Inspiration overload - the dangers of my job.

Please note - I use very few affiliate links in my blog posts these days, my blog doesn't cost much to run... But if you're inspired or like what you read, feel free to support my coffee habit. 

I posted about a *list* I'm making last night on Facebook. It's of a certain type of photographer, or, rather, a certain type of camera user... Before you get all camera supremacist on my eButt... If you know me, you'll know I couldn't care less if you used an old rock with a bit of broken beer bottle as a lens / camera combo... Do what you like... But I wanted to sort a list of 'smaller camera' users for my own evil* plans...

I don't mind if you use an iPhone or some other phone thing...

Anyways... I was thinking about this list and collecting a few names in my head when I posted that I was making a list on my Facebook page... We were a few comments in when I mentioned being surrounded by inspiration... [here, read for yourselves]

Which leads me to what the hell I'm on about...  'Inspiration overload' 

Like, watching my Facebook wall and seeing my favourite photo journalists, Nick Ut post photographs from his current trip.. He's in Ha Noi for another week, so I guess another week of seeing his images, each of which has a great story attached, won't kill me... But then you take Nick and times him by 1000000 with all of the content coming through each minute... So much! Today I saw the new video from Vincent LaForet with the.... here, watch it yourself...

MōVI - Stabilised System

Stuff from about 40 other photographers caught my eye today too, and I guess that is all part of my job... Identifying photographers that are doing amazing work and seeing if one of the companies I work for can be a part of their life in some way... But I'm an emotional sort and I find it very easy to be distracted by good work... That's fine...

BUT THEN....

There's another element to it, too... I'm one of a zillion try hard photographers. I love technology, I love using it to create images, I love photography and that feeling that looking at some people's images gives me... I love the photography community - for the most part. 

I get depressed by rock stars (the photographic sort) and photographers that think they're better than everyone else. I also slip into a frame of mind that comes with a little voice in my head that says "why don't you just quit and leave this to the big girls and boys?" - Sometimes that inspiration can leave you feeling quite uninspired. Random huh...

Then there's music, food, people's experiences, tech, nostalgia, news... Its all swinging by at a million miles an hour - right there in front of our eyes.

CLICK...

Then, I get to play with cool stuff and mess about - so I can turn off the inspiration tube and go play with this Westcott Rapid Box... Tiny, cute and like a little tiny beauty dish... still, didn't make me into a beauty!

* not actually evil.

A revisit | Redbull air Race

It's nice to take a look back through the archives, right? I had a load of fun capturing this event, the Redbull Air Race in London! Here are a handful of images for you to have a look at.. [See the full gallery here]

A weekly "Who Else?"

Some work from photographers that have followed me on Twitter, for whatever reason. Inspiration from the last 24 hours.

Sarah Ann Wright | on Twitter

Omálix Martinez | Facebook | Twitter | Flickr

...there were more, but I suddenly lost interest.

Enjoy.

52 reasons, 52 weeks, 52 moments...

This year I'm not going to run with a 52 weeks photo project, I'm going to TRY and complete 52 weeks of helping the environment around me. You can read more about it on my 52 for the Environment page.

Twitter # will be #52Env

Watching the waves roll in...

Sometimes we need to stop and do something different... I'm one of those people and tonight I decided I needed to stop - I'd been snappy (and not with a camera or rubber band) all day and had to turn off and go for a walk - I went for a quick drive and, as ever, took my camera perchance the Mayans were right and I spotted a massive asteroid headed for Sawtell... No asteroid, but a quiet spot on some rocks watching some surfers wait for some solid but small swell to propel them along to their impending doom - hell, it could have been their last surf ever! Anyways, I spotted this one guy whom I later found out was named Mitch Pollard, judging by his Facebook a very keen surfer, who put on a great show... Thanks Mitch.

I was using my 70-200 f/2.8 on a 2x MKIII converter for these photos - so they're at 400mm mostly f/5.6 (which is the maximum aperture when used with the teleconverter).

Listening to the surf, watching the guys ride... A nice come down. Here's a few.

Interesting that Mitch holds his hand in a natural 'god of rock' position when off the water! It was great being down there watching them cut back and forth on the small'ish waves, cleared my head, gave me time to ponder nothing at all....

I also saw a seagull.