We're in the thick of wedding season at the moment but I thought I'd take this post to reflect on one of my favourite parts of wedding photography... that little bit before the real picture is taken.

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I've been getting a lot of emails recently asking me why I don't do family portraits...

The truth is I do!
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Yep, I've been comissioned to photograph the new Equality and Diversity posters for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
The images are needed because the fire fighters have been issued with new, modern equipment and uniform so I did my best to give the images a more modern and technological look. Click for more!

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I'm sitting on a couch in London right now after a late one last night.
I was at the new London eltro night Crumble shooting a few images of the guests :)   more »

March 27th saw the final open day at Hanley fire Station before its demolition next month.

The day was a complete success with hundreds of people touring the station, watching the demonstrations and seeing all of the old fire artifacts.
Part of the day was an exhibition from myself. A series of images taken around the station to give people a real feeling of its character and age.

It was only small but well worth it as it gathered lots of interest and I recieved very kind words from everyone. Thank you all!   more »

Poor blog hasn't seen a post in aaaaages!
Not to worry, because now here's an XXL one for reading pleasure.
A lot has gone on in the last month or so. I've taken a break from Weddings for March straight through to May and concentrated on portraits and portfolios.

After May, I wouldn't expect to see me posting very often because I'll be so busy it's ridiculous!

Anyway, check under the cut to see what I've been doing :)   more »

Today I've been out with Samii.

I'll let the pictures do the talking :)   more »

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been mega busy.

Something I did do today was do some child portrait work for the Cheshires. I don't usually do this type of work but it's definitely something challenging that I love doing and I'd encourage more people to come forward if they want some family portraits done :)

here they are:



Check out the facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/briscoephotography

I went away for a while on Holiday.
I'm back now, with a ton of piled up work.
I promise I'll get around to everyone eventually.

thanks!
Briscoe

Clothing shoots always bring out the Gok wang in me.

I headed to manchester to finish off shooting the clothes at renegade marmalade. Was a tiring day, but I think we got the job done :)   more »

It's been a busy start to the year for Briscoe photography.
First of all I've seen a new element of creativity emerge in the form of video. I've only created a few videos but it seems people enjoy the way I shoot and edit. This has meant that my videos have been popping up on a few websites including buafl.net and more recently the North Staffs YMCA front page:

This is brilliant news and very flattering. I hope to be shooting a little more video in the future for different people and I'm glad I have added another skill to work on and improve.

Also, London graphic designer Mike Willows was kind enough to design my new company logo for the website and future media. It's already been added to my new personal portraits taken by Duane from Clix photography for the website.
You can expect to see this new logo on all copyrighted images from here on in.



I hate having my photo taken and the shoot today was a sharp awakening to what I put all of my clients through. I'm not a fan of being the other side of the lens... but I guess it had to be done.

Lucy and Paul tie the knot at the ashes.
I stayed right into the evening. Pictures and video clicking here ---->   more »

What a lovely place Keele hall is. Their food and the sheer atmosphere of the place is amazing. Pics under the lip :)   more »

Firefighters in Stoke are busy spreading their own Christmas message this week.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is staging a number of events across the city to raise awareness of fire safety in Winter and potential hazards in the home at Christmas.

This will feature firefighters engaging the public on matters of fire safety and offering advice and information on keeping property and loved ones safe during the Festive season.

Donna Broadhead, Watch Manager at Hanley Fire Station, said: "At a busy time of year it is imperative we keep ourselves busy in this way, educating people to the potential dangers which lurk in the home during the Christmas period."   more »

What a successful night.
All the models looked stunning and the stage setup was brilliant. I can see this being an annual thing and I'm sure I'll be there next year too!   more »

A week ago I shot Marie and Martins modest wedding at Ford Green hall. It's a lovely place with a lot of history and perfect for a cosy wedding :)

Congratulations!


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Me? Video?

Well... I gave it a go. I'm not a videographer, but I did enjoy it I must admit.
I recently bought my new back up camera. A D90. It has an added feature as a HD video camcorder. They say, this, combined with top quality nikon lenses can produce near movie quality videos.

I had a go and I must say the HD stuff is really good. When I could get it in focus (because you have to do it manually) the images are pin sharp. I used the fact that it's so hard to focus to attempt an edgy video of an American football game.

Shooting at F2 with nikon glass allows you to really play with he depth of field making some of the shots looking really pretty. Also, having such a small camera in your hand allows you to keep the camera still for long enough when you want to get a straight(ish) shot but as you can see from the film it gives you more room to shake the camera about which can give the shots a sense of urgency.

The camera pretty much does all of the exposure for you. I tested it out with some lights too and the metering just seems to know what you want to do. It's the same with this outdoors situation, it deals with light change very well. It doesn't get it all of the time but I can't fault it really.

I'm not saying you should shoot everything on a D90 without a tripod but for something like this where you're trying to keep a tempo and drama I think it kinda works.

I must admit, it was tough to do but for my first ever video I'm quite pleased with the result.
It loses it a bit at the end because A) I got tired and bored at the game and B) I got tired and bored while editing it.
At 200mm it's tough to keep quick guys dead centre, especially without any support. However, it is what I set out to do. I needed to get some wobbly, off centre shots for the idea to work.

I don't know if I'll do anymore. But if I do, I know I've learned a lot from this. Definitely have a plan for what you want to do beforehand and trust the camera.

have a look... I'll try and get the HD version up asap because it really does look so much better.

Stallions from paul briscoe on Vimeo.

I haven't posted in a while. Mainly because I went on holiday for a bit.

However, I'm back now with some new images.

Here's Hannah:   more »

My camera has never been to the other side of my work life before.
But today seemed like the best opportunity to get stuck in. We had a charity car wash at Hanley fire station ending with a Police Vs Fire tug of war match at an event we attended later.

i can't really say much more about it other than the weather was great, we all had fun and raised over £300 for the fire fighters charity. Thank you to everyone who donated :)
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I was at Sofa City on Victoria Road, Stoke for a few hours this evening. After some of their models cancelled late we rushed around contacting members of their friends and families for someone take a seat on these couches.

In the end we had too many!!
However, pretty much everyone got a picture which are scheduled to go on the new Sofa City website.

I must say, this type of photography must be the toughest photography to do and I have huge respect for the folks that do this sort of work on a more regular basis than myself.
To light an entire room evenly on a couple of flashes is very tough. Small, tedious adjustments need to be made every time something moves. To those in the regular product photography business, I feel your pain.   more »

Wow!
It was a hot one today. I hope everyone is well hydrated!

What a perfect day for Kerry and Stevens wedding. After all the bad weather we've been having the Sun has shone down just for this lovely couple on their special day.

I had loads of fun today. We've been everywhere! Town centre, Hanley park and Britannia stadium!
I've decided to go in a slightly different direction today. As I look down my blog I've realised that the majority of pictures I show have been posed.

However, today I'm going to show off the other side of what I do and post a bit more candid/reportage stuff.
I love shooting these pictures. Even though I'm no where near as good as some photographers out there I still give it a go and I hope others can enjoy them as much as the couples themselves do.

Anywho, enough nattering, click more for pics from the day.
oh, and don't forget to check out the facebook page!   more »

It was very kind of Kate and Joff to give me some footage of myself working.

I think it helps show people who I am and how I work at a wedding.

For any photographers it should show how my pictures are made... Also, for people who struggle wit hthe line of sight CLS maybe you notice how I deal with it. CLS is a godsend!

I'm also awful at video editing so don't hate me for the bad video.

All the footage is from Nicola and Robs wedding at Rudyard lake :)

A day in the life of me :) from paul briscoe on Vimeo.

Just as the hard work ends, even more hard work begins.
Yesterday I spent a few hours updating Lauras portfolio. Here's a few:   more »

Wow, already this has been one busy weekend. Yet there's still more to come!
Have a look at the weddings I've been to this weekend! ----->   more »

After a long journey to the far coast of Wales I met with Kate for her dress trashing shoot. There are lots of names for these types of shoot... rock the frock, trash the dress, cherish the dress... many more, many of which are trademarked or copyrighted but in the end they're all the same thing.

What we do as photographers is take a normally glamourous dress, this can be a wedding dress, prom dress, evening gown, anything, and photograph it outside of its normal situation. The extent to which it's photographed... is up to the person that loves it.
I've seen it all done. From kicking a bit of mud around to a full on wedding dress inferno but the majority of trash the dress shoots are simply shooting... on a farm. so here's three from the hour or so I had with kate :)   more »

Friday night I travelled to my hometown of Coventry for Abigail and Daniels wedding. Abigail is an old school friend of mine and it was lovely meeting up again after so long!

The day went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves! A credit to the guys at the holiday inn who were excellent all day catering for every need.

Here's a few highlights:

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A lot of people have been emailing asking how the photobooth section of the wedding works.
I have so much fun doing the photobooths because they bring out so many emotions and expressions. It can take a while for people to get used to it but once it gets swinging everyone has fun and some lovely, humorous images are produced.

I create a small space for people to walk into as they please and pose. They can do what they like, when they like. I may give a slight bit of direction but the beauty of the photobooth is that the guests themselves make the pictures how they want them.
It brings back the old style of posed wedding photography but with a little twist - heading away from that boring old wedding reportage we see these days :p

I set one up at Sean and Kates wedding at the George Hotel in Burslem and this is how it came out:

Ok, so I went a bit overboard with this one.

I thought I might try something different with todays video and in the end I just made it longer. 14 minutes longer.
So guys, this is a long one!

It was still a struggle to fit all the pictures I wanted in here but I ran out of songs to use so I squeezed what I could in.
Rambling over, here it is:

Stuart and Victoria - Extended from paul briscoe on Vimeo.

WHEW!

I'm shattered!
I've had a lot of fun the past two days with a couple of very exciting shoots.
First off, the elusive make-up artist "secondskin" held a "puppet" themed photoshoot:

Everyone involved seemed to have a great time and some lovely images were produced!

Today I've been in Manchester at the trendy clothing store "Renegade Marmalade" shooting their latest catalogue.
It's been a great day organized by Toria with models Colette and Bobby!




so yes, I've been having tons of fun and I'm tired.


Sweet dreams!

Only a few hours rest and I'm back to work at Sean and Kates wedding. To be honest it really didn't feel like work because everyone was so relaxed and friendly.

The George Hotel in Burslem is truely amazing. There is so much character and history in that place... I could have shot there all day and never run out of ideas.
Kate and Sean... and indeed the rest of the wedding party were up for anything and that made my job a dream!
See for yourself...

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The Ashes hosted Stuart amd Victorias wedding today.
What a venue. Perfect weather, brilliant couple, the guests were brilliant and I really enjoyed today.

I've only been back an hour but I just had to look at them... here's a few I picked out:   more »

I met up with Stuart and Victoria today because it's their wedding soon.

We met to discuss the finer points of the day but I also took a few shots of them and the kids because it was such a lovely day.