The world has embraced the ALS ice bucket challenge! Literally everyone is doing it!! What a fantastic way to raise funding & awareness for such a cruel disease. The sooner medicine can advance to help beat this the better. Here's a clip i found via CTV News.  


"For months now, several groups, from athletes to Christian groups have been pouring ice-cold water over themselves and filming it, sometimes simply for fun. The challenge grew in popularity this spring among both pro and amateur golfers, but it wasn't until former pro golfer Greg Norman challenged NBC anchor Matt Lauer to the challenge that it hit the mainstream.

Back then, the idea was to either take the bucket of cold water on your head or donate $100 to a charity of your choice. A minor-league golfer in Florida named Chris Kennedy may have been the first to dedicate his ice bucket challenge to ALS research, but ALS Canada says it was really Pete Frates, a former Boston College baseball player who has ALS himself, who really got the challenge going back on July 29.

Since that date, millions of videos of ice bucket challenges have been uploaded to Facebook and Twitter in the last month, growing exponentially in popularity in recent weeks, and creating what many could argue has been one of the most viral fundraising campaigns in years." Published Monday, August 25, 2014 1:03PM EDT 


Angela Mulholland, Staff writer
@AngeMulholland




Well my time came & i was more than happy to video myself get very cold & wet while also donating to this important cause & roping some fellow people into it that had up until now managed to avoid being nominated..
As it happens my hubby Sion also has a nomination, so we did it together! I love his video!! 
Here they are.. 

Mine!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152699990288223&l=4049884539720197556

Sions!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152699969618223&l=6942840802043191012

To view just copy & paste! Happy watching!

My first shot.. not that interesting really! i was looking to capture the light and texture.. so i moved to a different angle and...

Today I picked a gladioli out the garden, to add routinely to an arrangement i already had in the lounge. When i had picked it, i noticed small rain droplets on the petals & was overcome by a photographic opportunity! Here's were i went,

Here's the result!.. 

I think that this is now my favorite gladioli shot!! My cat Silver aka "little silvi" just walked into the frame while i was playing with my angle & trying to get dimension to the petals..  

Next image i focused on angle & switched my image to B&W, where i feel it gives a completely different feeling.

And finally, I've taken some inspiration from Andy Rouse http://www.foto-buzz.com/  & been consciously thinking about creative cropping. I took one image..

And made this...

Today was another day to get excited about photography! I'd edited and posted on Facebook/ Twitter some shots that I had took on holiday of Penrhyn Bay, the sea & skylines but the excitement had only just begun!

I had an 020.. number flash up on my phone and out of the ordinary for me I decided to answer it and find out what PPI company had got hold of my number! Well to my UTTER disbelief the caller ( who had an excellent manner ) was calling from a "massive UK wedding magazine" called 'Brides' and she said that she was just now looking though my website & portfolio an she really liked my style! calling it contemporary. She then said that I had been chosen to front an exclusive position as their "chosen" north wales wedding photographer which would be professionally published on a DVD that would come free with the special January 2015 edition. She went on to say that I would be one of a select few photographers chosen by the magazine covering different regions over the UK, chosen as exclusively recommended by Brides.

At this point I'm literally going dizzy and pinching myself... I had bought like a 100 Bridal magazines before we got married in 2012 and I loved "Brides" anyway it slowly dawned on me that I was beginning to get a type of recognition now as a photographer and truthfully it scared me but not just a little, a whole load scared! but with that also unbelievable excitement.. Just imagine being in such a massive main-stream magazine, well my heart nearly exploded I think and I started shaking! But then the reality hit! That no matter how nice this offer seemed to be that I needed to keep it real!..

Keeping it real is that I've successfully second shot one wedding to date and I know that I am fully ready to start off slowly with some select clients,, with them being fully aware of my portfolio and level of skill ( I'm aiming to the stars let me tell ya!) I've gone though the wedding process until I'm blue in the face, the details, prep, ceremony and I can't wait to finally shoot my first ""official wedding!!""

Every photographer has a first! Your not just born a wedding photographer.. That said after a 1 time wedding shoot and 10 independent shoots do I really qualify to be the face of the north wales wedding photographer???
I said all of this to her.. let's call her 'Mel' Well she was truly lovely, and said that it'd be a fantastic opportunity, and my work is really really good and everyone needs to start somewhere..!! God bless her she was lovely, which is why I feel a bit bad for how it all turned out, I eventually said.. OK what the heck! I'll do it, thinking to myself.. Dear god I'll think about it a bit more when I'm off the phone and take it all in because I don't want to be rash and miss an opportunity.

Well it turns out my husband and mum and dad.. ( main sources of advice ) said don't do it! It costs £295+vat that I can use towards my equipment and to cut a long.. long.. long (one hour) story short I'm just not ready for that title of "Brides recommended North Wales photographer 2015" just yet!!!! Was nice of them to ring me though.
Sound advice from my dad! Get some more experience under your belt, your going to have to outlay some expense for marketing, were you ready to invest £300 into marketing right now? Answer is NO.


Good advice all round but consistently saying STAY AWAY which really wasn't what I wanted to hear as it would be an absolute dream being published on a DVD in the Jan 2014 issue as an EXCLUSIVE north wales photographer especially when the magazine is Brides!!
But all I really wanted was to be in there and to be able to frame the magazine and DVD together. Wow! how exciting!! Well this is what I sent to her, and i'm sorry that's meant more work for her now finding another photographer.



Hi Mel,

Thank you for your call, I'm so glad you think my work is sufficient enough to be an exclusive north wales wedding photographer, Trust me it's a dream of mine!! And one I want to make come true.

The only thing is, as I had explained initially is mainly a funding issue, I know that If I were a more established business id be able to absorb costs but in truth I'm just not there yet! In light of this I am going to regretfully decline your offer but thank you for recognizing my potential as a wedding photographer. I am a newbie.. So it's maybe more suited to an established wedding photographer at this present time!
Thank you so much, and I'm looking forward to buying the issue in January to see who actually gets the exclusive North Wales wedding photographer post. :)
                                                                                          YJ



So when opportunity knocks?..
So that's that! I've lived the dream (in my head) of being published in a magazine selling 70,000.00 copies and will grow from this exciting but a little disappointing experience on the path to becoming a wedding photographer.. When opportunity knocks, you sometimes need to make hard choices.. :)

YJ

No room to rent...

When you hit a slump-creatively wise it's a question of; what am I doing? It's just not cutting it.. then it's definitely time to up your game!!

Who suffers from the dreaded feeling of 0-inspiration?? We all do from time to time but I had a loss of inspiration about 4 days ago and it sucks BIG TIME. So what do you need to do?? The answer is to- Just work harder!! It's my dad's life long philosophy and as Nike so proudly displays it on all of their multi-billion dollar brand you've got to, -Just do it-

The only way I've found to get out of my funk is to just get out there and it's painful.. But I've found that if you relax then it just falls into place and suddenly the mist disappears and you can breath and see again, then it's not so bad..

I've now got to a level with my photograhy where my camera settings are no longer alien or a completely different language to me, they make sense! & I now that I have an understanding of this I've been thinking about the bigger picture.. what do I want to focus on? The answer is composition. Composition makes for incredible photos great-wow photos & my focus is now on my inner "Art" which can actually be quite an exciting but scary concept as you first start thinking to yourself- wow I have complete creative freedom to explore my own unique creative eye, I can't wait to see what's yet to come.. But with this you can also have this annoying doubt I think everyone gets from time to time- but as my mother in law says (which she got from a very close family friend) "don't give it room for rent" this works for doubt too.. Don't offer it room. Your already fully booked up with Ms Hope, Mr Love, Mrs Inspiration & Miss Creativity, with a waiting list for the 'Freedoms & Goodlives' all the good things your mum wanted for you growing up, No room available for Doubt.

So the best bit really about getting out of my creative funk is to explore the eclectic but romantic, wistfully strong style which is uniquely- YJ

L.O.V.E

YJ

yvetj.weebly.com