Slowly slowly as they say...

It has been a week spent mostly in front of my PC organising the shots to go onto my new website and finally sorting out my phone.

I have had a couple of meetings this week, it is nice to meet people face to face and hopefully it leads to getting shooting soon.

Having treated myself to a new monitor, I realised it would be a good idea to invest in a calibration tool. Well thanks to one of the great and friendly photographic community peeps I heard about the Photo show and guess what Camille is working at an education show right next door.

Taking the opportunity of a cab with her, I headed in to Taipei, helped her set up shop then grabbed a coffee with a fellow photographer. Leaving him to go take photographs of the LGBT Pride march, the largest pride march in Asia according to the press, I headed back to the photo show to grab the device I had got my eye on and check out what else was there.

As I am here with minimal kit (my Bowens are in freight somewhere on the ocean) I was interested in looking at modifiers for speedlights and possible wireless triggers with ttl adjustment capabilities. Obviously the Pocketwizard system is well known, what caught my eye was a neat looking bit of kit by a company called Pixel King Pro, I must say it looked very tidy system, I would sure like to get my hands on that and run it through its paces on set.

The other bit of kit that I was looking at is the Rogue Lightbender speedlight modifiers. I have looked at the speedlight softboxes etc and thought I may as well just use my Bowens pro travel pack. From what I have seen of the Rogue system of modifiers they are tidy and easy to carry in the bag for those times I like a little pop of off camera flash. I am always shooting with my speedlight on a stick or just held out in my hand and of course it is a small and fairly harsh light source. It is ok if I can bounce it off a wall or even a fat bloke in a white shirt. Sadly, hanging around for that guy isn't always practical and certainly isn't a consistent or reliable light modification option. That is when I could reach for the Lightbender to soften and broaden the speedlights flash and render a more reliable and usable modification system.

Obviously if either Pixel King Pro or The Rogue Lightbender companies wish to have their kit tested and seen being used by a professional photographer in Taipei and Asia then please contact me and send some my way.

So are you wondering if I went to the pride march? Well of course I did and with my trusty Fujifilm X100 I set about looking for the shots away from the obvious. Something with a bit of humour in it, after all how can you take yourself seriously at a Pride event.....

 I'm not sure what the Google connection is

 Not everyone was excited and ready to party......

 Proudly standing next to Taiwans tallest erection....

That isn't all, I had a "I should know better moment" on the way to the bus. I stopped to grab a sandwich and had put my camera away when the guy below with the bike comes past.

So what is so special about that? Well I'll tell you, when he came past he was riding the bike and his dog was being towed along on the skateboard which you can see hanging on the guys bike. Why did I put may camera away. Man I now have a mission to get that shot, guess I'll have to hang around Taipei a bit longer.

Remember as usual spread the word, share my blog and if you need a photographer out in Asia get in touch...

Has it really been over two months? Bloody hell!

It has been a ridiculous period of my life. We got the leaving date to move to Taiwan and that was six and a half weeks ago. As you can imagine life went into overdrive, the list was (is) endless but we are in Taipei now and a new chapter is beginning.

I expect you would like to see fresh photographs of Taiwan, after all I am a photographer and this is a photography blog, essentially. Sadly however I am typing this on my iPad, feeling a little under the weather after receiving an MMR jab yesterday to meet the medical requirements for my residents visa. I am also rather depressed that my beloved pc is sitting dismantled on a shelf in front of me waiting for a new cage for reassembly. I treated myself to a new monitor for being such a brave boy after enduring my medical so am very excited to get that running, hoping my shots look extra gorgeous on that 27" beauty. To be fair my medical took place in a very plush VIP section of the hospital, nothing like you would see in the NHS. Don't get me wrong, I love the NHS but £60 to sit in a cool lounge suit, on a plush sofa watching tv while I got my bloods done, MMR and chest X-ray is a much more agreeable way of going about it. I still deserve lots of sympathy though so don't forget to say "ahhh there there....etc"

I have shot some fresh work, and some very beautiful photographs I wish to share with you since August and my last post in here, as soon as I get the pc up and running I will post them. I am also going to embark on building my new website and get back to a heavy marketing campaign, got to drum up work and start paying my way. Not to mention the fact I already really miss working with a team and making great photographs together.  It is this building frustration that proves to me I am a photographer, I didn't choose to be I feel the need to be. Sounds full of pretence doesn't it,  "but darling, I simply have to make photographs or I'd go quite mad!".  Perhaps put like that it does, I am sure there are plenty of you out there who get frustrated when you don't get to express yourselves. Whether it is through writing, singing, acting, riding your motorcycle, running, skateboarding or whatever other outlet you use you just got to do it. For me this outlet, release, communication and expression is found through photography. Being in a country where I don't yet understand the language and don't have a supportive creative network built is daunting. As I write this I realise I need to get my camera out ASAP and make some shots, this will make me feel better and more productive.

I do apologise for this wordy blog, I appreciate it if you have taken the time to read it, I hope I don't sound like I am moaning. I can assure you that I am very excited about being here, the new influences around me and the fresh work opportunities. Speaking of which, if you know any editors, advertising agencies or businesses looking for a good photographer in Asia I am we'll up for any work, I am happy to travel as long as expenses are covered and very experienced on all levels of shoots.

Right, I am off out with me camera, it is raining, the sky is flat white but I will not be deterred, there is a shot to be made and I will hunt that bugger down and make it, just you wait and see!

Remember as ever, please spread the word, follow my blog etc... I need your support more than ever right now ok?

Cheery bye.....