365+ 81 The weekend be like…

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Behind you!

Don’t you just love that Sunday night feeling, the promise of a new week and all the treasures it will bring in literally a few hours?… Na, me neither!

Also, I know I’ve missed a few posts on my WordPress site, they are there on my website so if you fancy, take a trip over to focalthingy.com/365positive to catch up!

365+ 75 S.O.O.C

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Who doesn’t love an acronym? Aren’t they just so much fun especially if you use them around people who haven’t got a clue what they mean.

T.B.H., (To Be Honest) if you do that then you’re a bit of a K.N.O.B. (Knowledgeable Nice Observant Being) and should receive a S.L.A.P. (Specially Lauded Award for Precociousness)

And, for the rest of us, SOOC means Straight out of camera, basically an image that has no post-editing. For the record, that is not normally me but this image, in particular, came off the memory card and with a little bit of cropping was just perfect. Not a great sweeping vista but it immediately took me back to the quiet five minutes I spent in some local woods this evening listening to the sounds of the woodland and soaking in the light of the setting sun… T.W.D.F.M. (That Will Do For Me)

365+ 74 The 1980’s called, they want their rubbish studio photographer back…

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Vision, time, planning and preparation.

Absolutely none of that went into this shot whatsoever.

The cat hates me, Reece has now got an unhealthy obsession about the size of his hand and Sandie’s sad that it’s only another couple of weeks before the “Lockdown Tree” is dismantled.

All in all, not the best Mothers Day shot I’ve made but I’m sure it’ll remain one of the most surreal..

365+ 73 Memento Vitae

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Today was a great day, Kayleigh, our daughter turned 18 years old so that’s it, Fatherhood done and dusted right?

To be honest, I’m quite lucky that I’ve got two kids who actually quite like me and only roll their eyes occasionally. They both make me very, very proud and for me to actually get some portrait shots of Kayleigh without the usual scowl that usually rests on her face when Dad’s about with a camera is down to the fact that Reece was just out of shot holding the flash and softbox, (I’ve misplaced my stand somewhere) and making her laugh. Her attire, while looking a little like a straight jacket is actually Reece’s present which won the day! An Unus Annus long-sleeved shirt ordered five moths ago and arrived within the last few weeks, such is the YouTube merch delivery train.

If you’re wondering what Unus Annus is, it’s a cult of which both Kayleigh and her Mum are fully paid up members. It no longer exists but for the fond recollections between the two of them that starts and ends with the required chant followed by “THE GONGOOZLER!!!” The now deleted channel had the motto, “memento mori” somewhat loosely translated into “Remember that you have to die.” That sounds a bit dark I know but I can truly say that if you experienced it it was far from that. They’ve just started going on about “Pee Sauna” and are cackling to themselves as I type this, honestly, they’ve started again….

Happy Birthday Kayleigh, I love you and am so, so proud of you!

365+ 72 Bugger!

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The moment I’ve been waiting for, everything came together. The light was changeable but great for moments, the farmer had put in his usual hard work on the soil and the recent rain had added some texture and shading to the scene. Perfect for me to recreate Mud! using the Hasselblad. For those who know me know that Mud! was, I suppose, a signature image that I was lucky enough to have featured in the Landscape Photographer of the Year book a couple of years ago. To be back here with a medium format film camera is something | would never have imagined when I took that image a few years ago.

And, on that note I was going to take some time to make it. Setting up the tripod, placing the camera, getting the comp, connecting the cable release and measuring the light…And that’s where I f*cked it right up. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some Ilford 120 asa100 black and white film, loaded it into the camera successfully after I’d shot the expired Porta 400asa colour film… Guess who forgot to set the light meter to 100asa. So I imagine that the two shots I took, one at 1/250th and the other at 1/125th are going to be horribly under exposed. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow it’ll be bright enough for some Sunny 16 shots to get this one in the bag.