Miscellaneous

One subject that regularly comes up on photography forums is, what do you do if you want to use a light stand outside in windy conditions? Even with just a flash on top — no umbrella — those things will get blown over in no time. And usually the less-than-helpful answer is either that you need to use a tripod (not tall enough) or have an assistant to hold the light stand (not practical for most of us).

Surprisingly I've never seen this idea suggested: Tent pegs. Nearly every outside shot I do is on grass, or could be done on grass if I wanted, so why not fasten the legs of the light stand to the ground using tent pegs?

Now we all know that buying made-for-purpose products can prove expensive so rather than go shopping for tent pegs I went to the local hardware store and bought some large screw-in hooks. They cost 88p each. I chose the ones with the biggest hook ends to make it easier to yank them back out of the ground when I'm done.

Here are a few pictures, done with my mum's point-and-shoot because I didn't have my own camera with me at the time…

Update: Ha! Just been checking the price of tent pegs online and you can buy packs of 10 for about £2. So on this occasion the made-for-purpose product is in fact cheaper than the cheapskate hardware store alternative.

Someone's home-made video for "Ebay" by Weird Al Yankovic. There are several versions floating around but I think this is the best…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYokLWfqbaU]

I've mentioned this a few times but I've never made a big deal of it because there's no point whining about stuff. But I can say now that it has been HELL trying to do this job on public transport.

Taxis have been a rare luxury, and I couldn't have done it without countless lifts from friends and even complete strangers, but overall it has been very difficult.

Constantly having to hang around in cafés, hours wasted at bus stops, 20-minute jobs that stretched out to fill an entire day because the buses are so infrequent. Nope, not a pleasant experience at all.

Did it though! And I did it with a smile on my face, for 14 looong months full-time and nearly 5 years part-time.

But I am ecstatic to say that it has finally come to an end. I passed my driving test last Saturday and after some very hurried decision-making and last-minute test drives I'm collecting my car tomorrow.

I originally wanted a Honda CR-V but it was proving very difficult to find the right one at the right price and the right time, so I gave the Toyota Rav-4 a go and immediately fell in love with it. I'd driven a friend's CR-V and liked it, but when I took one out for a proper drive I found it way too big and I actually lost my nerve for a while. So back for another test-drive of the Rav-4 and it was just perfect. Bought it there and then.

I've had to wait for it to be serviced, and for the insurance documents to come through, but if all goes well I'll have my beautiful car tomorrow and I've already got a job booked for Saturday that I'd never have been able to do by bus.

Here's my baby! Ain't she lovely?

This has easily been the most exciting week of my life.

I tried learning to drive when I was 17 and failed my test 4 times, then gave up. For the next 15 years I was convinced that I'd never be able to drive, and it became a constant burden, knowing that I'd never have the one thing that I wanted most: The freedom to just get in a car and go. Not having transport impacts on nearly everything. If you've been able to drive for all of your adult life then I don't think you can fully appreciate how horrible it is to not have that freedom, especially when you do a job that requires you to go to random places at random times.

But three months ago I decided to try learning again. I took 44 hours of lessons with a fantastic instructor, Alice from Alness. I scored 100% on the theory test and 80% on the hazard perception test, then passed my driving test first time.

Now less than a week later I've got the car sorted out and hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll be on the road. Non-stop for weeks. Only stopping for petrol. Quite literally the dream has come true.

The day after I passed my test I woke up laughing! Not smiling, laughing.

What a mixed start to the week it's been. Monday night I was photographing some Brownies playing with reptiles, Tuesday night I was photographing vandalism done to the headstone on a child's grave. Quite a contrast. I'll put the photos here once the papers have used them, but in the meantime here's a charming little critter that decided to spend some time in my bath today. Make sure you click to see it large!

Here are some photos from Beth's surprise party in the Seaboard Memorial Hall on Friday night. Click any picture to view it larger.