Well thought I would post a quick blog as the end of 2011 approaches at speed!

Oddly, I'm really looking forward to the snow ... it will be Sunnys first sight of it and we cant wait to get out on the field with Button for a snowball fight :-)

The snow brings along many photographic challenges, white balance being top of the list! however, with many hours spent last year 'experimenting' and a over a year of solid study gaining me ONC accreditation I'm looking forward to the challenge of capturing some great pet photographs this winter!

Ive meticulously planned, studied, experimented, brain stormed and I finally feel ready (and confident in my abilities enough) to roll out my pet photography as a part time business in 2012

I cant thank the followers of my facebook page, website and blog enough for the positive feedback I've received over 2011 ... it has made all the hard work worthwhile. If any of your friends would like to see my work please feel free to point them in my direction :-)

The planning of my currently blank and empty studio is nearing completion and I'm certain you'll be impressed by whats to come ... I have some fantastic ideas for indoor sets sat waiting to be explored and scouted out some great locations for outdoor shoots

To everyone who has supported my efforts over the year (especially my wife) I'd like to thank you for your support and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a properous New Year.

Watch this space 2012! Repose Photographics is coming to get you!

About Me

Repose Photographics – Pet Photography has had quite a few new Facebook followers over the past week or two … welcome!
In fact I’ve just clicked over the 100 followers mark! which I’m quite proud of

This is a blog that I’ve re-written as it got lost when I was “playing around” with my google accounts and seems as good a time as any to re-post

I was “advised” … in a book? or online? I can’t remember which … to write an “about me” page for my website that really was about me … An easy task!
“I am a pre-start pet photography business based in the North East of England … Cleveland to be exact … Photography has been a deep rooted passion ... sometimes hidden, long before I persued any formal training” blah blah blah … all very good however … The “article” told how to write
an “about me” page that told everyone the real you! … Again … an easy task! … well …
after thinking about it, no … not really … it’s difficult to do an “about me” page without sounding too formal, or too informal

Black and white thinking! a character flaw as far as I’m concerned … there is always a grey! (60% for you “Photographer” followers ;-P)

I lead a very hectic life … always doing something for somebody … and if I’m not doing that I’m “Procrastinating” deciding what to do next and never “doing” I do a good job of skirting round
what I really want to do!
Due to being very self critical at times my passion will always be work in progress … to me at least, therefore I will never ever have the confidence to feel all my work is astounding or as good
as it could be .… however my ideas and what I consider “eye-popping” change daily so one day I see something and think wow! … The next I have moved onto something I see as even more exciting
To progress I need feedback … something I hope my Facebook and weblog followers will give me … Good, but far more importantly bad!
I recently read something that really struck a chord … “Soul … Soul is one of those things that you know when you see it … it’s about connection with a subject” … the subject I connect with the most … apart from my wife of course, are animals

I have shared my life with domestic animals … cats, dog’s, fish and at one point in my life, six abandoned “Willy Wag Tails” (check back in my blog archive for the full story … which
thank the lord doesn’t look as bad as it sounds after “Googling” it … assuming not everyone knows what a Willy Wag Tail is!)
I connected with each and every-one of them … ok the goldfish was a struggle however I did feed it and clean it out regularly before it passed away and then sadly went were most goldfishes are buried

It didn’t feel right burying it under soil in the back garden, it felt a bit like a fish out of water so to
speak … so he went down the toilet, I did do a little sailors whistle as he swirled away to sea … quite fitting I thought for a fish

Anyway … “Soul” … I feel I have it however, if I don’t ... I know what I like … and hopefully you will like it too

Each day I take a step closer to per-suing what I feel is a dream, my gorgeous Labradors Button and Sunny giving me boundless inspiration (and of course plenty of lens time) to reach it
However a wise man once said to me “slowly slowly catchy monkey” … actually, I said that to someone! So I guess I’m the wise man ;-)

So slowly, slowly it is … to realise my dreams
Please follow my journey and share with your friends, thank you for liking my page
Steven

You can connect with my work around the web ...

facebook - www.facebook.com/reposephotographic

flickr - www.flickr.com/reposephotographics

youtube - www.youtube.com/user/reposephotographics

Please share with your friends

Willy Wag Tails

On my first blog I alluded to a story regarding some "Willy Wag Tail's" ... and by popular demand (and a lot of searching through old files and papers by my Mum & Dad) here it is! I hope you enjoy reading one of my earliest claims to fame ;-)

My mum, and a very young me (This must have been around 1979) are pictured here hand rearing one of the 'six' Willy Wag Tails we rescued and fostered.

Here's the story that The Evening Gazette ran along side the picture (on page 3 of all places!)

The names have been changed/removed to protect the innocent ... I didnt need to change mine, they spelt it wrong anyway!

'Bye Bye Birdie, all the way from Wales by lorry'

A SURPRISE package that fell off the back of a lorry has put an Teesside family in a bit of a flap. For the package was a nest full of hungry Welsh wagtail chicks. The birds had traveled all the way from North Wales because there mother build her home in a load of polythene which was loaded on to a lorry and transported to the firms base in Stockton.

The nest fell off the lorry as the load was being taken off. A member of staff adopted the orphan family and took them home.

His wife pictured here with her son Stephen, seven, has been feeding the chicks with a pair of tweezers.

"We have discovered what to feed them on through trial and error, but they are partial to insects, maggots and worms which we have to drop in their beaks," she said

Stephen and his sister, have been helping with their demanding house guests.

As soon as the chicks can flap their wings, it will be bye-bye birdie.

I can remember it like it was almost yesterday, not bad considering it was over 32 years ago! the experience has stayed with me throughout my life.

At that point in my life we had not yet had pets in our family home, so the addition (all be it brief) with animals, unusual ones at that, was very exciting.

I can recall coming home from primary school and walking around the garden with my wellies on watering the lawn .. re-creating 'rain' to get worms to pop their heads out (then subsequently sticking them in a tupaware box for the Wag Tails to have for tea)

Family friends used to occasionally turn up with boxes full of warm, wriggly maggots :-)

I cant quite remember if we ever named them ... however I can vividly remember the day we had to set them free ... It was the first time I had ever become emotionally attached to an animal (but hadnt realised it at the time) something I would experience again and again later in life.

I'm not sure how long we had them for, seemed like ages however in reality was possibly only a few weeks. Then one foggy Sunday afternoon we headed down to a woodland area in Norton to let them go ... they were old enough now to flap their wings and go off into the big bad world.

Most of them happily flew off quickly, apart from the one I had hold of! ... he just wanted to sit on my finger (at this point they were quite happy being handled)

He just sat there and, no matter how much I waved my arm up and down, he refused to fly off

Eventually of course he did, he flew off to join his friends in the trees they had made a bee line for ... I can remember waving bye bye with a tear in my eye as they circled around and around. To me they were waving back and saying thank you

For years of course afterwards, I often wondered when I saw a wagtail (or any small bird lol) if it was one of 'ours' ... at such a young age I think I probably wondered that for a long long time past the average lifespan of a bird to be honest lol

I've never forgot about my brief encounter with the Willy Wag Tails, I think my love of animals was born from the whole experience

Regards

Steven

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