Who am I ?

I ask this of my shrink all the time , but he just looks at me , blankly .....

24th January 2010

Photogenic or not ?.

I am afraid that the author is not very photogenic .so photos of myself will be few and far between. On the other hand , my wife is beautiful and very photogenic , so she will be featured often ..

I am 52 years old , (13/11/1957) and live in Belfast , Northern Ireland . I live in a very pleasant area, facing the Belvoir Forest itself..and in the distance you can see Belfast and the mountains beyond. Photos here > Its very quiet , with an almost country feel and only a 10 minute drive to where I work .

I used to have a great sense of humour , but I tend to be more grumpy now , as I get older . (or did it develop after I got married ?? ), Could be partly the giving up smoking over a year ago ? or the "big debt" which hangs over us !.. perhaps as a little financial security develops for the future for me and Sandy , the grumpyness may subside and let the more relaxed jovial side back through , ( I hope ! )

I need to loose a few stone (and this does not help either ) get some exercise , this needs to be addressed soon .. ummm ( whoever came up with the expression " Life begins at 40" should be asked ..."Begins to what ?? Go Downhill ? "Fall apart? "get more difficult " ? umm

Many years ago I was involved in the Antiques trade and was very interested in old clocks and furniture especially, I used to enjoy working onthe clocks and restoring their cases or restoring even larger pieces of furniturel. I lived in England for 5 years and dabbled in the trade there as well ..Things move on and now I have a normal 9-5 job..Getting married recently , its probably just as well I have proper job.. as there was not much money in the antiques trade , and even less now .

I did , however find the odd bargain at car boot fairs over the years but this too has dwindled and I do not get to as many of these as I used to .. pity because the extra money could have been quite good at times !

I work the 9 to 5 selling tiles -porcelain , ceramic and natural etc and up until recently did not really have any hobbies .. I spent too much time on the computer , playing at web design and entering photoshop talent sites, basically I came to a point were things had to change so , I purchased the camera ( I gave up smoking and bought gadgets as an incentive to stay off them ! )and decided to start learning photography by doing a little reading and taking lots and lots of photographs with my new camera !

For many years I did not bother much with getting out and about ...that has now changed also . Sandy and I now , have been on 3 various breaks , a wedding in Thailand , and plan to go back to Thailand in April 2010 for 3 weeks as a holiday but more for her to see her family and friends .. Each of these bring an opportunity to practice the photography and the work will then be put on to the site .

My Love life

Ahhh ...Sandy is the love of my life ..(the wife ) but I have other loves ... my other love is my Honda Prelude which I love driving and enjoy the aesthetic qualitys as well. I recently got a new one (well 17 years old ) but in lovely condition , wow ... Its a joy to drive and looks greatttt! Oh and lets not forget the mutt !! the "Bentley" ....

.............................................For some photos of the new Honda Prelude taken not long after I got her , just a few months ago. go to the Photo gallery page . * Note ..I travelled all the way to Inverness in scotland to get her . A great trip , lovely 7 hour drive from outside inverness to Stranraer . on the way home .

She is a Jap import brought in to the UK in 2003 which means she has only spent 6 years in the British climate and most of that was garaged as she was used as a second car , by the previous owner, who had a runaround for work etc , there is a lot of little extras on her like the koni springs , cold air induction, remus back box , D&N manifold downpipe , and lots more . She had 17@ alloys on her but I put the original alloys back onto her because they were in such lovely condition. The silver bonnet replaces a carbon fibre one and the plan is to get this sprayed to suit the rest of her in the summer. ...............................................................................................................................

<Results Here >

What camera did I go for ?

As I am not familiar with digital SLRs I went for a Sony but because the shop was out of stock ,I settled for a pentax K-M discounted as last one in shop ... I have been very pleased with this decision.. I also purchased a 200mm zoom for £99 . (I did not want to spend too much in case I did not continue with the hobby and end up spending too much on something that would not be used !.. )

Off the dreaded weed , (Cigarettes ) 31/12/09

13 months as of 28/January 2010

Now we need to address the weight and lack of activity problems! ( the hardest activity ....getting out of bed ! )

Technology cravings , the need for "Boys Toys " !

Take the ciggy money and buy technology as Incentive

The latest addition is the Apple Iphone , wow ! top piece of kit , Quality is superb , 100% top notch ...at £500 to £600 you would expect great things ... ( I did not buy but got it on new phone contract ) Thought that would be it but now the interest in photography has opened more shop doors and , a better camera and new quality lense would be nice , but must resist !