StillVision Photography

And the winner is…

After reading the opinions of my 7 ‘expert’ judges and receiving hundreds of public votes, I’m delighted to announce the winner of the StillVision Photography Baby Competition 2011!  By the smallest of winning margins, the smallest of the baby finalists, 7 day old Calum, is crowned the overall winner!

I was very surprised by the public reaction to the competition and received far more votes than I expected.  All of the babies did remarkably well and I’m thrilled for them all as they were all pretty amazing!  Many of the votes came in with personal comments such as ‘they’re all so cute, I can’t decide’ or ‘such loooovely babies’ etc, etc… and I think I agree!

Our baby competition winner can now enjoy another studio shoot with me plus a high resolution disk of images (a portrait prize worth over £500).  He’ll also get a lovely certificate for his parents to keep and perhaps bring out for his 18th birthday   His face will also grace the studio walls on a new canvas to be hung above me desk! I am thoroughly looking forward to photographing him again and seeing how he is growing up!

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

A bit about our baby competition judges:

Before Christmas  we hand picked a series of baby and family related local business owners as ‘expert judges’ in the StillVision Photography baby competition 2011.  These are the people who will help choose the winner:

Claire is well placed to be a judge for us as a business owner with a focus on travel for children and babies.  She runs the Curious Camel Company and a small holiday lodge in the Red Sea coastal town of Dahab, Egypt.  She says that Dahab is such a child friendly place that it is the ideal first holiday destination for your little ones (and it won’t break the bank either)! www.sunrisedahab.com

Helen and the Cambridge Baby team seemed to thoroughly enjoy going through the finalists and loved every single picture!  They are well placed to help pick the winner as they work with children’s clothes every day!  They stock clothing for children aged 0-teen as well as some adult items.  All have been produced ethically and traded fairly and look really beautiful (take a look on their website):

Vivienne  from the Cambridge Toy Shop must see babies, children and families every day of the week in her toy shop in the middle of Cambridge and this makes her an idea judge!  Her shop is a vibrant toy shop with a much wider range and choice that you can find in a typical toy shop, offering some of the best new toys as well as those that parents and grandparents can remember from their own childhoods!

Play Music Play promotes creative music making for children in their early years and was founded by Linda Bance in 1984.  She therefore has oodles of experience with babies and is in touch with parents on a weekly basis so was an excellent choice as a judge for us!  She’s based in Hertfordshire and aims to reach out to all members of the community concerned with the development, education and well being of babies and young children up to the age of 9 years old.

Ray from Streamline Imaging does a lot of StillVision Photography’s print work for our beautiful wedding albums as well as some of our studio print products.  He has an excellent eye so is an excellent choice as a judge for a photography competition and we were pleased to see that his favorites were very similar to ours!

Sally at Birthlight Cambridge runs unique classes for active birth, pregnancy and parent/baby.  Designed to enhance the experience of pregnancy and life with a new baby, she is a highly qualified teacher with over 10 years experience.  All classes include yoga stretches, breathing techniques, relaxation and time for discussion.

Actors!

Yesterday afternoon/early evening we were invaded by a troop (I think that’s what you’d refer to them as) of actors and actresses from the Cambridge University Marlowe Dramatic Society.   The society is rather famous and was the start point for the likes of Stephen Fry, Rachel Weisz & Emma Thompson among many other acclaimed actors, actresses and directors!  12 came for head shots and a group shot needed for an up and coming industry showcase for which they had all auditioned.  There’s no doubt that we met some future famous faces it’s just a case of which ones!

The shoot provided me with a great opportunity to pretend to be Annie Leibovitz and put together a studio portrait digital montage!  The StillVision studio isn’t big enough for groups of more than about 8 so I got to work on shooting smaller portions and painstakingly stitched the group together digitally and in a Leibovitz style.  I will credit Annie for the inspiration but I’m pleased with the montage and hope it can be used for their showcase art work (we did shoot something ’safer’ and altogether less technically challenging as a back up)!  I’m looking forward to seeing them all in action as I’ve landed tickets to the event myself.

A section of actor portfolio photography follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2012

The Wedding of Russ & Tamsin

Congratulations to Russ & Tamsin who were married on Friday 23rd December 2011.  Their wedding was the last wedding of 2011 for me and the last of my run of pre-Christmas weddings.  I was out of my usual catchment area and in Rickmansworth at the rather impressive Moor Park Mansion.  The weather didn’t play ball (think mild, wet and windy) which meant that almost all of the wedding day was shot inside.  This caused me a few technical issues for the formal groups and meant a slower, more equipment intensive shoot with flash umbrellas etc!  The amazing interior to the venue (very high, painted ceilings) didn’t make for great flash reflectors either but it gave the guests something spectacular to drink under!  Technical issues dealt with, the day was a friendly, informal affair with quite a few tears (from children and adults alike) and it was a nice to wedding to be a part of as I knew a good portion of the wedding party having met them at a Cambridge wedding back in May!  My wedding photography highlights follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2011

StillVision Photography’s January Newsletter

Please download the annual StillVision Photography newsletter I release every January which includes the indispensable StillVision Photography awards 2011!  Information about the 2011 baby competition, a new year studio offer for new customers plus other bits and pieces are also included…

Download the StillVision Photography 2011 Newsletter by clicking here!

Happy New Year from Mike at StillVision Photography!

Baby Competition Judging Begins!

I’m sure many of you are already aware that I have been running a monthly baby competition throughout 2011 and picking my favourite baby from all of my studio sessions each month?  Well it is now time to start the judging process for the big prize and get StillVision Photography’s baby face of 2011 chosen!  I have assembled a team of expert judges who will be casting their votes in January 2012 but I also want your help!  You, the general public, have until the 31st January to get your vote in too!  75% of the final vote will be the judge’s decision but 25% of the vote is open to the public.

Here’s what to do:

1) Take a look at the 12 monthly winners below and pick your favourite baby face!  Click on the thumbnails to make the photographs bigger, take your time, have a good, close look at each photograph and pick the baby that you want to win the top prize!

2) E-mail me at info@stillvision.co.uk with the number of the baby you want to win.  That will be your vote cast!

3) Remember to pass this blog link around to your friends and family, as the more votes that come in from the public, the more the judges vote can be influenced!

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11 12

www.stillvision.co.uk 2011

December’s Baby Competition Winner Is…

5 month old Ciara!

My twelfth and final monthly winner of the 2011 StillVision Photography Baby Competition is 5 month old Ciara.  I picked a Christmas themed baby for December for the obvious seasonal reasons but Ciara’s session was a really interesting one.  Talk about a session of two halves!  She was very, very serious (bordering on grumpy) for the first half and absolutely nothing was going to crack her!  All of a sudden she relaxed and the second half of the sessions was the complete opposite to the first and we got lots of expressions and full on smiley faces.  She even allowed us to experiment with hats of which one was the Santa hat!  Details of the judging process and then the announcement of the overall winning baby face will follow!

www.stillvision.co.uk 2011

The Wedding of Ruairi & Helen

Congratulations to Ruairi & Helen who were married at a pre-Christmas wedding on Saturday 17th December 2011.  They were married at St Andrew’s Church in Orwell and their reception was held at Girton College just down the road from the StillVision studio.  There was quite a Christmas theme being so close to Christmas (think his and hers stockings by the fire, Christmas carols and a big Christmas tree) and quite a chill to the air too!  It was a cold winter’s day but very sunny which meant it was actually an ideal winter wedding for the guests (although the strong winter light did cause me a few issues).  The group photos did border on the painfully cold but I managed to do them quickly using the available light before heading off to Girton and welcoming the inevitable darkness!  The rest of day was a relatively informal affair of drinking, eating and being merry with some comedy singing by the piano, Christmas carols and a ceilidh band.  My Cambridge wedding photography highlights follow:

www.stillvision.co.uk 2011

Studio Phone Line Down 13th Dec

StillVision Photography phone line is down today (13th Dec 2011) for no reason (thanks Virgin Media).  Please contact me via e-mail if needed – info@stillvision.co.uk

November’s Baby Competition Winner Is…

7 day old Callum!

My eleventh monthly winner of the 2011 StillVision Photography Baby Competition is 7 day old Callum.  I haven’t yet picked a newborn baby for one of the monthly winners and I think that is just not fair!  Why should all the expressive, smiley babies get all the glory!?  It has to be said that newborn baby photography sessions can be quite difficult and Cullum’s session was no exception.  He was pretty restless for most of the session and it was all very stop-start.  Once he fell completely asleep things went quite smoothly and we got the shots we were looking for.  He was only 7 days old at the time of the shoot and this worked in my favor.  Newborn baby sessions do need to be timed perfectly and to shoot within the first 10 days is an absolute must!  Even then it is often very difficult to predict how successful the shoot will be.  Callum’s photo below joins the other babies from the previous months in the year and all the pictures will be judged at the end of a year to find an overall winner and one will be named StillVision Photography’s ‘Baby of 2011!

www.stillvision.co.uk 2011