Tom Arber Photography Blog

Things to come…

Tom — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:53:50 +0000

As you may have noticed I’ve not been posting as much as I would’ve like to over the last few weeks. I really am bursting to show you some of the pictures from some recent weddings, but we’re right in the middle of the busiest time of the year, my focus has been drawn away from blogging, and on to more pressing matters.

I would like to give you a quick sample of some of the moments I’ve been able to witness over the last few months. I’ll do my best to get the full posts out as soon as I can, for now here are a couple of shots from the south of France, the Isle of Man, Middlesbrough and Chester.

Simple is Beautiful…

Tom — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:48:10 +0000

We’ve tried really hard to create a photography service that is all about you and your pictures. We found with our wedding there were soo many hidden costs that it was hard to keep track of the budget. We wanted people to be able to save up and set aside some money for photography, and then forget about it… so it’s one less thing to worry about.

I’ve spent well over 2 years now rooting through loads of albums, and album companies, to find what I wanted. They needed to be among the best quality in the world, look amazing, reflect the feel of the wedding and couple, simple, beautiful, hand made, leather, last for YEARS… and last of all I’d have to want one as well (and I really want one of these!!).

Well a simple wedding photography package needs simple and elegant Albums. I’ve already created a post about our Fine Art Albums, and from an amazing company called KISS here is the alternative choice:

Sam&Laura

Tom — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:35:46 +0000

I’m really starting to love weddings on the coast, even when the weather is raining and all the guests are worried about sinking into the grass with their heels, while the coastal wind takes their hats away. I love traveling around to all parts of the country to new locations, it helps me to see the wedding for the unique thing it is, without being tempted to fall into the trap of “oh this picture worked well on the stars last week, I’ll try it again…”

Sam and Laura were married down on the South coast, and the weather lived up to expectations. We had the light showers of rain, and some sun… but it didn’t effect the day at all. Sam and Laura work so well together, and it was a pleasure to be able to be there and witness their day unfold.

As always, here are a few of my favourites, in no particular order:

“The Beach…”

Tom — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:54:11 +0000

Everyone has to put up a holiday post at some point in the year, so this is my Turkey post from a few weeks ago. It was pretty cool! Great company, scenery and VERY hot weather. The only downsides were the HUGE and I mean HUGE delays going there and back thanks to Thomas Cook ) I think the icing on the cake was being in the duty free area of Manchester Airport with little more than an angry Dixon’s assistant, who didn’t want us passing the time on their ipad… next time I’m taking my iphone!

Well anyway, with these entries I usually like to just let you look through the pictures and hope they speak for themselves… but some might need a bit of explaining this time. So there are a few captions under some of the pictures.

All the pictures were taken with either a Canon IXUS 70, or a 5D… points for the people who can guess which is which )

So, here they are:

On the way up to the paragliding launch pad (which was almost 7000 foot!) the jeep broke down and we caught a lift with the other companies passing by…

Becky took this from the top. It’s all paved and is the highest commercial launch site in the world… I think.

Another Becky picture on the way down!

This guy only had the neck brace on at night when the streets were full… hmmmm

There are a few boys around the streets at night that ask for 1TL to weigh you… The guy at the beanbag place was pretty adamant that they were from good homes with lazy parents )

Roger Moore in Turkey!

I’m glad someone can!! I’ve been having a problem writing mine for years…

Only 1 of my many delay pictures )

Places to eat in and around Leeds…

Tom — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:44:47 +0000

I’ve been meaning to do a blog post like this for some time now. I wouldn’t call myself a food critic. I don’t have any posh food knowledge to base my comments on and I’m only armed with my own taste buds (which are pretty complex…). However there are some pretty fantastic places Becky and I have found to eat around Leeds. As I’ve mentioned before I get to eat quite a few meals, and there are a few restaurants that I’m really keen to try… but for what it’s worth here are our top places where the food is so good that it’s turning us into food snobs.

These are in no real order as they’re all different, but you just have to try them all! And we’d both be happy to join you! I must just say that I have no free meals for saying what I’m saying or any backscratching incentives to post about these places, they are just superb… and when I find some more I’ll pop another post about them as well… if people care to know )

1. Kendell’s Bistro

By far the best place I’ve ever been to for service, and run with real passion for the food. The atmosphere is as excellent as the food, even the bread is imported from Paris! I’d recommend the pre-theatre menu before going to see something at the theatre… surprisingly. One of the dishes has just been used for the front cover of the Leeds Dining Out Guide, which is a great road map of some top notch places to eat in Yorkshire.

Kendell’s is right behind the BBC building, and opposite Leeds Collage of Music on St Peter’s Square.

Take a look at this food!!:

Here’s the new Dining Out Guide which (as I said earlier) has Steve’s dish on the front cover as well… Just hop along and enjoy yourself!

Number 2: Salsa Mexicana

This is a very special place just outside of Leeds, in Chapel Allerton. I went once to take some pictures of the food, and then just kept going back with Becky… and various other people. Salasa Mexicana is one of those gems you find where the people really care about what food their serving you. You can check the restaurant website for directions, but it’s on Harrogate Road which runs through Chapel Allerton. Simon uses spices as they’re supposed to be used, and not just to make it hot, and I’m not always the best with hot food, but the food here makes me want to get used to it. We’ve never tasted better Nachos anywhere else, and although the food packs a punch it is frankly gorgeous.

Number 3: Red Chili’s

I don’t have any pictures of the food for you here, but this is the best Chinese Restaurant I’ve found in England. There are so many that are just like sit down take-aways, and they all taste like an English version of Chinese food. Well Red Chili has a huge amount of Oriental customers, which tells you something… and the food is far beyond any other Chinese Restaurant I’ve ever been to. YOU HAVE TO TRY THE BEJING ROAST DUCK if you go there. We’ve been before just to order that, and then would’ve been quite happy to leave if the rest of the huge menu didn’t draw us in! It’s right by millennium square in Leeds, and uses 5 star chefs (whatever that really means… but they are good), and one of them comes out of the kitchen with the cooked Duck on a trolley, and with no expression on the chef’s face, prepares it for your plate. It’s just great to see how they only serve you the best parts of the Duck.

So although I don’t have any food shots I do have some of the venue… which are below )

Sorry about all that…

Tom — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:11:19 +0000

If some of you have received an email (or 40) thanking you for the email, and telling you that I’m going to be out of the office till next Friday… then I’m really really sorry. Sometimes “trial and error” when setting up an “email auto responder” is just not a good idea. I suppose we can’t all get it right all the time. Thanks for your patience everyone!!

If you’ve found yourself here because of the email then here are some calming pictures just for you:

Leeds Guide pictures…

Tom — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:29:06 +0000

Recently, I’ve been running around with a fair amount of Leeds Guide assignments, so I thought I’d post a few of my favourite shots on the blog. The shots are from various eateries (I’ll be posting a blog with mine and Becky’s top 3 Leeds eating places soon, if anyone cares for our opinion :o) and from a recent shoot at Leeds Bradford Airport for the 250th issue… Thanks to Emily Byrom for all the help with the big Bradford airport shoot. It was a grey overcast day so she was doing an amazing impression of the sun in some of the pictures.

So, here they are:

A Quick Trip…

Tom — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:40:35 +0000

Sometimes life just gets too busy, especially on the run up to your wedding! I popped down to Chester the other week for a pre-wed shoot with Steve and Rachel. I shot their wedding 3 days after meeting up, sometimes it’s hard to fit everything in! It was really good to have everything fresh in my mind so that I was prepared for the amazing wedding it was. I’ll do a blog post when the pictures are done, but Steve and Rachel were superb… their day had a great blend of the traditional and modern, and a real celebration feeling to it. I’m not always the best at explaining myself so you’re just going to have to take my word for it, that it was a unique and very sincere wedding day.

Well anyway, after my confusing ramblings, here are a few pictures from the Pre-Wed a few days before:

Competition time!!!

Tom — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:57:51 +0000

At the end of last year I was all over the yorkshire eateries taking pictures of some of the nicest food I’ve tasted (apart from my wife and Mum’s… I’m serious…). Yep the hardship was that either myself or the great Mr Cris Matthews (who also worked on the pictures) ended up eating the food after the shoot. So now that the brand new Yorkshire Chef’s Cookbook is out, I thought it’d be great to give a couple away. So turning this into a fun competition, all you have to do is to send a picture of food you’ve made at home to info@tomarber.co.uk. (No sneaky restaurant shots please

The winners will have a post on this very blog with their pictures on for all the world to see (although I’m not sure my website would handle that many people viewing it) as well as a copy of the book and… an opportunity to come on an appointment shooting some Leeds food with me. I’ll try to post as many of the shots on the Tom Arber Facebook page and we’ll see how many stunning food shots we can get. I’ll be running this for two weeks, so if you’re up for it, get cooking snapping and eating!

Here’s the book… and some recent food shots:

Adam&Jade

Tom — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:30:54 +0000

Well I was back into the north of Wales for Adam and Jade’s wedding. It seams more common at the moment to have amazingly sunny weeks and dull overcast rainy Saturdays! But as I’ve said before no weather is really bad weather, and the clouds work as some superb soft boxes, which makes Britain a place to be for amazing window light and flawless looking skin. It also keeps us photo taker men on our toes because the light is always changing.

I’ve also written the camera settings and lens used underneath the pictures, as I’ve been asked a few times of late what I’m using. I shoot Canon cameras and switch between Manual, Av and Tv mode. I think it’s important to understand all the main modes on the camera as you get a better idea of what to use when. There are sometimes I really want the depth of field to be shallow (or not), other times I want to be sure of a fast clear picture… Although at the moment I favour shooting in Manual just because of the complete control I have over the image.

Well anyway, here are my faves:

ISO 1000, 1/60, f4, Canon 24-105 L

ISO 1250, 1/100, f2.8, Sigma 24-70 f2.8

ISO 1250, 1/640, f1.6, Canon 50mm f1.4

ISO 800, 1/200, f2.0, Canon 50mm f1.4

ISO 1250, 1/2000, f1.4, Canon 50mm f1.4

ISO 1250, 1/200, f2.8, Sigma 24-70 f2.8

ISO 1000, 1/320, f2.8, Sigma 24-70 f2.8

ISO 1600, 1/60, f2.8, Sigma 24-70 f2.8

ISO 800, 1/125, f4.0, Canon 24-105 f4.0

ISO 1600, 1/125, f4.0, Canon 24-105 f4.0

ISO 100, 1/60, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4.0

ISO 800, 1/125, f13, Canon 24-105 f4.0

ISO 800, 1/8000, f1.8, Canon 85mm f1.8

ISO 400, 1/400, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4

ISO 400, 1/250, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4

ISO 400, 1/200, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4

ISO 400, 1/400, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4

ISO 400, 1/320, f6.3, Canon 24-105 f4

ISO 400, 1/125, f4.0, Canon 24-105 f4.0

ISO 400, 1/320, f4.5, Canon 85mm f1.8

ISO 400, 1/2500, f1.8, Canon 85mm f1.8

ISO 400, 1/500, f6.3, Sigma 70-200 f2.8