45/365...

Special post this one. Dedicated to my Dad who turned 60 on Monday (how did that happen!?!?! How our lives flash by...)

We shared a fabulous weekend with my Mum and Dad and some close family. It was nice to be able to be there to celebrate this momentous birthday with the generations of our family. I was happy and proud that our boys were there. In their own ways they both adore their Grandad and I am sure he is very proud of them. My youngest Thomas holds him in that special place that only Grandad's can hold for toddlers. He is part giant, part superhero, part teacher, part care and love-giver and part plaything. I see the look in Thomas' eyes when he is with him and I desperately hope that one day I have grandchildren of my own so that I can get some idea of what that feels like.

I hope he had a great day. We learnt a large chunk of our photographic craft together and he doesn't take as many pictures as I would like. Maybe he will start again...  

Many happy returns Dad and thanks, for everything.

42, 43 and 44/365...

A few more days worth of shots. Had the opportunity to get away to beautiful Wiltshire this weekend and capture some shots away from home. I have some fun trips coming up so hopefully this will be the start of some more varied material.

This first shot is the famous chalk horse at Westbury. Sadly, budget constraints mean it is no longer chalk but painted concrete but it is dramatic nonetheless.  I had to endure near gale force winds and freezing rain, not to mention hanging off a cliff to get the pic but I hope it was worth it.

Next up is a detail shot of the brick built enclosure for the range cooker that I cooked Beef Wellington for 10 on. It was a special birthday meal and an altogether different challenge!

Finally my gorgeous son has sneaked on. I know that I am biased but he is so very photogenic. Far from my favourite or even best picture that I have ever taken of him but it has a nice ethereal quality and I am sucker for natural backlighting. Plus it was a nice quiet moment that we shared so more than an image it will become a treasured memory. I have little doubt that he will sneak onto the 365 again in some capacity.

41/365...

New logo...

Just Light Reflected has a new logo! I contacted the uber-talented Rob Luckins, photographer, illustrator, screen printer and all round gent to see if he knew anyone in his creative circle that was any good with graphic design and in particular logos.

I have been thinking about the branding for Just Light Reflected for some time now and one of the key aspects to tie all of this together was the logo. Following the advice of the likes of David DuChemin I wanted something that could be used with social media, business cards and the website amongst others.
 

I thought long and hard about but as creative as I feel I sometimes am I also know my limitations and I know that there are people that are simply better at this sort of thing than me.

Well in his own inimitable style and in practically no time at all Rob took on the task himself and did not disappoint. He sent me something which was a million miles away from what I was thinking. But that is far from criticism. I was trying to be clever with mirrors and anglepoise lamps - to be honest it was coming off as cliched and somewhat cheesy.  Sometimes it is great to see something through someone else's eyes and in a way get a sense of what they have in mind about you. I suggested a couple of very minor amendments - I wanted a monochrome version for certain work for example. I am thrilled with the final results and I am going with the gut on this one. It will not appeal to everyone, but in the words of Seth Godin we lose so much when we try to please everyone. It is always at the expense of those we really want to impress.

I would love to get some feedback on the design and I hope that you will start to see it in lots more places.

36, 37, 38, & 39/365...

Wow - all this photo-editing is really tricky when you have a 'real' life too!

Had my first real wobble this weekend and nearly gave up on day 35. Not for lack of inspiration I hasten to add - I still have that in spades - more a lack of time and will... Anyway just a little wobble and I have managed to drag myself back out of it. I hope to get some decent portraiture done this weekend - I have some captive subjects and this weekend, somewhat surprisingly, may see the first appearance of my son in the project.

I hope you are all still enjoying it and as always would welcome any feedback.

34/365 Xin Nian Kaui Lai

33/365 Day 33...

...of Project 1 and my thoughts turn to world events rather than the matters closer to home. The aim of the 365 photo a day project was not to politicize or even scrutinise world events, just include them in a creative way as a record of what is happening at any given time. For example I did not look at floods in Australia and draw inspiration from that. There are plenty of people reporting well on that and in the face of the incoming cyclone in Queensland our thoughts are with them.

Sometimes things occur though that can truly be considered world-changing. I think that what is happening in Egypt and by proxy the wider Middle East is one of those times. Justin Webb on the R4 today programme this morning suggested that there was a domino effect likely to ripple through the Middle East. Already today we are hearing that the president of Yemen, in power for some 30 years, will not be seeking re-election and will not be looking to hand power to his son.

When a million people mobilise to express their opinion, rage and feeling you simply have to listen, the world has to listen.  And it is. As I speak there is a tense stand off between the protesters and supporters of the beleaguered president Mubarak. I hope it does not turn more violent. With protesters stopping for prayers (imagine the May-Day rioters or student protesters dong that...) it all looks like a very civilised democratisation of parts of this region albeit with serious question marks hanging over the likes of Israel.

I think this will come to pass as one of this years defining moments and I have chosen to demonstrate that with a screenshot of the Al Jazeera English website. Not a lot of post processing work done - even shot in jpeg rather than RAW - just a little cross-processing and some tiny exposure correction.

BTW the Al Jazeera new service really is quite good. Historically described as having a manic style of reporting and largely ignored by the West, in recent years it has shown itself to be a voice for the Middle East. Their style of reporting is contextually objective and oftentimes at odds with the hysteria and jingoistic approach of our own media - Daily Mail - I am looking at you...

Project 1...

Apologies for lack of blogging again...! Well that is it! Month number 1 is done and dusted. I really did wonder if I would actually make it but it is flowing quite nicely now. 334 days to go so lots of ideas needed yet but I think that it has been pretty varied so far. I know I need much more people and to be honest I fancy adding in some street photography too.

It really does push you creatively, especially on the days when you aren't feeling it.

Anyway, not feeling that wordy this evening so I will let the pics do the talking for now!

This is my statement of intent...

...that is all.

Three days in...

and the creative juices haven't stopped flowing yet! Project "1" continues to gather pace and I now have a little side project planned as well. The basic premise remains but with a little twist...

In the meantime here are the first batch of pics from project "1". The main idea behind all of this is that from a certain date 1.1.11 (I guess this date is sorta palindromic given that you can read it in any direction at all...), I will be be taking one picture every day for one year. Each image will be very different with the main rule being that other than one shot each day for one year there are no rules. Working on the principle extolled by Chase Jarvis that the best camera is the one you have you they will be taken on whatever I have to hand. It maybe a high end DSLR with studio lighting or an iPhone or whatever - a pin-hole camera if that is all I can make! When I am inspired or my vision hits me that is the moment to strike! I cannot guarantee a great or world-changing image every day but what I can promise is a deeply personal look at a small chunk of the world. People or places that I love, things that tickle me, things that enrage or disgust me. Seemingly small or insignificant things or epic world events. I hope to encompass all of these and so much more than this. It will become a narrative on the coming twelve months - something to enjoy as a process - after all the best part of anything is the journey - but hopefully also something to appreciate reflectively.

The end product  - to be completed in January 2012 will be a short movie (6 minutes and 5 secs) of the images interspersed together. At this stage I have no idea how it will turn out - I hope it will be fascinating. If you want to be part of project "1" then let me know. I have another 362 images to take so plenty of room to squeeze you all in!