I am now a half qualified driver!! I today passed my theory test with a great 48 out of 50!! Now I've gotta practise practise practise for my practical! Photography has been going well recently, I have now upgraded to a Canon 70-200 2.8 IS...entering the realms of the professional! Next up I think is a 1D Mk II after a few more months of saving!

Tonight I have another concert to photograph....and am currently waiting for one of the last bands to get back to me about possibly buying some of the photos which will be awesome, my first ever proper sale!! The man I purchased the lens from also asked if I would shoot his wedding, which was promising, as he drove a huge posh car!! So business is on the up! As ever....

Anyway I need to get ready for this evening now so I will speak to you all soon!!

Philx

Just got back from watching Sweeney Todd, and my conclusion is Johnny Depp has a bad memory. Why you ask? It seems Mr Burton only decided to put in about 6 songs...which is great for someone who doesn't like musicals much, but then they decided to repeat them all 3 or 4 times. Which makes it not so good for a musical lover. The acting wasn't to be sniffed out, the dressage was great, the sets were great...why couldn't it have just been a normal film? I'd have been raving about it if it had been! And what was with the shitty CGI intro? I thought the whole film was going to be that low calibre level of animation, and thank God it wasnt....but that only makes the intro seem worse. Ah well....£5 and a movie I won't be seeing again!

On a lighter note...I have my first gig photography session tomorrow woop!! Business cards are printed and cut and I'm raring to go! And I also have a potential £800 coming my way from my lens sale...lets hope it all goes nicely, and I will soon have a Canon 70 - 200L 2.8 IS to play with, and possibly a 2x EF converter too to sweeten the deal!

Phil x

Yes Sami, you are right. It is time to bid farewell to this fair land! There are of course many things I would miss, friends, family and so on...but they're only a phone call away! What wouldn't I miss....well, lets see, the government, the bills, the weather, the chavs, the constant money worries, the constant job worries, politcal correctness, health and safety...the list goes on. But instead of boring you, I will enlighten you somewhat.

OK perhaps I was being a little over enthusiastic. However there are, believe it or not, hundreds of better places to live in the world. Sure, they might not have the dole...or benefit cheats, or possible criminials running round with millions of peoples personal details on CD, but they are better (Not the sarcasm?). In a country where you earn the same for your job as you do here in Britain, yet are taxed less, and everything is cheaper, surely the people must be happier? Well that is my mission to find out, and hopefully, if all goes to plan, and I don't chicken out (which I doubt I will as every day I get the urge to leave yet another day earlier, come March I will be packing my bags lol..).

So I propose a toast! To less worries, more happiness...away from this God forsaken place!

Philx

This week, I have gotten myself some unpaid work as a gig photographer for the website..

[link]

..it is for unsigned bands in Manchester basically, so hopefully that might take off into something interesting Gig photography has always been something I'd like to get into being a music fan! I won't go into that too much now...not until I've got one under my belt anyway!

It is a busy week with learning to drive...dissertation and another project to be done, however I finally feel on top of it all!

Thats all for this week.....sorry.....

Philx

That time of year approaches again...or should I say...was approaching unfortunately quickly, the first day back in university after our Christmas break, and boy was I fearing it! Alas, it went by without problem, and only lasted a mere 30 minutes! We were given our briefs for the next couple of weeks, which consist of a basic research and report into 4+ ideas to be developed on for our self developed project (SDP). I've got a couple already so there is no need to worry too much today!

My driving is coming along in leaps and bounds...with about 15 hours done so far over a period of 2-3 weeks, however I've got a couple more months before I need to do my test so I feel I will be able to hone my skills and be perfect come March!

I have noticed very much so that DeviantArt is becoming a bit of a dead fish, very few people seem to comment anymore and the amount of deviations my friends have put up is dwindling, not that I am blaming anyone, especially because I am probably as much to blame..I haven't put any on here in some time! Food for thought though.....

Philx