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

Red Nose Day is your chance to transform the lives of poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the UK and Africa. From restoring the sight of children in Africa to giving isolated older people in the UK the support they need to enjoy their lives – your cash can do all this and much, much more. We would like you to get involved, the difference you’ll make is nothing short of amazing.

At Barber Photography we have set ourselves a target of raising £250 for Comic Relief.

We are offering the opportunity for someone to spend whole day with us and learn all things photography. We will even buy you lunch. So whether you want to spend the whole day out shooting or a day in front of the computer screen learning how to use Adobe Lightroom. Advice on how to shoot weddings or just to go to the pub and hang out the agenda of the day is entirely up to you as long it is photography related.

The highest donation by the end of March will win the the day out with us. Even if you don’t want to spend the day with us please still support Comic Relief as your cash really can make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable people across the UK and Africa.

Thank you.

Please click to go to our fund raising page and make a donation http://my.rednoseday.com/barberphotography

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.

After a very hectic few months we took the kids and vanished for a week to recharge the batteries and get ready for the Autumn. Italy is a place I love. The food and scenery are amazing but also it’s a great place to come and get away from all the hustle and bustle of modern life. No TV / No signal on iPhone / No computers ( well almost! )

The picture above is the view we had everyday and I never get bored of it. The iPhone4 has now got a decent camera and that with a couple of great apps has made taking pictures on hols a real treat. No longer having to lug big cameras around the iPhone4 has truly liberated the photography. One of the best camera apps is the Hipstermatic. This creates the look, feel and fun of the plastic toy cameras of the past. Below is a slideshow of images taken using this app. I went for a black & white feel which harks back to Italy in the 60′s

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.

As the kids keep growing up and we are always taking pictures of them on the big main cameras – I have been looking for a small pocket camera so I don’t have to lumber the 5D about. The trouble as a photographer we still want full control and usually the small compact digital cameras have so many pre-programmed settings and no manual settings that it is trying to second guess what you want. So after a lot of research I have plumped for the Canon S90.

What I love about this camera is that it is a true compact and will fit nicely into my jean pockets. It has a great feel of quality with its metal casing.
The S90 features an intuitive lens Control Ring, which enables users to adjust the settings of various functions by twisting the selector at the base of the lens barrel to the left or right. The Control Ring can be used for a number of things from setting ISO to using as a manual zoom offering a closer view of subjects in 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 105mm steps. This is a cool feature and makes the camera a real breeze to use.

Without getting too geeky a number of features worth noting are Canon’s enhanced DIGIC 4 image processor.This is the same processor in the G11 which I didn’t go for because it was just too bulky. This is particularly useful in low-light photography, where users are able to shoot high quality full resolution images even at ISO 3200. This camera gives me full control over Shutter / Aperture / ISO and also shoots in RAW so I have as much control on the S90 as I do on my 5D DSLR.

Also a big help is it has an aperture of f2.0 which lets in twice was much light as the f2.8 found on the G11. There are a whole load of other stuff which if you are interested in then checkout Canon’s website

The thing is that you can read reviews and research as much as you like but it isn’t until you use it in action that you get to know if the camera is half decent. Well I went to help clear out an old garage the other day so took the camera with me and some of the images can be found below. I have to say it was great to use – so simple and intuitive which meant you could concentrate on taking the picture rather than working out which setting to use. This is what photography should be about. You become so comfortable with your equipment that you just capture what is around you.

There is a final feature of the camera which is the capability of video. It isn’t HD which is a bit of a draw back but for little hand held videos it should be OK. I am going to try some videos next week so come back and take a look and tell me what you think.

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.

“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!“