Focus on Imaging 2011

It's been a couple of weeks since I went to this year's Focus on Imaging, and I had such a great time there. It was absolutely exhausting, but I learnt a decent amount of stuff, met people I'd met the year before and got some great new equipment! It was non-stop laughter, and we had lovely weather too as an added bonus.

Taken at the Bowens stand at Focus on Imaging

I was shocked when I heard that Canon had pulled out at the last minute, their only reason being "reconsidering marketing strategy", but thankfully Nikon were still there and I was able to play with two of their lenses. The first one I took a few snaps with was the 70-200mm f2.8. I've been considering getting it in future to compliment my 24-70mm f2.8. It was a really fun lens to play with and very quick, sharp and zoomed a fair distance!

Taken with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8

I was quite happy with it until I got to the second lens on my list - the 85mm f1.4.

Oh. My. Word.

It was love at first click, basically. I fell in love with it and never wanted to take it off my camera. The way it separated the subject from the background was mind-blowing and the quality, colours and sharpness left me speechless. I liked it so much in fact, I started to almost wish I'd gotten this one instead of my 24-70mm, and I love that lens. My dilemma now however is wondering which to get - a D700, or the 85mm!

Taken with Nikkor 85mm f1.4

Sadly I can't afford either right now, but I did get two things while I was at FOI. I'd been considering a graphics tablet for a few months, and was debating which kind to get. Everything seemed to be pointing towards an Intuos4, and I eventually bit the bullet and bought one. So far, everything is great! I really enjoy using it and I think I even prefer using that to my multi-touch trackpad on the MacBook Pro. I kinda miss the gestures, but ease of use compensates for that. The nibs seem to wear down quickly though, which is a problem I'm trying to resolve. I knew it when I bought it, but after I'd heard friends say they had no trouble, I figured I wouldn't either. Thankfully, the nibs are cheap enough to replace.

The second thing I got was some software called Perfect Photo Suite by OnOne Software. I watched a demonstration of its abilities by chance as I was leaving on the first day, and was blown away at what it could do. I also found out I could get an education discount - more than half price! So after sleeping on it, I decided to get it. I'm incredibly glad I did, as it's so useful, works brilliantly alongside Photoshop and makes everything a lot easier. It makes the bridge between your creative vision and using technology to show it a lot smaller, and just speeds up your entire workflow. It's very powerful (you can remove the background behind things such as veils for example, and then put a new one in) and just a joy to use. I recommend it to anybody who's considering getting it.

PhotoTools v2.6, part of Perfect Photo Suite

As some of you may be aware, I'm now also writing for a great website called Light Stalking. I'll still write posts like this in this blog every now and then until I get my website up (where I'll have a different blog carrying on from this one) but check them out, they have a load of inspiring posts and useful hints and tips for beginners, all the way to professionals!

My new lens! A mini review.

So, as some of you may know already, I recently got myself a new lens! I saved up and got the lens I've wanted for a while - the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8. So far, it's worth every penny I paid for it, and it keeps getting better and better. I decided to give you my thoughts on it so far, a mini first impressions review I suppose :)

So what prompted me to get it? Well, aside from the obvious, recently my kit lens broke a little (well...maybe a bit more than a little). I was doing something for my 365 project at the time when I tripped on a wire near my tripod (which also stopped me from being able to work tethered, I need to get a new one) and the tripod, complete with camera and lens went crashing forwards and landed lens-first. What a nightmare! Thankfully, it landed on my shaggy rug, so the damage was minimal.

I didn't actually notice any damage until a few days later when I felt that the zoom was acting up and getting stuck. It wasn't until I was having to force the zoom to go where it was meant to and I heard a loud SNAP that I realised there was a screw or something loose and the front element was wiggling around rather happily to itself. The good news was it still auto-focused, but it wasn't quite as accurate anymore since the element was droopy and looking at completely the wrong angle (i.e., down). So on the upside, I'd accidentally created a tilt shift. On the downside, it wasn't good for much anymore. It wasn't worth replacing (kit lenses rarely are) so I figured a lens I'd had my eye on for a few months would do well as a replacement.

Enter the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8. I did a lot of research before getting this, but everything seemed to point towards me getting it. It was perfect for what I need it for, and after saving up I was finally able to buy it on Wednesday! The guy in the shop smirked as I put my card into the machine and said "I love the smell of burning plastic!" I couldn't help but laugh. It's true what they say - you forget how much you paid for it as soon as you have it. 

So far I've been in awe of what it can do. For the first time on my own camera I can actually count the stitches in a piece of fabric when not even my eyes can manage it from that distance. It's incredible at picking up detail. It's smooth, quick to focus and very well built. It looks pretty funny on my little D5000 though, it makes it look even smaller! However even with a DX sensor, the focal range is fantastic and very useable.

It's pretty heavy, though not in your hand. When it's mounted on my camera the leverage it provides makes my wrist ache after a while if I don't support the lens too, but I think that's because it's so much heavier than the body. Once I upgrade to the D700 I think it'll be pretty well balanced. I'm used to using the Phase One for hours on end in the studio without sore arms or wrists so I'm fairly sure it's just a balance issue. It's a solid lens worth every penny, and I highly recommend it.

Once I've had a chance to take some proper photos with it I'll post them here for all to see. I can't wait to put it through its paces!

My mini adventure in Cardiff

If you've been following my blog, you'll know I went to Cardiff yesterday. The only thing I had planned was roughly how to get there and back, what I was taking with me and that I'd be meeting with a friend. I didn't know when I was coming back, but I figured it was going to be sometime before dinner or until I was tired of walking around.

My day started with me getting up at 8, getting ready for the day and making sure I had everything I needed. I caught my train in plenty of time and found a window seat with a table. The sun was shining and there were lots of fluffy white clouds in the air. This was pretty good news for me, since I'd read it was going to be overcast and raining.

An hour and a half later, I got to Cardiff central. Still sunny, a little breezy, and waiting for a friend of mine to turn up. I wandered around a bit and went indoors for a while, only when I came to the doors again I noticed the floor was wet. Strange, I could have sworn it was dry before. Sure enough, as soon as I looked up I saw that the heavens had opened right over Cardiff and soaking anything and anybody unfortunate enough to be outside at the time with big heavy rain drops. Sighing, I removed my heavy kit bag, pulled out the weatherproof cover, covered the bag and put it back on my back. Of course, that then meant it stopped raining. Ah well, what can ya do?

Not long after that my friend arrived and we went to grab a coffee at Starbucks and had a chat and a catchup. We wandered around a bit and then he left to go meet up with some friends at the cinema. I was invited along, but I had work to do. So after a quick lunch at Subway, I started on my hike around Cardiff.

I soon found out it was very hard to get lost in Cardiff. At least, it is in the city centre. It's pretty well sign posted and as long as you can find the castle, everything else is easy. I ended up going around in circles once or twice but I found plenty of things to take photos of. After a few hours of soaking in the happenings on the streets, I decided I'd like to go to the museum. Why not?

So, I wandered over. My entire trip was at a pretty leisurely pace really. I found some stuff in there to photograph too. I didn't find the upper levels too interesting due to them mostly being filled with pottery and ceramics at this point in time, and a few galleries being closed for refurbishment. So, I went to the bit with fossils, rocks, butterfly collections and bones, and learnt a few things.

After that, I wandered around the natural history section. I found it pretty entertaining and interesting, seeing all the elaborate reconstructed environments and relevant fossils. I felt smart as I walked around soaking it all in, since this was all stuff I've read about and watched programs on and generally had an interest in since I was a tyke who's favourite book was an encyclopaedia on dinosaurs. I know exactly how to fortify my house against raptor attacks. [/geekmode]

Anyway. I left after about an hour (since it was closing) and took a few more photos of the building and the fountain. On my way back I found a lovely garden that fit what I was looking for and took a few snaps there too. After this, I decided I was getting tired and wanted to go home.

Unfortunately, I missed the train I was aiming for by a minute or so, so had to wait an hour for the next one. It wasn't so bad, I had one of my Doctor Who books and carried on reading. The worst thing was the chill from the wind. The hour flew by.

I unwound on the journey back by taking photos of a wonderful sunset, reviewing my photos from the day and watching Invader Zim on my laptop with my earphones in and laughing quietly to myself. All in all, it was a pretty awesome day :)

In other news, I got an email from Nikon earlier on today telling me all about their new camera, the D3100. My impressions from the email are fairly good for the price, if you're after a beginner camera. I think I'd want to wait until the price came down a little though. You can get the D5000 for under £499 which is what you pay for the D3100 body only, and the image quality is fantastic.

What I found more intriguing was that this new camera has a 14.2mp sensor. As far as I'm aware, this is the only camera from Nikon that has that amount of pixels. The next one up is 24.5mp, and the next ones down are all around 12.3mp (in the effective range anyway, my D5000 has 12.9mp, but 12.3mp when you count effective. In all honesty though, you don't notice). It's priced at £499 body only, and £579 for the kit (which includes the 18-55mm lens). I expect the price to come down in time. It goes on sale at the end of September 2010.

They've also newly released the 55-300mm DX lens. Full title, AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR. Priced at £369.99, it's around £149 more expensive than my 55-200mm from the same family. I hardly use my zoom as it is really, it has its moments, but the 55-300mm while a nice idea isn't for me personally. Not only that, I'll be upgrading before long too so a DX lens will be redundant unless it's used with my D5000. But the extended zoom does sound pretty nifty if that's what you tend towards. As I've found, VR is a must with all zoom lenses if you're not using a tripod. It's amazing what it can do. It's on sale on the 2nd of September 2010.

...and breathe

So I've gotten the BA1 fashion shoots done. Now the editing begins and I can concentrate more fully on finishing my project for next Friday. Only one person hasn't picked up their images, I'm not too sure why. I've got things to do though so they know where they can find me. It puzzles me that they'd want images and then not bother to collect them when the deadline is today. Oh well. I was getting pretty confused yesterday as I was being asked by everybody for their images and ended up giving one person the wrong images. It was because she'd done the hair on the model so I thought she'd wanted it because of that. It was soon sorted out :) I almost missed the bus yesterday and caught it just as it was pulling away. I'd have gotten there sooner but my laptop had decided that it wanted to swallow a DVD-RW at a crucial moment. After trying to launch terminal (and failing) and threatening the computer (don't we all? :P ) it finally let go and gave it back.

I got some really good images over the course of the day, and I enjoyed doing it. I'm glad I was able to help so many people and I hope they all make good use of the images. I saw some printed today, and though I know I took the images and am confident in my abilities and their quality it's funny to think that it was indeed me who took them. Seeing them printed is so different to seeing them on a screen. It was a great feeling :D

Something worth noting is the camera I ended up using yesterday due to my own camera dying on me. I ended up using the Canon 450D (as previously mentioned here), which belongs to Foundation. It got the job done and I got some interesting photos from it. I loved it when I was on foundation and I wanted to buy one. It's pretty much what introduced me to DSLR photography on a grander scale than the occasional use of my Mum's D70, so maybe it's just me being used to my Nikon D5000 (it's almost like an extension of me when I use it, I'm very familiar with it now) but I really didn't like using the 450D at all yesterday. The controls were all over the place, the light changed often and it couldn't cope, the white balance was all over the place....I think 50% was user error/not being used to it and 50% it being a lower end camera. It's a nice camera, but I think I'll stick to my Nikon. I'm going to buy a new battery for it soon to avoid a repeat of yesterday. Also, I packed my charger today! I probably won't need it but it's a good habit to form. Eventually my D5000 will become my backup camera and I'll upgrade to a D700 sometime around the end of second year. I used one once and I love it. I'd like the D3X but the price difference is something I'm not too sure I can justify. At least with the D700 I can take full frame images and afford some kick-ass lenses at the same time. Lenses is where it's all at anyway. My 50mm would finally be able to autofocus with the D700 too :D

As a side note, my Spyder USB plug has finally arrived in Switzerland. I'm hoping to get my brand new replacement Spyder in the post within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully this one will work.

Getting back into the swing of things/Focus on Imaging

As soon as I thought I was getting back into the swing of posting, I fell pretty ill and hadn't the energy for anything. I'm well on my way to recovering now though so I should be able to catch up on posts. I wrote the following about a week ago but I was still having internet trouble. That's now been resolved (at last!).

So, on Wednesday March 10th I went to an event called Focus On Imaging. It was being held in the NEC in Birmingham and it took us around 4 hours to get there. It was well worth it though. There were hundreds of stalls to go to, and it took me over an hour to go around the perimeter. I don't think I saw every single stand. Next time it may be better to go over a period of a couple of days, especially how poorly the trip was organised. Anyway, less of the negative. It was well worth the trip and resulting exhaustion at the end of the day because I managed to get my hands on some bargains. The first thing I bought was £5 worth of magazines with lovely pictures in which I figured I could look at for times when I'm feeling uninspired. They were going for £2 each but he was saying he had a deal on for students that he didn't want others to know about and asked us to keep quiet about it. They usually cost around £8 each so I managed to make a massive saving there. Walking around the stalls I saw some unusual stands, there were some massively oversized things to highlight different product features, like the zoom and face recognition. I took a snapshot with my phone of a huge camera. If you walked behind it you'd see a massive screen pointing at another stand, so if you stood in front of the lens long enough it'd show facial recognition. I tried to get a snapshot of the back but my phone ran out of memory.

               Not quite as compact as you might think!

My favourite stall there was probably the Jacob's stall, as they had so many great deals spanning 3 or 4 stalls each selling different kinds of products. I'd had my eye on a Lowepro Computrekker rucksack for quite a few months now but hadn't taken the plunge and bought one just yet. I found it there for £90 with the help of somebody working there called Rachel who was very helpful and friendly, and I managed to get the guy behind the till down to £85 (not a massive saving but as Tescos says, every little helps!) and in my opinion it's well worth the money I paid for it, even though it's still probably quite expensive for a bag. It's built to last and endure, and it holds everything I need it to. 


It has space for 2 SLRs, and around 5-6 lenses OR a compact medium format system, along with space for a large notepad computer (most 15.4" screen laptops fit, my 15" unibody macbook pro fits perfectly) and lots of room for accessories. There's loads of room in the front pocket for my lunch and some pens, paperwork, keys, phone, purse, whatever, and there's a pouch that unfolds at the front along with some bungee cord to hold a tripod snuggly in place. I found a clip inside the front pouch and after wondering what it was for, I figured it'd be perfect for keeping things I often lose in the depth of my bags in place for easy finding later, like keys, my phone and possibly my purse. There's lots of other little pockets to put things in and the ones inside the camera section are laminated mesh, so they'll be weather proof. 


The sections inside the camera compartment are fully adjustable as they attach very securely with velcro. So securely in fact, it's sometimes hard to un-attach them! On the outside at the bottom of the bag there's a compartment held closed with velcro which contains the all-weathers proof cover which stretches over the bag and can be tightened with a bungee cord. This will probably also double as an anti-theft cover as thieves would have a hard time getting into the front-most compartments without my knowing about it. All of the zippered compartments are secured even further from the outside with lips that cover the zipper and a clip that fastens over the zipper to prevent it from opening. The bag also has adjustable straps on the front attached to the bag and very padded shoulder straps which go over the sternum and across the abdomen, further aiding the comfort of wearing the bag. It has lumbar support and a padded mesh back, and a carry handle at the top. All sections inside are very padded, and I have no fears about carrying my laptop around inside of it. It's probably safer in there than in my other laptop bags! 


As you can see, I'm very very happy with it, and it has more than enough room to keep all my future lenses and bits and bobs, including my laptop, lunch, and whatever else I decide to take with me like chargers and batteries. This is great because it now means I won't have to use my college rucksack anymore (which is literally falling apart at the seams) and I'll be able to take even more around with me in complete comfort, including my lunch :)

I'm going to be lazy and link you all to the Lowepro website for an image of this, there's loads of images of it everywhere and I'm still not feeling up to faffing around with my camera much unfortunately :(

The last thing I bought was something I had looked at previously but had decided to hold out on for a while. It wasn't on my list of priorities at the moment, but as I passed the stand I couldn't help but have a look and a demonstration. It was another Jacob's stand and the item in particular that had caught my eye was the Spyder 3 Elite. The interface looked great and very easy to use, the results were good and the price was the cheapest I'd ever seen it. He was pretty unbiased from what I could see and based on him telling me that (he came across as very trustworthy, genuine and friendly, he also worked for a company that sold the other products and he had used all of them), and he made sure I understood that the Spyder series was his personal preference. A guy passed me during the demonstration and said "It's amazing, get it! Seriously, it's really really good!" and then walked back into the stall. He stopped me on my way trying to find the Calumet stall to find the Huey and Colormunki calibrators too (which was mostly unsuccessful, the place was huge and Calumet had run out. The guy telling me about the Spyder suggested I have a look at the others first) telling me that he wasn't just saying it, he was entirely serious. We had a quick chat and then I said I had to go since I was running out of time and didn't want to leave without a calibrator. 

I eventually found a stall selling something called the Xrite. It turned out that he was working for a company that owned both the other companies that sold and manufactured the Huey and the ColorMunki. I found out that the Huey was geared towards gamers and the ColorMunki was going to cost around £300, so they were both out of the window. I decided that the Xrite looked a bit cheap and it also crashed on the mac he was using, which wasn't a great selling point. The interface looked clunky and overly complicated, and I heard words like complex and tricky. It was going for £115, which was more than the Spyder 3 Pro, going for £89. It also didn't have an ambient light sensor which the Spyder Pro does, and while that isn't really necessary for my mac, it will be for future monitors I'm going to buy. He also told me that the other two calibrators were more of an entry level calibrator and his was a pro model. He didn't mention the Spyder, and after I asked him what his stance on it was, he reluctantly told me that that was his competition. The guy in the Spyder stall with his confidence in the product and generally trustworthy attitude won the sale, and in the end, as you can guess, I went for the Spyder 3 Pro for £89. By the time I'd got back to him around 10 or 15 mins later, about 3 of them had been sold - they were flying off the shelves. I can upgrade it to the Spyder 3 Elite for around £40 in the future if I really want as the hardware is the same. I'll be saving money there too as the Spyder Elite was going for £125 ish on the day, and usually sells for around £175. I was very happy with what I'd just gotten and now the next thing on my list is a tripod!

I'll be going to Focus next year too, probably over the space of a couple of days to take away the stress and exhausting nature of a day trip. It's so worthwhile going and I'd recommend it to anybody looking for a bargain. I got demo disks, there were talks and demonstrations, I entered competition draws and you get lots of helpful advice and save a lot of money. Go next year!

UPDATE: Since I wrote this my Spyder 3 Pro has stopped working. I'm going to try and get it replaced under guarantee. It was fine one day, and then all of a sudden stopped working. I have no idea what's caused it but I'm not too happy about it.

Absence...

It's been a bit quiet here recently, sorry about that. It's just I have no internet at home at the moment. I should have it back sometime next week, all going to plan. As I write this I'm sitting in college listening to tunes on Spotify.

So, what's new? Well as usual I've been taking photos of the firemen on mondays, which has now come to an end. Or has it? I've decided to carry on with the project a little beyond my college brief as I enjoy it so much, so it has life beyond this. I won't be going there this week due to them being away somewhere doing an exercise in some building, and due to health and safety reasons I'm not allowed to be there. However, the week after they're cutting up cars outside, so I'll see if I can go along and have a nosy with my camera. It sounds pretty interesting! I've also started having a go at learning how to make my website. I found a program that comes with iLife that I haven't used yet called iWeb. I'm not going to use it to make the site, but after fiddling around with it and posting the website I made in around 30 mins to a local folder, I could get more of an idea on how things worked. I'm going to have to stock up on sugary things though so I can get tech support from a friend of mine. Sweets are the agreed payment in return for help :D

Also, I had my first driving lesson yesterday! It was awesome. I took things in pretty quickly and he could see I was eager to get the car moving. I went a bit fast around corners to which he told me he could see I wasn't afraid of the accelerator. We went over and over checking the blindspots, starting the car, changing gear, slowing down, turning and stopping. I stalled a couple of times, but I soon learnt how to avoid it. It was a lot to take in in an hour and a half but he's a really good teacher and he's going to take me on a quiet road next week.

I'm going to Birmingham next week to an event called Focus. I have to be in college uber early so I'm gonna have to plan ahead for that. It's only a day trip, but I'll be trying to get some photos for the blog. It's basically a huge gathering of photographic companies trying to sell me stuff. But you do get some good deals and it may be an opportunity to network. I found some good stuff at Vision last November in London. That reminds me, I need to buy the ticket...

On to another topic, I've been using a printing company online for my Friday lecture photographs. They're called Photobox and they're really quick and have good quality 6x4 prints. To give you an idea how quick they are, I ordered my prints on a Tuesday, and they arrived on the Thursday. Very well packaged, and I'm very happy with them overall. You get the option of gloss or matt, with a border or without a border. There are other sizes available but I've only been using 6x4. When you first join you get 40 free prints. The price goes down the more you order. I think you have to reach 500 before it goes down to 5p a print, so if it's value you're after, try Asda. They have 40 free prints available online too, but the price goes down to 5p after you order 200+. I uploaded 240 6x4 photos to Asda (after a bit of hassle) and got 40 free, and since I'd reached 200, it went down to 5p per print, which meant I only paid £10. The postage was around £1.50. Have a look at http://www.freephotoprinting.co.uk/ and you'll find hundreds of free prints available to you. I can't vouch for every company, but I've had no trouble with Photobox and Asda. Have a look at the star rating for a rough idea of how good each company is. I found the page when I was in college one day convinced there was another way around paying loads of money for prints that would be used once.

In more recent news I'm going to something interesting today - since it's Fairtrade fortnight, church are making their annual huge banana split down an arcade. I'll try and get some photos and some banana split goodness. I couldn't go last time but it looks like I can this year!

My new lens! And life in general to date :)

This post is later than planned due to me forgetting I was helping out at youth yesterday. I was in college all day and then youth shortly after that and I got back pretty late, so I didn't really have the energy for writing it out. I was really tired from having a late night the night before and then waking up during it repeatedly. My sleeping patterns haven't been the best lately. Last night I had a nightmare too, so hopefully tonight will be more restful.

Anyway, I'm not going to write loads about the lens, there's loads of really good reviews on the net already so I'd just end up copying them.

So, the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 is in a word, brilliant. I've been messing around with it and I've found it's quite fun to focus it manually and watch the really narrow line of focus move on the live view. It gives me pictures that are similar to the kind you get with a tilt shift lens and it's pretty impressive. It's very easy to use and has gives a high image quality which is nothing less of expected since it's a prime lens. No moving parts usually means better optics due to not having to compromise for other focal lengths. That's why the bigger macro lenses cost an arm and a leg. Here's a couple of pictures I've taken with the lens so far at f1.8. I've not done any shoots with it yet so they're just things (and dogs) around the house:

The lens is really light, compact and sturdy. Some people complain that it's made of plastic and is pretty tight fitting on the camera body compared to other lenses, but I don't see what the fuss is all about. Lenses are delicate bits of equipment at the best of times even if they're encased in steel, so anybody in their right mind isn't going to throw it around and will be careful to not drop it. It's very tough plastic, when I'm not really thinking about it I sometimes mistake it for metal. I quite like how tight it is on the body, and after taking it on and off a few times it doesn't seem to be as bad. I see it as a sign of good workmanship and I rest assured in the knowledge that it isn't going anywhere once it's on. It's not going to damage anything so I don't worry about it since it's made by Nikon for Nikon cameras. I'm fairly sure they know what they're doing ;)

Here's a couple of pictures I took of the lens:

Overall, it's a very good lens, probably worth twice as much as I paid for it due to its usefulness and quality. I paid just over £100 for mine on Amazon, and I've seen it go down in price since. Kinda gutting to see something you've just bought suddenly become cheaper, but oh well :) To echo what others have said, it's probably difficult to find such a good lens at such a low price. I was tempted to get the f1.4 but deep down I just couldn't justify spending around £300 on a lens that opened 2/3 of a stop wider, was built out of metal and had weird distortion going on that the f1.8 doesn't have. It was only fractionally sharper at f2.8 than mine at f2.8 and just didn't seem worth it. I find f1.8 soft enough for most photos where I want a shallow depth of focus, f1.4 would probably be exceptionally difficult to tackle.

So, that's my new lens. I got teased about it in college by the tutors - I think they think I'm in love with it or something. Well, I am pretty pleased about it :D

In other news, the photos I ordered on Asda arrived this morning in a big brown parcel. Wasn't expecting that, I thought it'd be much smaller! I also got a letter from college telling me I'd been awarded a bursary/scholarship fee of just over £300 to help with the costs of everything on my course. I applied for it back in September/October and forgot all about it so it was a nice surprise to wake up to. I'll get it at the start of March.

I've also done something I've been threatening to do for a while - posted my provisional license application! I can't wait to start having driving lessons. That's something else I've been saving money for. I hope I pass my test this year! Something else I'm finding exciting is thinking up locations for photoshoots I can do in the very near future. Like in the next month. I've got a pretty big list so far of places to use in the local area thanks to a brainstorming session with my mum :) I was feeling pretty uninspired by the surrounding area so she helped to open my mind and my imagination to new ideas and other ways of looking at things. She's great! ^^

One of the things I could well be doing is a fireman calendar for charity. It'd sell like hot cakes :P