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Hello and welcome to our blog. Here is where we'll be posting developments in our work and our lives, and even random ramblings about interesting stuff.
A bit about us first. We've been together for 15 years, married for 13 and have two amazing children. We have a job we love, working with people we like at the happiest times of their lives. How lucky are we?!!
We love hearing from new friends so if you have something to say about our blog please leave a comment or drop us an email - it would be great to hear from you!
Love
Phil + Lou xx
Forthcoming Wedding Fairs
Hazlewood Castle 7th February 2010
Woodlands Hotel 7th March 2010
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'All About Weddings' 3rd June 2010
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Just a really quick post as I’m just about to set off for Hazlewood’s wedding fair. Its always a great wedding fair to show at and we love meeting potential new clients. We usually go together to the fairs but Lou can’t make it today so it’s just me. I might get a bit lonely without her so if you’re planning on coming down please come and say hello!
Phil x
We ventured over the pennines last week for Tracey & Nick’s wedding. Their wedding was at the stunning Inn at Whitewell which is such a fantastic venue. It’s set in a beautiful part of the world and quite a hidden gem really – it’s an area sandwiched between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District and I think it tends to get a bit overlooked as a result. Whatever, it’s gorgeous.
Anyway, we arrived at the hotel on a very cold but very bright, beautiful morning. Both Nick & Tracey were getting ready at the Inn – Nick in the main building and Tracey in the coach house, so everything was very relaxed. The hotel was buzzing with locals enjoying lunch after a country walk, but gradually Nick & Tracey’s guests arrived for the celebrations starting at 4pm. Tracey looked amazing as she walked down the aisle in her stunning dress (and purple shoes!) and the ceremony was such a happy occasion.
Tracey and Nick had opted for a purely reportage approach for their photography, although we did manage to sneak in a couple of shots of just the two of them outside before the chill got the better of everybody. After a wedding breakfast and speeches in the marquee a fantastic ceilidh was set up which was a great way of getting everyone up on the dance floor. We got some great shots of everyone, although I would rather have been up dancing with everyone!
Tracey and Nick, you were such a great couple to work with. We hope you had a fantastic wedding day – lots of love and congratultions to you both!
Phil & Lou xx
They other day my daughter was looking through some of the pictures we had taken when we had the snow. There was one particular image she really liked. I thought nothing of it until tonight when she came into the study with a poem / story she had written about the photograph. I was taken by surprise a little – you forget how quickly they grow up. Anyway I wanted to share the poem with you. The image on the actual poem is below and if you can’t read it I have typed it underneath . Also you can see the image that inspired the poem.
“On a winters day I go out for a walk. My cosy blue
boots are sinking in the dazzling white crunchy snow!
WOW dazzling snowflakes falling peacefully down onto the
creamy white pavement.
An icy wind blasts my face bringing tears to my eyes.
As the day is so cold it makes my tears freeze!
Walking through the woods is like being in a fairy tale!
Time to go home because my nose and toes are freezing
back to a warm, cozy house where I can smell mummy
making lovely sweet hot chocolate also with a pink
fatty bacon sandwich MMMMmmmm gorgeous!“
February 4, 2010 - 2:02 pm - That's a gorgeous poem - so wonderfully descriptive I can almost feel the cold and it's left me with cravings for hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches! :) I bet you're very proud. Thanks for sharing!
Today at 3B media we got a lovely email from one of our delegates who came on the Urban Portraits workshop last week. Kirsten send us some images she took of the models which are great and you can check them out on the 3BMedia website. But also it seems she was taking pictures us in action. Checkout the images below – We photographers will do anything to get the shot! If your are interested in attending a course or want to suggest a course you might want to see us run then get in touch at info@3bmedia.co.uk
Leeds music stalwart James Owen Fender decided to host a Battle of the Bands to dig out Leeds’ finest upcoming groups in association with his night ‘Plumpton Presents‘. It’s been cunningly named ‘The Battle of Plumpton’ and has some quality prizes, such as the winning band getting a track waxed by ace producer James Kenosha, which gets onto a limited edition Plumpton Presents Record (via ADA distribution) and get to play the Beach Break Live 2010 music festival.
The Battle kicked off to a roaring start at the Wardrobe in Leeds, with the Leeds College of Music heat. Those kids generally require a grade 8 in something to get in, so musical tightness & mad skills were pretty much guaranteed.
I went to the fourth heat which was held at the Leeds Met. One of the bands I know well ‘Gavin Mart & The Saturday Vandals’ was playing so it was great to go along photograph the gig but also be there to support Gav. We managed to get there in time as Barns and I had seen Martin Parr earlier in the evening.
Below are some images of Gav and the guys in action.
Also we caught the next band playing which was DodoDeadDead. These guys eventually won that night’s heat and will play in the final at Oporto on the 3rd February 2010 at 20:00. The other bands playing will be Moody Gowns Charlie Bath and The Luminaries. Go along and vote for your top band. Free admission too. Bargain!
Thursday night I went to see ‘An Evening with Martin Parr’ – Martin Parr is probably one of the most influential living British Photographers still working today. With over fifty books and countless exhibitions, Parr is known for his lurid and sometimes shocking use of colour in photography and his satirical witty approach to documentary photography leaves the viewer not sure whether to laugh or cry.
The audience was invited to vote on which one of 3 presentations he had put together and they would most like to hear; ‘Parrworld’, ‘Martin Parr – the story so far’ or Martin Parr my collection of Photo books. After a number of chances to vote the audience selected ‘Parrworld’. This was exhibition that was held at the Baltic in Gateshead. It was an a exhibition with a difference, less an exhibition in the standard sense – although it’s the largest ever to be dedicated to his work – and more an old-fashioned cabinet of curiosities.
Parr has Saddam Hussein watches, a wall of commemorative plates from the miners’ strike, an Afghan kilim depicting a plane flying into the Twin Towers, a Falklands conflict tea towel, a Stalin alarm clock and a roll of Osama bin Laden lavatory paper.
Also there was a collection of his Postcards showing hotel lounges and Butlins indoor swimming poll from the 60’s.
Joining me on the night was my 3B Media chums Mr Aldrick & Mr Booker. But when we arrived it turned out to be a mini Randall Network get together with The Lawsons, Rebecca Honeywell, Oliva Brabbs, Susie Lawrence all being there as well.
The evening was held by Creative Networks at Leeds College of Art and they hold such events every month.
This week Rob Booker, Barnaby Aldrick & myself ran our first 3B Media ‘Inspiring Photography’ workshop, called ‘Urban Portraits’. We’ve been planning it for quite some time now and it turned out to be such a fantastic day!
At the Round Foundry Media Centre near Leeds’ Granary Wharf we brought together 2 models, a make-up artist & 4 delegates and spent the day teaching them how we shoot portraits in the urban environment.
The delegates had fun shooting our pro-models, and it was so rewarding seeing them grow in confidence through the day.
In fact, some of the images they were getting were starting to make me feel we’d taught them too well!
Here’s one of our shots of Stef, who’s always such a joy to work with.
To start with I did a classroom session running through exposure and how to shoot manually, Rob ran the mornings ‘finding backgrounds’ and ‘Communication & Etiquette’ practical shoot classes.
We taught delegates how to quickly find & use clean backgrounds, such as this one of Alex.
Here I am teaching the Natasha’s (there were two!) This was up a fire escape over looking the Saw Mill. This place was amazing for loads of different backgrounds and textures. I’m sporting my lovely little Shootsac.
Our long time 3B Media make-up artist also models, so after she’d made Alex & Stef up, she got involved herself!
What amazing brown eyes!
In the afternoon we walked over to new revitalised Granary Wharf to try out some new backgrounds and I went through composition and finding light with the delegates.
Another shot of Alex trying to demonstrate you don’t have to shoot head on but consider different angles.
Barnaby did a lot of filming the day – a little video will follow soon. But also he spent a lot of the time during the practical classes on hand to help delegates once they got shooting.
This is one my favourite shots that Barnaby took and the one below is my favourite one that Rob took.
These next few shots I took of Alex under the arches behind Granary Wharf. I love these as a group of six. Here we were showing the benefit of using reflective light and using the lines of the lights to add a dimension to the shot
Here is Natasha working with Alex. It was great that by the nend of the afternoon session – the delegates had the confidence to take the models off on their on and start shooting in their own style.
Then back to the Round Foundry forBarnaby’s classroom module on how we bring images to life in post production & Adobe Lightroom.
Check out Barns looking all teachery!
It was such a awesome day, with everyone getting a set of stunning photos and leaving inspired and in control of their DSLRs!
It was equally inspiring to us as 3B Media, and we’re going to run the same course again in May and start planning further workshops on (amongst other things) flash, wedding photography & post production!
After a quick group shot, we popped to the pub (3B goody bags in hand!) for a cheeky beverage or two…
I’ll be posting more on the workshop soon, once we’ve edited some video and rounded up some images shot by delegates! But keep your eyes on www.3bmedia.co.uk or on our facebook page below to become a fan / get news on upcoming workshops!
I found myself with my good friend Barns covering a charity concert on Friday night. Called ‘Singing in the Rain’ it was in aid of the victims of the Cumbrian floods and they had got together some great local bands from Leeds.
Kinch
Birdman Rallies
Hannah Trigwell and
The Moves
We didn’t manage to stay for all the gig but caught the set by Hannah Trigwell & The Moves. These guys both put on some great sets. Head over to the The Sound Gallery Blog for more images.
On Saturday I was asked to do a family shoot for one of our wedding clients from last year. Kate & James were married on August Bank holiday weekend and recently asked me over to do the shoot. We spent the morning doing some great portraits of everybody but things became interesting at the end when James produced 7 proper light sabres. It has to be said in all my time as a photographer this was a first. I will post more images from the shoot later this week but I thought it would be cool to share the one above. Although you probably can’t tell – the room was almost pitch black and the only available light came from the light sabres themselves. Darth Vader if you are watching – you better watch out!
Our most recent wedding was also our snowiest. In fact it was proper welly-boot deep and crisp and even. Fortunately for us it was just around the corner from our home at Woodlands Hotel so even if we hadn’t managed to get the car out we could have easily walked it. Luckily we didn’t have to.
It was Rebecca & Ian’s big day – I’d spoken to Rebecca earlier in the week and she was a bit nervous to say the least! That hadn’t really changed when we arrived at the hotel (!), but as the day went on they both chilled out and had a great time.
I spent some time up in the penthouse with Rebecca and her little entourage while she had her hair and make up done. She had her dress designed and made specially for her and her dressmakers were on had to put the finishing touches to her outfit. I have to say she looked absolutely stunning in her silver gown – very much the fifties starlet and her final look was very Audrey Hepburn. Meanwhile Lou was capturing details downstairs and awaiting the boys’ arrival.
After the beautiful ceremony Rebecca and Ian were very brave and were happy to venture outside for a while for a few shots. It would have been a shame not to have captured the snow in some pictures, but we stopped short of wading through the deep stuff – I don’t think Rebecca’s stilettos were really up to it!
The wedding breakfast took place in the marquee which was looking stunning with gorgeous flowers supplied by our friends at Ivy in Pudsey. Also taking pride of place was a fantastic cupcake tower in some amazing colours. Three yummy courses, many bottles of wine and several speeches later it was set up time for the evening reception. I stayed on to capture some first dances as usual and it was lovely just to have a short drive home again – one reason we love working at Woodlands!!
Rebecca & Ian, we had such a great time with you at your wedding. You can both relax now!!
Phil & Lou xxx
January 26, 2010 - 5:50 pm - Fabulous pictures Phil. Love Woodlands.
by Phil
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