Hello Life,
If you are reading this for the first time then you may notice that there are previous posts on this blog. Purely they where my earlier and very inconsistent attempts to maintain a blog. This is due in part to my own inconsistency and not really knowing what I wanted to blog about.
This problem is the only consistent thing about me and social media. Even on Facebook I very rarely post a status, I'm not one that has much too say on my day-to-day life. My fiance however uses it as her own form of blogging.
And, so as I write this early December 2016, a mere two days after my fiance's twenty fourth birthday I have come to a conclusion what it is I wish to write about. And that is photography, my passion and obsession. But first I would like to give a history of myself and photography.
'Warning very long ramble bellow!'
So in we go:
My first real memories of photography are at a zoo in the 'Lake District' in Cumbria England. I had with me two disposable 35mm film cameras. This was back before digital had really found it footing. I was around the ages of six to eight years old, its a little fuzzy. But I remember this trip to the zoo as my first conscious use of a camera and caring about what I framed and what I shot with it.
It was because of this trip that my father gave me his old Praktica film camera, a case and two lenses. The camera was used once by me and then forgotten the pictures never developed and that was that.
Fast forwards to the summer of 2007, my family got a free digital camera. It was tiny had a small optical viewfinder and took decent pictures. However, it also did video at a whopping 240p. Now me and my brother had just been both given our first Pc's from our grandparents. On this computer was a little program called Windows Movie Maker.
And so with the help of my little brother and two friends I shot and acted in a short 30 minute horror known as 'The Mine'. It is a horrendously rubbish film, but it was great fun to make. So I became obsessed with film-making and researched everything I could. It was also around this time High-School became a living hell and I had a complete and utter breakdown lasting till 2009.
Originally as my grades fell by the wayside I intended to to A-Levels. However instead I opted for BTEC Science. I got the grades and aced the interview. However last minute I decided Science was a safe option but not what I wanted to do. And so I enrolled into BTEC National Diploma in Film & TV Production.
Aside from a rocky carryover from High-School it was awesome and I passed with triple distinction. Equivalent to three As at A-Level. However a close relative of mine passed in the second year, and due to its suddenness and my relatives young age I decided to collect as many photo's and videos as I could into a montage for the funeral. This sparked one of the greatest obsessions in my life, photography. I became obsessed with freezing the moment, however my desire to be a screenwriter eclipsed it whilst it was still in its infancy.
Roll on University and Film & TV Production. Three fantastic years of my life, I met amazing people and learnt many things, including that I was apparently not half-bad at acting as student film would go. However photography dug its heels in and as me and my friends starting shooting Weddings, Gigs and so forth for a bit of extra income I veered from video to photography very heavily. 2014 and I left with photography finally truly in my heart and a 2:1 degree to my name.
Then came jobseekers and looking for employment. After three horrendous months I bagged a job working at a nearby petrol station. It was good, however the high the university left and my mood plummeted into fear of stagnation in this job. Enter a short but emotional relationship and I had another breakdown resulting in hospitalization. I am not proud of it but nor am I ashamed of what happened and I will speak freely without fear of judgement. Months later I was diagnosed as Bi-Polar, a diagnosis that actually helped me bring closure to my time at high-school and why I was the way I was in certain situations and so forth and so on.
So this all happened and through absolute happenstance I kissed on pure impulse my now fiance and then current friend of eight years. I carried on working at the petrol station and managed to bag a few photography jobs here and there but nothing substantial. I was stagnating and I knew it and loathed it. However through again happenstance I bagged another job in another city (just a train-ride away) as a camera salesman. A job I love and surprisingly have adapted too really well. Que a few more photography jobs.
However due to my low hours and income I again felt stagnating there was no financial progress nor movement. And so I successfully applied to study a Masters in Photography part-time over two years. Now I have two years of study ahead of me I also feel it is time for me to push ahead with my photography. To pick myself up and either make it a viable hobby or career. And so this is the true purpose of this blog, for me to give short or long updates as I progress with my aspirations. In the end unless I can say I have truly tried then I have failed already.
And so on we go. Thank you for reading.
Reece Hudson,
