The photographs have now been uploaded and can be found in our balls & proms photo gallery.

Being based in Rugby, Warwickshire we are ideally situated to cover Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Coventry. We’ve even covered proms as far away as Rutland in the past.

So how much do we charge to attend? Well, that depends on you! We can attend for free, and sell the photos for £15 each (with healthy discounts for multiple purchases!) Alternatively, we can provide and all-inclusive service where we you can pre-pay for the photos so that the guests don’t have to. This can bring the price down to as little as £5 per head!

Why should we book a photographer? So and so’s Dad has a camera, he can do the photos.

There’s more to taking prom photos than just having a camera. We have a top-of-the-range mobile digital studio, complete with ultra-high speed printers which are capable of printing your photo in as little as 20 seconds. We are not talking about fragile inkjet prints! These are instantly dry and waterproof the second they leave the printer. To finish them off nicely, we present them in attractive strut mounts, making the ideally suited for putting on the mantle.

As professional photographers, you can rest assured that we are also fully insured should anything untoward happen. If you’ve got someone’s dad taking the photos and an accident should occur, who is going to be left with the insurance bill?

If you’d like more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch or check out our prom photography page

Despite being incredibly cold, we were blessed with wonderful winter sunshine for today’s unaffiliated show jumping at High Cross Equestrian Centre. There was a reasonable turn out and some very close competition to keep things lively. Unfortunately there were two rather nasty falls, although thankfully no one needed medical assistance.

The photographs are now available in our equestrian photography gallery.

It was a great pleasure to have been invite along for the evening and both Anita and I had a wonderful time. We are both looking forward to the start of the season in March.

The photographs have been uploaded to our gallery and also to our Facebook page – don’t forget to tag yourself!

Let me give you an example. British charity Raspberry Pi is a Cambridge start up company that wants to encourage people into the wonderful world of software development. The want to bring back the days when computers were cheap and connected to a TV – just like in the early days of home computing. They have designed a fully-functioning bare-board machine which will retail for £22. That’s right, twenty two pounds sterling: it isn’t a misprint. As you can imagine, their project has garnered quite a lot of interest.

The news today from Raspberry Pi is that the boards have now gone into production and will be available very shortly. Surely this is good news, so why the negative heading to my post?

Well, the boards are going to be manufactured in the Far-East, rather than here in the UK. The main reason for this is because of the UK tax laws. For some inexcusable reason, UK companies that import components from which to build boards are subject to tax whereas they do not if the boards are imported in a completed state. This basically means that companies are given a tax-break for taking their manufacturing overseas. How can this be right? Am I alone in thinking that this is completely the wrong way around?

I have come to the realisation that there is something seriously wrong in the world. Our politicians are constantly harping on about austerity and how we’ve got to tighten our belts; we have more and more companies going to the wall; people losing their jobs and yet Rolls Royce announced recently that they’ve just had their best year ever. Where are they selling them? The Far East – the same place we are getting our manufacturing done!

There has been an e-petition started to urge the government to redress this stupid tax law. I urge you to please sign it.

Over the weekend I was made aware of a blog that had been created which alleged that I have been underhand in the way I have run my business with relation to the Event Photographer Society and and Uzair Kharawala, from SF Digital. The website implied that I had received financial reward from the Event Photographer Society in some underhand way. This is a blatant lie – the sort of thing we would expect from those appearing before the Leveson Inquiry. The only ‘payment’ I’ve received from the EPS was for sandwiches & refreshments bought from Costco for the delegates attending an EPS event in Leamington Spa. I may, of course, have eaten a cookie or two during the day, but that’s hardly a crime. The anonymous blog also alleged that I am a ‘senior partner’ in the EPS which, again, is unfounded. I am not sure about the exact make up of the management of the EPS, but as far as I am aware, there are no ‘partners’ – just Mike Weeks, the guy who runs it.

The blog entry also alleged some dishonesty with a testimonial that I wrote to Oz, thanking him for an excellent training day which he had run and I had attended. There was nothing underhand at all – I had paid my money, I had attended the course and found it to be an excellent day. I have spoken with Oz on three occasions – once on the phone, the training day and at the EPS autumn meet last year. The stupidity of the article was the accusation that Oz’s testimonials were written by ‘people who know him.’ Of course they are! They are written by customers who’ve met him!

It was somewhat amusing that the author of the blog, masquerading under the pseudonym “Beau” thinks that my previous blog entry “Workshops & Whiners” was attempting to “set upon” anyone who attempts to “muscle in on event training.” Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would understand from reading my post that this is diametrically opposed to what I was saying! If you are going to rant, make sure you understand the topic. It is not really that surprising that the author didn’t use their real name – lest their friends realise just how dim-witted they are.

The moral of the story is this: Caveat lector – reader beware. If someone doesn’t have the bottle to own up to their allegations, don’t believe a word of what they’ve written!

why on earth would I consider giving business to a company that was perfectly happy to try and rip me off to the tune of £180The lady that called me yesterday was very pleasant and explained that I’d found a better level of cover for £180 less. She then politely asked if I’d be interested if Towergate matched the price.

I am not sure what planet she lives on, but why on earth would I consider giving business to a company that was perfectly happy to try and rip me off to the tune of £180. If they were prepared to charge me less when I asked, why didn’t they simply offer me the best price originally? Is the sudden offer to reduce the premium supposed to make me think better of them? If so, it doesn’t work! It just makes me think that they were taking me for a mug!

I had also had correspondence with Aaduuki insurance about their policy and was left rather underwhelmed. One of the key things for me is to be able to insure the bulk of my equipment when left unattended over night in the van. There are times when the events we cover finish very late (or very earlier depending on your point of view!) Some times we don’t drive back afterwards, preferring to stay in an hotel. Aaduuki’s policy wouldn’t cover the equipment to be left in the van – we’d need to take it into our hotel room.

There are times when the hotel we stay at isn’t the same as the location of the event we are photographing. Aaduuki’s policy restriction means that after an event, we would need to tear down the kit, load it into the van, drive to the hotel, check in, unload the van and move the kit into the hotel room, all in the small hours. I am sure that the other guests would love us banging around in the corridors. When asked about this, Aaduuki’s reply was:

What we DO NOT cover for is equipment left unattended in a car overnight whilst your in bed or a hotel and we have no plans to extend this. Whilst we are happy to work with photographers we do all need to recognise there is still a duty of care and everyone should act as if they are uninsured.

A duty of care??? The equipment would be left in a locked, alarmed van. It isn’t as though I was going to be leaving it unattended and unsecured. To be honest, I think that their attitude of “we don’t offer it and we won’t change our policies” stinks of arrogance. If a customer thinks that your product could be improved, and they are willing to pay a premium for it, then you are being stupid not to offer what they want!

It made a refreshing change when I spoke with Steve at Cliik insurance. He listened to my requirements, he asked pertinent questions and he understood just what it was that I needed. What’s more, he was cheaper too!

The moral of the story is don’t be lazy, don’t just renew: shop around. You might be surprised by what you find!

Seeing 2012 in in style!

The photos from the New Year’s Eve bash at the Windmill Village hotel in Coventry are now online.

It was great to see so many people making the most of 2011 and celebrating the arrival of 2012! Everyone had a great time and we were delighted to have been there to record the event for posterity for the second year in a row.