Certain artists need no introduction.

Last night I was honoured to photograph the legend that is Elton John at the Birmingham NIA. It’s the 2nd time I’ve seen him live but the first time I’ve photographed him and I knew I had to do a great job! Who knows when I’ll get to shoot him again..

Elton brought his massive Vegas show with him and it was spectacular! And quite decadent too. I only had one song to shoot from the front of the stage and then one song to shoot from slightly further back and to the side. I wanted to get as much variety as I could considering it was all about one man sat at a piano.

After I finished shooting I stayed for the entire show and I have to say Elton was on form. He played one of my favourite songs of all time, Tiny Dancer, and it seemed like the show was made up entirely of classic tunes, with Bennie & The Jets and Rocket Man being two more personal highlights.

Here are just a few of my favourite images from the show..

It’s rare these days that I watch a film which leaves me humbled, excited, moved and full of admiration all at once but last night Evelyne and I watched a DVD which was recommended by one of my favourite photographers, Jeff Ascough.

The film is called War Photographer and is a documentary about the incredible James Nachtwey. Below is a taster of the movie but I just want to recommend that anyone with an interest in the world we live in and/or photography watch this film. Put the DVD on your Christmas list. It’s 96 minutes that will stay with you for a lifetime.

Being so busy with the business means we value our family days off more than ever and always try to find something fun to do. Now that Elliott’s able to run around a little it opens up a few more options of places to visit which is great. Clive’s Fruit Farm is a great little farm where you can pick your own fruit, meet the farm animals, play in the playground, buy fresh fruit and veg (and home-made jam) and even drive without a license!

Elliott loved running around exploring but never got to try out Clive’s Wobblejuice Cider!

Off to pick some apples…

After all that effort picking apples we stopped to enjoy the fruits of our labour

Errr… we didn’t pick all those but Elliott was happy to share!

Then it was off to introduce ourselves to the local farm animals and for Elliott to drive his first tractor…

I think he likes driving!

.. but he didn’t know how to reverse

The real tractors aren’t nearly as much fun.

Cute photo but about 2 seconds later Elliott got his finger pecked!

We finished off by checking out the pumpkins and treating Elliott to a (very messy) ladybird lollypop.

We went home with lots of apples (the people at the farm even gave us some great recipes to try), some fresh pasta sauce and plenty of great photos (of course).

Now.. where shall we go for the next day off?

New Hall in Walmley near Sutton Coldfield is without a doubt one of the best venues in the Midlands to have a wedding. It’s a stunning venue, part of which is around a thousand years old, and the grounds are perfect to escape into for photos. On top of that, the staff are super-friendly and extremely professional. And they serve the best chips you’ve ever tasted! As if that weren’t enough, they can even boast being the set for part of the Bon Jovi video for Sleep When I’m Dead.

Jo & Jim’s wedding wasn’t the first wedding we had shot at New Hall but it was definitely one of the most fun. The couple are so easy-going and their guests made us feel like a part of the day rather than hired staff! They had perfect weather too.

Here’s just a few of my favourite images from the day, beginning with a quick round of golf…

The boys scrub up nicely eh?

But obviously Jo was the real star..

The main hall at New Hall makes for quite a dramatic setting for the ceremony… Or in Bon Jovi’s case, the party!

And the garden is perfect to relax with friends and family after the knot has been tied.

But it’s always nice to take some time to escape the crowd..

The rings.

Jim had two best men and they did a grand job, even going as far as getting matching football “tattoos” in honour of the groom..

Later in the day I stole the couple away for some cool portraits. LOVE these!!

Some couples make our job the best job in the world and Jo & Jim definitely fall into that category. We just ordered their album and I can’t wait to see the finished result. It’s gonna be gorgeous!

Thanks again J&J for inviting us to be a part of your wedding. We had a great day and wish you both a fantastic future together. Don’t forget to book us to photograph the kids when they arrive And I hope you enjoyed the mix CD!

The variety of photography that my job brings me is something that I keep coming back to and last week was a great example. I began the week photographing thrash metal legends Slayer in Manchester and Wolverhampton. I ended the week photographing Barney the dinosaur!

As a parent and a photographer I feel it’s my duty to make sure I get at least one photo which we can bring out in 30 years when our kids get married. Of course, dressing kids up for Halloween is great fun (although in England the dressing up part is still somewhat half-hearted compared to the other side of the Atlantic) and Evelyne went to great lengths in her search for an original but cute Halloween outfit for Elliott.

On the night we headed out to Walsall Illuminations which is an event I’ve never been to before and it made for a fun way to spend Halloween as Elliott (or as we called him for the evening, Ellion) ran around in his outfit, giggling, checking out the lights and getting plenty of “Ahhh, how cute!” comments from people. He got bored with Barney quite quickly (the boy has taste) but enjoyed being out past his bed-time and running around amongst all the people…

After all that Elliott was asleep within minutes of getting back in the car!

Happy Halloween

Here are just a few from the shoot..

Tom and Andrea (Annie) had their wedding at the beautiful Billesley Manor Hotel near Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was our first time at the venue but it’s certainly one of my favourite wedding venues in the area and, thanks to some glorious weather, the wedding day was almost perfect. I say “almost perfect” because unfortunately our beautiful bride was quite ill later in the day and had to rest for a couple of hours before heading back to do some damage on the dancefloor!

For any couples getting married, I’d certainly recommend you consider Billesley Manor as a great choice of venue…

Some pressies for the girls…

And Annie’s ready to marry her man..

Details, details…

Tom sees his bride for the first time…

Congrats!

The venue set up lawn games for the guests. Great idea!

Is that the cast of Sex & The City??!

Watch out for paparazzi!

We’re not sure we approve of sponsorship during the speeches!

The rings..

Once Annie was feeling a little better, we escaped with the couple for some more intimate portraits…

The evening reception was one of the best we’ve been to. The band, The BB Collective, played a great set and any party with inflatable guitars just has to be a winner!

Congratulations again guys and thanks for having us at the wedding. The album’s going to be fantastic!

I’m currently doing a special deal for local unsigned bands who need new press shots. Most of these bands don’t have much money to spend on photo shoots but, in many ways, they are the bands that need great photos the most so that they stand out from the gazillions of bands out there in MySpace-land.

Young Fate are a hip-hop/RnB outfit from near Telford and they came down to Birmingham to take me up on my offer. Over about an hour we went out around the streets of Digbeth and got a great varied collection of images for them to use on websites, flyers, posters, etc.

Here are a few of my favourites..

Whenever we have a day off we try to make the most of it and take a trip out with the family, so Evelyne’s birthday was no exception. The weather wasn’t great so we opted for the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham where we introduced Elliott to a few creatures he hadn’t met before.

One of Elliott’s favourite parts was the Hall Of Mirrors..

But he loved the weird and wonderful new creatures he met just as much..

The Sea Life Centre is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years and I wasn’t disappointed. It was fun to watch Elliott as he witnessed so many creatures for the first time. He may appreciate it more when he’s a bit older but we still had a great day out…

Happy Birthday Evelyne. I love you…

I’ve photographed Elbow before but this time I was excited not only to shoot them, but also to stay and watch the whole show. Evelyne’s a fan too so I booked a babysitter and we headed out for “date night”.

You can see my review of the gig on the Birmingham Live! site by clicking HERE but below are just a few of my favourite images from the gig..