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!)