One Down… Eleven to Go
We finished the month off with a quick job in Culloden, just a small starter flat it may have been, but I honestly am happiest when I am busy! Idleness doesn’t sit well on me in many ways.
The year has started slowly, but looking back it has been a better January than last year, so I can’t really complain too much. I hit my basic target for the month that I set at the start of the financial year, which isn’t a particularly dramatic target - but it was based on where I wanted to be in 2024-2025 starting from a pretty poor point, so although I am a little disappointed it wasn’t better… it wasn’t bad either. But now we move on to February and there are a few things I have planned!
Work, obviously, I am hoping will pick up over the next 4 weeks - and to be honest next week is looking very strong compared to the last few, which is a great start! I am off to Skye on Monday and (if I get the go ahead from the client) I am hoping to be up in Sutherland mid-week, with Elgin, Invermoriston and a wee job in Drum all to tuck in around them. Depending on how the month pans out there are a couple of bits of kit I want to upgrade before the end of March - my wide angle “main” lens is looking worse for wear and, I think, is full of dust. It hasn’t been entirely right since I dropped it and bent the barrel… then straightened it with a gentle application of pressure via a wall. So I think I will replace that with the faster version - or more suppliement perhaps as my idea is to send the older lens off for a service once the new one is here so that I can have one wide zoom in each bag. The other thought is to upgrade my Z6 mkII with the new mkIII as my main workhorse camera. My mkII still has life in it, but I may hand that on to the next generation if they are going to study photography at school next year… which would also require the standard zoom to be replaced - and I already have plans for a 24-120 f4 as that was my previous go-to lens on both the Canon EOS 5D and Nikon D800/850. This would also put a wee bit more reach in my working camera bag, and that could be generally useful as the 70 is just a bit short some days.
In other news - I signed up as a member of “The Society of Photographers” as a complement to my membership of the “British Institute of Professional Photographers”. This year I plan to get some qualifications from one or both of these bodies, something I have been dragging my feet over for some time! I may also look into working more towards some European level qualifications too. For someone with raging imposter syndrome I am bizzarely ambitious too (in some ways, I think as I try and attach some sense of meaning to my life… or something of some degree of significance that I can be remembered by, by someone).
Anyway - here are a few shots from the last job of the month, and I am looking foward to sharing more with you through February, both work shoots as well as more artistic work!
I almost forgot - I am working on a new product too, early days at the moment, but this is a preview version. I am still polishing the edges on the idea before fully launching and am lining up a few properties to practice on!
