Studio Build Update

We are coming to the end of week 2 of the Studio build. We have been working long days to make the most of the weather and the fact that I am around to be the labourer for this period. It has gone well, that's not to say we didn't have problems but thankfully they have been dealt with and the Building Regs people are content, the builder even managed to get the floor lowered internally to give me an additional 6 inches of headroom for the lights which is great, My builder has been superb throughout he is a workaholic with a meticulous eye for detail! The next time Building Regs will be back is just before we start to put the roof on, lets hope the weather stays on our side.

Machinery arrives and the digging begins

Footing dig complete

Concrete arrives all 16 tons of it!

The walls below ground

Ready to put the floor in

The walls rise above ground level after floor goes down

Site manager

Business Training

Last week I attended the Business seminar presented by Mark Cleghorn and Kenny Martin. This was an intensive 3 day business seminar program, designed to provide the delegates with the benefits of the tutors combined 50+ years of business knowledge, well the more pertinent points anyway, to ensure the delegates can turn their businesses around. The best way to describe it is-

Informative, Intuitive and Inspiring! it was a truly Business changing experience!

Both of the tutors provided business guidance to ensure that businesses such as my own, will continue to be around and not fold through poor management, inadequate planning or negative customer relations/feedback to name but a few. The feedback from the course highlighted the dedication to delivering facts and techniques that most photographers don’t even know, let alone are willing to divulge or part with, that both of them freely shared with the delegates.

Baby Bump 4

Charlotte is back and getting bigger by the day!

Preparations for the Studio build

Preparations for the studio build have begun in earnest. Following months of planning and negotiations, approval has been given and the site has been cleared to allow the marking out of the new build. The sequence of photos below shows the transformation of my tidy(ish) garden into a mess! Having removed the shed last weekend, the last 3 photos show the clearance of the ground and the back wall, moving all the soil, bricks and block to the front of my house by hand, some 14 tons of waste!

From this-
To this-
Resulting in this-

Oscar's 1 Year Old

Wow, where has the year gone? I completed one of my personal projects on Friday where I have followed Oscar through his first year of life with a sequence of photos, starting at 8 days, continuing on with 3, 6, 9 months and 1 year. As always he was very happy to have his pictures taken, we started outside in the park where a couple of the shots were inspired by Kenny Martin and his Woodland Dream series, finishing with a Birthday cake that he demolished quite happily! The proud parents loved every minute despite not getting a great deal of cake.

Green Light for Garden Studio

After months and months of planning, re-planning, jumping through hoops for different council, water authorities and building control activities, as well as dealing with potential disputes, finally I have the green light to go ahead and build my Garden Studio, it won't be much but it will be mine!! Building starts in a months time, watch this space for the updates!

Baby Bump 3

I can't believe how quick these shoots keep coming around, well yes once a month, but time seems to fly by rather quickly. Here she is back for Bump shoot No3 and things are starting to show quite well!

Prom Dress Arrival

This week saw the arrival of my Daughters Prom Dress which immediately led to a photo shoot. Here is a sample of the images showing off the great dress and how my little girl has grown to be a beautiful young woman. I can't wait to see her on the evening ready for the event.

Baby Bump Second visit

Charlotte has been back for the next in the series of Bump images, the plan is to capture the same profile each month to see the progression of the bump through to arrival in August.

Focus On Imaging 2011

Last weekend I attended this event up at the NEC near Birmingham. It is a great event to catch up with all things Photographic and video to some extent, to see what new equipment, software and presentation media is available within the UK market. Loxley Colour have a beautiful new wall display product, the Alumini Print, which is very attractive. I had a look on the Phase One stand at their camera/back range and that's all I will do is look, clearly not in my price bracket at this moment in time, but the IQ180 digital back at 80 Megapixels is outstanding. There is clearly something for most people at the show with free demonstrations on a number of stands including Phototraining4U, The Flash Centre, The Societies, On One software, Lightblue to name but a few. It is also another opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones, a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days and I managed to keep my credit card in the pocket, well almost!