Hot and Cold

I've been suffering from a nasty cold during this heatwave in Manchester, so unfortunately I've not been so eager to get out and get some good shots, combined with the fact I'm now essentially unemployed and needing to save money too.


However, Business Boom Bolton recently did a little feature on my work that can be found here, following the collaboration I've had with them at The Mancunianist.


I'm currently waiting for my Canon 55-250mm to sell, having sold my 18-55 last week. Then I'm going to get either a Canon 18-200 or Tamron 18-270, I like the sound of the extra reach and the fact the Tamron is physically slightly smaller and lighter but I've read the Canon beats it on focus speed and sharpness, so still undecided....


Today I'm trying to get motivated again which is hard when feeling so worn down and roasted. I've almost finished my Open Uni course but have found out something interesting. Unwittingly, by stopping working and doing this course to give myself a taste of OU learning, I may have exempt myself from the new university fee system as of September. If I decide to start a degree with them this year, I can count my Digital Images course as credit on most of the degrees and thus avoid the new £6k-9k a year fees.

I've yet to learn the full story on this, as I'm not sure how I'd get the finances for it as I'd also be ineligible for the new loans the government are running. I've also yet to decide on a degree to study. I quite like the sound of Philosophy and Psychological Studies BA hons, however their Open Degree leaves a lot more scope to study different modules that interested me. The problem is, with either of these degrees, I'm not entirely clear on what careers might be relevant at the end of it. Plus with it being OU they are designed to be done part-time over around 6 years, where as I feel I'd much rather crack on; but living costs need to b considered too, not to mention travel ambitions....


Anyway, I feel I must upload at least one picture as its yet again been a long time since my last post. Feast your eyes on this. I was wandering near Piccadilly Garden in Manchester when I noticed a swarm of bees living under some unfortunate person's bike basket...

As for the Trans-Siberian or other travel ideas, I'm at somewhat of a dead end. I've not worked up the balls to just go alone, and still found nobody interested. I don't know if it's the right thing to do now I could be beginning studies, but theres many other places I'd like to visit soon too such as Vietnam/SE asia. It's monsoon season soon, that could be fun...

Nifty Fifty

Right. I'm still no clearer as to what the hell I'm doing. I've had a few weeks of no work which has been nice & I'm ahead on my Open Uni course with the prospect of doing a degree depending on funding.

I recently met with the chaps over at The Mancunianist (www.themancunianist.com) who like my shots and are rolling a few out via their blog, with a means to collaborate further in future and hopefully get many more people seeing my photos.

A couple of weeks ago I manager to get a Canon 1.8 50mm lens which has been fun to play with, best shot so far:

I'm going to look at at least setting myself up as a freelance so I have to option to take shots for people if asked, but I'm still unsure whether to get a new job, go back to my old job for a while, or just bugger off abroad on my savings.

My latest big travel idea, if can find someone to drag along, is to head to Moscow and board the Trans-Siberian. Stop at Ulaanbataar in Mongolia, and end up in Beijing. Then, getting way ahead of myself here, possibly stay in Hangzhou (near Shanghai) with my mate Lee. From there it'd be possible to go to Hong Kong, and on to Vietnam and SE Asia.

The planning and eventualities of this are baffling my mind at the moment, but from a few hours research the main costs for the Trans-Siberian would be around £1500.

I've also decided for such a trip a super-zoom lens would be nice, so if anyone would like a Canon 18-55 and 55-250 set of lenses, give me a shout :)

The Mancunianist

I've been a busy boy the past week or so, getting stuck into my Open Uni course and taking some street shots for a Manchester based fashion site. Not to mention looking at travel and job opportunities, starting the process of getting fit again, and helping out in my folk's garden.

I've taken some nice shots for The Mancunianist (which can be seen on my Facebook Page and their website soon http://themancunianist.com/)  and I'm coping to collaborate with them further in the future. These are my first attempt at fashion based shots, so for someone with no fashion sense myself I hope they look alright. I've also been in touch with another one of their contributors, Nicole Broad, whose blog can be found here: http://www.cookoo-galleon.blogspot.co.uk/

In other news, I just acquired a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens to have a play with and I'm debating selling my 18-55 and 55-250 in favour of an 18-200 to save me the rigmarole of lens swapping! I'm trying to revamp my Facebook page, organise my archive of images spread over 3 hard disks and 2 laptops, set-up a new website for a portfolio and maybe even try and organise a joint exhibition with Jennifer Doohan.. I just wish my attention span wasn't so crap!

Here's a few recent gems, more news soon, be sure to follow me on Twitter at @jnewbiggin :-

Reboot.

Getting the ball rolling again is never an easy task, but it's about time I picked this page back up.

Where have I been?

Since the last update on Boxing Day, I've not been doing much else aside from work. 5 days a week Mon-Fri I've been working around the country, staying away from home. Most weekends I've been too lazy or uninspired to shoot much, climb, travel or write. I'd be really tempted to rant and rave about the annoyances of work, but this wouldn't really change much and if anything it's given me the finances and drive to work toward something I do want to do...

As of last week, I've decided to take some unpaid time away from the treadmill of earning and I'm hoping to do a few of the following.

Get fit again - I've climbed a grand total of once since last September! The combination of lack of climbing, running or swimming and the life style of living out of travelodges hasn't been doing favour for my physical and mental health! I'm probably the most unfit I've been in the past 2 years...

Create more photos - I've just signed up to a 10 week Digital Images course with the Open University, I'm hoping this will re-inspire me and help network with some other photographers to get more of my work around. I'm considering following this on to do one of their Bachelor of Arts degrees, but I'm hoping to speak to one of their representatives in person first to discuss loan options and ideas. From their extensive list the two that catch my eye are Psychology and Philosophy BA and their Open Degree option.

Travel? - for quite some time now I've been saving and developing lots of travel ideas. I'm just rather daunted of disappearing abroad alone again and returning some time later with no funds or jobs. Possible ideas so far - India, SE Asia, Canada, China via Russia & Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian Railway.... Pricey!

What else is new?

Since the previous post I've also invested in a Samsung Galaxy S2, excellent phone and very useful for sharing stuff on the go. I'm also in contact with a local creative website who might want to feature me on their Artists page, and maybe even collaborate with them on a sister website. Lots to work on!

Still here....

After months of not bothering with this blog or indeed climbing, I'm sat here on Boxing day on a shiny new laptop contemplating what this year has brought me and how at about the moment 12 months ago I was struggling up a melting winter climb in the Lake District....

Since my return from France in September life has taken a few different swings. I'm no longer working in a climbing shop, so the motivation by colleagues and customers to get out and climb/walk/run has taken a nose dive. I spent about a month looking for work, but finally found some working for a maintenance company with my uncle and cousin. It's been a strange change of pace, PAT testing, lots of driving, and the past few weeks working on Portobello Rd in London refurbishing offices. Unfortunately I haven't had the change to take my slr down there and get any sneaky street shots.

Meanwhile, I've invested in a beast of a new laptop that should allow me better image editing and to begin exploring video editing too. For now though, here's some of the few and far between recent shots, but the new year's resolution is to get back on it, and produce much more good work. Once playing Skyrim has lost its grip that is....

Departure

Finally I've sat down to give this post an attempted writing. I've been back home now for 2 whole days, and the question begs what next? This may be the last blog post for some time, as I need to look for a job and figure out my next moves. I', hoping to maybe get to a point where I can sell and exhibit some prints of my recent work, as well as join a band in some form. Anyway, this might be a long post....

Firstly, Paris was great, and really reignited my sense of discovery. I was dreading the city in some ways after being in Chamonix for so long, but I loved it. I'm not a person who loves either city or country, I like the discovery either way and both have their wonders.

My highlights of Paris weren't anything as arbitrary as the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe or even the Louvre, impressive as they were... I found the wandering about alone wonderful, exploring small streets and people watching. I could go on for paragraphs on all the little interesting things I noticed or saw, but instead for now here are a few of my favourite shots..

More can be found on my Facebook page, and soon hopefully a portfolio website.

After a nice time in Paris (Thanks again for letting me stay Alyce!), I headed first to Fontainebleau to meet Sam, then straight back up north in the car to Dunkirk to spend the next day there and catch the ferry the day after.

Perhaps not the most visually stunning or charming of the towns I've walked in France, Dunkirk still interested me in a lot of ways. Watching the obvious travellers, immigrants and businessmen going both ways makes your mind wander. On top of that, the history of the Battle of Dunkirk is impossible to avoid and must be thought on. We visited the small museum at the former French HQ of 1939. As I found in the Army Museum in Paris, the artefacts and sometimes everyday items still have a profound effect. Seeing things from cannons, guns, knives and weapons to soldiers personal rations, razors and clothing in the flesh from the seemingly distant past really make you consider what these men and by extension their families and countries went through. 

After the museum a quick visit to some of the old Atlantic Wall bunkers yielded some interesting shots. I felt strange both staring out at the now decaying fortifications and looking out at them to the sea. It may sound contrived but it was a very clear visual contrast between the world of men and the natural world. A decaying bunker made for only hateful purposes now vandalised itself, and the timeless scene of the sea and shore carrying on as always, as if the bunkers might as well never have been there... On the way back to camp the night I was struck by the strange assortment of different buildings and no seemingly real pattern to them, and knowing why this is again makes you imagine how the city looked in 1940.

The following day we headed back on the Ferry to Dover. I found my self almost enraged to see a gang of Dutch skinheads on the ferry sporting swastikas.

The drive home was long thanks to accidents near Dover, roadworks, and of course the M6. The past 2 days I've done a lot of nothing, and only now via this post as a kind of catharsis am I reflecting on the past 7 weeks and what they might mean. I don't have an answer. It seems clear I don't want to settle back to old patterns, I want to carry on doing 'my own thing' and being creative when I can - but money will be needed sooner rather than later, if anyone can suggest ideas drop me a message! Perhaps I should reject the Northern mindset that has been absorbed from a life of growing up in Manchester and try and become more Bohemian like some of the Parisians I met!

je ne sais quoi

It's been another hectic week with days blurring and losing track of what I did when. Enough to say that I'm now 26 am writing this from Paris. More on how I got to this point later.

Last week on the 6th, me and Sam decided to have a packed day did the normal route on the Petit Verte in the morning. Very quick and easy due to it being right near the lift station, and lots of overtaking beginners. Later that day we headed up to the Aiguille Rouges to do another rock route having done the South Arete on the Index earlier in the week. We jumped onto a 'fully equipped' route, good fun!

The following day we went for some sport climbing at Lac Gaillands in Chamonix, the most accessible and busy crag there. Ok climbing but had a twinge in the knee, and the next route was once again not as 'fully equipped' as the books led us to believe. Also, be wary of locals pointing you onto a route. Twice now we've had seemingly friendly or helpful Frenchmen sandbag us onto a harder or incorrect route so we are not in their way, mirrored by a similar story from Stuey up on an alpine route....

The 8th marked my 26th Birthday, and not one for big celebrations or early starts, we missed the possibility of climbing the Rebuffat route on the south face of the Midi which was probably for the best due to weather. So headed to do a long 400m route on the Rouges again. Good climbing, some nasty loose bits, but a fun day out none the less. After getting down to Cham and having a fantastic curry at Tigre Tigre near the train station (Great Bhuna, and the owner sounded like a Manc!) - Sam and I decided a change of scenery was finally needed and headed to meet the rest of the gang to say goodbye. We'll see most of them again soon except for Ally and Alex who I will sorely miss and sincerely hope look after themselves and don't become statistics. I highly doubt that as they are both extremely competent despite obvious cranial abnormalities and strange behaviour.

That night we set off to Fontainebleau and ended up camping not far from Lyon due to tiredness and roadworks on the motorway. We hit Font the next afternoon, a nice town, and by chance bumped into 2 guys we camped near on the Argentiere camp-site. Saturday I jumped on the train to Paris to meet up with another photographer contact Alice, and may be spending the next 2-3 days here with plans to return to Manchester on Friday, with maybe a day or so of bouldering at Font in between.

First impressions on Paris, aside from the tourists, a very nice city and puts my home town to shame in many ways. I love Manchester and all it's rough northern industrial charm, but I'm afraid it's not a case of sophistication but more logistics. The public transport here is brilliant and very efficient. The metro is quite cheap, as well as all the buses and bus stops having detailed maps of the bus, metro and train routes. There's also lots of bike lanes and bike rental spots all over.

I got a few cliché shots as well as some interesting street art that mirrors things I've shot in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Hoping to possibly get some more this week, with maybe the Catacombs and the grave of the late great Jim Morrison on the list.

That's enough for now, as its 1:45am here on 11th September and I'm feeling the hours stacked over my head. Unfathomable that it's nigh on 10 years since I was a gawping 16 year old dumbstruck by the horror of 9/11 on the tv screen; yet just as mind-boggling how life works out and here I am in a empty flat in Paris at almost 2am, after recently mountaineering in the alps and quitting my job. If you'd have told me that's where I'd be back in 2001 I would never have believed it.