Welcome to the blog, my place of reflection, of thoughts, well actually at times of rambles and musings really. I've done a blog off and on for a number of years but it's always been separate from my main site until now. Finally I get to fully integrate everything in one place and it's really quite exciting.
I make no promises of revelations or incredible insight, no certainty that things will make sense or even be spelled correctly for that matter. I can guarantee that they are all my own thoughts (as far as I'm aware) and I will do my best to not besmirch anyone (well not too much) and not to just blog for no apparent reason other than of course i want to get something off my chest or it amuses me.... it may even from time to time amuse you, hey and if it does you can comment on the site and / or on facebook or any number of places... go one, you know you want to read more....
So I'm quite excited, last year I put some images into an online competition with a difference. The 2010 Project is an online competition where all of the images need to be captured in the year 2010, ok so not much strangeness about that but to enter you have to donate some more, no not an entry fee, a donation. The Donation goes to the MacMillan Cancer Support who are a fantastic organisation focused on supporting those who really need the help either by lending an ear when you need it most, both the the suffers and their families, with nursing support , financial support, the list goes on and on, it?s a wonderful group of people and for me anything that anyone can do to support them is a fantastic thing.
So the 2010 project is founded by Caron Wasserman who is a fantastic children's photographer living in London who, after her battle with cancer, lost her partner to Cancer early in 2010. As a memory to him she started the 2010 project to celebrate his life. The end result of the competition is a book to be called ?Life is a Bed of Roses? which will be on sale to help continue to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.
I lost my Dad to Cancer back in 2007 and so for me, anything related to raising awareness or money to help support and beat this terrible disease is a good thing, and when it comes to a photography competition I think supporting the battle against cancer is just the best reason I have ever heard of to have.
So I picked 3 images and I gladly donated my sum of money and left it there, I didn?t really expect to much more. I checked in from time to time to see how the fundraising was going and to see if any comments had popped up on and just to look at the rest of the stunning images there.
Well I was stunned when I found out I had been accepted onto the short list which was to be included in the book with an image, it was this one, which is a grab shot of my father in law Ian who is just one of the best people you will ever meet and his wee grand daughter just adores him, and he her of course.
What I like about this image is the fact that, for me at least, it captures a real sense of him I think. He?s got a bit of a twinkle in the eye with a bit of a smile, I know it's for Emily, my daughter, who he was walking with at the time and I think that makes it pretty special for me.
I have an image in my head from my own grand father from when I was growing up that has stayed with me for the 30 off years after his death (also from cancer) that I guess has burned in my mind. No matter how much he changed I always remember him like that. I was lucky to recently rediscovered them and the image is still the same.
My hope with this image is that when Emily looks back on her Grand dad that this isn't too far away from the image she has of him and the feeling is there as it is with the images of my father and grandfather I have.
Then as if that wasn't cool enough I found out that two images I had put into the Natural World category has also been selected for inclusion in the book.
This was captured at one of my favourite places in the world which is down around Lake Tekapo. So many reasons I love the place, there is just a feel around it, you know your in some of the best country in the world. The Light levels there are so low that the sky is almost (if it isn't already) a World Heritage site.
This is shot across Lake Alexandrina just 5 mins on from Tekapo and it was captured pretty early in the morning on my 70-300 lens on the trusty Canon of mine.
I love the serenity that I get form the image and the little bit of foreboding from the hills, almost tempting you to come on over and try to climb or ski on me! I certainly do remember it was pretty cold, only 1 or 2 deg?s as I had to keep swapping out my battery.
Also captured the same day as Mountains glow from about 10 yards to the left and about 2hrs earlier and 5 degs colder!
I love the fact the light is just starting to show over the hills and you get a lovely reflection across the water and the jetty but everything else is in silhouette. It?s a very quiet image I think, lots to ponder in there, what?s on the other end of the jetty, is there a boat somewhere on the water that should be moored here, what?s over the hills or behind the trees.
What can I say I like water and the calmness it can bring, even when it?s crashing around you or in this case pretty still.
So there you go, 3 images entered and 3 images into the book which is very cool and very special and I can?t wait for it to come out, I'll certainly be buying a few and I hope you feel like you will as well. Even if it?s only going to sit on a shelf, let it sit there knowing that you have contributed to supporting a great group of people in the fight against cancer.
