In and of itself this is not, perhaps, unusual. After all, I haven’t met him (or any other Formula 1 driver) for the previous 37.5 years. I didn’t take his photo today either.
This could be the start of a long and almost endless list of famous people I haven’t met or photographed on a given day, but I guess that might grow dull. So worry not – while it’s true that today I neither met nor photographed JB, I was within about 10m of him, and was prevented from acheiving my goals by a limited lunchbreak, and two bouncers who I didn’t have the guts to try and blag my way past!
It’s actually a bit annoying – he was meeting and greeting the great unwashed at about 11.30, and then again just after 1, and I was there from 12.00 – 12.45 or so. Ho hum.
He was attending the opening of a new restaurant in Harrogate, called Victus – full story on Harrogate News.
I say I didn’t photograph him – I actually think I did..
There was also quote a good turnout:
Stray FM and two people who I know(ish) were also there. Ian Chamberlain (of Chamberlains of Harrogate) got this cracker, which he has kindly let me share:
I want to do a proper write up of the extension tubes – showing what they look like, how they fit together, and the impact they have on expsoure, focal distance, and depth-of-field.
Until that point, here’s some of the photos I’ve taken with them thus far!
I got myself all geared up for a climb this evening, and got to the climbing wall, only to discover it closes at 8pm on Saturday. I thought it was open ’till 10pm. That’ll teach me for not checking (and being too lazy to go last night, when it was open ’till 10!)
Anyway, seeing as we’ve hit September, probably about time to take stock of how I’m doing. I’ve got an article brewing on my new toy (some camera extension tubes), but it requires a bit more time then I’ve got tonight, so it’s just a catch up instead.
Climbing – 4 times so far this year (would have been 5), and 17 weeks left of the year. So it’s possible to go once a week and still hit 20, but I won’t be betting the house on it..
Blogging – 30 / 50. So that’s now more than once a week for the rest of the year to hit target. Not so good.
Growing Leaders – yup, still looking good. Meet again in a couple of weeks, then only 2 after that. Mind you, next year’s is starting to loom large.
Cinema – still just the one (Entangled), but lining up a kids club trip with No. 1 son in October half-term.
Weight – rock solid at 71kg, and if anything drifting down.
Photos – Yes, and I won a prize (see previous post). Still 100% on my 365, pretty much a third of the way through.
Camping – YES, in the back garden over the summer. Was fun, but probably it for the year.
Cooking – still yes (but no souffle yet).
The cinema one is interesting. had I made it “films” or “DVD”s I’d have completely nailed it, thanks to a LoveFilm sub from my sis. The sub is up in a couple of weeks, but there’s been some crackers (and turkeys). Here’s what I’ve seen:
The Queen – Excellent.
Avatar – Excellent.
Priceless – OK
He’s Just Not That Into You – OK
Almost Famous – Good.
Twilight – OK (expected better).
Toy Story 3 – Very very good.
Inception – Very good.
Red – Brilliant
Source Code – Don’t know yet, but recommended by our ex-babysitter!
I think I’ve got one more rental (after Source Code) before my time is up, and there’s some belters (I hope) on my list.
Upon reflection, this may explain why my blogging has been poor – I’ve been watching films instead!
It was a local church who were running it, and I entered the photo below into the water category. It won the category, and was also voted best in show!! Chuffed, to be honest. I think it’s probably the best photo I’ve ever taken (best being a relative term), and I was hoping it would at least place in the category, but taking Best in Show was a real surprise and honour.
Can I now describe myself as a prize-winning photographer? 🙂
For anyone who’s interested, it took around an hour, 300 exposures, and lots of experimentation with lighting, background, and food colouring. The only thing I don’t like about it is the little white spot just to the left of the main “tower” – should have cloned it out.
Camera on tripod, I pre-focussed on where the drop would be, and switched to manual focus. Exposure was also manual (f/4.0 and 1/50s), but almost all the illumination is from the flash firing horizontally from the left of the camera. Slightly cropped to remove some foreground, but otherwise SOOC. My right hand was holding a dropper about one metre above a dinner plate with blue food-coloured water in, left hand fired shutter on the camera.
Set myself a mini challenge this week – to take 7 photos on a musical theme.
Quite happy with the results, so here they are!
I also realised that I’m starting to take photos trying to please the other members of 365project.org, and try to make it into the popular pages / top 20. This was never the point of my project – yes I want to improve my photography, but my aim is to take photos I like, and if other people like them too, that’s a bonus. It’s funny how the act of doing something often changes into something else without you always realising.
Even more than that, I don’t mind bad photos being included, where I’ve tried something and it hasn’t worked. I can’t honestly say that I’m happy with every photo so far, but that’s ok!
Ha – bet the title made you think this was another photography entry! What’s that? It didn’t? Oh well.
It’s actually pretty well halfway through the year, so I thought I’d take stock over my resolutions and targets for 2011 (as first covered in this entry).
Climbing – absolutely dismal! Haven’t been since April, and it’s now going to be almost impossible to hit 20. Motivation is a weird thing – I love it when I get there, but can’t quite get my butt out of the door!
Blogging – on track here! 28/50 (including this one), and only halfway through the year.
Growing Leaders. Very much on track. Awesome course, and can’t believe there’s only 4 sessions left. God seems to really be using the material in the lives of everyone involved. Already looking forward to GL2012.
Cinema – slipping a bit here; no trips yet (that I can recall). Plenty of DVDs thanks to LoveFilm gift sub though.
Weight – on track (just!). 71.9kg at the last weigh in.
Photo. Submitted an entry to every DLSR Skills homework so far. I also submitted one to the Great Yorkshire Show competition (which didn’t make it past the first round), and submitted 4 to a local Church’s photo competition (judging in a couple of weeks). So this one’s nailed, but I’d love to see one in print too. Also 100% record on my 365 project.
Camping – not yet. Looking like a back garden jobbie over the summer hols.
All in all not too shoddy. I’m a bit disappointed about the climbing, and how that’s fallen off my agenda (again!), but I’m hugely enjoying photography, and (I think) my photos are improving too!
One of the frustrating (although not in a bad way) things about the 365 project is the one-photo-per-day rule. I had the fortune to pop down to Cornwall for a few days last week, and ended up at the end of each day with several good (IMO!) candidates for that day’s picture. Only one allowed though.
Other days I’m having to go out and invent pictures in order to satisfy that day’s requirement.
While there is a strong temptation to ‘average out’ the photos, and use the 15 or so I took in Cornwall over the coming days, that would actually translate to a fortnight of not taking photos!
However I’m not willing to let the near misses go to waste either, so here are the ones that weren’t selected on the day they were taken, but which I would have been happy to use if I’d have been allowed!
Interestingly, there’s a shop called “Middleton’s” in Fowey. However it’s a sweet shop rather than party supplies!
Hope I’m not getting boring!! The last 6 posts have been about photography, and this is no exception. I’ll save some bandwidth by not actually including any pictures this time – how about that?
Starting week 4 of my 365 (which in itself is a bit scary), and haven’t particularly struggled so far for inspiration or motiviation. In fact, I still have a fairly long list of subjects I want to photograph, and a fairly long list of photographic styles/techniques to try out.
To whet the appetite for the next 49 weeks, here are some of the photos I want to take over the next year:
Various musical instruments I play.
Self portraits.
A landscape or two.
Wildlife.
Baby shots.
More ‘daily’/’weekly’ shots (stuff I do regularly), like:
I like 365project because it has a calendar view that shows you the picture from each day, and it allows e-mail submission (but haven’t tried that yet!)
