Five Year Plan: 20% done
Part One – What/How I’ve done
Posted: Sun 4 November, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Purchase, House Work, Photography Leave a comment »
So, I’m now one year through that five year plan. Which means that – fucking hell! – I must now be thirty-six. The last six months haven’t been quite so productive as the first six, but that’s because there also turned out to be a lot of other stuff occurring that wasn’t on the initial set of plans. You know, things like “buy house”, “work on house”, “work on garden”, that kind of thing. It’s meant that in some ways I hit a bit of a pause, but in others I’ve been productive as hell.
Of course, the first year was always going to be about groundwork, getting a load of the basics out of the way so that the next two or three years can make more progress. Well, that’s the concept. Whether it’ll work out like that or not, I don’t know.
Anyway, here’s the list that I wrote up for last November 5th, so let’s see how it’s all gone – the comments are in italics, in case you hadn’t guessed…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
still deciding whether I really need one. Maybe soon. Finish the Portfolio website
Completed, and with extra uploads on a fairly regular basis- Sell/Publish some stuff
Working on it, submitting it, and had one used in the Killarney page of an on-line guide to Ireland, although not for any money. - Join a local club
Still haven’t really found one. There’s a local club, but *shrug* I dunno. Get a decent flash
Done, a Speedlite 580EX- Start aiming to get work and projects
Started, and ongoing. I’ve sent out some initial letters to a couple of places regarding projects, and I’ll be sending out more over the next month or so.
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing
still working on it, although not all that quickly - When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
Reliant on #1 being completed - Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Finish at least one piece of writing
- Work / Websites
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
working on it, and getting some of them sorted - Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server
done- Start getting better at invoicing for work done
in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently - Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
In progress – I’ve formed a couple of small collaborations, and they seem (so far) to be working well
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
- Education
Sign up with Open University
initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
Yeah, OK, ‘Education’ is going to be the category that falls off the radar for ’07/’08, I’m afraid – mainly due to motivation issues, but also down to the fact I’m permanently busy doing other stuff. As such, any progress on this one is going to be a way off in the future
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
Made all the enquiries, booked to go and do it, but not yet got round to attending. I suck.Move to NorfolkSort out work in NorfolkBuy houseStart work on house, garden- I must say here, Herself has been the prime organiser of most (if not all) of the stuff below. We’ve got a long way so far, and there’s still a long way to go, but most of it is down to Herself’s organisation rather than mine
Wood BurnerWood PileMaking house initially liveable-inInitial sort out of garden, lawn, veg patchDealing with various electrical issues etc.
Get Planning Permission for house alterationsGet Building Regs for hourse alterations
all doneBuy a car
Bought, insured, taxed, driven it for about 10,000 miles already
Moving posts
Posted: Sun 14 October, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography Leave a comment »I’m in the process of changing some things on D4D™ Primarily, I’m going to be taking the “photography” posts out of here, and moving them over to my portfolio site. For the moment at least, I’m not going to be ‘photoblogging’, but I am going to be doing a blog (although probably not a daily-updating one) on the site.
In general, I think it’ll make sense to move the posts for that over to the portfolio site, and maintain some separation between D4D™ and my other stuff. If nothing else, it’ll add some more content to the portfolio site, which makes sense and may (over time drag more people there.
I may also move some of the shots stuff there, which is part of the greater “D4D™ redesign/rethink” idea that I’ve been chuntering about for a while. It would make sense to move things about, as there’re whole sections that I don’t update at all, and perhaps would if they were easier to do – despite the fact that that’s a pathetic reason, considering I’m a techie, and could do it all easily anyway. But all the same, moving it all into something more sensible makes sense.
So anyway, yes, some (if not all) of the photography stuff will be heading over to the portfolio site over the next week or so, and then photography-based stuff is more likely to sit there than here.
Better to be lucky than good
Posted: Sat 13 October, 2007 Filed under: Photography Leave a comment »Over the last three months or so, there’s been a field that I travel past fairly regularly that I’ve wanted to take some photographs in. It’s nothing special, just a large field with a whole load of hay bales in, but it’s very photogenic.
However, I’ve also had in my head a particular image that I wanted to get – kind of related to the long-exposure stuff I’ve banged on about before – that just wasn’t going to happen. Regardless, every time I’ve gone past that field, I’ve thought “I really must come out and take some photos before they bring all that hay in” , and then not been organised, or forgotten, or any number of other reasons.
Last weekend, I finally got round to going and taking the photos. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the one I specifically wanted, but all the same I figured it would be better to get at least something, rather than just being annoyed that I’d missed all the opportunities. So I took a bundle of photos, and got a few that worked and looked good along the way.
As it is, I got lucky on my timing – I went past again during the week, and they were bringing in the hay. In the end I’d managed to get my photos by a matter of days. I’ll be more organised next year, and hopefully get a couple of sets – including, just maybe, that ideal shot that I have in my head, and that I’d love to turn into reality.
Louise Bourgeois
Posted: Sat 22 September, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Photography Leave a comment »Ooooh, Tate Modern has an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois’ work from October to January – I think I may have to go.
I’ve seen her stuff before a couple of times – once at the Serpentine Gallery, and once at Tate Modern – and think it’s genuinely fantastic, so it’s pretty much a certainty for me to go and see this one.
And what with the Henry Moore exhibition at Kew (which I already know I’m taking my father to see) well, it may be a bit of an arty winter…
Wood Pile
Posted: Thu 20 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden, Photography 1 Comment »So, all the wood from the delivery on Monday is now stored in the wood pile. Twenty wheelbarrow loads, and this is what it looks like. (Apologies for the ropy cameraphone image, but there we go)
I have to say, I’m really quite pleased with it. And yes, I so need to get out more…
Long Exposure
Posted: Wed 19 September, 2007 Filed under: Photography Leave a comment »Recently I’ve been starting to look at doing some photos at night, which requires much longer exposures. As it is, I’ve got the necessary stuff – a decent tripod, and the PClix that I got a while ago to manage long exposures.
I’ve had the PClix (pronounced pee-clicks, apparently) for a year or so now and never really got round to using it properly. It’s a clever little device, entirely programmed by two numbered wheels, and one button – although that means there’s quite a learning curve to the thing, and it’s one that I’m only just starting on, to be honest.
The minorly annoying part is that because I didn’t really get round to using the Pclix until the last couple of weeks, I’ve missed out on taking some of the photos I was planning to take this year – but that’s no great hardship, the same type of photos will be there next year. In the meantime, though, I’m going to make some effort to get familiar with all the settings and gubbins that go into it – and to be honest, it’s probably better to be playing with evening and night-time long-exposure shots during autumn and winter than summer anyway, so it’s likely to all work out for the best anyway. Well, that’s the theory.
Whatever happens, it’ll be fun to see how things work out with the Pclix, and it might just chuck out some interesting images as well. Along with some right shite, obviously.
Making The Leap
Posted: Tue 17 July, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography 1 Comment »Over the weekend we went to see a local framing store – yes, we’re going to put more of my photos on the walls of the new place – and while we were there, we started talking about whether he might be interested in stocking some of the photos I’ve done, in order to sell them to shop customers.
I’ve no idea whether we’ll make any progress – I guess that the odds of making a sale on one’s first attempt are fairly low, if I’m being realistic – or whether he’ll decide to give it a go or not. That’s something where only time will tell, really.
But for me the important thing is that I’ve now made that leap, and from here it really only gets easier. It’s something I’ve been talking about trying for a while (for which read “flummin’ ages”) but now I’ve actually started looking at whether I can sell some of my stuff.
There’s a long way to go yet, I know – but at least the first steps are now being taken. I’ve no idea whether I’ll be successful or not – I’d like to think it will, but reality tends to kick in at that point with a good healthy “Yeah, Right”. I’m going to try, though.
And like the man said, “Life’s too short to be filled with ‘I wish I’d….'”.