The last big pressure to do

After today I feel I can relax slightly because all the big challenges will be out the way then, the wedding, the first teaching lesson and now the presentation. The presentation looking good, Izzie and Dave did a fantastic presentation. I was chief ‘clicker’ and I feel I did a good job too J. I must say after everyone’s presentation I felt ours was delivered the best and I could actually tell they knew what they were on about, when sometimes they probably didn’t. I’m glad that’s over!!

The next big step...Teaching

I still wasn’t fully prepared when I was eventually there. I felt the 5 students thought ‘she’s only 20, what can she teach me’ but I brushed that aside and carried on with the night. I felt that I did quite well actually I could tell they knew nothing about photography so this put me at ease. After tonight I know teaching isn’t for me, but I’ll carry on these lessons for the experience. I think I was more nervous about the teaching than I was doing the wedding and I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. I know which I enjoyed more.

Saying all that though I felt abit like a teacher, I spoke the right language, I responded well in the situations that occurred, and I taught them about the basics… I just need to be slightly more prepared for next week.. At least I know what to expect.. Handouts, need to do handouts!!

The big day has arrived...

Today’s come round way to quickly but surprising the day has gone so much better than I imagined. I’ve actually enjoyed it and I can see myself doing this for a living. I’m so happy that they gave me the chance and actually put their trust in me! I thought last night I wouldn’t be able to sleep because of the nerves, but I feel asleep straightaway, also I thought I’d be really nervous while I was there.. I wasn’t. I felt I put on a very professional attitude and for that day I felt like a professional photographer and I also felt I was being treated as a professional photograph as well.

I’ve been there from 9 this morning to 10.30 at night, it’s been a very long day but it didn’t feel that long from 9 to about 7, after this time it felt like it dragged on so much.

There are a few problems I encountered and these were the lighting in the ceremony and the reception during the speeches. The only thing I felt I could do without using the flash was to increase the ISO.. I know all about the grain problems but I had no other choice, and through the speeches it had got that dark that the more I increased the ISO it still didn’t help, and I didn’t want to use the flash because it flicked a few times before it takes the photo, I obviously didn’t want to interrupt with a constantly flashing light. I think these are things that you will learn through time, but I was so disappointed that I didn’t get the shots.

The biggest problem were the batteries from the 5D, they were awful… they lasted at the most for about 45mins. My canon 400d could have lasted all day. If I was to do a wedding again I would definitely buy one of those battery grips.

Overall I think the day went brilliantly, the images are looking good but I think this is partly to having a good looking bride and groom, but all together a very tiring, long day. But I’d definitely do it again!!!

Teaching

Had a phone call today from my mentor.. The teaching is this Tuesday? I have a week to plan a lesson and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do. It was meant to be in September?! OMG! It’s going to be an interesting day when Tuesday comes around. I’m not prepared at all, worse still I’m not prepared mentally. There’s 5 people who have applied for the course, so this has made it slightly better for me but still I have less than a week to prepare?!

Presentation...

When I found out we all didn’t have to stand up and present these presentations I was absolutely relieved, because standing up in front of that many people talking about something I probably don’t have a clue about is my kind of hell. I shutter, I mix up my words and nobody can understand a word I’m saying. This is something that I need to work on because they might be times later on in life in a job where I need to stand up and make a presentation. I need to get a bit of confidence to be able to do this, generally its only in front of a huge crowd.

My groups Me, Dave, Amy and Izzie and we somehow decided on the Orphan Works. I know roughly what it’s about but not that much. I’ll done abit of research on the internet and it still is sticking in.

Ian Shipley's back again

Hmmm… we were meant to have written a business plan.. I completely forgot.. I’ve been that busy that the business plan went straight out of my head until this morning when everyone was talking about it. Listening to everyone else’s was a massive help though because I heard the kind of details which should be put in to one, so in a way I’m relieved I hadn’t made a start on one because it would probably have been wrong.

Need to start this ASAP!!!

Wales, Wales, Wales.. where does it end?

The past two weeks have been hectic, and I thought I’d have a relaxing half term concentrating on my college work, but that didn‘t happen!! The first week I found myself at work nearly every day, I probably had two days of in the week, and one of them days, Easter Sunday I found myself driving to Wales. The second week hasn’t been as bad but finding time to go Wales again has been difficult. I’m finding myself worrying more about finding the time to Wales instead of getting any work done for my research file.

I’ve had to compromise another day to Wales to make sure I come home with the images. This was my last chance to go to Wales so I had to make a good job. The only problem with this day was that I had to be back for about 7 a clock as I have commitments on Thursday night that I can’t really get out off. So I had to plan my day around knowing I had to be home.

I found myself sticking to the plan well throughout the day and in some cases I found I was early in places so it gave me extra time to take photos, which I felt was needed in the second location.

Again I felt I could have researched a bit better in the locations and walking distances to the lighthouses, but I suppose you don’t think they would be too far out.

The one thing that let me down today was the weather, it wasn’t the nicest of days, foggy and wet in places but I knew I had to get some decent shots before I returned home and I feel I have achieved this, which I’m really happy about considering the weather.

This assignment has really taught me to consider the assignment more if we get to choose our own again. I found myself enjoying the 3^rd trip to Wales even though I went alone, I found I could take as long as I liked without the fear of annoying the person who came along. I think this is the main thing I’m happy to learn out of this assignment because usually I always prefer the company but going to Wales alone and actually enjoying was a massive surprise.

Wales... Easter Sunday

I probably didn’t choose the best days to go on, with it being a lovely day and everyone being about, but I still managed to get some shots without people walking in front of my camera. My first location was Penmon Point in Anglesey, the main thing that attracted me here was the lighthouse, and my god I got a shock, the lighthouse had some kind of affect of me almost like I had to respect it. The size of the lighthouse is overwhelming and the location that it’s in is beautiful especially on a nice day like it was.

If I hadn’t had to move on to the next location I could have easily sat there all day.

Barmouth was an utter waste of time.. Why did I pick Barmouth? It took what seemed like forever to get from Anglesey to Barmouth and for what? It’s like a mini run down Blackpool. What makes this mistake worse is the fact that I’ve been there about 3 years ago so I should have known what the place was like. On the way home I had no heating and a sleeping boyfriend next to me… what a great way to drive back from Wales.

Business Plans

Not the most enjoyable of subjects but something that we all need to know and do. Certain parts of the business I understand but there’s also parts which confuse me. I’m not really sure where to start, what I want to do in the future. It’s definitely given me something to think about and get my head around.