So This is 2012

A fleeting idea that I can somehow take a picture a day throughout 2012 and be left with a photo-diary of my year. Also has the beneficial aim of getting me taking more pictures and trying new things with my camera..

[sothisis2012]

December 31st - Day 366

So that was 2012.

A whole year in pictures and one hell of an education for me too. I started out the year, after seeing a friend do it, thinking it'd be fun to try and I'd get taking more photographs and I did. Little did I know if would be a rollercoaster of euphoric highs and depressive lows though.

I'm not the kind of guy who finishes a lot of things. I get an idea in my head about something, obsess over it then I'll see something else and get onto that. My life is full of half-finished projects; half-finished websites, half-finished game ideas, half-finished scripts and books and everything else. Hell, it's a good thing they pay me to finish things at my job because I'm all too easily distracted by the next idea that pops into my head to give the time to see this one through to the end.

Certainly in the latter half of the year, when the days get shorter and the workload in the office was getting more stressful, there were many days where the thought of picking up my camera was the last thing I wanted to do. Sometimes the creativity just wouldn't come and nothing would inspire me. Those days would be the lowest. So, the thing I'm proudest of most, more than any of the photos I've taken this year (and I'm proud of so, so many of them) is that I actually saw it all through to the end. I have something I can hold up and say I finished this, which, outside of my job, I rarely get the opportunity to do.

I'm going to miss having my camera with me at all times. It's become an essential part of my outfit. When I leave the house I have to check "keys? wallet? phone? camera bag?" because I know if I go out without it, I'll miss the best moment to take a great photo. And I have. So many awesome shots I've missed this year thinking "I wont need my camera, I'm just popping to the shop" and then pass some street magician or an incredible sunset.

I'm gutted for all the shots I missed, all the perfect weather I was waiting for but never came. I had a list as long as my arm for things I wanted to do in the fog and snow, even a few more days of frost this month wouldn't have gone amiss. Sorry all for going on about the weather...a lot.

I'd recommend anyone with an interest in photography to give something like this a go, though. Despite my bellyaching, it's been a terrific experience. Every day, even when it's another landscape of some bushes, I'd try and find a new angle, a new approach a new setting to use or, at the least, a new way of talking to people to put them at ease. No matter the subject, I always felt better for it once I got back and saw how they all came out. I guess that's true of anything.

Before I sign off for the year, I'd like to thank everyone who came to check out my work. I started publishing them to twitter and facebook in an attempt to keep myself honest and, importantly, regular. I thought maybe, at a push, one or two close friends would actually be interested in it and jab me in the ribs if I hadn't updated in a few days but the feedback I've had from all you guys has been so heartwarming and inspiring I've wanted to do a better job because of it. So if you've been following along, thank you SO MUCH for that, it honestly makes my day when someone says they liked a photo I put up here.

So that's it from me. I've a ton of photos that didn't make the cut from the year I'm thinking of putting up here soon, and a host of analogue film stuff I want to get my teeth into during 2013 so stay tuned for all of that. In the meantime, I'm off to have a sit down and enjoy the New Year celebrations.

Thanks.

[sothisis2012]

December 30th - Day 365

Went through some of my old photography spots to try and get some nice landscape pics with a difference. I'd gotten an Infra-Red filter for Christmas so wanted to give using it a go before the year was up. It came out ok, although the focus is a little off. Hard to really see how it looks with the filter being so dark but I'm glad the effect came through. Hopefully in the summer, when there's a lot more light, I'll be able to take some belters. In the meantime, with the limited overcast skies, this is the best I can do for light.

[sothisis2012]

December 29th - Day 364

We went into Manchester tonight to get a late dinner and watch Argo before it disappears from cinemas. I wanted to try out some of the nifty camera gear today and gave the Bokeh kit a going over with Manchester's Christmas lights in Spinningfields.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the blurred background without losing any focus of the foreground so I will have to try harder with more set-up shots. You'll have to imagine some young, attractive party-goer out in front of this Christmas tree. Hopefully I can put this filter kit to good use soon. The amount of bokeh portraits I find myself taking, it shouldn't be long.

[sothisis2012]

December 28th - Day 363

I must have crossed this bridge a dozen times this year on trips back and forth to Shrewsbury, countless more since moving north. On the drive back to Warrington I decided to pull in on the road and walk the bridge, getting a good look at the River Dee and get some photos of the valley beneath. It's obviously more spectacular during the summer when everything's in bloom but I wanted to make sure I got a shot of it this year and with less than a week before the year's up, I needed to check it off my list.

[sothisis2012]

December 27th - Day 362

Headed into town to check out the boxing-day sales and see what was about. Unfortunately the weather being what it is this time of year it was spent largely ducking downpours.

The other downside is that with my birthday in early January, I've been sworn off going shopping. So today was largely spent walking through the quarry and checking out all the winter flood damage that's hit the town.

[sothisis2012]

December 26th - Day 361

"Moyst Fylth" is the unappealing named home of some of the best nights I've have in Shrewsbury. The occupants seem to have changed every time I come back, but the house is always throwing a party or a soiree or a shindig or a movie night or a game of scrabble or whatever.

Tonight was an evening of cheese and wine, of catching up and warming by the fire. Again, good to see everyone and catch up some more. It's nights like this that make Christmas so wonderful, seeing and spending time with all my favourite people...and playing pass the parcel with them.

[sothisis2012]

December 25th - Day 360

Merry Christmas!

I was toing and froing about what to say about my dad and was ready for this whole big piece about how great he is, but he knows that and I don't want to embarrass him by going off on one about how he's the hardest working man I know for the least amount of recognition or go on about how at mealtimes he'd always mischievously push my sister's buttons and get, at best, a lively debate or at worst a full blown argument out of us on one topic or another.

Instead, since it's Christmas I'm going to just "thanks", dad. Thanks for everything you've done for me over the years, not least of all introducing me to photography when I was a kid. For putting a camera in my hand and showing me how fantastic it all can be.

[sothisis2012]

December 24th - Day 359

Christmas is all about tradition, and on Christmas Eve none is greater than meeting up in The Nag's Head to see everyone. Since moving away to university and work "up north" the group of friends you knock around with goes its separate ways. Some come back but others stay out there and if there's every a guarantee that everyone's going to be back for one night only, it's going to be this one.

Year on year, the pub's been getting more and more rammed for the tiny little drinking hole it is but it's like a high school reunion in the beer garden so you almost don't mind the 20 minute bar queue or the biting cold when you're all trading stories of just what you've been doing since we last saw each other.

For several years now, the Nag's has played host to a high-point of the evening; Gary's Speech. What started one year as a drunken tribute to a tough year and the friends that stuck by, has become a celebration of how we've all grown as people and a recognition of where we all are now in our disparate lives. Friendships formed 15 years ago at the back of an English lesson in Year 7 are now renewed over a pint to stories of kids and mortgages. If we like to acknowledge it or not, we've grown up.

Of course that's how the speech usually starts off, but it wouldn't be Gary without a certain level of slurring from nerve-steadying drinks and heckling from good-natured friends before just rushing to the grand finale, all of us belting out Enrique Iglesias' "Hero" at the top of our lungs. Don't ask me why.

Gary's been giving his toast as a tradition for so long now that strangers come out just to witness it, having no connection to anyone, he's a local institution. Maybe they come to raise a glass to their own absent friends, jostle at bad jokes or sing badly, or maybe just to "be there". When we all go back to our lives in whatever part of the world we now call home, certainly for me, it feels good to have done something with the old crew.

[sothisis2012]

December 23rd - Day 358

Had to nip into town for a last minute present and came across a sizable amount of people doing the same thing. Town was busy but everyone had a mission. In the week you'd see groups of friends window-shopping and taking their time but today everyone had a list in one hand and a toddler in the other, dragged by the scruff of the neck into precise shops for precise gifts. No one wants to be in town for a second longer than they need to, not with all the wrapping and preparation that needs doing.

I'd wanted to get some shots of overladen shoppers in the joys of Christmas but that time has passed, now it's serious business with foul glares every time my camera came up, so I retreated to the shop windows and the mannequins holding perfect poses all day long.

[sothisis2012]

December 22nd - Day 357

Tonight, Jane and I were out in Lymm meeting up with friends for Christmas drinks. Since most of Jane's friends are now back for the holidays or just about to go away, it was the best chance of getting together and seeing everyone who'd been away or off her radar for a few months, so there were loads of drinks and stories and gifts being exchanged. Great to see everyone and really kicked off the best thing about Christmas for me; seeing friends and family.

I'm not heading home until Monday but I'm looking forward to catching up with my circle of friends, some of whom I've not seen since last Christmas.

[sothisis2012]

December 21st - Day 356

I popped back in the office for a few hours to pick up some things, wish everyone a "Merry Christmas" and partake in the traditional lunchtime boardgame: Formula D.

We've been playing a game of Formula D every year, bringing in a new track map for us to jostle and fight around, using "go big or go home" dice rolls to scream around the track, trying to bring our cars home first. It plays 10 which is great because everyone wants to get involved. This year we raced Hockenheim and it was an exciting race to say the least.

It's a great way to end the year and brings the whole design team together as we go our separate ways for the holidays.

[sothisis2012]

December 20th - Day 355

After putting it back because of bad weather, or just sleeping in because boardgames didn't finish until well past 4am the next morning, I finally got into gear and got my Christmas shopping done. Manchester was heaving and it was throwing it down, which is a shame because the town hall hosts an incredibly festive and tasty market, featuring eats and treats from around europe with beer and mulled wine on tap while you peruse the crafts and gifts they have. I paid a flying visit to get a few photos but didn't really sell the scene I was hoping for with everyone cowering under an umbrella or the beer stall, the joys of people shopping and enjoying the holidays is kind of lost.

As it is though, I quite like this one. The glow of the light-bulbs  the light reflection in the wet floor, the couples huddled to stay dry has a certain "British Christmas" vibe to it, since the chance of a white Christmas is looking very slim.

Maybe I'll get back here at the weekend if the weather picks up and experience the delights properly.

[sothisis2012]

December 19th - Day 354

We were supposed to go Karting tonight but bad weather postponed it again so I had a little look online for some inspiration of things I would like to try my hand at.

Tumblr has been great as a platform for posting my photos this year because it's been so easy to find other inspiring photographers and styles, from gorgeous models in well-lit studios to experimental photographers getting abstract closeups of insects, it's inspiring seeing other people's work.

Chris Frank's TV Portrait stuff was coming up in my feed a lot and it made me curious about how I'd go about that kind of stuff so I gave it ago whilst watching an episode of The Sopranos tonight and I really liked how it came out. I got a few good ones of Tony and Christopher too, but I love Uncle Junior's eyes here, they're almost iconic. I wanted to both capture who is in the shot and also show the CRT TV's aperture grille. A few of them had all the grille in focus and it hurt my eyes a bit, like when you look at a chain-link fence and your focus goes haywire and you need a lie down. I'm glad I got it to work here though.

[sothisis2012]

December 18th - Day 353

We were all over at Dave's this afternoon to play boardgames and hang out, since we'd all broken up for the year (or were waiting to fly out to Sweden). I was running a bit late and was stopped in my tracks by the beautiful sunset so pulled over and sent a text that I'd been held up by the sun.

I tried to capture just how incredible the scene was as it shone through the trees. There was some afternoon fog hanging around and everything felt like a movie, like this was all a bit too perfect to be real. What's crazy is that this is just past 3 in the afternoon, not past the realm of possibility of being "lunchtime" for me if meetings get in the way. Choosing today's picture has been agonising though, I was like a kid in a toyshop with all the great views and beautiful scenes, literally pulling over 5 times to jump out and shoot the scene, at one point even doing a "U-turn" in the road to go back and chase a country-path for a better view of things.

With the weather outlook to be rain this week, it may be the last sunset I shoot this year so I'm glad it was breathtaking.

[sothisis2012]

December 17th - Day 352

We popped to Liverpool tonight as they were showing the original Die Hard at FACT as part of their Christmas movie season. We couldn't miss one of the all-time great Christmas films (and also pick up some dumplings and noodles in Chinatown).

I went for a little explore out the back and found this awesomely lit fire exit, the blue lighting from the fluorescent tubes giving it a bit of a cyberpunky feel about them and shooting through the thin mesh fence makes it almost look like it's a shot of an old TV screen, like a still from CCTV footage.

[sothisis2012]

December 16th - Day 351

The skies are about as clear as they're going to get with rain on the horizon all week so I wanted to get one last shot of the moon, just in case I don't get another this year. It's looking pretty good, although it was slimmer yesterday but by the time I'd gotten outside it had already gone down so I made sure I had plenty of time today to get it when it was still up.

All these photos of the moon and the stars keeps on at me to get a decent telephoto or a telescope in the new year. I think I might just have to. Is there still time to add one to my Christmas list? Probably not. Santa wouldn't know which one I wanted anyway. Better start saving the pennies.

[sothisis2012]

December 15th - Day 350

With only 10 days until Christmas, we went out this afternoon to get our festivities under-way. Jane and I had the tree up in no time and began pulling all the decorations out from the little bag under the stairs to bring it to life. Our living room is full of the joys of the holidays now, with fairy lights and paper snowflakes covering the walls.