Jake1.0’s blog

When it comes to photography, and specifically my photography, I am a great believer that luck has as much to do with the shots I end up with as any photographic judgements I make.

The other night I was in the garden messing about with the Flickr project and trying to catch up. I was using the off-camera flash and was, completely unscientifically, playing about with flash strength and placement. I did pick up a second hand light meter on eBay a while ago and have used it now and again but to be honest, I'm not 100% sure what I am doing with it! lol That said, it's been a useful tool and I'm glad I have it....when I have plenty time on my hands (like that is likely to happen anytime soon!) I will have a proper experimental play with it and see if it improves the pictures I take. I digress though....back to the garden....of the 5 or so shots I took of one particular plant in the garden I was most happy with one of the shots...and when cropped tightly I really liked the outcome.

Let me know what you think....

Petal Abstract

Well.....sort of!!! ;-)

I'm going to the moon

Oops! Over a month since my last post here!

Time has a tendency to overtake me when things start to go flat out at work. But I've got a few spare minutes to catch up here.

I've been experimenting with a couple of new social networking applications. I'm currently using Flock as my web browser. I found an advert for it on some random site, and was wooed by the fact that it integrated social networking sites into it's layout and it has a great media bar and integration with Flickr amongst other photo sites.But, and it is a big but for me, there is currently no integration with the social networking site I use most frequently - Bebo. I did suggest it as a possible new addition to the friendly development team and they were kind enough to reply with a (possibly standard?) 'Thanks for your suggestion, we'll consider it...'. That said, if you want a nice looking browser built, I think, on the Firefox browser, that's a bit different and which will keep you going till IE8 is unleashed, it's worth a try!

I have also recently just received my invitation to a new location based social networking site called Bright Kite . I find the site, emmm, interesting, but at the moment I'm not sure it's particularly useful! I believe it's still in beta and perhaps if there were more local contacts for me I'd get more out of it, but I shall persevere and tell you if, and maybe when, I decide to ditch it!

I'm still bashing on with my photo project and as a last entry today, let me share this shot which I took last weekend. It's undeniably impressive stuff....and, in case you were wondering, this is why dancers are popular !!

Project 365+1 Day 131 10/5/08

I can hardly believe I've kept going with Project 365 (+1) !

I've recently posted my 100th picture on my Flickr page...and I feel quite proud! Not because it's a good picture - most of them are average at best! - but because I am the type of person who starts something with the best of intentions but who gets easily distracted and lets things fall by the wayside.

So to start something and get to Day 100 is, for me at least, an achievement! I will confess that a few times I've thought 'this is pointless' and considered giving up, but now I'm glad I didn't.

That's not to say I won't give up at some point in the future, so if you see me slacking off, feel free to give me a prod!!! :-)

Project 365+1 Day 100 9/4/08

In my defence I've been busy at work!

I think my last Blog was mid March, so I will take the shame and tell you that I will try to be more dilligent with my entries. That said, I wasn't shirking my responsibilities, it's been a mad couple of weeks at work and I've been continuing with my fitness campaign most evenings when I get the chance. I must confess that while I notice a difference in my fitness in the gym environment - though running a marathon would still be ill advised! - I am yet to notice any difference in my body and specifically my soft 'n' squidgy bits!!

We're into April now, and indeed British Summertime officially began last weekend. Imagine my surprise then when I got up this morning to snow!! Now, I like snow as much as the next person, but it's a real pain when you need to get to work and you're running, as I always do, a bit late!

I thought a snap of the snow we were enduring may serve to remind my chum who is currently holidaying in India of the joys of home. From the picture that came back, I think it's fair to say that a point was being made about who was enjoying their weather more!

Goa

This week I am on holiday from work. I think I've said before that while what I do is regarded by many as being about as far from real work as you can actually get, it doesn't change the fact that I have been known to put in too many hours and be a bit of a workaholic. [I can almost hear NiceGuyAli chuckling at the understatement there!] Well, with that 'workaholic' nature in mind, I felt that a one week holiday was well deserved!

This leads to another problem - what do I do to fill my time?! :-D Actually, that hasn't been an issue yet! Yesterday afternoon I spent 3 or 4 hours writing a Board Report for my work Board Meeting next week (some holiday huh?!) and as you know I am now a fully fledged gym member, so Monday and Tuesday saw me there pumping tiny amounts of iron and breaking into a spectacularly undeserved sweat!

Monday also saw me take a trip to our lovely Capital City of Edinburgh. I took my camera along with me, knowing I'd probably shoot a few frames. In the end I shot over eighty! To be fair, most came out rubbish and have since been deleted, but I kept a few and you can see them online now at my Flickr Page and, in case opening a new tab to see my work is too much effort (kidding!!!) I've posted a few of the shots here for you to see and, as always, if you want to let me know what you think of them - good or bad - feel free to comment.

Oh, while I remember, that day trip to Edinburgh also allowed me to indulge my (very hidden) geeky side, and splash the cash in the comic shop Forbidden Planet!

Now, if you'll excuse me, DC and Marvel are calling!!

You may or may not know the long story of how, before Christmas 2007, when stocks of Nintendo Wiis were extremely low I was tasked with making sure my youngest niece didn't get a 'Santa disappointment' on the Big Day. To cut a long-ish story short, I ended up with two Wiis and, indeed, still have one sitting under my desk at work. I really must get around to selling the damn thing. I am more of a techno-lover rather than a novelty lover so my next console purchase will be a PS3. I can't deny the Wii is fun...but only (in my humble opinion!) in small doses!

That said, you cannot deny you get as much entertainment from watching people play the Wii sports games as you do from actually taking part yourself.

Don't believe me? I don't remember seeing Frank Bruno or Mike Tyson ending a bout with a flourish like this!....

..and it felt good!

Actually, scratch that...it felt really sore!

I mentioned in a previous post - I think! - that I was about to join a gym. Well, I have..and I've had my first induction...and it nearly killed me! :-D

I forgot how unfit I was, and even though I had previously trained for and completed a few 10k races, that level of fitness I managed to get to seems to have disappeared much more quickly than it arrived! No matter though, we all need to start somewhere and the fact I am doing any exercise has got to be a good thing so I will do what I can to take it all in my stride and give it my best.

Oh...how could I forget... the best part of the new gym is shown in the picture below... a digital training key that charts my progress on the equipment and allows the gym trainers to keep me working hard. Exercise and gadgetry combined! Who'd have thought it!

Now..... where's my lycra thong??!!

Project 365+1 Day 72 12/3/08

Yesterday I did something which I had been thinking about doing for a while - and it involved my other, original, Blog.... I wrote my last ever post!

I began the LiveJournal Blog on the recommendation of Nice Guy Ali - a friend and former colleague of mine. For a time I Blogged on LJ. Generally it was infrequent and more often than not it tended to be rambling! Once I start I do tend to get carried away - you may have noticed! ;-D

Anyway, on that site I found myself letting it all out. Some would no doubt say letting too much out! I found it oddly cathartic so it was with an unexpectedly heavy heart that yesterday I closed that chapter once and for all in my Blogging career.

To those who read (endured??!!) my posts - thank you. It seems to have served it's purpose.

Like I always say, it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey. Once I get a roadmap, I'll let you know!

The last post was all about the surprising things that I've noticed Digg throw up.

For my Flickr project I noticed that there was another post that had been 'Dug' (lol..is that thr right thing to say? I doubt you can change a brand names tense!) all about Photoshop actions. It's quite helpful if, like me, you are a big ham fisted with PS try this for a few ideas and suggestions.

I just grabbed the first idea and decided to try it on my own eye. It's far from perfect (I blame my rubbish 'selection' for the rough edges) but I quite liked the effect.

As always, you should feel free to comment on this image....

Project 365+1 Day 69 9/3/08