Just getting some of the film images sorted (Film shots - upstream)

Upcoming release planned for 

mid to late November 2012

I am currently working on editing down the original of this debut photo book for Alto Photo in order that it is a lot more affordable and also less wordy.

Watch this space for the release of the 7" single

version to be published via Blurb.

Where to next and other meanderings

OK, I guess it's about time to take stock and plot a path for Alto Photo, for the coming year.

I'll start with what the plan was from last year. Whilst studying for my HND last year I only had one project ...... with lots and lots of sub tasks.

The stated aim for the year was to pass the course which was ticked off in June. Prior to that I had completed my book "The Song of the River Alyn", and what I had hoped to do was produce prints from the book and do a touring exhibition. The first exhibition of this tour was going to be my backup if the team effort fell apart, which it didn't.

So following the course I was going to run off prints from my book. Unfortunately however, just prior to our exhibition I had a bit of a disaster with my image files, so now I have to try to recover what I can and maybe reshoot some of the shots.

So over the next few months I will be trying to recover work, hopefully the result will be a better version of my book, which I can then offer to the local archives.

A few things come to mind when re considering the book. Originally it was not designed as a market venture as is reflected in the exorbitant unit cost on Blurb. It was always intended that I use the book as a study aid, as I intend to start work again slowly on a part time basis. I am going to need some support in doing this.

I intend to post on my blog images as I recover them. The reworked book will be aiming at a unit cost of £20 - £25. I doubt that I will be able to get it produced any cheaper. I may have to sacrifice a little regards aspect ratio and maybe revert to a soft back format.

Also I intend to complete a preparing to teach in the Life Long Learning sector qualification.

Then moving on from that, maybe a distance learning degree, but that is dependant on how all the other things pan out.

Here is the cover of my book:

I have done quite a lot of project management and programming of works in my past life as a Civil Engineer. Fortunately I have been able to use this over the past couple of years and have been able to meet most deadlines by building in a lot of redundancy and float into my work. That has meant working like a Tasmanian Devil when I was well, to make up for the times when I was down with the result of apparently doing way too much, fortunately the plan came together for the main part, but lets just say I have paid a price, which may only be truly realised on the 31st of this month. 

Fingers crossed, how can having a positive mental attitude cause so much trouble?

I spent the first four years of having this condition, trying to convince doctors that there was nothing wrong with me, then I gave up and accepted their version of things as it seemed a reasonable explanation for why I couldn't cope. Now the DWP are trying to convince the doctors that there is nothing wrong with me, I sure wish they would have had that attitude 10 years ago. 

Here are a few pictures from the weekend, from Hope mountain. Flintshire.