How’s work?
Not great. Sport doesn’t exist anymore so…..
Will you get any help from the government?
Erm, no. Fell through the cracks there - not being either a financial genius or a pandemic Nostradamus and all.
So what now?
Write a blog? They were big in the 90s, due a comeback I’d say, once we’ve listened to all the podcasts.
- My Zoom chat with everybody.
Quickly, and for the record, the above picture was not my attempt to convey my inner “state of the world” turmoil. It was in fact a shot I took while testing out a new portrait setup and I only had myself on hand to “portrait”. I hate photos of myself so that’s what this photo is; Man hating his picture taken. But if the shoe fits……
I’ve never written a blog before. For much the same reason that I post so infrequently on social media. It’s the “seriously, who gives a shit?” reasoning. However we now live in strange times. So if it's terrible I can resort to the “well I was locked up for a few months and lost my mind” defence.
In this post I’m not going to complain about how the industry has collapsed or the fact that I have no work or any money coming in. Or the fact that I’ve still got tax bills to pay (and you thought I didn’t pay tax didn’t you!). No. No complaints here. I’ve got an exasperated pregnant girlfriend for that - our unborn child has been heard to sigh from within the womb, sarcastically sighing. Little (perceptive) shit.
I believe the standard approach when blogging is to provide knowledge and insight that is of value. Let it be known now that I will not being that. I am not a career advisor or a mental health expert. My professional life is about asking questions, not giving answers. So, just so you know, you won’t find any answers here.
So my first post is about a quarantine quandary; time management.
A hyphenate. This (pretentious) term is used to describe somebody who can do many things. This is me. A bit of this and bit of that. I enjoy them all and I want to do them all and why won’t you let me do them all!!. This is immensely frustrating during a time of enforced downtime. What to be getting on with, and for how long, and to what end?!
What and when. What will the industry look like when this is done? And when will that be?
Most of the work I do is very goal orientated. We’re on air in ten seconds, you have three hours to turn around this shoot, we have six minutes with Lewis Hamilton….including setup. It’s amazing how creative you can be when your nuts are in a vice. There are those who need space and time - I need deadlines and a caffeine fuelled heart rate of 160bpm. To finish anything I need a deadline. It’s done because the time is done. Right now? No deadline.
What are you up to? Working on my showreel. Can I see it? Maybe next week, working on my Photoshop skills right now. What have you learnt? Well I’ll get to that after I try these new timelapse techniques. Great, any good ones? I think so but I’m a bit busy with a new factual entertainment idea I have. Can I hear it? No, but I may mention it in my blog…..
I miss the deadlines. I miss the pressure of time. Squeezing it for all it’s worth. I miss done being better than perfect. Because when you’re at home working on a project you’re always working towards perfect and you’re never done.
But this is done and it’s far from perfect. So that’s a start.