Where have you been Jim?

I have had a couple of emails recently from gig photographers asking where I have been and that I have missed out on a few decent concerts. The truth is I have not gone anywhere, I have just been busy.

The thing with gig photography, is that unless you have been asked by the band/promoter/PR people to shoot the event, it is very hard to get a pass to do so.

I finish work in a couple of weeks down here in the Midlands and I am moving back to the North East to concentrate on press and pr work. Hopefully I will be able to shoot more concerts and do what I love doing. I need to make more contacts in the music business to secure a pass. It really is a case of who you know. Have a look at the image I have included below, it shows a couple of photographers in a busy pit with professional DSLR's, and then at the back some kid with a point and click camera!



Here is a great video to leave you with:

Reel Big Fish ~ Where Have You Been?

Moving On

A bit of an update since my last post. I left Wolverhampton in September and I moved a bit further south, near the Welsh border where I am once again working as an assistant for a commercial photographer. I have been doing this now for the past few months and I have had a couple of exciting jobs out of it. I went to Cyprus at the end of September to help out on some lifestyle shoots and I just got back last week from Kenya where I was out on safari.

However, I am a five hour drive from North Yorkshire and I have itchy feet again! I enjoy assisting, but I am not sure how much more I am going to get from it unless I move to London and assist the big fashion photographers, I just don't know if this is what I want to do.

I am getting some work as a press photographer and think that it is time to pursue this a bit further and so I am thinking of moving back up North and furthering my skills in this capacity.

I have been shooting a few concerts these past few weeks. Music is a huge passion of mine, so to combine music with photography is a dream for me. I shot at a decent venue a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham, the Asylum. A local band called Hanging Doll were playing, supporting Spit Like This who were having an album launch party. This is my favourite shot from their set.

Jim

Which Path ?

Ok, So I know I have not updated this in a long time, a very long time, and I have no excuse apart from the fact that I have been very busy.

For the past 7 months I have been concentrating on my NVQ course work and working for a commercial photographer in the West Midlands as an assistant. This has been great for me as I have learnt a lot. However this position has come to an end now and it is time to move on.

I am not sure that I am ready to go at it on my own though and I am thinking about assisting for a while longer. I can move back to Yorkshire and work at it on my own, or I can take another assisting job for 6 months to a year and see how I go from there.

I would like to do some photojournalism and possibly go abroad for a bit. The easy option just now would be to go back home and concentrate on the wedding/portrait/event route. But I did not acquire the name Nomad for nothing!

I have a couple of things in the pipe line but I am not sure what to do or where to go.

Watch this space!

Jim Nomad

Regrets, I've had a few!

Photography has always been a hobby for me. I have had a camera of some description since I was about 13 years old and I was forever taking snap shots of friends and family during my teenage years. However, I never learnt to develop or print my images and would always send the film away to the lab. Regret number 1!

When I was 16 a friend of mine showed an interest in photography and with her savings had bought a second hand SLR camera and within a year was at college studying photography. She tried to get me to enroll on the same course and I laughed at the thought of it as I had no intention of going to college. Regret number 2!

Jump forward 10 years and my photography has not progressed or improved in any way, whilst my friend had went on to do a Masters Degree in photography and a degree in Medical Illustration. She was now working in a busy hospital as a photographer. She offered to sell me her old SLR camera to learn on and I said no as I had just bought a digital point and shoot camera and didn't want the burden of an SLR. Regret number 3!

Jump forward 6 years and I now have a digital SLR and for some reason the photography bug has bitten me big time. I am shooting all the time and I am doing portraits for family, friends and work colleagues on a regular basis and I enjoy the positive feedback that they give me. But, whilst my friend is doing well working as a photographer in a busy hospital and doing weddings at the weekend, I am still an amateur photographer who has limited skills in photography due to not learning the craft properly. Regret number 4!

So, I have decided to start taking my photography a lot more seriously and by the time I am 36, 20 years after watching my friend start her photographic journey, I want to be earning both an income of some sort as a photographer and the respect of fellow photographers. I have four years to go and I am determined to succeed. In January 2008 I am taking up a new job as a photographic assistant/student and I am starting a distance learning course doing a City and Guilds that will see me qualify with an NVQ level 3 in Photography. This course, along with the work experience over the following few months will give me invaluable skills in photography and the business of photography. No more regrets???!

Nomad Photography

Welcome to my Blog.

I am Jim, a photographer from Scotland, living in North Yorkshire, but working from anywhere in the North East to the Midlands.

I thought I would start a blog to post all my ramblings and nonsense.

I do have a website, you can see that on www.nomadphotography.co.uk but I want to keep that clean and fresh, so all the trivia, behind the scenes, news, updates and goings on will come here.

I welcome comments and idea's and look forward to the journey of the 'Blog'

Jim

www.nomadphotography.co.uk