Day 38 The sky is the limit

Thanks for the support regarding yesterdays blog, it means a lot.

I'm really sorry but there isn't a lot to say today, I don't feel too good, but headed out this morning determined to get you guys a picture. You deserve it, you have been good to me.

Today is definitely a day that is all about the image. I love watching the sky, its never seems to be the same twice and this time of year always brings some amazing skies.

I'm off to bed and tomorrow is a whole new day.

Paul

Day 37 Time is Money

Todays image is a little bit of a cheat. its a creation, rather than a photo. But I felt I had to say something and it illustrates my thoughts well.

There seems to be an expectation currently that because everyone takes photo's that they are worthless. I have been the victim of this myself, but it is an experience that one of my friends has had recently that has led me to write this post.

Photographers spend years honing their skills, and are often their own worst critics, meaning that they do tend to be quite sensitive soles. So there is generally 2 ways to use the images of a photographer, 1) Pay for them or 2) give us credit for them.

So imagine if you will one of the worlds biggest companies asking to use an image without paying for it, or without giving credit to the artist. I'm talking about a company that thinks nothing about spending over £22,000,000 per Premier league game it shows just for the screening rights. But they don't have a budget to pay a small Business for a photo, and can't even extend them the courtesy of giving a photo credit, when the image is going to be seen by thousands of potential clients. Simply crazy!

Its bad enough when you take photo's at an event, then see them plastered all over facebook without any credit given, and often cropped and edited beyond recognition of the original image.

I've tried to not rant too much but had to say something in support of my fellow photographer.

So on to today's image, it depicts the 2 ways of recognising the photographer.

The first is simply a photo credit, in this case from the very well written blog by James Dixon (http://thegeordiegeek.wordpress.com) who used some of my images from the recent Team GB hockey camp. The second was a paid gig for Gateshead Youth Council, who are a charity organisation, who couldn't pay me much but did insist on paying me.

The message of today is if in doubt then please, please just ask. The worst that can happen is that we say no. And don't be offended if we ask for something in return, we are people too, and our time and our skill is worth money, or at least recognition.

Back to a photo tomorrow..... maybe

Paul

Day 36 - Suddenly everything is right

Woke up cold one tuesday,
I'm looking tired and feeling quite sick,
I felt like there was something missing in my day to day life,
So I quickly opened the wardrobe,
Pulled out some jeans and a T-Shirt that seemed clean,
Topped it off with a pair of old shoes,
That were ripped around the seams,
And I thought these shoes just don't suit me.
Hey, I put some new shoes on,
And suddenly everything is right,
(Lyrics from Paulo Nutini's New Shoes)

Funny how a new pair of shoes or new t-shirt can just make everything seem that bit better isn't it.
I'm sure one of my most avid followers so far, Mr Knott, can empathise with where I am coming from.

Most women would go nutty for a pair of heels, or maybe even some boots, but I know the way to my woman's heart..... so I bought her these......

And it has to be said, she has been much happier since getting them. 

If only all life's little problems could be resolved with a pair of new shoes.... who know's maybe they can.

Paul

Day 35 - Nail Biting

Nervousness is a funny old thing. When I think back of all the times I have been truly nervous they aren't particularly numerous, school and Uni exams, having to own up when I had done something naughty as a kid, Wedding Day, Birthday of my child, first day of a new job, and every single time I take my car in for its MOT.
That day was today. Now for those not in the know, mechanically I have not had the best of luck with cars. Just under 12 months ago I lost my last car to a broken Cam Belt, that wasn't due to be replaced for another 30,000 miles, after not long spending £1000 on repairs. I got £250 back for it, and was pretty heartbroken. That is just one tale of woe when it comes to me and cars.

So my current car has been pretty good, its high mileage and has needed a couple of bits and bobs done in the last 12 months, a service, break callipers (pads and discs) and a Mass Airflow sensor. So off I popped this morning to Uncle Dave's motor engineers (Otherwise known as D.Holland Motor Engineers in Walker). Full of dread I pulled the car in to the garage and handed the keys over to Pro Ice Hockey player Dean Holland, who would be putting my car through its test.

I commented to Dean on how I don't know how they remember everything they had to check as he gave my car a good going over to make sure that it was roadworthy. At this point the nerves were really building, I don't know if you have ever watched your car be put through its MOT but its like watching a pet be prodded and poked by a vet, you want to make sure everything is ok but in the back of your mind is always the thought that you hope that your wallet is also going to be ok.

After what seemed like an eternity (but was only actually 55 minutes) Dean gave me the good news that my car had passed, and there weren't even any advisory notices! To reward my car I may wash it, or more likely take it to an immigrant to wash (Non immigrant hand car washes are also available).

Then off I went to a paid photography job! Unfortunately I can't currently share the images with you, but in the next couple of days I may share some images of websites that are currently using my images.

Have a good day folks

Paul

p.s. I didn't post to facebook or twitter yesterday, and got 1 view on my blog. :(

Day 34 - Kit and Caboodle

I've often wondered what a caboodle is. I'm sure one of you lovely readers will educate me.

One of the questions I have been asked so far is why would you use your phone when you spent so much money on your kit. The main thing is time. And then their is the awkwardness of carrying everything around. The phone is a handy to have and since the purpose of the project is not necessarily to take stunning images then it is ideal.

Just to give an idea of the time and effort that goes into some of the images. Day 1 saw me stood on the freezing cold beach for over an hour until the light was just right, the image of Christine took 30 minutes set up, then a 20 minute shoot followed by 30 minutes editing. So sometimes grabbing a quick picture on my phone fits in a lot better with my schedule.
To give some sort of idea of what I would need to carry round on a daily basis today's image is a picture of my standards kit for a shoot. All in all it's quite heavy too, I'm jot anal enough to weigh it hut you get the idea. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little hit more interesting for you all.

Paul

Day 33 - Back from Beyond

So by now you probably have a pretty good idea of how this blog is going to go, there will be a lot of me talking absolute nonsense, a little bit of me putting myself out there to be judged, a whole lot of whining and moaning, and even a little bit of humour.
You probably also have a pretty good idea of what I as a person am about, so today's blog is back to one of those recurring themes. This time its family again, with a little bit of lego thrown in.

Yesterday whilst shopping I spotted a total lego bargain, so I just had to buy it, what can I say I am a total schmuck for a lego bargain. Now this was pretty early in the morning but I somehow managed to wait all day until Erin got in from School to start building it. I was really looking forward to building with some assistance from Erin, well that didn't go exactly to plan. Erin built the whole bleeding thing. So I am now pretty much redundant as a dad. I am however so very glad that I was able to wait as that meant today I was really able to appreciate how much it meant to me.
As you may or may not be aware, I now work 12 hour shifts, which on the upside means I get half the year off, it does however mean there is half the year where i pretty much don't get to see my daughter. So today I left for work without seeing her, got to work and looked at my phone and she had sent me a message from her ipod saying "My heart is broken when you are gone" complete with about 5 heart Emoticons and 1 broken heart emoticon. Now as you can imagine that made me feel amazing as a father. But then it made me appreciate the time I had spent with her yesterday encouraging her to build the lego, and playing with the completed toy with her.

So today's picture is the said lego toy.....

Oh yeah, thats the other thing, today is another one of those days where because of the 12 hour shifts I look for something around the house to shoot.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Paul

Day 32 - Eggsplosion

Sometimes you just feel helpless, there is nothing you can do but watch as the people you care about seem to go through hell. Nothing you do seems to make any sort of change. They know you are there for them but at the same time there is nothing you can do at all to change whats happening.

You can give them advice, you can try to make sure that you are there when they need you but ultimately you know they are going to have to sort this shit out themselves. 

I tend to be neither a glass is half empty or half full kind of guy, not to say that I am not known to dwell in my own melancholy, but generally I bounce back pretty quickly from things. I prefer to think fuck it, there is still something in the glass, lets drink it and see what happens! I guess the one thing I would rather change about myself is not to be so affected by the moods of others, but would I really change the fact that I put these people before myself? Sometimes I guess I should.

There has been quite a lot in the news over the last couple of years about Depression, but yet it still seems to be a bit of a taboo subject. Sometimes a hug or a smile can make all the difference to someones day, maybe even a wink (unless you look like you are having some sort of seizure when you wink, in which case this is best avoided). 

So with that weighing on my mind I thought how could I convey this feeling in an image, but yet still maintain a little bit of fun.

And this is what I came up with.

I had hoped to just use one egg, but it didn't seem to capture the carnage. That and I didn't manage to capture the egg at the point of impact. 

I hope that everyone reading this has a great day, and if you know someone who isn't, do something about it!

Paul