New for 2013 – Postbox wedding photography

We’ve been asked so many times…. “Do you do weddings?  We love your work and would love you to photograph our wedding.”  Up until now the answer has been “No, sorry, we don’t”.   Since opening the studio Amy has had to put her wedding photography on hold.  Handling all the studio work alone for the first year was tough going but now……?  It’s time to get out there again!

We haven’t done any advertising yet but already have six weddings booked.  Experienced photographer, Steve Reynolds, is coming onboard and this pre wedding shoot in the snow shows the Postbox Studio wedding style.  (Thanks to Kathryn and Rob for braving the weather – we’re looking forward to your real wedding day in March)

The photographers at work.

If initial response to the announcement that ‘Postbox is going into Wedding Photography’ is anything to go by we will be booked up all over the summer.  So, if you would like to take advantage of our first year discounts (£100 off all these packages) please get in touch soon. info@amybestphotographer.com

Got to Dance

Sparkle Academy – Rawtenstall

What a fun shoot!  Dancers love to pose  and we love to turn their moves and poses into fun images.

Do you attend a dance class in Lancashire or West Yorkshire??  Or maybe your children do.  Tell your dance teacher about us – we’d love to come and do a shoot for you.  Also, as we give 10% of our profits from the shoot back to the dance group, it’s great fundraiser.

When a partner is needed…

So, 2012 was the year of the Postbox partnership. The year we, as a mother and daughter team (should be daughter and mother really – in terms of importance), took on the nurseries. We love toddlers in the studio but taking them on in their own environment is a different matter. Lights, background, toys all in place but no smiles! This is where the teamwork kicks in.

               

It’s quite difficult, as a photographer to coax a smile whilst looking through the lens.  Here’s when a partner is needed.  What child will not giggle when a green fluffy dinosaur decides to eat the photographer. Instant success -photography by Amy, puppetry by yours truly. Judging by the response from parents to our nursery images, we got it right! We like to give people variety so we offered at least 6 images of each child. And we like to keep up our studio standards so what we offer is, not just an ordinary nursery shoot but a mini portrait session.

We’re always looking to get in touch with new nurseries so if your child attends one in our area – Rochdale, Oldham, Bury or even further afield, why not recommend us?  We’d be happy to discuss any nursery/school requirements.

Purrrrrfect portraits!

Free £25 Pet/Family Portrait session and print – just collect the coupons!

What a great idea!     We get lots of families coming into the studio wanting a family portrait – Mum, Dad, 2.5 children and maybe a couple of grandparents. But, very often, the family is not complete because Fido is at home, probably sulking and chewing the leg of your best chair just to show that he, too, would have liked to be included in the family portrait.  He would have cocked his head on one side and looked cute for the camera but, no, he wasn’t invited.

Of course we have photographed dogs at Postbox.  Frisky labradors who sniff all round the studio, reception and changing room before deciding whether to cooperate – a big, old, ploddy Irish Wolfhound who just plonked himself down in the middle of the studio in a “ok let’s get this over with” kind of way.  Then there was Ruudy who competed with his girls, Emma and Clare for the most beautiful hair of the group.  And how could we forget the basket full of Chihuahuas?

 

You get the idea – we’re fine with dogs. So we were really looking forward to booking in the Daily Mail clients for their family/pet portraits.  We phoned the first two numbers and yes you guessed it – CATS!

Mmmmmn!  This is a completely different scenario.  Have you ever tried telling a cat to “sit”?  Impossible! A cat does what he wants to do –  which is usually the exact opposite of what you want him to do.  Well there’s only one way to find out how a cat will react – “Felix, Scoobie look what we’ve got for you in the Studio”.  Felix, as you would imagine is black and white.  He was given to us 10 years ago as a stray.  He was so timid he wouldn’t come to us or let us pet him for the first 5 years and still gets very anxious in strange surroundings – not the best model for a photoshoot.  Scoobie, also a stray, has got to be one of the most annoying cats in the world, she chases the curser on the PC screen and sits on the keyboard when you’re trying to work.  She definitely will not cooperate.

Well what a surprise!  Felix, after a little coaxing sat and posed for a good half hour then went and sat on the sofa in reception – just like a real client!

Scoobie was a bit more difficult but Amy still got some great results!

So bring on the cats!

(Just phoned the next client – has anyone got a snake we can practice on?)

Location shoot with Ruqayya

Yesterday I was sorting through the hard drive, trying to make some space. I came across these images and thought I’d post them to see what you think. They were done last year for Style Etc magazine – the model is Ruqayya Dost.  Would love some feedback.

What is art?

What is Art?

 

‘A work of art goes through many phases of development, but in each phase it is always a work of art. (Therein lies the importance of sketches.) A work of art is finished, from the point of view of the artist, when feeling and perception have resulted in a spiritual synthesis. – Hans Hofmann

Sounds good doesn’t it?  These “works of art” have definitely gone “through many phases of development” though not in the way Hofmann meant.

When we started to strip the studio, we found, behind three sheets of wallboard, an old range.  The stone mantle was covered in so many layers of wallpaper and paint it took three full days to strip.

  
Working in small areas at a time we laid on Nitromors to dissolve the paint. As it began to take effect, the layers of paint bubbled up so that, as we scraped, it created  wonderful patterns. I couldn’t resist photographing the different stages.  Art indeed!

                  

In the end we managed to get the stone down to a smooth light turquoise colour. The range has been stripped of its rust and painted black.  Long ago it would have been the heart of the kitchen, the means of heating the house and providing many a hearty meal no doubt. It will never be as useful again but we think it adds a nice touch to the studio reception.

Things don’t change …. for rochdale photographer Amy Best

Amy posted this photograph on our Facebook page earlier……….

……so I thought I would show you this one

See things don’t change – the camera just got bigger! Oh, and so did Amy!

Happy Father’s Day!

We had a very Happy Father’s Day here in the Postbox Studio though, as usual, it was the kids who stole the limelight.  It was supposed to be a treat for Dad so why were the children having so much fun?

Amy thought she was just earning some pocket-money when, to ease her student finances, she worked in children’s nurseries, sport’s clubs and even did a season in France as a children’s entertainer.  Little did she know that all her experiences with children and babies back then would come in handy now.  Children are all different – some need coaxing, some love to pose and some just want to play – but they are all beautiful and Amy loves to capture them just as they are.  If a child doesn’t want to sit down and smile at the camera  they jolly well won’t!  It’s not problem at Postbox we just let them play and capture the smiles naturally.

Aleysha brought her Dad in.  She had decided what he had to wear (Aleysha is 10!) and as they play golf together, they brought their clubs and we got some great shots.

Little Will was too busy playing with his toys to pose but was quite happy reading a story with his Dad while Amy took some great natural shots.

Lucie and Emily had been here before so they knew the ropes – Lucie made sure Mum and Dad got the poses right.

The balloons went down a treat with Rio and Maisie but we’re not sure Mum and Dad will want to put this one on the wall!

Must go and edit all these lovely images now!

Another busy makeover day……

Phew!  Another busy makeover day at Postbox Studio.  Our fab makeup artist, Kirsty, brought her brushes, pots of creams and colours and worked her magic on our lovely clients.

                        

Friends, Chloe and Katy were first in and had a great time posing in front of the camera.

Then came mother and daughter, Freda and Sarah.  This is Sarah getting the finishing touches to her makeup done before heading into the studio for her shoot.

Bethany brought the whole family! She and Mum, Lisa, had a makeover then Dad and the boys joined them in the studio for a glam family shoot.  Lauren had the same idea bringing her boyfriend and little boy to join her on the photos.

The images are all uploaded and ready for editing and we can’t wait to show everyone the results.

Give us a call if you would like a makeover photo-shoot – bring a friend, bring your Mum – it’s nice to be pampered and great to see the results when we show you the finished images.

Well, it’s Father’s Day tomorrow so another busy day in the studio – must go out and buy some ” I ♥ my Dad” balloons .

The work begins………

So, if you been following the story you will know that I managed, after much stress, to buy the old Post Office in Smithybridge and that, with no money to spend, I was content to live in my big empty shell of a house with all my belongings around me, still in boxes.

Well, I scraped some money together and got the place rewired and then a few months later a new boiler.  But that’s all the boring stuff – what was exciting was the large empty room downstairs that had been the Post Office.  The first thing we did was to get my good friend, Tony, who was to do all our building work, to bring his table tennis table.  (Well you have to get your priorities right!)  By the time we’d decided what to do down there we were world champions quite good at ping-pong.

You’ve met my Mum, haven’t you? (in previous posts, that is).  Being a canny woman, she had put a clause in her Will that meant that her grandchildren would only get their inheritance when they turned 25.  This gave Amy a good eighteen months to dream.  No doubt she dreamed of travelling the world or at least taking an exotic holiday or even going on a wild spending spree but, when it came to it, “sensible” Amy took over and she decided to put her money into setting up her own photography studio.  It wasn’t a fortune but enough to create a simple studio and reception.  And so, with some money put away to buy cameras, lenses and studio lights…………..

…….. we got down to work.