Cna you raed

This?
Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt
blveiee
taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The

phaonmneal pweor of the
hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at

Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr
in waht oerdr the ltteres
in a
wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the
frsit and lsat
ltteer
be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be=2 0a taotl mses and
you
can sitll
raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not

raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Azanmig huh?
yaeh and I
awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if
you can raed tihs
forwrad it

Today I spent 5 hours editing a large group of photos for a client of mine. There were 70 photos in all and each one was taking about 10 minutes each, which is quick for an edit but it really stacks up. Now I know a lot about actions and automated functions in photoshop so that saved me a good half an hours work on each photo but it was still tedious having to do work on each one.

So not 10 minutes ago I decided to try a slight variation on an action that hadn't worked before and lo and behold the problem was fixed, meaning instead of editing photos by hand one by one I could have done all 70 in under an hour.

Huzzah for the speed increase for the future, but extreme DOH moment for waiting until I had done 50 photos to realise it

So here are the preview images of my completed TV advert. Not on proper broadcast TV you understand, one of those advertising TVs some venues have. I was only supposed to send them the photos and colour scheme and they would design it, but when I tried to knock up a quick proof I ended up just spending all day doing the whole thing. I'm quite fond of it: clean, simple and to the point, which for 4 pages at 4 seconds each seems the best idea.






I can still make changes for the next 5 days so any ideas or errors then give me a shout.

I'm currently trying to advertise my services as a photographer and one thing advertisers keep asking me is if my company has a logo. I'm not really terribly clued up on marketing and what makes a good logo so I've knocked up a few, tell me what you think.

I was on my motorbike today, something that still never fails to be enjoyable, and I'm pulling up at a red light. Next to me there is a little boy racer in his shitty car that looks half ready to fall apart and he has been revving his engine for as long as I've been in hearing range. I'm still crawling along and he hasn't noticed me yet and the light turns green.

Well so help me I couldn't resist; he tries to gun it off the lights but a) I had momentum as was still cruising slowly and b) sheer physics; less bike to move makes for better acceleration. I just had to do it and so a quick check to make sure nobody is cutting the red and vrooooom I'm off and past the little bastard before he knows whats what. He comes up far too close behind me but I slow down for a speed camera, and I go to turn right at the next junction as he fires past me. Too late, he'd still lost.

Its childish, petty and a trifle unnecessary but damn I do love showing these boy racers that all the shitty cars and loud music in the world won't help them; motorbikes will always kick their asses with minimal effort.

I'd often thought about the concept of it, but it wasn't until a friend of mine said it this morning while we chatted over a cup of tea that it really sank home.

I am now a professional photographer

The line between professional and semi-pro is whether you work at it full time or alongside another job; it doesn't have anything to do with talent (as there are some bloody awful professionals out there who somehow get work) though I like to think I have that also.

Granted I work 4 different jobs, but they are all photography jobs so it counts. A month after graduating and I'm now self employed and making (just) enough money to pay my rather substantial bills. Setting up a studio and living alone is expensive I'll tell you. Its all rather nifty, and the joy of being self employed means I work when I want. The real joy though is that I can decide to spend a day in the park or out in the country or watching a sport of some description and so long as I have my camera there is a way I can make money out of it.

Life is good


By the by: my new website should be up (I say should as the guy who built it for me hasn't uploaded it yet. Possibly because I haven't paid him yet...He's a friend though, you think he'd do me a favour and let me pay him back later). Anyway, bookmark this address everybody

http://www.dreghorn-photography.co.uk

I'm sitting on the wall outside the victoria infirmary, waiting on a bus with two friends. We chat about things and I explain some things about Scottish identity, Glasgow and sectarianism to my polish friends. As we chat a cab driver who had been standing nearby moves closer then speaks

"You got some kind of tube that shoots fire?"
*understandable looks of surprise*
"Erm...no"
"So why you sitting on a wall?"
"Well its comfortable, and I felt like sitting" (not said sarcastically, which is novel for me)
"Yeah but why you doing it? Its a bit weird"
"Well I suppose it is"

We were interrupted by a neddette asking for some change, which I think is fortunate. His words were inquisitive but his tone had an edge of aggressive sarcasm to them. To be honest I think my critiscisms of Glasgow and Scotland had got him riled up as he kept moving closer as I made them *DISCLAIMER: I do love my country, and my city. I'm just aware theres a lot about them thats also shit, in particular the football nonsense*
To be honest I think he was working up to a "talking out your arse" comment but his flow was interrupted. After the neddette left he looked annoyed then suddenly ran off. Weird stuff

There's a reason people don't do their own plumbing. I've devoted most of a day to putting in a new toilet and while everything fits like its supposed to according to the instructions and it works fine for, the life of me I cannot figure out where this drip is coming from. Lucky thing I'm overstocked with towels and mugs to catch the water in.

Wi-Fi Detector t-shirt

Geektastic!

Speaker Shirt

Awesome Wells

Last night I had a dream that I was Doctor Who's next companion. It was one of those dream things where it was a tv show, with all the behind the scenes stuff, yet at the same time had real time/space adventures.

Crazy stuff, but the odd thing was when I woke up it took me about 30 seconds before I realised it wasn't true, and I couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment for almost an hour.

I miss the Tardis. I even had my own sonic screwdriver

I had a photoshoot the other day with the Glasgow Parkour group, and while I did get some excellent photos I suffered the similar condition I get whenever I watch sports on TV; I didn't want to just watch, I wanted to try it.

So today I ran in to one of the guys training and asked if I could join him. He said that would be fine

My back hurts
My leg hurts
My arm hurts

Rehearsals are are about making colossal mistakes and wondrous achievements"
- Elly Goodman

The small boat pitched violently upon the heaving bosom of the ocean, causing Johnson to reflect that, although he generally liked bosoms, he was getting really tired of the ocean's bosom and wished that it would at least drop from a 44D to a 34B
- William J Harvey, Bulwer-Lytton competition 2008

I gaze at the sunset with the woman I love and think F8 at 1/250
- Canon Advertisement

Yes, jumping on the bandwagon too late as ever but I've been watching quite a bit of Doctor Who recently and found it quite enjoyable. I recall vaguely as a child enjoying Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor but the new series is quite different yet still retains the same unusual charm.

Now the real reason I've actually decided to write about the show is that I just watched Family Of Blood, a two part piece of utter genius. The episodes are tied to continuity but can work as stand alones as long as you have the vaguest knowledge of The Doctor and of WW1 history. Bittersweet and with some real insight I found myself loving every minute of it.

"Stuart the police are here for you"

...whit?

Once upon a time there was a hill
There was a silly boy who saw this hill and thought "I shall ski down that and gain much fun speed"
So the boy started down the hill, but it was deceptively steep
"Oh shit" cried the boy, much to the amusement of the chair lift people overheard
CRUNCH went the snow
The crowd did cheer for the fall was spectacular
The boy got up and found his skis some distance further up the hill
He tasted blood in his mouth and thought "Oh dear"
He wibbled and he wobbled and he made his way back to the track
And all was well in the end
(save for a mild concussion and a severe black eye)

So rather than my usual self indulgent musings I am asking the opinions of you, the readers of this wonderous journal. Of course of all the people on my friends list only 3 ever comment so to you I pose this conundrum I was faced with in a debate this evening;


Question 1
If something will bring you momentary happiness, but carried with it an extremely high probability of major complications and potential misery in the not-too distant future, would you do it?
What if
a) The happiness was great but the misery was greater
b) The happiness and misery were equal
c) The happiness was great but the value of the misery could not be assigned at the time of the decision

Question 2
If there came a situation where there was no option but for someone to have to suffer the burden, would you share the burden amongst all the people involved or preserve the happiness of all at the expense of one?
Would your decision change if you didn't know, nor would ever meet the suffering party?

A simple announcement it may seem, but given the behaviour of so many people I know lately its something that I feel the need to clarify about.


Cheating on your partner is wrong, ALWAYS


I don't care what your excuse is; I don't care how wonderful your adulteree is or how drunk you were, if you don't love your partner enough to be faithful then break up with them. If you're cheating then you are just too weak to do the right thing, and those shitty half assed excuses you come out with are just pathetic attempts to alleviate the guilt you know you deserve.

Oh and don't think just because you aren't the one in the relationship you get off the hook. If you are knowingly helping someone else cheat you're just as pathetic

6am, not exactly what I would call a glorious time of the morning but needs must and on a whim my brother had suggested we go skiing today as the snow report for Glenshee, near Perth, was pretty good. So at a time I am often heading to bed these days we were in the car and heading up the sleeping morning roads of the fair green place, rain of course being our eternal companion throughout the city.

As apollos chariot fought the slow winters race against the forces of night we left behind the murky clouds of my home city and were welcomed by streaks of white and gold amongst a sea of pastel blues as Stirling came in to view; the castle and the Wallace momument standing out as eyecatching works of man made beauty and an adequate symbol of a Scotland I had forgotten.

We wound through the country roads of Perthshire, whose natural beauty of scattered forests, sweeping hills and golden fields triumphs that of pleasant but functional Lanarkshire. The distant hilltops were coated like icing sugar by snow and as the distance lessoned we were engulfed by the great white as every direction became hills covered in thick, rich snow.

Our wintery adventures coincided with the sun's rapid jaunt across the heavens and the warming shades of sunset accompanied our return journey. Most remarkable of all, a sight I have never seen before but hope to see again, was a cloud some distance off that radiated with all the colours of the rainbow yet no rainbow could be seen.

Twas a good day, and made me realise that while I love this country there is still so little of it I do not know, my perceptions of Scotland are too closely tied in with Glasgow and I am now aware I need to get out of the city more often to see what else fair Caledonia has to offer