I'm based in the UK at the northern end of England, a few miles from Scotland. But I work for customers around the world.
Featured photo: cyclist on Upper Brook Street
A woman cyclist on Upper Brook Street, Manchester, one sunny evening in 1986. In the distance is the Manchester Royal Infirmary. The open space behind the fence has been developed now.
Photo reference: a02187.
Video: Manchester Metro tram journey 1992
Thousands of archive video clips are potentially available to broadcasters and publishers. Professionally shot but using domestic or industrial video equipment over the decades from 1980 onwards.
New transfers from tape have been completed and it's a matter of showing what's available. The small previews, which don't include the audio and are largely unedited and ungraded, are intended as a resource for film researchers rather than a viewing experience for the general public.
Dedicated pages will be available for different categories soon. But let's begin with this: a ride on the then-new Manchester Metro tram on 6 June 1992. The route through the city centre had opened just weeks earlier.
Video footage used by BBC Studios for Channel 4 documentary
BBC Studios has licensed two of my shots of the Carnival of Fun Weekend, which happened in Manchester in August 1991. The production is "Freedom 50 Years of Pride" — a documentary for Channel 4.
One shot shows the charity George House Trust collecting in Sackville Park during the weekend.
I shot the footage on Super VHS, which was cutting edge video technology at the time. It gave picture quality that was somewhere between broadcast and home video and looks quite good transferred to digital now.
The other video and photographs found by the researchers were outstanding, in my opinion.
The Telegraph describes the documentary as "a perfectly pitched feature-length documentary" and "precisely the sort of bold, British programming that Channel 4 should be making."
Featured photo: newspaper seller
A man selling the Manchester Evening News in early 1989. He's on a street corner that would disappear in the aftermath of the bomb attack seven years later — the junction of Corporation Street and Cannon Street. Manchester Cathedral can be seen in the distance.
Photo reference: a40229.
My first published photograph — 35 years on...
Tuesday February 10th 1987 was one of those sunny, breezy, winter days that make Berwick upon Tweed such a wonderful place for photographers. It was the day I shot a photograph that would change my life.
On Bridge Street a narrow alleyway called Sally Port leads to the town walls at the side of the River Tweed. At the time I had no idea the artist L.S.Lowry had painted the scene thirty-three years earlier. I associated him with Salford and Manchester, which I'd just relocated from a month earlier.
The winter sun picked out the texture of the stonework and sea birds bobbed in and out of shot, riding the wind. I shot several frames. Had I managed to capture the birds? I wasn't sure. On a 35mm SLR camera the image in the viewfinder disappears momentarily as you press the shutter.
I began taking photographs when I was about six years old. But growing up I was more interested in drawing and film-making. There was no money for photographic equipment of any kind until I began to work part-time after school at the age of sixteen and then I concentrated on film-making.
After leaving school I did a one year foundation course in art and design in Newcastle upon Tyne. At the College of Arts and Technology in a rather grim building on Bath Lane. I bought a Pentax SLR camera and specialised in photography during the year, but something didn't quite click...
That didn't happen until 1985 when I was walking the streets of Manchester delivering cans of film on a daily basis. I bought an Olympus Trip RC compact camera to carry about and relieve the boredom, some darkroom equipment, and really threw myself into learning everything I could.
Back home after my visit to Berwick I developed the HP5 black and white film, made a contact sheet and then an enlargement of the best frame. As the image appeared on the paper in the tray of developer, in the dim red light of the darkroom, I realised I had captured what I wanted.
Amateur Photographer magazine had a competition at the time and I decided to enter the picture. It didn't win but the magazine called and said it would like to publish the shot in a supplement it was doing called "SLR Gallery." Somehow they printed the photograph reversed horizontally. I was paid either £20 or £40 (I can't remember) for One Use and the magazine appeared in the newsagents in June 1987.
By coincidence, an article I'd written the previous October, on spec for a film-making magazine, was published that same month and I'd supplied photographs with that.
This double success encouraged me enormously. Within months I was being commissioned as a regular contributor and, eighteen months later, I was able to make freelancing my fulltime job; often working for the former editor of Amateur Photographer who had moved on to a monthly video magazine. Three years after that I was asked to be features editor on that same publication in London.
So thank you Amateur Photographer and Berwick upon Tweed. I'm not sure it would have happened without you.
Looking less magical in 2017.
Featured photo: three minute silence
A three minute silence outside Manchester Town Hall on 14 September 2001. Following the attacks in the United States. Councillors and town hall staff stand in the doorway.
Photo reference: a77212.
Services: Editing to Enhance a Zoom Interview
The video conferencing software Zoom has become incredibly popular this year. In part through necessity, due to Covid-19. But also because Zoom is easy to use and works well. It allows the recording of video calls too and many people have used this feature to produce video interviews for websites and YouTube.
And while the result is fine, with a little bit of editing it can be much better and become more like a fully-fledged TV programme. That's exactly what I've been doing for customers since March.
Individual cameras can be picked out and made full screen so we can cut between them for more impact: action and reaction. Photographs, videos, titles, graphics and backgrounds can be added and cameras positioned within those.
Often neglected, audio is an important part of videos. Zoom allows the audio of each person to be recorded separately. These files can be used to correct any volume imbalance between the participants and in other creative ways during editing. Subtle improvements that make the finished product more enjoyable to watch.
You get easy upload and download from my fileserver, quick turnaround when required and MP4 files that are ready for YouTube or your website. By working together, with ideas for setup and edit-friendly techniques if required, the final result can be highly engaging for the viewer.
Some extracts showing sequences using graphics, photographs and backgrounds. In every instance the starting point was a zoom video.
The cost depends on how much work.
If you would like to to discuss this for your projects, get in touch.
Featured photo: Didsbury demolition 1999
Demolition of the former studios of ABC Television in Didsbury, Manchester, in 1999. Capitol Building, at the corner of School Lane and Parrs Wood Road, began as a cinema, was the studios of ABC Television (and briefly Yorkshire TV) and then was home to Manchester Polytechnic. Various other shots are available.
Photo reference: d08714.
Layout for print and eBooks
Covers and page layout for a regular customer. Get in touch for copywriting, editing and basic layouts for books (including the ebook formats epub, mobi & PDF), newsletters and leaflets.
Archive Collection
I'm excited to launch a new section on my website about the Royalty Cinema. The Archive Collection features a high quality version of the documentary and more than two hours of additional video and film — unused footage, out-takes and other video of Gosforth from the same period.
I shot the documentary "Last Reel at the Royalty" towards the end of 1981 when I was still a teenager. It runs for 27 minutes and is about the closure of the cinema.
It's great that
43
years later it continues to be viewed on a daily basis.
Most of the extras are available for the first time. To prepare them for the website I went back to the master videotapes and made new uncompressed digital transfers to work from. Thanks to advances in storage over the last decade, these huge digital files (27Gb per hour) can be stored for the future now.
There's a small one-time charge for access to the Collection for 30 days, but it's only £2.49.
One of my goals is to provide websites that are fast, easy and pleasant to use. I tend to code them from scratch. The Archive Collection integrates with payment by PayPal in a simple way.
Charging a small amount covers the website costs. Hosting video can be costly and there is no longer any online ad revenue. It allows me to deliver hours of content and a good experience. I believe this is the way forward.
Video: animated title sequence
An animated title sequence for an interview programme. Using timelapse library footage that I shot in 2013.
Featured photo: "Monday is the new Friday"
This shot, taken at 7:45am during the morning rush hour in Manchester, on Friday April 4th, 2008, shows a St Peter's Square that no longer exists. On the tram is the slogan "Monday is the new Friday."
Press release becomes a news article
A 300-word press release that I wrote for a local shop ended up being printed word-for-word in the main local newspaper for the town (I didn't write the corny headline!).
The piece appeared on two-thirds of page four and was trailed in the "sweet spot" near the top right of the front page.
Two of the exclusive photographs that I shot were included in the article. Together with four library pictures that we picked, cleared and sent. A nice ready-made package for the editorial team.
The article was syndicated to at least one other newspaper in the publishing group and has been picked up by websites and search engines.
The result: lots of interest generated for the business, with customers calling in to talk about the appearance and the products featured.
To discuss promotional content for your business or cause get in touch here.
Featured photo: Julia Grant
A portrait of transgender pioneer and businesswoman Julia Grant who has died at age 64.
I photographed Julia on 21 August 2013. We had been to a discussion at Manchester Town Hall nearby. This shot was taken in a cafe bar on John Dalton Street.
ITV Granada Reports and BBC Northwest Tonight chose this photograph for their tributes to Julia Grant on 3 January 2019. I am touched that Julia's family chose it to be on the printed programme for her funeral.
If you would like to publish this image get in touch here quoting reference m111715.
Home video, camcorders & film, digital & teaching
From 1986 until the early 2000s I produced illustrated feature articles and booklets for national film, video-making and digital photography magazines. I was one of the best-known contributors in the UK. Read more and see some tearsheets...
