I'm nervous and excited

On the 28/08/2017 Monday last, I had an interview in St John’s College in Cork City. Near the end of the interview I got offered the course.

So, of course I accepted the course but not there and then you have to accept the offer online and register as well with the college.

I’m excited and nervous about this to say the least about this, as I now have start to get this thing you call a life sorted out. I’m nervous because as of now I do not know anybody who’s doing this course nor do I know anybody going to St John’s either.

That’s also what’s making it exciting, as it’s a new beginning with new people and new surroundings as well.

For this course I’ll need an actual film camera (SLR) which will be another new experience for me as I’ve never had a hands on use with one of these types of camera. I’ve used point and shoots, phones and more recently the DSLR (a canon 750D).  I’m not too sure about what camera to get though, they gave out some requirements for it. It has to be a film camera and you have to get a 50mm lens F1.4 or F2.8 I’m not sure if the 2.8 was a mistake and was supposed to be 1.8, I’ll have e-mail them to make sure about that.

To have this course is a big achievement for me as I’ve basically been wondering around for the last few years trying to find something to do weather it be a mechanic, fabricator or whatever job I could find out there in the big bad world.

To be able to do photography as a potential job in a year or two (depending on if I choose to stay on for the level 6 course or not) is great, because it gives me the creative drive or freedom I’ve been looking for. Not to say the last job I had didn’t give me any creative freedom at all.

This is the beginning of a new chapter of my life and education and closes off the chapter of me being the lazy guy who’s not doing much in with his life.

It will bring new challenges and hurdles my way, but it will also bring new people and new opportunities as well. 

I hope you enjoyed reading my little blog. There will be more to come down the line. Hopefully as soon as possible.

Go for it

Since I finished school in 2014 I've struggled with finding a job out in the big bad world because I never really knew what I wanted to do. For a while I was looking to be a car mechanic as I'm a big car guy, but for that you need a full driving license and most place will only accept if its also a clean license which means you don't have any penalty points, and I only have a learners permit at the moment.


With the recent recession a person like me who had little experience in the world of work aside from the time I have spent working with my father in his business I wouldn't have the best luck against other people who have more experience then I. So I'm essentially left stranded in needing to find work to get experience but not getting work because I don't have said experience.


However, around this time last year I was working up with my father for an extended period of time because they got unexpectedly busy. So with the money I saved up I decided to buy myself a nice fancy camera, a canon 750D, its a DSLR if you're wondering.


I've always had some bit of an interest in photography/videography, I had a video tape camera, one or two point and shoots and the camera on my phones, but in the last year I've really found my passion in both because with my new camera. With a DSLR it gives you more options and higher quality photos and videos then a point and shoot or the camera on your phone would give you. My camera would only be an entry level DSLR, you wouldn't be seeing a professional wedding photographer using this as his main camera maybe as a second or back-up camera, but its a good starter camera because you get the experience of DSLR but not over confused by all the settings and more specialized memory cards and other equipment you'll need. But enough about the camera and background about why I got it.


I was talking to a friend recently about me doing photography I'm not sure how we got onto it but that's not the matter in hand, the main thing I remember from the conversation is him saying "go for it" so essentially do what you can to do photography as your main focus. That quote has stuck with me because you could take it and apply to any bodies situation whether you're a photographer, a teacher or an actor it can apply.


This quote is part of the reason I decided to go for a college course in photography, this course will hopefully push me along further from where I am now. There's a couple other reasons too, as mentioned before I've struggled to find work so hopefully if/when I get the course it'll push me into getting a job in photography.


So to whoever reads this post, go for it, in whatever you're doing with your life whether it be photography videography, teaching or acting. You can only be as good as the last thing you did,and if you're like me sitting on your backside doing nothing doesn't sound all that interesting to people.


Thanks for reading.

Creative block

Hope you enjoy my first blog please feel free to leave feedback 

Creative block

So since I got my DSLR camera back in November of 2016 there’s been days where I want to get out and shoot or get a video of something around my town but I can’t think of anywhere to go because of creative block.

Creative block for a photographer means you can’t decide if you want to shoot landscapes, street photography, wildlife animals, sunsets/sunrise, or try and do long exposure shots.

Recently for me I’ve been wanting to do videos for YouTube but could not for the life of me think of what to film, all I knew was that I didn’t want to do my usual shots of liners or cars or random video of the landscape around me would get when out walking my dogs. I was thinking of doing vlog style videos of talking about camera topics such as 5 mistakes I have made since I first started out or 5 things I have learned since I started doing photography with a DSLR.

In a small town like Cobh (pronounced cove) there’s only so much landscape and seascape photos you can take before you start to run out of ideas for the place.

Street photography can become a good friend during tourist season though  (which usually is between May/June to August/September), because with more people comes more photo opportunities.

However, with this somewhat limited timeframe for good street photography that leaves 6 or 7 months of time where the best I can do is a rehash of older shots I have taken in Cuskinny, Whitepoint, of the town or of seascapes of cork harbour.

There has been days where I place my Canon 750D on my desk in my room and think what should I shopt with you. Although I have taken up sports photography to some degree with my local soccer teams Cobh Ramblers and Cobh Wanderers, that's still only once or twice every other week with them playing away matches as well.