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inyournightmares97 · 5 years

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The Studded Pants

You’re a professional photographer, so you’ll work with whatever you have. Even if all you have is Park Jinyoung.

Word Count: 7k+

Warnings: Language. Also, I don’t really know what this is. Is it fluff? Is it angst? Is it crack? I’m not sure. It’s more of a set of ramblings and admiration of Jinyoung than it is a real story, so read at your own risk.

(don’t own this photo: not sure if it’s like an official photo from the Allure photoshoot or someone’s screenshot of the video but like, if you want credits pls let me know)

In retrospect, you weren’t entirely sure why you had believed that you could rely on Bambam.

It was almost inevitable that he would blow you off. Bambam lived in the moment. While that was a nice philosophy that allowed him to go about his life happy and carefree, it often left the people who relied on him in the lurch.

You were left completely alone in the empty photography studio as the clock ticked. The lights were all set up, you had the cameras and the equipment ready. You had explained to Bambam a hundred times how important this photoshoot was to you. It was your one chance to finally shine and show off your creativity in front of your boss. Mr. Kim was a celebrity photographer; he covered rich people’s weddings and often even contracted his services out to magazines and fashion shows to help with photoshoots. But so far, you had only been allowed to assist him and follow him around while he did all the work.

“There’s a celebrity wedding in two months that clashes with the fashion show in Thailand,” Mr. Kim had mentioned to you lightly one evening. “They want us to do the pre-wedding photoshoot.”

You had glanced up from your laptop and blinked.

“Oh. How are we going to be in two places at once?”

“I’m thinking I’ll let you handle the pre-wedding shoot by yourself. With a team, of course,” Mr. Kim replied. He chuckled when your eyes widened in shock. “Don’t look at me like that. The hallway outside has been looking empty since we renovated it. Do a photoshoot-anything, using your own creativity- that I wouldn’t be ashamed to hang outside my photo studio and the celebrity wedding is yours.”

You beamed at him. “I will; I’ll do it!”

Mr. Kim smiled. “Well. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

You had called up Bambam, a struggling model that you’d once befriended at a photo shoot, and begged him to pose for you. You had even promised to pay him a fee for helping you out. Bambam had made big promises and acted like he would do anything to help a friend out. But now the time had arrived and he wasn’t even responding to your messages.

You slumped down onto a chair.

You were pretty sure that this was an appropriate time to cry, really.

Your phone buzzed and you jumped. It was a text from Bambam and you opened it nervously, hands shaking.

Bambam: Hey! I can’t make it tonight. I’m kind of stuck in Busan, long story. You should hear it sometime. This buddy of mine is just CRAZY. We got into a car and just drove out without any plans, man. We’re so high right now.

You ran your hand over your face and groaned. Just as you had expected. You would have had better luck just picking a random person off the street and asking them to pose for you. What was the point of being friends with a professional model when he didn’t even turn up? You hoped Bambam was enjoying himself in Busan because you were miserable. You prepared to send him a picture of your middle finger when your phone buzzed again.

Bambam: Anyway, I’m sending over this dude I know. He’s an aspiring actor and he’s gorgeous. He’s on his way now so just text him the address of your studio, yeah?

The next message was an attachment; the contact file of somebody named Park Jinyoung.

You hesitated. You didn’t know who this Jinyoung person was. He wasn’t even a professional model; although you supposed that if he was an actor then he would at least be comfortable in front of the camera lens. You stood up, took a deep breath and calmed yourself down.

You could do this. You had to submit the results of the photoshoot to Mr. Kim by Monday.

You would just have to work with whatever you could get.

--------------------------------------------

Park Jinyoung appeared to be a rather no-nonsense sort of person.

You took a full five minutes to draft a polite and friendly message to the man, explaining how grateful you were that he was willing to help you out with this and giving him easy-to-understand directions to the photo studio. The reply you received was prompt and short.

Jinyoung: Will be there in fifteen.

Well. Perhaps not the friendliest of men but he seemed reliable. You jumped to your feet and hurried to make sure that all the lighting and the camera were still in place. It would probably take longer than usual since this guy wasn’t a professional model but you were prepared for the struggle. You had convinced crying babies to pose for you. Surely Park Jinyoung would not prove to be too difficult.

You were just setting up your laptop and the photo editing software, when you heard a soft knock at the entrance to the studio. It was late at night on a Saturday. All the other employees had locked up and gone home. This was the only time you’d been able to get the studio room to yourself since it was fully booked by paying customers during working hours.

You ran out to the front desk to let Park Jinyoung in.

“Hi, thank you so much for coming!” you began to chirp as you opened the door. You had expected Jinyoung to be handsome, (almost all of Bambam’s friends were), but you were completely unprepared for the beautiful man that stood on the other side of the door.

Park Jinyoung looked like he’d been ripped straight out of the pages of a glamour magazine.

“Hi. You’re the photographer who texted me?” Jinyoung asked. His voice was deep, yet smooth, and you found yourself unable to tear your eyes away from his plush lips when he spoke. His dark, piercing eyes looked down at you as he raised an eyebrow. “Hello?”

You cleared your throat. Oh god. Why was he so handsome? You had learnt to handle yourself around handsome men in your line of work and you’d met your fair share of celebrities too. But Park Jinyoung had this attractive, intimidating aura about him that made you feel like a shy schoolgirl. You tried not to let the blush creep up your cheeks as you noticed how handsome he looked in a simple dress shirt and slacks.

“Um, that’s right,” you mumbled. “Come in. The photo studio’s through there…”

Jinyoung nodded and stepped inside, walking past the front desk coolly. You paused to notice how perfectly built he was. Even the way he walked was masculine and yet, somehow, at the same time it was incredibly graceful. You ripped your eyes away from his perfect shoulders and hurried forward to show him the way to the photo studio.

“Thank you so much for coming,” you blurted out. “I didn’t think Bambam would bail on me last minute like this, I’ve just had everything planned for a while now and this photoshoot is really important to me…”

Jinyoung nodded. His eyes calmly scanned the studio, the lighting, and your equipment with mild interest.

“You clearly don’t know Bambam very well,” he muttered.

You let out a nervous laugh. “I suppose not. Still. Thank you for coming.”

Jinyoung simply sighed. He looked a little annoyed. “You’ve said that thrice already,” he pointed out. He gestured towards the simple backdrop. “How about you explain to me how this works, instead? Do you want me to just pose in front of the screen? Do you have any particular outfits you want me to model?”

You were a little surprised by his rudeness but you bit your tongue. It’s okay. He probably just doesn’t want to give up his Saturday night to be here. Let’s stay calm. Deciding that it was up to you to keep a professional attitude since you needed him more than he needed you, you forced a polite smile. You had a rack of clothes that you’d managed to procure from one of your contacts at a clothing brand; one you’d taken pictures for in the past.

“Uh, I have the outfits all ready here. I was thinking maybe we could do around five or six of them?” you asked hopefully. You picked up the first one and began showing it to him but Jinyoung had already grabbed another one and was staring at it. His dark eyes were widened in horror.

“What is this?”

You cleared your throat. It was a black leather jacket and a pink ribbed tank top underneath. But what Park Jinyoung seemed more concerned with was the heavily jewel-studded pants. They sparkled in the bright studio lights. He showed you the colorful jewels sewn onto the cloth and and stared at you in disbelief.

“This looks like my niece made it at her kindergarten art class,” Jinyoung informed you.

You didn’t know what to say.

“Uhh….” you rubbed the back of your neck, cheeks flushing red as you tried not to get flustered. “I mean, I guess I picked out the clothing with Bambam in mind, so…”

Jinyoung closed his eyes and inhaled sharply through his nose before nodding. He put the leather jacket-studded pants duo back on the shelf and reached for a more simple outfit; a white t-shirt and sport coat.

“Let’s start with this one for now,” he decided. You swallowed and nodded, pointing him towards the changing room. Jinyoung slammed the door shut behind him and you sank down onto a chair while you waited for him to change.

This was going to be a long night.

------------------

You gave yourself a little mental pep talk while Jinyoung changed into the outfit. It’s okay. You can do this. Jinyoung is gorgeous and he looks like he’d be crazy photogenic. That’s a good thing. You’ll never have to see him again after tonight. Let’s just put up with his rudeness and get the best out of this. All Mr. Kim cares about are the photos anyway.

Jinyoung finally emerged from the changing room.

The clothes looked amazing on him and you breathed a silent sigh of relief as you guided him to a chair and helped him apply a layer of basic makeup. You were lucky that Jinyoung didn’t need much; with his naturally handsome face it was probably better to go for a simple and elegant look.

“Is that all the makeup you’re going to use?” Jinyoung asked, glancing lightly a your makeup kit as you carefully powdered his face. His soft and flawless skin made you want to reach out and touch it. The only reason you were able to refrain from brushing your thumb across Jinyoung’s gorgeous lips was because his dark eyes were still glaring at you murderously.

You cleared your throat. “I think this much is enough.”

Jinyoung shrugged. “Okay, whatever you want.”

You leaned back and scanned his face. You’d smoothed out the few blemishes you could find and the lighting would achieve the rest. Unable to maintain eye contact and stare directly at Jinyoung’s handsome face for long, you gave him a small thumbs up and gestured for him to stand in front of the camera.

“You can pose however you like, any way that feels comfortable,” you coached him gently as he stood in front of the screen and blinked at all the lighting that was focused on him. You peeked at him through the camera lens. Wow. “Just make sure to keep your arms and legs relaxed and um, don’t open your eyes too wide. For men it’s better if you just keep them sort of half-lidded or you can even close them completely-”

Jinyoung cut you off before you could finish. “How’s this?”

He stood casually, rolling the sleeves of his sports coat up and leaning his weight on one leg. He kept his eyes lidded and looked slightly to the left of the camera. You blinked at him in surprise. He’s almost natural at this. You hurried to click the photo as Jinyoung casually shifted his weight to his other leg and assumed the same pose in the opposite direction.

“That’s- that’s great!” you encouraged him, hurrying to get as many shots as you could. “Wow, you’re really good at this. Have you modelled before?”

Jinyoung shrugged as he casually bent one arm to grab at the back of his neck and narrowed his dark eyes at the camera. You had to swallow at the intensity of his expression and you hurried to focus the camera on his sultry gaze.

“Not really. But I’ve seen idiots like Bambam do it, so how hard can it be?”

It’s definitely not as easy as you’re making it look, you thought to yourself silently.

“I’m gonna zoom in and take a few from the shoulders-up now,” you explained. You had originally planned to take full-body shots since Bambam’s main feature was his long and gorgeous legs, but you couldn’t resist the urge to want to get a perfect close-up of Jinyoung’s beautiful eyes and his soft eyelashes. “Can you tilt your head down and a little bit to the right-perfect. I’ll get a couple of these and then maybe you can change into another outfit and we’ll try a different pose? We can get you a stool to sit on or you can crouch.”

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Once you gave him a thumbs up, Jinyoung went into the changing room with a different outfit and you sat down in front of your laptop to load up the photos you’d already taken. They looked amazing on screen. They could have featured in a glamour magazine and nobody would know the difference. You smiled and leaned back, relieved.

Park Jinyoung was a little unpleasant to put up with, but at least he knew what he was doing.

You didn’t hear Jinyoung come back from the changing room. He’d put on the plain white sleeveless shirt that was on the rack and he came up behind you quietly, peeking into your laptop. You nearly jumped when his bare arm reached across you to tap at one of the keys on your laptop. The screen shifted back to the previous picture.

“I like this one,” Jinyoung told you calmly. His face was right next to yours and you felt your cheeks flush bright red as you realized that he was leaning over you. Jinyoung’s upper arms were toned and fit; the sleeveless shirt revealed his biceps wonderfully. “I like the focus on my eyes. Did the other ones come out like this too?”

You tried to concentrate, hyper-aware of the fact that you could smell Jinyoung’s soft, musky deodorant and that his lips were way too close to your ear.

“Y-yeah, they’re all pretty good,” you mumbled. You cleared your throat and scooted your chair back, forcing Jinyoung to move away from you. You couldn’t think when he was so close. You forced a smile. “Ready to go again, Jinyoung? Your arms look great in that. You must work out a lot.”

For the first time, the corner of Jinyoung’s lips twitched in a hint of a smirk.

“Let’s keep the focus on my eyes, yeah?”

You blushed and nodded. Jinyoung’s confidence seemed to increase with each picture you took and he didn’t hesitate to make his poses progressively more seductive. You nearly died when he brushed his thumb across his soft lips and parted them lightly. Every inch of Jinyoung’s face was perfection. His gaze gradually became bolder and more sultry; he began to direct his fuck-me eyes right at the camera lens and your heartbeat went wild. You had to hide behind the large camera to ensure Jinyoung couldn’t see your flushed cheeks.

By the time you’d come back to your senses, there was just one outfit left.

Jinyoung stared at the clothing rack and sighed, pressing his fingers to his temples. It was evident that he did not want to put on the sparkly pants and the pink tank top. You bit your lip and approached him.

“Just give it a try?” you asked hopefully. “I can delete them later if they look too bad, I swear-”

Jinyoung grabbed the outfit and glared at you. Then he took a deep breath.

“I’m an actor, I can do this. I just have to pretend I’m Bambam,” you heard him mumbling to himself as he snatched up the pants and then disappeared once more into the changing room. You bit back a smile and then settled down in front of your laptop to look at the latest set of photos. For all his glaring and huffing and puffing, Jinyoung had finally agreed to put on the pants after all.

You couldn’t help but wonder whether this gorgeous, seductive man was just a big child.

----------------

The pants weren’t working out.

They sparkled too much under the bright lights and you knew from the first few photographs that it wasn’t going to work. Jinyoung’s eyes had a natural and beautiful sparkle of their own, but the jewels and the pink tank top were overwhelming it tastelessly.

“This isn’t working,” Jinyoung pointed out with a sigh, as he posed with his hands in the pockets of the leather jacket. You frowned and nodded. It just looked too odd; those pants, the leather jacket, Jinyoung’s sultry eyes and this bright studio. You bit your lip and peeked at him over the camera.

“Can we… can we do something?”

Jinyoung raised an eyebrow as he stopped posing. “What?”

“I feel like the lights are the problem. Can we go somewhere with more natural light? I was thinking… maybe we can go up on the rooftop? It’s night and the whole outfit might go better with like a night sky background,” you admitted.

Jinyoung blinked at you for a long moment and then rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. He looked tired and you felt bad for asking this of him, but he finally let out a reluctant nod.

“Fine. Let’s give it a try.”

You smiled gratefully and grabbed the camera and the tripod before leading the way to the rooftop. You had always loved the rooftop of the photo studio. It had a lovely view of the city. The night air was chilly, though, and you shivered as soon as you stepped outside. You pointed to the railing.

“Can you stand there? I’ll set up the camera here…”

Jinyoung nodded and stood where you wanted. He leaned his elbows against the railing as he waited for you to set up. Jinyoung’s head tilted upwards and the cold breeze gently floated through his hair. His eyes were closed and he looked relaxed as he enjoyed the feeling the wind on his cheeks.

You suddenly felt curious about Jinyoung. What was he thinking? Who was this mysterious, gorgeous man who you had so unexpectedly come across tonight? You felt a sudden, burning urge to know more about Park Jinyoung.

You silently pressed the button on the camera and got a candid snap of him with his eyes closed and head tilted back, before you called out to him.

“I’m ready!”

Jinyoung’s eyes snapped open and he turned to face you with a quick nod. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

You smiled at him. Under the night sky and with the cold breeze blowing through his hair, it didn’t matter that Park Jinyoung had never shown you a smile or that he didn’t want to be here. It didn’t matter that he hated the clothes he was wearing. It didn’t matter that he looked tired and that he had had a shitty day.

Something about Park Jinyoung was truly beautiful.

And you had a feeling that if you looked deep enough, you would discover that beauty not only in Jinyoung’s eyes, but also behind them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you were done taking pictures, you finally shut off the camera and folded up the stand. You hadn’t realized how numb your fingers had become from being in the cold. You jumped slightly when you felt a soft weight on your shoulders and turned around; Jinyoung had placed the black leather jacket loosely over you.

“You’re freezing,” he told you, sounding a little annoyed. “Shouldn’t you have worn a jacket before coming up here?”

You blushed. “Uh, I forgot-”

He rolled his eyes in a condescending manner and wrapped his arms around himself with a small huff. Then he turned and began walking back indoors. He paused in the doorway and then turned to you with a small frown. “Aren’t you coming back in? I’m not standing in that cold for another second. I have an audition tomorrow and I don’t need to be coughing my way through it.”

You flushed and wrapped the jacket more tightly around your shoulders. “Right… I’m coming. Sorry.”

You went back down to the studio where you began to load the photos onto your laptop once more. Jinyoung wasted no time in changing out of the sparkly pants and back into his own clothes. He emerged from the changing room and when you looked up at him, he was pocketing his cellphone. He gave you a dull stare.

“Well, if we’re done then I’m gonna get out of here.”

You stood up and nodded, surprised that he was leaving so quickly. Then again, he had made it rather evident that he didn’t want to be here from the beginning. You hurriedly fumbled around in your pockets. “Oh. Thanks so much for doing this, really, I’m so grateful. Let me give you my business card before you leave-”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “No thanks. What would I do with that?”

Your fingers clasped around your set of business cards and you held one out to him limply, only to find that he was already walking away from you. You followed Jinyoung down the hallway and out towards the front desk, before attempting to thank him again.

“I’ll text you for your bank details so I can pay you tomorrow. Thanks so much for-”

“-doing this, yeah, I know,” Jinyoung replied with a sigh. He began to leave and then paused, turning back to frown at you for a moment. His dark eyes narrowed at you. “Don’t upload any of the pictures with the sparkly pants online, got it?”

You bit back a smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I got it.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

For all the trouble that Park Jinyoung had given you, he’d certainly done the job well.

Mr. Kim was delighted with the photoshoot. He complimented you on your ability to capture all of Jinyoung’s strong features perfectly and seemed even more impressed when you informed him that the man in the pictures wasn’t even a professional model, but an actor.

A few of the best shots- including, to your amusement, one featuring the sparkly pants and the black leather jacket- were printed out and put up in the hallway of the photo studio along with other significant photoshoots. It was a matter of pride to have a photo you’d taken put up in the hallways for all the customers to see, and you reveled in the admiration it received.

Still, you cracked a smile whenever you passed by it. You wondered how Park Jinyoung would react if he knew that the picture he hated so much was put up in the hallway of the studio.

He’d probably glare at you with those dark eyes.

“Mr. Lee here to see you!” the receptionist informed you chirpily over the telephone. “You have an appointment with him, remember?”

You’d been sitting cooped up in your office all day, preparing yourself for the celebrity pre-wedding photoshoot that you were going to be handling in a couple of weeks. It was no small task and you’d printed out hundreds of samples to look for inspiration and ideas. But still, normal work would have to keep going on. Mr. Lee was an important broker who often helped connect you to important people who wanted your services.

“I’m coming out to meet him,” you promised.

You cleaned up your desk a little and hurried out to meet Mr. Lee. The older man greeted you with a friendly handshake as you began to lead him to your office.

“The photoshoot you asked for last time is full and ready,” you explained as you walked him down the hallway. Mr. Lee hummed. He walked extremely slowly and you had to remind yourself to slow down and keep pace with him. He was looking around at the walls as you spoke. “And I can send you the digital files, or we have a few printouts ready if you want to look at them and suggest any changes-”

“I see you’ve remodelled,” Mr. Lee mused.

You blinked at him and then looked at the hallway. “Ah; yes, we had the hallway expanded.”

“These photos are nice,” he replied. He paused at the one of Jinyoung and raised an eyebrow. It was Jinyoung in his sparkly pants and pink tank top, his eyes staring seductively at the camera while the wind tousled his hair. Mr. Lee chuckled. “I like how that boy is handsome enough to even look manly in those pants.”

You giggled. “I took that picture. He’s not even a model; he’s an aspiring actor.”

Mr. Lee raised an eyebrow. “Really, now? Is he any good at acting?”

You shrugged. “Probably.”

“He has excellent proportions. I know a company that’s having a hard time casting somebody for their commercials. Do you think this boy would be interested in coming in for an audition?”

You blinked. “Uh…. I can give you his contact number, but that’s all I know about him.”

Mr. Lee nodded and finally looked away from the picture. “Sure. Send it to me before I leave today. Now, I meant to ask you about the portfolios I was talking about having you doing. There’s a change of plans, see, we need to reschedule…”

----------------------

You never really imagined that you would see Park Jinyoung again but you did, barely two weeks later.

You were sitting in the break room during lunch time and scarfing down sandwiches with the receptionist while you both watched some mundane daytime soap on the little television. It had been a long week and your celebrity bridal photoshoot was getting closer and closer. The soap opera cut off at the dramatic revelation of a pregnancy and you both sighed.

“I knew she was pregnant,” the receptionist muttered as the commercials started.

You chuckled. “What tipped you off? All the puking? Or the fact that she is literally the only female character left in this stupid series that hasn’t gotten pregnant yet?”

The receptionist giggled and turned back to the television. There was an ad playing for men’s deodorant; you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes as a leather jacketed-man rode by the streets on a motorbike and all the pretty woman swooned at his passing fragrance. You were about to take a huge bite of your sandwich when the man on screen stopped, removed his helmet and paused to introduce the product with a heart-stopping smile.

Oh my god.

“Hey; he looks really familiar!” the receptionist giggled. “Isn’t he the guy from your photo-shoot a couple weeks ago? The one with the sparkly pants? His photo’s in our hallway!”

You nearly choked. “Uh-uh, yeah.”

“Wow, he’s cute,” the receptionist pointed out. She giggled as Jinyoung on screen casually handed over a bottle of his deodorant to an open-mouthed guy who had just asked for his secret and gave him a friendly pat on the back. The receptionist glanced at you in surprise. “He has a gorgeous smile. Why didn’t you make him smile in your photoshoot?”

You gaped at Jinyoung’s charming smile and blinked. He had never once curved those lips upward during the entire photoshoot with you.

“I guess I didn’t dare,” you muttered. “Maybe it would have been worth it to have him kill me for asking?”

Wow.

--------------------------------------

Despite your better sense, you looked Jinyoung up online.

The commercial had been a huge success; well, about as successful as a commercial could be, really. There was a lot of talk about how the new guy they’d picked for the deodorant ad was unbelievably handsome and you saw a news article that mentioned he’d been casted for a supporting role in a primetime drama. There was no news about Jinyoung from before this, so you had to assume that this was the biggest thing he’d ever done.

Well. Somebody was having a nice time.

You, on the other hand, were struggling to figure out what to do about this celebrity bridal photoshoot. You had no ideas and it was driving you crazy. You sighed and rubbed your temples with your fingers when your desk phone rang.

“Hello?”

“You have a visitor!” the receptionist chirped.

You glanced at the clock. “I don’t have any appointments until after lunch And Mr. Kim is out.”

“Yeah, I know but it’s, uh…” she lowered her voice and hissed into the phone. “It’s him! The sparkly pants guy? Deodorant commercial? Him! Should i show him to your office?”

Your heart skipped a beat. Park Jinyoung was here? He was back? The man who hadn’t even cared enough to take your business card had suddenly come back to your studio and was asking to see you? You should have known better but your heart evidently did not. It thumped loudly, excited at the chance to see Park Jinyoung once more.

“Y-yeah. Let him in.”

You cleared your desk quickly and tried to make it look a little more presentable as you waited. It was almost a full minute before you heard a soft knock at the door and you called out, your voice squeaking a little bit.

“C-come in!”

Park Jinyoung stepped inside. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a simple blue t-shirt, but he still looked as handsome as ever. You were surprised when the first thing he did was smile at you. Those beautiful plush lips curved into a gentle and shy smile. Jinyoung rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Uh, hi,” he greeted you. “I’m sorry for barging in here like this unannounced…”

You stared at him for a moment. This didn’t seem like the same Jinyoung you knew. Unfortunately, his present soft and gentle gaze unsettled you just as much as his dark and sultry one had. You cleared your throat and jumped to your feet.

“No! That’s all right, I wasn’t too busy. You should, um...here, take a seat.”

“Thanks,” Jinyoung replied quietly. He sat down and took a deep breath. “You’re sure I’m not interrupting?”

“Not at all. How are you?”

Jinyoung let out a small chuckle and then leaned back with a sigh. He shrugged his shoulders. “This might sound a little weird, but, uh, I’m actually doing better than I ever was. And I found out just today that apparently I have you to thank for that. I’m not sure if you saw this commercial I was in recently-”

“The deodorant,” you blurted out. Your cheeks flushed red as Jinyoung looked at you in surprise. “Um, yes. Yes, I saw it.”

“Right,” Jinyoung said. “Apparently whoever recommended me for it saw the picture of me that you put up in the hallway of your studio. Sparkly pants and all. It was honestly the first big break I’d ever had. And since the commercial blew up I’ve had a few offers from other places. I even accepted a supporting role in this primetime drama. It’s not a huge role, I only appear in about half of the episodes but I play the younger brother of the lead actress so it’s a big deal to me.”

You stared at Jinyoung. It was like you were seeing him in a brand new light. Away from the camera and the flashy clothes, he suddenly seemed so normal. He was still unbelievably handsome of course, but his shy smile and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled in a friendly way, and his earnest manner of speaking all had you stumped.

Who was this man?

“I’m really glad things are going well for you,” you told him kindly.

Jinyoung cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I was such an ass to you that day.”

You waved him off awkwardly. “No, that’s-”

“I was a huge ass,” Jinyoung replied. His smile had dropped but his eyes on you were still soft. “I know it’s not an excuse but day that was honestly one of the worst days of my life. I’d just failed a bunch of auditions and I was wondering if I’d have to give up my dreams and go back to my hometown. My manager was starting to give up on me. I really wanted to go back to my apartment and cry, so when I got the call from Bambam saying he was cashing in a favor from forever ago and I had to go help his friend…”

You winced. “That can’t have been pleasant.”

“It wasn’t,” Jinyoung muttered.

“But things are looking up for you now, right?”

“They really are. And I have you to thank for that. You were really patient with me that day and you recommended me to Mr. Lee despite how badly I behaved,” Jinyoung replied gently. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really know how to thank you, honestly…”

“You don’t need to, I didn’t do anything-”

“Can I take you out to lunch?”

You stared at him, unable to resist the blush from creeping up onto your cheeks. Park Jinyoung was looking at you earnestly and you found yourself feeling weak as you stared back into his gentle, hopeful eyes. You felt fuzzy inside. What is happening to me? “Uh… lunch?” you stammered out awkwardly. “I guess, yeah. We can go grab some lunch.”

Jinyoung gave you a charming smile.

“Great.”

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You were shocked by how charming Jinyoung could be when he tried.

He took you to a small but quaint cafe that was a few blocks away from your studio. He’d been waiting tables there until a week ago, he admitted to you with a shy smile. Jinyoung had quit once he signed on to the primetime drama but he knew that the food and service there was amazing so he just had to take you there.

You found yourself fascinated as Jinyoung let you into small glimpses of his life. You saw how friendly he was with the other staff; one waiter named Jackson in particular kept calling Jinyoung deodorant boy but he took it all in stride and laughed it off. He ordered his favorite dish for you and told you about all the foods he liked. He even ordered an extra dessert when he saw how much you’d enjoyed yours.

You felt like you were being wooed by this handsome, charming man and the feeling was surreal. When he walked you back to your office after lunch, you felt giddy.

“Is it obvious that I’m trying too hard?” Jinyoung wondered, hands in his pockets as he walked you down the studio hallway back to your office. He blinked at you through his dark eyes. “I just really didn’t want you to think that the rude guy who modelled for you that day is who I really am.”

You bit your lip and smiled. “I didn’t mind the rude guy from that night too much.”

“Oh?”

“He was kind of hot,” you admitted with a smile, and then you lowered your voice teasingly. You were approaching the now infamous picture with a smile. “And he looked great in sparkly pants.”

Jinyoung’s smile dropped. “You must think you’re very funny.”

You nudged him lightly and pointed to his frowning lips. “Oops. Looks like he’s slipping out once again. I’m sorry, Jinyoung. There’s nothing you can do. You’re just going to have to live with the fact that those sparkly pants are what gave you your big break. Maybe it’ll make for a funny story one day. Actually, it makes for a funny story now.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes as he glanced at the photo. “There’s no chance you could take that picture down from the hallway?”

“But what if a movie director comes by? You could land a role on the big screen!” you joked.

Jinyoung pressed his lips together and inhaled sharply. His eyes turned a little dark. “Don’t joke around with me. You should know that I’m a very dangerous man. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

You weren’t scared of Jinyoung anymore. “And what exactly are you capable of-”

Jinyoung stepped forward and gently grabbed both of your arms, steering you so that your back was against the wall. He placed one hand on the wall behind your head and trapped you in place with the other.

“I’m capable of a lot of things,” Jinyoung whispered as he leaned down closer to you. His warm breath tickled your face. “Do you want to know what I was thinking at the exact moment when that picture was taken? Do you want to know what was happening behind my eyes at that moment?”

Your breath hitched. “T-tell me.”

He glanced up at the photograph and smirked. “I was thinking about how this adorable little photographer was shivering in the cold in front of me, and all the different ways I’d have liked to warm her up.”

You couldn’t help it; your heartbeat was racing in excitement at the sight of Jinyoung’s lips mere inches away from yours. You reached up and wrapped your fingers around the neck of his t-shirt, begging him to come closer.

“How would you have warmed me up?” you whispered.

Jinyoung chuckled deeply. “It’s funny; the only ways I could think of were ways that involved taking clothes off instead of putting them on.”

You could feel his breath on your lips. “Jinyoung…”

You waited for his hot lips to come crashing down on yours, but they didn’t. Instead, Jinyoung changed track and leaned upwards instead. His lips pressed gently against your forehead and then he stepped back from you, chuckling at your flustered expression.

“Don’t you have to get back to work?” he asked you lightly.

You felt cold. “Ummm….”

Jinyoung gave you a warm smile and reached out to take your hand as he pulled you further down the hallway. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back for my photographer. In fact, I’d like to take an appointment for another photoshoot.”

You were confused. “Another-”

“How about Friday night? We can have dinner first and then go back to my apartment?” Jinyoung’s eyes darkened as he looked down at you. “We won’t be needing the outfits.”

--------------------------------------------

Epilogue

“You look gorgeous, babe.”

You smiled as you looked at yourself in the mirror. You had picked out a pretty blue dress for the occasion and you had to admit that it suited you rather well. You noticed Jinyoung approaching you from behind in the mirror, fully dressed in his suit.

“Hi, handsome,” you greeted him lightly. You turned to face Jinyoung and chuckled. “Your bow tie is a little crooked. Do you want help with that?”

He raised an eyebrow at you. “Well, it’s not going to straighten itself.”

“Pity,” you muttered as you straightened it carefully. Jinyoung’s dark eyes were fixed on you. “Crooked bow tie, crooked man. Maybe I should leave it as it is.”

“Nah, you’ll have to straighten it because I need to take a selfie before we leave,” Jinyoung told you with a small smile. He rolled his eyes as he stepped away from you and pulled out his phone. He lifted it in the air and angled it so that his best angle was captured and gave the shutter a sweet smile. “My manager’s been hounding me ass about updating my social media more often.”

“You should,” you told him as you watched him upload the photo. “You barely post anything.”

“It’s so mundane,” he mumbled. Jinyoung read out to you in a deadpan voice as he typed. “On my way to Eunhee-noona’s wedding. Pretty sure I’ll have a great time. Wishing happiness to the lovely couple!”

You smiled as he posted it. “See? You’re still alive.”

“Barely,” Jinyoung whined. “It’s so painful. Kiss me and make it better, please…”

You rolled your eyes and leaned up to kiss Jinyoung softly. You learned something new about him everyday. You learned how overdramatic he was when he wanted attention, you learned how passionate he was about the things he loved. You learned how the same eyes could look at you with soft, gentle love or dark, steaming lust.

Most importantly, you learned that he absolutely hated anything sparkly.

“You have the wedding gift ready?” you asked, once you’d torn your lips away from Jinyoung’s. You had successfully completed the pre-wedding photoshoot for the famous actress Eunhee last week and she had bestowed you with a wedding invitation along with her praises. She also happened to be the lead actress in Jinyoung’s drama, which was why you were both attending her wedding together.

“I put it on the table,” he told you.

You pushed him away. “Well, go get it. We have to leave.”

Jinyoung grumbled and stole one last kiss from you before going into his living room to get the wedding present. He returned with two gift-wrapped boxes, looking mildly confused.

“Baby, why are there two of these?”

You smiled. “One is the wedding present. The other is a gift I bought for you because today is our two-month anniversary. Remember?”

Jinyoung flushed. “I-I totally forgot. I’ve been too busy with filming schedules and auditions that I didn’t even think about stuff like that…”

You smiled and shrugged. “That’s okay. Open it.”

Jinyoung bit his lip. “Are you sure?”

“Yup. And be quick about it. We’re going to be late. I’m going to go find my heels…”

You headed for the exit of the bedroom just as Jinyoung began to rip the wrapping paper apart. You slipped out of sight; but not before a certain pair of jewel-studded pants emerged from the wrapping paper and landed in Jinyoung’s lap.

“What the fuck is this?” he demanded.

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#got7 #got7 scenarios #got7 scenario #got7 jinyoung #jinyoung scenario #jinyoung scenarios #got7 fluff #got7 angst #jinyoung fluff #jinyoung angst #got7 fanfiction #got7 drabble #got7 oneshot #jinyoung drabble

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bombtimer · 4 years

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On pseudo-public participation

Looking at my friends’ blogs, they have been already communicating their ideas based on their forte, along with sharing their personal stories. They are so academically eloquent and interestingly, they still have an individual touch that sheds new light on that matter. Sadly, I have difficulty to transform an academic perspective into a personal one; writing academically is fine by me since fewer emotions are involved. This is exacerbated by the pre-successful idea to launch a blog once discussed with my friends back in the Lab (LOL). Or another piece that I wrote for a nascent website which stopped producing contents ever since, which in turn traumatises me even more. Yet, as many academia that I follow mostly on Twitter do, I think it is essential to mainstream a perhaps-too-theoretical idea, not only to further the knowledge but also to contribute to, however cringey it probably sounds, the societal progress.

Alright, enough reminiscing. Now let us proceed to the serious part.

In this piece, I want to elaborate on my personal view regarding my dissertation, which revolves around the concept of public participation in the digital era. A theoretical framework will be presented, followed by the context of Jakarta, Indonesia as the place where my dissertation takes place upon. Several major arguments will be presented and summarised at the end, which therefore closes this writing.

[Disclaimer: I do not give the bibliography therefore this piece might be deemed a personal opinion. I really should have drafted the article version of my dissertation hence it will be deemed ‘original’ in the academic setting. However, I am still working on it hence, sadly, the arguments will be limited. The ‘censored’ part is really open for discussion; over dinner or evening cafe session, perhaps?]

Putting public participation in the current smart city discourse

Public participation is naturally the simplest measure of how a citizen can express their political rights, exemplifying the bottom-up approach in the decision-making process. Arguably, the extent to which public participation is designed has been widely elaborated; from Sherry Arnstein’s seminal work of ‘ladder of participation’ to the latest suggestion of how participatory practices should be designed. The pertinent examples include public hearings, consultations, and the advisory committee. Furthermore, these extensive literature have noted the success and setbacks of public participatory designs across the world; whether the practices are more deliberative or not, and the challenges that are still adamantly present through decades; which include the difference in resources to commit to the whole policymaking process i.e. time, travel cost, income, and family structure.

As the digital era is also transforming participatory practices, the notion of public participation seems to be evolving by using map-based software in the decision-making. Many studies exhibit Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) or similar terms i.e. Collaboratively Contributed GIS (CCGIS) and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) as the way of integrating participatory mapping into policy-making. While PPGIS and CCGIS put the citizen with the decision-makers at the same table and at the same time, in VGI perspective the citizens are positioned as the living sensors which ‘capture’ and ‘emit’ both information and its coordinates to the other end where the data are then stored, structured, and analysed further. Indeed, the latter practice puts citizenship in the lowest ladder of participation, both in the traditional definition or in the most recent one. On the one hand, citizens as sensors provide invaluable contents for specific mapping—both aims and spatial resolution. The practice is also important during an emergency, like forest fire mapping, for example. Furthermore, VGI is argued to limit power relation influencing the participatory process, which is often present in face-to-face meetings and forums. On the other hand, as crowdsourcing data reflects the urban inter-referencing effects of smart city initiatives, some argue for its self-congratulatory nature i.e. to achieve a city’s success based on self-deliberated KPI metrics—rather than being truly adapted to the local context.

Summing up, some question of the quality of VGI to be put on the table while some signify its benefits in more practical understanding. At this point, the choice is between scrutinising the use of VGI as a means to an end in public participation context; whether it is politically correct or not, or rather, devising the analytical framework to gain some insights from the crowdsourced data. Choosing to further the latter, the case of Jakarta, Indonesia will be elaborated.

Jakarta in a nutshell

Being one of the most densely populated metropolitans in the Global South, Jakarta has been storing potentials of becoming an abundant source of crowdsourced data with its approximately 10 million population. There have been some initiatives that use Twitter users to inform which area has been flooded or mobile app that crowdsources reports from the users regarding their surroundings. Some studies even recognise the success (if not the measurement of it) of these organic platforms in collecting public concern to be inputted to decision-making. With many challenges that this metropolis faces periodically i.e. traffic jam, flood, or waste disposal, the various applications which identify those problems define their significance.

Premise 1: Quantitative analysis actually speaks

From what I have learnt for one year, quantitative analysis sounds more when you present the assumptions in the beginning. Basically, there might be data transformation i.e. log-log transformation, winsorization, etc. (such a statistics nerd, sorry) if needed, but the most important thing is answering “What does your data represent?”. There is also spatial analysis, where the geographical attributes are taken into account. The intersection between these schools of thought, in my opinion, complements each other’s limitation. The classic example, of course, would be the Ordinary Least Square Regression vis-a-vis Geographically Weighted Regression. There might be a new insight emerged once you delve into the spatial features of the data.

For the case of public participation, I blatantly used the number of Qlue Indonesia reports in 6 months as somewhat representative of public participation. Qlue Indonesia itself is a company that built a smartphone-based application to report a problem e.g. waste being uncollected, damaged roads, and broken public facilities. For each report, a user will have to take a photo, give the location coordinates, and fill up some fields to elaborate on the problems.

Yes, I know. There might be biases there; literature defines crowdsourcing to be not giving the whole democratic or rights to the citizens. Or in other words, crowdsourcing is not anywhere near participating in policy-making. Yet, my argument would be that now is the time to use whatever data we have in hand to try modelling our complex world. From this application, I get enough data (n ~ 50,000) for six months to analyse. Then again, every user in crowdsourcing platforms generates their own data, which somehow they participate in defining the problems; an initial yet important step in designing pertinent public policy.

Once you started the quantitative analysis, it should be kept in mind that the result is not the most accurate of a predictive model. We are not chasing the perfection of such tools, but rather use the model to better elaborate our standpoint. Some say that modelling uncertainty of our model is way a better perspective, as we acknowledge all the assumptions and limitations of our work. After all, measuring public participation has been in a qualitative manner all these decades; we should take a very cautious design in analysing it from a quantitative perspective.

Premise 2: The biases, still?

Speaking about the biases, one must remember that the quintessence of public participation should be the representation. The ideal condition is where everyone has a say to be taken into account, let’s say in the development of social housings in a particular area. However, it is difficult to define 'everyone'. Should it be all city inhabitants? Or rather, should it be based on administrative boundaries? After all, one will say that it is the people of the surrounding project area has 'more' rights to allow such development impacting their daily life for some time.

The thing is, not many people have similar interests over a topic. People have ranging understanding an interests towards their environment, or what Steven Johnson and others called 'vantage points', a condition where people become more selective in processing information and developing knowledge. For example, people in a city-scale will resist the development of a nuclear plant, while if new waste disposal area is to be developed in a Subdistrict X, only people living in Subdistrict X will respond to such plan. Another example recognises the topic. One would be interested in the topic of municipal budgeting, while the other one is just into advocating better public transport. Some might collaborate and thoroughly inspect the budget for developing new bus route, but all should agree that there are people that do not have similar interest, nor the required knowledge to act on those things.

Note: This picture depicts that the female user count as a regression variable is highly significant only in the yellow area

This leads to the socio-economic and demographic features of society. As people come from different backgrounds and upbringings, their vantage point is shaped and changing over time. Such dynamics also generate a condition where priority has to be selected in the first place. For example, if all happens at the same time, a mother would tend to her children rather than attending a forum of new school zoning policy. Or, underprivileged people will think about travel cost twice if they want to attend the public hearing, compared to those who prefer voicing their concerns directly. In the cultural perspective, there would be many examples that there are certain dynamics, which cover body language and political stance, that may hinder the effective design of public participation. This includes that the elders may be more respected than other tribe members, which may be highly influential when a decision is about to be made.

To be more contextual, the current digital era has transformed public participation designs into more technology-aided platforms. Yet, the classic issue of the use of technology is the digital divide. One might argue that the reasons for people having access to technology are congruent to those of people participating in policy-making. Though it should be confirmed first, to some extent, current utilisation of technology might exacerbate the representativeness issue in participatory practices. People who do not have access to municipal reporting platform on their phone, due to incompatible phone for the app or lack of information on the existence of the app, just simply will not contribute in tagging any problem through the app.

Indeed, the biases in current practices of participatory designs are mostly caused by the converging representation of divergent society. These opaque layers need to be carefully addressed to generate a public policy, which one may assume its equity towards all.

Premise 3: Local knowledge, unravelled

While putting the citizens as the living sensors, one must contextualise the information within its spatial attributes and to the extent of additional information in each report. The latter implies the comment from each user. Several methods suggest text mining, which may result in sentiment analysis. Other technique may group the records based on several keywords into several topics. By this premise, first, we should list every word within the context that might be deemed positive and negative in value. Then, compare every word from the comment, iterate the value, and let the statistics define the results. The challenge would be using the pertinent library and tool packages (hello, machine learning) in the local language i.e. Indonesian and its informal words, which sometimes may be lacking.

Combining this result with its spatial attributes will further the analysis, even possibly add into the debate of generalisation in geodemographics vs. the highly-granular big data. While several socio-economic indicators are not in high resolution, this coerces the analysis based on the administrative boundary. If the result is later presented to the decision-makers, the delivery of follow-up services will sometimes be blind by this geographical entity, which might be really disadvantageous in an emergency. But indeed, all of this made-up condition works if there is only one channel that is used for the citizens to report something.

Investigating how the public engages in decision-making needs to address the fact that there are multiple ways for one to notify the government about an incident. We talk about informal channels which might be different from a city to another, such as collective action in doing something, local governments in a village, or else. A multi-level, multi-approach set of analysis will prove that indeed there is a complexity in decision-making, even in its earliest step: answering “Is there any problem that we should respond to?”

And...

I know I tried really hard to deliver my thoughts on this matter. This piece only delves into several superficial entities of public participation, which might be flawed by thinking that the number of reports in a certain geographical unit equals to the level of public participation. Yet I argue that using the seemingly-superfluous information, indeed we can gain necessary information in identifying problems that occur around us. We can use different quantitative and spatial tools, along with addressing the biases of public participation which hopefully leads to the unravelling of the local knowledge. Some would be optimistic in using the tools and how-to aforementioned, particularly referring to the fact that data is all around us. However, I humbly suggest that we should look at the bigger picture, starting by identifying how to analyse our own society across the ladder of participation, one of the generalisations of the public that I personally like. By acknowledging the complexity, at least we progress in how to include ourselves in the decision-making process.

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adrianodiprato · 3 years

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+ “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” ~ Maya Angelou

Success

During Holly Ransom’s recent 28 Day Challenge all participants were invited to define what success means. I shared this 2014 Facebook exchange as a marker of my definition of success.

Success for me has always been that through my self actualisation, my becoming, how can I continue to positivity impact those I lead and serve. Success is about BE more, for self, place and the other.

This 2014 blog post below sums up what success means to me. It also contains a photo I took, of a love heart I drew, on a path during the final stage of my Camino encounter:

Day 2: Camino de Santiago

And it begins, the first serious walk of my Camino. 22.5kms from Sarria to Portomarín.

After breakfast at the hotel off I departed on the long journey to Portomarín, the destination of my next overnight stay.

I learnt very quickly that the Camino is a great metaphor for life. You see it begins along a very easy path, through the picturesque old parts of Sarria and surrounding lush farm land. An even track with endless corn fields framing your path. You can easily get lost in the comfortableness of the start and the tranquil sounds of tiny water streams in the distance.

Then the Camino hits you with a steep hill climb. The terrain becomes more demanding under foot. This requires some caution, however you benefit from confident steps as you ascend to the top.

Once up top your path begins to plateau. I wipe sweat from my brow, symbolism for hard work or just my level of fitness. The track snakes around fields of bright sunflowers, quaint hamlets and agricultural farms.

Just as you get consumed by the joy of a vibrant sunflower or the gentle breeze brushing upon your face the Camino gives you yet again another reality check. Yes, another climb, not as steep but much longer. Will it end was my dominate thought as other pilgrims began to pass me. At this point the burn in the legs is real and creates a mental and physical obstacle to overcome.

I stopped at a small cafe at one of the tiny hamlets to get a ‘Sello’ for my Camino passport. The cafe was playing The Smiths! I then realised I was only at the 4.5km stage of a 22.5km walk. After a large exhale I recommenced.

During the final 11kms of today’s walk three things happened. The first was for at least 5kms of the Camino I was walking by myself. It was the first time I felt truly alone. I’ve travelled solo previously but I’ve never experience this feeling of being totally alone. I lost focus on where I was walking and didn’t respect the sloping terrain, resulting in me falling. I got up quickly to find a grazed and bloody right knee, a sore left hamstring and a wounded ego. I allowed myself to lose sight of the journey and being in the moment.

The second event was meeting Aaron shortly after my fall. Aaron is a young American who finds himself on the Camino due to a series of life events and circumstances. He is a software developer for Amazon. We walked the remaining leg together to Portomarín and shared a terrific meal discussing all matter of religion and life.

So along the journey I discovered the Camino custom of greeting fellow pilgrims with 'Hola’, quickly followed by 'Buen Camino’. It’s amazing how much a smile, a warm hello and well wishes makes you feel about your experience. We are all in this together.

This leads to my third and most significant moment throughout the day. This notion that we can serve each other was amplified when I received a Facebook message during the walk from a former student. Her message brought me much joy and at a time I needed a reminder to keep pushing forward. And how each of us can inspire the other to be so much more. Catherine is a beautiful individual that has always given herself every chance to discover her possibility. It is people like her that provide me with the oxygen and inherent motivation to BE more, not simply to have more. Catherine your message today was a profound present to me, gracias.

“The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination.” ~ John Schaer

Life brings each of us many challenges. Nonetheless it’s ultimately how we chose to respond that defines our character.

'The Way’ is confirming for me the importance of never standing still and the power of being generous with your heart. Life is waiting for you to actively participate in faith, learning and love.

How do you define success?

You decide. This is your moment.

#permissionistriumph #courageovercomfort

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jazzmarshfmpyr1 · 3 years

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Weekly reflection 2

The tasks that I set fir this week were, to produce more creative responses, and get more contextual research done, looking deeper into the culture of the punk community and lifestyle, looking at their forms of media, and influences. The personal targets I have given myself is to get at least 2 creative responses complete each week to try and stay on top and ahead of what I’m supposed to be. The contextual research, looking into the history of punk culture, and the different forms of a punk lifestyle has helped, as I now have a clear idea what an original punk looked like and the style they had. Also researching the form of media, of Punk zines. It helps me capture what I need to create to make my punk zines realistic. This week my editing processes have helped me with my progress. Because I now have a clear idea to what a punk zine is, so using my editing skills I reflected on what a punk zine originally looked like and used that into my own zines, but using minimally edited photos clarifying my photography skills. To complete every single edit I used the Adobe software Photoshop. I have learnt how to edit in a more ‘old fashioned’ way making some edits, look like it was from an original punk zine. I wanted to put some of my own original ideas as well as, inspired ideas in my zines. The fact that I have started to do minimal editing to capture the true potential of the image is the first big push for me, as in the past I always used to over edit each piece, but I have learnt to hold back and create higher quality images. I have wanted to create a garment, but the first one I created just did not go to plan and was not even good enough to document, it did not fit and it just looked ridiculous. So In week 3 I will be creating another garment containing less altercations. For next week I want to do some research into particular pun k groups, not just punk as a whole culture. I would also like to create a garment actually manageable to wear and document, while completing another club rat photoshoot. I would also like to have 3 of my punk zine inspired zines completed.

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sebastian5208802-blog · 6 years

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Week 13 - Semester Reflection

Introduction The Communications course has taught me so much in these 13 weeks, but I know I have still only scratched the surface in regards to the many design communication methods that exist. Thanks to my classmates and tutors for making this semester a time full of fun filled learning :)

What went well? I think overall, the work which I produced and put forward was of a satisfactory standard thanks to the many hours and hard work I put into the tasks. I think what worked especially well was using Lynda as a tool to help me understand and use various CAD programs. The new CAD skills I have learnt are ones I know I will use in the future.

What did I have difficulty with? Time management was my enemy this semester. I’ll be the first to admit that I was lazy and disorganized especially in the weeks before mid semester break. It shows in the work I completed. Had I been more organised, the work would be of a higher standard, and I would be happier with it. I had difficulty with the freehand drawing exercises in weeks 12 and 13 and I was getting frustrated because I just couldn’t get them right. At least I know what I have to practice over the break.

What did I enjoy? For the most part, I enjoyed using the various CAD programs I was introduced to. Once I got up and running with it, and apart from the times I got frustrated with it, Photoshop rendering was the most enjoyable part of this course. This is a huge surprise to me as I was always afraid of the software, and I was convinced that I’d never be any good at it. I proved myself wrong and produced some pretty good renderings.

What did I dislike? I disliked that photography only took up one week in the schedule. I feel as if it is a very important skill to be able to take good photos, and for someone with practically no experience with photography, week 12′s exercise was extremely difficult and I therefore did not enjoy it. I feel that if a bit more time was spent on this area, I would have enjoyed it more and gained a better understanding and appreciation of photography.

What would I do differently if I had my time again? I would have created a study planner to divide my week up into the required working hours. This would help me be more organised and therefore I would produce better work. Also, I think I would take more time to fully understand a task before attempting it, instead of jumping straight in and then continually asking for help and getting stuck.

What were some of the key things I learnt, or insights which I developed? What led to those experiences or insights? I learnt that once I actually apply myself to something, I can achieve it if I put in the work. My learning on AutoCAD and Photoshop is a prime example of this. I thought that these software were too difficult to use, and I essentially gave up before I even started. Eventually, it was a realisation that I had to complete the tasks which led me to doing the required exercises and learning that I’m not totally useless at CAD. Through completing the weekly blog posts, I was able to learn and understand how to use a reflection as a tool to become a better worker. I was able to identify ways I worked well, and what distracted me from my work, and by the end of the semester I was working much more productively, even though the workload had increased.

Conclusion I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey in Communications this semester. I know I have gained skill and knowledge that I will use in future university work and when I hopefully become employed. Once again, I would like to thank my peers and tutors without whom the subject wouldn’t have been possible or anywhere near as enjoyable as it was.

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abphotographypcablog · 4 years

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Zine Assignment Final Evaluation

Our zine was about lockdown which meant that the second lockdown didn't affect us that much because it helped us to write easily as it was happening in current time. However it didn't affect us a little on taking photos and getting some information. I had to change my idea of doing an interview about how lockdown has affected small businesses and write about how jobs and the economy has been affected instead. I have enjoyed the online sessions as the information is a lot clearer to see and find but i preferred the face to face sessions as they were easier to get feedback from staff and peers and i could use the editing software there to put my pages together or edit photos. I got inspiration from the survey I did as that helped me to create an article with real data from the current situation and I got the idea to include the graphs and pie charts so i could show the facts and figures. Most of my ideas and inspiration came from the world around me, my lockdown adventures page was highly influenced by nature and the environment as this is where i would go to get peace,find normality and just forget about the current situation. I think I could have done more research into photographers and their styles and go more in depth with my research as it would have had more of an impact on my final images. My research into mental health helped me to create issue based photos and show emotions and feeling through the art of photography. My ideas changed and developed while I was focusing on mental health throughout the lockdown. In my survey I asked if there was any music that people were listening to and that sparked an idea in my head to create a page on music and display how music is a huge part of people lives, most of the songs corresponded with mental health or the current situation which i thought worked really well. I also wanted to display the affect nature and just getting out of the house had on me. I think most of my images I have produced communicate the ideas I was trying to portray. My lockdown adventures and mental health photos show the emotions of happiness, loneliness and isolation but also have a peaceful element to them. My Boris photo, where I used mixed media, was to add some comedy. I wanted people to look at it and giggle because this lockdown hasn't been easy and people need some light in their lives. It also fitted well with the topic of truths and myths because our government has told us some twisted truths over the last year. I used a lot of English skills in my article writing and used my math skills when doing the survey and turning the results into graphs or pie charts and to time plan everything so i was organised. I experimented with mixed media and using Photoshop to create my pages. I used Photoshop to create my spreads as it was a software I was used to and could work easily with. I did push myself to do new things but I think I could have pushed myself to do a lot more. Yes I do think my zine met the brief. The making of my zine and gathering my notes while planning what I wanted my zine to include was very important to me as it helped me to understand how much young people's mental health is affected and how people have helped themselves to take their mind off things. My outcome was effective in communicating my ideas. I enjoyed learning about mental health and lockdown, going out and taking photos and putting all the ideas I had down however at some stages in the development of the zine I did get a little stressed out making the pages. I engaged a lot in the production of the zine as I was the one who made sure everybody knew what they were doing, made sure certain things were completed and put everything together. I am most proud of my research into mental health, getting everything ready for the deadline and my organisation however i am least proud of my presentation on my mental health page, i think i could have made it look neater and more like a magazine article. I learnt that I can work to a deadline and I can make the most of my surroundings. I contributed well and communication with the rest of my group was good as we all shared ideas with each other, in the online crits myself and my peers would communicate with feedback on our work which really gave me a confidence boost. I think i do really well with meeting deadlines, time management, punctuality and attendance because i love to learn and do what i love. I think I'm quite productive but could definitely push myself to do more independent work outside of college. I do take care and pride in my work because I want it to be organised and neat. I came across a challenge where Photoshop wasn't working for me when I tried to move my text so i overcame it by using a different software. I learnt that even though you may face challenges there is always a way to resolve them.

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scientisterica · 7 years

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From the 21st to the 29th October Norwich holds the Norwich Science Festival. During these two weeks activities, talks, and stands are run for all members of the public from kids to Grandparents.

It is an opportunity for scientists to take their work out of the lab and show to the public, to initiate debate with the public, and to show kids how cool science is!

https://twitter.com/NorwichSciFest/status/921686497887162368

This year a new event was held as part of the festival- the Science communication conference.

Science communication is an area of huge importance. And sometimes we as scientists, get stuck in our little science bubble, and forget that 99% of people don’t know what we are doing, why we are doing it or how. Science isn’t always accessible- we use a lot of terminology, and don’t always explain the basics before launching in to our research in more depth, which can make it seem extremely complex. In addition, there are a lot of scientists that just aren’t good at communicating their science- even to other scientists!

Luckily there are lots of people who are very good at communicating science- and who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise with us, and a few of them gave masterclasses at the science communication conference.

At the conference there was an opportunity to go to two masterclass sessions out of:

Visual Communication: Peter Moore Fuller (Infohack)

Social Communications: Chris Bennett, Earlham Institute

Marketing and Brands: Michael Motskin, Pint of Science Founder

Cartoon your Science: Michelle Reeve and Matthew Partridge, Errant Science

Science and Technology Writing: Lauren Razavi, Fibl Labs

Science Communications- James Piercy, John Innes Institute

I went to the visual communications and cartoon your science sessions, and will share with you some of what I learnt from these 2 classes:

Visual Communications: Poster Making 101

This session was all about how to visually display your science well. If you have been to a science conference you have most likely seen a lot of science posters- some are really good, but others… So Peter shared 5 top tips about how to display your science the most effectively:

Content

Think about what is needed- what is the essential information? You do not need to display all off your results (exciting as they may be). Think about what the most important points are that you want to make- and use this as a basis for the content of your poster.

Who is your poster for, what is it being used for? Is it for a outreach event for school kids? Is it for other scientists? This will impact what you put on your poster, and the level of detail you go into about the actual science.

Image Quality

Don’t use clipart!! There are lots of other sites like Flickr and Wikimedia that you can get good quality basic images from.

Use an Image with at least 300dpi for printed posters- anything less will have a horrid resolution and appear blurry and out of focus, which is not a good look.

Vector based images are the best. With vector based images you can change the size easily without compromising on image resolution.

You can’t add resolution to a image- if you make an image larger, you will lose resolution- so make sure that your image looks good at the size it is before sending your whole poster to print!

Logos of your university/institute/funders are important, and so should be treated with respect! Make sure they are in focus, are the correct shape (not squashed) and that if using multiple logos- that they are lined up evenly, with even spacing in between.

Use Grids

Grids can easily be added to many software documents- and should be used! These enable you to line up elements of your poster evenly, and its the details like this which can really make a difference to the overall appearance of a poster.

When using text boxes make them the same sizes- If with an extra 6 words one text box end up longer than another- remove those 6 words!!

In text, make sure you don’t have orphan words. Orphan words are where one word appears by itself on a line of text- this will give lots of extra unused space, and can also give added importance to words.

Legibility

Make sure you can actually read what is on the poster!

Good contrast between text and the background- a busy background can make it very hard to read. Also think about the colour contrast between text colour and background colour- think blue text on a yellow background (Not good!)

Larger font doesn’t mean it will be easier to read: The width of the text box and paragraph setting is more important to consider.

Justification of text may not be good- it can alter the spacing between words, which can make text difficult t read. Also you loose your point of reference in text- where the next line is.

Don’t have words hyphenated across lines

Think about line spacing- this can be altered in most software. Some elements of letters such as the bottom of g and the top of h can merge into each other if the line spacing is not enough.

Fonts should be seen and not heard! Don’t use too many fonts- and make sure the fonts are easy to read! If you know the audience will have members with dyslexia try to use fonts where letters are not mirrored such as Futura.

Titles:

Keep titles short and snappy- but don’t take it too far, it still needs to make sense…

Centred titles don’t always work: consider using left justification instead.

Cartoon your science

(led by Errant Science)

Drawing and art have always been a part of science: for example Leonardo Da Vinci, who did many detailed anatomical drawings across his life, and Robert Hooke who drew images of the things he saw down his microscope. Of course cartoon science art doesn’t need to be as detailed as this- instead an exaggerated art style, simple drawings and a interpretive design is used.

Leonardo Da Vinci: The principle organs and vascular and Urino-genitals of a woman. source: wikimedia

Robert Hooke: Robert Hooke’s drawing of a flea in his Micrographia. source: wikimedia

Often when we think of figures used in science we think of graphs, charts and flow diagrams, but, this doesn’t often show a concept in a way that people will remember. Using cartoons, and drawings you are able to take out the key points you want to make, and put them into a form that people will remember.

https://twitter.com/ErrantScience/status/914822341418536960

A few things to know:

You don’t have to be good at drawing to cartoon science.

You can draw what you want, how you want.

How to begin cartooning science:

Thank you so much to all the speakers who gave masterclasses at the conference, I will add a few additional links for everyone to check out, and I hope that for those who couldn’t make it what I have shared here may be of use to you! Hopefully after this years success, scicomm conference will be at #NorwichSciFest next year, and will become a permeant fixture in the future.

If you ever see a scicomm conference advertised, I would highly recommend going- you will always learn something new, and come away with cool new ideas to help in your communication of Science.

Extra Links:

James Piercy TedX talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ3BwZPhyMM

Errant Science Blog: https://errantscience.com/

Pint of science Website: https://pintofscience.co.uk/

Lauren Razavi: slide share from #NorwichSciFest https://www.slideshare.net/LaurenRazavi/how-to-write-about-science-technology/1

Featured Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeljohnbutton

New blog about the Science Communication Conference which was part of @NorwichSciFest #scicomm From the 21st to the 29th October Norwich holds the Norwich Science Festival. During these two weeks activities, talks, and stands are run for all members of the public from kids to Grandparents.

#science #science communication #sciblr #sci blog

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mi6015eliotappleby · 5 years

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Final evaluation

Going into my final project I was concerned and worried that I just simply was not going to enjoy the concept, nor working on it. This was because of the bad experience I had during the previous unit, the stop and start nature of how my research and development was going. The idea itself took many forms and completely altered from my original idea and not in a good way for me, it became something I was not expecting to do and something I have no idea how I would approach. This is why it was so difficult for me in the previous unit and why I was worried going into this unit, I told myself I had something mapped out and the concept was somewhat there and that I’ve created something so even if I don’t fully get the concept then at least I pour myself into the visuals and create something very me and I feel like this piece is me visually.

I have encountered struggles throughout this unit but mostly it has ran smoothly, but the problems I have encountered have been painful ones that have taken a few steps back. Just simple things like animation not flowing properly or renders deciding to change without my knowledge. A simple save of a scene on one programme and the entire scene on another programme breaks, simple things that cause a bigger effect overall and this is what let me to the biggest brick wall. I began to get sick of animating, working on twos in 2-D animation is a slow process given my style doesn’t require a lot of details but it does require a lot of brush work. This began to grate on me towards the end, I found myself cutting corners and overall starting to dislike the animation process itself, something I had been fine with up until this point. Each scene would take a few days, something I have learnt from this is I can work quicker than most with this process but it still is overall a longer one.

Once I had animated all that I thought I needed I began to edit the video together which was extremely rewarding, to see all my hard work start to come to life was probably the best bit. Certain shots especially looked like something you would see in a high profile show reel to me and not something that had been created by me. It was such a satisfying moment, but with that came the annoyance and realisation that smaller shots would be needed to make the piece flow more, little bits that were added in yet consumed a lot of time as I still believed in keeping to the same standard and not dropping throughout my piece, something the 3-D animators did not have to worry about given most downloaded pre made pieces.

The technology I used was simple yet I feel like because of my research and approach I managed to obtain I style that is very me. The main programmes I would use would be Adobe Photo Shop for my actual animation, creating something unique stylistically with the brushes available within the character design. Because of me animating each frame and using these specific brushes, specifically Kyle ultimate hard, each frame would be different patterned thus breathing life into it. I would also use re-occurring colour pallets that were scene specific and character specific, trying to set the atmosphere and mood. The next piece of software I would use to piece together all these animations and visually fix, both colour and add effects would be done in Adobe After effects. I would use this programme rather well as I have built up an understanding of simple effects and how with multiple adjustment layers and such you can create a unique colour aspects to the piece along with creating a more ‘real’ feel through things like camera lens blurs at the correct time to create a sense of depth and scale to something like 2-D which is otherwise flat. I felt that I used both these programmes well and more so Adobe After effects, using both to achieve a look I was happy with.

Overall feeling

My overall feeling towards the project is one of pride as this is the hardest I’ve ever worked on a project the most hours Ive ever spent on a piece, staying up more than twenty four hours, staying from nine till ten, pouring everything I could into this and being the most organised I have been on a piece too. Throughout the project I encountered not many problems but lots of little niggles I had to work out during it. These encounters were mainly with technology and how once something goes wrong, everything seems to go wrong. I encountered this on the morning of the deadline, something that I didn’t expect and completely shot my project, because of this I had to re-edit my final piece in a morning with a few shots missing, this seemed to follow the trend of when something goes wrong it goes really wrong. This in turn did falter my project but I intend to make amendments up until the final show so I can be truly proud of what I have produced. All in all I am extremely pleased with what I have created, I feel my piece has something special something no one else has and the visuals are all me.

If I were to change anything about my final piece, I would simply try to get done sooner and make something more visually creative, something more unique and play it less safe, something more daring apart from that I feel this has been one of my most organized and most time and effort ive put into a project.

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rachelpca-blog · 7 years

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The Future - Final Evaluation

When I did my research into Andy Hughes I gained a lot of inspiration in the way he used a macro lens to do close up photography and this led me to try this in my own work. I was really inspired by the somewhat controversy of his images as some say he ‘glamorises’ litter. Although I can see where people are coming from, I think the bigger picture of how much litter there is on beaches provides a much stronger message. This is something that I hoped to include in my own photography.

For this project, there was inspiration everywhere. I'd see litter everywhere in the streets and want to photograph it if I had my camera on me. I'm really passionate about beaches because I live so close to one. This meant when I was there I was able to see how much damage litter was doing to this beautiful environment

My research influenced the development of my own work because originally I wasn't too interested in macro photography before I researched Andy Hughes. He inspired me to go out and do a shoot using a macro lens for the first time and although I'm not planning on using any of the images for final pieces, I'm really proud of my first attempt using this lens.

I think I could have gone into a lot more detail with how many people I researched. I wish I'd gone into more detail about how other people's work impacted mine and how I went about my project.

My work is based around the brief of the Devon Wildlife Trust. I wanted to present how much litter there was destroying the marine environments by going to beaches and cleaning up what I found whilst photographing.

Since we were given the brief, I had quite a strong idea in my mind about what I wanted to do. Therefore, my ideas didn't change too much. However, through my research into other photographers I began to understand different ways in which I could go about presenting my ideas.

How well did the work you produced communicate the ideas behind your project? I think since the ideas behind my project were quite simple, my way of communicating them were successful. I wish I was able to produce more images so that I could present an even stronger message, but I am happy with the overall outcome.

What English and Maths skills did you use/improve with your project work or photography skills? I used my English skills when I did my work on recognising bias in text. I had to think about the way in which each article was written and different techniques that they used in their writing. I also had to evaluate my images and analyse other photographers and this meant my technical language skills were put to the test. I've always thought my English skills were quite good and have been further improved with this project. In terms of Maths, I don't feel as though there was as much Maths this project as there has been for the last few. However, I still used them when creating a pie chart about marine litter where I also had to work out percentages.

I used a macro lens for the first time this project which was quite interesting. It took quite a while to get used to but I really enjoyed using it and want to purchase one for personal use in the future. For the 4D element of the project, I had to use Adobe Premiere which I had never used before. This was really difficult to get used to but with help from the lecturers and a student in the Creative Media course I was able to get a good understanding of how the program works and how I can use it in future projects to my advantage. We also did some panoramic photography which I hadn't done it quite a while. My first attempt wasn't great but after that I started to get the hang of it and was able to produce some more appealing outcomes.

For this project there weren't many new things that could push myself to do. However, there were a lot of times when it was difficult for me to get the hang of new software that we'd never used before. When I was using Adobe Premiere, there were a lot of times where I just wanted to give up. However, I pushed myself to keep going and was able to produce a really strong 4D outcome.

Through our peer assessment sessions, I was able to understand how people created their outcomes. Some of them required a lot of behind the scenes work that I wouldn't have understood beforehand including popping a balloon full of water. I also learnt from my peers how to use Adobe Premiere and create a good stop motion video.

I had to understand respect and professionalism when taking pictures at the beach because I needed to understand that some people may not want to have their picture taken if they are in the background. I also had to respect my environment and make sure to clean up any litter I found.

I really enjoyed the last peer assessment because I spoke to someone in the class I'd never spoken to before and it was really interesting to see her perspective of the brief and how her ideas compared to mine.

My drive was really important for this project because when I was using Adobe Premiere there were a lot of times that I wanted to give up. However, I was able to push through it and keep myself motivated.

Understand responsibilities as a person and as a student. As a person and a student I understand that I have responsibilities to look after the environment and be respectful. I am aware of my personal voice and freedom of speech and I feel in this project I have been able to voice my opinion on marine pollution quite strongly.

Thanks to this project I have a really strong understanding of why we work with other people. I feel as though if I didn't go to a student in Creative Media for help with the Adobe Premiere aspect of this project I would have really struggled to create a good 4D piece of work.

I had to think a lot about deadlines for this project and I feel compared to other projects I have been able to meet deadlines more efficiently. I also feel as though I have been quite punctual and understand the importance of being in college as much as possible and being on time.

I managed my stress levels by taking a deep breath and trying to stay calm. I didn't take on more than I could handle and tried to not give myself too little time to complete too many things.

Since I care a lot about the marine environment, I put a lot of effort into my work as I really wanted to create a strong final piece. I was really passionate about this project and I feel as though that shows in my amount of research into marine pollution.

I've always taken a lot of care and pride in the presentation of my work. I make sure that my blog remains appealing and clean so that it is easy to navigate and presents my work nicely and effectively.

During photo shoots there was a lot of issues with the weather as it was often raining or really windy. However, I just made sure to keep a stronger hold on my tripod and I tried to use the poor weather to my advantage instead of disadvantage. It also got quite dark during a photo shoot so instead of packing up and going home I decided to create a dark panoramic image which I feel as though came out fairly good.

I did learn more about working in creative industries because the brief we were given was from Devon Wildlife Trust which meant that it would be quite similar to what it would be like if we were working professionally alongside another company. I learnt about how to stick to the brief and produce an outcome that both the client and myself are happy with.

I feel as though the work that I produced does meet the client brief because I created 2D, 3D, and 4D pieces of work which promotes the message of sustainability by showing an audience how much litter there is on the beaches and explaining how it could impact the marine environment. I found the brief fairly easy because it was something I was passionate about and so I found it a lot easier to motivate myself to create a strong outcome.

I really enjoyed getting to understand Adobe Premiere and how I can create stop motion videos. I hope there are more 4D elements in future project so that I can practice it more. I also enjoyed the amount of freedom we had and choice with the two briefs as it made me feel as though the work was more my own.

I am most proud of my stop motion video and my HDR image that I created. These were two things that I had never created before and for first attempts I feel as though they are really strong pieces of work. I am least proud of my macro photography work because I feel as though if I did it again I'd be able to create better outcomes.

I want to work on trying out some more interesting things on Photoshop and maybe create some more surreal pieces. I am quite good with Photoshop so I want to present the skills that I haven’t yet shown.

Any feedback I’ve gotten from people has been fairly positive. I’ve been told to include a bit more research so that I have more things to compare my work to which I understand and am going to try and do next project.

My 4D task was to create a stop-motion piece that worked alongside the brief. I decided to use a rubber duck in a bowl of water with the water level rising to represent how the water levels are rising and it is damaging the habitats of the wildlife. I use a camera to take multiple pictures that stitched them together using Adobe Premiere. I am really impressed with how it turned out because it was my first time using Adobe Premiere and I think I got the hang of it quite quickly. I struggled quite a bit with getting all the images in order because every time I’d put them on the timeline they’d muddle up. However, it took a long time but I eventually was able to put them all in the right order and working properly. There were no particular artists that inspired me but I did take a lot at some stop-motion and time lapse pieces which I thought were really effective. I wish I’d been able to create a time lapse piece as well as I did a lot of research for it. I’m going to see if I’m able to create something like this in the next project.

#thefuture

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thangngo · 7 years

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Five lessons learnt from 17 years of blogging

Thought about starting a blog? The longer you wait, the further you’ll fall behind, personally and professionally.

I started writing online content in 2000 out of necessity. As a newly elected local government councillor, I felt having a blog/website was the most effective way to connect with constituents in the Fairfield Council area. It was a pragmatic decision, and one that has had a profound effect on my personal and professional development.

Back in those days, I used MS Frontpage, a clumsy program to create and maintain a website. Through trial and error, I learnt the basics of building a blog — home page, html, hyperlink were foreign terms that eventually became familiar concepts.

After I retired from council in 2009, I took up food blogging — 1,128 posts later, I started to learn more about the world of publishing online content. Along the way I picked up photography and video skills including digital photo and video editing. I slowly developed a better understanding of writing for online and why it’s important to learn.

I launched into the world of blogging for functional reasons, not realising the endless benefits I’d reap. I’ve been asked to contribute opinion pieces, gained paid writing and speaking gigs, been invited on overseas trips, been engaged as a brand ambassador and become a generally more sought after employee.

The regular blogging routine stimulates and educates. Each week the benefits accumulate like time moving on, even though you don’t notice the hands moving on an analogue clock. My partner is a published author, and he says publishers always encourage authors and aspiring authors to blog.

More and more people are blogging for professional and personal development. If you’re not, you’re falling behind.

Looking back almost two decades of blogging, it’s easy to identify at least five really important lessons I’ve learnt from blogging:

The art of writing online content: online readers are promiscuous. If your copy doesn’t grab them from the first paragraph, if the lead visual isn’t engaging (or if you have no visuals), they’ll click to another blog. I’ve learnt so much about key elements of online publishing; writing an intriguing headline, concise copy, creating evocative visuals and developing an editorial calendar — that’s just the beginning, I’m still learning. And then there’s the technology side, learning blogging software such as blogger, WordPress, Medium etc, setting up domain names like noodlies.com or thangngo.com.

Social media: how do you use social to connect with existing readers and attract new ones? What are the key social media channels, twitter, facebook, instagram, tumblr etc. What are their strengths? Which one is right for you? Should I be on one or all? How to use social media to research content? What are the emerging social media channels?

Blogging can help you build influence: say “social media influencer” and most people screw up their face, they think of shallow, camera hogging, attention seeking guys and gals. The influence I’m talking about is slightly different. Over the years, my blog has played a role in bringing the issues I’m passionate about to the forefront. When I started, ethnic ma-and-pa restaurants in the west were ignored by other bloggers and food critics. As my blog grew in popularity, it helped to showcase delicious and affordable diverse food and culture. It’s allowed me to go on national TV and write for food magazines about pork rolls and write about pho for leading print publications. Building your blog will also build your influence on your expert topic.

Blogging builds your brand: smart business people often “google” you before meeting you for the first time, HR people google prospective employees. Your blog and social media posts help you to control your image and project a positive impression of you before they even meet you. Or putting it another way, a blog is your business card. People’s first impression of you could very well be via your blog content. When an employer is choosing between two highly qualified candidates, the one with a blog, and is smart and active on social media is usually the one hired.

Blogging makes you a better employee: “Do not abdicate your social media to “experts” who have a hundred followers, tweet once a month, and charge you more than the GNP of a small nation for their services. A good rule of thumb is never to take the advice of someone who has fewer followers than you” says Guy Kawasaki. The lessons I’ve learnt about online content and social media over the years have been amazingly useful in my ‘day time’ work at a marketing agency. And yes, it’s helped me to spot bullsh*t when it comes to social media or digital strategy.

Almost two decades of blogging have been invaluable in my personal and professional development. I think of it as doing a Masters degree by course work in my spare time. I reckon it’s given me an unfair professional advantage.

If you’re not blogging, you’re falling behind.

Want to learn blogging?

Save yourself months of trial and error and learn the basics of blogging. My Blogging your Interest: Share your Passion with the World course at WEA Sydney will cover everything you need to know to start your own blog on any topic:

Find your niche: A framework to help you to: select your blogging topic if you are agonising over a few potential areas, or hone in on an untapped specialty in your area of interest. Learn how to build your point of difference

Understand your style: Establish your writing style and tone. Understand the basics of developing and projecting your writing ‘voice’

Words and pictures: Visual tools to complement your words, the pros and cons of using photos and videos

Blog platforms: Select the right blogging platform for your style and blog topic

Setting up a blog: Basic structure of a blog, selecting blog sections and categories, pros and cons of hosted vs self-hosting, selecting your blog name

Content: Learn the basics of developing a content strategy, tips to stay motivated and where to find inspiration

Promotion: How to use free tools including social media to promote your blog

Analytics: How to track the growth in your readers. Understand basic analytics terms such as UBs, page views and bounce rate

Tools: An inventory of equipment and tools you’ll need for your blogging style. You’ll need a PC or laptop for a blog, but do you need a smartphone, camera, photo or video editing software?

If you have any questions at all, get in touch, I’d love to help if I can.

#blogging #food blogging #social media #thang ngo

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millyonmarz · 4 years

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Nick Church full response

Firstly, how long have you been in the photography industry? I started quite late in life. I got my first camera in 2015, and it went from there. I sold my first photographic prints early in 2015 and that funded some better equipment. My first wedding was late in 2015. I have always had an interest and hobby in art, using pen and inks, so this meant that I already had compositional skills about what makes an appealing image. Also, with a technical and physics background I knew how optics work, how light works and so learning a camera and all the software I needed was quite easy for me. This is not necessary at all as anyone can pick these things up, but it did mean I ramped up very quickly.

How did you transition from a career managing software companies to one specialising in photography? This was tough. If you are going to make it a new career (rather than a sideline) then you need to either 1) have enough capital to fund you while you grow your business or 2) try to grow it in parallel to your current job. I took option 2 as with a young family, large mortgage and other commitments, I could not take the risk of leaving a well-paid job unless I knew it was viable. The techniques and strategy I used to grow my photography business quickly and successfully are now taught to others through my Photography Workshops.

How has your previous career managing companies in the software industry benefitted your practise as a photographer? I think a photographer and a photography business should be the same thing. Many creatives are not as strong on the business side of things, but it’s so important if you want to make a successful career. Remember, you do not need to do this yourself, if its really not your thing, get someone else to do that bit. Do what you do best, outsource the rest. My previous career means that I am able to make strategic decisions around what areas I want to grown to meet market demand. I have systems in place to ensure I can adapt quickly to new opportunities and this too is from my previous career and it’s called being Agile. Agile is a term well used in the software development industry, but has yet to make it in photography. But it’s what I do and means I have a competitive advantage over companies that may not even detect new opportunities, yet alone have the mindset to be able to adapt to take advantage.

How have your artistic talents; specifically architecture and drawing, impacted the way in which you shoot your images? As mentioned above, it meant I was quick to ramp up. With a civil engineering background (actually what I studied at university) I like to use perpective to draw the viewer into the shot. This is especially important with architecture where sometimes you want an immersive experience so that the viewer can really appreciatre the space and how it has been designed and produced within the wider environmental context.

What lead you to decide to specialise in wedding photography specifically? Fundamentally it was financial. 80% of money spent on photography outside of commercial is on weddings. It’s the one genre that most people will use at some point in their lives, and so it was the easiest to get traction in. It is also the genre where lack of photography skills are the least barrier. That sounds bad, I know. But what I mean is that yes to be regarded as among the best you need to be exceptional. But for many couples, especially those on a lower budget or those without appreciation of what photography should look like there is an opportunity to start getting work. Weddings especially need more than photography skills, it’s inter-personal skills, blending in, being professional and pleasant on the day, managing crowds well etc etc. Someone that can do all this really well, but have less skill in photography may still do really well. Portrait photography is the opposite, as all that is important is the portrait. If it looks crap, regardless of how chatty you were, you are unlikely to do well

How much creative control do you have when working to create something specifically catered for individuals? I retain creative control over almost everything. Clients book me because they want what they have seen me do with other weddings, and so most realise the way to get that is to just let me drive things. Sometimes couples have a ‘shot’ in mind that they want or an idea that they would like to expore. This can go one of two ways, it can be either horribly cheesy or awkward in which case I wish I’d been firmer and not done it, or it can take me out of my comfort zone and I’m really pleased we took the ideas on.

Practical elements

What are the processes involved with planning a wedding shoot and to which extent do you involve the client in this practical planning prior to the event? I have a consultation meeting with my clients 2-3 months before the wedding. This is when they will mention any speciflc shots that they want to have and let me know what formal group shots they would like. I will usually then take any ideas they have had and spend an hour or two thinking about how to make this wedding different and create something stunning. Experience of the venue, perhaps a visit, or at least a google-stalk is useful in put to this.

Your use of lighting in a multitude of different venues and locations is really impressive, how do you cope with ever-changing, unpredictable weather conditions and available lighting? Weddings are all about doing ‘your best in all circumstances’. Being good at adapting to conditions not only makes for better shots for your clients, but makes for a much more relaxing shoot. There are wedding photographers that never get over the ‘being sick in the morning’ nerves. This is always caused by the unknowns ahead of them and whether or not they will be able to adapt. In particule if in winter, will it be too dark so that they need to use flash. If you are confident using flash then this is no problem. The light can always be used to your advantage. If there is not much light, then finding pockets of it can create really atmospheric shots, shots much better than you will get with streaming sunshine in August. For those weddings the problem is finding enough shade, so we head into tree cover and look for some shady shafts of light. Always a winner. I am really keen on the Chiaroscuro style of lighting, as used by Rembrandt and co. I think it gives great character to the image and this increasingly defines my style.

Wedding photography often means working with a multitude of different characters with different requirements and specific tastes; what personable skills have you learnt as a result of this? I’ve always been fairly good at adapting to groups of people and fitting in. After a while you get a good sense of who will happily be teased a bit, who you need to be super polite to, who is paying your fee etc etc. This is probably one of the most important bits of the job as no one ever recommends a photographer on their work alone, it’s usually because they were really friendly and nice.

I feel that there must be an enormous amount of pressure on a wedding photographer in having the responsibility to successfully capture such an important day, how do you manage these expectations? Its all about confidence. You can increase your confidence by being 100% trusting of your kit. Dual card slots, dual cameras and extra lenses. You want to make sure that there is no event that you could not cope with (within reason). The other thing is that when your camera becomes an extension of you, then a strange calm comes over you as you know that you will intuitively find the controls you need to get the shot you have in your mind.

The other thing to remember is that most shots you can take twice, even a first kiss in a church you can take again if you cock it up. At a push, confetti can be done again. There are a few bits that can’t so that’s why you over shoot heavily to make sure you get something. Also, the clients do not know what shots you have in your camera (which may not be useable) and they do not know what you had in your mind. Most shots they wlll love, even if its not what you really wanted to deliver. Take any lessons learned to the next gig.

do you hire a retoucher/editor for post-processing? If so, how much creative control do you have over the final result? Yes, since summer last year I started using an editor. It saves me so much time that I wish I had done it before. Initially you provide your lightroom presets and so the tones are correct, and for the first few shoots you give a bit of feedback so they can re-work things. But after a while a good editor will simply start sending galleriesr that look like yours. And in any case, any differences are very small, your clients will never notice. We are our biggest critics. Outsourcing editing is a good example of working out where your efforts are best placed. I suddenly realised one day that I was spending 20 hours on an edit (3 days) and actually, I could outsource it, the client would never know the difference and I could spend all that time working more interesting and valuable things. For me, this was how I grew Nick Church Photography Education to train other photographers.

Is there a specific balance between candid/staged photographs you aim to achieve at every wedding or does it depend on the client? Some clients are more relaxed than others, and some actually request that most shots are documentary style. I do a combination of posed/natural shots. So I put the couple in some nice light and let them interact naturally so that the connections between them come out. Then I get back and take the shot so that I’m not interfering with those emotions at all. This makes photos feel real.

I noticed Nick Church photography offers both photographs and film packages, how do you allocate your time both shooting film and images? That’s easy, my Son who studies film at Ravensbourne Uni in London shoots my wedding films. We have a similar style and so the two compliment each other well. I do not market the wedding films, rather just offer them as an add-on. The reason for this is that I worry that clients might think that the more services I can offer the less expertise I’ll bring to both. Ie. The jack of all trades, master of none principle. I might change this view in the future, but I want to be known as a photographer first and foremost.

Which camera/lenses/flashes do you use?

I use Sony cameras, 2 x A7Riii. I have a range of lenses. For most the day I have a Sony GM 70-200 f/2.8 on one camera and a Sigma ART 35mm f/1.4 on the other. Later on I might swap to my Zeiss 85mm f1.8 when light starts to fade, or I might move to a wide 18mm for dancefloor shots. Depends on how I want to convey the atmosphere. Like many wedding photographers I use Godox v860ii flashes. These are amazing things that allow you to trigger any of the others from the flash using a radio link. It’s a really versatile way to get the lighting you need on a wedding day when setup times are short.

How many meetings with the clients occur prior to the actual shoot day? Usually just the one. Sometimes two, sometimes none. But usually one. Some couples want to meet before they book which is fine if it’s not too far away, or if they are happy to come to my studio. I’m thankfully past the point of driving all over the place to chase bookings and then have then choose someone else.

What are three essential parts of your photography kit you are never without whilst shooting? 70-200mm lens. Don’t really care about the camera system/brand as long as I can have this I also always have a spare battery, SD card and a cleaning cloth. With those things I can pretty much shoot a whole wedding if I had to. If I travel on a plane, these are the things I keep in my hand luggage for that reason!

How much do you charge for a deposit vs the full price to hire you for a day? I always specify it as a booking fee rather than a deposit. There is a legal advantage to this, as a deposit can be requested back if it goes to court. A booking fee though is to pay for your time and systems to take the booking so easier to argue that they cannot have it back if they ever cancel. I charge a 20% booking fee in almost all cases. It’s high enough that they won’t want to lose it (by cancelling or going with someone else), but low enough that it’s not too much of a barrier to booking me.

Please tell me a valuable mistake you made when you first started shooting weddings, how have you learnt from this? I think my mistake was to not have the systems in place that I needed. This is always a problem, because when you are starting out a google spreadsheet and a calendar are enough. But then during a conference call with my ‘day job’, I had a sms from a client saying simply ‘Hi Nick, we’re at the venue, are you on your way?’. I went pale, felt sick and thought I might have a heart attack as it sounded like something had slipped between the cracks and I’d forgotten a wedding. I looked up the person’s name, found the email,s and discovered that I had actually just missed the wedding meeting at the venue. Still bad, but not something I’ll get sued over.

This made me immediately invest in a studio management system. This is a package that manager contacts, shoots, invoices, contracts and diary. It is now my second brain. I should have had one from the start as if you are organised you come across as professional.

do you have liability insurance? Yes, always, and make sure my clients know it.

how do you manage your pay x time if the event lasts longer than expected? With weddings, referrals are a big part of your marketing strategy. So it’s tough because if a wedding runs over and you need to stay longer, you don’t want your last face-to-face interaction to be you saying you are leaving or they need to pay more. To cope wth this I often ask people during the consultation meeting what should happen in this event. Then I stay longer but retain the option to invoice later for the extra hours. To be honest, the reason I stay later is usually to capture some fireworks and so who is going to complain too much about that, so I often do not bother invoicing. Again, it would mean that our last interaction would be ‘thanks for letting me see the fireworks and have some more food, here is an invoice for my time… “

do you charge a travel fee and what does that cover? As above, I put in my contract that I may charge for travel at 45p per mile. If it’s under 50 miles I tend not to bother, but if it’s in Cornwall, I would be out of pocket otherwise. But it’s case-by-case. IF I think saying that travel will be free will get me the booking, then I’ll offer it.

What is provided as part of Nick Church photography’s service? How many pictures will be taken and how many does the client get to choose for an album? I usually will take around 4000 images on a wedding day. After culling (choosing the images to deliver) this ends up with the client getting between 500-700. If they have ordered an albm, they can choose 40 initially. This is set steatefically to sound like plenty, but not enough in practice, so they often need to buy extra pages.

- how many are then edited and sent as final images?

do you offer your clients digital negatives or unlimited downloads? I will never send a raw image out, and this is the general case for all photographers. I have found that any clients asking for raws do not understand what they actually want. They are usually talking about very high quality formats, so TIF is an option as this is raw-like in quality, but still contains the edit.

I tell my clients that they are unable to share the full-resolution digital images. Naturally, there is no way to administer this but I think most adhere. The reason for this is that I have an online store which they CAN share to family and friends, and I get a small revenue from prints that way. This revenue would be zero if people could get free images.

How many team members are present at a wedding shoot? Often it’s just me, but sometimes I will have an assistant. The assistant could be someone that is keen to learn, someone that I am training to shoot weddings on their own (for Nick Church Photography). Sometimes there is a second shooter and a film-maker also.

How do you manage finances considering you are freelance? Al invoicing is managed from my Studio Management System. This means that payment of a booking fee will send a receipt and confirm the shoot, blocking my time out on in the calendar etc. In terms of accounts I used to do this myself, and submit my returns to HMRC, but it took me about 7 days total effort every time. I have since had to register for VAT which means returns every quarter so I now have an accountant and use Quickbooks to manage everything. Yes, there is expense attached to it, but to be honest, it’s much cheaper than 7 days of my time

Branding/team

How many people work for your company and are a part of Nick Church Photography? I have no direct employees, but have 6 sub-contractors that I employ as needed for shoots, video, editing etc. Nick Church Photography has become a collective of photographers that I aim to give the same experience as if I was shooting myself. This is a really useful model.

How did you navigate branding yourself in such an oversaturated industry where there is a lot of competition? You have to offer something different. For creative industries that means just don’t be the same as everyone else. The more style you have in your images that defines you the better as people will see it, want it, and pay more for it. If everyone is the same the ONLY thing you can compete on is price.

What would you say is Nick Church Photography’s USP? I am passionate about delivering images that take people’s breath away – something for them to put on the wall, not in the back of a cupboard. I also want to do this with a service level that is above the normal

How have your features in magazines such as ‘your Bristol and Somerset wedding’ and a multitude of podcasts benefited your company in terms of exposure to a greater variety of clients? I would say that your example is one that has NOT been very useful. I don’t think brides shot for wedding suppliers by magazines these days, so it is something that I will not be too bothered chasing in future. However, podcasts and professional photography magazines are a different story. These give you a known name in the industry. It’s not something that is directly marketable to photography clients, but it is something I am now using for my workshops. Many of my attendees of classes first heard me on a podcast.

I have also created a Facebook Group called Nick Church Photography Collective. This is a space for supportive, collaborative photographers to learn, talk and share work together and it’s a really good place to hang out. You are welcome to join.

How have you insured that the branding of Nick Church Photography (specifically your website) branding has represented your company? My branding is aimed to be elegant, and identifiable but straightforward. I think that represents me as a person too. Logo etc is very simple, partly this is because it means it is less likely to date, but also without a branding expert I had to do it myself! 😊

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wulfprints · 5 years

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PHOT201 Evaluation

The Brief

I found Weird & Wonderful to be an interesting and stimulating brief. I loved its open-endedness which allowed me to write my own story, rather than have one chosen for me. I also enjoyed particularly its links with cinematography, which is one of my biggest interests alongside photography. I find that cinema has a unique ability to convey emotion, one that even photography does not often have.

My Response

During the first month or so of this brief, I had it set in my mind that I would create a project titled Polaris. While Polaris still sits in my mind, it did not become my response to this brief for one main reason, it would have been shot mainly in the studio on a digital camera. This began to bore me, and became a limiting factor to my creativity. The inherently neutral and ‘perfect’ nature of digital media can become a creative prison personally.

The solution came unexpectedly in the form of a visit to Lacock Abbey where, of my own accord and not intending to start a new project, I shot a single roll of medium format black-and-white film. This pulled me out of a period of creative block and inspired me to start creating again. After this shoot, I decided to start a new project, a heavy undertaking considering how much time I had already spent on Polaris. This new project would become Hallucinations, and would be shot purely on film and developed by me.

What I Enjoyed

What I enjoyed most about this new direction was how personal it felt. Rather than a computer chip measuring a sensor’s output and then writing that data on to an SD card, I was exposing light to a photo-sensitive film, and then developing it with my own two hands. I had taken the place of the sensor, and this made the process so much more interesting. I felt like I had an attachment to the film.

Not only this, but there was also a sense of danger in that I could very easily fail. One small mistake and an entire roll of images could be destroyed. An entire roll that could not be retrieved. This danger allowed me to think more about each image, and also slow myself down and take more care. Digital media; with all its perfection, its ease of use, and its safety; can encourage a particular nonchalance, which I feel there should be no place for in art.

Experimentation & New Experiences

I knew how to process and scan film to an amateur degree before embarking on this project, but I feel I have really come to grips with it and learnt lots of lessons during it.

For instance, my development of film used to be quite rushed and casual, I made mistakes here and there and it didn’t matter much to me. During this project I have slowed down and taken more time with my development, I have researched the best methods of development, the worst mistakes to make, and I have taken much more physical care with the film. I never go near my film without something covering my hands (e.g. cotton gloves), and I have found that most steps of processing will be of higher quality if you set aside twice the amount of time you think you’ll need.

In addition, before this project I would scan my film on an Epson V750/V850, and I was never very happy with it. It always looked quite dull to me, and was never sharp enough. I knew that I would have to remedy this to undertake Hallucinations, and so I learned how to use the Hasselblad Flextight X1 which we have a few of at PCA. This scanner costs more than a family car and has the quality to back its price up. Now when I scan film, it looks great. The tones are deep and the sharpness is unrivalled. I don’t even scan on the highest resolution and I am still astounded by the sharpness of this scanner.

Finally, I’ve experimented with film much more than I ever have before. For instance, I’ve pushed and pulled HP5+ (almost) to its limits, I’ve used films I’ve never used before (Delta, TMax 3200P), and I’ve used kit I’ve never used before (Mamiya 7II 135 converter). This experimentation is the best bit of photography to me.

In the future I would especially like to develop my use of high-sensitivity films. For instance, I have used Kodak TMax 3200P, and I was very impressed with it, but I would like to compare it to Ilford’s Delta 3200. I would also like to test Ilford’s HP5+ at 3200, which is purportedly possible.

Also, I would like to try out some new cameras. I would like to try using a large format camera, and I would also like to have another go at using the Tomiyama panoramic medium format camera (6x17” negatives are too good to pass up).

Limitations / Problems

My first limitation came in the form of a scanner. I had started this project using an Epson V750/V850 flatbed scanner, which just wasn’t up to the task. As discussed previously, I had to learn to use the larger and more expensive scanners in our digital darkroom to complete this project. The scanners themselves are excellent, and worth every penny. Unfortunately, the software that comes with the scanners, of which there is no alternative, is absolutely atrocious. The software has clearly not been updated in at least a decade, and there is effectively no support for it anymore. The ‘3F’ file format, which is supposed to be akin to a raw file from a camera, is unopenable in any other program, and therefore was useless to me. I spent about a dozen days solid in the digital darkroom, from 9AM until as late as 9PM, just getting the levels on the scans as good as I could get them. For some images this seemed an impossible task, and could take up to half a day just to get a single successful final image. In two separate instances I spent over a day scanning images, only to find that every bit of work was useless. This was, without a doubt, the worst aspect of this project, and totally mentally drained me.

I feel that this aspect of the project was completely inefficient, and wasted a huge amount of my time. If I could streamline this process, I would have a much higher quality end product, including more detailed write-ups of the process. Unfortunately so much time was spent sat in a dark room scanning film, that I feel other aspects of my project are not as good as they could/should be.

A second limitation was the occasional attitudes that I received from members of staff of the National Trust. On one or two occasions I was asked (politely, to be fair) to stop taking photographs. I was told that it is fine to take pictures with phones but, when using more ‘professional kit’, it is not allowed. This is a very strange ethos in my opinion, and I feel that, if anything, the National Trust should have been thanking me for basing a project purely on them. After all, on the rare off-chance that my photobook became widely produced, it would be excellent publicity for them.

In addition, the National Trust have a habit of putting massive green stickers and signs all over their properties which detract from their immersion. I understand that they probably have legislations that they have to adhere to, but it makes it incredibly difficult to undertake a project based on timelessness and immersion when every corner of the buildings have stickers on them, which clearly place the image in the modern day.

Thirdly, the amount of people in these properties made it difficult to take timeless pictures. After all, a nuclear family walking around in jeans and t-shirts with DSLRs and iPhones doesn’t exactly scream 19th century. This is hardly anyone’s fault, of course more people than just myself want to view the properties, and that is totally fair. In a perfect world, I could visit a property during a time when it is closed to the public.

The good old English rain. This puts a massive damper on working with slow exposure times and tripods, especially when working with expensive kit that doesn’t belong to me. I’ve been known in the past to walk in to the sea with my DSLRs, but this is because I know that if I drop it I only have myself to blame. If I used a Mamiya 7II (potentially £2500) which belonged to the college in the rain, and it broke, I’d be up shit creek without a paddle. As a result, I had to push film quite far in some instances to avoid using a tripod. This subconscious pressure also caused me to rush at times, which deteriorated the quality of my final images. In the future I must always remember to slow down and take it easy. In addition, it may be prudent to consider a setup to allow me to confidently use cameras in the wet without having to worry about damaging them.

Lastly, I do think that there is some fluff/hair/dust on my final images. This was unavoidable with the kit that I had access to. I had to choose between using cotton gloves which shed fluff, or not using any gloves and getting fingerprints/oil on my negatives. I chose the former, believing that an air blower would remove most, if not all, of the fluff. Unfortunately this was misguided. In the future, I need to find a better solution. Perhaps gloves made from some other material would shed less.

Conclusions

In conclusion I did enjoy 201.I have felt tied down in previous years both at school, sixth form, and occasionally during my first year of university, but I feel that this brief gave me the total freedom that I have always craved, and this allowed me to thrive creatively, knowing that anything I created was almost purely a result of my own decisions.

I think that a photobook is a great way to deliver images, and I will keep hold of mine for a long time.

I think that I was working against the odds more often than not during this brief due to changing paths midway through and wrestling with decades old software, but I’m actually quite proud of what I’ve created. I’m proud that I’ve undertaken a project using almost entirely analog processes, given that just ~18 months ago I had never shot film, let alone processed or scanned it. I feel that my understanding of analog photography has snowballed over the last two months, and I am now a lot more confident using these processes.

This project has taught me to love analog processes, and I shall be using them even more in the future. For instance, I have plans to start creating traditional prints in the darkroom, using enlargers and photo-paper. I would also like to start using our specialist darkroom to experiment with specialist processes such as cyanotypes, liquid lights, and anything else the college (and health and safety guidelines) will allow me to.

#PHOT201

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mrdanielblack · 6 years

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Squirrels

The squirrels in your business go about their business and can cause huge disruption and even stop growth.

Topic – Why successful ideas fail in business

Mentor – Jacob Aldridge – Co-Founder of Real REACH

Distractions

Focus on implementation

Is there a time to move fast and break things?

Ideas are worthless – execution is priceless

Marketing Monday – want more publicity for you or your properties. A great tip today.

Transcript:

Kevin Turner: Good morning and welcome. Nice to be back with you again for another week. I’m Kevin Turner. And today’s show produced in association with PropertyTree from Rockend, Printforce, LockedOn and View. Take us with you on your morning walk or listen to us on the way to work. You’ll find us at Facebook and Twitter as realestateuncut. PropertyTree, of course, is the secure, Cloud-based property management software designed by Rockend which will save you time and take the stress out of your working day.

Advertisement: Your signs say everything about you and your business. Speak to Printforce about illuminated signboards, directional boards and Open Home Time Strips. Don’t take short cuts with your marketing. Talk to Printforce. Helping market you.

Kevin Turner: Well, today for our marketing tip Carolyn Boyd joins me, a property expert from domain.com.au. Good morning, Carolyn.

Carolyn Boyd: Good morning, Kevin.

Kevin Turner: I know one of your pet hates is photographs. But you say that the photograph can actually get a property into the media more?

Carolyn Boyd: It can. Now, as a journalist I’m often looking for houses to run in the newspaper and online for free. And I look up all these real estate ads, and many of the photographs I see just are not suitable. They’re not usable.

Kevin Turner: Yeah. Well, what are some of the problems? Give us some tips, things we should look out for.

Carolyn Boyd: Well, often they’re too dark. You can’t really see the house. They might have ugly things in them like shampoo bottles, rubbish bins, hoses, pool cleaning pipes, that sort of thing. Or they might even just be a shot of the toilet rather than of the whole bathroom.

Kevin Turner: Yeah. And even sometimes the toilet with the lid up is a no-no.

Carolyn Boyd: That’s right. You often get the feeling that no-one has bothered to even tidy up or sort of declutter before they’ve taken the picture.

Kevin Turner: Yeah. I’ve actually watched professional photographers and they’ll just spend so much time just setting up the photograph and making sure that everything’s right. And then they look back into it to see what they’re actually photographing, not just the overall view.

Carolyn Boyd: Mm. And, look, even if you’re not using a professional, if your vendor won’t pay for a professional, I think that you could just explain to them the importance of you, yourself, even decluttering before you take the photo. Move all those bits and bods out of the shot. Turn the light on, open the curtain.

Kevin Turner: I know too I’ve Googled photographic courses. There are so many of them available all around Australia. No matter which capital city or even regional area you’re in, you’ll find something that you can go to and learn some of these tricks.

Carolyn Boyd: Yes. And I know that when you do the real estate training, you don’t necessarily do the photography. It’s more about the legals. But I think it’s very important. If you don’t attend a course, at least go to the local library or the bookshop, get a couple of books and have a read through. And that might give you some ideas as well.

Kevin Turner: And what you said at the start there, Carolyn, you’re always looking for properties to feature?

Carolyn Boyd: I am, always. Because often I might write a story about real estate, then I want to show a couple of examples of those types of properties for sale. And, unfortunately, I look at even very expensive, you know, multi-million dollar properties and they’re still not photographed in an appropriate way to get them into the newspaper.

Kevin Turner: A great tip for you this morning from Carolyn Boyd, a property expert from domain.com.au. Thanks for your time, Carolyn.

Carolyn Boyd: Thanks very much, Kevin.

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Pre-recorded: More thoughts now from this week’s mentor.

Kevin Turner: Well, over the last few months we’ve been producing a programme called If I Had My Time Again, where we’ve spoken to many wonderful leaders in our industry. And they’ve told us the lessons they’ve learnt since they started their business. It’s all part of a programme called Real Reach. And I’ll tell you more about that. But one of the co-founders of that, and also from businessDEPOT, is my guest this week. Jacob Aldridge. Jacob, thanks again for your time.

Jacob Aldridge: Always a pleasure, Kevin. Great to talk with you.

Kevin Turner: Now, Real Reach is all about helping you set up, run a very successful business. If that’s what you want to do, then you’re going to find all the answers inside Real Reach. And we’ll tell you more about that in the weeks and months ahead. But part of setting up and running a good business, Jacob, is really understanding what can go wrong. So that’s really what we’re talking about this week, is why successful ideas fail in business. And I understand this is also a bit of a preview about what’s inside Real Reach?

Jacob Aldridge: Yes, this is one of the programmes we’ve got inside Real Reach ready for when it launches. So we’ve identified 12 key reasons why even the most successful businesses fail to implement their great ideas. And therefore what the principals that are listening can do a little bit differently to be the exception to that rule.

And so I’m really excited to share today and in our discussions this week some of what I see as the top five reasons why, you know, business owners out there have a great idea, they take it to the team and it never goes anywhere. Which can be very demoralising.

Kevin Turner: Yeah, and we deal a lot with that inside Real Reach. We’ll tell you more about that but this will give you a bit of an idea. What’s the first one we’re going to cover, why successful ideas fail in business, Jacob?

Jacob Aldridge: Well, I call this one Squirrels, which is named after the movie Up, which you may have seen where you’ve got a lot of characters that are very, very intent and very, very serious. But you run a squirrel past them and they all get very, very distracted. I’ve also heard it called Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. And it’s something that a lot of business owners like you and I are experienced at. We’re the sort of people that love a great idea. We love latching onto something that’s bright and shiny and new.

But it can be quite a distraction. And when you’re trying to implement a great idea in your business, getting distracted by the next idea, or the next squirrel that comes running past, is only going to mean you never actually properly implement anything.

Kevin Turner: Is that why we see a lot of things started but not finished, is because we think, “Oh, well, that didn’t happen quickly enough. I’ll go and find the next bright, shiny toy?”

Jacob Aldridge: Absolutely. It’s the nature of entrepreneurs to move fast and break things. And, unfortunately, with a lot of strategies, plans in business, we do need to take the time to actually properly plan them out. And if we don’t take that time, then we jump from an inspiration right straight into implementation without actually taking the time to plan it out.

And then the implementation doesn’t really work because we haven’t got a plan and we haven’t been able to hand that over to our team. We haven’t been able to learn everything that we need to learn about it ourselves. So it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work immediately. And that just makes it all the more attractive to go on to the next thing, the next thing you hear about at a breakfast or the next idea you pick up at a conference.

Kevin Turner: Jacob, is there a time for you to move fast and break things?

Jacob Aldridge: Oh, absolutely. And I think especially in the early stages of business there are so many things that can go wrong in a business. You don’t want to get bogged down by trying to be too perfect all of the time. But if you’ve got an idea that you know the business needs, and deep down, most principals, we do have that understanding intuitively of the key things that our business needs in order to be successful.

And so it’s giving ourselves permission to slow down on those important elements to actually plan it out, to go, “Well, I need to do these 10 things instead of just the first two things.” Or I need to plan to roll out a Facebook page is a great example of something. You’d kind of listen to a podcast and they’d say you need a Facebook page. And so you launch it, you hand it over to the receptionist that day and you never think about it again. Well, no, you need to plan out exactly how you’re going to maintain that for the long term so that you actually get the benefit from that great idea.

Kevin Turner: Okay. I suppose we’re coming up to a difficult time too, ’cause we’re headed towards AREC, which is I guess the time when the squirrels will come out when you come away with a whole heap of great ideas, many of which will probably never, ever get implemented.

Jacob Aldridge: It’s a great saying that we’ve been bandying about at Real Reach, that ideas are worthless and execution is priceless. And, you know, ideas are great. You can get a million of them for a dollar. And AREC is one of the great conferences that we have in the real estate industry every year.

I’m not saying don’t capture those ideas, don’t write them down, don’t discuss them. It’s just you’re not going to be able to successfully implement all of those ideas at once. So work out the one, two or three that are going to have the biggest impact and give them the time that they deserve. Because once they’re up and running, you’re going to be larger, more revenue, more profit, and you’re going to have more energy to put into the next idea and properly executing that.

Kevin Turner: Well said, Jacob Aldridge, my guest this week. We talked about squirrels today. We’ll be back with another one of the reasons why successful ideas fail in business.

Jet Xavier: The great civil rights activist Rosa Parks said, “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” Be certain about what it is you need to do to create success in your life and business. I’m Jet Xavier. Have a great day.

Kevin Turner: Thanks, Jet. That’s it for today. Thanks for your company. I look forward to catching up again tomorrow morning.

from Real Estate Uncut https://ift.tt/2jgB5Zg

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