A New Fun Approach to Marketing nickiBreeze Photography

The other weekend JP and I decided to take chocolate monster on a long walk, down the river at Oldbury-on-Seven. We desperately needed to tire him out as he thinks it's ok to attack poor old Tilly, attempting to goad her into playing with him, when all she wants to do is sleep!

He also decided to be in Chloe's picture!

It was a beautiful day so we thought we'd take the cameras out with us, get some nice landscape shots. Although, as mentioned in previous posts, the combinations of chocolate monster and cameras is not always wise. The last time being when I was on a walk with my friend Emily, her son Sam and dog Chloe (also known as Dexters girlfriend!). Whilst I was taking pictures of Emily and Sam, Dexter was playing tug of war with my jumper, which was securely fastened to my waist! Suffice to say, I ended up on the floor, holding my camera in the air for safety - funny for Emily and Sam, not so funny for me! So I wasn't holding out much hope for our Oldbury-on-Severn walk/photo opportunity.

It was a lovely sunny, dare I say even warm, day to go on this very picturesque river walk. With the combination of water and long grass chocolate monster was having a whale of a time. I took some lovely pictures of the docked sailing boats with the gorgeous landscape in the background - it was all very new age Jane Austen. When we got to the most open part of our walk, where the river meets the estuary, there was a group of young 20 somethings taking it in turns to take a picture of the group, whilst happily chatting, enjoying the scenery and gorgeous weather. Well, anyone that knows me, will know that I can't just stand there knowing that they were getting lots of pictures with one person missing each time rather than one great picture of them all. So, true to form, I offered to take a shot (or two) of them altogether with their 'point and click' compact camera.

The view at Oldbury-on-Severn

As they were admiring chocolate monster and his stick antics, trying to get him to go to them for a fuss (which he never does with strangers - hard to believe he's really a labrador!), they started to notice the size of our cameras, to which JP commented "well yes, she is a professional photographer" (I couldn't be covert if I wanted to!). After taking in the surroundings (grass field with a large step in the middle and blue skies) and seeing how incredibly trendy and fun this youthful group were, I had a photo opportunity light bulb moment!

After persuading them that I wasn't going to charge them for modelling for me, they agreed that it would be a bit of fun and why not?!

So, what did I want them to do? Jump off the step so I could get a fun shot of them all in mid-air, of course!

After the first time, they really got into it and decided themselves to do a running jump, which was great as it gave them much more airtime. After the running jump, it was time to hand over some business cards and leave them buzzing from the experience - so much fun for all of us! Even chocolate monster was running around like he'd just eaten a tonne of skittles, buzzing off seeing them all running around. My only regret was not getting them to do it one more time so I could change position to get a better result. So, if you're reading this guys and girls from Oldbury-on-Severn - do over next time you're out for a sunny walk??

Here is the colour version.....

To conclude, my new FUN approach to marketing.....get the general public to model for me doing something fun and just a little bit random!

I prefer the black and white version though!

And, chocolate monster was on his best behaviour with the cameras out, even took some time out of his busy stick playing schedule to pose for me!

Poser mode - Like butter wouldn't melt!

Pets and People...surprisingly similar in the photography world

As a portrait photographer who offers both 'Pet Portraits' as well as 'People Portraits' (in the form of family, baby, engagement, wedding photography), I am used to having to engineer a situation to get the best photographs possible. We all know from taking family pictures that it is very difficult to get that one image where nobody is either picking their nose (it does happen), or closing their eyes, or their heads are turned or even their eyes are looking in a different direction. If you have a little brother like mine, there will be one little boy (whether adult or child) who makes the peace sign behind someones back or pulls a deliberate face at the camera (see below - thanks Pete). 

The Family - exhausted after a long walk!

Well, whilst walking my chocolate monster the other day I realised that it's not just people that misbehave in photos, animals do too! So there is some truth to the warning never work with animals or children ;o)  I do, however, LOVE taking photo's of animals and children - they are so much fun!

On any photography session, you have very little time to get a variety of images for your client, it is therefore necessary to be prepared for mischievous subjects - taking noisy objects to grab a babies attention, like a squeaky ball  or even a set of jingle jangle keys come in handy; for the older child, lollipops or stickers are always good but make sure you get the shot you want before handing over the goods! The adults can be a little tricky however, they are not so easily bribed! A good sense of humour (provided they have one too) always helps, failing that add a glass of wine/champagne into the mix and watch the fun times begin! In one of my recent 'Family Portrait' sessions, the little girl bumped her head (quite hard), as it was early on and she has such a beautiful smile, that I needed to reappear, the lollipop had to come out. Here you can see the before and after lollipop images (as you can see it worked, beautiful smile restored!):

Cuddles with Daddy - before and after lollipop!

Getting back to chocolate monster, who has a habit of doing things on a walk and at home which make me laugh, as well as run and get the camera. The only thing with that is, he thinks I'm playing a game and runs after me, completely wrecking the picture! 

On our walk, the other day he decided to go and stand in the biggest, muddiest puddle possible. Thinking "I wish I had my camera" and then realising I had my iPhone, which as far as phone cameras go it's definitely one of the best, I decided to capture his mischievous behaviour in a photo. As usual, by the time I got the camera out he'd walked off. Well, all that effort for nothing or was it - I told him to get back in the puddle and in typical, daft chocolate labrador style, he did! As you can see below chocolate monster mischief did not end there!

Classic moving out of shot

People with their eyes closed - so common!

Ahhh, at last the image I wanted!

So, my point has been proved, quite spectacularly by chocolate monster here - Pets and People are indeed surprisingly similar when it comes to photography. There are some tricks of the trade to bribe or encourage both people and pet to do what you want, to get the image you want. Though some things, like closing of eyes can't be bribed out of pet or a person, you just have to get them to hold the pose for more than one shot and hope that they haven't closed their eyes in them all!

So that concludes this weeks blog entry, if you would like to see of my work, please visit my Facebook page nickiBreeze or website www.nickiBreezePhotography.co.uk

Or, if you want me to work my magic on your baby, family, or pet you can contact me on 07970 954613 or email to info@nickiBreezePhotography.co.uk

Look forward to meeting you! AND thanks for reading :o)

How I knew I had the photo-factor....

So you can take good photo's of friends and family to put in the family photo album or on Facebook, you think you are composing nice landscape 'type' images on holiday but does that make you a potential photographer? Well, if you love taking them, perhaps YES!

I have always loved taking photographs, right from my 10th birthday when I got my first film camera, I was itching to capture moments that no one else would think to capture. One of my first images being of my dad as he came home from work on said birthday. He hates having his picture taken so my idea was to shout "CHEESE!" as he came through the door, as you can see this was not his reaction! Suffice to say, he has now learnt to just tolerate the camera (well, what else can he do with a photographer as a daughter).

Since then, I have always had a camera and even tried to keep up with new technology - getting an Olympus APS camera followed but a little Olympus 'point and click' (as I now call them) digital camera, which I still take out on girly nights occasionally! Though, as with everything in life, my love of photography got put on the back burner, until I met my now husband (JP) who had a digital SLR camera that I stole from him on days out. This is when I realised my passion and flare for photography!

With practising and playing around with JP's camera, listening to his lengthy (love you, dear!) explanations on the technicalities of how to use the camera and taking some of it in, I found friends were starting to compliment my photography. Then some good friends of ours had a baby (whom I have since taken ENDLESS pictures of) asked for electronic copies of some photos I took on an afternoon out with them. It was at this point I realised that I do indeed have the 'photo-factor'!

So, for you, the readers, if you are thinking "Have I got what it takes?", well the answer might indeed be 'yes'. If you LOVE taking photos and your friends and family constantly compliment your images, then yes with hard work and good equipment you could be a pro. Though the next question you need to ask yourself is "Would being a pro take the fun out of what is, my hobbie?"

From the picture of my dad, to today's portrait images - look how far I've come!

To see more of my images, why not take a look at my website www.nickiBreezePhotography.co.uk