#didn’t get quite the fisheye look I was going for but it was fun to work on hehe

[hija-ck]

study buddies 📚

[airi-p4]

Face up (songfic) - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Epilogue

Remember my illustrated fic + comic ‘The listening’? I started writing this other songfic around that time, since the song is by the same author. This is everything I could finish for Wipril... *sigh*

Inspired by the song ‘Face up’ by Lights. (Lyrics in bold)

Summary:  Marientte is tired. Busy with work, unmotivated and uninspired; her life has become monotonous and lifeless. Regretful for neglecting her friendship with Alya, she finally accepts her invitation to go out one Friday evening to a pirate themed bar called 'Liberty', in which according to Nino, an 'incredible amazing guitarist' was going to play...

AO3

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Chapter 1

' I shouldn't have come '

A mountain of files and clothes are piled on Marinette's desk. Work, work, work and more work. It had been a while now since Marinette's life has been revolving only around her jobs and studies. Days. Weeks. Months. She felt like a robot programmed just for that sole purpose.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was tired. 

And so was also her best friend Alya, fed up of being turned down whenever she asked her to go out somewhere together.

But not that evening: Alya and Nino decided to drag Marinette out of her lonely apartment, to let her enjoy a proper and well deserved break after days without seeing the daylight. 'How can a 21 year old Lady not go out and have fun!? ' Alya had asked her. And she had been forced to accept, out of the regret of constantly failing and neglecting their friendship.

The chosen place for their friendly meeting was a musical bar on a ship called 'Liberty'. Small round tables and some stools were ready to be used for its consumers, 2-4 seats for table. Some wooden benches with comfortable looking cushions at the sides of the bar and some stand-by tables outside were also part of the ship's furniture. Both outside and interior design seemed to be trying to imitate a pirate ship with dark wooden flooring, walls, stage and counter. Some vintage rock music related posters were on the wall, next to treasure maps and, surprisingly, they still managed to keep the pirate theme on point. The counter was just at the entrance and the lights were focused mostly to the stage at the back of the bar, making the lighting quite low for the guests- 'too dark to draw' , Marinette confirmed.

According to Nino, the best thing about this bar was that, on Friday nights, it held multiple artists performances from 8pm to 12pm, an hour each. And according to him, some awesome guitarist was playing at 11pm. His eyes were showing his contagious enthusiasm and Alya soon got excited too.

But Marinette's mind was not focused on the bar or the music. It was 10:25pm, and Alya had dragged Marinette there early- at 8:40- so they could get a table- the limited seat capacity and amount of customers surely proved it was necessary, but she couldn't focus on her surroundings as in her head thousands of work-related thoughts occupied her mind.

To draw, sew, bake, study and to sleep in order to work more, all in an endless loop. That had been Marinette's routine for weeks, and she had no intentions of stopping until she finished all her constantly coming errands- but they were endless. She felt like a robot programmed only to work and she almost forgot what free time was.

'I want to go home', the aspiring fashion designer kept repeating to herself.

 But the guests of the bar seemed to favor her best friend's ideas: enjoying the music. Marinette's eyes took a minute to observe her surroundings, noticing how crowded the bar was getting as 11pm approached. At her side, Marinette could see how excited Alya and the recently arrived Nino were, clapping and dancing next to her.

 But Marinette was not feeling it. Not at all. 

 A big sigh left her mouth as she used the table as she played unamused with the melting ice cubes from her drink, trying to ignore the strident rock background music. She was exhausted and not in the mood for 'fun'. She was tired and her eyelids were slowly closing, but just when her mind started to find its way to dreamland, Alya called for her attention.

 "Look, Marinette! The guests in the second row middle table are about to leave! It's our chance to get a closer seat to the stage!"

 "Ugh…"

 The stage was just a few steps away, but it seemed like kilometers to the young woman. 

 "C'mon, Marinette! Nino secured the seats! Grab your drink and stuff and let's go over here!"

 Exhaustion and somnolence confused Marinette's senses while Alya jolted and called her. 

 "C'mooon… Nino can't keep looking for our seats forever! Not when there are so many people eyeing up those stools!"

 Marinette knew Alya was correct. And not only that: she was pretty impatient and intense, too, so she was well aware that refusing her was almost impossible.

 Finally, she made it to the closer to the stage table and had a slurp of her drink. 'Maybe Alya is right and I can try to enjoy the live performances?' . 

 She tried, yes. But nothing. She wasn't feeling the music.

'When will I be able to have fun too? When will I be able to have a rest and forget about work? When will I be able to enjoy life? When will I be able to LIVE my life…? '

 I just want to feel alive

She was stressed. No inspiration seemed to strike her lately, and she had been too busy to go look for it. And honestly, she didn't expect to find some in this old-fashioned dark pirate themed bar. With those thoughts, Marinette rested her head on her hands wishing for the time to go faster so she could already go back home. 

The bar became more than full when the clock pointed to 11pm. 

Marinette frowned her eyebrows. "Can I go home now that the performance is over?" She asked. 

Alya directed her a deathly glare and Nino gasped in shock. "No way, dudette! You can't be serious!" The boy then pointed to their surroundings. "See? All these people gathered here to see the musician I told you about! His talent is no joke, just look at that!" An excited Nino commented, showing her how people were even waiting outside of the bar and even outside the ship in order to listen to his music, as she could see through the round fisheye windows. Was it even allowed to have so many guests on the ship? Wasn't it overcrowded? Or going to sink? Marinette worried. 'Why should I worry when I'm already sinking myself, huh? '

"I'm getting all excited already!! Look at that, Marinette" Alya commented. But Marinette was not answering. She was playing with a straw in between her teeth, instead. "Marinette!!" Her friend insisted, but emerging turbulent bubbles on her drink was her only response.

"Oh, look! He's here!" Nino suddenly exclaimed, and both her friends seemed to forget about her to focus on the stage. 'Maybe it's my chance to leave when they aren't looking' , she thought, but she had to wait until Alya's arm stopped being linked with hers to make her move. She hoped for that moment to be soon.

"Wohooo" the crowd became loud immediately after Nino's said guitarist appeared on the stage from the back door. 

 Marinette didn't even look. She wasn't interested. She just wanted to get home, finish her work, sleep, and get some well deserved hot bath to relax.

"Good evening. My name is Luka. Wow, so crowded today! I can see some new faces... Hi there. Thank you all for coming"

'His voice sounds nice' Marinette thought, taking a quick look at him for the first time: blue hair, tattoos, piercings and an electric guitar on his hands. There was a stool ready for him, but he was not using it. His aura definitely stood out and he was glowing in the stage lights.

Before starting, he played a few random notes, to check the guitar and the volume. The crowd was excited just with that. Not interested in the music, Marinette let her mind travel to her work space again, taking mental notes on how to proceed with her commissions when she made it home.

"Today's first song is an oldie: 'Space show' by CrocoDuo" 

It took only an instant for the aura of the bar to change completely. The audience was losing it at the combined sound of his voice and guitar. Some young women were fangirling and squealing. Nino's eyes were sparkling and Alya's body moved, dancing along with the music. 

'He's good' Marinette thought, trying to stop her fingers from tapping on her chin at the music's rhythm. As the song was close to its end, during its instrumental part, the blue haired young man took a big look at the audience, grinning at the excited crowd. Marinette closed her eyes and tried to focus again on her mental work, frowning her nose and eyebrows hard, trying hard to concentrate on finding whatever inspiration she could in the music. But she didn't seem to get it right.

As the last notes of the song elongated, the musician spoke again. 

"Oooh? What do we have here…? Don't you know the rules, lady? No sad faces allowed on this ship!"

Marinette was unaware the guitarist was talking to her until Alya bumped her elbow to her ribs to catch her attention and pointed to the stage. 

"What?"

She was surprised to find the guitarist staring at her eyes. ' He's handsome ' her inner self told her when their eyes locked and she was feeling called by its blueness. Her smile remained unseen, confused and unsure if it was really her the one he was talking to, but her heart skipped at the eye contact.

"Yes, there, the lady on the second row, you… you seem to be feeling like this" he said, and then played some chords that seemed to describe the feelings of her repetitive, uninspired and unmotivated life perfectly. 

She felt like her secret had just been exposed to all the customers of the bar. Embarrassment was too much to handle, and she kept her head low. As the famous song says: 'Killing me softly with his song'.

"A beautiful lady like you deserves to feel something like this" he said, and the music this time brought her back to her cheerful and happy childhood memories, something she hadn't felt for years. ' Wow. How can he do it? ' 

"Let me try to cheer you up". He placed his electric guitar aside and grabbed his acoustic instead. After adjusting it, he sat on the stool and brought the microphone to his mouth. Then, a totally different melancholic sound started filling the bar as he tested the strings. The audience seemed pleased and curious. "That's rare for him" Nino whispered, making Marinette's eyes open even bigger.

Suddenly, accurately and quickly, his eyes darted to meet directly at Marinette's eyes, with a soft but determined gaze that conflicted Marinette's unprepared heart. 

The times you don't wanna wake up

'Cause in your sleep it's never over when you give up

 'Wow… I surely look depressed, don't I?' Marinette thought, surprised of how the lyrics fit with her daily thoughts.

 The sun is always gonna rise up

You need to get up, gotta keep your head up

 Look at the people all around you

The way you feel is something everybody goes through

 Marinette then looked at Alya and Nino, who were nodding with a sympathetic smile at her. The rest of the people at the bar seemed to agree with the lyrics too, nostalgic smiles on their peaceful faces. ' Is it ok to feel like this? Am I really not alone? ' The song continued.

 Dark out, but you still gotta light up

You need to wake up, gotta keep your face up

 The lyrics were surely… encouraging. Marinette could feel her heart become lighter and more confident, relaxed too. She then focused again on the guitarist, who had a kind expression on his face that almost made her fall for him. Almost ? 

"C'mon, everybody, help me cheer this pretty lady up!" he said, his smile softly widening as he repeated the lyrics of the song. Soon, the audience joined to sing with him and Marinette felt embarrassed but touched at the kindness of all those strangers towards her. Alya put a supportive hand on her shoulder too, encouraging her to join the chorus.

 And finally her face lit up and she started singing a little after remembering the lyrics. Her face was not looking down anymore and an honest shy smile was finally on her face. 

Alya looked relieved, while Nino had an: ' I told you he was good ' smirk on his face. Meanwhile, the guitarist never stopped smiling at her. 

Luka's gaze was dangerous for Marinette's heart, as a pleasant warmth began to occupy it. A feeling she hadn't felt for a long time was now threatening to stay, sinking deeper inside her heart with every syllable he sang. 

"See? That's much better. You have a beautiful smile. Don't hide it!" Marinette blushed at his compliment and she couldn't stop smiling like a lovestruck fool.

 After winking at her, Luka continued with his performance. "Ready to enjoy some rock and roll now? Next is 'Rock Giant' by Jagged Stone" 

Marinette's favorite song. Did he know that too? ' Wow! It sounds even better than the original' . As soon as he started to play and sing Jagged's most iconic melody, Marinette was finally loosened up to enjoy the music. It was the fastest an hour that had passed for her while having fun. Wow . And she was grinning at the excitement, while trying not to freak out at the short glances and smiles the musician directed to her from time to time, or the long stares she pretended to not notice. She could notice her heart beating again after what it seemed like an eternity. 

She felt alive. More than she had felt in months, maybe years.

But the performance had a set time to end... 

"Thank you for coming. That's all for today. You're the best!" he grinned, while wiping some of the sweat drops that ran down his face. It was obvious he gave it his best and the audience was all in for it. Marinette had never seen anyone able to enthrall the public like this before. He was… absolutely amazing in the crowd's eyes, Marinette's included.

"Noooo!! Encore encore encore!" the bar customers started begging in loud voices, and Luka couldn't keep his gratitude to himself, as his fond smile showed. He looked at his surroundings, slowly, memorizing every face, as if thanking each of them individually. Until his kind yet powerful gaze stopped to focus directly on Marinette's pupils and his smile widened.

 "You want an encore, guys? What does the lady on the second row say?" he teased with a smirk that made Marinette's knees weak. She could feel her face flushing red as the people of the bar's eyes focused on her.

 "E- Encore!" She shouted in a voice she wasn't aware she owned.

"So you want an encore, right? Very well. Here's the last song for today: ' Liberty ' by Luka".

 The energetic and happy cheering for the encore audience lasted only until Luka's guitar strings started to vibrate to form a melody.

 "No way, dude!! A Luka inédite original song! Alya, we have to record this!" Nino fuzzed, pulling his phone out from his pocket. "Awesome!"

The song was amazing and had the audience lose it. 'Wow' . Marinette was speechless and she could feel the adrenaline flow through her body like it hadn't for years. Unable to tear her focus from the musician, the young woman could feel her heart beating faster- too fast.  

When the song finished Marinette noticed how half the audience was crying in excitement and how the fangirling women from before were close to passing out. It was a very good song with good lyrics about looking for your inner freedom- totally fitting for Marinette. And his final greetings started.

"Thank you. Did you have fun?" 

"Yeah!!! Wohoo!!!"

 "Great, I'm glad. Thank you so much!" he giggled. "Thanks to you, it seems I have a new song to write" Luka said, with his sharp eyes and slightly curved smile hinting those words were meant for a certain lady seated on the second row. "And remember: the Liberty is a place where you can be free, honest to yourself. Feel free to come here anytime. Everyone is welcome here. Well, except agent Roger, maybe?" Luka said, pointing at the grey haired woman at the counter, who laughed at his comment. "Good night, everyone!" 

Before leaving the stage through the back door, Luka exchanged one final look with Marinette and waved at her. Or so she wanted to believe, even if she wasn't sure. 

‘ He’s so hot ’. Marinette fanned herself with her hand and drank all the alcohol that remained on her cup. It wasn't cold anymore and she needed to cool down, so she stopped the goth waitress with long purple hair to order a drink, and a minute later the small blond short-haired waitress brought it to her. She drank it in one shot, mouth dry from the shouting and her burning cheeks and quickly beating heart.

"Hot much?" Alya teased her best friend, with a knowing smirk.

 "I told you he was lit! Wow! He even played a brand-new original song! You don't know how lucky we are. We have to come back again sometime soon!" Nino enthusiastically exclaimed. "A man like that is going to make it big in no time. We won't get the chance to get to listen to him like this when he becomes internationally famous"

Marinette couldn't help it but to agree. He was amazing… in all aspects. Maybe… it wasn't a bad thing she came… 

 No. It definitely wasn't.

 "Yeah… maybe live performances aren't bad… maybe… we should come again, yes…" Marinette said under her friend's satisfied and knowing smile.

 Who would have thought she would find inspiration on a pirate ship themed bar? She had unwillingly come and found something she didn't regret, as she found something even more unexpected: a crush on a talented guitarist. 

 And even though she was not sure if she was ready to pursue someone or to start a relationship, she knew she didn't want the clock of her life to keep spinning around a monotonous life, and she had just felt the way she had been wishing to feel for years; ALIVE. 

'Yes… I'll definitely come back again'

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 23

It's a Match!

This episode was a steamy hot mess and I LOVED IT, but then I watched the preview and my mood changed completely. But let's start with the good because this is a review about this episode and not the next one.

The plot this week was very random, but I like that it's not another job battle so that we can take a break from those, and I also like that they picked the "victim" of the week from the last ark and brought her back this week with new motivations and such. I don't really understand why would she be so obsessed with getting married after the events of the last story, but it generates a lot of fun scenes like the one with the vice-president trying to look for a partner, and Gai from all people also wanting to get married, so I quite enjoyed that.

Another thing I quite enjoyed was the "Humagear of the week", which is something that became quite rare after the 10th episode or so. I love how in this world Tinder has evolved, they even call the guy Match, and I think the actor that portrays him did an excellent job with the role. I absolutely love how extremely sincere and how he called out the girl for having 18 fortune-telling apps, and how easy it is to fool her, and then later in the scene where they're in that "date" he also calls out Gai on all of his bad qualities and he gets so pissed off, it's just amazing.

I also like that they explained one of my doubts last week about Metal Cluster. When they talked about shutting down Zero-One's powers I thought the key would break his driver or something similar but then the crazy transformation happened and I got a bit confused, and I'm glad they explained that right at the beginning and I also really like how this works. The Cluster Key prevents Aruto from transforming using any other key basically turning Zero-One into a rampant killing machine, and that's pretty awesome, I think the implications and consequences of that could've been very interesting. By the way, the fighting scenes in this episode were awesome, seeing Zero-One going down on both the Raider and Valkyries was very strong (I also enjoyed that I got to see my girl Yua in action again after so long time), and his fight with Thouser in the end was also amazing, I love his finisher, and I love this whole thing of associating Meta Cluster with the destructive nature grasshopper swarms have, tho I really don't understand why is Gai so keen in fighting "The Ark's Power" as he calls it.

Sadly here's where we hit the point where I need to talk about the bad stuff.

First, the way they frame the fat guy by trying their best to make him look as big as possible even shooting the first scene we have with him using fisheye lenses. And if that wasn't enough they made him the Raider that is jealous of his childhood friend because he probably loves her but he's so gross she'd never look at him with other eyes because that's exactly what we need, am I right? It's not like this girl didn't have a fiancee that was almost sent to prison because of her and got dumped right away the trial ended and that could be looking for vengeance. Nah, it's easier to put a fat guy there and make fun of his size. But I gotta admit, I liked the twist of the Raider coming to save the girls from the Magia, that was actually pretty good.

Another thing I didn't like is the fact Match snapped out because of a simple slap to the face when earlier in the episode the dude got attacked way harder than that. But I give this one a pass because the scene prior was hilarious with Match going off on Chiharu and calling her all the bad names Is told him, that scene was just marvelous, honestly. XD

Now, here's where my problem comes. Metal Cluster has all these down backs, this should limit Aruto down, bring in some extra level of tension, as I see it, they should only be able to control this form in the second arc climax, and the conflict here should be about finding a way for Aruto to transform again, rather than controlling this deadly power. But from the preview Aruto will be able to control it next week, three episodes after this form was introduced and it became a problem, and by the looks of it, they'll try to do something where they'll use the past Humagears that we've seen in the show and try to make an emotional moment out of it, and I'm just sad. Like, I get it, this is his new form, they want to advertise it, but if they brought up this conflict it shouldn't be solved so soon, it takes away a lot of the joy, especially considering that Aruto didn't work hard for any o his previous forms. Why, Zero-One? Why? I was so excited last week, now I'm just sad. Let's hope they can at least make the moment be good next week so I won't be as disappointed with it.

Anyway, that's it for this week, folks. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, I'll talk to y'all later. Bye~

[romancandlemagazine]

An Interview with Wig Worland

If you walked into a WHSmiths during the 1990s, then chances are that you will have seen the high-calibre work of Wig Worland.

As a photographer at seminal skateboard magazines like R.A.D. and Sidewalk, his sharp eye helped capture a relatable world of British skating, a million miles away from sun-drenched California schoolyards.

First question - when did you start taking photos? Was there something that set you off with it?

I started in school when one of the better teachers realised I wasn't going anywhere academically and lent me her camera. I don't think there was anything else I could have done to be honest. I started to assist photographers straight out of school.

How did you end up doing skate photography? What was the camera set-up back then?  

I grew up near an adventure playground. One day in the early ‘80s a quarter pipe with 'Skatopia' written on it appeared there. We would ride our BMX bikes on it. A few weeks later a guy called Wurzel appeared - he literally dropped over the fence.

All of us, including Wurzel, rode bikes for a bit but as the world transformed around us we all got into skateboarding. One of my best friends at the time was London street skating legend Phil Chapman. He let me take pictures of him and I got better at it.

It’s funny how when you're young it just doesn't occur to you that those are the formative years, even though that’s what every older person is saying to you at the time.

My first camera was a Canon FTB with a 24mm lens - I couldn't afford a fisheye lens. I then wasted more time and energy on a 17mm lens. It was really terrible, but I did get my first picture published in RAD using it.

What was that?

A guy called Doc with a chuck on handrail at the bus station in Milton Keynes in an article in R.A.D. in 1990. In the same article came my second and third published picture. It was such a pivotal moment in my life but just like buses, three came along at once.  

Do you remember the first photo you took where you thought, “I’m getting quite good at this”?

Not any single shot, but I think when I got to shoot Manzoori or Channer or Wainwright, I was beginning to shoot people who were making great pictures all the time. The trips back and forth to the lab became less fuelled with anxiety and worry about what I was doing.

So something must have been going right, maybe I knew enough about the dark art of shooting on slide film that I could relax into it. A bit anyway.

The late 80s and early 90s are quite a while ago now. What are some things people forgot about that time?

There was no Instagram! There wasn't anywhere other than the monthly magazines (and of course books) to get any information about anything. It really is odd to say it now because we are all so used to finding anything out that we want to know immediately.

My sister has a theory that technology is making us all more stupid. We simply don't have to retain any information anymore. To get from place to place you don't even need a sense of direction, just flick on 'Waze' or whatever and it tells you where to go.    

How weird was it to be a skater or a rider in the late 80s? Obviously now skating is going through another 'cool wave', but how much stick did you get back then for it?  

We got so much hassle from everybody at the time. It’s ridiculous when you think about how 'cool' it all is now. We didn’t care at all though. We knew what we were doing was way more important than simply school or fashion or T.V. or whatever else our other friends or peers were into. We were involved in making something happen.  

R.A.D. was split fairly evenly between skating and riding. Was there much of a divide at the time? And what were your opinions on the other avenues of raditude?

I'll fully admit it; I went from BMX to skateboard. I was probably a little too young to catch the first wave of skateboarding in the UK. I was six or seven and my mum wouldn't let me have a board, though my best mate at the time had much older brothers so I can claim to have ridden a Logan Earth Ski in the 70s.

By the time BMX hit I was a little more in control of my life. I saved up my lunch money for an entire year so I could buy a Kuwahara ET. My friends and I had so much fun knocking about on those bikes in the 80s — it was amazing. Before I knew it I'd given up BMX 'racing’ and was getting more serious about BMX 'freestyle' (which really is an oxymoron when you stop to think about it).

Within a year or two I had switched to a GT Performer and I was entering freestyle 'contests' and wearing ever more dodgy clothing. Obviously we didn't know it at the time but they really were the formative years of my life.

A good friend from that time, Lee Reynolds moved to California and went on to become a very successful freestyle pro rider with Haro. Back then we all hung out at Mons ramp like one big happy family, and that’s where I started to meet more people.

As BMX started to die, I just moved my attention to skateboarding. There was just so much to get into. You can do way more stuff with a skateboard than a bike! Sorry to the entire BMX community.  

What were you looking at for inspiration back then? Even your early photos had a definite style.

I was looking at BMX Action and BMX Plus from America that would appear periodically in the newsagents near my school. Then Freestylin' and Transworld, and Thrasher when I could find it. Back then Thrasher wasn't quite so appealing — it was half a music magazine with really cheap paper, and was scrappy compared to glossier titles of the day. It’s amazing how Thrasher has outlasted them all.  

I loved Spike and Windy, and, obviously J Grant Britain, but I also really love TLB's pictures. He really was an amazing complete photographer - properly trained and much better than me. Now I have had a chance to see the stuff in the RAD archive, I can't begin to say how amazing it is. It might not have looked all that good in the mag but that was because of the awful print quality. When the book comes out you’ll see what I mean.

R.A.D. faded into the shortly-lived Phat in the early 90s. How did Sidewalk come about?

Andy Horsely and I were doing a magazine called The System during the last days of TLB R.A.D. When R.A.D. was sold to yet another publisher that was out of town, Tim didn’t want to leave London. He thought it was a dead end. By a series of strange occurrences Andy Horsely and I managed to get ourselves in the door at R.A.D. There’s a bit more to this story, but the full version will be in the book hopefully.  

Whereas early skate magazines had their fair share of day-glo high-top fashions and boned-out, high-zoot grabs, Sidewalk had a much more British look. Was this intentional? Or was this just a reflection of the times?

It was absolutely intentional. We wanted it to look like a British skate magazine, and perhaps naively, we wanted it to feature all British people, in Britain. The US skate magazine culture was, and still is, so dominant, but we wanted to showcase the UK.

At the time the world was beginning to see Rowley, Penny and Wainwright but we knew there was so much more. Making an all-British magazine was way more difficult than any of us imagined and I'm not sure how sustainable that idea was (and still is). We tried our very best given the resources we had.

Was there things you wouldn't photograph - maybe dodgy outfits or questionable moves?

We had an unspoken ban on the Benihana at Sidewalk. Ha! I wonder if anyone else would admit to that. Everything else was totally fine. We even put Dan Cates in the mag with all his craziness for heaven’s sake!  

The mid-90s seemed like the real glory days of magazines. They were thick, they came out once a month, they had all sorts of mad stuff in them… and they could all be bought from WHSmiths for a few quid. Why do you reckon there were so many good mags around at this time?

It was really the only way to communicate before the internet really took a grip. Nowadays, you put your tricks up on Instagram and let the world judge you. Back then, we shot the photo, we took it to the lab, and then it was sent off to be printed in cyan, magenta, yellow and black on paper.  

After a lot of fuss and bother, the magazine hit the shelves and the rest of the world could see the moments that I had had all to myself. It really was an incredible moment. I'm not sure I'd go back to it though! It was pretty insular and created some difficult politics. It's probably a bit more democratic now. If you don't like what somebody is doing, you 'unfollow' them and that's that.  

What was a typical day like back in the early Sidewalk days? Was there a typical day?

Probably wake up late and head to the office via the lab, to pick up the film from the previous day. Maybe pet the dog when I got there for a bit. Horse would invariably arrive later than me and we'd get lunch. After looking through some pictures on the light table I'd head out to shoot skaters in various parts of the country.

One day I'd be in Hull, the next in Birmingham and the next in London. It was a pretty insane schedule to be honest.

I’ve said this before in other interviews but I’ll say it again, I hated driving up and down the motorway system in the UK, but I loved the people I met along the way. I really don’t think there was anyone that I didn’t like — it was incredible. A good example of this is driving to Hull, which is a really long way from anywhere. But when I got there, there was Eggy and Banksy and Scott. Amazing people.  

This might be a bit of a camera tech guy question… but imagine I’m stood at the top of that flatbank hip at Radlands and a young Tom Penny is cruising towards me… how do I capture the action? Should I pan? Is my flash mounted on the top of my camera… or on a cable… or on a stand? What film should I use?

If you're at a comp it's best that your flash is mounted on your camera, because if you’re trying to be clever like I was in the 90s trying to use an off-camera flash on a lead (Windy Osborn/Spike Jonze style) you're going to miss a lot of shots. Yes, always pan with the subject if you can, it's just better and I'd use whatever film you can afford. It’s really expensive and you only have 36 to 39 shots depending on how clever, or stupid, your camera is.

If it’s not contest day then spend a little longer on your lighting. But not so long that you forget to shoot the scene, the look of the place and the informal portraits of the skaters. You’ll regret that later on if you don’t shoot that stuff. Ahem…

Sidewalk did a very good job of making some fairly drab looking spots pretty good. That photo of a lad named Cookie gapping from a Carpet Right car park in the rain comes to mind… something like that could easily look pretty depressing in lesser hands. What were your tricks for making these fairly everyday places look decent?

Bring your own sun — a portable flash. Oh, and a little jiggery pokery with the slide film we were using as well. Also, know what you’re doing, and how the film is going to react to the light. Photography is all about various kinds of lies to create the shot you want.

I’m glad you remembered that Cookie shot because it is pretty special. He was such an amazing, positive person. Never mind my photograph, but how did a person stay positive when you had such terrible conditions to skate in! It’s not exactly California.

Pretty much sums up how we should all approach life, the Cookie story...

I don’t know if I’m looking into this too much, but a lot of the Sidewalk stuff celebrated British culture rather than disguise it. I’m not sure where I’m going with this question, but do you think it’s important that people embrace their situation, rather than endlessly dream of California?  

My entire life’s philosophy is to draw out what you can from the place where you are, rather than dreaming that somewhere else has the answer. This ridiculous dreaming is the reason that the air is so polluted these days with people crossing the world on long haul flights to wherever and with people driving from perfectly fine A, to almost certainly nearly the same B.

Of course all this is fine for me to say, I don’t have a car but I live in London where there is a brilliantly sophisticated Public transport system. I grew up in Milton Keynes so it wasn’t a shock to get to California and see the state they’re in, but I truly believe the car has ruined a lot. Not least for our children who can no longer play in the streets primarily because of the number of vehicles on the road. Rant over.  

Haha fair enough. What were some of the hassles of making a magazine back then? Any camera mishaps or blatant errors come to mind?  

Radio slaves were terrible but they still are. That’s the nature of radio waves in a very wet country. There was some dodgy kit but you could usually spot it pretty quickly and pass it on. I did have all my cameras stolen from the boot of my car once which did feel like the end of the world at the time. Grant  Brittain  very  kindly  sent  me  one  of  his  old  cameras  and  a  fish  eye  to  start  me  off  again  and  Pete  Hellicar  rang  round  all  the  big  names  in  the  industry  in  the  UK  asking  for  donations  to  get  me  started  again. Really  kind,  amazing  people.  

The problems were always with the printers or repro people. Handing over your precious photographs and layouts to people who aren’t as invested in the project shall we say. Having said that, there weren’t that many problems, only ever issues that the editor or I would notice.  

I’d say skate photography fits under the documentary category, but how far would you go to get a better photo? I know moving the occasional rucksack out of shot is fairly commonplace, but I’ve heard stories of photographers carrying around brighter clothes for people to wear so they stand out more.

There are a few skaters who would bring their own brighter clothes for the shoot. Have a look through my shots and see if you can guess who they are for a fun game. I think this is brilliant.

I don't think that skateboard photography is documentary at all. It’s a collaboration between the skateboarder and the photographer to produce the best image they possibly can.

What about the days when nothing happened? Surely there must have been a few afternoons when no one was feeling it, or did the fact you had a big camera bag egg people on a bit? It rains a lot in Britain, I'm sure you've noticed. On those days, if you were lucky, we'd sit about in the local Skateshop. If we were less lucky we'd get caught at the local indoor skate park and wait for the rain to stop. I remember thinking then that I would never get that time back, now of course if I had that time back I would do just the same thing. Amazing days. I'm sure people did feel motivated by having a magazine photographer in town to shoot pictures of them yes, but that just makes me wonder what it's like now? You can literally shoot a picture whenever you like and upload it anywhere.

Do you think these advances in technology have improved skate photography or not?

I would have killed for a digital camera back when I was shooting skateboarding every day. I’d not only have been able to see what I had in terms of stills, but shooting sequences would have had a lot less pressure involved as well. A couple of people have said that seeing the used rolls of bails lining up on the stairs or pavement beside me gave them extra incentive to land the trick, but it made for some pretty heated sessions.

The Chris Oliver kickflip off a bus stop into bank with another drop springs to mind. Fair play to the ginger genius though, he bloody landed it, and he can say he did it on film as well. So, so sick.

Did you enjoy doing sequence shots or was it just a case of documenting the new tech?

I wasn't really interested in shooting sequences to be honest, I always thought that was the job of the video camera. In some ways I wish I stuck with that attitude and concentrated on the style of the skater rather than the high tech that they could put down. I think that would have made for a more interesting back catalogue.  

This is maybe another fairly camera-orientated question, but I’m interested, so the casual readers will have to suffer… you were maybe one of the first skate photographers to push the studio-lighting style out into the real world. What led to this development?

Ollie Barton thinks I was the first to do the studio on the street thing. I guess other people had tried using flash slaves off camera before, but I made it my own. I was the first out there with portable studio flash which had more spread of light than the dedicated flashes made by camera manufactures. I'm sure I was responsible for keeping the Lumedyne brand going for a while. Lumedyne really are the most terrible looking lights that have ever come to market, made from bits bought from Maplin or Radio Shack, but they worked quite well and everybody had them in the early 2000s.

Did setting up multiple flashes in ropey areas ever become a problem?

It's funny you know, I never felt odd about setting up lighting anywhere. If you’re prepared to pop a light out on a dodgy estate then you’re serious about getting something done. I think most people whoever they are respect that, some are even interested in it.

There were a few hairy moments — like a car taking out a light in downtown Stockport while shooting late at night. But the light was in the middle of the street, so that one was on me. Nobody ever picked one up and legged it. Not once, but as I said they don't look expensive so maybe that was enough.  

Maybe a bit of an obvious question, but do you have a favourite photograph you’ve taken? And are there any photos which you wish you took?

As I rather flippantly alluded to earlier, I don’t feel I shot anywhere near enough incidental stuff. I was too interested in making the lighting right to capture the trick perfectly. If I could go back I’d have a point and shoot with me at all times and I’d use it constantly.  

I don’t have a favourite photograph. There are just too many, of so many amazing friends and brilliant talented people. I couldn’t pick one above all others.    

Today it’s easier than ever to take a photograph. Is this good or bad? Has the advent of phone-based camera gadgetry devalued the art (or at least the science) of photography?

No, it hasn't devalued it. Because more people have cameras, more people are interested in photography. If you want to lug around a huge old school view camera to shoot pictures then there are sub-genres of sub-cultures that can more easily facilitate that stuff nowadays. Of course more people think they can do it, but it's still the case that only some people do it well.  

Have you got any wise-words you’d like to add?

No, just enjoy life as best you can. We’re not all going to be famous or millionaires, so don’t believe anyone when they tell you to follow your dreams — real life might conspire to not let you get there. Life just happens to most people.

[phantapm-senior-project]

Week 9

Last Scene Conception

With the time I had left, I wasn’t sure if I could deal with animating wind again for the flowers (as well as tree tops), so I went with a simpler scene that was still pretty to look at!

The final reference image

I also played around with the concept of blood moon, and although it looks cool, I didn’t think it fit the gradient, nor the type of “story” I wanted to tell

Quite spooky no? Maybe another time

And here is the original original piece--I didn’t think I could learn 3D vfx in a week, so the swirls went bye bye

My inspiration was most obvious here

Said inspiration

Creating in 3D

This is what I made with 3D without any texture. Yes, it’s barren, but the complexity comes with creating the water in the scene.

How do I do that?

Water simulation in blender

Very simple shapes to start us off

Texturing everything BUT the water

How it actually looks in 3D

Twinkling stars

Now you may have noticed everything is basically done except the water. Because it’s a water simulation, the process is a lot more complex to get it fully rendered out and looking the way I want it to.

I’ve been following a tutorial online and it has been working thus far, but it is not ready to be rendered--I need to make a few more adjustments and make sure Blender doesn’t crash (a big one with intensive processes like this)

One adjustment that’s important is to make the water match the scene. Most likely that won’t happen with using the default HDRIs, so I wanted to try to make my own of the scene we already have (which is why I worked on the other parts first)

Silly fisheye is silly fisheye

When I work on the water for next week, I’ll try this out and see if it produces that desired look. If not, I’ll look for a photo HDRI that best matches the starry atmosphere.

Character Design

Not only was I trying to make progress with the last scene, but I also wanted to finally design the character woo!

My main idea was that the character should change clothes when transitioning from scene to scene. A logical place to start would be the sunflower scene.

Sketches for figuring out what I want

I was very inspired by a dress I had, but I didn’t want to recreate it one for one, so I played around with how I could change up the design while also making it safe for animation. What ended up was a very “cottage core” peasant outfit with the added twist of a princess cut.

In terms of colors, I had to think for a while. Originally I wanted the colors to match my original dress (which was the very first color test) but it ended up blending too much with the background. Then I tried the colors I used to sketching for fun, but that gave me the idea:

What if I used the shadows of the scene as her main color palette--a way for her to blend into the scene while also standing out.

And so I went with that.

Turnaround

The official turnaround I’ll be referencing when animating

I decided to go with a more “chibi” look instead of the more realistic proportioned one because I thought it’d be simpler to animate! And also I thought it would fit the installation a bit more to have a more cutesy look.

Next Steps

Slowly but surely the final product is getting closer and closer. For next week I’d like to have done the following:

Added the water simulation and have finished the final scene

Design the other two outfits on the character

Begin thinking of the animatic

Time is slowly getting crunched as the end of the semester is nearing ever so slightly, but I’ll do the best I can to get a lot of progress done!

[efosa123]

Passive Income: How I make $40,000/year doing nothing (software engineer edition) Passive Income: How I make $40,000/year doing nothing (software engineer edition) Video Transcript ▼ okay all right okay how's it going I think I'm getting all settled in here welcome back to another episode of the tech lead I am the tech lead and today I'll be the tech lead not to start off we actually have a sponsor today so let's go to that right now right now my name is the tech lead and I am the tech lead I hope you're enjoying the show but don't forget if you like the content we also have available for you tech weed season one complete HD for the low price of 1995 with this you get 28 additional episodes and nearly three hours of additional content check it out in the description link below everyone who has bother have left rave reviews saying that it has been well worth it for them they'll do it for me give it a like and subscribe and back to you tech lead thanks tech lead today I wanted to talk about passive income and about how I'm generating about $40,000 per year just on site income and this is income where I'm basically just not doing anything I'm just sitting around and each day I'm getting about low over $100 just for doing nothing now I wanted to talk about this video not actually because I think it's important for software engineers to build additional site income streams I would say that even $40,000 per year isn't really going to be that meaningful necessarily but but I would say it's a very fun happy to have it can help you get deeper into software engineering as you're building these side projects it can help build up your resume and what I hope to do is tell you about the ways that I generate aside the income and I'm not really sure if all of these are going to be completely useful for you because it may be difficult to replicate what I've done but it can help inspire you maybe give you some ideas so for me most of my side income comes from for projects that I'm doing now the first one is this photography software that I created it's called pan elapsed 360 comm check it out it is for time-lapse photographers and this project is a very niche project that I began when there was a big time-lapse boom like there were time lapses all over YouTube and I was into time lapses as well and people needed a way to add special effects to these time lapses to process the time lapses and there weren't many good time lapse software's so I looked into it there was one software that was retailing for over $200 and I thought you know that's really expensive and that I could build something better not the software I built did two things the first thing it would do was it would allow you to add motion to your time lapses using actually perspective correct math and this involved really understanding the math behind lenses like a 24 millimeter camera what does that actually mean in terms of field of view and what's like a hundred millimeter camera and this was very fun for me to learn and figure out and find the exact math behind it and I also applied some of my computer graphics skills to get this going I built the software using Adobe ActionScript which is like Flash technology now it's pretty funny because ActionScript is not a very popular language these days but the great thing about it was it was cross-platform across Windows and Apple and I wanted to make sure that the software I wrote could target both platforms and they needed to be desktop software because I didn't want users to have to upload their photos just together processed on like some web software so I've looked around for the appropriate technology for this and I could have chosen either Java or Adobe AIR ActionScript and I really wasn't keen on getting back into Java and it seemed to me that ActionScript and Flash technology could be something interesting it's something that I had already been doing a bit of and I was able to just build out the software pretty quickly it took like two weeks or so to build out I noticed at the time that a lot of time-lapse photographers were try to add motion to their time lapses using very expensive hardware rigs that would be based on timers and it was slowly like rotate the head and I realized that you didn't really need these Hardware timers and rotational motorized heads to do other stuff like you could do with or in software using perspective correction and just a bit of math and image distortion there was a very small niche messageboard community of time-lapse photographers I was part of it and I knew that if I built a software I could just go there announce it and everybody would see that message so that's exactly what I did and we then the first day or two of me launching the software I was already getting like five hundred dollars every day in sales over the years I continued to build up features into the software another big feature was allowing you to capture time lapses across sunset or sunrise when the scene exposure would change quickly and and for this I would use math to calculate the exposure of a scene based on the exposure triangle which is based on aperture ISO and shutter speed and using these three pieces you're able to calculate how bright a scene is and then interpret what Brenton is each frame should be as the cameras changing exposure quickly to try to capture the scene I also added some other interesting features like I had the support to do fish eye time lapses which is a very unique and strange effect and it literally took me like a month to work out the calculations for how to do a fisheye projection and then build like fisheye geometry into the program so I'm not sure if this was that well-received so I'm I don't know if it was a really good use of my time to spend the whole month building out this feature but it was really fun for me to do at least and I had to get into like GPU shaders to actually do it so I had to teach myself that stuff anyway the software something that I'm still maintaining these days I sell it for a pretty high price about $80 a piece and I think that's actually a very worthwhile price and also I just think that the economics is that for desktop software you can just charge more and I was pretty happy that I did not make this like an iPhone app where the standard is every app needs to be like $1 or $5 like like here's an app time selling for $80 but I still managed to make about one sell every day and it also helped when our managers to translate the whole web site into Japanese and the software became quite popular in Japan as well so that's one side project there's another side project that I've been running for the past 10 years or so it's called human pets comm it's kind of a social network and this was very popular back in the day like there were 2 million users and it was generating like $2,000 everyday or something for a while these days the website has lost a lot of popularity from its heyday it's still pushing out about say $100 per month and the way it generates money is generally through memberships take off these shoes so I feel like I probably should be charging more for membership I charge like 6 dollars for a monthly membership which is probably too low when you become a member you gain a bunch of additional features and another great thing about this that added was that you could buy or give to memberships to other people so a lot of people will be doing that because often people seem to treat others better than they may treat themselves I also run some Adsense on the site the ads don't really make much money it's like $60 a month but this site has been operational for the past ten years or so and it's just been spilling additional income for me the whole time so that's great the third project was a set of iPhone games web RPG apps really where people could just progress a character through a game and there would be levels a storyline to push the player through many items to collect monsters to fight and you just click buttons and kind of move your character through I think the key to this was there was a storyline that was just very engrossing for it to player and the other thing was I had high limits for purchases like you could buy items that were like $20 in the game there's a statistic that 90% of your income will come from the top 10% of players for in the game and those players are concerned with their whales they're basically people who have either a lot of money or don't mind spending a lot of money on gaming and so I think that was one mistake I made with my first website which was unlimited so that you can only pay a maximum of about 6 dollars per month for membership and after that it didn't matter how much you loved the app or game it was kept at that amount and what I wish I did was add higher thresholds for spending now the fourth project I did was very interesting and this was actually photography and you can sell stock photography or stock videos now stuff photography doesn't pay very well because it's so cheap like one photo the most you could get is like 25 cents or something like my best selling photo was a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge a New York just happens to sell very well because it's so iconic and this photo so about 1,500 copies and each copy was a dollar so me just standing there taking one shot with that was like a fifteen hundred dollar shot right there with video it's even better because each video you can sell for about $50 a piece or so and these days I think people are looking really for 4k video like they need to be extremely high quality my videos that I sold really well were videos of Japan there was actually the shrine called fushimi inari in kyoto with a bunch of red gates this was actually relatively unknown when I visited and there were very few people but it's funny that now if you go there's tons of people and I think it's because I helped popularize it you know I had this video and sold over a thousand copies of this video and usually it's travel agencies that buy these videos and then they use these to try to sell that that's a nation tours packages and they take tours there so it's kind of shame now that this place is now completely overrun with tours and I probably helped contribute to that mess and then I also did videos of Iceland the ice caves and Northern Lights and each of these videos generally brought in like $1,000 so in the end my photography work brought in about twenty thousand dollars over four or five years or so the other great thing about the photography work was I actually got sponsorships so I was able to work with a selling company and they offered us $10,000 catamarans and sailboats in exotic locations like the Bahamas or Phuket and we were able to just take these sailboats around and this was kind of unique because I knew how to sell and I'm a photographer so as I was able to take week-long sailing vacations in the exotic areas worthy lodging and that boat would be free so it was pretty great when you add it all together we're looking at about thirty six hundred dollars a month or forty K a year and the great thing about citing income like this business income is that you can actually deduct expenses on this so if you buy a laptop you can deduct against that anything i buy that may have some business purpose would be like about thirty percent off or something like that now one funny consequence of this is i don't actually do much github open source contributions because a lot of what I work on I sell like I wanted to be commercial software so I don't actually want to open source things so one time I had to recruit her asked me like hey what's your github and I was like I don't do open source you know I actually make money from her projects and they're just like that yeah that's I would say though that another way I generate a lot of site income so to say is I just live with my parents that's saving me like at least $3,000 per month on rent and the funny thing about this is you calculate that as post-tax income so it's equivalent to about 4 K per month in income you might earn at a job that's like 48 K savings right there's so I don't know what I'm gonna do with all this money I'm saving but maybe I'll give it to my kid or something like that so the last thing one says when I look for a project there's a few things I'm looking for so the first thing to look for is timing like why now and everything I've done that has succeeded I think there was a reason that timing made sense like like there were certain trends in user behavior or technology that signified that it was at that moment that it would be ripe for some project to succeed the other thing is I look for things that are scalable so running a restaurant I think is not very scalable it's I think what you're really looking for our scenarios were you can affect far more many people and that's usually done through the internet and that gets the last thing is using coding to automate these systems such that you don't have to do anything and then the system just automatically takes care itself that's when it becomes really passive but yeah that's pretty much how I've been looking at generally the inside income I think in the whole scheme of things it's not much compared to say the salary that a software engineer is able to generate but I think it's really fun sometimes you're actually able to strike gold in certain areas and make a lot but there than that I think it just makes the Hobby that much more interesting and overall just push your craft to a higher level no matter what you're doing so there you have it that'll do it for me if you liked the video please give it a like and subscribe it really helps grow the channel and that we'll see you next time bye

[terribleco]

Garry Jones Interview

When I was younger, Garry Jones was one of the kids down my local park who was always out and about, always down for a skate, and always interested in more than just skateboarding. He contributed towards this very blog on many occasions donating footage, photos and even old cameras! His interest in photography proved to be something he had a great talent for, and now he is one of the UK's most prominent skate photographers: having snapped official shots of the Team GB skaters, and photographing some of the world's best skateboarders at Street League London and the European X-Games. I asked him some questions where he talks about photographing Tony Hawk, Jamie Foy, and of course, everyone's favourite northerner Joxa.

Those behind the camera sometimes don't get much recognition, so for anyone who doesn't know you - tell me a bit about yourself.

For sure, I'm Garry Jones - photographer from Coventry. Moved away for a few years to study my undergraduate but eventually came back to Coventry. Without sounding too much like a profile on a dating app: I'm 28 years old, and recently just completed my Masters Degree. I shoot photos of everything from beer brands to shoes but my main focus these days is working in the music industry, portraits and making album art. Saying that occasionally I get to shoot skateboarding also. 

How did you first get into photography?

Not sure exactly when I decided I wanted to be a photographer, it was just always a notion I had from being a kid. Skateboarding influenced me pretty heavily: I had this Blueprint poster, can't remember the skater, but he was silhouetted doing a FS Krooked down a handrail and flashes going off behind him. I used to always stare at the poster figuring out how it was taken. My first steps into the photography world was in secondary school, using a darkroom where I learnt quite a lot to prepare me going forward.

What was your first "proper" camera?

My first DSLR was an Olympus e-410. I got it around the time I started college at the age of 16. That camera served me well: I shot my first events on it, and skate photos I was happy with. I think things got a bit more professional a couple of years later, when I jumped over to Nikon, and everything started to look a bit cleaner.

Tez Aldersley Varial Heelflip’s a yellow hazard in a Coventry back alley

Who were your influences growing up (skaters and photographers)?

Still to this day, there's not many "photographers" that really have influenced my work. If there is, it's more likely photographers that are my close friends that I work with, and they affect my work flow and style. It's skate culture, and the artists/documentarians within skateboarding, that have truly inspired me. 

Ed Templeton is the first, and probably biggest influence: everything he has done with Toy Machine, to his photo books that come out on Um Yeah Art (which is Thomas Campbell's publishing company). Greg Hunt: as a film-maker, always really inspired me with his work with DC and Alien Workshop. I always thought it was really amazing and always used to try and find interviews of him speaking about his work. 

French Fred and his documentation of my favourite brand Cliche really showed me what you can simply do with a black and white 35mm roll of film. Cliche really had such a cool visual aesthetic from their board graphics to the tour videos they put together, such a rad team also. 

Mike Blabac too: his photography of Danny Way, and his first photo book were insane, and to this day those photos are incredible. What I liked about Blabac was the fact he could shoot a really good portrait in a studio also, and had this really nice high contrast imagery which really has influenced my work even more recently as I did a transition into more portraiture work.

Who were the first pro/sponsored skaters you ever shot? 

Sponsored skater has to be Joxa, thinking back: me, you and Joxa used to head out a lot all over the place. Joxa was on Witchcraft back then, so it was always fun shooting with him, plus he's the coolest, most friendly dude. As for pro skaters: I was at NASS 2015 when the Birdhouse team came through on tour, and I had woken up a little bit worse for wear from the night before. I walked through the back entrance of the park and bumped into Jaws, shot a portrait of him with a fisheye and a flash, because I panicked and didn't have time to swap my lens. Later that day, I got to shoot Tony Hawk, which was insane, plus got to see Lizzie Armanto skate in person and she rips!

Tony Hawk with a FS Stalefish at Nass 2015

Who are your favourite photographers?

Hands down, my favourite photographer of all time is Ed Templeton. I love the way he documents the world around him. To go more outside of skating, Don McCullin is a British photojournalist who has work that needs to be seen either in a gallery or in the paper layout it was intended for. He documented the rise of the Berlin Wall, Vietnam and many other conflicts but his imagery is always so strong and tells the story like no other. 

I was always a fan of Lewis Baltz's work too: He explored the notion of how humans use space, the 'urban', focusing on the shape and form. It was a very matter of fact style of shooting. I have a complete obsession with anything to do with the documentation of the Beastie Boys, so Spike Jonze has to be in there. His latest book is amazing, and the Girl collab boards are so sick. Also a lot of my favourite photographers are my friends I work with, as they are inspiring people: Mike Massaro shot a photo of artist Caribou that I just love.

What format is your favourite to shoot? 

Ever since getting a medium format film camera, it's been my favourite. I really love shooting 6x6 medium format, so the frame is a square. Really tried to champion and shoot more film this year: in New York I shot a load of bands with my Bronica SQ 6x6 camera and fell in love with it all over again.

I saw you on BBC Sport taking pics in the background at the UK National Champs: Was it weird to see UK skateboarding being given such a huge spotlight? 

I was really fortunate to come on board with Skateboard England early on, and shoot the announcement photos of the skaters for Team GB. At that point, or maybe even before that, Neil from Skateboard England had really kept me in the loop and tried to get me on board. Saying that, Neil has been a big supporter of me shooting skateboarding, and is the nicest dude, giving me loads of opportunities over the past 18 months. 

To get back to your question, I wouldn't say it was weird, I would say it was about time. There's some really amazingly talented skaters in the UK, and the spotlight was being put on them deservingly. Hopefully we get to see the rest of this journey towards the Olympics soon. Add any of the guys and girls that were in that comp: if you go on their Instagrams, you can see how much they throw down, so everyone getting that moment of coverage is credit to them and their love of skating.

Alex Hallford at the UK National Championships last year

How did you end up taking shots for the European X-Games? 

There's really no crazy story behind this: basically I emailed and asked. Shortly after, I got a reply saying they would love for me to come over. Just goes to show, putting yourself out there and having a conversation with someone goes a long way! 

Which pros did you meet there? 

I met Felipe Gustavo the first year I went along, with a few others, but to be fair to everyone, even in practice people were really focused that year. Second year I went, it was way more mellow for some reason. On the first day, I showed up after getting off of the flight and got to chill at the park and hang with Jamie Foy, who was the nicest dude. We spoke about his New Balance shoe, and his thoughts behind it while Gustavo Ribeiro was just tearing it up in the background. Kelly Hart was there judging last year's comp, which was cool as we had met before at Street League London a couple of times, so I got to catch up with Kelly again.

What was it like shooting someone as gnarly as Jamie Foy skating? Did he land everything practically first go? 

At these big comps, the practice sessions are basically the guys putting their runs together: they are trying the same thing over and over again. Watching Jamie Foy just Krooked everything in sight super pinched was super gnarly, it was crazy to see that level of skating in person. On the other hand, there's Ishod Wair, who just flowed around the course adding bits on and improvised as he went: he's probably the best skateboarder in the world.

Leticia Bufoni with a BS Disaster at the European X Games in Norway

What was the difference in vibe between the European X-Games and the UK National Champs? 

At the X-Games, you can really tell it's a big TV style presentation, with music and competitions and loads of other stuff going on, plus there's all the other sports there. At the UK National Champs, everyone knew each other, and if you didn't know anyone, by the end of the three days you did and it was rad. Churchill was on the mic, so what else do you need? 

X-Games is that finished, high-end product that's been going for years, but I got to go to Simple Sessions' 20th event this year. Simple Sessions is this great comp run by people who do it for the love of skateboarding, and it comes across. Everyone has a really good time with loads of stories coming out of it. You see amazing skating at all of these events and I guess the difference in vibe is maybe down to what's on the line for these skaters who enter. 

With so many high profile photography jobs on the books, do you get any time to skate?

Once a year, me and the Ghost Town Social Gang (Andy, Lyle, Ryan, Paul and Chris), go to a far away land like Paris or Barcelona and have a week or so of skating, hanging out and beers. On the run up to that I attempt to skate, but it doesn't normally happen if I'm truly honest. Think I'm more of a documentarian these days, and see skating as more social than ever, hanging out with some of my closest mates and having a push about. 

Cov’s own Andrew Scott popping over a unique gap opportunity

Did you get to skate the X-Games course? 

Never got to skate it - saying that, I never have my board at those events, as I have to carry loads of camera gear and clothes for a few days. I wouldn't be able to skate it anyway: they have a schedule of who's allowed on the course to practice, and they break down the days so everyone gets time without it being hectic as the courses are only small. If you had all the men and women involved skating at once it would be chaos. I think you have to have the correct wristband to skate as there are stewards everywhere checking. I'm lucky I get pretty good access, just no athlete access! 

What has been your favourite park/spot to photograph? 

Favourite park to shoot was the first year Street League was in London, at the Copper Box Arena. Apparently, the course was awful to skate but it had the Union Jack done in concrete so up high the photos looked great. Also I have had some good times over the years shooting the vert at Epic/Creation: normally Jim The Skin is skating, so always get rad photos. The big Herbert 3 set in Coventry with the old cathedral in the background looks epic. I shot a photo of Tez Aldersley that I still love to this day of him kick flipping it.

Tez Aldersley floating a kickflip down at the Herbert spot in Coventry

Which skater (that you haven't photographed) would you love to get pics of? 

Arto Saari would be sick! I love his skating. Spanky would be pretty high up: been really enjoying watching his footage recently. The skater that takes top of the list would have to be the fastest man in skateboarding: Dennis Busenitz. Just a photo of him pushing or bombing a hill would be a dream shoot!

What advice would you give to any aspiring photographers out there? 

Just enjoy your photography. Put as much time as you can into it, and most importantly talk to people and make connections. 

One last note on this: educate yourself! Take time to learn about photographers before you. Look at different areas, visit galleries, study photo books, listen to lectures - it all helps and gives you a better standing when moving into the professional world.

Anyone you would like to thank? 

Firstly, I’d thank you Ade: all the lifts to parks years ago, and people I met through you, and the videos you made. 

In skateboarding: big thanks to my friends over at Skateboard England, and always a big shout out to Jim The Skin and Ride. Everyone at X-Games & Simple Sessions: you rule. 

Thanks to Andy Scott also, as he kept me in skating for years, he's the hype man. Vic Frankowski: always a supporter of my photography from Content (@hello_content). There are so many to thank, as I can’t do what I do without people giving me opportunities and their time. Love to everyone.

[goodlucktai]

Personal Concerns (4/4)

back at it again with the always self-indulgent full circle au ٩( ᐛ )و

this part is finally finished im so glad,,,

previous

x

Kitamoto believes him. Satoru doesn't even have to draw a circle on Kitamoto's arm and point out the ghost that lives in the corner of his bedroom ceiling for Kitamoto to believe him.

“You were scared,” he says plainly. “You can't fake being that scared.”

Satoru lets his breath go in a sigh that deflates his whole body, relieved but not altogether surprised. If Kitamoto didn't believe him, he could rest assured that no one ever would.

“I'm going with you tomorrow,” Kitamoto adds in a tone that books no room for disagreement, and then goes downstairs to ask Satoru's mom if he can stay the night. Satoru's mom likes him—thinks he's a good influence—so it's a guaranteed yes.

Satoru feels a little bad about it. Kitamoto doesn't like being away from his family when he doesn't have to be. They usually have sleepovers at his house.

Still, he's really glad he's not by himself. Even with his parents downstairs and his big brother in the next room, Satoru would have sat awake in his bed with his back to the wall all night, his desk pushed in front of the door and his eyes trained on the window. Terrified to close his eyes and open them to that monster coming inside.

Even so, as grateful as he is to have his best friend's company, there's an anxious pit in the bottom of his stomach as Satoru considers the interrogation he's in for when Kitamoto returns.

But the hard questions he's bracing himself for don't come.

Instead, they have dinner in his room, watching movies on his laptop for hours and getting crumbs in his bed. They catch up on the new chapters of the manga they're following, and argue passionately over the plot and characters just for argument's sake. Shibata pops up on their ridiculously extended group chat with a picture of a cat he found on the way home from his extra curriculars, and Ogata and Tsuji are immediately pelting him with name suggestions—and since Satoru and Kitamoto are also awake at one o'clock in the morning, they join in for awhile. They're weighing the names “Fuku” and “Miruku” when Natsume drops in to say — really? this is really happening? at 1 a.m.? — and Satoru laughs until he wheezes.

And when his eyes are finally drooping, that earlier fear is long forgotten, and the anxiety is misplaced somewhere too far away to grasp easily. Kitamoto reaches past him to fold the laptop closed and slide it out of the way, and then his arm sort of stays there, draped over Satoru’s side like a weighted reminder.

With that, Satoru actually falls asleep when he closes his eyes. Actually sleeps until morning, for what feels like the first time in ages.

A year ago, he would never have woken up at seven on his day off from school, but that means he got about six hours of sleep, and that's—wow. That's an achievement.

Kitamoto is watching him when he wakes up, eyes sleepless and thoughtful. He looks alert, but he doesn't look tired, and Satoru can't exactly parse if that means he didn't sleep at all or if he just woke up much earlier than Satoru did.

“Breakfast,” Kitamoto says, by-way of good morning. Satoru can relate. “And let's go out to eat. I really don't think I can deal with your mom for a whole meal.”

“You and me both,” Satoru agrees readily, rubbing his eyes.

Satoru falls out of bed and Kitamoto laughs for three minutes at him. Kitamoto roots around in the closet for the clothes he left over last time he was here and changes into them, folding his uniform away into his schoolbag, and Satoru goes over the circle inked onto the front of his shoulder carefully with a felt tip pen before he tugs a hoodie on over his head.

“Alright,” Kitamoto says, steering him toward the door. “We go find food, and then have our confrontation.”

The pit in Satoru's stomach is back. “It doesn't need to be a confrontation.”

“Okay,” Kitamoto agrees too readily, even shrugging his shoulders. Satoru takes a moment to feel sorry for himself.

“I want pancakes,” he says mulishly, dragging his feet as they walk.

Kitamoto gives him an arch look but ultimately decides to humor him, changing route to the only place in town open early enough to serve breakfast instead of the all-hours convenience store they were probably headed to.

“You baby,” Kitamoto says dryly.

“You're paying!”

An hour or so later, they make it to Taki's house. It's usually hard to feel too stressed after wolfing down pancakes and strawberries, but somehow Satoru manages it.

Tanuma doesn't look surprised to see Kitamoto tagging along when the two of them show up. He only smiles by way of greeting and gestures at some of the cushions situated around the low table he's already seated at.

“Guess Taki told you, huh?” Satoru says lamely, trying to make conversation. The attempt doesn't really stick.

Kitamoto is almost visibly bristling. As laid back as he was all morning, he looks ready to pick a fight now. But instead he just sits, and Satoru sits between him and Tanuma, feeling a little squashed by the tension.

Taki comes bustling back in with a tray of tea a handful of minutes later, and Satoru's never been happier to see her in his life.

“Good morning,” he says desperately. She looks sympathetic.

“Good morning! I'm glad you're both here! So,” she continues, getting right to it as she passes around cups, “where should we start?”

“I want to see his arm,” Kitamoto says right away. Satoru wants to sink through the floor, but unfortunately it remains solid underneath him, and Taki only nods.

“I thought you might. I have a circle all drawn up already,” she says, maintaining the tentative peace.

There's a small stack of books on the table already, and she opens the topmost one to draw out a piece of paper folded into quarters. Smoothing it on the tabletop, revealing the yokai circle inked onto the page, she gestures for Satoru's hand.

He gives it, reluctantly. She pulls it closer to her side of the table, until it's suspended over the yokai circle, and Kitamoto swears so colorfully that Tanuma glances over his shoulder reflexively as if to make sure Taki's absent parents aren't swooping through the door.

“What the hell? You told me you were hurt, but you didn't say it was this bad!”

His touch doesn't match his tone; he's careful as he takes Satoru's arm out of Taki's hands, and there's so much in his eyes that it's hard to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds at a time.

“It's not that bad,” Satoru says weakly, for what it's worth.

“I don't get it.” Kitamoto all but talks over him, furious. “Why did this happen?”

There's almost—almost—blame in his voice, and it's almost pointed on the two across the table from them like a weapon. Satoru tugs his arm away, knowing that the marks on his wrist fade from their sight once it's back in his lap and away from the circle spread open on the table.

“It's not their fault,” he says pointedly, giving Kitamoto as much of a look as he dares. It's not much of one, and Kitamoto's attitude doesn't soften in the slightest. “It's not, I mean it. I got myself into some trouble. I was stupid. And then I was stupid again and kept quiet about it until they bullied it out of me. Honestly, this is on me.”

“Not all of it,” Tanuma says. He holds Kitamoto's heated glare without flinching, so calm and sensible that shouting at him would probably feel like shouting at a particularly impressive oak tree. “We shouldn't have let the situation get so bad. I'm sorry we made you feel like you were on your own, Nishimura.”

“I'm sorry, too,” Taki says earnestly, and Satoru shakes his head so hard the room blurs together.

“Would you guys stop, this is so dumb,” he says vehemently. “I literally should have said something sooner and I didn't, that's my fault. Acchan, what are you doing?” he adds, totally clueless. “I thought you'd be mad at me, not them.”

“I'm mad at all of you,” Kitamoto says stiffly. Satoru stares at him.

“You bought me pancakes.”

“That doesn't mean anything.” But he's relenting despite himself, some of the angry edges in his face easing out into just plain unhappiness, and his eyes seem to be stuck on Satoru's wrist where the invisible bruises sit. “I just—hate that this happened to you. I hate that you were so scared yesterday. I hate being the last one to know about all of this.”

Satoru twists his hands together. Kitamoto meets his eyes sharply as he's drawing breath to apologize.

“Say you're sorry and I'm never buying you breakfast ever again.”

“But,” Satoru says helplessly, “I am.”

“Yeah, but you're so strung-out and tired-looking that it's literally impossible for me to have an argument with you right now,” Kitamoto tells him shortly. “So save it for later.”

“Wow,” Satoru grumbles. Taki and Tanuma are trading amused looks, and Taki clears her throat.

“So you don't have any questions about the circle?” she prompts him delicately. “Or the things Satoru's been seeing?”

Kitamoto raises an eyebrow. “No? The magic circle your grandpa made lets people see yokai. That sounds pretty cut and dry.”

“Amazing,” Tanuma says faintly. Kitamoto gives him the fisheye, still a little too prickly to be poked fun at.

Taki, ever reliable, carries on before things get heated. Satoru loves her. “In that case, I want to show the three of you what I found in grandpa's library. There were some books in English that I couldn't quite parse—they were a little complicated. But what I could read led me to look in a few other places, and I'm pretty sure—well, mostly sure—that what we're dealing with is a sort of contagious magic.”

“Contagious magic?” Tanuma leans forward to look at the notebook Taki flips open. Her notes are meticulous, but she's helpfully highlighted a few areas in bold yellow, and he absorbs her work quickly. “Like—voodoo?”

“I guess so? I mean, the connotations aren't exactly the same, since this is an ayakashi we're dealing with, but I would go so far as to say that the mark on Nishimura's arm is a curse.” Taki flips through pages of one of the books and turns it around for them to see. “The word 'folk' comes up a lot, so I'm guessing this is largely just folklore. It's all written in the hypothetical, for posterity's sake. We don't exactly have a go-to manual for this sort of thing.”

“We should write one,” Satoru says glumly, rubbing his sore wrist. So the creepy bruises are a curse. That's not a huge surprise.

“Wait,” Kitamoto says, hugely surprised, “he's cursed?”

“It's not that bad,” Satoru assures him. “It could be way worse, probably.”

Kitamoto ignores him in favor of staring at the blocks of nearly indecipherable text, so transparent for a moment that Satoru can almost see him wishing he paid more attention in English class. Then his eyes dart up to Taki again desperately.

“How do we get rid of it?”

“Well,” she says, rubbing her forehead. “From what I gather, contagious magic is based on the assumption that the two subjects that came in contact with one another—in this case, Nishimura and the yokai—can continue to affect one another even after they've gone separate ways. I'll probably understand more of this once I have a chance to look online.”

“But how do we get rid of it?” Kitamoto stresses.

Taki looks so reluctant to answer that Satoru already knows he's going to hate everything she's about to say. “I don't know? If I had to guess, we'd probably need to find the yokai that cursed him.”

“Nope,” Satoru says immediately. “I'll just have a cursed arm forever, thanks.”

“That's not funny,” Kitamoto snaps, and Satoru jabs a finger at him.

“What's less funny is the idea of walking up to that monster and asking it for a favor,” he replies hotly. His heart is racing so hard it hurts, and yesterday's terror isn't that hard to sink back into. “Heck no. No. And Taki, Tanuma—don't do this behind my back. I know we're all about loopholes here, and I know I'm not one to talk, but we need to promise right here and now that we're not gonna go near that thing. At all. Okay? Or I'm—I don't know, I just—you have to promise.”

Taki pushes her books out of the way and leans across the table to take his hand in both of hers. Her eyes are bright and worried and relentlessly kind. He probably looks pathetic if he's managed to put that expression on her face, but if it works, he'll take it.

“Nishimura, I promise. It's okay, I promise I won't. I can't even see spirits properly, remember? Not unless you draw my circle for me, and even then, only barely.”

“Same here,” Tanuma says, reaching over to bump his arm. “If you're that against it, we'll figure something else out. You have my word, too.”

Kitamoto only glowers, arms folded tightly, but that's probably as good as Satoru's going to get from him.

“In fact,” Taki says brightly, “I think I know someone who might be able to help! We can buy his silence with food,” she adds, as though everything she's saying makes perfect sense. “He has a light that dispels curses and creates barriers. I just didn't know that Nishimura's bruises were a curse until now—but now that I do, I'll ask him right away!”

“Do that,” Satoru says, pressing his palm over his aching chest. “Just do it far away from the creepy yokai. And since my arm hasn't fallen off yet, I think it's safe to sit on this for a little while.”

“That's not funny,” Kitamoto says again, and pushes him over. Satoru lets him, and sort of scoots around until he can use Tanuma's knee as a convenient pillow. Tanuma huffs a quiet laugh and leaves him there.

Satoru listens to the conversation pick up again around Taki's research, thinking that with every question Kitamoto asks, he's getting more and more deeply involved in a pretty dangerous world. But Satoru still can't help feeling glad he's here.

He tugs his sleeve back and glances at the bruises on his arm. They're darker today, a horror's handprint wrapped around his wrist like an ugly bracelet.

Even though Satoru ran away, that yokai is practically still touching him, with this stupid contagious magic—it might as well still be holding his arm.

He's afraid to think about that too much.

Satoru's phone chooses that moment to chirp, at about the same time everyone else's does, and he fishes it out from his back pocket without bothering to sit up.

It's another picture message from Shibata in the group chat, of the ratty stray he found last night newly transformed into a pretty cream-colored creature with a powder blue collar and long white whiskers.

— couldn't decide between fuku and miruku so i went with both! ☆ —

“'Lucky Milk'?” Tanuma says slowly, a world of confusion in his voice.

Satoru makes the mistake of catching Kitamoto's eye, and despite everything else, they both dissolve into laughter.

[mylifeincinema]

My Best of 2018: My Top 10 Films!

It’s time! Looking, it doesn’t seem like 2018 was all that impressive, but I swear, in the moment, 2018 felt like an incredibly strong year for cinema. But now we’re here, and I find myself underwhelmed by a lot of the films I should’ve loved, and struggling to compile my final Top 10 without leaning heavily toward the entertaining end of the A&E spectrum, rather than balancing steadily between the two as I (like to think, at least) have in the past. Whatever, I’m happy with it.

Before we jump into My Top 10, here are a some Honorable Mentions that just missed the Top 10, and really could be swapped out with anything between 8-10 quite easily… Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma; Steve McQueen’s Widows; Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built; Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout; and Ari Aster’s Hereditary. Also, to check out my entire Top 33, CLICK HERE.

Okay now, let’s do this...

My Top 10 Films of 2018!!

10. Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind

Incredible. It’s not really the type of film I’ll likely revisit very often, but it’s a remarkable piece of New Hollywood cinema, one that transcends the trademarks of the time to shine brightly as both a celebration and satire of the era’s cinematic voices. The editing that brought this film back from the dead is absolutely staggering, and then there’s Michel Legrand’s score, which complements the film perfectly; a free-flowing and exceedingly experimental piece that wrings out every bit of Welles’ energy and passion.

At the end of the day, though, the simple fact that this exists, and we are lucky enough to be able to experience Welles’ gargantuan voice and vision one more time, is truly breathtaking.

9. Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

The world needs more Fred Rogers...

8. Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite

This has grown on me more and more since seeing it. Those ultra-wide and fisheye shots, those pans and endless stunning shots of the palace and its people. That perfect cast. They all come together to make a hilarious, uneasy and wildly wicked delight.

7. Anthony & Joe Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War

The logistics behind this film alone are mind-blowing. How Marvel and the Russo Bros. managed to bring it all together for such a crowd-pleasing, endlessly entertaining display that’s as fun as it is heavy is some kind of astonishing.

6. Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born

I’m just going to go ahead and repeat myself once again... This was a directorial debut.

5. Paul King’s Paddington 2

A flawless family film. I rewatched it again just the other day, and there wasn’t a second that passed that didn’t find me with a giant, stupid smile on my face.

4. Persichetti, Ramsey & Rothman’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The animation is absolutely eye-popping. The characters are fresh, funny, familiar, and all-around awesome (thanks in large part to an incredible cast). The story is exciting, heartfelt and original in it’s embrace of its familiarity. The action is fun. Fun, fun, fun.

And really, that’s what the movie is as a whole: a whole shitload of F-U-N.

3. Joel & Ethan Coen’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The Coen Bros. celebrate the western as only they can. Each chapter is darker than the one it follows, but none get too heavy to hold thanks to the Coens’ trademark sense of pitch-black humor and endless assembly line of exceedingly peculiar characters.

I hate that we live in a world where Tom Waits and Tim Blake Nelson won’t be battling each other for Best Supporting Actor on February 24.

2. Damien Chazelle’s First Man

The Best Film of 2018.

A biopic as cold and distant as its subject’s goals. Executed with surgical precision, the approach works wonders here as we’re brought into the world of a detached genius whose mind is filled with as much grief as it is drive.

And My Favorite Film of 2018 is...

1. Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson has - unsurprisingly - done it again.

Thank you for reading...

Enjoy!!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

More of My Best of 2018...

[foxesandferrets]

Wishbringer Snippet

This is a quick scene from a later chapter of the original story I’ve been (kind of) working on, Wishbringer. I haven’t actually reached this point in the story yet but it’s a scene I had rattling around in my head for a while and thought I’d share. Enjoy!

********                          ********

“See that spot over there?” Max asks, stopping from twisting in the swing, the absence of creaking iron almost sucking the air from around them.

“Between the trees?”

“Yeah. Just at the top of the hill. If you lay on the grass there you can see just through the canopy and get a full view of the sky,” he continues, breath fogging around his mouth and dispersing like the clouds in his memory.

Elan doesn’t answer, just hums to acknowledge he’s listening, not sure why Max brought up the subject.

“That’s where Kara Pritcher kissed me last summer.”

The calm ice bubble shatters around them as Elan jumps up, feeling an electric spark of excitement in his veins. “You kissed Kara Pritcher?”

Max laughs and looks down at the small pile of snow he’s pushed together with his shoes. A half laugh, a single puff of winter breath.

“No. She kissed me.”

“But still,” Elan replies, dropping back into his swing seat but not losing his jittery buzz. “She’s the prettiest girl in 6th grade! Did you like it?”

“It wasn’t bad, I guess,” Max shrugs, looking up again and across the park at the spot atop the hill. “It was kind of slimy. She was wearing this roll on lip gloss that tasted like melted plastic and bubblegum.”

Elan giggles, a flurry of smoky air coming from his lungs. “Gross.”

“Yeah. Now that I think about it it was pretty gross,” Max smiles, finally turning to meet Elan’s eyes again. “Felt cool at the time though. I even held her hand and walked her home. It was sweaty and awkward. I don’t know why I didn’t let go.”

“What happened after that?” Elan asks, not noticing how far forward he leans, invested in Max’s story.

“I don’t know. Nothing, I guess. It’s not like we dated or anything.”

“Maybe you were just a bad kisser.”

Max laughs again, a real laugh this time that spreads all the way to Elan, leaving a smile on both boys’ faces. “Yeah, that was probably it.”

“Do you think she’d kiss me?” Elan asks, smirking at the way Max’s cheeks flush a brighter pink than the rosy brush of color from the cold.

“What? No way! Who’d wanna kiss a dork like you?” He teases, sticking his tongue out. “Besides, the spot on the hill isn’t as fun in winter.”

“I’ll just wait until summer then,” Elan shrugs, lifting his feet to start swinging again just in time to catch Max’s snowball to the face. “Hey!”

“Think fast!” Max yells as another frozen ball flies past Elan’s ear with a crisp whoosh.

“Ah man, you’re gonna get it!” Elan laughs, hopping off the swing to grab a handful of snow in his gloved hands. He does his best to pack it together but it’s not quite as spherical as Max’s, more like a lumpy snow potato, but it’ll work.

Elan readies his throwing arm, beaming from ear to ear, but when he turns around Max is gone. He hand falls to his side, the snowball starting to melt into the fabric of his glove. “Max?” He calls, cold air touching his throat like a hint of panic.

“Over here!”

He spins around to see the back of Max’s red jacket moving through the trees.

“Hey, come back! Where are you going?” He asks, dropping his forgotten snowball on the ground and following his friend. Max doesn’t stop, but turns to smile over his shoulder.

“The hill.”

Elan follows him, trying his best to catch up but his shoes are heavy as they move through the snow that gets deeper the higher they climb. Both boys are exhausted when they reach the top, bent over and panting out clouds of fog as they try to catch their breath.

Max collapses on the snow, laying spreadeagled on the pillow of white and looking up, patting the spot beside him. Elan doesn’t speak, something he isn’t used to at all, just joins his friend on the ground. The snow is freezing against his back, but a good kind of freezing. The kind that bites to remind you how alive you are.

“See,” Max says, cutting the silence. “The view sucks in winter.”

Elan looks up at the sky, a thick sheet of slate gray dotted with dark clouds like puffs of campfire smoke. It seems so far away and yet so close, like he could reach up to grab a wisp with his fingertips and just barely miss. It reminds him of home, with the high vaulted ceiling and glass fisheye tanks that seem to be convex and concave at the same time.

“I kind of like it. It makes me feel smaller, like a part of a whole,” Elan replies, trying to convey his thoughts as best he can. He reaches up, absentmindedly twirling his fingers in the air and imagining how close the clouds must be.

“That’s what I don’t like about it,” Max whispers, voice just a breath in the wind. “It doesn’t seem to end. If the sky goes on forever, but we stay right here, then what does that make us?”

Elan doesn’t answer, sensing that Max doesn’t want him to. He doesn’t need to be comforted, doesn’t want to be told that their short lives really mean anything in the end, and after all who is Elan to tell him so? So they lie in silence, the comfort of existentialism settling over them like a blanket from the cold, and Elan thinks that if this the side of Max that exists on the hill then he couldn’t blame Kara Pritcher for wanting to kiss him.

[markpauldaphotography]

LONDON THROUGH A KEYHOLE

Have you seen movies where a person looks through a keyhole? On the viewer's side, the side where the person looking through the keyhole, the scene is dark and perhaps ominous? Through the keyhole might be a mysterious scene or even something magical? As viewers of the movie, we are taken into a scene and we feel as if we're part of the action. Not only is the actor in the movie looking through the keyhole, but we are as well. We see what the actor sees at the very same time. We feel the suspense, angst, shock, horror, joy, enchantment - whatever emotion the moviemaker wants us to feel, we feel it, too. This is an effective method in moviemaking and cinematography as we become part of the action. This is also an effective method in photography. As photographers it is important to draw the viewers of your photographs into your image. Your photograph is the keyhole, so to speak, that allows viewers to experience or view what you have seen and captured with your camera. If your viewers can be drawn into your photo, then they will feel the emotion or feeling that you're trying to convey. And, if you can draw viewers in and make them feel a certain way, then you my friend, are not a picture taker but instead a photographer. How do you draw people into your photographs? You begin by mastering photo composition. You master photo composition by practicing all key elements until they become second nature to you. Becoming a great photographer really is that simple tho' it is a lot of work. One suggestion regarding photo composition is to challenge yourself. One way to challenge yourself is to change the camera you use. For example, if you typically shoot with a digital camera of any sort or a mobile phone, let's say, then switch to a film camera for a day or even a week. You can pick up inexpensive film cameras at ebay. And yes, you can still purchase film and have it professionally developed. I have a variety of film cameras but for this blog post I chose the Fisheye camera from Lomography. I also chose black and white film. Better still, I chose London as my backdrop. The cool thing about Lomo's Fisheye camera is the captured image is actually a circle with a pronounced black border. Basically, the result is like looking through a keyhole - at least that's how I see it. I've included a variety of images I captured over a week's time. The shots are entirely random tho' you'll recognise some of the scenes. Have a look at the photos. Are they the best images of London you've ever seen? No. They are not the best images I've seen either. The better question is - have you seen London portrayed this way before? Unless you've practiced this same photo exercise, your answer is undoubtedly a no. Photographing a familiar scene in a new way with a new perspective and with a camera you're not entirely familiar with will allow you the freedom to explore and test your creativity. It is easy to be comfortable. It's easy to always surround yourself with the familiar. The easy way is not the best way to improve your photography skills. You will grow by challenging yourself. You'll reach new levels of achievement by stepping away from your comfort zone. It's safe to say you'll surprise even yourself by creating a masterful composition that draws your viewer into your vision. And in the end, involving the viewers of your photographs is exactly what you want. The following is an exerpt from "Alice Through the Looking Glass". Notice how Alice first envisions what life might be if she and kitty could go through the looking-glass house. In an instant, Alice does go through the looking glass and she takes us with her when she does. This is exactly what you want to do with the viewers of your photographs. "But this is taking us away from Alice’s speech to the kitten. ‘Let’s pretend that you’re the Red Queen, Kitty! Do you know, I think if you sat up and folded your arms, you’d look exactly like her. Now do try, there’s a dear!’ And Alice got the Red Queen off the table, and set it up before the kitten as a model for it to imitate: however, the thing didn’t succeed, principally, Alice said, because the kitten wouldn’t fold its arms properly. So, to punish it, she held it up to the Looking-glass, that it might see how sulky it was—‘and if you’re not good directly,’ she added, ‘I’ll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like that?’ ‘Now, if you’ll only attend, Kitty, and not talk so much, I’ll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there’s the room you can see through the glass—that’s just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair—all but the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! I want so much to know whether they’ve a fire in the winter: you never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too—but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire. Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way; I know that, because I’ve held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room. ‘How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they’d give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn’t good to drink—But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it’s very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure it’s got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let’s pretend there’s a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let’s pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it’s turning into a sort of mist now, I declare! It’ll be easy enough to get through—’ She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how she had got there. And certainly the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist. In another moment Alice was through the glass, and had jumped lightly down into the Looking-glass room. The very first thing she did was to look whether there was a fire in the fireplace, and she was quite pleased to find that there was a real one, blazing away as brightly as the one she had left behind. ‘So I shall be as warm here as I was in the old room,’ thought Alice: ‘warmer, in fact, because there’ll be no one here to scold me away from the fire. Oh, what fun it’ll be, when they see me through the glass in here, and can’t get at me!’ Then she began looking about, and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quite common and uninteresting, but that all the rest was as different as possible. For instance, the pictures on the wall next the fire seemed to be all alive, and the very clock on the chimney-piece (you know you can only see the back of it in the Looking-glass) had got the face of a little old man, and grinned at her." Read the full article

[thecreativeseries]

Interview With Ikelite Ambassador Brandon Verdura With His Muse Cassi Manner

Brandon Verdura has an eye for the ocean like no other living in majestic Oahu, Hawaii. Working alongside his girlfriend Cassi Manner @cassimanner who features in a lot of his work and inspires his creative vision. He creates such beautiful, ethereal images that will motivate you to get in the ocean and explore.

A Photographer, spearfisherman and USCG rescue swimmer. His photography is inspirational and unique. It was a real pleasure to learn more about Brandon @brandonverdura

Firstly, can you start with a little bit about yourself? 

I was born and raised in South Florida with a second home in the water. It is water after all, that my inspiration and creativity flows from. The ever changing reality that is always there, but rarely appreciated. It is what helped me find my love for photography.  My father has a strong passion for the water and that same passion was instilled in me at a young age. I later joined the Coast Guard to become a rescue swimmer in order to help those who enjoy the ocean as much as I do. It was while in the Coast Guard that I purchased a GoPro and my love for photography started. If you would have told me three years ago that I would love photography, I would have said you were crazy, as I did not consider myself a “creative type”.  I played sports, jumped out of helicopters, and enjoyed shooting fish. But photography opened up a side of me I had no clue existed.

What would you say inspires your current vision?  

I am currently inspired by videography. It is another creative outlet that I am excited to learn and explore. I originally purchased my GoPro to make spearfishing videos, and a year later I purchased my first DSLR. So I stopped making videos to focus on photography.   I am also fascinated by waves. Growing up in Florida, I was never able to witness a true wave. Now that I have the opportunity to live in Hawaii, I am excited to try and capture the beauty and power of the ocean.

Can you give a breakdown of the equipment you use to create your work?

I recently upgraded from a Nikon D750 to the D850 mainly for its video capabilities as well as the improved image quality. I love shooting with my Sigma 35mm f1.4. The bokeh it would create underwater is beautiful. It is a lot of fun shooting behind bubbles and watch the lens turn them into light orbs. In addition I use a sigma 15mm fisheye lens. This was the first lens I purchased and is still a go to for underwater. The super wide angle is great underwater because it allows you to be close to your subject. This helps produce a sharper image. A huge advantage when shooting in tight spaces like an underwater cave. The housing I use for my camera is by Ikelite. They were the original housing I used when I started underwater photography with my D750. I am honoured to now be an Ikelite ambassador and continue to use their housing to keep my camera protected.

What are your go to settings when you shoot in the ocean? 

I don’t really have go to settings, although I do prefer shooting at an wide open aperture to create some depth between my subject and the background. Also when shooting in caves I find that using highlight metering keeps my subjects from being over exposed when swimming into the light rays. This was a big problem I had when I first start shooting in caves here in Hawaii. 

Have you ever had an experience in the ocean that really scared you?

I was attacked by a shark once. A few of us were spearfishing in the Bahamas when a reef shark came and took my friends fish along with the spear attached to it. We followed the shark around for a bit hoping he would spit the spear out but unfortunately he didn’t. I saw an opportunity to dive down on the shark to try and grab the spear. About 35ft down the shark turned towards me and showed his teeth. I thought he was going to came at me so I poked him with my spear just to warn him off. Big mistake haha, the shark immediately dart towards me trying to bite my face. I was able to push him off and dodge the initial attack but he came back in for a second attempt. I quickly grabbed my spear with both hands and put it in his mouth to fend him off.

You always hear stories of how adrenaline makes it seem as if time has slowed down… this couldn’t be more true. I was able to break down every little movement and critically think in the short 4 seconds. As I saw the shark turn towards me I knew I had to fend him off with my spear. I knew if I held the spear how you would hold a bar I had a chance of looking all my fingers. So in the moment I used one hand to grab the very end of the spear, and luckily I did. The shark bit down on the spear and grazed my palm and pinky. That split second decision saved my hand. I am incredibly lucky that I ended up with only 3 stitches. My Gopro happened to be recording as well haha, if interested you can find the video on YouTube, just search “First person shark attack”.

All that being said, please give these animals the respect they deserve. They are beautiful creatures but it is their territory, do not underestimate them.

Your portrait shoots are next level where do you get your inspiration for these beautiful images?

Aww thanks you are too kind, but as much as I would love to take credit for that, it is my girlfriend @cassimanner that is the brains behind 90% of those shoots. She’s a natural. 

What do you enjoy most about your career as a photographer? 

I live for the moments when I capture an image that puts a giant smile on my subjects face. As well as the surprises that come along with capturing images. Whether its from the moment you press the shutter and an image leaves you in awe by surprise (such as my light orb photo) or the moment I apply one of my presets to an image that’s been sitting untouched and it turns out amazing. 

How do you continue to evolve as a photographer? 

I am constantly learning when ever I can. Youtube is a great place to learn, it is where I learned basically everything I know about photography. I am also evolving beyond photography and starting to learn cinematography.

Among all your work what is your most memorable capture? 

That is a hard question, as I look through my photos there are so many that have that “giant smile” moment. The greatest was probably my light orb photo though. I was still getting used to using my 35mm f1.4 and it was my first time using a Lume Cube in the water. The sun just set and we were swimming back to shore when I realized the light rays coming from behind us. I asked my girlfriend Cassi for one last quick shot. I didn’t even realize I had my exposure set to -1. When I saw the photo on my live view I was in shock as well as Cassi. One of those surprise moments I will always cherish.

What is something you wish you had known when you first started your journey in ocean photography? 

I wish I would have taken a freediving course sooner. Being able to comfortably hold my breath has allowed me to compose shots better, adjust settings, and even get closer to marine life. Most importantly the ability to forget that you are holding your breath underwater gives a new feeling of connection with the ocean. 

“The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the terrestrial globe. It's breath is healthy and pure. It is a spacious wilderness where man is never alone, for he can feel life throbbing all around him. The sea is the environment for a prodigious, supernatural existence; it is nothing but movement and love; it is a living infinity.

The sea is nature’s vast reserve. It was through the sea that the globe as it were began, and who knows if it will not end in the sea! Perfect peace abides there. The sea does not belong to despots. On its surface immoral rights can still be claimed, men can fight each other, devour each other, and carry out all the earth’s atrocities. But thirty feet below the surface their power ceases, their influence fades, their authority disappears. Independence is possible only here! Here I recognize no master! Here I am free! Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

How  do to keep yourself physically fit to be able to do what you do? 

I am fortunate enough that as a rescue swimmer we are required to maintain a certain physical fitness. I mainly lift weights, but our training includes high intensity circuits and pool workouts as well.

 What methods do you use for editing ? Can you explain your workflow? 

I mainly use lightroom and honestly my workflow is probably not the best haha. I normally upload all photos from a shoot then spend the next hour or two playing around with my different presets on the photos. Maybe finish one photo, maybe not haha. I can be quite in decisive between favourite edits and photos.

Who would you say are your greatest influencers and inspirations? 

There are so many awesome creators that I follow and get inspiration from. Probably at the top of the list is Jack Bates @jackbatesphotography. I've been following him since I started photography. His colors tones and content are always unique and eye catching. 

Lastly do you have any advice you would give someone starting out in photography?

I think the most important advice I could give is to enjoy learning and growing. Know that photography is a process. Enjoy that process and you’ll become the creator you’ve dreamed of being.

If you want to check out more of Brandon’s work see his website at www.seetheabyss.com

[hnd2cjohnmceachran-blog]

Studio Lighting Workshop

The class was an all-day class held on a Thursday. I arrived in class to find several different lighting sets ups in place. The one mistake I made for most of the day was not to take photos of the lighting set ups that where in place. I did take some notes on elements I would otherwise not been able to remember the names off or the techniques used in those setups. For the most part I recognised most of the set-ups and understood some of the basic points with them. Set-up 1 Working in a group we picked our first set up to work with. This was a large soft-box overhead. The back-ground was an old tarp draped over a stand. There was a small box to sit on. This gave a single point of light on the subject that would mimic natural sunlight. This is an image from that set. It has had only light editing in Lightroom. 

As can be seen in the image the light comes from above and to the right of the subject’s face. This gave the effect of a lot of shadow falling on the left of the face. It also gave the hair detail. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 73mm, f10 and at 1/160thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. The end result is a nice contrast in the image. I could have used reflectors to lift the shadows in the underside but I liked the way the shadow falls on the face. Set-up 2 The next set up was Using 4 studio lights aimed at a wall to the right of the subject. 2 slightly higher than the other two. The wall acted like a reflector. To the left of the subject is a stand with a large flag that was used to as a fill on the left of the face. 

This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 200mm, f11 and at 1/125thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. The end result is quite editorial in appearance. The contrast in the image is not as heavy as in the first image. The softer contrast means there is less of a difference in the highlights and the lowlights making the image more of an even mid-tonne in its final appearance. Set-up 3 This is a set up I would have enjoyed more time on. I have always liked a dappled light. I feel it adds so much to an image. The Gobo light is an attachment that has a cone and then plates that can be inserted in to it that have designs cut in to them that create a specific shadow. This was used as a singular light source as so much of the light is cut out. A simple background close to the subject gets so little light it comes out black as long as the exposure is based on the highlights on the subject. 

This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 94mm, f4 and at 1/100thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. I would not normally opt to shoot at 1/100thof a sec in a studio as there is a risk of introducing camera shake when off a tripod or motion blur from the subject. Looking back, I would have opted to have one of the spots of lights on the leading eye, maybe both eyes but I still enjoy the result of not seeing the eyes in a lot of detail sue to the shadows. If I had more time I would have made the shadows much stronger so I had more contrast in the lowlights and highlights. However, I like the end result. Set-up 4 This had one light above and to the front of the subject. There was a reflector that was on a stand directly under the subject’s head. Panels to the left and right to reflect light back to the side of the subject’s face, with one below to eliminate any shadows under chin of the sitter. I either need more time to explore this set-up or it’s the case that I just don’t enjoy the results from it. I didn’t find the end result flattering to the subject. While I can see that there is no shadows in the subjects eyes and it’s a soft even light that is delivered. It may be down to that I felt awkward in the area and standing on a small stool to get some height on the subject. In the end up I would say for the moment this is not a set-up I will use again too soon without having too.

This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 85mm, f10 and at 1/160thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. Set-up 5 The Ring-flash. I am going to say it now. I have always wanted a ring-flash. The qualities of it are spectacular. A nice even front on lighting that creates no shadows on the subject’s face. The catch light when done right is very complementary. The team did set about playing with this set-up quite extensively and we had a lot of fun with it. For this reason, I am using two images from this set-up.

In the image above you can see the even spread light has left a soft shadow around the subject. Moving him further from the back  would have helped to reduce this or even a back light or reflectors could have taken care of that issue. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 72mm, f10 and at 1/160thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space.

In the image above, we set about using a fisheye lens inside the ring-flash as we had some time to explore what we could produce. We had the ring-flash very close to the subject. It does not look like that due to the effect of the fish-eye lens but there was only a couple of CM from the subject’s face. This is hard on the subject as the light is bright so it’s best to have a get this done quick mentality. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 15mm, f22 and at 1/160thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. Set-up 6 This again was another single light source set up. It’s known as the clam-shell. With flags on both sides bowing in the studio light and large soft-box. To complete the clam-shell a large reflector is placed below the subject reflecting the light back up under the subject while the flags on the side bounce back a small amount of light to complete circle of light created. It completely lifted all shadows from the face and even thought the subject has a cap on there is no shadows falling on the face. 

In the image above has some room to play. I feel I could have varied the exposure more to see what results I could get. However, I have little negative that I can say about the overall results. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 70mm, f4 and at 1/160thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. Set-up 7 This set up requires one big soft-box and two lights facing inward. One at each side. Then one light at the front to fill in and this gives a clean white back-ground with sharp highlights on the side of the subjects face or a large reflector. The results from this set-up are very pleasant indeed. 

face. I could have brought it closer to give just a little bit lighter on the front of the subject. It’s only in editing I am seeing that I am seeing where I would improve the overall image. I may have also made the light higher and a little bit more to the left of my shooting position. This would have introduced a little bit more shadow to the subject. With it being a steady light, I was able to see the effect of the light in real time. This would have helped me to shot above 1/100thsec. Although no issues are seen in this image it still could have been better with some minor work. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 85mm, f9 and at 1/100thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. Set-up 8

The final set-up I used on that day involved 3 studio lights. 2 in large thin rectangular soft boxes behind the subject with one light to the front and above the subject. The two lights at the back have the same angle on them. The front light is switched off. The person walks one step at a time from behind the two lights to in front of the two lights. This process is to let us see where the high-lights fall on the subject. It also offers the chance to find the exposure for the high-lights as seen below.

At this point the subject’s position is marked. We then introduce the 3rdlight at the front. It’s at this stage that we can be creative with the look I want to achieve.

I can see from the shadows that the light at the front in this shot was above me and to the right. I really enjoy the final result in this image and I don’t have any criticism of the quality of light delivered in this set-up. It gives a great highlight to the subjects face while the back-ground is going towards black. The face has an even light while still having the depth of shadows in key areas. This was shot at ISO 100, using a 70-200mm f2.8 at 85mm, f5.6 and at 1/125thsec. Colour pre-sets are Adobe 1998 in Lightroom, Same colour settings as the DSLR for colour space. In conclusion I would use nearly all of these lighting types in the future. Each of them has their place as trusted set-up that help deliver a professional quality of light in the studio. I sternly have some favourites that I will uses. Not just the quality of light delivered but in their ease of use. Some are just a lot of fun and offer the physical space for a subject to move around it and be lively while others that space maybe more confined so a little bit more constrictive in what can be done. The simple fact is I could easily have spent a few more days with all the variant set-ups available to explore and had more time to fine tune some things I was doing. 

[onechelofanadventure]

I get a lot of questions on Instagram and my blog about what camera I use and how I take all my travel photos, so I thought I’d lay out all my gear for y’all!

Camera

Canon Rebel T2i

First off, I absolutely love this camera. I’ve had it for almost 8 years now (the link above and pic below is the newest version) and have never had an issue! It’s not the fanciest camera Canon makes by far, but it’s definitely a great model and gets the job done for me. A con is that it’s not the easiest to use in manual, but takes great photos in the automatic modes, making it a good choice for beginners.

Lenses

When is comes to DSLR cameras, it’s all about the lenses. I have 4 lenses for my camera and an additional fisheye/macro attachment. 

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Zoom Lens

This lens is great for everyday use, is super versatile, and good in most situations. This has been my go-to lens for years. Below are pictures that were taken with it:

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens

This is a long telephoto lens and has fantastic zoom capabilities! It’s great for capturing things really far away and creating a lovely depth of field. I use this for wildlife or getting fine details.

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake Lens

This 40 mm pancake lens goes all the way down to an f 2.8 so creates a great blurred background for portraits:

Processed with VSCO with c7 preset

Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Wide Angle Lens

A wide angle lens is essential for travel! I use the Canon EF-S 10-18mm and it takes really great landscape photos, I used it a lot on my trip to New Zealand and The Great Ocean Road.

Wide Angle Conversion Lens with Macro Close-Up Attachment

The Macro and wide angle/fisheye lens attachment just screws on to the end of my other lenses. To be honest, I don’t use these all that much, but, they can create some cool, artsy effects.

Camera Bag

Pacsafe Camsafe V17 Anti-Theft Camera Backpack

I am super excited to share this one with yall! I just recently got this Pacsafe Camsafe Backpack and am loving it! It is perfect for travelers because the safety features are amazing. The fabric and straps are made of eXomesh and are slash-proof. There are RFID blocking pockets that protect from scan scam. The zippers have a clip lock, making it difficult for pickpockets. It also has a front chest clip for comfort and security.

The bag itself holds most DSLRs with a lens and 2-3 additional lenses. The website says it holds fewer, but I was able to get my camera and all lenses in just fine (granted the pancake lens is quite small)! There is an easy access zipper on the side that lets you take lenses in and out. The back has really comfy padding. Even with all my gear in it, the weight didn’t feel too heavy at all. There is also a space for a tripod or drink bottle. I did get this backpack sponsored, but if you couldn’t tell, I really am in love with it! You can get it on their website or on Amazon! PS – they don’t just make camera bags, they make all kinds of anti-theft bags including luggage, purses, wallets, and more!

Accessories

Extra Batteries

If you traveling, these will be a lifesaver. There have many times when I wasn’t able to charge my camera battery from the day before, and my back-up saved me.

Tripod

Tripods are necessary for any low light or long exposure settings. I have a Vanguard Espod CX 204AP and it’s been great for me. Here’s a pretty long exposure just for fun 😉

Lens filters

I have a couple different lens filters that I use. The first is a polarizer. It’s great for cutting out glare and reducing reflection.

The next is a UV protector. It reduces UV light and helps eliminate a blueish cast in photos.

The last filter I have is an ND (Neutral Density) filter. This is for more advanced photography, but basically, it allows you to take longer exposures in brighter light.

Cleaning tools

An assortment of brushes and cleaning cloths are always handy. Mine all came in the kit I bought my wide angle lens with.

Memory Cards

It’s always good to have a couple of these. I just got a Lexar 64 GB that holds thousands of RAW photos, it’s great. I also have a couple smaller GB SanDisk ones as well. I’d say it’s worth it to get at least a 32 GB card.

Wireless Timer Remote

I use my wireless timer remote mainly for time lapses and self-portraits. Because it’s wireless, you can set your camera up on a tripod and simply press a button on the remote to take a picture — perfect for solo travelers!

Lens Hood

This is another accessory that came with my 10-18 mm lens kit. To be honest, I didn’t really know what this did before getting it, just thought it looked cool haha! But it helps with reducing lens flare (which I actually kinda like sometimes) and protects the lens (the main reason I use it). You can buy one cheaply on Amazon, just be sure to check the size of your lens, it’s not one size fits all!

Amazon offers a good accessories kit for $15 that includes lens filters, a lens hood, an extra lens cap, and a cleaning cloth!

Action Camera

Lightdow LD4000 1080P HD Sports Action Camera

I am always so excited to tell people about this camera! Coming to Australia I knew I wanted an underwater camera but was about to take a serious pay cut from my last job so wanted a cheaper option than a GoPro. GoPros area awesome cameras, but I was able to find an alternative on Amazon that I absolutely LOVE — and it’s only $50 USD! I took some really great pics on the Great Barrier Reef and in Fiji.

Processed with VSCO with m3 preset

Polaroid Camera

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera

My dad saw this on my Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers and got it for me for my birthday! I’m still learning to play with it, but it definitely can add some fun to your travel pics!

iPhone

The quality of my iPhone photos still amaze me to this day — and that’s coming from someone still stuck in the dinosaur days with an iPhone 5 😉 You don’t necessarily need a big fancy DSLR camera to take amazing travel pictures, an iPhone is a great option, and way more convenient to carry around with you.

So there ya have it! A rundown of all the gear I use. Important to note: I don’t take every single thing with me whenever I travel, I cater it to where I’m going and what I’m going to be doing. No need to bring a portrait lens if I’m going to be shooting only landscape and vice versa! If you have any other questions on gear or even travel photography in general, just drop me a note 🙂

xx Chels

If you liked this post, pin it to Pinterest!

  My Travel Photo Gear: Cameras & Accessories I get a lot of questions on Instagram and my blog about what camera I use and how I take all my travel photos, so I thought I'd lay out all my gear for y'all!

[louisewahlander]

Journal 1996

JANUARY 22 1996 – Deramore Ave Belfast I hate this house&#33 It is me, Eamonn and this 40 year old man here and i feel so out of place, and the house is plain disgusting&#33… It’s dirty, we have no shower but a bathtub with no plug in it, so one has to be an acrobat to bend down and wash oneself under the two taps, ofcourse there has to be two taps, one ice cold and the other one burning hot… My room is small, and brown-ish looking and i have no lock on my door which i demand&#33 I want out and i am going…i just need to find a new place, or a room atleast. JANUARY 23 1996 – Andersonstown Belfast Hah, i’ve moved, well sort of… Liz told me there was a vacant room where she’s renting so i asked if i could move in and yes i could&#33 I have my things here and all, but i haven’t told Eamonn yet, and i don’t know how to tell him either…&#34I took out the trash and oh by the way your house is filthy and i’m moving out&#34…ha ha ha. Oh well… The rent is only £25 a week here including everything so it’s alot cheaper than Deramore Ave, and it’s clean and we have a shower and a working bathtub…and a washingmachine and everything one can dream of, and it's right on the Anditown Road too, so the taxis are just outside the door. How convenient&#33 JANUARY 24 1996 – Andersonstown Belfast Oh dear, we went out to Stormont to have a look (don’t ask why) and the whole place was covered in…something…apparantly there’d been a fire there, so we didn’t get to see anything, ha ha ha, not that i cared for i sat in the back of the van anyway just hating the moment… JANUARY 26 1996 – Some hostel in Derry £7.70 for a return ticket by Ulster Bus…and that’s with the ISIC card&#33 Damn expensive if you ask me. This hostel is full of wierdos, atleast on our floor, there’s this old man who won’t let us keep food in the fridge, nor watch tv, just because he’s a regular &#34tennant&#34 and we’re not… He walks in the hallway up and down yelling at us as soon as we appear… Quite amusing&#33 By accident we met a norweigan girl in some shop, she heard us talking and almost screamed &#34You’re swedish&#33 &#34 –although in norweigan… Went to the Guildhall to listen to Gerry Adams speak on the annual Bloody Sunday lecture, then we went to Abrakebabra… JANUARY 27 1996 –Same hostel in Derry Went to some workshops at the Pat Finucane Centre, and then some debate. It was really interesting actually&#33 Me and Liz walked around and around and around for no reason at all… JANUARY 28 1996 – Andersonstown Belfast Earlier today we went to watch and take pictures of the Bloody Sunday March. I’ve never seen so many people in a march before, not even as a kid when mom and dad dragged us kids out for the workers/social democratic party demonstrations on May 1 every year… I used up so many films, color, black and white and slide film… It’s gonna take me forever to develop and print&#33 &#33 Took the bus home to Belfast around 5.30pm and since we got home we’ve done nothing at all, just been lazy, with every right&#33 FEBRUARY 1 1996 – Belfast Exposed Belfast Been here all day, processing film and printing contacts and even some prints. Couldn’t be bothered to process the color film so i left them at some Kodak shop, they better not ruin them&#33 Lawrence is going to have a opening party for his new exhibition on 6 th of February and me and Liz are invited&#33 &#33 Oh and Gerry asked me and Liz if we’re girlfriends… And he said that they had been discussing me and Liz forever at BE, wondering whether or not we are lesbians…ha ha ha&#33 Silly people, just cuz we live together, eat together, do everything together 24 hours a day it doesn’t mean we’re girlfriends&#33 Ha ha ha… FEBRUARY 3 1996 – Anditown Belfast Just came home from Kellys Cellars… Me and Liz went to Belfast Exposed hoping that some of them would come along for drinks, and Gerry and Sean came… It was great, Sean bought me and Liz drinks all night, although Liz sticked with Coke, i dunno why she believes she’s gonna get as drunk as on that christmas party in Skinnskatteberg, when she drank cider and passed out in someones shower in the Smedjan-dorm, ha ha ha&#33 But i guess waking up with blood coming out from your ear is scary...(although maybe not as scary as when Asa slipped on that banana peel on the floor in my dorm a few weeks earlier at Jimmy’s party and fell to the ground with her chin first and hit it on a shoe shelf and her chin-stud got all crooked and it bleed alot and she had to go by ambulance to the hospital (cuz noone was able to drive her), and then they had no money to take a taxi back...he he he) Oh well…she sticked with the cola… Sean payed for our taxi home which was sweet. NOTE: 9 February – 15 March &#34 Freedom &#34 exhibition at Ormeau Baths Gallery FEBRUARY 13 1996 – Jaspers Cafe Belfast Me and Liz went to see these exhibitions at Catalyst Art and The Old Museum. Catalyst was okay, but the Old Museum was all crap&#33 Met John outside of Waterstones, he was holding a street exhibition of his photographs taken with a wide angle lens and a fisheye extension…impressive&#33 He’s so funny… Then we went to Magpie Studios to hang out with Justin and Mary, Owen-Joe was also there. Mary bugs me, i dunno, but she is so fake&#33 FEBRUARY 14 1996 Valentines Day – Andersonstown Belfast We went to Giants Causeway today…and i’m in love&#33 It’s soooo beautiful. When i die someone please scatter my ashes all over the causeway (if i decide to get cremated)&#33 Collected sea shells from the beach that i’m gonna keep forever (i still have them today on March 10 1999)… Oh, it was such a lovely day out&#33 I sat there on the rock formations for hours staring out at sea&#33 It’s valentines day and Hannes hasn’t called nor sent a card so i am pretty mad at him&#33 When i think about it he hasn’t called nor written much since i came here…grrrr…that boy is in big trouble&#33 FEBRUARY 15 1996 – Andersonstown Belfast Me and Liz WALKED all the way from Anditown to Botanic Gardens today… Why? all sane people may ask, and all i can say is…What do one do without money, when you just have to go to Botanic Gardens&#33…you walk, even if it takes approximately an hour and a half… The students at Queens were having somekind of Fee-demonstration… Later on we went up to Magpie Studios where Justin made me tea in one of those horribly dirty cups, ha ha…they are all brown inside…i did try to wash it but couldn’t, it is stained for life&#33 It was nice tea though&#33 And Justin was beeing sweet as always. After that we went to the art college where we talked to Justins girlfriend, who hate me for some reason…cuz me and Justin are very good friends???, and then went to the student union which was boring&#33 FEBRUARY 16 1996 – Andersonstown Belfast The people at the Shell gas station/Spar shop must think me and Liz are the most braindead people in the world&#33 Always when we shop there we use our 1p and 2p coins…and at the most 5p coins…we keep them in empty film tubs and we act like morons laughing and dropping things… Today one of the clerks asked us what we were on… Life&#33 i said and smiled as i handed him all my copper coins… Earlier we went to this exhibition on Greenore Street…i assume it was Alistairs house, or something…it was very empty… All the rooms but two were empty, one was the room where all the pieces were exhibited and the other a bedroom…and everything was pink, carpet, walls…but then again Alistair wears too short pink pants too…i guess he likes pink&#33 There was a party there aswell, but we didn’t stay as they closed the door on me and Liz…ha ha, i know who did it, Justin’s girlfriend&#33 She really doesn’t like me&#33 How can Justin stay with such a nasty girl, she’s evil and he’s not&#33 Me and Liz didn’t have much money but we had to take a taxi back into the city centre for we had no idea where we were, well sure Greenore Street, but where in Belfast is that…? Then we took a taxi from King Str to Anditown and the nastiest man was in the taxi with us…he gave me his address and told me to come live with him and when i said no, he got scary and started to tell me and Liz how he was gonna beat us up and do scary things to us… Eeek&#33 Then as i got out of the taxi he grabbed my arse and i turned around and punched him as i said Will you please remove your hand off my arse&#33 Creep&#33 When we got in Leanne called to say she was coming in to Belfast tomorrow. Yay&#33 FEBRUARY 17 1996 – Anditown Belfast Met Leanne today&#33 She’s the prettiest, nicest girl i know&#33 We walked around Belfast in the pissing rain and had so much fun&#33 FEBRUARY 18 1996 – Anditown Belfast Ha ha ha, me and Liz are pigs&#33 Went to Mc Donalds and had lunch…afterwards we were still hungry, but too embarrassed to go get more, so we went on to Burger King…he he he&#33 Went to Magpie Studios with Michael and watched some demonstration through the window… It rained all day… FEBRUARY 20 1996 – Anditown Belfast Me, Peter and Asa went to see Rocky Horror Show at the theatre today&#33 YAY&#33 Altho we had shitty seats, the one in the middle had a huge pillar infront of it, so we had to take turns to sit there, and we were almost laying ontop of eachother to see anything at all. Some old bags infront of us were annoyd with this Rocky fan who was all dressed up, screaming the lines, etc, just like it’s supposed to be, and they left half through the show, ha ha ha&#33 the journal continues but with pretty uneventful entries, so it’s no point in putting them up here…