I’ve been doing some more thinking about the site for my photography that I was writing about yesterday.

Basically, the question that came up was this : Do I make it into a photoblog like Chromasia, DDOI et al, or do I have it as a simple portfolio site, just to show off what I can do, along with contact details, etc.?

I can’t deny, I’ve always kind of liked the idea of a photoblog (I hate that word, but can’t come up with a better one at the moment. Hey Ho) although it does have the potential downside of not updating every day, or – to my mind even worse – the intention of adding a new shot every day, but never quite managing to do so. Combined with that is the part of me that worries about diluting “the brand”, or similarly of diluting the strength of some of the images by just having one every day, so some are great and others merely so-so.

As for having it as “just” a portfolio, that quite appeals too. It’d certainly be simpler, and (in theory at least) a lot less work than a constantly updated site with new photos all the time. This is of particular relevance at the moment, where I can’t deny that my motivation is pretty rock-bottom and merely ticking over, and also where I’m away from home for four nights a week. While this should give me the time to get a lot of stuff done, I can’t deny that at the moment it’s leaving me a bit numb, and slightly “CBA” about the entire thing.

So I think that for now it’s likely I’ll leave the site as “just” a portfolio site, where a selection of my better/favourite photos can be viewed, rather than doing stuff for it every day.

Although, of course, that doesn’t mean that at some point in the future I won’t add in a PhotoBlog section…

Semi-linked to the post about buying a macro lens for the camera, and also to the infamous resolutions for the year, I’m also still working on putting together a “portfolio” of sorts.

When we went to the Autumn Fair at the NEC, one of my main things for the event was to find some of the publishers that were at the show, and find out both what kind of thing they were looking for, and also how one goes about submitting work to them. And to a man, they said “Well, we find it’s best now to have a website that shows off what you do – if we like it, we’ll be in touch”

So that’s one of the things I’m working on. I’ve managed to get a decent .com domain name, and it’s also one that combines with my normal “self-employed” company name stuff, which makes things a lot easier. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but it means I can keep some form of “branding” between the two entities, if I should decide to do so, and it also means that it’s an identifiable link. Which, in general, is fine with me.

I’ve got some ideas for the site, but I think I may also need to plunder some people for design ideas as well, as design is most definitely my weak-spot when it comes to websites and, well, anything else, too.

Over the weekend, I gave in to temptation, and ordered myself the Macro Lens I’d been thinking about.

So, I’m now the proud owner (well, I will be when it arrives) of a Canon 100mm EF f2.4 Macro Lens – and no, I didn’t order it from Jessops, but their site had a decent page that described the lens, rather than the appaling site of the place I did buy it from. I’ve used them before, and the service I got was fine, despite the site, so on this occasion I’m going to go with them again.

At the same time, I also ordered a second battery for the camera – I figure it’s best to have two, which’ll keep me going whenever necessary.

So, that’s one resolution out the way, anyway.

So, before long I really need to get a couple of things for the camera – but the question is which should I get first?

I know I want/need a decent flashgun, but also with the stuff I do a lot of (and intend to get more done over the next few months) is the macro close-up stuff again.

I can get away with not needing a decent wide-angle lens for a while, as I’ve got the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera, and I can do a fair amount of work with that before I need to do anything else.

So really it comes down to : a) Macro Lens or b) Flashgun.

Which first?

So, in less than a month’s time, I’m going to be thirty-fucking-five. How scary is that?

In the time between now and then, I’m working on getting a few things set up so that I can get going with my plans for the next five year period, and start getting some of those ideas off the ground.

Should be interesting, and more about it as the time comes closer, I’m sure.

In less than two months, I’m going to be hitting the ripe old age of thirty-fucking-five. Without meaning to sound overly negative, it’s not an age I ever really envisaged myself getting to. Now, however, it doesn’t seem too bad. Well, with the exception of feeling like I’m getting – well – if not old then older. Which is kind of scary in itself.

Anyway, along the way, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do and so on. There’s a few things on the list (some of which is remarkably similar to the stuff on the resolutions) and when you also include the changes that are going on at the moment anyway, with house, job, etc., well, it seems like a good place and time to look at that kind of thing.

Really, I think at the moment that it’s about seting up a timescale. I want to try out a fair number of things over the next few months and years, and see whether any of them work out properly. But the general idea is that over the next five years I’m going to try as many ideas as possible that have any potential of success, and work to make them profitable.

Of course, one of the secrets of making them profitable is to spend a bare minimum on them (although enough to give them all a fair crack of the whip) so that when/if they make money, then they don’t need to make much in order to recoup the costs. After that, well, it’s all cream really.

So there’s a whole bundle of ideas that I intend to working on, and if they don’t work out, well, I don’t intend to be breaking my fiscal back with any of them. There’s a few website ideas that will be getting developed, most of which have so far not had anyone else working on them, even though I’ve had the ideas for a while. Of course, I don’t yet know whether that means that a) they’re good ideas that no-one else has figured out, or b) really, really bad ideas that’ve been tried and already failed. (The cynical side of me expects it’s B, but only time will tell) The first of those ideas is/was Where’s Good, which is slowly coming together.

As well as the websites, though – and at the end of the day, the fiscal investment in those will run to maybe £200-250 per site, along with some development time etc., but money wise that’ll do the job, and keep it going for a year, at which point it’ll be assessment time – there’s other ideas I still want/need to try out. Primary among those is the photography work, and seeing how things go on that score. Financially the camera and photographic gubbins is the biggest investment, what with the camera itself and the necessary lenses and accessories, I’ll probably end up putting about £2,500 in that direction (although most of that’s already been spent on the camera body and current lenses). At the same time, though, the photography is something I enjoy doing anyway, so I’m not hugely worried about the expense – it’ll be worth it, even if we “just” use the photos for our own walls, and maybe those of friends etc. But at the same time, well, it’d be nice to be able to sell them commercially – yeah, maybe it’s some kind of artistic prostitution, but there we go – and also to do some commission work, similar to the stuff I produced for the charity in Manchester.

And then there’s also the other creative ideas, the things I want to do with writing, and other experimental stuff. And there’s a couple of other ideas in the background as well that I want to try out. I know that one of them has been kind-of done before, but at a price so extortionate that they priced themselves out of the market. Of course, that pretty much buggers up anything I could do with regards to product protection, patents and so on, and keeps the idea open to some very heavy competiton, but at the same time, well, being first on the market and building things that way might work out as well. We’ll see.

Anyway, the basic plan is that I’m going to be working on these things, these ideas, over the next five years. And if none of them work out? Well, I’m giving it that five years, and if by then nothing’s worked out to be profitable enough to keep us going then I’ll have to reassess, and look at perhaps settling down to a “proper” job, and working from that, if nothing else.

But time will tell. I think it’s a pretty good start, taking 40 as a target, a point to aim for. And we’ll just see how it goes.