I’ve not taken any photos for about three weeks now. It’s the longest time this year that I’ve not done any photography. The reason is very simple; I’ve been too busy.

I’m currently sorting out a new shed. Since we started a family I’ve been shoved out to the bottom of the garden in an 8 by 6 shed. It’s served me well for about 18 years. I have my computer & do all my photo processing & documenting down there.

I decided the time was right for a new shed. One with much more space, so I had one twice the size of the old one delivered a couple of weeks ago. It will have more space & a larger desk which will be home to my Wacom A3 graphics tablet. I’m using all my spare time currently re-wiring it, painting, insulating & generally sorting it out.

I’ve also not had the time to post other work done this year which is sitting on my laptoip ready to be uploaded to the blog.

I hope it doesn’t take too much longer as I’m itching to get back out there with the camera.

Three weeks without shooting any pics is way too long.

You might be forgiven for thinking that all I do is take American Football shots. It’s just that the last few free weekends I’ve managed to get to some matches.

This isn’t the case, last weekend I took 4,500 photos at the Royal International Airshow Tattoo down in Fairford; more of that to follow.

Meanwhile, here’s some photos more in the reportage style. A few weeks ago I received a telephone call around midnight from the local police. They’d found my beloved old Ford Fiesta just up the road from us. Some youths had stolen it from the front of our house, driven it no more than a third of a mile & burned it out at the side of the road.

These are photos I’d much rather never have taken.

When I got there the fire brigade were still putting it out. I spoke to the police officer who was there who took some details & while we waited for the garage I popped home to grab the camera & flashgun.

I got the car from my father-in-law when he decided he was too old to drive. We ran it for a few years & it was just waiting for my daughter to pass her test so she could be the third generation in the family to take it on.

She passed her test the week after the car fire. We got £300 from the insurance.

Meet Tess, the new member of our family & latest photographic model.

Tess is our Border Collie pup. We got her from Heathlands Animal Sanctuary near Royston. They specialise in rescuing border collies from Ireland. We got her when she was 9 weeks old. She’s now 16 weeks.

As you can see from these shots, Tess presents a bit of a problem exposure-wise. With half her face in white & half in black it’s quite difficult to get a reasonable exposure which shows detail in both blacks & whites. This type of subject is often a photographer’s nightmare; if you expose for the blacks the whites are blown out & if you expose for the whites the detail is lost in the blacks. Add to this taking a picture of a mainly black dog in the snow we had a few weeks back & it’s enough to test any photographer.

We’re all enjoying the challenges & joys of owning a dog made better by the fact that Tess is so good; we’ve had very few accidents in the house, have not lost any furniture, shoes or other odds & ends to chewing & she is so obedient.

They say border collies are intelligent dogs & Tess is a fine example of that.

Sadly, due to a teenager-related incident, Tess currently has two broken bones in her front left foot & is now strapped up for a month. The day after she came back from the vets she learned how to walk on three legs holding her poorly leg in the air. The day after that she learned how to run on three legs.

I expect there will be quite a few shots of Tess over the next few years.

A good end to 2008 when the February issue of DSLR User Magazine dropped through my door on New Year’s Eve; I was featured in the User Profile section of the magazine!

This is a small, regular section of the mag which spotlights two of the regular magazine website users. It basically gives some info about the member & gets them to select one of their favourite photos which is published with the article. I chose one of the shots taken in Cambridge a couple of years ago of the four phoneboxes in the market square.

It’s a shame they managed to spell my name two different ways within two lines though.

So that’s the third time in 2008 I’ve been published in that particular magazine. Not bad, eh? Maybe I should make my New Year’s Resolution something to do with getting some shots published in some of the other mags too.

Exactly two weeks ago I suffered a problem with my neck/shoulder. I described it as a trapped nerve which sent pain from my neck into my shoulder & down my arm. I’m not sure how I did it but it may have had something to do with sitting awkwardly for prolonged periods at a time.

Being a bloke, I didn’t do anything about it for a week hoping it would get better on its own. It didn’t. I’ve now been to the osteopath 3 times and forked out the best part of £100 and it’s no better than it was two weeks ago. Apparently, it’s called apophysitis & it may take some time to clear up. Yesterday I had some acupuncture-type treatment.

To top it all I started to develop a cold-type cough yesterday & every single bloody time I cough it sends a shock of pain down out the side of my neck, down my shoulder & into my arm. Thanks a bunch!

What’s this got to do with photography. Well I’ve not been able to pick the camera up, much less take any photos with it which is so annoying since I actually have time right now & for the next few weeks to do as much photography as I want.

Talk about Sod’s Law!

Welcome to anyone who is visiting my blog as a result of all the business cards & free pens which I gave out this week! (you know who you are, and so do I!)

The least you can do – in return for the pens & cakes – is to add a comment or two to some of my posts!!

Now that I have some more time on my hands, I’ll be checking!

There must be something about walking around in public with a decent camera & a large, expensive-looking lens. Whenever I go to an event with my gear I invariably get someone ask if I’m a professional & am I from the press. If only I was earning a living from this picture taking lark!

It happened again at the Remembrance Day service. I was approached by the Events Officer for Letchworth Garden City Council. She asked whether I might be able to supply some photos for the council’s website. I duly did & you can see them on the Town Council’s website.

And a quick update on my Remembrance Day video, it’s now been seen nearly 550 times on YouTube.

This post is a flashback to 2007.

In July 2007 I was taken out for the day by Digital Camera Magazine for a day’s photoshoot at Mallory Park racetrack in Leicestershire for some motor sport photography. The resulting article was published in the October 2007 issue.

I met up with two staff from DC Mag, Ben & Rachael. We had an ‘access all areas’ press pass for the day, which meant we got to take our shots trackside.

The published article was spread over 8 pages & included over 30 of my motorsport photos. This turned out to be just a small proportion as I took around 1,400 shots during the day. There were also several shots of my good self. You can see photos of the article here.

I should be at Duxford today for the Autumn Airshow. Unfortunately, not for the first time this year, the appalling weather has put paid to my plans. I got up at 8 and it was pouring with rain so rather than make the journey, pay £25 & stand in the rain all day hoping for some kind of show I decided to knock it on the head.

Military aviation is one of my favourite photographic subjects & it’s really disappointing that three of the shows I would normally attend have been unavailable; I couldn’t attend the summer Duxford show because it was on the same day as the Royal International Air Tattoo – which was also cancelled.

Still, there’s always next year.

My father-in-law Tom Sharp died on 9th September aged 92. He was cremated yesterday in Leicester.

For the funeral reception we wanted to display some photographs of him from his earlier life. Using window light, I put the old photos on the living room floor and, using a tripod, took photos of them.

I imported the photographs into Lightroom, made some adjustments & saved them out into Photoshop. I then tidied them up, removed hundreds of dust particles & sorted out some scratches & tears, converted them info black & white (originals were B&W but photographed in colour).

I printed them out on my Epson R220 & then mounted them onto boards for display at his service.

Tom was born in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun. As a result, he was named ‘Thomas Verdun Sharp’. As he grew up, ‘Verdun’ developed into the nickname ‘Vod’.

He married Gladys during the War, managing to get leave for the wedding but having to go back to the Navy the very next day. He was married to Gladys until her death in 2002.

The original wedding photo was color retouched, as was the tradition in those days before colour photography was widely available for everyone.

He served on 4 ships during his time in the Navy from 1940 to 1946. In the crew shot below, Tom is 2nd from the left in the back row.

Although Tom was 92 years old when he died, his death came suddenly & unexpectedly.

He was a loving father, father-in-law & grandad to three. He was a truly lovely man & will be sadly missed.

Rest in peace, Dad.