TSOD Summer Show 2009

Regular readers of my blog will know of my regular projects in conjunction with Tanya's School of Dance, and all the recent projects culminated in the school's summer show, held at Long Crendon School in Buckinghamshire.

The show featured over 200 of the dance school's pupils, all performing on the stage in one or more dance routines, making for a 90 minute show spectacular.

MSW-Design were invited along to the show's dress rehearsal a week before the first public showing to take photos of all the cast, and after a busy day of studio style shoots, turned up at the first showing a week later to sell prints to audience members.

With three shows over two days, it was a busy weekend for not only MSW-Design, but all the hard-working and dedicated dancers and tutors, and the shows were deemed a great success for everyone involved.

Now the summer shows have been 'put to bed', thoughts are now on the dance school's summer workshops and the new term. There are also plans for a couple more dance group photo shoots and a TSOD 2010 calendar shoot!

Find out more about Tanya's School of Dance at www.tanyasschoolofdance.co.uk.

Wolfe's Obelisk

The recent heatwave has made for a hot and humid past week or so, and in the eye's of a photography, sunny summer evenings make for great sunset image opportunities.

So, one evening last week my partner and I trekked up to Stowe Gardens on the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border, where there is a fantastic sunset viewpoint at the location of Stowe's Wolfe's Obelisk.

Wolfe's Obelisk is a monument to Major General Wolfe, an army man who achieved fame in the American campaign against the French in the Seven Years' War in the late 1750's.

The Cleopatra's Needle style monument made a great silloette in front of the sunset, helping to show the beautiful orange to blue gradient of the sky.

Blackpool Holiday

British holidays are reportedly on the up due to the current economic crisis, as families look to cut costs and stick to British resorts for their annual breaks, so my girlfriend and I decided to join in the fun with a short stay in Blackpool.

Known for its Tower, Pleasure Beach and Kiss Me Quick Hats, Blackpool stands for everything that a great British holiday should be. The weather isn't always perfect - far from it - but when the sun shines the beaches and promonades are packed with both locals and holiday-makers, and when the bad weather sets in, there is still plenty to amuse yourself.

Despite not being a great fan of heights, I managed to drag myself up to the top of the tower and sample the great views over the UK's west coast, before then heading back down to watch the world famous Blackpool Tower Circus.

The highlight for me was all the great photo opportunities Blackpool provides - the tower rising above the horizon, the donkeys on the beach, the Fish and Chip shops and the flashing lights of the arcades.

However, to allow for less baggage to carry around, I left my Canon 30D at home and instead decided to record the holiday on my FujiFilm F50 compact camera, and whilst I forfited some manual control with this decision, the FujiFilm still enabled me to take some great shots of what is one of Britain's great historic holiday locations.

Thame Carnival

Despite only living 3 miles away from Thame in Oxfordshire, I have never been to Thame Carnival before. Not through not wanting to go, but just having not known too much about it and when it was taking place.

However, this year I was invited along by Tanya's School of Dance to cover their presence in the carnival parade, so I went along armed with my Canon 30D and rode on the float to get some great coverage pics.

With political correctness having gone mad these days, most groups, clubs and organisations had turned their backs on the traditional lorry floats due to high insurance risks, but TSOD managed to get past this and boast the only proper carnival float in the parade.

Decorated with balloons and banners, and manned with several of the school's dancers and teachers, the TSOD float was by far the loudest, most colourful and entertaining part of the carnival as it passed through the high street of Thame, and the school rightly won the award for the Best Carnival Float.

TSOD Leaflet Design

TSOD - Tanya's School of Dance, are now one of my regular clients, having carried out a number of shoots and press coverage for the Haddenham based dance school, and my latest project was the design and print of their summer workshop leaflets.

Using images from our previous shoots, the leaflets are to be used to advertise TSOD's summer workshop tour.

MSW-Design took on the job spec and the information the leaflet needed to contain and come up with a double-sided A5 design, which after proofing with the client, was printed and delivered in time for this weekend's Thame Carnival, in which TSOD have their own float.

This project is a good example of MSW-Design's design service. Design is often a forgotton part of photography, as today's digital revolution has forced photographers to not only be photographers, but designers also, and having carried out many design projects, these leaflets are a good reminder of the design service I can offer.

Press Coverage

Following my redundancy from image presentation supplier, Spicer Hallfield, back in April, and turning to MSW-Design as my new venture, the Bucks Herald ran a story in their monthly business magazine, which distributes along with their weekly newspaper.

My ex-employer, Spicer Hallfield, unfortunately went in to administration due to uncontrollable debts, and the result for me was redundancy, as the administrators moved in and dramatically cut costs whilst they looked for a new buyer for the business.

The latest news is that unfortunately a new buyer hasn't been found, and the administrators are now in the process of liquidating the business.

This obviously results in major job loses, but it is also a big loss for the photographic industry. Spicer Hallfield have been an institution in the photographic industry, enjoying 100% brand recognition, but this wasn't enough to keep the company afloat in these tough economic times.

For me, not only having lost my full-time job, I am now having to look for new album suppliers, having naturally used Spicer Hallfield during my time there. I am so far undecided as to which new suppliers to use, but I'll be sure to replace like-for-like, so to prevent any disruption to my existing offers and services.

Portrait Day Success!

MSW-Design held its first ever 'Portrait Day' last week, inviting everyone and anyone to come along and have their photos taken for free. Attendees only need pay if they wished to purchase any of the phots taken.

Held during the school half-term holiday, and aimed at children, the event saw 8 different sets of families come along and take advantage of the professional set-up, which included both white and black backgrounds, having fun in-front of the camera and enjoying a complimentary cup of tea and biscuit.

It was certainly hard work going from one family straight in to another, and trying to entertain the kids in order to get their maximum attention for the photos, but it was a big success and worth all the effort.

With a large batch of images having now all been edited and tweaked, they have been uploaded in to the 'Buy Prints' section of the website, with a password protected gallery for each family, ready for viewing and purchasing.

Keep your eye out for details of MSW-Design's next Portrait Day...