Actuate..part of U.Dance

We were asked to photograph a recent Youth Dance England, East platform for young dancers in Bedford on the 14th November. Young dancers came from all over the Eastern region to participate and the standard was incredibly high. Lina is a trained dancer and it was great to see all these young people putting so much energy in, and it brought back memories of good times in her younger days! Congratulations to them all, and Cheryl and Sophie from YDE were really happy with the results which is great! If you want to see the pictures they are password protected, so contact sophie@junction.co.uk to request the password.

It's all about marketing for the Cambridge Wedding Photographer

LiquidPhoto.co.uk Striking & Vibrant Cambridge Wedding Photographer...

As the last CD's get printed and Tom is working on the last coffee table book, my attentions have to turn to us marketing Liquid Photo so in 2010 we have an improvement on this year. We've had a great summer and particularly enjoyed the weddings we have done, so I want to make sure we have even more next year!

There are quite a few things to consider - publications, websites, listings guides - which is best? Do we choose all or just one? What location do we target?

I think we have to focus on our regional area first. We would happily travel anywhere in the world but when people specifically write Cambridge Wedding Photographer or Cambridge Wedding Photography into Google we want to make sure we are in the first page or two of listings. There are plenty of companies out there who say they can do it for you if you pay them a tidy sum, but realistically it's nothing you can't do yourself with a bit of reading up! The Google Local Business Centre is a very handy tool when used with Analytics and is full of all sorts of handy hints. We are also trying to encourage anyone we've ever worked for to leave us a Google review (and many thanks to those who have done so already - we are touched by your praise!)

There are plenty of wedding service listings sites offering free listings which is great and there are a few publications we are looking at. I do get a fair few sales calls about our free listings on sites, offering me supposed good deals on upgrades, and it is really tricky to work out who really does get the most hits. Although yesterday someone did try to tell me that a listing on a Yahoo homepage would be more beneficial than Google - yes you keep telling yourself that!

Wedding fayres are a step in the future, but we need to look into it more - expect us at a wedding fayre near you posing as an engaged couple! Do you get free cake??

One thing I am confident in is Tom's design skills, so we need not worry about not standing out from all the other photographer adverts when it comes to actually putting the ads in publications.

So time to crack on I guess for this Cambridge Wedding Photographer...

Oh did I mention blogging helps?? ;)

Lina

More happy customers!

It's such a buzz when people love your work. Adriano and Virginie are very happy, as are we! In fact, there are one or two shots that are possibly Tom's best yet!
We are so pleased they are happy as Virginie in particular said she chose Liquid Photo for Tom's artistic work and wanted him to apply that to their wedding. They have left us a wonderful Google review that we can't thank them enough for, calling the pictures 'modern, dynamic and full of emotions!' That is great to hear, as we want people to look back at their wedding photos when they are old and grey and be reminded of the memories and emotions...

We wish them a long life of love and happiness together...you can see the results here...

Busy bees!

Few what a busy few days!

Delighted to get an email from Aaron and Jennie who are currently honeymooning in Sardinia (lucky things!) and they say "fantastic!" Hurrah!

Those emails mean so much to us, we're confident in what we do but it is always great to see the confirmation!

You can see the gallery here...



Rachel and Toby Maloy came for dinner on Friday, first time we have seen them since the wedding, and they were positively glowing - so lovely to see them so happy!! Tom has started designing them a book, and they were happy with the style, so it's full steam ahead with that one! We had a lovely catch up over a nice homely beef casserole (made by Lina) and we are really greatful to them for coming all the way over to us, as it's a good hour and a bit's drive for them!

The following morning we got ready for our last wedding of the season. Adriano and Virginie booked us last year as they love Tom's artistic work which is great, it meant Tom could go for it. Lina also had a camera for the first time, working as second shooter to capture those moments Tom might have lost. Very enjoyable!

The couple had a really relaxed day with a simple ceremony at Cambridge Registry Office followed by pictures, speeches and music upon the Castle Hill, and then a really nice walk for all (bar the pregnant and elderly!) to Jesus Green. Adriano proposed to Virginie on the green so we had a really nice moment where he relived the experience to everyone,ahhh!

One of the things we really enjoy doing weddings is taking the bride and groom away from it all for half an hour or so to take some more intimate pictures. We ask them to take a walk, have a chat etc and essentially pap them. Most couples find this is the first time all day they have been (pretty much) alone together and most find it very enjoyable to just take a breather. These shots are usually really lovely...

The couple kindly asked us to stay and have a drink with them at the reception which we were delighted to do as we have got to know them well and like them very much. Actually we have been very very lucky with all our couples this year, they are all super people and we wish them the very best for their futures together.

We treated ourselves to a Taj take away in the evening. The best Indian restaurant in Cambridge we tell you! The Taj Cambridge

Another weekend, another wedding!

Aw we've just finished another lovely wedding for a lovely couple, Aaron and Jennie. They both live in Cork but Aaron is originally from Coveney near Ely so they have had to organise their day by nipping over on the odd weekend - must have been stressful! You wouldn't have thought it though, everything was really lovely.

Jennie looked stunning in a fitted lace dress and the flowers were amazing. A small but perfectly formed group of guests watched them in the gorgeous little church in the centre of Coveney village, before heading off to the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon (gorgeous place) by the river for their reception.

Tom was quite excited that the wedding car was a vintage Aston Martin V8 Vantage! Lovely purr!

We were only needed until the start of the meal so after we were done we went and got goodies for a lovely dinner at the Bury Lane Fruit Farm in Melbourne, we can't shop their all the time but the lovely organic meat and veg is awesome. Now for a sit down!

The Wedding of Louisa and Jamie

Oo this could be the wedding we want one day!

The lovely Louisa used to work with Lina a couple of years ago at the Unicorn Theatre, and her and her partner Jamie kindly asked us to do the photos.

They have been together a very long time and knew they wanted a relaxed and fun wedding, with a bit of an 'english country garden' theme and it worked beautifully.

Jamie works in events so had some fantastic contacts which included the hire of some wonderful tents, as well as the garden of the gorgeous Tewin Bury Farm Hotel near Welyn being decked out in bales of hay and apple buckets. The cake went against the norm and was three separate cakes, all different, decorated to look like they were being graded by the W.I!

Louisa looked absolutely stunning with a dress Lina would have happily chosen as her own!

They wanted a distinctive style for their photos and gave us a link to an American photographer whose work they loved. Some photographers might get arsey about this sort of thing, but for us it was great to have a point of reference, and with the help of hiring in a swanky lens, Tom was able to really go for it creatively.

In processing they wanted a vintage look, and we are so happy with the results that we have decided to use the look more often if it fits the wedding. A lot of photographers fix mistakes with fancy photoshopping and we don't believe in that, however, sometimes the odd tint can replicate the right atmosphere of a wedding.

This was another all day deal, and so we got out the Photobooth again and this one was even more successful! We really love it now...

Another long and tiring day but worth it....

We were holding our breath when we sent them the preview galleries as we know they so wanted the right feel to the pictures, however we needen't have worried...

"You guys really have done the most wonderful job and we can't thank you enough. They're just perfect and just what we wanted."

YAY!!!!

Edinburgh

Lucky old Lina gets to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for work so to make the most of the bank holiday weekend, Tom came up too!

We had a great flat with some of L's colleagues in the centre of the action, and strangely Tom didn't take many pics! Too busy seeing shows! Comedy highlight was newcomer Pete Johannson, very very tears-streaming-down-your-face funny! We are following him on twitter if you want to look him up (@escarius).

Given we did Louisa and Jamie's wedding on the Sunday and Lina went to Edinburgh on the Tuesday (after much editing on Monday) - Lina is knackered and all fluey now :(

The Wedding of Rachel and Toby

Aw what a lovely day! You could definitely feel the love in the room! Rachel looked absolutely gorgeous. I'd seen a picture of the dress before but her super mum Janet had made some modifications and it was perfect. The guys also looked great and the purple theme was nice and bright, perfect for a summer wedding.

Another super venue, The Swan Hotel in Bedford by the river, gorgeous food and a great atmosphere. The camera again did another 12 hour stint but it was worth it! The photos are great and we have another happy couple!

"The photos look amazing, we're very chuffed with the results!"

We premiered our latest offer at this wedding and we hope to roll it out as part of our full day wedding package from the autumn. We introduced the Photobooth, where we set up a mini studio at the evening reception and encourage the guests and happy couple to let their hair down infront of the camera - and they sure did! The results are hilarious and I am sure these will be the pictures that the bride and groom laugh over when they are old and grey!

Thanks to Toby and Rachel we stayed at the hotel and had a lovely swim in the spa the next morning, much needed after a very late night! We had breakfast with rachel's family the next day, her parents Janet and Roger have worked so hard to make the day special and they are lovely lovely people.

Here are the results...



If you look in the 'reception' section you will see the Photobooth in action

Wedding 2!

Next wedding, and this one is close to my (Lina's) heart.

Rachel has been one of my best friends since we were 4, sitting together on our first day of primary school. Since then we have grown up together and despite moving away to different places, we always keep in touch and meet fairly regularly. I love her dearly.

Rachel is marrying Toby tomorrow and it's such a lovely story! Toby joined our sixth form when I left and they became very close friends. Little did we know he was always in love with our Rachel! After years of him being her best friend, and going beyond the call of duty more than any of her boyfriends did (sorry guys!) they finally got together and the rest is history!

We were so happy to be asked to do the photos, although I think Tom is feeling the pressure! I am really looking forward to it as I am going to see some old faces, as well as sitting on a table with my other 2 best friends from home, and an old college friend. Should be fun!

The Wedding of Frances and Andrew... the results

The result was a beautifully natural set of images, perfect for Fran and Andy's personalities...

The reaction from the bride and groom was " Wow, the photos are brilliant!...Seeing them again reminds us just what a fantastic day it was!"

Hurrah!

The first wedding of the season!

We decided earlier on this year to really push the wedding photography side of LP as we really feel we measure up in style and substance to some of our peers in the East. Tom's distinctive artistic style has become a hit with couple who want natural reportage with an artistic twist.

This weekend we kicked off our summmer with the wedding of Frances and Andrew - a great day to start off with as Andy and Fran have been great friends of Tom's since his school days, and it was a honour to be asked.

Everything about this wedding was super. beautifully elegant and relaxed, no pompusness! The venue was the gorgeous Priory Hall in the lovely little village of Hadleigh in Suffolk, and Andy and Fran kindly put us up at the gorgeous Orchard End b&b a minute down the road. Very handy when you are very tired after 12 hours of photography!

This was a great day as we were also guests at the wedding, but it also meant Tom never put his camera down, he just couldn't risk missing a moment!

We wish them all the best in the future xx

Evolving Words

Given that Lina works at The Junction, it is an ideal link with the theatre and live music worlds and can sometimes bring us photography opportunities.

we were asked to provide some shots for a forthcoming youth project as part of dawin 200, a project called Evolving Words. A group of lucky youngsters would spend weekly sessions with hip poet Polar Bear and produce some of their own work based upon the idea of evolution.

Tom was allowed to be as creative as he likes, and the images represent his keen eye for atmosphere. They look superb replicated on the flyer...

Reverend Billy & The Church of Life After Shopping

Reverend Billy and his choir came to the Cambridge Junction as part of their UK Shopocalypse Tour.
Joining in with the No Mill Road Tesco campaign, Tom followed them for the day, and captured just some of the mayhem!


Reverend Billy
No Mill Road Tesco Campaign

Shout - The Musical

We were once again delighted to be hired by Lee Menzies Ltd to do some photography for a show, this time to provide rehearsal shots for their production of Shout! A 60s musical extravaganza starring Su Polard! Tom was err delighted to get a great big hug from Su on the day!

GAMTA Showcase

Hello, Lina here,

I have been doing some freelance work for the brilliant GAMTA in Glasgow, ensuring that their London showcase has lots of super agents in attendance so their consistantly brilliant performance students get signed.

Tom also came along to shoot the show, giving GAMTA a brilliant set of production shots which you can see below!

Bellowhead @ The Junction

Last Sunday the band Bellowhead returned to The Junction in Cambridge, an opportunity not to be missed!

And the icing on the cake was being able to shoot the whole set!It was also a pleasure to be able to chat to the awesome duo of Spiers and Boden afterwards and congratulate them on another fantastic gig. Looking forward to them returning to the Junction on the 7th April with their duo show.

The 5D mark II performed fantastically yet again, the only problem being running out of memory card space! Cue an order for a 16GB card.

Gallery is now live, Click below

Untitled, Finborough Theatre

Our newly acquired 5d Mark II had its first outing to the small but perfectly formed Finborough Theatre to shot the production shots for a play called "Untitled" for the London theatre producer Lee Menzies Ltd.

The camera performed perfectly, its high ISO performance is astonishing, allowing much more creative freedom to capture the key images with the varying lights of the stage.

The Gallery is now up, showing just a selection of the 122 "keepers" It is also appearing in an ad in The Independent which is brilliant!

Canon 5D Mark II

We are excited to announce that we will be updating our main camera to the newly released Canon 5D Mark II, with its 21.1 Mega Pixels, incredible image quality and low light performance. It brings some exciting new creative opportunities, including full HD video recording.


More info can be found Here

Headshots Special Offer

As a special offer we can provide you with a professional headshot service for £100.
At Liquid Photo we have a unique insight into the entertainment industry, as with almost ten years behind her of working with actors, casting directors and in a theatrical agency, Lina knows what a good headshot should be, and the all too common mistakes.

We understand the right image is so important, and here at Liquid Photo we help you achieve that in a relaxed and free flowing fashion.

Our service is flexible so we can arrange a time and place most suitable for you. We can be in London in under an hour, or you can visit our home/studio in Cambridge. You will have up to an hour of shooting time, within which we can try different locations and simple outfit changes if needed.

We will then provide you with a private web gallery for you to view and pick your favourites. Once you have chosen we will then do any retouching required before e-mailing you up to 5 full resolution print-ready files for you to use as you please. We can also provide you with professional quality prints if you require for a slight extra cost.

Included in this is offer is up to one hour shooting time, our travel costs (within reason,) processing and website creation and the final retouching (within reason) on the chosen images.

Anything Goes!

We were hired by the Cambridge Arts Theatre to produce promotional shots for their production of the musical Anything Goes, which was their first in house non-Panto production in 15 years.

We provided them with vivid and striking images of the dress rehearsal that reflected the excitement and energy on stage. Prints were displayed outside the theatre for the length of the show, and also published in the Cambridge Evening News (page 3,) and in The Hunts Post.

I also covered some of the promotional work they did on the streets of Cambridge, with Bobby the “West End Westie,” a cute Yorkshire Terrier who had just come from a starring role in The Wizard of OZ at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Two - greenbeandance

I had the opportunity to see and shoot a fantastic piece of dramatic contemporary dance put on by green bean dance company at Somerset House, London.

You can find out more the piece and green bean dance by clicking the logo below




And to view my images from the performance, click on the button below.

Updated Portfolios

Just a little note to say I have updated the Music and Wedding portfolios with some of my new work, there will be a portrait and events portfolio going up soon too.

I will also sort the growing list of galleries into sections, there about about 30 more events I don't have galleries up for!

Also you may notice I will now become 'we' as my girlfriend Lina is now a fully fledged member of the company. Administrative Director no less! She has a masters in management, so will take the reins on that side!

New Year, New Blog!

Hello, and welcome to my new blog, which will feature all the news from Liquid Photo, updates, recent shoots and the like, along with other bits and bogs from around the Net/World

a nice start to 2008!