Stewart Plant Photography

Fightstar - Unleashed Festival 2007

2007-08-13T23:25:00.000Z

I went thinking I would see a fourth billed band and left with the word headliners burned into the back of my mind. One word describes the attitude, music and style of Fightstar, "Stunning". They played with everything they had to a crowd that had started with joking calls of busted but ended with the scream for more being heard all over Newquay.

For one band to get 6000 people to split down the middle then run forwards in newquays biggest mosh pit you know they have the right formula to go all the way. Dont be mistaken and think fightstar are a band that have been they are most certainly a band that is awaiting its time of greatness and that may just be around the corner.

Less Busted talk, more Fightstar. They are going to be one of the UK's top bands in the not too distant future and I like veryone else will look forward to seeing them stand in their own rights as the performers they are.

Ash - Unleashed Festival 2007

2007-08-13T01:02:00.000Z

Well the photos are up and now for the review of Ash at Unleashed. Well what can I say about a band that were born in the same year I was, got there exam results the same day I did, ok so they had it on the big breakfast and I wasn't lol.

In the year when Ash has announced they will be producing their last album in favour of singles releases, showing the moving music market with downloads and cd's going away. Lets face it every new band that comes out today has the best 4 singles of the album out in the space of 2 months! I can safly say they are back for good. Taking to pieces the stage, with classics from the album 1977 and Free all Angels, the almost 6000 crowd were in their element.

There was nothing not to like that the band couldnt control, what problems they did have however wasnt down to them. As they drifted with a kick into girl from Mars the microphone cable connecting Tim's mic died, bravely trying to press on eventually he had to stop and a quick change of mics over lead to the show stopping silence as we all waited with baited breath for that moment when we could remember the time I knew a Girl From Mars.

Outstanding performance and all the best to the guys over the tour.

Fat Face Night Surf 2007

2007-06-27T21:20:00.001Z

Well the Fat Face night Surf was held at Lusty Glaze beach on Friday and Saturday. A Fantastic event that was made even more special by the Red Arrows display on the Friday and the amazing fireworks on the Saturday.

Ian Williams from Fat Face did a grand job with organising the event and a big thank you should be said to Rachel as well who ran around the beach organizing all the press on both days.

As you can see the local wildlife wanted to get involved with the action. I dont know if the title should read Seagull Scares Hawks.

The 18th Birtthday of Natalie Earnshaw

2007-06-27T21:16:00.000Z

Well I had the honour of photographing the 18th Birthday of Miss Natalie Earnshaw at Pippa's Bar and Resurant in Newquay on Saturday.

The shoot went wonderful and it was lovely to have someone who was so much fun to work with and was really enjoying her birthday.

I'd like to take this time to say Happy Birthday Natalie and I hope you enjoyed your day and enjoy your photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.

BPPA Award

2007-06-13T19:17:00.000Z

Well Stewart has done it again. May saw Stewart awarded with a Merit Award from the British Professional Photographers Associate and the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers for his PR and Editorial Work. The images shown here is of Athlete playing live at the K Festival in Newquay.

This award joins three more for Sports Photography from the BPPA and SWPP, as well as the Silver for Sports photography, Silver for Portrait Photography and Bronze in the Open competition that Stewart has been awarded over the last 24 months. Added to this Stewart's fellow photographers at http://forum.photographers.co.uk/ have voted Stewart's Sports Photograph of the animal motorbike display team number one in the Sports competition.

So going from strength to strength Stewart is looking forward to a busy year.

Lunar Fun

2007-03-04T00:58:00.000Z

Well I have just finished photographing the Lunar Eclispe. What a fantastic evening and such clear skies as well. I used the images that I took to make a montage of the evening from the rising moon that was coloured all the way though to it disappering into the shadows.

I hope that everyone enjoyed the site and should you wish to purchase copies of this please contact me at sales@stewart-plant-photography.co.uk quoting LUNAR.

Focus on Imaging 2007

2007-03-01T11:56:00.000Z

Well after a four hour drive up from Cornwall and a 5 hour drive back in some of the worse rain I have seen in England, at one point i couldnt see the end of my bonnet!! I have to say thought Focus this year was so much better than two years ago. Managed to speak to everyone I needed to, was disappointed with Nikon and Epson however they need to employ people who care about customers as the service I recieved was on the bad side of poor. Fuji rocked and a big thanks to Theo who has some of the best customer care skills I have seen as well as a intrest in his products.

What news from Focus? Well Lexar have a new card system coming out but at present it wont work with any DSLR. Its a CF with a write speed of x300 called the UMDA. The Fuji S5 is fantastic at Low light levels and the noise actually looks like grain! Looks like fuji has re-invented the wheel for this one, yes its the D200 body, yes even though it takes the nikon battery grip you have to use the fuji battery however it seems fuji have got the right heart for the camera and that to me goes back to the days of film.
Aperture looks fantastic, but if you use CS2 I just cant see the need for it. Whats the betting that CS4 has it included rather than bridge? Photovalue have some fantastic new albums out, at a price I just couldnt believe and Noble fine art just looked fantastic yet again, their work just seems to impress me more and more everytime I see it.

The mighty SWPP stand was like a island in a stormy sea, many thanks to Paul Taylor for the chat, it was nice to speak with a real photographer rather than a sales man. So that was this year at Focus, look out for some of the new products that I saw at Focus as they just blew me away and will be available from Stewart Plant Photography very soon.

My Favorite Wedding Photo of 2006

2007-01-24T22:09:00.000Z

Well out of the many image from 2006, this I have to say is my favorite. The location worked fantastic and I was in a situation where I had a bride and groom how had already jumped over the fence before I even asked if the minded.

I am already looking forward to 2007 and have a busy wedding season ahead. Some date remain free so please contact me for more booking.

Wedding Photography Top 10 Tips for Brides

2007-01-09T23:10:00.000Z

Hello all,

Have been looking though forums and seen so many people who are confused or worried about how their wedding photography will turn out, if they have paid too much, how much they should pay and so on. So I thought what better than to do a thread on wedding photography. Expose the myths and make sure you all end up with the wedding photographs you want to show off forever instead of hide behind the biscuit barrel.

This is an actual quote for a lady who called me "Stewart we saw you on the internet and wondered if you could help. Our wedding photos were terrible, what is worse the photographer has gone out of business and has left us with a CD of images and nothing else."

Now I don’t want this to be a scare story and to worry you, with half the dreams I imagine you are having at present you don’t need any nightmares!So how can we make sure that you get great photographs at a great price and a great photographer?

Well follow these tips and advice and you will. For your interest I will answer any question on this or on any other wedding photography or general photography question, please either reply here or text me and I will aim to get back to you ASAP. So on to the first piece of advice.

1. Before you even look at a photographer set your budget, if you can only afford £200 for a photographer, you can only afford £200. Don’t you cutting back on other things as you have found a £1000 photographer otherwise you will be holding your wedding breakfast in MacDonald’s as that will be all that is left in the wedding fund.

2. Once you have your budget, STICK to it, don’t be frightened about contacting a photographer and saying I can afford this much. A professional photographer knows the score and will try and help you out, be honest if you can afford £400 and you want a £600 package tell them. I will guarantee they will try and help you out. Maybe they will have to cut the size of the album down a little but you can have that photographer and the photos you love rather than settling for a photographer that you aren’t sure about.

3. That brings me onto a very important field, make sure that the person you see is your photographer; some large companies send salespeople to get the booking and the photographer you see is someone different and that you also get on with them. If you don't then the photographs will not work as you won’t work subconsciously with the photographer.

4. Make sure you see a good variety of work and make sure that it is all theirs. You would be surprised but certain firms will show you photographs from their collection and not one will have been taken by the photographer that you book.

5. Look for qualifications, The LBPPA, LSWPP, LMPA, LBIPP are a good standard and mean the photographer has been judged by a panel of professionals to be of a standard that is both professional and ethical in their photography.

6. Get a contract and a receipt. If you have a contract make sure it say's what you will get. If you need the photographer their at a certain time state it, that way if they turn up late you have proof for your wedding insurance.

7. Expect to pay more for better photographers. You’re not paying for experience but paying for the work that they will put in on the day and after. Think of it this way would someone getting £115 for a day be willing to put themselves out for it? no they will do standard shots for two reasons one is they have no knowledge of how to get the better shots and creative shots and two for that money they cant be bothered to get their suit dirty as it would cost more in dry cleaning! Lol

8. Once you have short listed your photographer, still have a look around before you book. I always tell brides who come to see me to go and look elsewhere if they see a photographer that is better book them as they will have better photographs. You can’t offend a photographer by saying that you found someone better who offered more for the same money. Why would we be offended? It’s your wedding, and you want the best.

9. Once you book the photographer, give them as much information as possible, ask the vicar/minister/rabbi if the photographer can take photos during the service, and if not then let them know. Also if you have anything special planned for example you have booked as a surprise the batman car to bring the groom to the church, let the photographer know they can keep secrets plus they will be at the church to get the photograph of your groom smiling and leaping about.

10. Relax, you pay the photographer to be the professional, if you follow the tips above you will have no worries.

In fact if you follow the tips you won’t notice your photographer and that’s the best part when you get your photographs and say."Wow they are breathtaking I didn’t even see you take this one" now that is what we all want to hear it’s so much better than the first statement.All the best for your wedding days

Photography Tip #1

2006-12-11T22:34:00.000Z

Insurance, insurance, insurance.

OK before we get started this is the primary tip. Make sure that lovely camera you have that you spent all your pennies on is insured. I don't mean from the nasty man in the black and white striped top with a bag with swag written on it, no make sure it insured so if it gets damaged as you are climbing over a wall or drop it from its camera bag you can get it replaced. Many people have their £800 camera on their house insurance great for when someone breaks in, but what would you do if you dropped it out and about when taking photos?

Search for a good insurance company, make sure they cover you for what you need and take out a policy that way if the worst happens you can be back out taking photos ASAP.

Sick of wannabe wedding photographers

2006-12-10T21:23:00.000Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/consumer_goods/consumer_20061205_2.shtml
That's it am sick to death of people ruining brides big days. Right before I get in to tips and tricks let me put down one thing for everyone.

This is the wannabe wedding photographers mantra

Just because I buy a big camera doesn't make me good
Just because I have a copy of photoshop doesn't fix everything
Just because I can build a website doesn't mean I can take a photography
and just because I ruined your day doesn't mean you can sue me

It makes me sick that people set up and say OK I will do your wedding for £200 all day with an album and a CD to print from, tell you what, take that £200 and buy a bigger cake or a better car as you will get more out of it. Because these "photographers" will take your photos and disappear if you are lucky you may get some proofs that your uncle could have taken but if not then goodbye £200 and I bet you never got a contract or a receipt!

Rant over for today

Neil from Bolton your at the top of my Wulong List, in case you want to know that may nice name for a s**t list, and from time to time people will feature on it so watch out for it.

Welcome

2006-12-10T14:21:00.000Z

Well welcome to the Blog of Stewart Plant Photography. We will be posting tips and tricks on photography here as well as show casing some of our work. Tips will range from Photography to Photoshop, with levels from beginner to advanced so there will be something here for everyone.