Costa Coffee or Starbucks?

This is a quick blog post..... I know have been pretty quiet recently since the chaos and excitement of Photo Camp and planning for my studio opening.

I have a lovely friend and her name is Andrea....go and have a look at her website Andrea Ellison Photography. I met Andrea via Facebook and have always loved her work, she has a way of making you feel really involved in her photography and the stories that she tells of the people she is photographing, she remembers little details about the couples whose Weddings she captures, she is loud, funny and amazingly creative.....but.....and its a big But (not her butt....thats just the right size...!) she suffers with the occasional confidence crisis and doubts her ability, I know that we all do at times and it is usually what pushes us to improve and build on what we have. recently Andrea mentioned that another Wedding Photographer has started in business near her and she was concerned, I am betting that she started to question her own pricing, style packages....... again I know a lot of photographers who have experienced the same thing, we all worry about the other photographers in our area, are they better than us, will we be able to compete? 

Well I was in Liverpool today and walked along the road near the lovey bombed out Church in the city centre, Mike and I went for coffee in Costa and while I was sat there I noticed that Starbucks was directly opposite and  Nero was a few doors away.... it made me think of Andrea, all of these shops serve coffee, and food, and they were all busy, they are aware that the other shops are competition but they work on their own style and brand....they are not panicking and cutting their prices.... they realise that there is a coffee shop for everyone....I like Costa, Craig loves Starbucks....and we are loyal to each of them.

So Andrea, your customers love you... you are your unique selling point, there is a photographer for everyone, some will love you and some will love someone else......but that's ok, I know how hard you work to constantly improve your skills and I have seen how your hard work has paid off, you are just getting better and better with every shoot you do and if Mike ever has a crazy moment and pops the question and I have a crazier moment and say yes then you are the only person I would think of to take my photographs xxxxxxxx

Photo Camp 2011..... I cannot believe its over!

Wow, where did the time go! This time last week I had butterflies constantly and now, looking back its all a little bit of a blur....not just because of the alcohol I might add!

So... Photo Camp, it started as an idea from a previous workshop I did where a bunch of Photographers just enjoyed being together, sharing ideas and techniques.... the Walkabouts then just grew and grew and when I listened to the feedback from the days there seemed to be a need for something more and so the idea of a residential weekend formed....it ended up being just for the girls and I am not even starting to justify the reasons why but I did enjoy reading the comments from my male photography friends.... they seemed far too keen to wear a dress just so that they could come along, Chris, John, Warren and Paul.... I am concerned about all of you!

I wanted the weekend to be aimed at women who were starting out in business, to come along and get inspired, learn from others and gain confidence, this was not a teaching workshop- I certainly do not count myself as a Photography tutor but I think I have got the hang of organising and facilitating.

I was lucky enough to be able to use waterside Lodge Scout headquartes, a great location by the Marine lake, right by the sea, usually its Cubs and Scouts that have sleepovers there , not a bunch of slighly excitable photographers all trying to get the top bunk! I was even luckier to have Mike and Craig do the catering for me, but they did more than that..... they managed to keep me calm in the run up to the weekend and regular hugs from Mike through the weekend were very welcome! I also had tons of help from Lindsay who has a background in events management and came up with fantastic ideas to make the weekend extra special - she was also resposible for the gorgous cupcakes and Claires suprise birthday cake - thank you Lindsay for all your help - pop along to her lovely Blog all about her scrummy baking Totally Baked.

So on a rather grey Saturday morning 16 photographers came along to Southport, many of them knew each other as 'virtual friends' on Facebook and Flickr and it was lovely to put names to faces and get to know everyone. The morning was spent discussing business and marketing and I was so very lucky to have Sarah Thomas who travelled from South Wales to be with us. She showed the most amazing generosity, sharing so much with the group, discussing how she started her business and also looking at branding and marketing. I have admired Sarah for a long time, her skills both as a photographer and as a businesswoman blow me away and I and want to say a Huge Thank you to her.

In the afternoon we had 3 amazing models, Kayleigh Jo, Holly Roberts and Gwenaelle Sanchez and Sian Faulkner was the fantastic Make up artist. The girls split into small groups and did a studio lighting workshop with Andy Schofield and a natural light shoot whilst dodging the raindrops! The evening soon came round and we headed off for 10 pin bowling - I never did hear who won- and plenty of Chinese food. The rest of the evening seemed to get more and more blurry so I will let the others fill in any gaps!

Sunday morning started with  a gorgous full English breakfast and then it was straight into shooting, Kayleigh Jo came back and was joined by Casey Allum and Jamie Spencer. Make up was provided by Angharad Trenear and Kelly Fairfield worked her usual hairstyling magic. The girls worked with all the models in the sand dunes, around Waterside Lodge and also indoors, trying some off camera flash techniques

 So now its over....... I loved it, I loved organising it and seeing lots of little ideas forming, I loved the fact that the models have said that they want to come back as its the best fun that they have had on photo shoots, I loved meeting people that I have only known on Facebook and Flickr and feeling that I have just made a new bunch of friends, I loved how much everyone was willing to share, I loved how all our sponsers were amazingly generous.... are you getting the idea that I had a good time???? Will I do it again.....thats a big fat yes!

 Ditzy Doll

 Florabella Collection 

Tiny Box Company    

Kristen Caldwell 

Pixel Lounge

Kori and Kate

MCP actions

Little Castle Designs

Isabelle lafrance

Melissa Davis

Gracylu

The Album Cafe

Photographers Wall Display Guides

Face Media Group

Easy as Pie

On the Spot Studio

Pop along to these fantastic sites...oh and would you mention that I sent you along????

My final thank you is to Claire Penn who managed to put this amazing list of sponsors together -thank you Claire - you are a wonderful friend xx

My new office!

Jo Rutherford Photography officially has a home now! Those of you who came on the Walkabouts at the Farm last year will recognise it well....as of today I have  summer lease of the building that was the gift shop and I will get to see Farmer Brian every day.... what more could I ask for... actually hunky men with gifts of cupcakes again would be good... maybe I can book Dan for the opening day!

The location is stunning, fields behind me and a duck pond in front, the ruins of the old manor house in the woods and St Catherines Abbey ruins just a short walk away and cake is always available in the cafe! There is plenty of work to do to get it ready for customers...... I am hoping to eventually have a small studio in there and it will mainly act as a working base and gallery for me. You will all be very very welcome to pop in and say hello and the first few Walkabouts are going to be held here.

View from my front door

And so the hard work begins....... watch this space xxx

A place for everything........

Mikes Dad is an amazing woodcarver and he asked me to photograph some of his carvings today to submit to a magazine.... this meant that I had the perfect excuse to have a nosy around his workshop while I had my camera! It is the most fantastic place, so tidy, so organised and I am so jealous.... both of his neatness but also of his creativity, he keeps pieces of wood and then finally finds a use for it.... nothing is wasted, he even found me a tiny wooden wedge today to prop something up, anyone else would have been satisfied with a price of rolled up paper but he is meticulous. So I thought I would share some glimpses of what I saw today.... he could not understand why I wanted to take photographs of the details of the workshop, but to me those details tell such a story of the place and also of the person.

I hope that you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed taking them

Photo Camp and walkabouts

 Morning everyone.... I cannot quite believe that January is flying by so fast! Photo Camp is just over a week away and plans are coming together nicely. The idea for the Photo Camp developed fromn the Walkabouts that I ran last year which just got bigger and better as the year went along, it was amazing to see the networking that went on, the sharing of skills, equipment and information and the ongoing collaborations long after the cake has been eaten and the images have  been edited.

One of the best and most unexpected impacts of organising the Photo Camp has been watching all the delegates chatting together on Facebook, the willingness to share knowledge and experience has overwhelmed me and most of them have not even met yet! This reminds me a little of my last Blog post about the White House Photographer Pete Souza who felt that one of the main qualities he needed for the job was the ability to gain the trust of the people he worked with.... all the girls who are chatting to each other have shown a huge amount of trust.... they are sharing business information, technical information, resources and so much more and expect nothing in return, its fantastic!!

I will be running Walkabouts again this year.... I know that after the lengthy discussions on Facebook that people have very different ideas about how they should be organised, what they should pay etc.... and I have to admit that for a moment I was getting a little stressed about the whole thing and was going to throw in the towel but then I looked back at the photographs...... and plans started buzzing around my head again!

Sorry for the ramblings this morning! I think I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been part of the Walkabouts, and and huge Thank You to the Photo Camp delegates who have demonstrated the true value of net working.... I cannot wait to meet you all!!!!!

Barack Obama

I would love to think that the title of this post related to me taking photographs of Barack Obama........ but its not! I watched a fascinating documentary this week about Pete Souza who is the official photographer to the White House. The programme looked at the role of the official photographer and also looked at the relationship between Pete Souza and the Obama family. It was really interesting to see how Pete works, how he has to be tactful, intuitive, able to react to ever changing situations and the main skill he showed was his ability to gain the trust of the Obama family so that he was able to capture the most intimate moments and tell the most amazing stories with his images. President Obama was interviewed and he admitted that the constant media scrutiny was one of the most difficult parts of his job and so having a photographer who he could trust, who could blend into the background but always capture the moment made life so much easier for him. One of the main functions of the White House Photographer is to develop and maintain a full archive of the Obama admisnistration as a piece of living history.... no pressure then!!!!

If you get the chance to watch this programme I urge you to do so.... as a photographer it made me think about the job that I do and how we are all trying to capture a little moment in time.... our children as they grow up... a family get together, a Wedding , or just a lovely walk in the park on a sunny day. It made me realise that trust is such an imprtant part of what we do.... we are trusted with special occasions, but mainly I feel that we are trusted to make the people we photograph feel incredibly special and beautiful so that the images become part of their family archive , to be treasured..... no pressure then!!!!

The Presidents Photographer  Here is the link to the National Geographic site for further information

A Yorkshire wierdo in London!

Just before Christmas I saw an advert for a workshop that I just could not miss.....  John Denton Photography was holding a Photography seminar in a disused Underground station in London.... inspired by the film   American Werewolf in London.... there is a classic scene of a man getting off the underground....alone....and hearing the growl of the werewolf , perfect location for a fashion shoot!!

The course started at a hotel with an overview of the day and an intrroduction to Johns work.... and his humour.... I realised that this was going to be anything but boring. So we all jumped on the waiting coach and headed down to the Embankment with Vivienne our amazing model for the day. John introduced us to off camera flash and using light to enhance our images.

We then headed down to Aldwych Station... this was closed in 1994 but is now used regularly for filming and photography, Prodigys video for 'Firestarter' was filmed her, as was the film 'Creep' and parts of 'V for Vendetta. We had access for just 2 hours as it is thought the the hire price is approximatly £1500/hour!

The main ticket area has been maintained and is really beautiful

The rest of the workshop was held in the old tunnels.... very very spooky and on part of the track. It was a long day....it made my brain hurt trying to take everything in but it was fantastic. I got the chance to work with Viv who is a fabulous model and John who is one of the best Photography tutors I have met, patient, willing to share his expertise, creative....I could go on! I know that going on courses like this means that there are 20 or so photographers all trying to get the best shot and all coming out with very similar images. I also know that the images I got were with the help of John, Viv, and the amazing location but what I hope I have achieved is a willingness and confidence to try new techniques, an opportunity to look at the way I process and compose my images and the chance to spend time in a location  that few people get access to.
 I have really tried to make these images 'my own' by using different angles, processing techniques etc

In the lift

Add caption

Me!!!

 

 

John in action!

  
Sorry for the very long blog post and there are far too many images I know but I loved it..... can you tell ???