NEW BLOG! NEW LOCATION!

Hi Guys, 

Well the last month has been really busy for us behind the scenes. We have been doing some really boring stuff and some really exciting stuff. The boring stuff is finishing our end of year accounts and getting setting up all our budgets and targets for this coming year. Although boring also really essential to maintain a good business.

The exciting stuff is that we have moved the blog to a new location and brightened it up. It also allows us to post our images in a much larger format so you can get a better look at them.

The new blog can be found at http://www.philbarberblog.com

Make sure you bookmark this in your browser.

The old blog will stay online so you can come back and look and the stuff we have posted over the last year. But as we move into the new wedding season make sure you come over the new blog.

Emma & GJ 5th April 2008

We had a lovely day on Saturday at Emma & Gert Jan's wedding. As always (and in what's becoming a bit of a tradition) it was "the best wedding we've ever done!!" (Alright, Emma???!!)

After a beautiful church service it was back to Woodlands for the reception. GJ is Dutch and loads of his family and friends had come over from Holland for the weekend. It was great to meet them all. Also, with the Dutch influence, the flowers on the day were naturally amazing - beautiful Yorkshire white roses and of course hundreds of tulips. In fact my image below of Emma's bouquet reminds me a bit of some of the old Dutch masters.

Thanks Emma & GJ for inviting us to be part of your day. We were very happy and honoured to share it with you.

Weekend Ahead with Emma & GJ

Well we are currently getting ready for our next wedding this weekend. Emma and GJ are a great couple and after attending the rehearsal last night the wedding day is going to be a lot of fun. With GJ being Dutch there should also be some interesting twists on the day. I will post some images from the day at the end of the weekend.

Also below are some images from London last weekend. This is the gang on the top of the London Eye. The picture was taken by my sister Sarah who kindly put us all up for the 3 nights. Normally the house is a quiet haven with only Cash the cat to keep her company. I think she was really happy to see us leave on Tuesday. Thank you Sarah for putting us up and being a great hostess.

The kids were trying to look very cool during the trip.


A well earned rest and ice cream!

Skater Girl!

London Baby!

I just got back from 4 days in London ( My home town - kind of - I was born there!). Spent the time with Lou and kids doing the whole tourist thing. Will post more details later but for now here are a few images from trip.

Set up information from shoot

We have had a few people who have sent us an e-mail asking about the set up from the shoot we did a few days ago. So I have made up a couple of technical sheets to give a bit more detail of the shot shown.
I hope this information is useful to some people.

Studio Shoot with Roma

Yesterday had the opportunity to spend a few hours with a great group of people to take some studio shots of Roma. The shoot was arranged by Roma who was looking to refresh her portfolio of images for the model agencies in the Leeds area. Thom was the lead photographer for the day but allowed me to have a go at some set ups as well. Make-up for the day was done by Aimee and did an excellent job in getting Roma set up for 3 or 4 different changes of hair and clothes.
Thank you for letting me be part of the day guys! We will do this again very soon. For further images from the shoot click on the SLIDESHOW link.

Awareness Test

One thing about what we do at weddings is always looking out for those key moments, that special look between two people. So we need to be on our toes all the time. I found this awareness test on You Tube today to see if I'm any good at this.
Watch the video and see how many times you think the white team pass the ball!



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lOl - I got the right amount of passes but completely missed the MOONDANCING BEAR :-) Maybe I should give up my day job.

0 out 10 for awarness today lOl !!

Kath and James 15th March 2008

Last Saturday I met up with Kath & James at Kirstall Abbey in Leeds. The abbey is one of Britain's best preserved and was founded in 1152. It made for a great backdrop to do the Pre Wedding shoot of Kath & James.

These guys are getting married in mid July this year and seem so relaxed about the whole matter which is great. Both seemed a little nervous to start with but as was we were shooting James seemed to just love the camera. ( Work it baby!). The weather held out for us as well. It was due to be heavy rain all day. But it stayed dry for the whole morning but by the time I had got home by 2pm the rain had set in.

Thanks for a great morning guys and a lovely coffee afterwards hope you enjoy the images.

If you want to see more pictures of Kath & Jame's Pre-wedding shoot click on the link to the SLIDESHOW.

We have started using some new software to show images on line. It is by a great company called Into the Darkroom and they are based over in Arizona US. Meghan Bingle helped us get up and running with it this week. Thanks for you help Meghan the software is a superb.

Sarah & Andrew

So as promised, here are some images from the final pre-wedding shoot of the weekend. Sarah and Andrew are a great couple and had come up from London to get away from the Big Smoke. So as a complete contrast we met in a car park near Millstone rocks which is in the Peak District. It has to be said the weather was not your typical Spring like day but the area we walked up to was quite sheltered and the views were amazing.
One of the things I love about what we do is that I can go from doing a shoot in the centre of Manchester and then within 24 hours find myself up a rocky outcrop in the middle of the Peak District doing another shoot while it's blowing a gale. Afterwards it was back down to a local cafe for hot cup of coffee!
Below are some of the images from the shoot.

Busy weekend - part 2

OK, now for some images of pre-wedding shoot number 2. I met up with Kirsty and Vince at Golden Acre Park in Leeds early on Saturday morning, and had a super couple of hours with them.

I've been to Golden Acre Park a few times before - it's a beautiful spot and I really felt like spring was just around the corner even though there were a couple of times it looked like it was going to pour down. Here are a few of the images from the session:

Time for a Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down!!

Yay!! I made it to Sunday evening after a hectic few days. Since Friday I've done 3 pre-wedding shoots and a wedding fair, so 'twas a busy weekend.

I'll post a few images from all the shoots from the weekend, but I'll start off with the first which I did on Friday.


I travelled to Manchester to meet up with Helen & Wayne whose wedding we're covering in June. I had such a fantastic time with them in the city centre, and I think we managed to get some really interesting shots. See what you think:



To see some more images please click HERE!
Part 2 is to follow...........

Busy week - and more to come!

Hello again!

It's been a while since I last posted - eight days in fact, which is something I wanted to avoid this year. 2008 resolutions and all that.....

I've had a very busy week, though. After I got back from Focus last Tuesday I started on some boring stuff (finances, updating records etc.....yuk) which always takes about 10 times longer than I expect. I did have a few wedding consultations, though, which are always great. I love meeting new potential clients. I've also been busy working on John & Paulette's wedding images - their slideshow should be online very soon. And at the weekend I had a lovely time at Hazel & Ben's pre-wedding shoot. Another great couple-I seem to attract them!! They're getting married in May. I'll post a few images of the shoot below.

Yesterday I went into Manchester to do a quick recce for a pre-wedding shoot I'm doing there on Friday. I also met up with a really good friend of mine, Pali Rao, who is a superb photographer (and just a little bit insane.....) I haven't seen him for ages, so it was fantastic meeting up with him and putting the world to rights.

I've got another busy few days ahead of me too. Apart from the Manchester shoot on Friday, I've got 2 pre-wedding shoots, a client meeting and a wedding fair this weekend. I think I need a holiday!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. the project 366 thing - I have been taking pictures, honest! I just haven't had time to process and upload them yet. Something else for the to do list.

Fun time at Focus '08

Well I had a great time down at Focus '08 the last couple of days. It really is the place to go if you want to immerse yourself in the photographic industry. Monday morning I spent time on the Annabel Williams CPT stand. Catherine Connor & Jane Breakell are fab and helped Lou and myself a few years ago to get ourselves established in this world of photography. It was great talking to other people who were wanting to start on a similar journey. I hope I didn't put you guys off and inspired you to take your first step into changing your life.

The rest of the time was going round checking out new suppliers and products also saying hello to some of our existing suppliers. When walking round I kept bumping into a lot of fellow photographers. Particularly Andy Sutcliffe and his wife Gill. They are a great couple and have an excellent photography business based in Halifax. We seemed to put the world to right over several cups of tea.



Finally check out this picture below. It's an ice sculpture of a Canon camera on the Lexar stand.

The largest camera seen at the show. Pretty cool!