It’s been an hectic and interesting time of late. Most notably, my recent trips to Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF) and The Photography Show have created a real buzz. If you feel so inclined, you can follow this link and this link to hear some of the exclusive chats I recorded at the latter.
In amongst all the conversations, social media updates and obligatory partaking of drinkies(!), something dawned on me. I was thinking about how my activities have progressed over recent months and through various feedback, it’s clear that my profile within the photography/outdoors world has grown considerably of late.
Now, please don’t think this is a vanity post. It certainly isn’t. If you know one thing about me, understand it’s that I always try to be as down-to-earth as I possible. For example, I can take compliments but, oddly enough, they somehow come as a bit of a surprise that sit a little uncomfortably.
You see, I love what I do. I love the places I go, the things I photograph and write about and the people I get to interact with. It’s what I’ve chosen as my career and the fact that people are so quick to let me know how much they enjoy my work is really quite humbling. Trouble is, I’m just not always that good at offering up a reply other than “Um, well… thank you.”
I’ve made a very conscious effort to put in the time to extend my network over the past year or so, bringing me in closer contact with the people and organisations who I respect and admire. My favoured platforms other than email are Twitter and LinkedIn; I really enjoy the fact that conversations and the sharing of information is so immediate – nothing beats ‘real time.’
In the past few weeks, I’ve had some great conversations with photographers, writers, editors, PRs, marketers, company MDs and more. The ones which stand out in my mind are those with new contacts, including the words “Oh yes, I’ve heard of you.” These people have clearly picked up on the content I’ve shared, even if they’ve not been in touch directly.
On one occasion, someone said something along the lines of “You’ve been rushing around all over the place, haven’t you? And you’ve been doing a lot of work with Alex Staniforth.” The name check there was a reference to one of my most recent collaborations with this young adventurer; take a look at this post and you’ll see what’s been going on.
So where do things go for me from here? Well, as I’ve previously alluded (probably mostly in the podcast), there are all manner of plans in the pipeline at the moment, some of which I discussed further with colleagues at ShAFF and TPS. It’s all exciting stuff and I am, frankly, feeling rather inspired by it all!
A final word to those of you who have thought about getting in touch but, for whatever reason, never made that step…
What are you waiting for? What have you got to lose?! It only takes a matter of seconds to get in touch – and you never know, it just might lead to something exciting.
