Honest there is one. He just doesn’t come out very often.

I was working my way through old photos on Flickr last night when I came across one that illustrated my photography ‘pedigree’ in such a way that I had to share it with you. Before we get to that however a little history. When I was six my parents gave me an old Kodak 110 film camera which I loved to pieces but I think in all the years I had that I only ever actually took about three rolls of photos with it as I spent most of my time opening the back to trick it into thinking there was a film wound on so that I could press the shutter release and hear it *click*. My brother later got my parents disc camera which caused some jealousy issues but I got over that. I know I had another camera between then and getting my Canon Sureshot for my 21st birthday but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. My parents bought one of the first ‘decent’ digital camera whilst on holiday one year and I was always stealing it. By decent I mean it had a 1.3 million pixel sensor and I could draw pictures quicker than it could save photos to it’s internal memory. I’ve since moved on to bigger and better cameras but that is where I’ve come from.

For years I would watch Blue Peters photography competitions and wonder why I couldn’t do it. Looking back at this photo though you can see why. I suffered from, and still do, holiday-snapshot-itis. At least 99.995% of all my shots come out looking like someone took it from the inside of a half empty beer glass.

click for bigger image

I had one wall in covered in photographs and I was very strict with how good they had to be before I would put them on that wall. If you look closely you can plainly see even the non-snapshot photos are of the same quality as my snapshots.

Looking back at the photo though it’s basically my life at that time in miniature. From photos of ex-girlfriends and holidays in Majorca to drunken snapshots of my student days and of the hours I would spend in the evenings playing football. The shelves hold everything from my Pratchett and Gemmell books to my MTB glasses. I still cannot remember the hi-fi that is in the bottom left of the photo. It was before I bought my JVC so I’m assuming it was my dads old one with it’s turntable and CD player but I don’t actually remember ever having that one.

Anyway…I thought I’d share.

With the trip up to Ben Ledi cancelled last weekend at the last minute I was determined to get out an about. I couldn’t think of many places to go that I hadn’t walked a thousand times before and a few people suggested various walks around Glasgow but at the end of the day I wanted something simple. I ended up walking from the bottom end of Victoria Road to the Peoples Palace (a quick stop there to see the video my Grandad is in) and then along the Clyde cyclepath. The idea was to follow the cycle path as far as I could and once I stopped for lunch I could wither turn back or work out some other way of getting back to the city centre. It didn’t work out that way.

The walkway heads out towards the SECC from Glasgow Green. Over the last wee while they have been upgrading the riverside walkway from the Casino onwards and instead of my usual walk along dusty roads without sight of the water I strolled along the shiny path instead. Everything was going great until the Fire Brigade’s search and rescue boat went rushing past. It was only out for some practice so I thought I’d catch a shot of it as it flew back down the river but with my 50mm lens on my camera I wouldn’t get close enough to it so out came my 70-300mm lens. I’d just changed the lenses over and was admiring the sun shining on the Armadillo when a ball came out from nowhere (or the SECC car park if you want to get technical) hitting my shoulder and knocking my 50mm lens out of my hand. It hit the ground and fell into two pieces.

It wasn’t their fault really as they we’re on the other side of the road and I had seen them so was aware they were there. It didn’t stop me from shouting blue murder at them though. I spent the next 20 minutes sitting beside The Ferry trying to put it back together. I was that pissed off that despite only being about 45 minutes into my walk I gave up and headed back into the city centre to see if the guys at Merchant City Cameras would be able to save my day and fix it. It turns out that the parts cost more than the lens sells for at retail and they didn’t even attempt to put it back together. I gave up completely and jumped on the first bus home.

I think the bus made it to Fernhill before I gave up and thought I’d try and have another go at putting it back together and it clicked at the first attempt. It works and doesn’t fall apart when you hold it upside down which is always a bonus. The focus isn’t as sharp as it once was but it made me one happy bunny to see it working again!

I’m a little late in day for this what with it being nearly the end of January. My excuse is that before the new year my camera died and the new one only turned up a few days before the bells rang. I didn’t have the time or the patience at that point to think about where I wanted to go with it this year never mind learn a new camera. So hear goes nothing.

Blatently nicked from Mostly Lisa

1. I will learn how to use my camera.

I never got my head around the 300D so I figure now that I’ve actually got a *new* camera rather than a very well used second hand I should actually learn how to use it. I should probably find the manual if I’m going to do that though…

2. I will not use the Auto setting on my camera.

It’s something I never used on the 300D. I don’t know why but I started with Aperture Priorty mode I never really moved it out of there. I never had the manual for the 300D so never worked out what most of the buttons did so I only ever tweaked the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. I know that’s the big three but that’s as far as I went. With the 500D it’s far easier to change the other settings and it scared me enough on occasion when I had to get a photo just right to throw it on to auto and hope for the best. I need to stop that.

3. I will not use on-camera flash

I hate how photos using the on-camera flash coome out. The only time I ever use it I’m either bouncing it of a bit of white card to get a little more light on the subject or when I forget my wife had used it on auto right before I pick it up.

I got my 50mm f1.8 so that I wouldn’t need to use the flash as much until such times as I can afford a decent flash unit. It’s working out quite well

4. I will not be hindered by the gear I do not have.

I’m fed up moaning that my tele is very soft at the extremes or that my kit lens is a plastic piece of crap. They all take great photos if used right. I could really do with a decent set of lamps for my light tent thingie though.

5. I will shoot in RAW

The processing speed of the 300D meant that it took an absolute age to take photos in RAW. If I was taking shots of the kids I’ll always fire a burst off and use whatever ones are in focus and look good. I felt with RAW I’d get maybe 3-4 photos in the same time I’d get 8-9 on jpeg format. The 500D is much faster though. I actually feel that it deals with them faster than the 300D dealt with jpegs. From now on when I’m taking photos that matter rather than whimsical family shots in the park I’ll start using Raw.

6. I will learn how to process my shots

I can use Lightroom and I can use Photoshop. I just don’t have the time to sit through 120 photos and working on each one individually. I need to learn ways of speeding up my work flow and actually doing more than messing with the contrast and saturation without devoting an entire afternoon to Photoshopping one photo.

7. I will share my photos with others on the web

Most of my photos end up as friends only on Flickr. I’m working on getting the balls to widen that net for the decent shots.

8. I will accept critiques of my work.

To be honest 7, 8 and 10 all roll into one for me. I joined the DPS forums a while ago but over time stopped visiting and being part of the community. Part of that community gives critiques of work if you want it. Although I’ve started going back there and sharing some of my shots I’m not asked for advice or thoughts on any of my work. That’s going to change.

9. I will set goals and be proactive about my photography career

I’m not looking at photography as a future job. It’s a hobby that will hopefully help me with my job but it won’t actually be my job. I have standards to keep to in the coming months and I need to get my finger out to attain them. It’s been a good while since I used my camera for anything more that photographing the kids so that is my first one. Getting the skills I already have back into shape and honing the skills that I will need the most over the coming months.

10. I will connect with other photographers

Going back to the previous answers. The DPS forums are a good start for me and I know of a few local photographers that are always up for helping out with technical questions. These will be the base from which I learn from and all that flowery nonsense. We’ll build from the once I’m more comfortable with my camera and skills.

So that’s that. It’s not a tough list but one that is going to mean a lot of work none the less. Time to get my finger out!

I have something like 6 working days left before I finish up and enter the land of the unemployed. There are 101 things to get done both around the house and to do with the business and yet I find myself using my spare moments at my desk at work playing about with things like flickr and re-adding my photoblog to this site.

I spend stupid amounts of time clearing out and organising my desk when in 6 days I’m basically going to be pouring the stationary into the stationary cupboard and the rest of it into the recycling bin.

I’m twiddling my thumbs and hating every minute of it but thanks to my current flexi-leave deficit I need to spend as much time as physically possible at work. It doesn’t help when the snow comes down that bad though the buses have trouble getting about town. I should really start making plans for getting home before it gets any worse and I end up having to walk home.

So I’ve started a project that I’ve meant to do for both Nairn and Erica but never got around to starting. It’s purely a personally project but I don’t mind sharing it with you guys. Basically the intent is to have a photo almost every day for the first year of Greer’s life. If Erica had not had the problems she had I’d probably have completely forgotten about this but with her going from a tiny baby with health problems to a healthy child almost over night we never really seen a gradual change in her. I want to be able to see Greer changing and growing and I want to be able to show her this in the years to come. I’d originally started posting the pictures on my Flickr account but in order to stop my contacts being flooded with photos of Greer that were almost identical I was making them private but that defeated the idea of sharing them with anyone we knew if they wanted to see them. So I added a subdomain on my blog and all the photos will be displayed there. As I mentioned there isn’t going to be a picture every day but I aim to try for that anyway. We’re only a couple of weeks into her life and I’ve missed one so far and fully expect to miss a couple more over the coming months. It’s no big deal so there’s none of the pressure that’s stopped me keeping photoblogs before or stopped me completing 365 projects. I’m really looking forward to this.

You can find the project at http://greer365.theapochrypha.co.uk

Speed: 1/1000 Aperture: f1.8 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 50mm

Do you know why people constantly take photos of their cats? It’s because they don’t run away and they are cuter that most inanimate objects.

This 50mm lens is really bugging me. Because you can’t really see the depth of field without using the magic button when I think somethings in focus I usually find that the cats nose is crystal clear but it’s eyes are fuzzy. Practice practice practice.

A strange bike advertising the Mountain Biking World in Fort William. The whole town was covered in them when we got there to pick up supplies.

Right. I’ve decided its time to get the photoblog back on the go. Since Erica was born I’ve had neither the time nor the energy to keep it up but enough is enough.

Two things have got my enthusiasm and energy level back up for this. I’ve got a fortnights holiday starting next week and we’ll at least be spending a few days on the east coast an maybe fit in a trip elsewhere as well. A photography forum I am a member of has also started a mini competition running alongside a main competition. The main one gives me a chance of winning some weird monopod/pouchpod thingie for every post I make and the the mini one gets me put forward for display on the sites front page each week. Basically their assignments are going to slightly more strict for a change. You get two weeks to get a photo taken and uploaded on a specific theme and the best one wins. I doubt I’ll win but its the taking part that counts as they say. Also each photo I post makes my chance of winning the main prize a little better The other reason is that Alt Nation is changing the way its photography forum works and a small camera club seems to be starting with folk from AN running the show.

• Food and Drink
• Symmetry
• Spring
• Odd or Even
• Cityscapes
• Portrait of a Person
• Rust
• Waterworks
• Squares
• Backyard Birds
• Circles
• Lines
• Black and White
• Pay Attention to Foregrounds
• Urban Decay
• Portraits
• Dangerous Animals
• 9 to 5
• Slow Sync Flash
• Silhouettes
• Still Life
• Faster, Faster, Faster
• Icon of Your City
• Get Down and Dirty
• Shallow DoF / Macro
• Antique Your Digital Images
• Panning
• Slow Shutter Speed
• Water
• Your Fave for 2006
• Christmas
• Wind
• Blue
• Pets
• My Backyard
• Wide Angle
• Pink