HELLO! Long time no see.

 

Phew, how's everyone doing?

We've all been through a lot since I last wrote anything down.

Corona, the on going car crash that is Brexit, UK politics and just when you think it couldn't get any worse, now the Ukraine war. 

But here we are in Spring 2022 and Corona is over (well, actually it's not...) 

Quick update on the other job - Cycletherapy work has come back post Corona with trail building, designing, reporting and mending all back on the calendar, with builds at Perth (Kinnoull Hill), Laggan (Orange) and the long forgotten design for Tarland II now being built. Hiding in the wings are some interesting design / feasibility studies that if they ever see the light of day will be very exciting developments. 

Eye auto focus revelation!

Sandy testing the rebuild at Laggan

Pete the digger driver testing the Perth rebuild

Product shot for Cairngorm Brewery

But photography really took a hit, with basically everything stopping dead for almost 20 months. A few wee projects locally, but there are areas of my photography business that will probably never come back. 

So whilst everything was quiet, I sold all my Olympus, Fuji and Canon kit and moved to Sony, sounds mad, but Olympus had gone bust and I was unsure if I wanted to continue professionally with a 'dead' system (Olympus were eventually bought out and relaunched as OM Systems, but I had already made my mind up)  However, it has streamlined my cameras to one brand which is better supported, easier to swap lenses around on and hopefully future proof. 

The Sony's really do work so well after years of dodgy focussing and the limitations of tiny sensors. Low light performance is hugely better what with the bigger sensor and eye auto focussing is a revelation especially for fast paced people shoots. I can genuinely leave focussing to the camera and it just gets it done. And at last shallow depth of field! Photo nerds will know what I mean coming from micro four thirds. 

Even done a few weddings...

Wedding shoot local beauty spot

Wedding shoot about as local as I can get!

But then having dodged it for two odd years Corona got me (remember I said it wasn't over) and although not too bad, compared to the horror stories during the early days of the pandemic, it did floor me for a wee while. It seems to be taking it's time to completely clear my system, so just slow and easy bike rides just now, if I push too hard I'm knackered for days after. So scrub all race plans until the body feels ready to pick up proper training again, gotta be patient and just play the long game with this one. Also 'brain fog' is a thing - so bear with me folks if I'm slow on the emails!

Stay safe everyone.