Almost the new year...

...and with it a revamped studio. We are busy clearing, sorting and tidying and are looking forward to starting 2010 with a bang. More posts, replete with news, pictures, wit and wisdom, and not only that, regularly updated. The biggest piece of news lately is that Fiona has become an aunt - Lennon Finley will hopefully be gracing these pages soon. For now have a ganders at a couple of recent pics. Happy new year.

Better late than never....

Well, here we are again. It isn't lack of will that prevents me writing these posts, more a lack of time. Things have been going quite nicely lately, with bookings coming in for the new year and some more last-minute Christmas Balls adding to our mix of portraits, corporate work and commissions.

Our garden project is on-going. This is a year-long (and a bit more) project to capture the different seasons and flora and fauna, and is resulting in some cracking photographs.

The Dogs Trust Calendar has been selling well - if you haven't got yours yet what's keeping you? The 12 hounds gracing the pages are all worthy covergirls (and boys) and it really is a beautiful calendar. Function and form, what more do you need?

We had a lovely booking a while ago at Buckingham Palace - the Not Forgotten Association is a military charity doing a lot of good work.

We've been doing more for the local Vets, some more calendar work - not dogs this time - for local businesses and taking part in the Art Trail, among other things. Coming up we've got balls, parties and functions, races, events and sittings, and some new and exciting ideas to reveal in the new year. Oh yes...

Quiet in cyberspace, busy in real life

Apologies one and all for the delay in posting anything new. What's the good of a blog if it doesn't get written I hear you cry. I quite agree and can only apologise for being a little slack this end. It doesn't mean we haven't been busy, oh no, quite the contrary. Among other things we've had an awful lot of fun over the last couple of months taking portraits of dogs for the 2010 Dogs Trust Salisbury calendar. This all came to a head on Sunday 2nd August at the open day, where you, the Great British public, kindly voted for your favourites. The 12 with the most votes will feature in the calendar, designed by us to grace your walls with something useful and at the same time beautiful to look at. The calendars will be available to buy from October from us here in the studio as well as Salisbury Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre: http://www.dogstrust.org.uk , and all proceeds will go to Dogs Trust.

Right, that's your lot for the time being. There's plenty more - the last few months have seen us at RAF Odiham, Buckingham Palace, summer balls a-plenty and portrait sittings left, right and centre. I promise to keep you posted soon...

Super-hero snooker!

     L-R: studio owner Anthony von Roretz, Steve Davis OBE, artist Tom Walker, deputy mayor Mike Osment, your host Fiona McWilliam

Well, what can I say? Tom's exhibition is now open and the preview last Friday went brilliantly. We had a great turn-out, sold a number of prints and originals and a wonderful time was had by all. Helped in no small part, it has to be said, by our very special guest, six times World Snooker champion Steve Davis OBE. 

The studio looks great, Tom's work is out of this world and to cap it all we have a mini-table to wile away the hours on. I made a break of 16 - my highest yet!

We would love to welcome as many people as possible to the exhibition, so if you're passing, or know anyone who might be interested, pass on the good word. See you soon.

Tom Walker at work in Sheffield, as part of his Snooker In The Frame exhibition.

We are getting very excited now about Tom's exhibition. We had a jaunt up north to see the whole collection, on display for the first and only time, alongside the World Snooker Championships. The scope and depth of Tom's work is quite astounding, and it's a shame we're only able to exhibit a fraction of it. We strongly urge you to come along and check it out. We had a marvellous time, and even got to watch one session of the quarter-finals (Ryan Day v Mark Allen, if you're interested). So, make sure you get over to Salisbury at some point to gaze in awe at Tom's paintings. We promise you won't be disappointed.

To have a look at his site please click here: www.tommwalker.co.uk

Coming soon to a venue near you - well, here at Trinity Photography to be precise. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we will be playing host to artist Tom Walker and his amazing snooker-related images. Tom has been working on this collection for the past few years and all 147 pictures will be on display to accompany the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield. Following this run we will be exhibiting a selection of these here in our studio (we don't quite have room for that many!) and would encourage you to come along and have a look. Tom's work really is exceptional and we can't wait to welcome him here. In the meantime enjoy the snooker!

Here's one we made earlier...

It's not just portraits here at Trinity - sometimes we get the opportunity to be creative following a shoot and to exercise our artistic muscle. Creating pieces of art are what it's all about, and we can work with images to produce something quite different from the original. The girls below were so much fun - and so beautiful. See what you think of the end result.

From this...

to this...

Steph's portrait + our recent family sitting

As promised, the results from Steph's portrait sitting the other day. The brief was formal but approachable - we think Anthony got it spot-on. Despite everyone saying otherwise first 

impressions do count, and with image being increasingly more important in the marketplace a good corporate photograph can do wonders for you and your company.

Steph decided that as she was coming all the way from Salisbury she might as well spoil herself and have a makeover as well. And why not? We all think the results are wonderful!

In other news this week...

Our fabulous family sitting the other day produced a great set of images,

 and it was Mel's idea to bring the pyjamas. The girls didn't need much encouragement for the pillowfight! We love photographing families, and when the children are as much fun as these guys it always makes for good pictures. We hope you like them.

Here's one we took earlier! Meet the McWilliam clan - Susi, Steph and Fiona. Obviously being part of Trinity (that's me on the right) means I wouldn't dream of using another photographer to capture my family, and I am doubly critical of the end product. Hence why I am proud to show off the McWilliam girls. Plus I thought it sensible to show off some of Trinity's work, rather than just reading about it. 

Steph is coming in for a corporate shoot on Monday - she doesn't trust anyone else now to take her photograph. She's driving all the way up from Cornwall for her portraits, that's how good Anthony is! Check back here to see the results, and let us know your thoughts. Even better, how about booking us for your family portrait??!

There's much to report and as ever little time in which to do it. Not that we're complaining, certainly in these uncertain times.
So, what's new? Well, we continue our foray into technological excitement with Twitter and Facebook, and are starting to produce a newsletter that will be delivered to inboxes around the globe before too long. However, before that we have a trip to Birmingham to enjoy - we shall be buying new toys at Focus on Imaging. It's important to keep up to date with the technology, even if we are a little slow on the marketing side!
We are also playing host to Godolphin School as part of the Artshop 2009 exhibition - if you are in the area pop by for a look. We are one of 18 businesses in Salisbury involved in the exhibition over the coming week, and it's brightening up the windows no end.
We had a cracking session last week with a wonderful family - the results will be on display soon. Beautiful children, great fun and some lovely photos. That's what it's all about.

Chamber awards 2009

This being my first post, I should try and make it as interesting, edifying and amusing as possible, to ensure any readers will be keen to come back for more. However, I'm starting this 5 minutes before I have to leave, which means I'm going to have to keep this one short and sweet and come back for a more lengthy introduction at a later date. So let's treat this as a preface, how about that?

Last night saw the Salisbury and District Chamber of Commerce & Industry Business Awards (that's a lot of capitals...), held at the wonderful Arts Centre. We had entered two awards; Customer Service and Outstanding Business of the Year. Once the Customer Service announcements came and went I relaxed, thinking we hadn't really got much hope in the Outstanding Business category. Anthony was even less expectant than myself, so it was with some surprise and genuine joy that we received the certificate for third place! Anthony's face was a picture, and we are both thoroughly chuffed to have been honoured with this award. Bigger and better next year we hope!