A fantastic workshop last night on our Get To Know Your Digital SLR evening class in Leeds. Everyone got plenty of top 3B advice on their new DSLRs and prosumer bridge cameras.

Our next evening class is 21st April and we have a few places left – book online here now: http://www.3bmedia.co.uk/index.php/workshops/get-to-know-your-dslr

We’ll show you some great posing techniques to get the best out of even the most nervous couple and leave them with some great pictures and good memories. You’ll also leave with loads of invaluable information surrounding the planning and practicalities of wedding photography.

This workshop is not a gear-intensive course and will give you an amazing portfolio of images that will be repeatable on the wedding day. A basic working knowledge on how to use your DSLR will be required, as we’ll be focussing less on technique and more on your style and approach to photographing weddings. At only £275 per delegate including lunch and refreshments, this is a great investment to your photography and your business.

You can view full details of the workshop and book online via our website here.

We’ve been dreaming big for the future, and are excited to announce a whole list of training workshops for amateurs & aspiring professionals.

Check out our 2011 curriculum here.

The wedding, portraits and flash workshops we’ve run so far have generally been full-day mid-week courses for aspiring professionals. Yet, we often get amateur enthusiasts contacting us about the best SLR to buy or asking if we run basic courses on how to get the most out of their digital SLRs.

So we’ve created a ‘Get to know your Digital SLR’ workshop:

The title may not be so catchy, but it does what it says on the tin!

It’s a 3-hr evening class (6.30>9:30pm) for DSLR/prosumer camera owners looking to get their skills together and become better photographers.

We’re running evening workshops suitable for all, throughout the year; including 15th March, 21st April, 10th May and 21st September.

In case you missed that, the next one is NEXT TUESDAY (15th March at Woodlands Hotel, Leeds)!

We’ll be covering aperture, shutter speeds, ISO, composition, lenses, focusing and lots of other tech stuff but without all the tech language.

It’s going to be a lot of fun, with Phil, Rob & myself (all pro photographers) there to answer all your questions (even the silly ones)!

For online booking and all the information you need, head to the 3B Media site at: http://www.3bmedia.co.uk/index.php/workshops/get-to-know-your-dslr

Hopefully see you there!

Wow! where has the year gone. It has truly been an amazing year. We have met so many interesting people and been to some incredible places in 2010. It is difficult for us to thank everyone but first I would like to say thank you to everyone of our couples this year. Every wedding has been great to be involved with and we have been made so welcome by everyone on their special day.

We’re so lucky that we work with some amazing suppliers in the wedding industry so a big thanks and happy Christmas to them, especially Fiona at Firenza, Sally and everyone at Papakata Tipis and all the amazing venues we’ve worked at this year – Allerton Castle, Hazlewood Castle, Ripley Castle (so many castles!), Oulton Hall, Rudding Park and so many others. Also big love to James at Roeni who not only is an amazingly talented designer and all round lovely chap but also designed and produced the Barber Photography Christmas cards again this year.

Thanks to my friends at Aspire up in the Lake District who have continued to inspire me this year. I’m so proud to be part of the team up there and really excited with the projects for 2011. Catherine & Jane we wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for you guys.

In the my other world of 3B Media particular thank yous go to Hope & Social Si, Rich, Ed, Gary, Si & James and the peeps involved with them Ben  Mark Roo. You guys have given me the most fabulous experiences this year and long may it continue into 2011.

The lads of Cities Between Us – Josh Nimal Stef Jo & Val – You rock and we are looking forward to the new album in 2011. Skylarkin for allowing us into your inner sanctum to record you guys at work. Mike Heaton for letting us get involved with your exciting project ( More of which in 2011!)

Also of course big big thanks to Rob and Barns, my 3B partners in crime. These two guys have been my biggest inspiration this year. Opening my eyes to new worlds and seeing things that would normally pass me by. They make me as giddy as a kipper. We’ve got big plans for the future helped by the wonderful Hayley who has given us the belief and focus – so 2011 will hopefully be a great year for us.

Lastly a big thank you to my main partner in crime – my gorgeous wife Lou and mother to our fab kids.These guys are the reason we do this. Lou is someone who keeps me on the straight and narrow . Gives me kick up the backside when I need it but allows me to follow my dreams not matter how stupid they may seem at the time.

Lou I love you and you are all I could ask for .

Happy Christmas everybody and have a Happy New Year.

Phil xxxxx

Not knowing what to expect the guys all got up on stage wearing their now famous blue jackets. ‘Horns and Blue Jackets’ I thought ‘This will be interesting!’ But after 2 songs I was hooked and I had entered the world of H&S. Some say once this happens you never really leave. 2 songs just stood out for me  ‘Sunlight Hold Me’ and ‘In Hope’ both of their ‘Architect of the Church’ album.

After seeing Hope and Social at Oporto it was off to the Crypt on the following Saturday for a really special night. This is the guys hope turf. It is where they recorded the album ‘Architect of the Church’ and has become a very special place for them. So to watch them play the whole album live from start to finish in the place it was created, was amazing. It was also recorded to produce a live album called  Hope and Social  -  ‘ Be the Architect’ What was pretty cool is that they have used some of the images we took on the night in the 80 page hardback book that came in the boxset and the image on the disc itself. Also included in the book were poems prayers and wishes that people were asked to write on the night. It is a beautiful thing.

The audience to get involved with mass kazoo playing

You just have to be there. Apparently they managed to get 1500 people to play Kazoo’s at Glastonbury last year – Check this video out.

Talking of video’s – we managed to record some video that evening and created a video of the track ‘Stuck Like Glue’

Hope and Social – Stuck Like Glue from Phil Barber on Vimeo.

Then over the next couple of months I went to see them play as part of the audience – It became a family thing with a gig at the Adelphi in Leeds one Saturday afternoon when my kids got in on the act.

Kids and Kazoo’s cannot be kept apart.

Then I caught them back at the Crypt for a Christmas gig. This time it was upstairs in the church to raise funds for the roof renovation

So 2010 comes and H&S go back to the Crypt to start recording their second album ‘April’ and 3B Media then get asked to be involved with what has become the almost legendary ‘Come Dine With Us’ . We meet up with the band in mid February whilst they were still recording the album. The idea was to turn the Crypt into a french bistro and invite 70 fans down to a 3 course meal served by the band who would also serenaded the tables between courses and if that was not enough to record the final track on the new album called ‘Eurospin’ . So they said could you document this in someway. Not one to shy away from a challenge we said ‘OK!’ whilst not knowing quite what we had let ourselves in for.

Hope and Social’s album April – check out band camp to listen

Before leaving the Crypt we managed to sneak a few images of the band recording some tracks for the new album.

‘Come Dine WIth Us’ has been very well documented over the last 6 months but I think it sums up what Hope & Social are about and that is a band who don’t just want to write good music ( which they do! ) but they want to give their fans an experience that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Most bands still just perform a gig you turn up you listen, if you are lucky you might get a bit of recognition from the band and that’s it. H&S gigs are not like that. It is very hard for me to explain what it is like to be involved with a H&S event but if you watch the two videos we made for them I think you will get the idea.They are a great record of what happen that day and night and are well worth spending 10 minutes of your life watching them with a coffee.

Hope & Social • Eurospin from 3B Media on Vimeo.

Hope & Social • Come Dine With Us [Behind-the-scenes] from 3B Media on Vimeo.

Since Come Dine With Us they have had another fab event called ‘Seaside Shannagins’ on the ‘Hope and Social Fun Bus’ unfortunatley none of the 3B Media crew were available for this bit if you check out Simon Wiffen’s Facebook you can see loads of images from the day. It looked a stunning day and another experience that you just wouldn’t get with any other band.

All ready there are plans a foot for the next adventure and can’t wait to see what comes of them – I can say that it has been an experience being involved with Hope and Social world over the last year and some thing I won’t forget.

We were more than impressed with the sheer energy & enthusiasm coming from these dudes. They told us their story & how they’d come together from Iceland, New Zealand & Canada (hence ‘Cities Between Us’) and were currently rocking out some new tracks in the UK/Canada, whichever kept them busiest. Here they are are: L>R Valdimar, Jo, Josh, Stefan & Nimal

As with all photography, wedding, music or otherwise, if the other side ‘puts in’, the results are all the sweeter. After they’d left, we were buzzing on their enthusiasm and decided to crank things up a bit for them. Instead of just a photoshoot, we were going to make them a music video. This became my baby (as we’ve found it easier in such projects to take on roles, so I took the role of ‘Herr Director’), I went off and plugged myself into MTV and have never downloaded so many music videos in all my life.

Meanwhile, in July they began work on their debut album, with star producer Matt Hyde – the grammy award winning engineer who’s worked with Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Bullet for my Valentine & Slipknot – and came back to us with a tasty number called ‘Dirty Money’.

We had a good listen, booked a date, hired a warehouse & some pokey TV lights & settled in for a day’s filming. This was a long and intense day. Barns had another job on so Rob & I asked aboard the helpful hands of James Lester (an ace tog pal who manned camera B & shot the images in this post) & Hannah Reynolds (James’ art college pal who manned the mac desk & file conversion).

Here’s a view of the warehouse, from the back looking towards us (you can see our macbook pro desk between the left guitar & bass amps) and below is a closer shot of mission control we had set up. Far right is the sound desk which was used to play back the track. Next table in had all the memory cards (Unused / Used / Downloaded etc) and then you see the two MacBook Pros that were converting footage all day and being backed up.

Above are a few shots James caught of the band in action.

Gearwise: We filmed on Canon DSLRs (2 x 5DmkII’s & a 7D for slow mo footage), a gib (a video crane) & a bunch of TV studio lights & a strobe…

…but really the show was run on CBU power! Seriously: all credit to the band, who rocked solidly for like 7hrs.

We felt for Stefan, the drummer, who was in shreds after givin it beats all day

Anyhoos – After looking at some rough footage in the pub that night, Rob & I excitedly rocked up to Barns house with a hard disk full of Hannah-converted-footage & said “there y’are!” and toddled off.

Barns was taking on the role of editor.

That’s a screen grab of the final track, chopped & laid out in Final Cut Pro.

It was a seriously interested experience & learning curve for us all, not just on the day – playing with lighting, slow mo and cranes etc – but in post production – converting, syncing & chopping the footage – to pump the vid with life & pace.

But we’re totally pleased with the final result. Check it out below, in crispy HD:

If you can’t see the vid for whatever reason, check it out on vimeo here.

Hope you enjoyed watching that as much as we did making it! Massive thanks to Cities Beween Us, who are up in Iceland recording the 2nd leg of the album, for being absolute legends on the day and in general. It wouldn’t look anywhere near this ace if you didn’t put in 100% like you did.

If you’ve a commission for 3B Media, or would like a music vid/documentary, don’t be shy – drop us a line here or on info@3Bmedia.co.uk

As part of 3B Media we have tried to immerse ourselves into the world of music videos. This is an area that all three of us are very interested in and with the advent of the DSLR capable of shooting HD video this has made it more of a reality. So when our friends Hope and Social were making a video for one of their tracks off their new album ‘April’ we asked if we could observe the process from beginning to end. Well the end end has arrived with the launch of the ‘James’ video. Shot and made by the amazing Ross McWhannell, who has worked with us on such fantastic videos as 1000 Bulbs and The First Word is the Hardest, this was created using one 5Dmkii and a budget that was about the same size as the loose change you have in your pocket.

What amazed me was how low tech it seemed on the day -’ Are you really only lighting it with 2 B&Q halogen lights? ‘ – ‘ Just you and the camera then? ‘ But what Ross had was an idea and vision on how he wanted it to look. As with photography I am learning that it’s not all about the equipment but the ability to see and visualise images and planning this all in pre-production. So after filming Ross goes back to New Zealand where he is based and a month later we watched emails go back and forth between the band and Ross discussing first / second edits and how the look and feel of the video evolved to it’s final finished video it is today.

The other big factor in producing video’s whether it is a short movie / documentary or music video is the way it is edited. The Edit can make or break a video. What I know of editing, with the little I have done myself, is the way Ross has pulled James together is amazing. To go from seeing how it was filmed to what you see now is unbelievable. The editor is worth his or her’s weight in gold.

If you go to Ross’s blog there is a very big post about how the video was created and is well worth the read if you are interested in this sort of thing.

To see the video click here —> Hope and Social ‘James’ Video

With all this in mind we have been working on first music video with a band called Cities Between Us. We filmed this back in August and the final edit is almost complete so watch this space.

Finally I was in London last week and on the way back to the train dropped into the Luminaire where the band were sound checking for a gig that night. Here are few grab shots

Last Tuesday we ran our first One-Day Wedding workshop at Woodlands Hotel in Leeds

It was an ace day, filling 8 eager minds with details on how we 3B approach wedding photography

Mr Barber kicked the day off with a classroom session on the importance of the pre-wedding shoot

Then Phil & I split delegates into two groups to show delegates how we shoot 2 pre-wed couples, before letting them take turns shooting.

We wanted to use real couples, rather than models, to show the love and also to show how we make real people feel comfortable in front of our cameras.

This couple Jo & Phil are friends of Clare’s who’d recently married and so jumped at the chance to dress up again & party with us.

Laura & Jamie were a former couple of Phil’s & were well up for playing dress up again.

We showed our delegates the kind of details we look for.

It was drizzling when we started, so showed them how to handle England’s ever changeable weather

A few compositional ideas

And how to communicate with a couple to get them relaxed

A bit of back light flare technique

We’d been supplied a beautiful bouquet, buttonhole & table flowers by our favourite florist in the business, Fiona of Firenza Floral Design

Here’s our 2nd time delegate Natasha photographing our mock wedding breakfast table setup

After lunch the girls donned their frocks & although we like to shoot naturally and unstaged, our makeup artist did a few staged makeup shots.

Laura, looking beautiful.

It’s little wonder why the girls wanted to dress up again when they had stunning dresses like these!

A detail of Phil’s button hole

I like this moment of Jo on the steps.

A kooky compositional bridal detail from Phil.

We really couldn’t complain about the sunlight…

…or the model behaviour we got out of our couples

Jamie even pimped his outfit a with fun footwear

We really hoped we did Jo & Phil proud with a new set of wedding images

They put in so much to help us get what we needed & were very natural in front of the lenses; despite the fact that there were 5 photographers at a time coming at them!

We showed delegates how we like to shoot solo portraits…

…and a bit about depth of field

Personally I like this one of them looking at another delegate

Another moment

And possibly, in my opinion, the most weddingy snap of the day, on the Woodlands steps.

After reading the 3B Feedback Questionnaire it appeared that all our delegates were super pleased with the day and content. We feel we struck the perfect balance to introduce the class to how we approach wedding photography, and how we get the most out of photographing real, non-model couples. We’re excited to do another workshop early in 2011. In the meantime we’re preparing for our Exposing Flash Workshop on November 9th this year! If you’re interested, download the brochure by clicking here.

So thank you again to our couples, Jo & Phil and Laura & Jamie, Fiona from Firenza for the flowers, our makeup artist Lauren & to all our delegates for making the 3B One-Day Wedding Workshop such a great success!

You may be aware that Rob Booker, Barnaby Aldrick & myself, all established Leeds-based snappers, joined forces last year to pool our skills into 3B Media.

[FYI: The 3B's come from the B's of our nicknames 'Barber', 'Booker' & 'Barns']

Our common goal has been to create an exciting, forward-thinking company with 3 major goals:

1. To run fun workshops train & develop the stills & video skills of photographic enthusiasts & aspiring pro’s
2. To take on interesting commissions in photography & video that we wouldn’t be able to approach as standalone photographers
3. To inspire one another & the world of photography through our 3B Media website.

So after running successful training courses, we’ve spent these past months beavering away at coding our vision into a working website.

Introducing www.3Bmedia.co.uk!

Let me show you around the key pages…

After studying the photography training market around us in Yorkshire there appears to a lack of training for amateurs & aspiring professional photographers. We’ve all been on or heard horror stories about training courses with too many delegates / sharing too little equipment / fighting over too few models / not having enough teachers to go around. So at 3B we decided to run a few simple courses for small groups, with all the B’s on hand for a more one-on-one experience.

The courses we’ve currently offering include:

And there are more details about each course in the Workshops section of the site if you’re interested in joining us to sharpen your skills!

The next major section of the site has been the development of the 3B Pages.

The 3B pages are the evolving, ever-expanding hub to our website, where the reader will find bucket loads of useful information and inspiration. The Pages link to the 3B Photo & Video galleries – for inspiring 3B stills & video commissions – the 3B Friday page – where every week (guess which day) we post professional techniques, tricks, and ideas on how to take your photography / business further – the 3B Amazon Store, detailing the gear we use & rate and finally the 3B Blog – our electronic signpost, pointing out news, changes within the site (such as new projects added to the commissions page) and new 3B Fridays posts.

So we hope you enjoy our shiny new site. It’s still a work in progress and will grow and change as time goes on. But it’s there for you and we’d love you to follow & comment on the blog, drop us a line if you’re interested in using us for a commission or fancy joining us on one of our upcoming workshops!

]]> http://www.philbarberblog.com/index.php/2010/06/03/3b-media-website-launch/feed/ 0 http://www.philbarberblog.com/index.php/2010/05/02/london-baby-randallmania/ http://www.philbarberblog.com/index.php/2010/05/02/london-baby-randallmania/#comments Sat, 01 May 2010 23:42:47 +0000 Phil http://www.philbarberblog.com/?p=2771

As a photographer life can sometimes in a strange way be quite lonely. Over the years I have got to know a number of photographers who have become friends and more importantly people I trust and can talk about my business to them. We have always been very open about how we set up our business and the transition from the corporate life to photographers. Recently guys like Rob & Barns – who are my partners in 3B Media – have become people I trust and discuss my business with and talk about their business without fear. So if we want to try something new or have an idea, these guys will be the first we go to to discuss it.

Over the last year we have become involved with the Randall Network which is a larger group of photographers who are very like minded and have a similar philosophy to how they think their business should be run. All to often we come across people who are very defensive about their business don’t want to help or collaborate with you. So when we came across the Randall Network it was a real breath of fresh air.

So last week 35 photographers from this Network travelled from all parts of  the country and came together in my home town of London! The goal of the two days was to socialise but also to discuss and share ideas regarding their businesses. We discussed aspects of marketing, social media, suppliers etc.

Also as part of 3B Media we were very excited about doing a presentation to these guys about Off Camera Flash. We spent a couple of hours going through some very simple set ups and trying to show how simple using flash off camera can be.

So on Wednesday a group of us travelled down on what got labelled as the 3B Media Express from Leeds station. On arrival at All Bar One next to the London Eye we were sent out to take pictures. We were given a little task to go and capture elements of London life in a number of locations. We ended up going to the Strand & Covent Garden. Some of the images I took can be seen in the slideshow below.

I would like to thank Stewart Randall who is an amazing photographer who originally set up the network and for Hayley Ruth who organised the two days and pulled it altogether for us. Thank You! Thank You! I met some old friends like Olivia, Rebecca, Mike, Susie, Cris, Pete & Laura Lawson and met some amazing new ones like Carrie, Mr Phil, Simon

I wish we had more time to get to know each and everyone who was there but that will come with ‘Randallmania2″ in the meantime checkout Jame’s Blog for other pictures from the 2 days.