I've been meaning to get off my backside & embrace the blogging phenomenon for a while now... I don't know who may end up reading this, if anyone, but here goes anyway. If nothing else, I hope this will be another creative stimulus for me, and maybe, just maybe, help and inspire someone else to do something they have been procrastinating about.
Introductions & some background. My name is Simon Fleming. I love photography ,always have & always will (I hope). Upon completing high school a while back I was unsure of what direction to go, as I'm sure was the case for many of us. Hmmm lets see, a helicopter pilot? A veterinarian? A sporting hero? Join the army and see the world...? Through my high school years I had worked part time at a camera store in the city which had help fuel my continuing interest in photography, and more importantly at the time paid for things a teenager needs. With that experience in tow, I thought while I figured out what to do I would apply for a job in a photographic processing lab - which I got on the basis that I knew how to print and operate the in store mini-lab (fully manual stuff in those days involving a thing known as 'film'). I had no idea how to operate the equipment but of I course I didn't tell them that. I thought to myself "how hard can it be? I'll figure it out as I go" - rapid learning curve followed immediately. A few years later I was offered a job working in a pro-lab where I stayed for another 4 years until it unfortunately had to close. I had a great boss & great work mates and learned a hell of a lot there - both from the photographers side of the fence and from the lab's side. I also spent a lot of time working in a darkroom there which I am really thankful to have been able to have experienced - having worked with a lot of these 'old-school' techniques and technologies really makes you appreciate Photoshop and the gear we have today from an industry point of view. Next on my destination list was the Hub Photo Shop, which I am still at today. About 5 years ago I had the scary decision to make of find another job as the store will be closing at the end of it's current lease or become a business owner... I am currently the co-owner of the Hub Photo Shop. About 6 months ago I also registered another business - Tall Grass Photography - which has been another one of the many things on my list of 'things I should be giving a go'. I'll leave the story behind that and more about my photography for another blog entry.
Well if you have read this far I sincerely thank you. I hope I haven't dribbled on too much. I now have an even bigger respect for those of you who are regularly blogging - I didn't realise how hard it would be to put into words my inner thoughts to be potentially read by people I don't know and haven't met.
I'm not sure how regular this will be yet but I certainly intend to put in a decent effort, so we'll see what happens.
Until my next post, thank you again.
Simon
