Fuckin’ Comments

Posted: Thu 2 November, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: D4D™, Geeky, Getting Organised, Resolutions | 1 Comment »

Yes, yet a-fucking-gain, the comments system is down.

I’m going to be looking at upgrading/redesigning D4D™ to WordPress 2.0 while we’re away this weekend, I think.

Bloody thing.

UPDATED : And now it’s fixed again. Poxy thing, definitely needs looking at. Grrrr.

Resolutions – The End of The Road

Posted: Sun 29 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: 2006 Resolutions, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

Over the year, I’ve had a list of resolutions, and thought I’d do a quick update before the birthday rears its ugly head in a weeks time, as a kind of progress report.

  • Photography
    • Macro Lens – yes
    • Portfolio – working on it as a website
    • Talk to Agents/Publishers – spoke to some photographic publishers, which is why the above item changed.
    • Submit work to various places – started off with ImageKind, but no joy yet.
    • Join local camera/photography club – tried, and it all turned to bollocks
    • Look at potential for “proper” photography qualification – looked at it, but nothing that’s viable for 2006/7 academic year
  • Work
    • Get the three main sites up and running– two of three, and other ideas too
    • Make them successful – getting there
    • Keep track of how they do – yes
    • Reassess in Jan 2007 – if they haven’t worked, kill ‘em – moving this to various times in 2007
    • Get more smaller sites done and paid – yep, two so far, and more on the way
  • Writing
    • More “proper” writing – it’s starting – nothing publishable yet, but it’s starting
    • Longer pieces for d4d? – no, and that idea is back ‘on hold’
  • D4D
    • That bloody sweary filter. – nope
    • Installing WordPress 2.0 – nope, and not going to
    • Photoblogging? – nope, but may come up elsewhere

Thankfully, it actually it looks like I’ve managed to get a fair amount done since the last update back in July. And that’s something I’m pleased about – seeing how little I’d got done by that time was quite demoralising. I knew that the work I was doing at the time, and the influence of Arsehole Boss in general wasn’t helping my motivation one jot, so it’s good to see that moving on work-wise has started having a positive effect on everything again.

New Lens

Posted: Sat 21 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: 2006 Resolutions, Getting Organised, Photography | Leave a comment »

Photgraphically, it turns out I’m a numpty.

OK, that needs a bit of explanation.

On Saturday, I ordered a new Lens for my camera. Turns out I ordered the wrong one. Not the wrong fitting, or anything really stupid. It’s just I clicked on the 100mm f2 USM lens, instead of the 100mm f2.8 Macro USM lens which was the item under the one I clicked on. As Scary would say, “Oh, Spoons”

Luckily, despite being a numpty who can’t even click a mouse on the correct item, the lens I do now have is going to be fine for a lot of things. I’d been looking at (OK, honestly, dreaming of) the absolutely beautiful – and effing huge/heavy – L Series 85mm f1.2 lens from Canon, and while that’s well out of my current price range, this new lens will do a similar job for about a sixth of the price – and will at least give me some range to see how I do with it.

But I still need to order that Macro lens too – I might wait a few weeks now, though…

To PhotoBlog or not?

Posted: Tue 17 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Own Business, Photography, Resolutions, Thoughts | 3 Comments »

I’ve been doing some more thinking about the site for my photography that I was writing about yesterday.

Basically, the question that came up was this : Do I make it into a photoblog like Chromasia, DDOI et al, or do I have it as a simple portfolio site, just to show off what I can do, along with contact details, etc.?

I can’t deny, I’ve always kind of liked the idea of a photoblog (I hate that word, but can’t come up with a better one at the moment. Hey Ho) although it does have the potential downside of not updating every day, or – to my mind even worse – the intention of adding a new shot every day, but never quite managing to do so. Combined with that is the part of me that worries about diluting “the brand”, or similarly of diluting the strength of some of the images by just having one every day, so some are great and others merely so-so.

As for having it as “just” a portfolio, that quite appeals too. It’d certainly be simpler, and (in theory at least) a lot less work than a constantly updated site with new photos all the time. This is of particular relevance at the moment, where I can’t deny that my motivation is pretty rock-bottom and merely ticking over, and also where I’m away from home for four nights a week. While this should give me the time to get a lot of stuff done, I can’t deny that at the moment it’s leaving me a bit numb, and slightly “CBA” about the entire thing.

So I think that for now it’s likely I’ll leave the site as “just” a portfolio site, where a selection of my better/favourite photos can be viewed, rather than doing stuff for it every day.

Although, of course, that doesn’t mean that at some point in the future I won’t add in a PhotoBlog section…

Another New Site

Posted: Mon 16 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: 2006 Resolutions, Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Work-related | 1 Comment »

Semi-linked to the post about buying a macro lens for the camera, and also to the infamous resolutions for the year, I’m also still working on putting together a “portfolio” of sorts.

When we went to the Autumn Fair at the NEC, one of my main things for the event was to find some of the publishers that were at the show, and find out both what kind of thing they were looking for, and also how one goes about submitting work to them. And to a man, they said “Well, we find it’s best now to have a website that shows off what you do – if we like it, we’ll be in touch”

So that’s one of the things I’m working on. I’ve managed to get a decent .com domain name, and it’s also one that combines with my normal “self-employed” company name stuff, which makes things a lot easier. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but it means I can keep some form of “branding” between the two entities, if I should decide to do so, and it also means that it’s an identifiable link. Which, in general, is fine with me.

I’ve got some ideas for the site, but I think I may also need to plunder some people for design ideas as well, as design is most definitely my weak-spot when it comes to websites and, well, anything else, too.

Macro Lens

Posted: Mon 16 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: 2006 Resolutions, Photography | Leave a comment »

Over the weekend, I gave in to temptation, and ordered myself the Macro Lens I’d been thinking about.

So, I’m now the proud owner (well, I will be when it arrives) of a Canon 100mm EF f2.4 Macro Lens – and no, I didn’t order it from Jessops, but their site had a decent page that described the lens, rather than the appaling site of the place I did buy it from. I’ve used them before, and the service I got was fine, despite the site, so on this occasion I’m going to go with them again.

At the same time, I also ordered a second battery for the camera – I figure it’s best to have two, which’ll keep me going whenever necessary.

So, that’s one resolution out the way, anyway.

Photography Decisions

Posted: Tue 10 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Photography, Resolutions | 2 Comments »

So, before long I really need to get a couple of things for the camera – but the question is which should I get first?

I know I want/need a decent flashgun, but also with the stuff I do a lot of (and intend to get more done over the next few months) is the macro close-up stuff again.

I can get away with not needing a decent wide-angle lens for a while, as I’ve got the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera, and I can do a fair amount of work with that before I need to do anything else.

So really it comes down to : a) Macro Lens or b) Flashgun.

Which first?

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →