Never has the weight of that importance settled on my shoulders so heavily as it does today.

You see, I have a friend and she has a family. That family do everyday things and grow together. Last year she suffered with a melanoma. It was operated on and removed. Lymph nodes were also removed, tested and found to have minimal traces of cancer. Yesterday she was advised that her liver and possibly her spine is covered with cancer. She was told that she will not see her one year old daughter grow. She is unbelieveable. As my wife and I cried, she passed us tissues and explained that she was happy that she knew what she was up against now. Her understatement of the year? “It’s not gonna end well but i’ve got great people and great friends giving me great care”!

As I sat here pondering the brevity and vulnerability of life, I thought “what can I do for them?”. I feel pretty helpless and can offer only my friendship and support, which is very important, but you sometimes feel you have to try and DO something instead of just being swept along. Then I remembered the one thing I am pretty good at – photography! What if I could document her family and create an album; a memory for her daughter to look back on? What if I could capture their everyday activities, their struggles and their joys, and present it as a celebration of life? Sometimes you have the insight that you will not be around and you need to take those photographs; sometimes you will never know when your time is up. I say, have those photos taken anyway and live every day like it may be your last. At least when that day does come there will be a legacy left for family and friends to remember you by. I can’t say this isn’t going to be very hard but ultimately I think her daughter, husband and family will appreciate the gesture and will treasure the precious memories, both wonderful and painful, for a lifetime.

My friend is an amazing woman, a selfless woman, and it breaks me to think that she will never see herself or her daughter reach greatness. Many, many people could learn from her and her views; her outlook on life and death; her caring nature; her pleasure at such small things; her value on friendship and memories instead of materialistic values. I see much bickering on websites and forums and out in the real world and I think “this woman has been told she will die (hopefully a long way off with the new and amazing treatments they have now) yet she can forgive and still think of others before herself”. There are people out there who enjoy holding power over others; who care more about money than the people around them; who hold no value of life; who are filled with hatred and rage and self loathing. I look at those people, then look at my friend and I think it makes animosity feel so futile.

If ever there was an injustice in this world, it was the day my friend was given this news. I will do everything I can to help ease the burden of that news and create a pictoral journal that will outlive us all.

Kitley House is a stunning luxury historic country house set on the banks of the river Yealm in Devon. I photographed Kelly and Jason’s wedding there last year and found the experience pretty cool. The staff were very accommodating to vendors and allowed me a free reign in the house to photograph the Bride and Groom. They assisted where necessary and gave great advice. I was allowed to place my equipment out of sight and could charge any batteries I needed to.

Whilst the B&G were indulging in their Wedding Breakfast I was given the same menu as the wedding party. I took my meal in another room but was attended to with the same care and attention as the party itself.

 The venue has some great locations for photography including the house itself, the gardens, the meadow and the chapel by the river. There are many period rooms and a lovely grand staircase. I had the fortune to stay at the venue for the night as I was also a guest of the bride and groom. There were lots of winding corridors and stairs and our children seemed to love this. All the staff were helpful, friendly and courteous and I would certainly enjoy going back and shooting more weddings there.

The update has given it a fresh, new feel and navigation is easier. I’ve even thought of the touchpad users and the issue of dropdown menus – each dropdown heading, when clicked, shows a menu on a page of its own, making life easier for those who struggle with dropdown menus on those pesky smartphones and iPads (or other generic fondle-slab).

So, enjoy the new site and tell all your soon-to-be-married friends about Seymour Photos!

Have fun…

Garry

I also met up with a fellow DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) member, Petra Hall, from Sweden and had a marvellous day. Petra is a brilliant photographer and has done some great work, including this… http://blog.petrahall.se/index.php/2012/01/12/essence-vitae/. She offered her services for free to families with children under 13 where one of the family sufferes from a fatal disease. This was one such family. Some great work there. It was a real pleasure meeting Petra and i hope to take her up on the offer of visiting her and photographing the Aurora Borealis!

So, onto the day…. I would say the highlights of the day for me were…

1. Meeting Petra – We often chat on the forum and to finally see a real live person instead of a photo and some text was great. She is such a lovely person and so much fun – it was like we were friends who hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years. You always feel like you know someone through a forum and Petra is just how i imagined her to be! Hopefully (at the very least) we can make Focus on Imaging a great meeting point.
2. The Canon stand – 5D mark 3!!! That’s all i can say. Oooooooooh…..aaaaaaaaah!
3. The talk by Jeff Ascough. Some really great tips were gleaned from his talk. He is one of the world’s top 10 wedding photographers, so hearing how he works and seeing his work was pretty cool.
4. Saved the best till last, i suppose…. after his little talk, Jeff Ascough meets up with myself and Petra as he is also a DWF member. We nip off for a drink (which Jeff kindly paid for) and as we’re chatting he hefts up the Canon 5D3 and says “You got your hands on one of these yet? Do you wanna play?”. I think Petra and myself both let out a little, simultaneous squeal when he plopped it on the table. Petra was already rooting round her bag trying to find the superglue! It is a marvellous camera and to have it in your hands, untethered from the Canon stall, was amazing. ISO is stunning, shutter noise is almost non existant (well, compared to my 5D classic anyway) and the handling feels so comfortable. So, i’m sat there with a world renowned photographer grappling with a brand new camera that isn’t even released yet. Died heaven gone to and – rearrange those words into a famous phrase or saying!

Release date for the 5D3 is hopefully the end of this month so i need to find out if my kidney is worth more that £3000! If i want to get the new 24-70mm L II f/2.8 lens with it then i’ll need to look at selling something else – now, will it be the wife or the children?! (I’m only joking!! Of course i’d only sell ONE of the children).

Have fun

Garry

Yeah… that’s all we do. We just rock up to the party, shoot a few snaps from the hip, run them through Google Picasa and give them to the bride and groom! That’s how it hangs with us photographers. Makes you “[sic]” with envy, doesn’t it?!

Or, lets look at it another way…

Most photographers are a one person outfit. In other words, to run their business they have to deal with the marketing, the advertising, the finances, the records, spreadsheets and databases, sales, purchasing, the photography, the editing and even manage the cleaning! They take on the roles of CEO, head photographer, PA, HR, finance, technical support and general dogsbody.

To get the business up and running he (or she – assume, when i say “he”, that i mean both sexes) will have to purchase a large amount of equipment… top end camera bodies (normally 2 or 3 at anywhere between £1500 and £5500 each), several top end lenses (an avereage top end lens can be between £800 and £2500), lighting (including on- and off-camera flash, studio lights, backdrops, accessories etc), camera accessories (bags, secure storage, spare batteries) and computer equipment and storage (high end workstations, IPS monitors, terrabytes of hard drive storage, backup options and media). On top of this he will have to be fully insured (including public liability), keep his training up to scratch and pay for those professional memberships. That’s before he even starts getting the jobs in.

So, your wedding photographer receives a call or an email from the Bride. He will spend time on returning the call and getting the all important consultation. He drives to the consultation and spends time with the couple, ensuring they get the best service. There will be time spent on emailing the Bride and Groom to confirm details. He gets the job and maybe the package has an engagement session included. So now there is travel to and from the engagement shoot. He returns and uploads the data, culls the images leaving only the best, edits these and then arranges a viewing. They go through a viewing and select their images and the final edits are run on them. The images are ordered (incurring print/album charges and postage) and delivered, either by hand or by post.

Once this has been completed the wedding photographer organises the last few weeks before the wedding, ensuring that the bride has sent him an order of service and any instructions or requests. If it is at a new venue then he may travel to the venue to look for the best lighting and photgenic areas. All equipment is checked, synchronised and cleaned, cards are formatted, batteries charged, suit donned, car loaded and off he drives to the wedding.

He will spend the day taking the Bride and Groom’s photographs, making sure he doesn’t miss the crucial moments; making sure that the light is right; ensuring the ISO, shutter speed and aperture are correct; assisting, guiding and arranging people; moving furniture; striking up relationships; cutting sharp moves on the dancefloor whilst trying to capture the essence of the evening. He is working constantly and can be doing so for up to 12 hours or more, possibly driving to other places for the wedding breakfast or reception. He takes the drive home and, once there, the cards are uploaded and backed up, regardless of whether he needs to go to bed.

He is then back to the culling and editing process; a process that can take somewhere between a few days to a week (or maybe even two). There may be anywhere between 1000-3000 images to get through… duplicates, blinkers, exposure issues and the like. Each image is edited to perfection and saved. Then there’s the slideshow and the album design. There will be a viewing in which the Bride and Groom select the images they want to keep in the album and any extra prodects they may require. Consequently, the album is re-designed and ordered and any extra products are designed, checked and ordered. Finally, there is one more consultation to present the final products to the Bride and Groom. There may be further contact if the Bride and Groom have any more questions or queries and the photographer may contact the couple at a later date to ensure all is ok.

A photographer doesn’t run a 9-5 business… a lot of this work is carried out in the evening or at weekends. There is no clocking on and clocking off – it is a passion and you cannot turn that passion on and off like a light switch. It is a business that steals time (how many times have i looked at the clock and said “Wow! 3am… must go to bed”) and money (cameras need replacing every 1-2 years with heavy use; other equipment needs maintenance, insurance and memberships are an annual thing, products need to be ordered) from you. If you break down the amount of hours spent on each wedding, the costs incurred throughout the process and the day-to-day running costs and put an hourly rate on it you won’t see much difference between a photographer and any other 9-5 day job (where you can clock off, go home and forget about your job). Don’t forget the taxes, too! Also, remember that some photographers still have a day job as well as running their business so they are fitting all of this in the evenings and weekends. I have myself, in busy periods, worked 20 hour days!

Many, many hours of work, effort and passion are put into each and every wedding that is captured. A product is presented to the Bride and Groom that will last decades and probably be passed onto future genrations. This isn’t a cake that will last a few days or a meal that lasts a few hours; It’s not the flowers that wilt or the disco that gives a few hours of fun and frivolity; It’s not the hired suit or the bridesmaid dresses that hang, unworn, in your best friend’s wardrobe. It is a love story. A Love story captured in a day that shows how two became one. It shows you the things that you may have missed as the day rushed by so quickly. It is a memory of your family and friends on the greatest day of your life. In 50 years’ time will you want to be looking through your album wishing that you’d paid a professional to give you a great memory instead of £200 for unedited and badly exposed images on a disc? Or… do you want to see every moment captured and remembered in detail? Do you want to re-live the happiness, tears and funny moments? Do you want to see the sly and adoring glance you were giving your new husband as he regaled tall tales in his speech? If so, then go back to that expensive photographer, check out his work and his packages, and ask if he’ll do the honour of capturing your precious day. You deserve it!

Is a photographer worth £2,000, £3000 or even £10,000? Absolutely!

Have fun,

Garry.

Now, i know many people who, under pain of death itself, would not enter the deadly realms of “in front of a camera”. Of, course, this is a personal choice and must be adhered to but i feel it’s their family that will miss out. The only photos their children, grand-children and great-grandchildren (ad infinitum) will see are the ones of great-great-great-grandad Huffy/grandma Pouty pulling a ‘misery’ face at the camera whilst trying to turn away (which is probably WHY they hate their photo being taken – anyone who hates a camera will automatically go into “i’m not doing this” mode, with the appropriate faces!).

So, why is a photograph important to me? I have many photos of me as a child and many of me as an adult, but i do lack the teenage years photos though. “Why is this?” i hear you cry. Well, i was a teenager from roughly 1984 to 1990 and my musical taste was somewhat ‘alternative’. I enjoyed the dulcet tones of Depeche Mode, The Sisters Of Mercy, Ultravox and The Mission (amongst many others) and dressed appropriately for the genre and era. My mother and father thought i looked daft (with my mohawk haircut and black nail polish!). Hence, when the camera came out it was either “I don’t want to have my photo taken” or “you’re not getting in this one – it’s too nice for you to spoil it”! So, to this day, i can’t remember what i looked like in my “Goth” gear because there are NO photos. I missed out on a lot of family photos because i was ‘too cool’ or couldn’t be bothered or wasn’t allowed. I just wish someone had told me to get in the photos.

Memories fade and your recollection of an event becomes distorted with time. I love looking through old photos and seeing how things were in the 50′s/60′s/70′s. I even love those history of your local town books where you see the town centre in 1869, 1952 and today. If those photos weren’t around, our recollection of those times would fade as the people who lived in those times died.

How things change! And how we miss these things change! I’m 40 now, coming up 41 soon, and there’s a lot of my life that i can’t remember. My memory of my youth is restricted to around about 60-70 days. 60-70 events in my life that i can remember from my youth. I remember putting tinned tomatoes on toast on my head at 18 months old; taking a walk down the main train line between Doncaster and Sheffield at 3; splitting my head open going over my handlebars at 4; going to Wales at 6; moving to Southampton and seeing Depeche Mode for the first time at 13; moving to Cornwall at 21. There are other snippets of memories – general school days, gigs i went to, people i met – but there are large swathes of my life that i just can’t remember and i never will because there is no photographic evidence to jolt that memory into action. Now? I have grey hair (prematurely, i might add), i have a lovely wife who i’ve been with for almost 17 years, i have two brilliant children (what’s better than seeing a small blur rush towards you and hearing your two year old shout “Daddy’s Home. DADDEEEEEEZ HOOOOOOOOME” when you walk through the door after work) and i have memories captured. At times, my family get a little annoyed at me for stuffing a camera in their faces almost on a daily basis, but one day they’ll thank me.

When i look back at old photographs of me, it can bring on many emotions and feelings. I can even recall smells and sounds, taste and a touch. You pick up that photo of you and your friends posing on your bikes and you remember that it was a hot summer. There was a soft, honey glaze over the sky and you could see the floating particles of pollen in the air. You’d been down by the stream, getting your shoes wet as you flew around on the low swing. As you cycled back home, breathing in the warm air and the smell of golden wheat from the fields, you skidded on a patch of dust and managed to get what seems like most of the gravel on the road into the palm of your hand and knee! You limped home, waving to your mates and telling them that you’d do it all again tomorrow, and your Mum cleaned you up. She gave you some toast with margerine and you sat and watched cartoons in your pyjamas until your Dad came home.

Photos are powerful things. One day, when your Mum and Dad aren’t around, you’ll pick up that photo again and wish -wish so deep and hard - that you could be sat on that sofa again with your toast, knowing your Mum was in the kitchen baking and your dad was on his way home. That’s the importance of photographs…

Just a quick tip for anyone who is struggling to view those CMYK files in Picasa3…

Open Picasa 3. Go to View and select “Use Colour Management”

WOW! That was easy wasn’t it?

Have fun.

Garry

Needless to say they were deeply upset about this and had personally requested me to capture their blessing. Big weight on my shoulders but I think I pulled it off nicely. I wanted to ensure that they had a great memory of their day and could look back and clearly see what had occurred!

Have a glance at a few of these…

Have fun,

Garry

There are one or two of my favourite shots in here, so here’s a selection from their day…

This link has been brought to my attention. Quite often photographers are asked to take photos for free. This link serves as an answer to those clients who are requesting such a service.

Does the cake company get asked to supply cakes for free? Will the chosen venue supply their services for free? Does the florist stock your venue free of charge? I suspect that they would be turned down flat if such a request was made.

Why is it then that photographers are asked to work for free in exchange for a credit or the promise of glowing reviews and tons of referrals?  Hopefully, this link explains some of the reasons why it is just not feasible for photographers to comply. Click the link and read what they have to say…

http://photoprofessionals.wordpress.com/

Have fun,

Garry