some AMAZING styles. I then borrowed each model and gave them their own mini fashion shoot on the streets around the salon. We finished at the salon with a seriously mean and moody shot of everyone fully glammed up and ready to go!








The walk through Didsbury was hilarious! The models were all seriously enthusiastic, stopping people in the street to tell them about the launch, running into the bars and restaurants handing out flyers and spreading the Urban Angels message!





It's a great salon, and Lisa and Fiona are so creative and talented - I've been in twice since I did the shoot, but they very kindly toned down my haircut!

Urban Angels is all about supplying a high end experience but at affordable prices. These guys are half the price of your Toni and Guys but easily as good. The salon has got a really cool, boutiquey vibe and decor (very similar in design to many top end salons) and Fiona and Lisa are so welcoming and friendly.

From experience, paying a lot of money for something doesn't always mean you get the best end product. Going into a really top end salon can feel quite intimidating, but at Urban Angels you feel welcome and relaxed the minute you walk in the door.

And Fiona and Lisa are AMAZING at hair!

Make sure you click through to their website and see what they're offering!

Manchester commission

Another one from a couple of weeks back now.

After staying at our house for a 'girly night in' with my wife Emma (plus me!), our lovely friend Emily had spotted a framed print hung on my office wall of some of Paris's most recognisable architecture that I shot whilst on a weekend break with Emma a couple of years ago.


Emily decided that her flat in the uber trendy Northern Quarter in Manchester needed something to finish it off and so commissioned me to shoot the 'real' Manchester. No new building, no Beetham Tower, no Urbis, no Printworks, no Old Trafford (even though I tried to convince her otherwise!) but a series of really gritty, genuine shots of our fine city.

So I waited for a suitably overcast day (I didn't have to wait long!) so that there was a nice moody sky to shoot against and spent the day walking the streets and looking for something different.













Emily's just chosen the prints she wants and has ended up choosing THREE frames as she liked them so much.

These are the layouts she went for.






Once I get the frames done and hung in Emily's flat, I'll get some shots of them in situ as I know they're going to look so good that I'll need to share them with you!

SWPP - Bronze monthly prizes!

As a member of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers, entering their monthly image competition is something that is helping me to focus on producing consistently excellent and original work.

When I shoot weddings, I always strive to do something different for each new couple. I can't think of anything worse than having a catalogue of the same shots that I do at every single wedding. Where's the originality and excitement in that?

This month, I entered a handful of shots and am delighted that they've each been awarded 'bronze'.

This portrait is AJ - she was part of the lovely Ferguson family who I shot at the end of last year up in Scotland. Although the majority of the shots were of the entire family, AJ asked if I'd do her a couple of individual shots she could use for work. Of course I was more than happy to do that and ended up with a really cool, contemporary portrait to enter into the awards! This was entered into the 'Traditional Portrait' category.


This is my entry in the 'Wedding Photojournalism' category for April. This is a reportage shot from Zoe and Ged's wedding in November last year. They'd just stepped onto the altar for their final blessing and I really liked the composure of this shot from where I was stood - hidden away behind a pillar in the church!


This is the absolutely lovely Hannah and Kev who got married in Sheffield last year. This was entered in the 'Contemporary Wedding' category. Their venue, Kenwood Hall, was really impressive with beautiful grounds. After the ceremony we just went for a little wander around the gardens and ended up in front of the house where we got this great shot!


I'll be entering work into the monthly competition every month and will be keeping you updated with how I get on!