Over the last couple of days  I have been  back up in the Lakes with the lovely Aspire Photography Training. This time it was to spend time with one of their bespoke groups to talk about how we approach and photograph our weddings. Group 35 were amazing bunch of guys, really enthusiastic and keen to learn. On the first day I just joined the group and the end of the day to listen and observe whilst Catherine & Jane talked about the marketing side of the business. It’s always interesting listening to the questions that the Bespoke members put to both Catherine & Jane. I’m listening very closely because there is always something new you can learn from these guys.

On the second day I took the group through the whole process of photographing a wedding, from planning to execution.  We were joined on the shoot by a lovely couple, Sarah & James who were lucky to get married on the fab island of Sicily. They acted as our models as I took the group through how to set up and shoot an engagement shot. Then in the afternoon we headed out into the village of Burton in Kendal for some wedding pictures, first to the lovely church and then off to a beautiful location to do the couple shots.

As ever the day was set up and organised by the fab Rachel. She is an ace stylist and always puts in a superb effort. Here are a few of my pictures from the day.

Over the last couple of days  I have been  back up in the Lakes with the lovely Aspire Photography Training. This time it was to spend time with one of their bespoke groups to talk about how we approach and photograph our weddings. Group 34 were amazing bunch of guys, really enthusiastic and keen to learn. On the first day I just joined the group to listen and observe whilst Catherine & Jane talked about the marketing side of the business. At the end of the day they were joined by Melissa Love who was a fantastic speaker. She is a whizz at creating amazing websites and developing clients brands.

On the second day I took the group through the whole process of photographing a wedding, from planning to execution.  We were joined on the shoot by a lovely couple, Christie & Jack. They acted as our models as I took the group through how to set up and shoot an engagement shot. Then in the afternoon we headed out into the village of Burton in Kendal for some wedding pictures, first to the lovely church and then off to a beautiful location to do the couple shots.

As ever the day was set up and organised by the fab Rachel. She is an ace stylist and always puts in a superb effort. Here are a few of my pictures from the day.

Bit late on this one but we got ourselves into the April edition of Photo Professional. It’s about our ‘Man About Town’ course we have started with Aspire Photography Training.

It was interesting being interviewed by Terry Hope the editor who was wanting to understand the ideas and thought process behind setting up the course.

You can see more of the images and learn more about Aspire Photography by going to our previous blog post about ‘ Man About Town ‘

The next course is on the 19th May – If your interested give Mel a call on 01524 782200

We had a fab time doing Salma & Richard’s engagement shoot last weekend and it appears so did Salma. She is a guest blogger on English Wedding Blog site. Have a read of her fantastic post. Also Claire from English Wedding blog left a lovely comment at the end the blog post we did. Thank you both for you kind words.We really can’t wait for the wedding now.

I spent the day yesterday up in Cumbria with the girls at Aspire training for their I Do I Do I Do workshop. It’s a great day and a chance for photographers to build up their wedding and pre wedding portfolio. I was there to talk a little bit about how I approach weddings, but mainly to guide the delegates on a shoot, help set up shots and explain what to look for in various situations. Rachel did a great job in pulling everything together including the funky vintage Fiat 500.

Our ‘models’ were great on the day and I think the delegates managed to get some ace pictures. I think I did OK too – here are a few shots from the day.

I’m up at Aspire again in a couple of weeks to speak about weddings on one of their bespoke courses, and I’ve got a few more courses there this year too, including another I Do I Do I Do workshop again in August. Check out their website for the full list of courses.

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

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

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