First day in the full time job!

Well first day of being an entrepreneur is almost over....i even had dinner ready for when Steveo got home! I'm going to like this way of life!

It feels like I am on holiday! I didn't know what this morning would feel like.... Would I be happy, sad, apprehensive??? I woke up this morning with Steve, it's a case of if I don't get up with him I will still be asleep when he comes home!

After having breakfast tea together I walked upstairs to our large home office, sat down and switched on the pc.

I don't know where the time has gone today! It's flown by. I had an interesting call from a foreign consulant requiring a quote plus booked in some studio hires and also replied to lots of emails.

Tomorrow the fun starts.... Website updating, the start of our marketing plan and preparing press releases for the media for the forthcoming exhibition.

How did I manage to fit a full time job in?????

Our first exhibition

Over the last few months, members of the TipTop Photography Club have been working on putting together our first exhibition of images.

The fantastic array of images are the work of 16 photographers who all regularly attend the photography club meetings held twice a month at the TipTop Photography studios in Birmingham.

Steve and I decided on the theme of the exhibition in seconds.....for our first public display we wanted it to be of the place where the club is based, Birmingham.

There are a wide variety of images on show, I have submitted a piece based on the ongoing issue of Homeless people.....I purposely set out on a Sunday morning to talk to people who lived on the street. It wasn't long before I was talking to 2 lovely guys but clearly despite their happy exteriors they were cold and didn't know where their next meal or warm shower would be coming from.

Steve's images shows off The Mailbox in two very different lights. The first in the day... A very vibrant image with powerful colours, the second is night-time at The Mailbox, gorgeous lighting shows it off to perfection.

Founder club member Trev The Fish has submitted a night scape of The Jewellery Quarter with stunning light trails from passing cars. Andrew York who was one of the first TipTop club members is exhibiting a retro image of Birmingham focusing on old style telephone boxes just a short walk from The Town Hall, Eden Place off Colemore Row.

Other images featured include Gas Street Basin by John, an abstract office block from Karl, a misty view of the canal locks by Ken plus many many more stunning pieces.

The exhibition opens it's doors on Saturday 6th November at 11:30am.

Images to follow!

All welcome!

A full time career? Yes please!

I woke up this morning to a new FULL TIME career! That's right....me, Deb is managing the studio and corporate events on a full time capacity.

I'm a strong believer that things happen for a reason...there has recently been an opportunity presented to Steven and I which has meant that we are able to follow our dreams and turn TioTop into something special.

The past 12 months have seen our business grow from strength to strength with us getting to the point where we had to turn down work on a regulate basis! Of course,no one wants to turn work away......so we find ourselves in a position where we can really live the dream!

The next few weeks will see some exciting changes at both the studio and the services we can offer our clients.

Steve and I are very excited.....we hope you keep following our little blog and keeping track of what's on offer!

Not bad for two photographers who started out in a little back street mouldy studio knowing nothing about business! We are clearly doing something right! :-)

Things set to change at TipTop Towers

Watch this space for some interesting and important news...... that's all I'm saying at the moment!

So, whats been happening with us?

During the last week we have photographed http://www.amway.co.uk/ . We were asked to capture a grand reward and recognition event & gala evening.

Amway is the largest direct selling company selling health, beauty and home care products. We had a great time and so did the http://www.amway.co.uk/ business owners.

BBC1 Apprentice Runner Up Claire Young also attended the event http://www.claireyoung.co.uk/ now working alongside Amway.


Later on in the week we photographed the opening of a new store in Bearwood, Birmingham called Cash Generator http://www.cashgenerator.co.uk/ The Mayor of Sandwell Pauline Hinton opened the store with the business owner.











We have also been meeting with wedding clients - 2011 is not far away - this week we have taken bookings for 3 weddings. I adore photographing weddings, for me they are so full of excitement....love them.

The TipTop Photography club has also submitted work to be featured in Decembers edition of DSLR magazine.... exciting times.

For now.... over and out.

Over a month since our last posting....

Crikey... I cant believe its been over a month since our last posting on here.... [mental note that we should write more often!].

Such as lot has been happening at TipTop Towers - we have photographed :

3 weddings

had 12 successful wedding client meetings

photographed for The Ministry Of Burlesque High Tease Show at the Glee Club in Birmingham - http://www.ministryofburlesque.com/

many private client shoots

the wonderful Cherry Darling http://www.cherrydarling.co.uk/

Kittie Klaw & her pinup workshop including photo shoot http://www.purrfit.co.uk/

Katie Green, the face on Wonderbra, Nikon, Sony Bravia TV and soon to be the face of Special K - www.katiegreenofficial.com

Birmingham - the city in all its glory for a special exhibition

Abba - a tribute band to the one and only Abba

2 birthday photo shoot parties

and October is only half gone!

Here are a few recent images......

We will soon be launching the first ever TipTop Photography Club exhibition. With some stunning images already waiting to be hung its going to be a fab display of work from the club members.

Until next time.....

Phew what a weekend!

I don't think we have sat still for longer than 10 minutes since Saturday morning.

We have had a very busy weekend....

Saturday morning was a little surreal - we were asked by Nara Taylor Queen of the Night and her partner Pete to photograph them and their vintage dentist chair.

After putting our creative thinking caps on we decided for a backstreet in Birmingham, somewhere a little urban, edgy and somewhere a little out of the way.

After helping Pete unload the dentist chair from the camper van, we set photographing Nara in the chair whilst Pete dug out his rather scary looking dentistry tools.

We moved on to another part of the road where we set the chair up in the middle of the street - we took some really quite stunning images - the traffic warden was a little bemused by the whole situation!

Steve has already started to work on editing the shots however we couldn't resist putting this one up. Its had the HDR effect to give it some umph - its almost 'one flew over the cuckoo nest' kinda image.

Saturday afternoon was party time.....a birthday girl and her friends came to TipTop Towers to celebrate in style. A model for the day, spoilt, pampered, showered with gifts...what better way to celebrate your 16th birthday.

The girls had 3 different changes of outfits, party frocks, pyjama's and casuals. The wore http://www.annabelleswigs.co.uk/ along with feather boa's and hats; they had a pillow fight, cuddle time with their favorite teddy bears and of course sang happy birthday with the TipTop Birthday Cake.

Photoshoot parties are a perfect way to celebrate - whether its a child's birthday , a girls night in, a hen party or just for fun - why not come to the TipTop Photography Studio for some serious fun.

This is the girls having a great time !!

Sunday morning was another early start! This time to the camera show at Wolverhampton Race Course where we enjoyed breakfast and a lot of bargains. Steve picked up two great camera bags- one for our travelling expeditions and the other for taking equipment to corporate events.

Me (Deb) on the other hand spent my pennies on books. I just adore collecting photography books, either research or just pure art. Today I picked up a signed Lord Snowdon book, a vintage style photography book and a book showing the trends of underwear through the decades. It wasn't until I sat down for breakfast and looked at my purchases that I realised the underwear book showed a little more than I had been expecting. To say I blushed was an understatement. The book will sit in the studio library, with a sticker on the front saying 'adults only'. he he...its not that bad I promise :-0

This afternoon we have had the delightful and very gorgeous Miss Suzie Sequin in the studio - Suzie contacted us and asked us to photograph her wearing a selection of products she had been sent to model from various companies.

Suzie modelled wigs from http://www.annabelleswigs.co.uk/ and http://www.wonderlandwigs.co.uk/ along with accessories from various other companies. Suzie is a total darling and is just wonderful to photograph. Suzie has modelled for http://www.tiptop-photography.com/ for over two years and is dear friend of the studio.

This is Suzie in action:

So....its now late Sunday evening.... we are closing down the computers for the evening and we go to bed looking forward to the week ahead.

Adios for now.

The club....

The TipTop Photography club has been in existence for almost 12 months and we are both proud of our achievements to date.

During the last 12 months we have met some fantastic people, who we are now proud to call friends, not just club members.

The TipTop Photography club is for photographers of all abilities with a vast range of likes, experience etc who want to get together twice a month to basically have a good time, take some stunning images, learn some new tricks and put the fun back into photography.

Our last meeting was Thursday 2nd September where we photographed male model Mark Allen.

Only a few of our club photographers had photographed a male model before so the challenge was set for the evening.... mean, moody, atmospheric.....Mark was a total hit. All of the photographers loved working with him, in fact we are planning

another shoot with him on location for the very near future.

The TipTop Photography club is not a money making scheme; we dont charge a monthly or yearly administration fee, we dont charge weekly 'subs' - we do it because we love photography and want others to be able to use our facilities free of charge for the club meets. The only fee is two or three pounds to cover model costs as and when required. We have never charged a fee and never will do.

The TipTop Photography club is open to new members, experience is not required....learn from the experience of other club members, learn about new genres after all 'experience can be the best teacher'.