Back to reality…
So, my two weeks at the Herald up, I've been back in the same situation I was before - with naff all to do, other than to try and get work from any possible source. This has left me with a bit of time on my hands - as such, I've been getting up late, putting in the hours at the gym, and then going to the pub far too often. That said, I did end up in a bar at 4am in Edinburgh this weekend, where I met McLovin from Superbad, so it's not all gloom and doom. I promise I'll stop talking about it now. Maybe.
Occasionally, a job rears its head, and I have to say, no matter what it is - it's a phenomenal feeling to have someone say that they want to pay you to take photographs. I'd say it's like being paid to have fun - but that's not true. It IS being paid to have fun. Maybe that's just a sign that I'm immature, naive, and have a lot to learn, but I'd rather think that I'm right, and that I've found what I want to do with my life. That's much more appealing.
Anyway. At some point in July, I ended up going down to the Scottish Borders to cover the biggest mountain bike race of the season in the country, the British National Championships. Now, this was a good four weeks ago - unfortunately, I need to sit on images until I know one way or the other whether they'll get used by magazines. Even more unfortunately, considering I spent two days in the undergrowth snapping away, they weren't used by anyone. Ho hum. The race itself was a cracker - World Champion Gee Atherton took the win in the Senior category, with favourite Steve Peat stuffing it in the last corner whilst looking very safe for the win - and a welcome reminder that downhill racing in the UK can be a spectator sport outside of the World Cup round at Fort William.
I've been a lot more aware of exposing my images differently of late. It's very easy to take a brightly lit photograph in a forest when you've got remote flash, but it's also very easy to make it look like the race took place at night if you don't balance the ambient and flash light. It can actually make quite a cool photo, as it gives you clean backgrounds and lots of contrast, but I was keen to try and make the most of the lovely light that was floating around through the trees - most of the day it worked well, but right at the end, the clouds came in, and it got dark as the fastest guys did their runs... also when my second remote flash decided to die on its ass. No time to change settings, so it was a case of throwing my primary flash into a new position, and hoping for the best (check the last shot to see what I mean!).
So, I've got two days worth of images and nowhere to put them, other than archive storage, so here's a few for you to take a look at. I've just found out I'm off to Hong Kong later in the year, which I'm hugely looking forward to - definitely taking the camera with me, having seen the potential for great photos on-line.
