See you later

Hey everyone and anyone. I'm flying to LA today. So I'm making videos as often as I can over the next few weeks and I going to stick them on The YOU TUBE. It would be great if you check them out and give me some tips or suggestions for while I'm out there.

Jack

Drag your heels.

Gees, its been a while.

I usually blog to get somethings off my chest or to ask a question. Whether anyone reads it does not really matter, its something about writing something down that helps it to answer its self. So, today I find my self in front of the computer and I automatically open up this blog go to the new post section and sat here for a while.. It was almost as if I passed out and woke up at the desk.

I have an autopilot. He works in mysterious ways, and I'm not saying there is any deeper meaning to me getting drawn towards blogging, it just happens to me a lot - with a whole load of other things.

As I said earlier, I write these things then half way through manage to conclude something, and what was running through my head when I started has completely changed again. How these guys can write factual books on religion, politics and all things questionable and controversial from start to finish with the exact out come they hoped for is beyond me.

My autopilot comes in waves. If I'm traveling, he never comes with me, he stays home. Basically its routine, its when your brain goes to sleep. Recently its been happening loads. I've been living and working at/from home, yeah, with Mum and Dad. Its only short term, until I move back to Edinburgh, but its still living at home with mum and dad.

So here is the conclusion - which I made up halfway through this.

Can we do something a little extraordinary please? Can you help me beat the crap out of my autopilot?

Thanks.

P.S. I have NO idea what the photo means either.

R.I.P

Well, as the title of this suggests all is not well in the Storey camp. Yesterday at approximately 7.45 am my Peugeot 'Rex' 206 died. She had suffered a short illness which unexpectedly ended her life whilst doing 25 on a country lane. It was 8 years ago I met Rex, although at the time she was affectionately know as 'the little car' (as to not be confused with our other car 'the big car'). She instantly slotted into a place in our hearts and never let us down. She spent most of her life nipping around town and the occasional long trip to Peterborough. Later in her life she started to go further afield and we shared great times bouncing up to Edinburgh and Glasgow. We also toured Scotland together, and made frequent trips to Oxford and back, alone on empty motorways apart from the odd trucker, watching the sun rise almost connected as one piece of bio and mechanical engineering marvel. One of the most memorable times with Rex was our trip to the continent, tackling 6,000 miles from Edinburgh we visited the best that Europe had to offer and made it all the way down to Sarajevo, Bosnia a place that I have dreamt about going for some time, and who better to share it with.

So now, it is with great regret,

Brethren's, we are gathered here in the bosom of Jesus to say good bye to this... this car, killed before its time. We have given her gas and oil for her journey to heaven. Dust to dust, for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, may the force be with you, because your worth it.

Armen and out.

Link

and now I share with you some photographs of our best times spent together, to the sound of 'On the road again' - Willie Nelson

Thank you all

J

Smoke

Hi,

That smoke machine that i bought came out the cupboard for the first time in a while today. i have recently got my self some lights and a few bits like snoots and soft boxes and brollies too. so i cliched it up to the max and took some smoke photos. i was gutted to find out it was so fun, and have ended up with millions of useless photos of smoke. smoke with glasses bottles going up down flat fluffy stringy whispy, you name it i got it.

i smell of disco fog.

J

Persistence

Hi,

People often ask me how to take great pictures.... Ok maybe no one has ever asked that. Ever. However, if some one did, i think i have the answer. This is not a how to, or a recommendation as such, as i'm sure there will be lots who will shoot this down but this is something which I tell my self. Its not about taking great photos, in fact i think its the opposite. Its about taking lots and lots of shit photos. i will go out on a day and photograph a lot, i'm not saying just fire at will, i consider every photo i take, that's really important, but i do take a lot of really really bad photos and through the crap, you will get the occasional one that works, one to stick in the bank. i am not a good consistent photographer, i'm a crap persistent photographer.

J

Password

Just a quick note.

I really cant stand coming to the computer and having to type in password after password, thats all that I seem to be doing at the moment. Mac, Windows, Gmail, Facebook, wifi, Blog, You Tube, 1X, Analytics, Flickr, Work email etc etc

It really gets on my nerves, I have 4-5 common passwords that I will rotate and pop the odd digit in there to spice things up, but ultimately its just a random combination of letters or name of my old dead cat. But recently I've been using expletives. The most profound profanities. The first obscene word I can think of.

It brightens up my day. So in stead of fluffy, use bollocks. Brilliant.

JJ

Hello Stranger

Its been a while,

So like I said, I had lots of editing to get done. So I did it.

I drove past the air port, well I drive past it all the time, but I decided to go explore this time, and I found this guy doing a bit of Sunday gardening / fixing his Hunter Jet Fighter. What a legend! He was pleased because he had started the finishing touches having combined more than three aircraft into the one. I asked him if he will ever fly in it, but he just laughed.... I would like to think its like a "ha ha ha of course, why would I be building the bloody thing" kind of laugh.

Any way so there he is with his bird. I'm also planning a summer adventure at the moment, its so difficult to decide and go for something not knowing if its going to be worthwhile. I can't make my mind up and have come to the conclusion that I must be waiting for something. The world is breaking apart in front of my eyes and I'm desperate to photograph it. I get up and check the news on my computer, and scroll through what is now the usual, devastating earthquake, political coup, Iceland exploding, and the never ending 'war on terror'. While I sit here with my morning apple juice so much is just whizzing by. I feel like I'm stuck in the pits of the most awesome race on the planet and I'm screaming at my team to put my wheels back on.

I have to wait though. Be patient. I'm not going to book my tickets to Bangkok or Kyrgyzstan because the last thing they need is another photographer taking up more resources. If I'm going to do something like this I need a purpose, a use for my experience and any images I'm lucky enough to get. I follow so many photographers on their travels around the world and its so easy to sit here and nit pick but I want to do it differently, I feel the sensitivity which is so much a part of good photography has been lost in so many photojournalist reports almost to the point that they exhibit a lack of respect for what, who and in a lot of cases why they are taking photographs - I want to be first to photograph something differently.

This is my Summer on stand by.

J

Bad news.

So I just counted.... and it turns out I have 4122 photographs which are sat there waiting to be edited from the last 18 months... Oh man that sucks.

I love to take photos, the act of getting out there and doing it is great, but sitting still for hours after the event running through he photos and the selection process...I cant deal with!

I really need to stream line my approach.

Ok so here we go. 1 down 4122 to go.

Here is No. 1

JJ

Still Going

Weather has been sweet the last week or so, its been a while since I've seen a clear blue sky.

Regs

JJ

Lit

Here's your next instalment, Tuesdays image.

Its a mission to light a tree with one strobe and a small flash. went through 16 batteries for one composite of 4 images.

Hope you like.

JJ