I have no idea how to use cameras or lighting.  I never formally studied photography.  I studied graphic design, so I’m very makeshift with lights and I’m constantly looking at my cameras trying to figure out what’s going on.  I’m also the master of breaking cameras.  I’m always getting them wet or dropping them.  What I really like is when they’re easy and the camera is just an extension of my hand.

Ryan McGinley, Photographer
The Vice Photo Book

Everyone seems to be a specialist these days, I’m not a specialist.  I can write but I wouldn’t call it special (I would call it “cheaper than therapy”).  Anyone can write if they figure out what they want to say and apply the spelling and grammar rules they learnt in secondary school.  The problem is they are, and their stories are far more interesting.

Baines is still sharing her Christian perspective with the world and her blog regularly pours fuel on the fire of my already unhealthy fascination with religion.  Gingell is planning to run barefoot through Stoke (nothing quite like broken glass and used needles to toughen up your soles).

And there’s more.  Guy’s started his own blog too and posts with a regularity that surely can have no other purpose than to make me look bad.  He is serialising the diary of his 2007 round the world trip every Monday and it’s definitely worth a read, he starts in Mumbai.

Gaby’s also got a new blog.  Meeting Jeremy Clarkson, behind the scenes at QVC, you know you want to take a peek.  Weird we’re both still in Stoke and yet we’ve fallen out of touch.  Occassionally I’ll see her all dressed up and looking stressed but it’s not like back in the day.  I remember us getting free meals in Roebuck, going to comedy club, watching the MOBOs, hanging out in the VIP changing room in Topshop.  If it wasn’t for Gaby my talent for doing French tips on nails would never have been recognised.  I should probably be boring Gaby with this and not you, sorry.

As nothing interesting’s been happening round here I guess it’s best we revert back to the challenges.  Taking a leaf out of McGinley’s book, here’s something I did in photoshop (my knowledge of photoshop is all but nonexistant).

17. An Apple a Day

It may not look like it but that is a photo-collage of all the apples I ate during the month of March.  All nine of them.  More astute members of the audience will realise that March is one of the months that has more than nine days.  What makes this failure even more pathetic is that when Holly set the challenge I agreed with her that we could count apple pies, pints of cider and apple juice just to make the challenge more interesting (who wants to look at 30 odd pictures of an apple?)  I don’t know how many apples or apple based products Holly consumed during March but I know it’s more than 11.

I decided to rebrand March not as a failure but as a practice for April.  Gingell wasn’t particularly impressed, especially as she’d bought three of March’s apples.  this time around she baked some mini apple pies (thank you Gingell).

Although my methodology was frowned upon (apparently civilised people use bowls, microwaves, ice cream and spoons) it was very tasty, now I just need to keep eating apples (at least more than 11, otherwise it’ll just be embarrassing).

There seem to be a number of challenges that involve me putting things in my mouth (not sure what that says about you people) so lets run through the evidence as documented by my phone.

Guy came to visit and as he had challenged me to do before (challenge number eight) I ate more steak.

Antonio will be pleased to know the last time I was in Stafford I consumed an entire pack of crumpets covered in cheddar cheese (also challenge number eight and thanks to Damian for providing that meal).

Tom and John will no doubt be ecstatic in the knowledge that I ate breakfast not once but twice last week (challenge number 11, Costa’s caramel shortbread and two day old Chinese takeaway).

Well that’s enough eating for now, will be posting later in the week, maybe later today but more likely Friday.  We’ll do my finances and then we’ll maybe take a look at some of these other challenges.