Lorraine Wood Flowers: Ohhhh that smell!

I was recently commissioned to photograph some behind the scenes shots at Lorraine Wood Flowers' Workshop.

It's one of those jobs where I punched the air once it was confirmed. I'd usually do that anyway about any shoot I'm excited about, however, there are two reasons I was even more excited about this. Firstly, Lisa from Palompo PR had her part to play in having this shoot done which would in turn help her to promote Lorraine's business. Plus she was there on the day and is awesome to work with. Secondly, I'd done a couple of shoots for Lorraine in the past, the second time was at her workshop which was brand spanking new then. So it was good to know what I was going into.

My favourite types of shoots are when I get the freedom to tell a story. In this case, it was all about capturing a variety of scenarios that set the scene for Lorraine Wood Flowers; images that would portray a behind the scenes look into what goes into creating the amazing floral displays that you can see on Lorraine's website; workshop images to help promote the fun that can be had by being able to create your own bouquet; and a glimpse of Lorraine in her stunning consultation room meaning you get a real flavour of the environment you'll meet Lorraine to discuss ideas and colour schemes.

In a nutshell, being able to provide imagery to help a small business make lots of noise about what they do is amazingly rewarding.

Ohhhhhh and that smell! Walking into Lorraine's workshop on a Thursday when she has a full stock of flowers ahead of a busy weekend of weddings = WOW! The smell just envelopes you into a place somewhere far from where you actually are. You have to experience it to believe it.

Find out more about Lorraine's forthcoming workshops here.

Palompo PR: The comfort zone

I've spoken to a lot of people in my time as a photographer and I've come to the conclusion that most people hate the idea of having their photo taken. Fair enough, I can completely understand that. But those who have made the brave jump, for whatever reason, have been pleasantly surprised by the experience. 

Take head shots for example. Most people know they need them for their professional online presence, such as their LinkedIn profile. They need a head shot image of themselves to replace that blurry one taken by their other half on a mobile phone. Enter the place that is so far from their comfort zone it fills them with fear.

I could quite easily turn up with my camera and take lots of photos, but you would likely still be filled with fear and be very nervous, it's natural to feel that way. So I look at the whole experience and look at the environment you're in.

Take Lisa from Palompo PR for example. She invited me to her home office as it's a place where she feels comfortable. That's a good start. When I arrived, we never even mentioned the photography, we went straight for coffee! Also a good start. We chatted about pretty much everything but the photography, for at least half an hour! We caught up on loads of stuff and talked about lots of mutually interesting things. So much so that we almost forgot why I was there.

Now let's just get one thing out of the way here, Lisa's home office is the most inspiring space I've probably set foot in. It's bright, professional, comfortable and I would absolutely love to work in that space every single day! I had massive office envy!

Anyway, on to the photography. Lisa needed to be seen in her working environment and she needed to appear approachable and professional. So we used a few areas of her office space both sitting and standing and a change of outfits. But I wanted something else. Lisa lives in the most amazing house with a huge Victorian front door and entrance hall. I'd spotted some fantastic natural light filling the space when I arrived and so that's where we headed. I simply opened the front door and had Lisa stand in that space, the resulting images were probably the best from the entire shoot, funny that.

So if you're still pondering on whether or not to go ahead with some photography, I (and probably Lisa too) can assure you that the whole experience needn't be a scary one. Try it and see! You can drop me a line here.

Carys & Dan's Engagement Shoot

I'll always remember the excited look on Carys and Dan's faces at the end of our first meeting. Needless to say I was delighted when they told me they wanted me to photograph their wedding! Imagine a very tall guy jumping high, punching the air and exclaiming a Tom Jones style "Yeah" (well, maybe not the Tom Jones bit).

The day of their engagement shoot seemed so far away for so long, but finally it arrived. We decided to meet up in a cafe where we drank coffee, had a bite to eat and talked all about the wedding plans so far. Then it was time. I took a nervous Carys and Dan to Queen's Park in Glasgow. The thing I loved about this shoot was the fact we had nothing scripted and nothing planned, we just walked through the park and explored, stopping every time I saw a place with Carys & Dan in it.

The result? Some gorgeous images displaying the love that Carys has for Dan and that Dan has for Carys. Memories of a time they were together before they walked down the aisle.

Good luck on your wedding day Carys and Dan, I cannot wait to spend a fabulous day with you both!

Make yourself a cuppa, the blog is back!

In the past 10 months lots of you have started following me on social media and/or taken a look on my website. In other words, you're probably new to One Big Picture Photography. For everybody else, you may remember that I used to blog about everything! Yes, it's been a whole 10 months since I wrote a blog, crikey!

A lot has happened in the last 10 months and one of the main reasons the blogging came to an abrupt halt is because we lost a member of our family. It was something that changed everything and it had a huge knock on effect to this little business that you see here. It was hard enough to keep it going let alone find the time to write blogs for you all to enjoy.

In October I made the massive and risky decision to shut my website down, for a month! A photographer without a website is just plain ridiculous and that was me. I decided to change everything, out with the old and in with the new and all that jazz. And so, on 30 November 2014 at precisely 8pm, I launched a brand new website and you could say, a brand new me. A whole new look and feel. At that precise time, going live with the new site was one of the scariest things I've done in recent times. Looking back, I realise it was because I had built it up so much in the days leading up to that night, expectations were high, but the rewards were plenty.

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And here we are, finally, a brand new location for my blog, my ramblings and my sheer delight and being able to share with you my latest pieces of work. I've wanted to launch this for so many months now and do you know what was holding me back? Something so silly, so trivial and one of those mountains you build up in your head that really are nothing but a tiny hill. I'd originally planned to migrate my entire collection of former blog posts and place them here in the archives for you to look back on. But in an instant of spontaneous and combustive insanity, I thought what the hell, I'm just going to start afresh, from scratch and from the very beginning where you have a blank sheet of paper and a pen (or a keyboard, a screen and some fingers).

What you can expect

I'm going to try and write a blog at least once a week but hopefully more. I want blogging to become like second nature to me. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I post there, a lot. But I want the blog to be so much more.

I'll make every effort to blog about absolutely every piece of work I do, be it a wedding, a pre-wedding shoot, a Lifestyle family shoot or some of the amazing small businesses I work with.

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In between sharing with you my latest work, I'm going to try and write about things that are important to me that I think you'll enjoy. My family, my kids, our adventures or just life in general and whatever takes my fancy. Why? Because I was, I am and I could be your photographer. But behind that camera? I'm me. Marc, a human being, a good old laugh a guy who is just like you. And I always get to know everyone I work with a little bit more, either before, during or after the shoot. So why shouldn't you get to know me a bit better too? If you haven't already, I can highly recommend you take a look at 'My Story' to give you a head start.

So sit back, make yourself a cuppa and enjoy because the blog is most definitely back!