xmlns:fb='http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml' Welcome to the blog of international award winning wedding photojournalist Ian MacMichael: February 2012

Wednesday 29 February 2012

closer and closer...

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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Lisa and Steven's video....

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Lisa and Steven pre wedding shoot...

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Last weekend, we spent and hour with Lisa and Steven in a chilly Sefton Park doing their pre wedding shoot. Like everyone, they were a little apprehensive, but soon relaxed, we had a good laugh together and we got some beautiful shots. Their special day at The West Tower is fast approaching and we're looking forward to capturing it so they can treasure the memories for a life time. Here are a few of our favorites from the shoot.....














Friday 24 February 2012

West Tower bridal fayre video...

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Here's a video of the shoot, it's HD so please give it a minute or so to load so it doesn't keep buffering! It's worth it!

West Tower Bridal Fayre.

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OK, so after a rushed post a couple of days ago, we've had a bit of time to sort the images out and post the collection. We are really delighted with the results of such an impromptu and unrehearsed shoot. We had a simple one light set up with an SB900 through a Photoflex extra small octadome, triggered by Pocketwizard flex system.

The hair, makeup and dress were all prepared very quickly as we were all exhibiting at the show so were getting things together in between chatting to existing or potential new clients. So, big thanks go to the following....

Sandra from West Tower for allowing us to do the shoot in the midst of their show.
Duncan from L'Hairport for his willingness to get involved and also getting  make up and wedding dress suppliers involved.
Lauren and Dawn from the Bridal Gallery Group
Sam from Ruby Slippers make up.
And last, but most certainly not least, our fabulous model Lauren, who did a fantastic job and looked stunning!

Also, thanks to Lilibet from Lilibets of Paris for her moral support, thanks sis! And to Julie from My Secret Italy, for willing us on, but then talking to new clients and missing the shoot!















Image of the week 2012, number 8....

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Shot on the way home this week, through the car windscreen, just a gorgeous colour sky Lumix GF1,




1/250, 1.7, ISO 100

Thursday 23 February 2012

One more.....for now!

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A very busy week....

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This has been a busy week for us, with 2 days at the West Tower bridal fayre. We were there on Tuesday and Wednesday and had a really good time. We also got to meet some really nice people and strike up some very good new business relationships with some other suppliers, especially Julie from mysecretitaly and Lilibet from Lilibets of Paris.  We'll post a fuller blog over the weekend, but we wanted to get an image up here as soon as possible. As the Tuesday was quite quiet, I suggested to Sandra at West Tower that I'd like to do a "live photo-shoot". Fortunately, she agreed and I asked Duncan from L'Hairport, a hairdresser on the stand opposite us, if he would be up for letting us use one of his models for the shoot. He and Lauren, his model, agreed! Duncan then asked Sam from Ruby Slippers make up and managed to get a dress from the girls at the Bridal Galley Group! So what started a little idea of ours to fill some time ended up as really good shoot. Lauren, who has not done any modelling before was fantastic and did a really great job in the windy  conditions outside. I'll post some more details and a good selection of images in the next couple of days...here's one for now......


Monday 20 February 2012

Welcome to new 2012 wedding clients Sharon and Armen...

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We are delighted to welcome Sharon and Armen as our latest 2012 wedding clients! After meeting up with them last weekend, they got in touch to confirm us as the photographers they want to cover their special day. They will be getting married later in the year at 60 Hope Street. We are delighted to be covering another wedding at 60, it's a great place to shoot and also a passionate and committed team led by Colin. We are now, very happily, almost fully booked for 2012......

Saturday 18 February 2012

03032012......tick tock tick tock....

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....it's getting closer.....

Friday 17 February 2012

Image of the week 2012, number 7....

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Couldn't resist this one with it being my little boy's birthday this week on the 14th! I thinks it's also some other day some people celebrate for some reason, can't think why......anyway, the image this week is one of Hazel's cakes she made for his birthday tea with the grandparents......

Panasonic Lumix GF1...1/125, f1.7, ISO 400
 s.d.g

Thursday 16 February 2012

Welcome to new 2012 wedding clients Graeme and Helen...

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This week we are delighted to welcome Graeme and Helen as our latest 2012 wedding clients. They are getting married later this year at 60 Hope Street. We met up last weekend and, we're pleased to say, they were really impressed with our work. Graeme said "as soon as I saw your work in your sample album at 60 Hope Street, I called Helen and said "I've found our photographer!" We got on really well and they definitely understand our approach to photographing weddings.
Although a few months away yet, I'm sure the time will fly over for them as they anticipate their big day.....

Wednesday 15 February 2012

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Last week, photographer Ian MacMichael tagged along with Graeme, fellow co-owner of Red7 Media and owner of Stylographic design. Graeme had been asked by US hip-hop artist Brandon to go along to a local studio and shoot the music video for the single release from Brandon's latest album. Ian went along to shoot some behind the scenes stills and video. It was a really enjoyable evening, going on until the early hours...finally wrapping up at around 145am!
Brandon had seen some street dancers locally, called funkymentals, and had asked them to come into the studio to perform a set to be used in the music video.
We shot some images of their set and we are really pleased with the results. Lighting was difficult in the basement studio. there were a couple of LED panels on hand to help out. As a result, we couldn't use as fast a shutter speed as we would have liked, but the results are really cool and convey a sense of the strength and action in the performance. Although new to using video as part of our product service, Ian was able to bring some suggestions from a stills shooter perspective. Ian said "Graeme and I obviously work really well together with Red7 media, but this was the first time we had worked together on a live shoot. We were able to bounce ideas around and to overcome each of the challenges of the evening as a team. Graeme did a fantastic job with the video, especially the hand held segments. The rig was really heavy and he managed some great footage with it hand held. Hopefully, it was the first of many events that we can work together on!"
The remainder of the behind the scenes stills and video will be posted as soon as the video is edited and cut for release....
Here are a few shots of the amazing funkymentals in action.....










Tuesday 14 February 2012

Coming soon...03-03-2012........

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It's coming........

Monday 13 February 2012

Welcome to new 2012 wedding clients Kevin and Tasha

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This week we are pleased to welcome Kevin and Tasha as our latest 2012 wedding clients. We met with them last week after they had booked 60 Hope Street for their special day. We were recommended to them by Colin at 60 and they also saw our sample album there. We chatted briefly and they had no hesitation in making their booking there and then! We are delighted they have chosen us and look forward to being a part of their special day......

Friday 10 February 2012

Image of the week 2012, number 6!

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So quickly, it's time for the image of the week again! This was shot at Otterspool from in front of the new cafe there. I just liked the shape of the tree and the little bit of colour and cloud in the sky.....

Lumix GF1, 1/2000, f2.5, ISO 100


Thursday 9 February 2012

Welcome to new 2013 wedding clients Alan and Sarah.

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We are also delighted to welcome Alan and Sarah as our latest 2013 wedding clients. We met with Sarah late last year at the West Tower Bridal Fayre and agreed to meet up again. This second meeting happened a couple of weeks ago and we got on really well. We had a good laugh and talked about lots of different aspects of their wedding day and our photographic style. Alan told us they were also going to see a couple of other photographers before they made their final decision. After a couple of weeks they called us to say they would like to book us! Alan said "to be honest, after seeing the other photographers and their work, we were still completely blown away by your work, your style and your whole approach. We knew for certain that we wanted to book you guys!"
We're delighted that they have chosen us to be a part of their day and are looking forward to another great day at West Tower.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Listing on global creative site...

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We are delighted to announce that Ian MacMichael photography has been asked to feature on LookZoomBook.

The idea behind this project is to achieve maximum communication efficiency world wide between clients and creative providers in audio-visual branch. Having in mind the creative professional’s needs we have developed a tool where users can literally experience the changes on the market and let new and exciting job opportunities find them. Another level of the LookZoomBook website is its unlimited networking possibility for creative providers who can not only show off their work, references and recommendations, but also directly communicate and share experiences between each other.



We are pleased to have one of our images and our service highlighted on the UK providers page...



  We are delighted with the commendation of our work and service and are delighted that we were asked to not only be part of this project but also to be one of the featured photographers........

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Andrew and Anna pre wedding shoot video...

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Here's a video of the shoot we did with Andrew and Anna a couple of weeks ago....

Monday 6 February 2012

Steve and Shelly PWS video....

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Steve and Shelly PWS...

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We a really great, if not absolutely freezing time with  Steve and Shelly last Saturday. We met up at the Liver Buildings and it was raining, windy and very cold! We managed to get out onto the river side and brave the elements. I was using my new Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX kit for the first time and the appalling weather nearly put me off trying them! I decided to risk it and used a 1 light set up, with just the diffuser on the front of the bare bulb.
It was bitterly cold and after a few minutes my hands were completely numb, I could barley press the shutter. I know, I'm nesh...OK!!
Anyway, Steve and Shelly were far braver then me and really threw themselves into the shoot. We got some great shots and warmed up with a coffee when we had finished. We're so glad they chose us to be a part of their special day...we can't wait. If it's as much fun as we had last Saturday, it will be a fantastic day!