Merry Christmas

To all my followers, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2011 saw the building of the studio and the start of a great new future for JBM Photography, 2012 will see the Business develop and grow.  I wish you all well where ever you maybe.

Brooke's 3 Months old

Here is a festive slideshow to show Brooke as she returned for her 3 month photo shoot. The shoot was actually the first photo shoot in the new studio!

Studio Open Event

Saturday the 19th Nov saw the Studio Open Event, after months of hard work, not forgetting the administration and negotiations during the build and before hand, the build is complete. Friends and Family gathered to see the Studio now it is finished and furnished. It was a great event with numerous people stating how wonderful the building has turned out. I was very pleased that so many people had taken the time to make the event a success and I look forward to the future for JBM Photography now that I have a dedicated space to operate from.

Studio Build Sequence Videos

Below are 2 videos to give a time lapse view of the build in the first one, and a more detailed look at items in the second.  These were prepared for the Studio Open Event.

Studio Build Update (construction and decorating complete)

It's been a busy weekend, but finally the last large amounts of rubbish and muck away have been collated and collected, I now have a Garden, Decking area (with furniture) that can be used, not to mention the fact I can park my car on the hard standing at the front of my house for the first time in months.  Whilst the lawn area is level, it will not get Turf until next year as the frost is imminent and it would not be a good time of year to lay it. After many long months of hard work, not to mention hard earned money, the studio build is officially complete.  I do have some preparation work to complete, such as ordering sample images with  frames and general organisation internally, before it can be used for clients, but I am holding an official opening/gathering on the 19th Nov for selected friends and family.

 Final rubbish pile

 All tidy at the rear of the house

Studio Build Update

It has been a while since my last update but I am very pleased to say that the Building Regs inspector was round on Friday and has signed of the construction as complete with no outstanding items, this is great news and whilst there are still many things to complete before I am in a position to open officially, it means the external influences to the build have been satisfied, in fact his comment was that it had been built to a high standard from the out set and he had no concerns, that is a great compliment to my excellent builder, (not to mention superb Brother), GSM Construction.  As you will see in the sequences below, the block paving is now in place, the interior doors are fitted, the flooring has gone down, skirting board and architraves are on, the toilet and sink are fitted and we went live on the electrics after they were thoroughly tested.  You will see in the last couple of pictures that the Sofa is in place, the TV mounted to the wall and the Venetian blinds are up, it is really pleasing to see the end in sight, I can't wait to get some shoots done, although the first Wedding viewing has taken place which was well received.

 Block paving edge stones in place

  Block paving edge stones in place

 Block paving complete

 Interior lighting and sockets in place

 New fencing panels to the left

 Flooring complete

 Almost there, we have electric, Sofa is in

Not forgetting the TV up and the blinds in place

Claire & Dan Wylam

I photographed the Wedding of Claire and Dan a couple of weeks ago at the Copthorne Hotel near Cardiff, it was a great day and here is a taster of their images for the happy couple to remember their day by. I look forward to meeting them soon for them to see the full version.

Baby Brooke

I had the pleasure of photographing Brooke when she was just 6 days old, yes Charlotte's bump has finally arrived, actually it was 4 weeks a go. She is so beautiful and seemed very content, well asleep as you would expect, for most of the shoot. Below are a couple of images taken from the day and a bit of work done to them, below that is a video of the images of the shoot.

Studio Build Update

Here we are one month on from the last update and inside the Studio there is very little difference, once a wall is painted white, another 4 coats of white paint is not going to make it interesting viewing! My Brother has been away on another job for a couple of weeks and in the mean time I have painted the entire exterior of the building applying 3 coats to each surface, including the Garden wall to the right as you look at the Studio. There are many other small jobs that I have completed but nothing significant to see. With my Brother back on site, the attention is turned to getting the soak away in place, which required the Decking to be lifted and a 1.2m square whole being dug to a depth of 2m along with pipes connecting it to the down pipes from the guttering. Then the services connected to the house, (Sewer, Electric, Phone, etc etc), this involved digging the trench from the studio down the side of the house, this occurred on a particularly wet day which just added to the level of mess around the house not to mention inside the house when the Dog brought it in on her paws! It's looking much better now, as following inspection by Building Control, the trench has been filled in and the work started to lay the block paving.

Painting of the exterior complete

No sooner the place is tidy, he's digging the garden up again to lay service connections

The view down the side passage by the conservatory

The view from the conservatory door

Marked out ready for the block paving

Edging stones going in

A much improved view down the side passageway

Baby Bump Finale

Baby Brooke is finally with us and the bump is now a little Gem, Mum and Dad are very proud of their little Girl. Mum and Dad came round to bring Brooke for her first photo shoot when she was only 6 days old, which will be in a separate update. Here is the fusion of the bump sessions into a couple of images. The number of separate images in one frame is more than planned and would be too big to be practically mounted and framed but I am sure you will agree the images certainly portray the journey and the changing dynamics of the bump through the pregnancy. Thank you Charlotte for allowing me to following this great experience and welcome to our world Brooke.

Studio Build Update

The main construction part of the building project is virtually complete, inside is now fully plastered and the decorating has begun, after waiting for the plaster to completely dry out. The toilet and shed area walls and ceilings are finished, the main studio has had the first watered down coat to seal the plaster before decorating begins in there. The outside of the building has been completely rendered and is also now ready for decorating, along with the wall to the right of my property which has been tided up by rendering the surface and placing capping stones on top with a nice trellis to finish. My brother (aka the builder), is away for possibly up to a month, which will give me time to catch up on the decorating, before he starts the external connections to the house (cables, soil pipe etc) and the soak-away going in for the rainwater.

Studio area completely plastered

Second finishing coat of render and the garden a bit tidier!

(wall to the right has capping stones and trellis in place awaiting render)

Cutting in the paintwork ready for the first watered down coat

First watered down coat to seal the plaster work.

Baby Bump 7

Charlotte came back last week for the final Baby Bump shoot before the baby arrives. The Baby is due on the 8th August, but because things appeared to be moving fast, we got the shoot in earlier than originally planned to avoid any concerns that we had, that we may miss it with the baby arriving early. For the final session we were joined by Mark to ensure we got some of Dad to be in there as well, below is a video of the shoot.

Studio Build Update

Despite having a week away since the last update, progress has once again been brilliant. Last Saturday saw a big shopping trip to get all the materials for the plastering out of the entire studio build. The ceiling boards were also put up last weekend whilst I was here to assist, but the majority of the remainder of the work, my Brother has done himself. As the photos below show, all the plasterboard is now up, the shed and toilet areas now have the dividing wall in place and the associated doors with both rooms plastered out as well. We then plastered the ceilings yesterday, well he did the plastering, I was just the labourer and also plastered around the windows and door areas. By Tuesday this week he anticipates all plastering to be complete!

Ceiling plasterboard in place.

Partition wall in place with doorways formed.

All plasterboarding complete.

Shed and toilet area plastered and the main ceilings also plastered.

Poole High Prom 2011

Tash had her School Prom on Tuesday, after months of preparation leading up to the event, not to mention the trauma of having the knee surgery, Tash and her friends had a great time. We did a pre Prom shoot on the Monday and then some pictures with her friends on the night itself. She looked wonderful, but I would say that as her Dad.

Studio Build Update

It has been a couple of weeks since the last update, there was a lot of work going on that could not really be seen, such as the intricate work within the roof area and the cable runs. This two week period has seen the roof completed, including the flat roof area to the rear, windows and doors are in which makes the building secure, 1st fix electrics conducted, the roof fully insulated (totalling 6 inches thick) and the floor area screeded with concrete. There will be no work for the next week as I am away on holiday, which gives the concrete floor some time to harden.

Tiles on the front roof area complete

Windows and Doors in

Roof complete including ridge tiles

Insulation ready to go up

The start of the insulation between the rafters

1st layer complete

2nd layer up and the 1st fix electrics can be seen

Floor screed down and drying

Baby Bump 6

Charlotte came round tonight for the next set of Bump pictures and to say she has got round is an understatement, it's grown quite a lot in the last 4 weeks! We are even considering bringing the final Bump shoot forward by a week to make sure we capture the final set of images before Baby arrives.

Studio Build Update

Progress continues at pace, with the later photos depicting the start of the roof coverings going on. The weather has been mostly on our side, the lifting of the steel ridge beam for the roof went well, with a hired hand driven fork lift making it very easy to manoeuvre into place. The roof is now water proof with the felt in place, the rear elevation flat roof will be covered next weekend. The tiles are now lifted onto the roof structure and the first fix of electrics is under way.

Gable ends ready to receive the steel roof beam

Lifting the steel beam into place made easy by this machine.

Roof rafters in place.

Although taken with a wide angle lens it gives a perspective of the studio space

Lots of unseen work complete ready for the roof materials to start going on