The best addition to our lives recently has been the Pomodoro Technique. Not only a joy to type, but also a joy to practice.
I would recommend it to freelancers everywhere, whatever field you work in. A ‘pomodoro’ is a 25 minute period of time that you work in, and you work strictly with a timer on your desk. You then have a 5 minute break, and start again. After 4 pomodoros you have a full length break. Sounds simple, and sounds almost too simple to be noteworthy, but it works. Nick and I were traditionally pretty slack with our working hours, often working solidly for 3-7 hours and then dying at the end of it. Our work was unproductive, but there were no rules about when to stop. Now we work to rules, our work is at least 3 times more effective.
The best thing we’ve found is that if you’re working on a problem for 25 minutes and haven’t come to a solution (computer programming in his case, image editing in mine), the 5 minute break is an ideal time to make a cup of tea, feed the cat, talk about how we should get the car fixed… we then come back and a solution has just appeared out of thin air! I guess it’s kind of like going to sleep and dreaming. You sort out messed up bits of information and you wake up with it all sorted out.
Magic.
Posted in Artistic realisations, Business bits.
Tagged with pomodoro, pomodoro technique.
By kazz
– November 9, 2009
I’ve been building my online presence, thanks to a kick up the bottom from a moo newsletter about the whole thing. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, ILP, vanity urls… all of em! It’s been a while since I stared at my computer screen without looking away for three hours, clicking, typing and not being able to stop. I now feel officially connected, but also brain dead. And I’m also very late for a business meeting with Paul… sorry Paul.
Posted in Business bits, General.
By kazz
– November 4, 2009
Well well, I haven’t blogged for a while but I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve been busy.
I am now officially a Bump and Baby Photographer under the name of Ga-Ga Photography. I posted a message on Freeconomy for pregnant women and babies to photograph, so I could get some experience, and they got some free photographs out of it. I had a great time and it confirmed that I really wanted to do it.
I was surprised actually how much I enjoyed photographing them, and how much I was learning from it. Not just the technical side of how to work my flash and getting to grips with the camera, but also how much I learnt about motherhood!
I’ll probably get to the stage where I can write a book about everything the ladies have told me about the reality of pregnancy and motherhood. The one key fact I found out is that you have to make it up as you go along! You can read all the books and watch all the ‘how tos’ about it, but really you just have to go with your instinct and learn from your mistakes.
Another thing it confirmed for me is that every lady is different and every baby is different. Before I started properly I was unsure about how to market myself to appeal to everyone because everyone is different. Most of the other photographers I came across seem to market themselves at everyone, or so they thought… All of their work and marketing was a bit OTT for my liking, and was of the general theme of ‘everything about pregnancy and babies is amazing, every moment is perfect and special’. Although it’s lovely to have this view, it’s not at all realistic.
So the view that I’m coming from is that it can be perfect and special, but most of the time it’s uncomfortable, frustrating and unpredictable. A lot of the ladies I photographed seemed to feel like they weren’t looking as good as they should. Their bump should be more round and pert, they had too many stretch marks, they weren’t toned enough. That really scared me. Although it’s great that there are more pregnant women in the media, they’re piling on the pressure to look ‘perfect’, and if you can’t look a bit tired and marked when you’re pregnant, when can you?!
I’m still in awe when I photograph a woman when she’s pregnant – I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, and I’m honoured that I’m let into their lives. Without trying to sound too gushy, and whilst still keeping up my realistic view, it is beautiful and perfect!
I’ve uploaded a lot of my images onto Flickr and they’re all there on my website. So have a look!
Posted in Bump and Baby.
Tagged with freeconomy, ga-ga, gaga, newborn, newborn photography, pregnancy, pregnancy photography.
By kazz
– October 20, 2009
I’ve just come back from a weekend by Loch Ness at Rockness festival. I worked for Oxfam as a steward, which I have done at Glastonbury festival a few times and will be doing again next week. It is such a great thing to do and I definitely recommend it.
It is a very unique thing to go on your CV, especially as it comes under volunteering, and you can do supervisor roles there too. So if you’re looking to go into anything related, employers would be very impressed with it. You give a desposit when you apply, and as long as you do all your shifts you get it back after the festival. It can be hard work, and it can also get a little tedious, but you get to meet loads of people from around the country who are working with you. And you also get to meet loads of punters who you may not have talked to otherwise.
I find it can sometimes be great networking. The people you’re working with, who you generally spend 8 hours with, could be anyone, and once you get chatting anything can happen. You may also meet important people coming through the gates, some of the organisers, or sometimes band members and their crew/management.
It’s also a lot of fun, and you do get time to explore the festival. I would discourage working at a festival to get a free ticket to see your favourite band, because you may be working at the same time. But for all the reasons mentioned above, it’s a great thing to do.
Oxfam may still have spaces for Womad this year but I’m not sure. See here for more info. But there are also other charities that do a similar thing, such as People and Planet so check it out!
Posted in General.
By kazz
– June 19, 2009
I watched ‘Painting the mind‘, a documentary by Sarah Feltes, about “the untapped artistic resources of the human brain”. Basically there are two chaps who had strokes and ever since they have had uncontrollable artistic urges every day, and obsess about making art. There’s a part when they compare their artistic behaviours with autistic savants, who usually have one skill that they exceed at, and in most cases obsess about. In this programme they focus on the savants that are artistic, and note the similarities with children between the ages of 4 and 7 who are usually still at the stage of being completely uninhibited with what they produce, with no concept of whether their artwork is ‘good’ or not, in the eyes of a critical adult.
This got me thinking. I have always known/thought that I couldn’t draw, mainly because that’s what everyone has told me (teachers and the like). At art college I tried and gave up because everyone else in the class could draw and I didn’t see the point, especially when I could photograph the damned object infront of me anyway. For years I’ve spontaneously felt like drawing or painting but was constantly disappointed by what I was producing because it didn’t look accurate, and I thought that was the quality that made art good.
But after watching this programme I realised that I could draw whatever I wanted, whenever, and however. I went into the garden in the sunshine, and sat and drew the things around me for a while – completely dismissing the fact I ‘couldn’t draw’ and celebrating what I was seeing and drawing. I banished my old art teachers and tutors from my head and ignored the rule that I should focus on angles and perspectives – I relished in producing something I liked. It was an eye opening experience and I recommend everyone trying it.
Posted in Artistic realisations.
By kazz
– May 29, 2009
My theory was that getting a new office would help me focus myself on work and being productive. Productive I have been, but not in anything I will make money from. At least now I know that if the photography doesn’t work out, I can make knitted flower brooches for a living. Or branded Ecover bags out of scrap fabric (for the empty bottles that are waiting to be refilled).
However, even though I technically haven’t done any useful work, I am still keeping myself busy. A few weeks ago I was still in the watch-TV-until-I-have-a-breakdown phase, and although I gained a new respect for Dick van Dyke, he probably wasn’t the best mentor for me, devoted as he was.
Alas Dick and I went separate ways. The TV (and the living room) was moved downstairs to make room for the newly appointed office, only to discover there was no TV aerial downstairs. So the monolith of procrastination and doom has been suppressed into silence and neglect – which should’ve been a godsend for me.
Of course, new forms of procrastination have started to materialise. No longer television and Facebook, knitting and moving furniture are now acceptable ways of filling the day. It’s only when Nick gets home from work that I realise I’ve done very little to help our financial situation, but “look darling, I’ve made a really pretty scarf!”
Posted in General.
Tagged with dick van dyke, ecover, Knitting, procrastination.
By kazz
– May 28, 2009
I rang HMRC this morning and registered as self employed, and then I rang Co-op bank to set up a business account. I am officially and legally a self employed photographer!
Posted in Business bits.
Tagged with co-op, HMRC, self employed.
By kazz
– May 19, 2009
