Well I’ve finally had time to sit down and finish the pictures from Saturday night and Sunday, I just need to post them all on Facebook and my work is done.

I loved taking the pictures, going to the gigs, meeting some of the artists and enjoying the atmosphere in the venues, but I was not so keen on having to leave so many gigs 1/2 way through so I could catch more bands and having to drive meant spending more time sober in pubs than I have since coming of age.

All the shoots were technically challenging and all for different reasons, too dark, too crowded, bands that won’t stand still and lead singers that don’t open their eyes. Given all that I’m more than happy with the results and I think the whole set of photos gives a real insight in to the feel of the festival and what it was like to be there.

I do need to thank a lot of people, first of all everyone from the committee who were at the gigs helping me get access, being introduced as the official photographer helps smooth things out with the venue and artists.

Secondly the venues and artists, for a pub to have someone rush in push to the front of a gig and then rush out with out buying a drink must be a little annoying, but my welcome everywhere was excellent. For the band having someone moving about during the set and then leaving early must be distracting, in my defence I never left willingly and would have love to have stayed.

Thirdly a big thank you to the audience, not one complaint or harsh word from anyone I stood in front of, stood on, tripped up, hit with a camera bag, hit with a lens or nudged out of the way in an effort to get somewhere quickly. I tried my hardest to be invisible, but know I failed some of the time.

Lastly a big thank you to Caz and Trevor, from Wednesday they put up with me flying out of the house before meals, after meals, and even during meals, dragging them to gigs and then running off for hours and then coming back to drag them off to another gig.

As a business or an event organiser, how do you go about hiring a photographer from amongst the 100s that are out there, well the short answer is to call 07801 058345, but for those in a different time zone or for when I’m busy here are a few tips.

Look beyond the hype. Anyone can set up a web site, facebook page and get business cards from vista print, you have to look deeper to see the real story.

• First start at the beginning, how long have these pages, facebook, linked in and the web site been running for, it takes years to build up the skill to do any job well.

• Google the photographers name, not only will you get a good idea of who they are, but complaints have a habit of showing up in searches. If they don’t use their name, as in the web site just refers to the photographer as “the photographer”, think very carefully before you book, most photographers I known are proud of their work and want their name on it, with no named photographer you could get anyone turning up.

• Look at their photos, like the skills involved, it takes time to build up a portfolio, check the pictures to see how many different shoots were involved, what looks like 10 weddings could really be just 3, a big conference could really be just an event his boss sent him to with his day job and all those portrait sessions could just be a model night at the local camera club.

• Check out their customers, I’m happy to list some of mine on my site, I would list them all but by only listing some I don’t upset anyone by missing them off a full list. Then give a few a call, would you mind if someone called you to check out a builder you had hired in the past, I would be happy to recommend or warn them off, depending on the work done, most people would do the same.

Talk to the photographer

• Ask to see details of their insurance, not only should this cover you from faulty work, but if they cause damage to your property, the venue, your staff, customers or visitors then their public liability cover will pay out any claims. If not, you as the hirer could be responsible for any damages. My cover is £5 million, a figure insisted on by most councils before you can work on their properties, this amount reflects the size of claims they can foresee, could you afford to pay it?

• Ask to see work that reflects what you want done, it won’t be the same as your job, but it will give you an idea of what they can do and also what they understand about what you want.

• Ask for a written quote and a time scale for the whole job.

• Ask how images are stored and for how long.

• Ask about their emergency policies, extra equipment, off site back ups, sickness cover, most professional photographers know of a few contemporaries that they would trust to step in, their insurance should cover this or they will sort out any extra costs.

At the end of the day it is your responsibility to hire the right person, there are loads of people out there who would be happy to take your money and would produce good photos, most very good serious amateur photographers would do an adequate job and cost you a lot less, they may even do it for free, but people turn professional for a reason and its not the easy life and long holidays.

A professional photographer has staked his livelihood on his ability to do his job, if your photos don’t work then in a short time he won’t work either. Your photos are normally the culmination of a lot of time and effort on your  part, they will also be the first thing that people will see of all that hard work, do you really want to leave all that effort in the hands of someone who has not got the confidence in what they do to stake their whole future on it.

As a kid I always looked forward to the weekend, as an employee I hated having to work the weekend, now I am my own boss I find that even getting 2 days off a month a challenge. So this post is about how I spent Saturday and I will point out that although it was a bit special it is closer to the norm than you would expect.

6:30 am   A bit of a lie in, but only because some of the prep was done last night. First job to check all the kit for the shoot is ready, lenses clean, cards formatted and batteries charged, all this times two as I carry a complete back up set of kit. All this is done first as I’m 1/2 a sleep and as I’ve been doing this for so long I can really do it with my eyes closed.

7:30 am  Breakfast, coffee and porridge, not at the same time, finish loading both cars and head off to the show ground.

8:00 am  First task is to unload the cars, set up the stall and make sure Carolyn has everything to hand before I dessert her for the main part of my day. At this point it is worth pointing out that without her support I would have had to be up at least 2 hours earlier and would not of been able to do all I had planned during the day, and none of my customers would have had any Pimms.

9:00 am  The start of the task for the day, photographing the Leek Show. It’s already hot, and I have a lot of ground to cover, my brief for the day is simple, capture the show in all its facets to provide the committee with images to promote the show over the coming year. In reality its a massive tasks, there is just so much going on at the same time all over the site, here is where the visit to the site yesterday pays off, as I known where everything is and how to get there, but add in a killer heat, tons of camera equipment and 1,000’s of people, it makes getting around a nightmare.

As an amateur I would have done this for fun, wandering around in the sunshine with my dog, snapping what I wanted, with no pressure to capture this once only event, the culmination of a years works for an army of volunteers. Now I feel the pressure, not only having to photograph loads of different stuff, but to get it looking fit for purpose and to do justice to all the hard work that has gone in to the show.

1:15 pm  Back to the stall for 1/2 hour, no rest as Carolyn heads off to look around and I run the stalls and photograph the Shetland Grand National at the same time. It’s just gets hotter and hotter, thank god for the cool box running at full power in Carolyn’s car.

1:45 pm  Off around the show ground again, it’s so hot that even moving brings on a sweat, I rush around trying to catch things missed this morning, keeping an eye on the time as at 3:00 pm I need to be at the main ring for the Shire Horse Presentation followed by the Grand parade of Cattle and Sheep in ring 2 at the other end of the site.

4:15 pm  Back to the stall for 1/4 hour, lots of water and grab 2 samosas as I jog up the site to catch the Flyin Ryan Stunt team.

5:30 pm  Back to the stall for the last time, after photographing the stunt team and catching more of the show on the walk back, although by now it is winding down and gaps are appearing as stalls are taken down. At the stall I gratefully put down the cameras and chat to a few customers as we start to pack up the stall and gazebo.

6:30 pm  Carolyn’s car all loaded, she tries to head off to pick Ziggy up, but the battery’s flat due to the cool box running since this morning, I wander the site in search of jump leads and get her on her way before going back to packing my car.

6:55 pm  Up to the Roe Buck for Alecoustic, I said I would try to get some pictures, not really thinking it through, and even as I lean on the bar my eyes are closing, but a pint soon revives my spirits and I watch and photograph the most entertaining act I’ve seen in a long time, Mick Squalor, and even manage to wait while the next act sets up to grab a few of him as well.

8:30 pm  Home, at last. Car unloaded , cameras tucked away, 1/4 hour later I’m off out to a friends house for a bar b que. I’m the last to arrive, but there is loads of cold beer and even some burgers, just realised how hungry I am.

11:45 pm  Home and bed, up early tomorrow to walk Ziggy as he was left out of the fun Saturday and then to work on the photos as some are needed by the local paper first thing Monday.

A very full day today, starting out with a few hours working on some designs for post cards for the Lake District Calvert Trust, a truly fantastic charity that brings so much in to the lives of all who visit there.

Then I’m off to meet up with some fellow artist for an end of week drop in session, in a pub! But no drinking session for me as this afternoon as I’m off to shoot horses, for a customers web site and need to be at the top of my game. Hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, don’t forget its the market in Leek this Sunday, I’ll be there as always.

I’ve been blogging for more than 4 years and in that time have posted nearly 1500 post that have been seen over 150,000 times in 174 countries. Not bad for something that was only going to last a year and I’m not done yet. It’s been a few weeks or even months since I last posted, depending on which of my blogs you read and this post is an explanation as to why and a update on what I’m planning next and is being posted on all my blogs (apologies if you follow more than one as you will get this multiple times).

First a bit of history…

      Turning 41 is a bit of a let down, you have had your big party for your 40th and 41 is just another year older, so with that in mind I decided to mark my 41st year by blogging a photo a day, not really knowing what a blog was or what a mammoth task it would be. That small decision made over a ten minute car journey changed my life. It changed what was a hobby, all be it quite an obsessive one, in to a full time career and when I say full time I mean nearly every waking minute and some of my sleeping ones too.

Today I’m well into my second year as a professional photographer and after the expected hard first year I am doing better than I had planned for, in fact that is the reason for this post, one I’ve being trying to write for over a month. Business is good, job following job inter-spaced by good print sales and on going projects, in the last few weeks a Ball, a Prom, a Fete and 4 commissions totalling 550 finished prints, that’s images that are shown to the customer, not images taken, (each image is hand processed and only let out once I’m happy its as close to perfect as I can get it) and this month was a bit quieter that last.

So as you can see I’ve had very little time for my blogs, I have managed to keep my business facebook page updated, see it here, but feel I have neglected the blogs and all you wonderful people that follow them. I known that you may feel that it should be easy just to do a quick post, but being dyslexic writing is one of the hardest thing for me to do. For example earlier on I used the word “decision” I know what the word means and how to use it, I can read the word but not spell it, and when you start it desi or disi not even the best spell checker has a clue, then when you turn to a dictionary your looking in the wrong place, in all, that one word cost me 10 minutes.

The future…

         The plan is to keep the blogs active, so they will stay on line and may even get updated, although not very often, that is the short term view. This takes off some of the pressure (and guilt) I have been feeling and gives me time to rearrange my web presents. My business blog will in time be moved over to WordPress to link up with my new web site (that is not even started yet) and become a window on to what I’m doing week by week. My 2 daily photo blogs will have to wait for a bit, the Leek one has not been daily for a year so that won’t change much, but the Buxton one will have to wait for new stuff as I really can not afford the time it needs at the moment.

365 to 42, my first and favourite blog and something that I am so proud of, will be updated as and when I can and I will try to take it back to being a more personal blog that is about me and not about work, reading back some of that first years post it feels like it was written by someone else and I would love to get that back, I may even get Blog of Note again!

Now the pictures these are 3 of the things I’ve been working on, pictures of Leek and a school prom.

Crafted by professional photographer Brett Trafford and wonderfully displayed in the Foxlowe, The Market Place, Leek from the 1st of May to the 31st May 2012.

The free exhibition, “Dusk till Dawn” is exploration of photography when the sun has gone down.

When the sun goes down and the light fades this is the time of day that most photographers put down their cameras and head home. During the winter long nights put quite a restriction on your photography and it was this challenge of working out side the normal conditions that lead to the project. Photography is the manipulation of light and the night time is the absence of light, so the two seem incompatible, but with a bit of hard work and dedication the rewards can be spectacular. Taken over a number of years and in a number of locations, the images show the wonderful colors and shades that can appear when the sun goes down.
 

Been very busy over the last few weeks, which is great but has meant that I have neglected my blogging and also my work on personal photos, although when it comes to landscapes the line between work and play is a little blurred. I’ve done loads of different photo shoots over the last few weeks, from portraits to house interiors and even a secret wedding, but I’ve now got a few hours to sort out my paper work and tax, so I’m blogging!

The picture below is one of the few I have managed to work on from our trip to the Lakes in March, it is of Castlerigg Stone circle near Keswick and was taken early on crisp cold morning.

Well it’s been sometime since I had a moment to update this blog, March really has been mad, I’ve lots going on and even more planned and may even find time to take some photos.

Firstly, The free exhibition, “Canal Side” an attempt to capture the many faces of the canal in all weathers and seasons, is now wonderfully displayed in the Cafe Clique, Getliffe’s yard, Leek, Staffordshire until the end of April 2012.

The canal has been part of my life for over 15 years since moving to our current house over looking tunnel pool near Leek. It’s the first thing I see every morning, its proximity means that a quick walk nearly always includes a stretch of it’s banks and its ever changing face means I never tire of it. Over the years the canal has featured in many of my images but this is the first time that it has had star billing.

The images are a mix of digital photographs and slides, taken along the Leek and Caldon branches of the Trent and Mersey Canal over a number of years and most of the images are being exhibited for the first time.

This small stretch of canal, only about 10 miles in length, running down the picturesque Churnet Valley, it is very lightly used and has a quiet backwater feel to it, lots of deserted stretches and over hanging trees.

Second my new exhibition Dusk till Dawn is to start on the 1st of May at the Foxlow and will run for the whole of May. I will also be at Art in the park on the 12th and 13th of May, more details on both nearer the time.

The Leek United building society has also changed it’s web site to show my spring photos, the Winter ones went down very well so I’m hoping that these will be just as well received.

I’ve done two long photographic trips this month, one to the Lake District and the other to York, and a number of shoots for Totally Local Leek and some stuff for my Buxton daily photo blog.

All in all a great few week, possibly the busiest I have ever been, today is no less hectic with two photo shoots to work on from yesterday, three lots of prints to be mounted, two lots to be delivered and an exhibition to collect, and an other photo shoot to finish off from last week. On top of that the picture from the Lakes and York need doing and the Dusk till Dawn exhibit needs finalising!

Finally I was interviewed last week by Rosie Lovenbury for her collage course and she has now put the article on line you can see it here

The picture below is a possible for the exhibition, taken on the side of Derwent Water near Keswick.

Why not get them a photographic portrait of the one they love most in the world,
their dog!

A dog portrait sitting, either at home or on walkies, is a great way of capturing their individual personalities and provides you with a lasting memory of your best friend.

Vouchers for a sitting are at a reduced price of £25 until the end of February and can be used up to the end of August. Each sitting comes with a free 5″x7″ mounted print.

Please call on 07801 058345 or email brett@bretttrafford.com