Day 6 - Fabiatastic

I've been looking forward to today for most of this week, not because I'm off work, or because I get to spend quality time with my family, but because I knew what the I was doing for this project.

This image was actually born about 4 months ago when a good friend of mine got a new car. He kept taking pictures of it and I said, if you ever want some pics taken just give me a shout. Then promptly forgot all about it.
Then last week he posted a photo to instagram of his car in this amazing location, and that was it I started pestering him and today we went and shot this, and another couple too.
We had planned to do a shoot of both our cars together (the multiple stages of Skoda Fabia's) but I haven't had a chance (couldn't be arsed) to clean mine, and you can only do so much with photoshop.
So after Dek I told him to lead the way as I wasn't 100% sure where we were going, all I can say he isn't a great person to follow and takes the weirdest routes ever!
This place is a great location and will no doubt now feature heavily over the next 12 months in my photography. Some great art on the walls and some amazing victorian factories being used for other means. I want a studio in this place, its brilliant!

Thanks for the feedback so far people, its what makes this project worth while, without the positive vibes from you lovely people, I wouldn't be doing this.

Thanks Mr Knott, hope you like the result, now to start thinking about tomorrows image!

Paul

you can follow Chris Knott on twitter @seekay8, contrary to popular belief he isn't really all that in to the dogging scene.

You can also follow me at @paulhlynch (Warning may contain language not suitable for small eyes or those easily offended) or @lynchography for my photo's. (

Day 5 - Objects in the rear view mirror may appear prettier than they are.

For a while now I have long admired light trail shots by others, and have always meant to spend some time doing my own. With this in mind, there may be a few of these shots throughout the year.

This one shows that you don't have to go somewhere that looks amazing during the day (this is the spine road at the Three Horse Shoes for those that care) to make a pretty photo using people just going about their everyday business.

I don't have anything funny to say today, I'm just too tired, but for me this sums up my week, its all been a bit of a blur, and at times I have felt as if parts of it were passing me by. But I am a firm believer in taking time to stop and be thankful for everything that we have.

Have a great weekend folks (all 3 of you)

Paul

Day 4 - WAKE UP!!!

4 days in and there has been a blog and a photo every single day, I have far surpassed my own expectations. That said, it has been a real struggle.

It is a well known fact that January is the crappest month of the year. Everyone has had all of the cheer sucked out of them by Christmas and New Year and the cold realisation that nothing has really changed over the festive period hits us full in the face like a soggy dishcloth thats been festering in stagnant water for a fortnight.

Its the worst time of year to start something new, but at the same time, if you make it through January the likelihood is it should stick.

So how do we get through the month of January, when no doubt it will be cold, wet and miserable. How do we find the energy to go to work in the dark knowing we won't be home again until its dark again. That wonderful elixir of the Cofea plant, Joe, Java Juice, Mud, or as most of us call it Coffee.

That is my inspiration for todays photo, just remember in this horrible time of year, the month of love (or so Hallmark tell us) is just around the corner, for this month however, I love my good friend Coffee.

Paul

Day 3

Its a short one today. Today has been one of those days, and it was always my intention to post a selfie sometime this week, so what better time to do it than when everything seems to conspire against you and everything just goes a little bit mental!
Today has been one of 'those' days. Some big changes happening that may even affect the running of this project. But as they say life goes on, so onwards an upwards.

This is pretty much the closest that I will get to a theme this year, as I foresee myself playing quite a prominent role in the images, I can't expect others to volunteer if I am not willing to make a bit of a tit of myself.

So here is today's pic which i guess is called 'one of those days'

Thanks again for looking in

Paul

Day 2

So day 2 is upon us and already I am struggling for ideas. That said I was up early for work and have had a few ideas but most of them require more time and effort than I could really give today.
So who do I turn to for inspiration. My loving and ever understanding wife. For day 2 she has given more inspiration than she could know.

She said "Why don't you make a food face" and I let it stew for a while, thinking its a good one to fall back on, but then thought about my wife's eternal struggle with dieting (I decided a long time ago that if I eat shit, I'm going to be fat, and just dealt with it), she isn't fat but I know she wants to be slimmer and fitter, so I support her by reminding her just how big her arse actually is. And that is when inspiration hit me, or it could have been Christine, but I'm sure it was inspiration, it must have been, there is no bruising!

Each and every year millions upon millions of people decide on New Years Eve when they are smashed off their faces, or on New Years Day to make their life better, and throw out all the food that they queued in Asda for 3 hours and bought just 2 days earlier. "This year is my year" they cry, or they would if they could tear their faces out of the vomit bowl. 'I'm gonna really do it this time, I'm gonna be healthy and not eat any crap (not actual crap you understand, although I'm informed that muesli is similar to rats droppings) and finally lose these few pounds (stone) that have sneaked on throughout the years.

I'm not for 2 moments saying I am better than these people, at least they try, that said I started a diet today, and if it lasts more than a week I will be amazed. Actually I'm just thinking I stole a bit of the chocolate from this picture, ah balls, there is always tomorrow.

Anyway thats enough of that absolute insane waffling, without further a do here is today's offering, a still life composite.

To all those who have started diets, Good luck, and to my wife I am profusely sorry.

Paul

365 Day Project, Day 1

What on earth was I thinking? I have decided to undertake another 365 project. I have in fairness learnt from my last dabble with this phenomena. There will be no running theme throughout the years, there will be no storyline, hopefully just some awesome photography.
Although that said I may have started the standard too high and it may all be downhill from here.

So what better way to start a new project on the first day of the new year than with a sunrise. Its when you have these sort of ideas that you are glad you live close to the beach. So New Years eve for me was spent making sure my kit was ready, and setting my alarm for an early (ish) morning rise.

I made the mistake of checking on the sunrise time without localising it so got to the beach a lot earlier than I needed to, but I was so glad I had. My personal favourite images came from this 45 minutes waiting patiently for the sun to rise. It was a magical way to start the year, with Of Monsters and Men playing in one ear and the sound of the sea lapping at my feet in the other I almost forgot how cold it was. I was sharply reminded though when taking one group of fixtures I got totally lost in what I was doing and ended up ankle deep in the sea. And it was a little bit chilly.

Anyway enough rambling, its onto the images.

My personal favourite is this one.....

I also tried to take some that were a little more unusual in perspective.

But as this is the start of my journey I had to go with an actual image of the sun rising so without further ado here is the chosen image for Day 1 of 365.

I won't be blogging every picture (this is not supposed to be about me stressing out) but I will try and blog reasonably regularly. All images will be uploaded to http://paullynch.smugmug.com/365Project/2013/

Not every image will be taken with my camera, once again in a bid to give me a bit of freedom, some images will be from my Phone, so I will end with an image taken on my phone today.

Thanks for looking, All the best for 2013, fingers crossed its a good one for you.

Paul

Walking with Kingy!

Its been so long since I posted in this blog, there is no real reason why other than it was a very low priority to me.
I am going to try (again I here the one person actually reading this) to use this very useful tool much more often.

So what has lead me to take to the keyboard this time? Well about a month ago a twitter conversation between 2 of my friends sparked my interest in visiting an old favourite haunt of mine. So a date was set with my good friend Paul King (not that one) and off to Dunstanburgh Castle we headed for some much needed exercise and to capture this wonderful rugged landscape.
The weather wasn't bad but the sky wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped for along this ruggedly stunning piece of the Northumbrian coast. That said I managed to capture a couple of images that I was happy with.

Dunstandburgh Castle from the Rocks at Craster 

Dunstanburgh Castle from the North (Embleton)

Dunstandburgh Castle Silhouetted against a cold October Sky.

The whole experience got me thinking however, as both Mr King and I also shot some pictures with our iPhones. Now the iPhone is a wonderful piece of kit and is currently the most used Camera in the world. In my opinion it will never replace the real thing but I currently take far more pictures with my phone than I do with my Camera. Why? Because its so easy. Yes the quality isn't great (in comparison anyway) but for instant sharing and ease of use it can't be beat. I can't decide if its a good thing or not, but its here to stay so I for one will continue to embrace it.

Dunstanburgh Panorama capture using DMD iPhone App

Back to the original story, after our original discussion about going on a walk at Dunstanburgh, I also mentioned that I had long wanted to visit Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's wall. What can I say I am a sucker for a stunning tree. So we arranged to head up to Housesteads and take a leisurely walk along the wall. How hard could it be for to 30 somethings to walk along a little wall. It was an adventure to say the least. Upon arrival at Once Brewed (great name) the skies threatened to burst and soak us before we had even started our mini adventure. Undeterred we headed off up the road from the visitors centre to the wall. Despite being heavily out of breath before we even got to the wall we decided to take the more challenging route along the wall rather than along the old military road. So into the field we headed, only to end up calf deep in mud. Ah well how much worse could it get.... Well the first incline pretty much killed us both, we estimated it to be a 1 in 2 incline, but we had made it. Our first incline conquered we headed off along the wall. The scenery was stunning despite the dark grey clouds constantly looming threatening to wash us off the precipice that the wall was built upon. Its very easy to see why Romans built the wall here, well from a defensive point anyway. What possessed them that it would be a great idea to drag all of those rocks up the hill to build the wall I'm not so sure of. After 2 or 3 declines and subsequent inclines we reached Sycamore Gap. No messing around, this is a gap, with a Sycamore in it. It was made famous by Robin Hood Prince of Thieves in the 1990's when Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman walked along it on their way from Dover to Nottingham, I can only assume that they didn't have an iPhone with Satellite Navigation and thats why they got so lost. I headed down away from the wall into the Bogs below to capture my long awaited image. I have to say the tranquility of the scene did not disappoint, and on a more pleasant day I would quite happily have sat beneath the grand old sycamore and enjoyed a picnic.

Sycamore Gap from the Bogs beneath.

Craig Lough from the West.

Hadrian's Wall on a gorgeous Northumbrian day.

However the weather was starting to close in, so off we headed. The walk from that point on was up and down and up again, with the longest highest climb of the day happening to co-incide with a monumental downpour of rain. We encountered some sheltering cows, who weren't best pleased with us disturbing their attempted sheltering from the rain, but undeterred we kept on moving on encountering more and more "puddles" soaking our already drenched bodies even more. Just as we reached the Housesteads fort the rain eased off and the Sun came out. Typical! However there was a feeling that the journey just wouldn't have been the same if it had been dry and warm, that said I fully intend to go back and find out. So there ended the 2 day adventures of Kingy and Lynch. Both of us very glad that we had completed these 2 short treks and looking forward to the next one. Importantly for me I got the shot I had long since lusted after, and had got to share this slightly crazy experience with a good friend.

Sycamore Gap (The shot I wanted)

If you are interested in purchasing any of the images from my adventure with Mr King then please get in touch via paul@lynchography.com

Thanks, until next time

Paul