Barber Photography » 3B Media

3B Media //Website Launch

Phil — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:04:51 +0000

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!

London Baby! – Randallmania

Phil — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:42:47 +0000

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.

Come Dine with Us – Hope and Social

Phil — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:35:27 +0000

This is an evening not to be missed. If you want to get up close and personal with an excellent band then this is for you. The Hope and Social guys are having a Come Dine With Us evening at the Crypt on March 27th. Billed as a recording event with food and music – the idea was conceived during the recording of their second album which is still being put together. There was a song that James said had the feel of “A french Bistro, in a cave or cellar, with a small jazz band playing, and red candles on the tables”. So the guys are going to turn the Crypt into a French Bistro and invite fans down to get involved with a fun night. The 3B Media boys are going to be there to document the evening and do a little video as well.

On the evening you will be fed with 3 courses of great food and drink – waited on hand and foot by the band. Also the guys will serenade you at your table with whatever portable instruments they can find around the Crypt. Not only that but at the end of the evening they will be recording the last song to go on the new album and everyone who attends will be a key part of that recording.

Check out the link for more info and to buy the very limited tickets. Also have a listen to the Come Dine With Us invitation song they have put together. Pure Genius!

Go here for full Come Dine With Us details

Hope and Social: Recording Session

Phil — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:21:42 +0000

This afternoon I headed on down to The Crypt where our good friends Hope and Social are in the middle of recording their second album. I had my 3B Media chums Rob & Barnaby along as we were there to chat and discuss some future projects they had in mind. These are exciting times for these guys and it is great to be involved with them . They have such a great philosophy in their approach. For them it is about getting the fans involved as much as possible. Currently they are asking fans to twitter them names of towns which they are then going to work into the lyrics of one of their new songs “Marching on through” Check their twitter if you want in – #hopeandsocial #crowdsourcing

Anyhow with the band and Ben Denison @bendenison working on an idea to invite bands to the Crypt to record & film covers! All in one day. Not sure the logistics of it. But will be a great day and everybody can get involved using twitter and facebook and the blogs. More to follow on this and other ideas we chatted about over several cups of coffee.

It is a privilege to be allowed to document a band in the middle of their creative process. What we heard sounded cool and can’t wait to hear more of the tracks that will end up on the album. Spent most of the afternoon chatting but the band did spend some time laying down some tracks – so took a few shots of the guys in action. Check Rob’s blog for more images from our visit.

Urban Portraits – Update

Phil — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:58:34 +0000

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

Urban Portraits // 3B Media • Inspiring Photography Workshop – a great success!

Phil — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:33:16 +0000

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!

3B Media on Facebook

3B Media • Inspiring Photography Workshops // Urban Portraits – booking now!

Phil — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:47:35 +0000

Myself, Rob Booker and Barnaby Aldrick have been working hard behind the scenes on our new company called 3B Media, which you may have read about on some previous blog posts. We’re really excited as our first photography training day has been finalised and we’re now taking bookings!

We’ve called our workshop series: Inspiring Photography, because that’s exactly what we’re trying to do; teaching how to create inspiring images as well as inspiring photographers to get out there and create fresh work with limited gear. Our first course is titled ‘Urban Portraits‘ and is all about capturing fun, fresh images in everyday urban & contemporary settings using only natural, available light. This workshop is ideally suited to DSLR wielding amateurs and aspiring professionals. Being about natural light, it is not a gear-intensive course and is open to varying levels of expertise.

You’ll learn how to shoot fresh clean images like this:

or this:

The workshop is going to be held in Leeds city centre on Tuesday 26th January 2010 and places are restricted to a select group of 12 lucky delegates. It’s going to be fun and down to earth, with hands on teaching from three experienced pro-photographers and with 3 experienced models on hand to help create amazing new portfolio imagery.

The best thing is it that because it’s our first 3B Media workshop, we’re offering a special introductory half-price rate of just £150 per delegate (usually £295). As well as our expertoodlidge, that bargain rate includes lunch & tea & coffees all day long!

If you want to learn more download the brochure by clicking here, or visiting the 3B Media site here.

If you’d like to speak to a real live human, we’ve the lovely Lou Barber on hand to take questions and bookings over the phone on 0113 238 1011

Though feel free to contact me directly too!

Get inspired // Get involved!

A Week In The Life Of!

Phil — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:35:28 +0000

The last 7 -10 days have been so busy I haven’t had a chance to blog about everything. So today I’m going for possibly my longest post ever covering all that has gone on in the slightly mad world of Phil Barber. So let’s take a journey back in time a la Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure ( Showing my age now!)

THURSDAY 24th – FRIDAY 25th: WEDDINGS

On Thursday I was out and about with my old mate Mr Aldrick to help him cover one of his weddings at Hazlewood Castle – The weather was fab and it was great being a second shooter and allowed me a bit of creative freedom. This was swiftly followed the next day with one of my own weddings at Allerton Castle. I was back with Lou for this and what a day it was for Rachel & Ian. These guys are now on honeymoon and have allowed us to post a couple of teaser shots from the day. I’ll post up more pictures and a full report when they get back from honeymoon.

SATURDAY26th SUNDAY27th: WEEKEND OFF!

After doing 12 weddings over the last 6 weeks, we had our first weekend off in ages and some well earned R&R. My sister came up from London and we spent a great couple of days with the kids and going out and enjoying the last bits of late summer sunshine. My particular favourite moment was having tea & cake at Bettys in Harrogate. If you are ever in the area then this is a must. I bumped into one of our old clients from last year – Laura who was having a girls day out and preparing for on evening on the town.

Sunday evening was spent down at the Verve Bar in Leeds for another excellent evening of music. I have always gone down to the Sunday Service with a camera to record the event but I had made a conscious decision to just go and enjoy the music and spent some time in the company of good friends.

MONDAY 28th: EDITING & MORE EDITING!

As you can imagine after doing so many wedding s in such a short space of time there are a few images to edit.

So Monday was spent finishing off editing 2 weddings and getting the images ready to show clients. The evening was spent with another couple of our fantastic clients having a planning meeting discussing their upcoming wedding.

TUESDAY 29th:EVEN MORE EDITING!

A la Bridget Jones.

Edited 1 Wedding – 2 Enquiries – 2 Albums received from Queensberry & 1 Booking for next year

Also spent the evening with Steph & Darren doing their viewing to select images for their album.

WEDNESDAY 30th: 3B MEDIA – TEMPLE WORKS & THEN TRIP TO BLACKPOOL!

Early Wednesday morning I met up with Barns & Rob at Temple Works to discuss with Susan the art installations that she would like us to do. This was slightly unusual as I had never considered myself as an artist. But with the guys we set about over the next hour discussing how we would display our work that we had produced in documenting The Temple Works. The work will be available to visit as part of ‘The Final Days’ – Light & Sound Show torchlit tours from Friday 9th through to 16th October. If you are interested BOOK HERE!

After that the 3 of us head off towards Blackpool to spent some time together as 3B Media but also meet up with some other excellent photographers from the [b]school and the Randall Network. This was a great opportunity to sit down and chew the fat so to speak with some like minded photographers. So a shout out goes to Stewart Randall, Peter & Laura Lawson, Olivia Brabbs, Susie Lawrence, Chris Mackenzie, James Pearson, Rebecca Honeywell, Hayley Ruth, Mark Lenik, Neil Matthews & Mark Byrne. I think that was everyone. I had a weird experience with a Blackpool landlady who showed me to my room that had a double & a single but was asked very nicely if I would sleep in the single so she didn’t have to make up the double in the morning!

The day was spent having Fish & Chips and drinking glasses of the finest ale that Blackpool had on offer. As the light rapidly vanished there was a flurry of activity as we decided to take some images on the beach. As 3B we tried to create some promo images of ourselves in near darkness but using a bit of 1.2 action. Below are a few more images from our time on the beach.

After this it was off to have a chinese and more chat. It has to said at this point I was feeling crap / cold /swine flu not sure what – so I left the guys to head onto a bar which would appear to have been an experience for all of them. Check Barns blog out for further scary details.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

THURSDAY 1st OCTOBER – JOHANNES VAN KAN

The next day I left my fellow 3B Media chums and the rest of the photographers to have a day of discussing albums / marketing and alike while I headed up the coast to Staveley and Annabel Williams studio. It was here I had the chance to spend the day in the company of an amazing photographer from New Zealand – Johannes Van Kan. He had been invited over here to speak on behalf of Queensberry who are our album suppliers (and also the best manufacturers of albums in the world – fact!). It is hard to describe what I experienced during the day. Johannes has a passion & vision for photography that I have rarely come across. Normally when you come to see a photographer he or she will show a small slideshow of their work and then talk for a couple of hours. But from the very first minute you could tell Johannes’ approach was completely different. This was not about “look at me I’m a fab photographer”. This was story of his life and the journey he had taken. For him it was telling the story via his images. Also in this fast moving digital age where it’s so easy to get caught up in the transient nature of digital photography, he talked really eloquently about he how wanted to produce albums for people that they will be cherishing in years to come. This is why we use Queensberry – they’re so much more than photo albums. They really are heirlooms (gets off poncey soapbox…!)

FRIDAY 2nd OCTOBER – MORE EDITING & The Lurgie!

Spent the day editing a couple more weddings and had another booking for next year

But the whole family by this time were really suffering from some horrible cold thing – Lou spent most of the day wrapped up in bed and I’ve been pretty laid up most of the weekend. I even had to renege on a gig on Saturday that I’d been dead excited about for ages. I was gutted. Anyway……

Hopefully by Monday we will all be fighting fit and ready for another excellent week.

Off now to dose up on Lemsip and clear away the mountain of tissues. Eeeww…

Temple Works – The Final Days: Stills

Phil — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:00:06 +0000

Back at the end of August we got involved with Temple Works when they put out a call for local artists and creatives to come and record the building before it started its transition into a centre for the arts in 2010/2011. So Rob, Barns and myself as 3B Media spent the day capturing the detail and feel of the place using stills and video. Barns spent most of the day capturing video on his Canon 5D mkII. This is a remarkable camera that allows capture in High Def. Rob & I went looking for the little details that people might miss while walking around the site. From this we have put together a video which you can see below which we think has captured the mood of Temple Works just before it makes its transition into a new life.

The video and a body of images take from this day and the model shoot we did the following have been submitted for consideration for an exhibition that will take place at Temple Works from the 9th to 16th October as part of Light Night in Leeds. I will keep you up to date if we have been successful.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

Lighting ‘On-Location’ – Temple Works

Phil — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:09:10 +0000

On Tuesday a great team of people were once again brought together for a day of creative development. Rob Barnaby and Myself as 3B Media wanted to create some new images for our portfolios and had recently found this excellent location to shoot in Leeds called Temple Mill. We were joined by Katy Pooja who did a fab job with the make-up and styling. Stef who had modelled for us before and Racheal who joined us from Sheffield. We gave everyone an open brief for the day and ideas were shared to create some stunning images from the day. Cris joined us again to record the day on video and you will be able to see the full video in a couple of weeks.