Gu Photography Blog

I haven’t had an April quite like the one that’s about to end, nor any other month, NOT in a good way.

It seems that in my universe, all planets decide to line up to form a perfect “x”, and hang it on almost everything I ran into. I got parking ticket at 8.10am on a frigging rental; my fridge/freezer decided to call it a day; spent the best part of an evening trying to educating a client on copyrights and licensing; dealt with a massive cock on an invoice which I had to swallow (my fault really); taking my mac to repairs for the 4th time; ran into new obstacles that potentially postpone my plan for the next three months!

Plus I’ve spent ridiculous amount of dosh …

I have never spent so much in a single month in my life, EVER, on anything, let along spend it ALL on photo and lighting equipment.

Let’s see, a D3, Markins ballhead, Kirk L bracket, brand new Gitzo carbon fibre tripod, 2 elinchrom monoblocs, westcott apollo softbox plus a giant order of light shaping tools coming from across the pond. Oh, I nearly bought a complete set of Mamiya 6!

I’m now slowly recouping all the expenditure … so slow it pains me every time I touch any of the new kit!

You know how women go shopping on clothes or indulge in chocolate when things go bad? I guess that would be my version of “escaping” the headaches …

Now I had the worst month, I need to start turning things around from now on. I still have something up the sleeves, more exciting projects in the pipeline, new venture is moving forward smoothly, more marketing, more testing … nothing will drag me down that easy

Ciao

“Free” has been the phrase of the late among creative industries, many of us are under the attack of “free” movement from clients who don’t know better, as well as amateur snappers (deliberately avoiding calling them photographers) with too much disposable income, pirated software and fancy-looking-but-substance-lacking photoshop actions (don’t get me start on HDR).

Despite such “seemingly” shift in the industry, nothing has affected the photographers at the top of their games, only the bottom and lower middle level clienteles, who simply try to “save” quick cash without realising the long term cost. Many of them jumped on the wagon simply they “heard” the competitors were doing it, yet most of them revert to the norm after sampling the bitter taste from so called “professional” work, resulting in financial, mental, faith and time loss.

My local newspaper “Manchester Evening News” is a perfect analogy.

Not so long ago, every reader was happy to pay 20 pence to pick up a copy, which was rather standard. When competition became fierce, instead of producing better content and better photos, the publisher opted for lower price – a mere 10 pence. Did circulation double because of the price cut? No. If publisher does not value the content in the paper, nor do their readers, that soon followed by advertisers. The subsequent impact on revenue dip only triggered the “universal” solution when any business runs into bad shape – layoffs. You see where I’m heading? So the vicious circle began.

Sooner than you know it, people in yellow jackets sprung up all over the city trying to stuff your face with papers nobody wants to read. Do we all of sudden jump at them because they are “free”? Far from it. Any sane person automatically avoid anything with “junk” status.

Occasionally I still pick up a copy, not for reading of course (don’t be silly), but laughing at appalling photographs inside, and the fact they couldn’t even find a decent amateur photographer to exploit! I recently discovered a new purpose for the paper – perfect padding for packaging. Simply crumble them up and stuff around your valuables, you’re good to go!

If you wouldn’t touch a “FREE” newspaper because lacking of worthy content, then why on earth would you commission “cheaper than professional” amateurs to produce work of “less or no value” for you and your business?

Until next time, try pick up a copy of The Economist, pay the full price, feel the initial pain, read every word inside, then ponder the meaning of “value for money”.

Bob may be your uncle, but he is certainly no professional photographer, even with the most expensive camera …

I’ve always puzzled by people’s enthusiasm about sea in Britain, as far as my memory goes. Yet I have never given up the hope to find out what drives millions to the seaside towns every year, despite the cold, the wind, the not so great donkey rides and mediocre fish & chips.

So I took a day out to a seaside town that I heard so much about but never visited – Scarborough.

According to the BBC forecast, April Fool’s day was the only day with clear sky and a bit of sun, whether that was a deliberate attempt to celebrate the occasion or not, I could only find out when I get there.

By 8.30am, I got to the sea front, and it was sunny! Great visibility with little cloud, yet somehow I felt the wind was trying to blow me all the way back to Manchester! I knew there was a catch somewhere but wind never crossed my mind …

Here is the only shot I took with my digital camera throughout the day, I did it only to check the exposure because I left my light meter behind

I will share the rest once the films come back from the lab, there will be plenty more stories to come, including an amazing journey of a sand sculptor, who managed to build his entire fortune (7 digits) using two hands, a handful of tools, buckets, water and sand!

Watch this space