Know What I Mean Harry

I was asked to go along to a charity event at the Hilton in Glasgow, to film a sportsman's dinner in aid of Erskine Hospital. The guest of honour being none other than the great Frank Bruno, This giant of a man was such a gentleman and very amusing indeed, for all day I had been saying to myself, "Maria, do not say the words, Know what I mean Harry". Over and over, so I had it in my head not to utter the words that this man has probably hears a million times before.
So there I was all ready to rock and roll, I decided to go back into the little room where mine and my fellow photographer Robert's gear was located, and as I neared the door I heard those rich bassy tones of Frank's voice, I went in and he was sitting at the end of the table signing boxing gloves, I picked up my batteries, turned to Frank and asked if he minded me filming him, he was happy to let me do so, he asked my name and I told him, he grinned and said he would like to call me Miss Bailey, we laughed and I said that's cool I want to call you Dave, he chortled and said you can call me Harry if you like, did he know my little secret chant of not mentioning Harry, who knows, probably not, but the moment was there and it made me giggle.
So that's me and Frank sharing a great big cuddle, it was a pleasure to meet him, real nice guy.

Tom Miles Spent The Day With Us At College

Today at college, photographer Tom Miles came in to spend the day with us, The morning session was very useful, with Tom telling us about what he believes are the four key points that make a good and successful photographer, it was all very interesting and he kept us engaged with his upbeat demeanor. I am sure it was not only myself who took at least a little of what he said away with them.

In the afternoon we had a choice of watching Tom going through how he lights certain scenarios, what he carries etc, etc, or to take the mighty challenge of an assignment to be conceived, shot, polished and handed in by 3pm. Well I do like a wee challenge now and then, that and I left my trusted wee Kodak Playsport behind to film the lighting demo.

So we had the choice of "The Suit", "Vodka" or "The Church". As you can see from the image below I went for Vodka, probably an odd choice for someone who doesn't drink very much, but I had already been turned down by our head lecturer "Robert" to allow me to photograph him in his natty suit.

Fellow student, Leah and I shuffled on down to the closest garage and bought some Smirnoff Ice and headed back to college to set up the studio, shots in the bag for me I headed onto editing, although the image below is not how I had intended things to go it ended up looking way better than my original idea, but I don't mind things changing at the flip of a coin, so all was well.

The main point of the exercise was to produce not only the image, but an invoice to go with it, and I think I did that to the best of my ability on the day, but I so should have added in way more things to be listed under expenses, lesson learned.

So please do enjoy the image and thank you to Tom for sharing his knowledge with us.

Dam it's almost January, where have I been. I've been neglecting you, that's where I have been. I am sorry.
Life since August has pretty much been college and college and a wee bit more college, nothing major has transpired, oh apart from getting a job as an image editor, that is pretty swell indeed, though I have not technically started yet, but the new year should bring new things and new opportunities. 
We had a simple Christmas, as Noodles mother was in hospital, though we did kidnap her for Christmas dinner, then returned her safely.


So since August, here are a few pictures of what I have been up to.






Images of the lovely Mel Hamilton I took at Central Hotel Glasgow.

A few new faces from Model Team came to college, This is Catherine, she must have been freezing when I took this image of her.

 I was fortunate enough to shoot a wedding in France in November. The weather was glorious and Delphine and Stuart were absolutely lovely to work with. 
It's funny how differently things are done in other countries,in France the wedding pictures of the bride and groom are taken before the ceremony. I found this to be a completely amazing way to work.

Here is Nina standing in the grounds of the Mansion House we stayed in during our visit to France

Nina again enjoying a wee walk through a park in the town of Nevers

At the end of the year I enjoyed a great night out with the girls from college for our Christmas Party

And finally the snow came, but it didn't stay long, but I hoping it comes back soon, for there is many a fun day sledging to be had up in the braes of Paisley

So now I am just looking forward to 2012 to see what possibilities it brings my way

Back To School

Did you ever think you would hear someone say they were so happy to be back at school? Yeah that's me I am that weirdo. Even though I have only been there three days and now I am getting ready to take my trip to Tennessee to visit my very good friend Dan, spend some time on the horse ranch and get up to as much trouble as we possibly can, you wouldn't think we were fully grown people, not by any stretch of the imagination.


So anyway back to school. I love school, I truly do, so much so that I think I could go through my entire life just being a student, do you think this stems from my love of high school, who knows.

So two days in I got to head on over to the shiny new building and gate crash the Radio and Broadcasting department, Rock Radio presenter Ceiran O'Toole, was giving a talk to the students, and I was asked to go along and take some candid shots of the whole event

I must say, even though it meant missing half of a class, I had quite a good time hanging out over there with the cool kids, even though the room was super hot, and a couple of times I felt like I was about to pass out, I held it together like a pro.

Ceiran gave a really good talk I felt, he was funny and sometimes serious, though the serious side was only dotted about here and there.

Overall I think they took a lot from it, especially the one girl who seemed to be totally in love with Ceiran, and almost popped with excitement at getting her photo taken with the DJ.

How Long Do Summer Holidays Really Need To Be?

It seems like a lifetime ago that we stopped college for the year. I know it was only June, but it is taking forever to get to the end of August, when I can get back to school and get on with things. I passed my HNC Photography with an A. Woop woop go me. I can't wait for my HND to start, wishing I had a time machine to be honest.
Mind you I have been pretty busy through the holidays. I've done two weddings,a shoot at a car garage decorated my living room and kitchen. had a three week exhibition of my photography, had my birthday, had my partners birthday, friends birthday, three nephews birthdays, why are all the cool people born in July?

So here are a few pics from my summer away from school, missing my friends, missing learning.

Keiran's Symmetrical self

Pinhead Rayna

Little Flower Girl

Canyoning Madness

Rayna Flying into the rapids

Robyn at ca

Dogs will be dogs

Unicycles make great birthday gifts for Nina

Little boy at house blessing

House 

Sleeping Beauty

The Exhibition

Keiran

So not his day

I guess at the end of the day, the holiday's have been pretty good, but I am still aching to get back to college. Roll on the end of August.

Easter Monday

Today being Easter Monday, we headed down to Greenock and picked up two nephews and a niece. This was the first time the niece had come out with us, as generally she will scream the house down if she is not withing touching distance of her mother. So once they were all in their car seats we sped away before she even had time to realize her mother wasn't with us.

Once we got to Battery Park, the fun began, playing in the sand, mostly throwing it at auntie Nina, sliding on slides, running as fast as little pre 5 year old legs can carry them, a visit to the skate park, more running, more sand, more slides

By the time we got back to the car, the little niece was out for the count in seconds, so off to McDonald's we went, sneakily we managed to tell the boys that there were no fries left, so fruit would be better to have, they took the hook.

Once they scoffed their food, the boys that is, the little one was still zonked to the world, we headed to visit gran, the boys were very excited about this, and were all loves and smiles when they finally got there, after a game of look out the car window tell me what you can see, quite a hard game when they were both hiding under a jumper, cause apparently the sun was chasing them !

Last Light

So here we are in the middle of the easter break from college, we have a project to get our clicking fingers around called "Last Light" so the past few nights I have been out hunting that elusive sunset, the first few attempts were pants, even the trip up to the highlands at the weekend was fruitless, but tonight without going anywhere special I managed to catch this little baby, she was a delight, even though it was a wee bit cold out, but hey I'm Scottish, the cold and me are best buddies for most of the year.