Category: Photo Stories

To Blog or not to Blog…..

I’m almost there with the website update, some more photos to change and a couple of pages to update and I’ll be right.
Feeling massively lazy right now as I haven’t done a blog in a long time, it’s funny how I focus on wierd shit that I feel I must do like keeping up to date with a blog, it’s not like I generate a massive amount of jobs from this or any for that matter.
I get side-tracked alot by what I think I should or shouldn’t do, maybe its because I watch too many photo videos on YouTube…. Or it could just be me, its the same as comparing my work to other photographers and beating myself up that I’m not that good, doesn’t really matter what others are doing or do.
Still don’t truly know where the blog is going as everytime I write it seems to end up as a rant and that was never the intension with this. I think I’d like to do something useful with it but not sure how.
I do get a lot of photography questions from friends and family but don’t think that makes me a teacher by any means besides does anyone want that sort of education in a blog when sites like YouTube have it so widely covered?
Just need to settle on a theme and roll with it, maybe stop thinking too much as well!
………………………………………………………….
As well as rebooting this site I’ve also launched a second. Its somewhere to add whole wedding albums so my customers can access them without blocking up pages here, the albums are password protected so there is not a lot to see right now but you can find it at www.bridesballersandbeyond.com hope you like what I did there!
I’ve also created a site for a hairdresser which is weird as I’m as bald as they come, but she is recommended on here so it’s fair, please check Meredith out her site is www.hairbymeredith.net and if I say so myself it’s pretty cool!
Maybe I should do more website building but it’s not hard when I just show people how to use www.wordpress.com so maybe it’s cheatig anyway?
I also did a photo shoot for Meredith which is also going towards my Art Envy project, I’ll hopefully share some of that soon enough.
Ramble and Rant over.
Cheers
Woody
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New & Old…….

If you’ve had a look round the website, read the blog before or know me, you’ll know I’m a massive Rugby fan.
However much of a fan I am, after applying for every England home game since the RWC 2015 and getting rejection emails for every England home game since the RWC 2015 I’d fell out of love a little with shooting the greatest game on earth.
To be honest last year I hardly shot sport at all, I’d convinced myself I was far too busy with weddings and all that to shoot, I was making excuses that I did not need to make!
Please don’t get me wrong I enjoy weddings and portraiture so much and I’d be a complete fool to dismiss it, after all its what makes Rainywood work, I’ve made very little money from sports photography but I’ve funded all my kit from weddings and portraits (although a lottery win or a rich backer still wouldn’t go amiss).
Recently however I was invited to return to my old club as they were after some (I hope) quality photos, not pulled form Facebook.
I of course obliged and went to shoot a Pre-season game between Ipswich RFC & Thetford, it was a slightly one sided affair in favour of Ipswich, but I must admit that I loved every single minute of being back shooting what I truly truly love.
I think this is one thing that has recently re-ignited my passion for the sports, the boxing a few months ago, and being asked to shoot for Team Ipswich Swimming again, for there head shots and team shots is a massive honor.
So hopefully it’s the start of things to come and once again I’ll hopefully get better and stronger as a photographer.
In the meantime I needed a break, so did my ever hard working wife, so luckily and last minute (ish) the wife sorted us a fantastic holiday away in Cyprus.

Hence I am writing this at 02:20 on an EasyJet flight back to Gatwick, it has been an awesome time, plenty of swimming the the beautiful blue and warm Mediterranean Sea, eating amazing local food, the beers not too bad either and generally recharging our batteries.

…………. “Then there was a short space of time when I forgot to finish this post”………….
Back now and fully recharged I can restart, last weekend was great and what I’m going to call a hash tag weekend as I got my Holy trinity in #bridesballersandbeyond with a wedding on the Friday, family shoot and a game of rugby on the Sunday….
Happy happy days!
I love what I do!
This weekend I’m stating a personal project, as I’ve got so much time on my hands, been toying with it for about a year and now is the time to get the wheels in motion.
I’m sure I’ll make a decision about a name for it soon, but at the moment it’s a work in progress, thinking….
  1. Other Art
  2. Art, Happening
  3. Art! In Motion
  4. Art Flow
Still undecided, so I’ll accept feedback for this or anything.
Cheers
Woody
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Reboot…..

With the break I’ve had in writing I don’t think I’ll try to carry on with any thread that I had going, so we’ll have this as a reboot and I’ll just write this post and see where I end up.

I’ve made a conscious decision to do a full reboot of the website too, I’ve just picked a terrible time to do it as I’m really busy at the moment, but it’s for me to manage my time better, as I don’t think my wife would let me go to a 3 day week….. If I won the lottery I still don’t think she’d let me quit work, I probably wouldn’t want to either.

So the eagle eyed will have noticed I’ve started to change things on here, the lay out and design has been updated, which is a start, just got the endless task of refreshing alot of the photos, feel it’s time, can’t keep the same ones up forever.

There has been a few weddings shot since we last spoke so those pages should be OK to replace, the “beyond” pages too which are not such a structured format, in other words I can put what I like in there and it will hopefully still work!

My downfall over the last year has been sports, I haven’t got round to shooting a lot and it’s all my own fault, maybe I’ve been lazy, can’t blame everything on being busy, I am going g to try and correct this as soon as possible.

I’ve started with football, which is strange for me but when the opportunity presents itself I try to go with it, been working with Trimley Red Devils who are being sponsored by The Grand in Felixstowe so it all ties in, the rugby season starts soon too and I’ve promised myself to shoot more of my favourite sport this year.

So everything is in hand…… I think……. I hope!

I’ll get back to blogging regularly too.

Fingers crossed hey.
Cheers Woody
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Exciting Times…..

Once again its been far too long, so let’s have a good old catch up…..
I’m still unable to post shots from my last wedding, they are all ready to go, but I haven’t been able to deliver them.

In a shocking twist, The Bride asked me to wait as both The Bride and Groom have been busy, it’s just a weird experience to be asked to wait, it does make me more excited for the unveiling though, or maybe nervous?
Can’t wait to show off the images to them, hopefully this Saturday and once I have I’ll share some here too.
Last week I also had a shooting first as I shot my first Cake Smash session with young Jaxon to celebrate his up and coming first birthday, I had great fun, i think I enjoyed it even more than Jaxon did, eating cake off my lens hood was a particular highlight and definitely a first!

Thanks to Ellie for the photo. Fingers crossed for getting more as I’m a fan of cake!
After a quiet year shooting sports (all my own fault) last week I had two jobs and they were both football! Anyone who knows me knows that’s unusual as I’m not a massive football fan, but I really enjoyed both games.
The first was a local cup final between Trimley Red Devils and Framlingham. (both reserve sides)

F

ramlingham won 1-0 at Woodbridge FC, it was an evening game so I was battling with the light through the game as the sun set, good practice and a little reassuring that I can still cope with tweeking those settings during a 90 minute game.

The second game was an academy game between Ipswich Town and Tottenham at Portman Road which is far from the grass roots of Woodbridge but just as enjoyable.
As it was an under 15/16s game I have to keep the main match photos in a locked file, still a relationship I’m hoping to develop with Ipswich Academy and I look forward to shooting them more next season.

I

n other sporting news I’ll be ticking another box this weekend as I’m finally getting around to shooting a boxing event.

I can not wait for this, I’ve always been a boxing fan and since I’ve had Rainywood I’ve wanted to shoot a fight but it’s proved tricky to get access until now, it’s also a chance to emulate one of my photography hero’s Mr Neil Liefer, I’d take 1% of his skill, fingers crossed hey!
That’s about all for this post I’ll share out some boxing photos next time, hopefully I’ll have a selling option on the site soon making buying prints more accessable and maybe some merchandise as well.

Chelsea Flower Show next week too, exciting times ahead!
I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers Woody
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Weekends as they should be….

First Wedding of the 2018 season for me this weekend and I’m a little excited.

I’m really looking forward to the first Wedding of the year on Saturday, it’s at the very beautiful Woolverstone Hall just outside Ipswich. www.woolverstonehall.co.uk
It’s a private school in fantastic grounds and all the buildings are stunning. Another reason to get excited is from what I’m told the entertainment will be second to none, all I can say at the moment is that the bride is Scottish and some things may be themed!
Sadly no haggis for the wedding breakfast though which is a shame as I’m a bit of a fan!
Another recent treat has been getting a mention on someone else’s website, it belongs to one of my future brides who’s getting married in August this year, she’s been writing a blog for a while covering, the birth of her baby girl, her fitness routine and her future wedding.
Please check it out at www.rhirhisworld.com

In other news I recently shot @knightsbball09 in there last regular season game of the year, the photos are on the fb page.

Just last week I also shot @shaneandthekorrados at @thegrandfelixstowe it was an awesome gig, so much so that I didn’t shoot as much as normal because I was enjoying the show, photos to follow in the next blog.

That’s all for now as I have more wedding prep to do.
Cheers Woody
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Filling that pipeline…

I’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline at the moment, which is always a good thing, projects ticking over equals happy Woody.
Recently I got approved to shoot at http://www.rhs.org.uk The Chelsea Flower Show, I’m shooting for an amazing artist http://www.laurajaynefisk.co.uk who creates beautiful pencil drawings of animals.

Laura also has her artwork printed onto various products from coasters to watering cans and defusers. Laura has secured a stand at Chelsea and will be selling lots of products, she has kindly asked me to shoot for her on “press day” so I will have to be on my A-game and get plenty of photos she can be proud of.
Chelsea has always been on my bucket list, so to be able to go on “press day” is a huge privilege, hopefully I’ll be able to do some shooting for myself once I’ve done what needs to be done for Laura, check out her FB page too if you can’t get to Chelsea and would like to see her work www.facebook.com/laurajaynefisk

While your on Facebook looking at Laura’s page please check out an event that is very close to my heart, http://www.facebook.com/events/523400228040017/?ti=cl is the place to visit to see everything that’s going to be happening at “Jamie’s SSAFA Fun Day” which is being held at Wickham Market Primary School on the 2nd of June from midday.

There is loads going on and all for an amazing charity, please support this event, I’ll be there shooting the event on behalf of Jamie so please come and say hi to us both! One of my canvas prints is in the raffle, so that’s a good reason to get a ticket!
So have a look at the page to read the full story of why this awesome young man is working so hard for his chosen charity.
As well as writing this blog I’ve had a little tweek of the site too, changing the look and style just a little, please let us know any feedback you have I’d love to get your opinion and thoughts.

Everything you can tell me will hopefully help me improve the site and I’m always open to criticism, good or bad.
As always thank you so much for reading and I hope you’ve got something from it, I’ll hopefully see you on the 2nd of June.
Cheers Woody
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Nothing Ventured…..

So it’s been an interesting few weeks, been keeping myself busy with plenty of work.
I’ve had some great bookings for weddings too, one for February next year, nothing special there I know but with the weather we’ve had this year it could very well be a white wedding, which would be awesome providing everyone(especially the Bride & Groom) can get there.
Booked my first for 2020 too, which is great, nothing like being prepared and with my first of this year coming at the start of next month it’s exciting times.
I’m still amazed that I shoot weddings and love it so much, was never meant to happen but that’s the joy of the job, it’s what keeps it fresh trying new things and taking chances.
I also happened last week when I got to shoot for the guys at Circus of Horrors (shots in this blog).
The guys were fantastic and looked after me really well, it was so nice to get a yes when I asked to shoot, anyone who’s read my blogs before will know that I’m no stranger to rejection, especially with shows namely the ballet(still desperate to shoot one), so getting a “yeah, of course you can” from an out of the blue email was music to my ears.
Hopefully more will follow but I’m nothing is given so more emails are due to be sent and I must remember to not hold my breath just in case it’s a while away!
Just a short one this time so thanks for reading as always.

http://www.circusofhorrors.co.uk

Cheers
Woody
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January…. What January?

OK so like many others I missed January, don’t like it, it’s a horrible month if anyone can explain why I’d really like to know.

Everything else has all been good, regular editing jobs have been keeping me on track, just need to reboot the website again, it could do with another freshen up.
The extra inspiration to do this is I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to help Sarah(sister-in-law) to start building her website.
It’s great to be able to help someone else out, I’m far from an expert but I think I know enough to get the ball rolling for her, its also a good reason to get another shoot in, planning on creating a photo story for her so Sarah can get some quality images on her new website, it’s booked in for a couple of weeks time and I’ll share how it went on here.
Keep an eye out for her hash tag……..
#relaxrewardrenewyou
I’ve also had the chance recently to help out a friend with his lightroom work flow, with a few pointers and tips, I think it helped and his new edits have looked awesome.
Really enjoy this kind of thing, not going to make it out to be something its not, so I won’t say teaching….. more like guiding/helping out but I do like having the opportunity to share the little knowledge I have.
Others have taught me, via books, websites, YouTube etc etc and it’s only right I pass it on where and when I can.

On a selfish note I have a sale on for the remaining canvas prints from last year’s exhibition, search rainywoodphoto on Facebook(or just tap the pictures) to see what have 15% off.

That’s all I have for now, so thanks for having a look.
Cheers Woody
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