365 to 42

 My beautiful wife has a lump and its cancer, it's treatable and we have known for about 6 weeks. During that grey period between knowing there was a lump and having it confirmed we spent a week on Davaar Island in Scotland, a quite and fabulous place to get away from the world.

 A shot from last week while I was out and about shooting for next years calendar. The calendar is a year long project that starts well before the last one has run its course. This shot was from Froghall, a spot that has no pictures in next years calendar as yet. This shot won't make it into the calendar as it is in the wrong aspect.

 Well its been a few weeks and I've not updated this. So what have I been up to? First off we have had a great week in the Lake District, great weather and loads of good walking, what more could you want. Next I have had my second jab, all went well with no side effects. On the work front I have started work on the calendar for next year, putting it together not shooting the pictures, that has been going on for over a year. Picture today from a walk down Bradford Dale at the weekend.

 Such a shit few days, while I'm not in a position to say why, its my blog and I use this as a vent and a reminder for my feelings. It is mad that one small thing can effect your whole life. On a happier note meet Toffee, a great dog and a joy to photograph.

 A busy few weeks, the night after I had the jab I was really unwell, and felt below par for a few days after that. Since then I've had photo shoots, tax returns to complete and updates to my on-line store and my stock of cards. All of which has kept me away from the blog and other jobs around the house. This shot was from the weekend in the garden, we had noticed a Robin flitting around as we worked so I grabbed my camera and put the unused spade in a likely position. A few minutes later this little chap showed up in just the right spot.

 This time last year I was in the Lakes photographing this, there was talk of a lock down but nothing was yet official. Today I'm off for my vaccine jab, what a strange year.

 Lock down has been so hard on so many businesses, I have friends that run pubs that have missed out on so much income over the summer and Christmas periods and shop owner that have been unable to open even while big supermarkets have continued to sell the same types of things. On a personal note work just stopped for months at a time, but I am lucky that I can switch from commercial work to my landscapes and sell on-line if needs must. This still means that I'm down by about 80% on my income, so to make the decision to invest what little I have in my business might seem a bad idea. And it would be if I had no faith that the work will come back, but I'm sure that it will and when it happens I need to be in the best shape possible. The back bone of any photography business after the photographer is the cameras, when I set up over 10 years ago I was running just 1 body and that was a low grade one at that. So first on my list was a new body, nearly £1000 of D7000 the latest camer...

  Yesterday was my birthday, it is also the birthday of this blog, as it started 13 years ago.  Little did I known that I would still be taking photos and blogging them 13 years later. Lock down has seen a change in how we do things, so yesterday I only had my wife and dogs for company, but ended the day by having a surprise birthday party with my friends from all over the country. This was of course done by zoom and made a really special end to what had already been a fantastic day. Now its back to work, sorting out my studio flash in the hope that I will be able to use it in the coming months.

 A scattering of snow over the last few days, so we grabbed a day to run around this side of the Peak District. It was great to get out and about.

 A quick run up in to the hills above Leek this Monday. One of the best bits of the job.

 Two online meeting today before 10am, thats around 3 hours of work and the day has not really started yet. Thanks to zoom I did not have to travel so could attend both, and good as they were it is still not as good as meeting in person, I am missing seeing people. The picture is from Grindon moor, Caz dragged me out of the house at sunset to capture this view for one of her projects, and I thought I might as well snap it too. Now to sort out a presentation for tomorrows breakfast meet, all good fun.

 Not really feeling it to day, trying to get some work done but cannot focus on anything. Picture from the storm this past weekend. So now I've at least done something this morning even if it is only a blog post.

I was a very good amateur photographer, by that I mean I did what the stereotype would do, I joined and then ran a camera club, I did model nights, I knew all about the latest kit and would bore people with my photos of very boring things. As an amateur I would shoot or work on photos about a 100 days a year, and would only shoot what I liked.   Then along came the idea to do a daily photo blog. What happen next was not planned, but in a little over 2 years my hobby became my full time employment and blogging was the reason.   As soon as I had committed to doing a daily photo blog I had made the decision to do an extra 265 day more photography a year, but in reality I had increased my work load by a lot more than that.   The 100 days as an amateur, would result in a small number of good images maybe around 20 that were worth exhibiting a year, I was now aiming on doing 365 good images, and at my amateur work rate of 1 good picture every 5 days I was lo...

 In the week running up to the first lock down we were away with a group of friends in the Lake district, little did we know that this would be the last week of total freedom that we would have for over a year ( I can not see the world returning to normal for quite a while yet). We spent the week walking, going to the pub, sharing hot tubs and doing what we wanted, when we wanted, it was great. On the last full day it was planned that the group would do a longish walk and stop at a pub for lunch, the only problem was me, I had picked up an injury and could not walk very far. The solution was simple, I would take the group to the start of the walk, make my own plans for the morning and meet them at the pub at the end of the walk to take them home. This picture was taken that morning, and then I headed to the pub and got my pint in while waiting for them. This was the first point in which I got a look at what was to be the new normal, the pub had social distancing, temperature checks...

 With the days slowly getting longer the evening dog walk will soon be done in day light, which means I will miss out on the sunsets, but also if I want to walk the dogs in the light, I have to finish work early so later nights leads to long working days. This was shot on a dog walk a few weeks ago, life has changed during lock down, I now do longer dog walks in the evening which has kept me fitter and mentally fitter as well.

 A daughter of a close friend is studying at uni, and ask if I would model for her, so being bored out of my mind I said yes. She then went on to issue detailed instructions on what to do and asked if I could send her the photos!  So, not only model but photographer and stylist as well. I don't really mind as it gave me a chance to used my light gear, work with green screen and background replacement, all of which skills get rusty if you don't keep using them. I'm not sure if this is what she had in mind but I quite like it and the jacket still fits after 30 years. Technical stuff, shot in our living room with one large flash and a 120cm softbox and a green screen. Background picture from the big mill in Leek a couple of years ago. Clothing and guitar models own.

 It feels strange to be back writing on my blog after so long, just like the first time I am not really publishing that I am doing it, just seeing what happens. So I'm not putting any pressure on myself to post with any set pattern, I can post old photos, new photos or even with no photos, this is for the time being just my space to do with as I please. Many years ago I had a note book that I would write in every now and then, little letters to the future me to remind me who I was then and where I would like to be. I would like this blog to be a little like that, a window on the now so I don't forget. Today's picture is of Tunnel pool near Leek, in fact it is almost the view from my bedroom window, it was taken in the resent snowstorm we had and sums up what I like in photography. Its a panoramic image made up of a number of shots, something I do a lot and really like. Its a shot of a place I love, like a lot of my images are and it is taken in conditions that most photogra...

 I had a comment to my last post, from one of the very first blogs I started to follow all those years ago, and one of the blogs that I had visited yesterday that lead me to post in the first place. Its a very small world at times. Today I had my first breakfast meeting of 2021, via Zoom of course, when I started off full time I had no idea that they were even a thing and today I have just delivered my 25th 10 minute presentation, these come up about 3 or 4 times a year normally. It feels strange that at 8.45am I have done nearly 2 hours work and met with 16 people and have yet to leave the house. I feel that I should post on here more often, I had 12K visitors last year but had not posted anything for 6 years!

 Well 7 years on and I'm still here, I'm a full time professional photographer, working very hard to keep going during a third lock down. I've arrived here by accident, just passing through and thought I would check up on all the old blogs I used to follow back in the day, to find just like mine they have for the most part vanished and just post once in a few years. Having read all those old blogs I wanted to know if they made it this far, and thought that some of them may pass by here and think the same. So I'm still here and hope you are too.