Journeys and Destinations

"You can't get hung up on what you think your 'real' destination is. The journey is just as important" - Steve McCurry, Photojournalist

First night, wander miles through the suburbs of Tromso, trying in vain to find somewhere dark to stop. Hilly place, camera and tripod heavy. Not really sure where I'm going, not really sure what I'm looking for. After about 2 hours I admit I'm not walking out of the city and head back to the centre. Decide to practice some night shots at harbour side. It's not especially picturesque but it will do. Couple of shots then pack up. Hang on, why's that hilltop green? No way! Scramble stuff out, stick fast lens on, guess settings. Wow!! 20 mins of shots and I SAW it. Pack up and continue wandering. Hour later, you know, that hill is green again! More pics. Over the cathedral too. First night, so lucky.

Fast forward 24 hours. Out with guide and some other visitors from UK. Drive around for hours, get some great scenery pics but no lights. Really doesn't matter, it's part of the journey. Cold though. Get home at 02:30.

And another 24 hours, guide takes pity on poor soul and takes him out again. Top man! Drive round yet more incredible coastline but tonight it's the cloud conspiring against us. Still, persevere, it's like fishing! And eventually it's rewarded, so faint, almost invisible to naked eye, but the camera can capture it! Reflected in the lake. Loving it! But loving the scenery and the company and the experience just as much.

In between times I'm walking miles around Tromso, visiting museums and galleries, taking in the place. It's not the most photogenic city, it's a working port in the Arctic Circle not a choc box alpine town, but it has its own appeal for that. And the people are so very hospitable. Did I mention it has its own brewery too??

My indefatigable guide, Kjetil Skogli, has invited me along again tonight just cos he's going out anyway. Tomorrow I'm doing a three hour coach trip out of Tromso so I can do a four hour boat trip back! Then I start working out my next journey. Destinations are just way-points...

The tension mounts...

After a long old trip I'm finally in tromso. Delayed three hours on the way due to the fog in rygge but it's all part of the deal.

Tromso seems nice but I've only seen one street so far. However the hotel owner has hooked me up with a guide for tomorrow night. Apparently he took Joanna Lumley out on her programme. But I bet they all say that. They did say to bring your passport!

Just had the world's largest (and maybe most expensive) jägermeister. It's true the alcohol is stupidly expensive. So are the taxis. However the coffee and the wifi seem to be largely free.

I'm off for some dinner and a wander in the park. You never know what you might see in the night sky...

Of opportunities and the Northern Lights

"In life, just as in sport, you must never ever let an opportunity go" - Laurent Fignon (1960-2010), twice winner of the Tour de France

There's quite a long story behind this trip. Well not that long so bear with me...

Not long after Vodafone left me I was chatting to some friends about the reality of my situation when one of them (Sam, northern, knows me better than myself!) challenged me. She wanted to know what was the one thing, of all the things I could do, what was the one single thing I wanted to do? I thought for only a second or two then with utter conviction said "I want to see the Northern Lights". Don't ask me why this was the one thing that bubbled to the surface at that particular moment, but it IS something I have been fascinated by since I learned about them as a child. And now I could create an opportunity to try and photograph them :)

The next thing that happened was Billy offering me a trip to see the world cup in South Africa that clashed with another trip I had already planned to Bratislava (love travel, tough life!). So I suddenly had a return Sleazy Jet flight to Vienna that I needed to move to somewhere else. So I did. Late sun? Early snow? Nah!! After hours of painstaking research (well a quick scan of the genius that's wikipedia) I booked a flight to as far north as Sleazy Jet could get me. Gothenburg!

So here I am sitting on the train from Goth to Oslo, the sky is clearing, I'm told there might be some chance of activity, and tomorrow I fly to Tromso, inside the arctic circle. And I have NO idea what to expect, whether I'll be able to see them, whether I'll be able to photograph them. To be honest it doesn't matter because I'm going to be seeing somewhere totally new to me. It's hugely exciting and really quite liberating to just travel like this, without a package tour rep, chalet host, charter flight or tedious coach transfer in sight. Beach hols just aren't for me!!

Staying in Rygge tonight, earlyish flight tomorrow. Bet I don't sleep!!

Daydreaming

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" - Eleanor Roosevelt

Well it's been a week since I returned from my South African adventures, and much of the week has revolved around watching the World Cup and processing the wildlife pictures. Which set me a-thinking...

So as you know, if you know me in any way at all, I LOVE sport. I mean really love it. Almost any sport (possibly excepting Show Jumping but even the Puissance holds its charms). And it gives me a real buzz to photograph sport.

As you also know if you've been reading this blog, I was blown away by last week's trip. People have often said to me how much I would love a safari, and I was always a bit "yeah yeah", but no, they were so right. And going through the pictures led me to start to realise why. Because I got the same buzz from photographing animals as I do from sport. 

To my mind they are very similar disciplines. You have to make sure everything with the camera is right before hand, react quickly, and trust your instincts and ability to get the right shot at the right time. You can't expect to frame everything perfectly, you can't organise the participants, you just have to try and second guess what is coming next. And 10% of the shots might work!

But get it right and you can capture some wonderful candid moments...

...show genuine emotion...

...amazing formations...

...dynamism...

...given the right sport, some incredible landscapes...

...and monkeys!

So I'm forming some dreams about combining these two areas. I'm not quite sure how they'll pan out, but you know I will share with you as soon as I have a clue! Suffice to say, as Eleanor said in the quote at the start of this piece, I think they could be really beautiful :-)

Warthogs, White Rhino and Wayne Rooney

Some words to describe South Africa – shattered, knackered, exhausted, sleep-deprived, out on my feet, non-stop, noisy (vuvuzelas!)

Some other words to describe South Africa – incredible, fantastic, amazing, beautiful, friendly, stunning, astonishing, awe-inspiring, I could go on. And on. And on.

Some words to describe my feelings – elated, ecstatic, euphoric, bloody thrilled.

I’m truly blown away by this place. Well yes I am staying in a game reserve and you may argue I’m not seeing the “real” South Africa, but still… I mean it’s about the only time I can remember getting up at 5:30am because I want to! Bush drive starts at 6:15 and I’m not missing them for anything. Then there is the afternoon drive too. I mean it’s a choice. Wild game animals or footie on telly. Absolutely no contest whatsoever. The chance to be just yards away from White Rhino, Elephants, Cheetah, Giraffes, Impala, Warthogs (man they’re funny!), Gazelle, Zebra, Hippos, Ostrich, and a full pride of lions. Well I’m afraid it beats the Three Lions for me!

Have taken so many photos, learned so much while doing it too. And it’s not exactly easy even if you are so close to the animals. I mean they always seem to get themselves just behind the blade of grass that turns your potentially award-winning photo (in your dreams) into something that looks just a little odd. And they move. A lot. So you have to be quick and lucky. Luckily I’ve been quite lucky ;) But I’ve also done pretty well in terms of getting my technique right (high ISOs in the morning, gradually dropping as the ride goes on, smaller apertures so the entire animal’s face is in focus, use fill in flash at dusk so the lion’s yawn looks epic!). Currently trying to sift through them all so can out some on Flickr, FB etc, I hope you’ll all love them. The feedback I’ve been getting here has been really positive so that augers well :)

Oh yeah, there was some footie. A 7 hour coach ride to a suburb of a smallish town, stadium the size of Anfield (but very nice), and an awful display from England. What was good was, even though there were still a few English meat-heads in evidence, most of the people there were really good, supported the team, stayed quiet during the US anthemn and generally enjoyed it. Apart from the score. But hey, it really, really doesn’t matter. Football might be coming home but I might not!


I gotta go, it’s the afternoon safari in a minute and we still need to see buffalo and leopards! I mean you see one lion you’ve seen them all ;)

Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky man!

Now and Next...

It has been a hectic couple of weeks but it all feels really positive. At the same time I have to keep reminding  myself that things don't just happen and I have to keep plugging away, getting little victories and positive outcomes that make you feel you are achieving your goals.

I was really pleased with the pictures I took last week around Newbury and I think these demonstrate how I am developing my skills and my style. If you didn't see my Facebook, I basically set myself the challenge of finding as many interesting things as I could in half an hour on a Friday afternoon in Newbury. And you know what, if you walk round with your eyes open there is LOADS going on! Flickr Newbury

And the other set that pleased me were the ones of Liz, or rather Liz's eyes! That was her brief, which I challenged back with "find me some pics you like and I'll try and reproduce". I loved that way of working and hope I can do much more stuff like that. See for yourself with the later pictures in this set: Flickr Liz

After the last post, you guys have also given me some great leads which I want to follow up on. Cheers for that.

So that's one side of the tale, the other is the business aspect. It was starting to trouble me a bit that I wasn't doing enough of this, but two things happened today that really got my enthusiasm up; I was asked to join a chat about business marketing which reminded me that I do know about this stuff and I can make it work for me (the chat was about someone else's business but every question I asked, I knew applied to mine too). The other thing was a chat with my friend Hannah, who is training to be a coach. These chats always make me realise how much I'm achieving and help me frame my next steps. She's going to be a great coach when she qualifies!

So what's next? Well trip of a lifetime to be honest! South Africa, World Cup, bit of golf and lots of safari! I cannot wait for the safari bits.What an opportunity to practice and hone my skills. Gonna be great, and a chance to do lots more blogging! You lucky, lucky people!! ;)

(Realise this is open but if anyone is thinking of robbing me, everything of value will be with me in SA, and my cat is savage!)

So here we go. Deep breath...

So I'm turning the Lejog blog (ooh nice rhyme!) into a record of what I hope will be my own journey into photography as a career. Under no illusions, this is going to be hard, but the Lejog trip showed me I'm really up for this. Since getting back I have been working out next steps and thinking about what I need to do. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not actually just spending my redundancy time sitting round, lying in, drinking coffee and recovering from nights out. Not every day anyway ;) But I must confess, it doesn't really feel like work! However I think that can only be a really positive thing and is showing me that I think I have a passion for this beyond just having fun, and I can make it happen.

So key things at the moment are:

1) learning more and more about photographic theory, which means reading, asking anyone who knows anything lots of questions (sorry if you are one of the people I keep hassling!) and continuing the modules on the Online course I have started. That is proving challenging, fun and incredibly useful as it is making me think much more about what I'm trying to achieve with every single shot, to understand why things work out and not just leave it to chance and hope. Then there is getting sharper with Photoshop and other post-processing tools. All essential skills. On the positive side again, figured out watermarking today :) And then big question is what do I specialise in. I say big question, but I really love doing Sport and I really love doing Portraits. And cityscapes! And landscapes! And pets! But much of the advice I'm getting is to focus on becoming really good at a genre, and I think that is right. Decisions, decisions.

2) working out a business plan. In some ways this is more straightforward, in others it is really tricky. The Marketing side of it I would like to think I can crack ;) Still, needs me to sit down and map it all out. But am making some headway, have created my own web domain and Gerald is putting together what is looking like a really ace website for me! Really can't wait for it to be finished (no pressure tho, mate!). But then there is a whole host of other things to work out and this is the trickier bit, not least because I don't know so much about setting up and running a business. Been too cossetted in the corporate world! But it's also exciting and I have loads of great friends who do run their own businesses, and I just know they will help point me in the right direction (massive hint there!!). Actually since redundancy all my friends have been just brilliant in helping and advising me. Really appreciate it :)

So enough ramblings for now, but I'm going to leave you with one question, the business is I think going to be called Markham Photography (Friday evening decision in the Canal Bar with some of the finest marketing brains Newbury has to offer), but am I gonna be Dave Markham, (Photographer) or Widge (Photographer)?? I love the nickname Widge, but is it right for this? What do you think?? You decide...

Stage 8 - Alness to John O'Groats

So reflections on the final day. Riders a bit stair crazy, making little sense before the start. Theory that they have all turned into darren! Lost them early on as I passed them overtaking a truck and didn't see that they had stopped for yet another 'comfort break' Or roadside wee. Mad dash back. Some lovely pics before lunch but then after lunch it just got better and better. What a beautiful road and coastline. Lying on hairpin bend with liz making me put high vis jacket on. Great shot tho, might even make darrens wall! Beccy literally lying two feet from the road for a pic as traffic went by at 70. Ice creams at lybster harbour which we found utterly randomly trying to find loo. Beautiful place. Climbing roadside rock face while they are 20 yds away just to get overhead shot. Sheep everywhere. Golf courses everywhere. Sun is out, sky is blue, and yes it was beautiful. Wick, nearly missed jon's distillery but liz spotted it. Keep going north north north. Fewer and fewer houses. So very far! And then.... JoG 3 miles!! Race to beat them, get the photo as they ride in. Get ripped off to pay to take photo at the sign!! Cheers, applause, a beer. And then... A strange feeling of sadness cos it's all over and my life is a journey not a destination. Soon passed. Starts raining while bikes are put away, overhead a rainbow appears. In glorious technicolour! Take one last look at JoG, across to the orkneys. Truly a beautiful, wonderous place, the most north this northerner has ever been. I will return. Back into car, stopped for some amazing scenery pics as sun went down. 105 miles back to campsite where we are in the bunk house not tents. Such luxury! Fish and chips, more beer, garralous chat, suddenly everyone spent. Bed and the end of a magnificent journey. The last 8 days or so have simply been one of the best experiences of my life. We live in a beautiful, fantastic, amazing country and I saw the entire length of it! Britain is great! You really should see it sometime. Thanks for reading

Stage 7 - Oban to Alness

Yesterday was a pretty steady day I think. Climbed a few cliffs next to road, stood in the middle of the road while they did 40kph past me, and generally took in the amazing highland scenery. The boys cycled past lochs linnhe, lochy, oich and ness. All in all v spectacular. Liz and I also getting better at judging the traffic patterns caused by 5 cyclists on windy highland roads!!

Last night we also had a lodge to ourselves so was nice not to have to sleep on a rapidly deflating airbed! Yes, the puncture's back :(.

Currently halfway to JoG having lunch at Helmsdale. The a9 round the coast has been epic today. Final push now. Must remember to stop in wick to get jon's special whisky for his celebration!!

Stage 6 - Prestwick to Oban

Cycling is their passion. I can understand that. I don't share it in the same way but I can relate to it. Golf is mine. Which is why I will get up at silly o clock in the freezing cold, spend stupid money, and travel miles just to play. So when someone books a campsite next to one of the most historic courses in the game, I simply cannot resist. Prestwick held the first 12 Open championships, the biggest and oldest tournament. In all it has held 24 opens but the last was in 1925. Spookily the man who founded my club in 1975 is on the start sheet displayed in the clubhouse for that 1925 Open!

I got to play Prestwick today and it was brilliant to think ALL the early greats of golf trod those same fairways, and indeed many of the modern greats will have done too, probably, like me, in deference to this astonishing history. I felt privileged and humble.

I guess this is one way golf and cycling are similar, alongside the passion of the participants, in that you can play exactly the same places as the biggest names in the sport. Not many sports give that chance but I can play prestwick or birkdale or st Andrews if I choose. Likewise the boys could cycle the tour de France route, or Paris-roubaix, or the giro. Maybe that's the next challenge ;)

So no cycling photos today but some golf history shots, plus some nice views I took on the drive here after golf. Oh and I also played Dundonald today. Really rate that if you are near Irvine. See? Passion!

Drove here round loch lomond then the A85. That may be the best road iv ever driven on! Lots of fun ;) More tomorrow and back to following the cyclists.

Stage 5. Penrith to prestwick

Another day another few hundred miles! We set off pretty soon after the riders today so as not to miss the entrance into Scotland. That's a whole other country you know!! As it was jon hit it so fast that I missed him. Still, got some of the others so that's ok. Spent today experimenting really. Wide angle shots, tripod for long shutters to blur the riders, clambering over peat bogs to get tree shots, standing on roadside Walls with fifteen foot drops! All good fun, some of it worked, some of it didn't but I'm learning more all the time.

The riders are fighting thru the pain and I imagine, the boredom. Still getting the odd wave and smile to ruin the gritty atmosphere of the shots but I sense they are finding it more tedious now. Still, might mean I get the angst pics ;).

I also managed a personal 'pilgrimage' to Glenbuck, the birthplace of Bill Shankly which was about 30 miles off route. You may not get this cos it's footie but I must admit I found it quite moving to see the monument to him in the village. I say village but actually there are no houses left in this old mining community, just the memorial and the mine. He was a massive influence on my dad and how I grew up. You can keep your religion and your politics, he spoke more powerfully to us than anyone. I'm so glad I went to see it. Not sure about liz, I dragged her along too ;)

Eventually arrived in prestwick and finished the photo day with some nice pics of arran and aisla craig. Tomorrow I get a "day off" cos I'm planning to play golf at prestwick and Troon :) two open courses in one day! Yay!!

Stage 4 - Cheshire to Cumbria

Sorry for the delay but yesterday was long day for this support crew!! Had my first puncture on Sunday night so air bed deflated after midnight!! Bit of faffing and some gaffer tape sorted that. Genius stuff, take it everywhere with me!

Frankly the morning stage was uninspiring from a photography point of view and I'm told, from a riding point of view. Warrington, newton-le-willows, Ashton, Wigan, standish. Ok it's my neck of the woods but not my favourite bits of it! Was also cold and wet so my planned stop for coffee with my dad in Preston turned into a full team break instead. And very pleasant it was too. Nice pub, on the route, nice covered area out front with heaters!! Perfect. Black Bull in Fulwood if anyone is passing. Nice to see my dad too.

On to lunch in Lancaster but for this support crew it was a secret hoon to Blackpool to pick up Gavin so he could offer some support and his unique brand of advice to the boys! "Do Shap in one gear only!" Then drop Gavin back off, turn round and do lakes.

Shap. Up there with alp d'huez and mont ventoux for striking fear into the hearts of hardened riders. 1400ft climb over about 10 miles. The boys romped it and job won king of the mountains!! I got some nice pics too!

So on to Penrith for the night, so cold there was frost on the inside of the tent. But my bed stayed up at least :)

Boys have just set off fo Ayr and I need to catch them before the border!! Laterz

Stage 3

Apparently that was meant to be an easy stage but i think they felt it a bit. Glos to cheshire. But look at it this way, take my normal drive home to Liverpool, knock a couple of miles off each end then cycle it! But at the same time I think they loved today's stage! Some great scenery if they were looking.

My basic drill is let them get going, after an hour head out after them in the car and chase them down with drinks and energy bars, then get a few miles down the road and wait for them to pass by and grab a few pics! Then keep shuttling in front and snap them. Today's spots included a traffic island, a railway bridge, a level crossing, a footbridge, lying on my back in a car park, on my side on a roadside verge, and knee high in nettles to get the Cheshire border shot! And you know what? I'm loving it :) And still get a little tingle of excitement when we see them in the distance, then bit of panic when I realise how bloody fast they are approaching. I hope my shots are improving but still can't get them uploaded due to dongle issues :(. Seem to be getting the black and White reportage pics to a tee now tho.

Penrith tomorrow via Preston, and hopefully lunch with me dad. Watch this space and if you haven't already then please please please sponsor the boys @ www.justgiving.com/badajapadlejog. Approaching the 3k target :) A bientot!!

Stage 2

To be honest I don't really know how they did that. Well over 200km with about 2400m of ascent. Ok yeah so there's a descent too but it was into a cold cold headwind all day. And it rained. A lot. These boys are just amateurs, part timers who love cycling. And yet what they are doing is beyond most people's levels of will power and dedication. Including mine. So you really should support them with a few quid on JustGiving!

So we managed to track them down in Devon, got some great shots in the rain of some very varied emotions and action! I tried a few things and am generally pretty chuffed with the results. Sadly no wireless here so can't share til tomorrow!!

Stopped at darren's folks in Bridgwater for slap up lunch, caught them beneath Glasto Tor then lost them in Wells! I think the baby eating bishop got them! 45 mins standing on cold with a great photie lined up then found them again just outside brizzle, more nice shots, then off to camp in Slimbridge. Still cold, still wrong wind, still heavy showers! But lovely pub next to camp site and a couple of Dorset golds should see me snoring like a good un again.

Cheshire tomorrow, I'll try and get today's pics up!

P.s. I hate iPhone scrabble and have proper deleted it!!!!!

Stage 1

We woke up this morning to a deluge and to be honest I feared a bit that they wouldn't even get going! But nutters that they are, they hit the road at the appointed hour and the weather cleared up nicely. The official photographer then left his main camera behind with the support crew, but we got along til lunchtime on the spare! Was great fun tracking the "peleton" down and trying to follow the route and spent most of the afternoon getting past them, stopping for some photos, then chasing them down again! They worked really hard today with a lot of hills and I'm glad I was in the car!

Pics? Well to be honest some are ok, but it was hard work and too many were out of focus for my liking! Still, weather permitting I get to do it all again tomorrow! Little Torrington to Slimbridge (nr Stroud) tomorrow, via Darren's folks for lunch :) 3 counties and 214K! Good luck to them!

Prologue

So here we are at the camp site, easy drive, quick trip to Newquay airport to pick phil up. Watergate bay looked lovely with nice clean sets! I MUST go surfing again :). Got to Lands End just before sunset which means I have some lovely pics. Just can't post them yet!! But was a v special experience and one would def recommend if you ever get the chance. Got back to camp site to find tent pitched, dinner on and beer cracked. Lovely :)

The night before the Lejog!

And nothing was stirring. Well to be honest Bryan is excited, Liz is excited and I'm excited! So thought a little blog would be a nice thing to do, and also mebbe to post some pics too. So this is a test to see! Keep watching...