daily blog – Page 2

B200 – THIS HAS BEEN A MASSIVE DAY!!! 200 DAYS CONTINUOUSLY!!!!!!

October 21, 2017October 21, 2017 joshfspear7 Comments

this is my 200th blog post, 200. thats how many days Ive done this in a row without a day off, thats at least 600 edited photos (some days I post more if its been a good day) and that with an average of 350 words per day thats a total of 70,000 words!! how many words is a distinction again, I cant remember? but I think its fair to say even though Ive written roughly 70,000 words, those people with a degree are still probably smarter than me.

When I first started this blog post challenge I was always thinking what I would do when I got to the 200 post mark, and for ages I thought I would have a cake and launch some fire works out of it or something, I definitely didn’t think I would be working in America and writing this post in Florida, I only really remembered that it was the 200 mark, yesterday when I saw it was B199.

Now this is a bit of a double celebration, because since I injured my leg 164 days ago, running a half marathon where completely screwed the tendon that connects my quad to my hip and basically had to learn how to use that leg again, I’ve been on a diet of burgers, pizza and beer. Well today was the end to that era and because I got up early and ran 5 miles before work. My time 45:13, which is an OK time but as Amy says its not about the timings at the moment, its just about getting back to how I was but Im pretty happy with the time and comparing it to my fastest 5 miles, Ive only got to shave like 2 minutes per mile off my time, which is completely do able.

The way I celebrated my success at reaching 200 post and running 5 miles was by doing the best thing anyone can ever do after running in 23 degree heat and thats by jumping in a cold pool straight after, our hotel has a pool and well, theres nothing like that feeling, made better by the fact I ran in some old trainers where my toe pokes out the end. so taking them off by the pool was probably the highlight, my feet where dead, but in a good way, they deserved every second of pool time.

Im now eager to get back out running but know that I need to take it slow, but I think if I set myself a goal of running 10 miles a week for the next month or so and then see how I feel after that, plus a few physo sessions in between, I should be OK.

Anyway heres some photos from my run today! todays been a good day, because it feels like I have completed two massive personal goals Ive had for a long time! and in a pretty cool part of the world!

Untitled-1 — – Left: my person best – right: my time today, ok for a first proper distance run since my injury –

B200 (1 of 1)-4 — – this photo was taken from inside the pool because I can and it felt right, those £45 trainers have done me well and still have a few miles left in them –

B200 (1 of 1) — – nothing beats the early morning sun –

B200 (1 of 1)-3 — – run past this, seeing old classic american cars in this state always makes me want to buy one and restore it –

B182 – LETS DO SOMETHING COOL

October 3, 2017October 2, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

three hundred words that all I have to write each day, I love taking photos, but the writing is the hardest thing on this blog. I’m sorry for the lack of energy on these posts these past few days, Im just fighting through the Jet lag and trying to crazy amount of work, to get out the other side. but today has been a really good day, Ive started making plans for a really cool project. something I can properly sink my teeth into, Ive got a plan and all I have todo now is stick to it and make sure I can put everything in place before I go away next week. So not a lot todo at all.

what I like about doing this blogging thing is my plan that Im just going todo what ever I like with it. thats basically my plan, not think too much into it and just see where I end up. I really want to start upping my content and put out some cool photos that aren’t just everyday stuff. like jumping a car or shooting fireworks over a lake, something incredible and completely not the normal, thats my kind of project. If I can just get through the next month and stay dedicated to making stuff happen theres no reason why those projects wont come to life. Obviously those arent my project idea’s but they follow the same line, something which has an element of risk but with a massive reward. I started this blog to improve my photography skills and its about time I started to test my self and see what I can do with a camera.

again im sorry for the lack of content but unless I stay awake 24 hours a day, I don’t have enough time. but I will I promise you.

In other news I picked up my new blinds tonight, went to put them up and found out I don’t own a drill. so if anyone lives in bethnal green and has a drill that would be really helpful.

B182-1 — – this is a photo I took this morning, god I love my coconut tree –

B165 (1 of 1)-3 — – one of my favourite places in the past months, Historic Downtown St. Charles –

B165 (1 of 1)-4 — – Missori, America, everyone should go and see St.louis its a really cool city –

B170 – UNKNOWN COOL AMERICA – A QUITE DAY MADE FUN- PT.4

September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Yep train tracks, thats what I took photos of today and I learnt something. I really dont like taking photos of train tracks, but where I am in Chicago, there is basically nothing apart from some massive car parks, and fast food joints. So train tracks will have todo.

Ive had one of those days where I just feel completely nackered and just looking forward to getting some good food inside me. my conclusion is that mid west america dont know how todo breakfast, they either have fruit loops or waffles and maybe some turkey sausages and some eggs. thats good every now and again, but not everyday. get some fresh fruit in and some yoghurt, trust me america it will change your life. or even try some fresh food, its a real game changer.

but enough of the moaning, At Lunch time today, i thought what should I do If I have nothing todo, so I decided to stop off at a gun shop to get that culture shock and wake my day up. I ended up shooting my first ever gun a military grade AR-15 semi automatic machine gun. The nice guys in the gun shop gave me a little tour of the place first, I only I walked into the store to have a look at what guns they sell and maybe get my hands on the clint Eastwood smith and western gun that he has in those movies, but after speaking to Gunny Mike and this cool guy Marc, they ended up letting me shoot some rounds of the AR-15. It was a pretty sick time actually and scared the crap out of me. but after the first 10 rounds I was like a young rambo. They even gave me a cool T-shirt for me to remember the first time I shot an AR-15. I was like a 10 year old boy, who just discovered this whole new world. I dont think i would ever own a gun or something but it was definitely a good bit of fun. my shoulder is in a bit of pain now though, that guns got a bit of a kick to it.

After that I decided to go on a bit of a drive and take some pictures of something that has no baring on my day, but of something that is everywhere in the states and thats how I ended up taking photos of the exciting world of the American Railway tracks. enjoy these photos.

B170_1 (1 of 1)-7 — – cheers Gunny Mike and Marc for setting this up. as you can see Im a natural, the hole closest to the red was Gunny Mike, I was going to claim it as mine but it was all him that one. –

B170_1 (1 of 1)-6 — – rail road crossing number one –

B170_1 (1 of 1)-3 — – this was a rail road crossing, I just made it look like I was standing in between the tracks. I promise –

B157 – I got the shot though.

September 6, 2017September 9, 2017 joshfspear2 Comments

Today has been the first day of filming and so far so good, everything seems to be coming together. Its going to be an exciting four weeks I think. Im writing this post just after lunch time on Tuesday, Its been a bit of quite time and thought it would be productive of me to get this done sooner rather than at 11 O’clock tonight. Tomrrow I hit theroad for a 7 and a half our drive, from Toronto to Kingston and back to Toronto, all while filming, so it will take a fair bit of time. I think this is going to be a bit of a baptism of fire, which should be good for every one, I’ve just got to remembered to put everything on charge tonight and then just lock everything down tomorrow.

I’m sat here writing this and Im not going to lie I have only got two photos in the bag, I’m still trying to think of a third photo, I’ve seen a few of these black squirrels bopping around, they are literally jet black Squirrels… if I see one again I’m going to snap it and post it one here, but now I’ve said this I probably will never see one again.

It feels a bit weird writing this post with only two photos in the bag and not at the end of the day, but it’s the better option rather than me missing a day or doing it late tonight and having to wake up really early in the morning.

One thing I have noticed about Canada and if anyone knows more about it let me know, but the sun seems to be a lot lower, the light in the morning is so much nicer and lasts a lot longer than in the UK its doesn’t seem to be golden hour, but more like a golden two hours, which helped me to get that shot of the suburbs today.

This also wouldn’t be any sort of daily blog if there wasn’t a picture of the Kenworth truck, these things are massive and rule the roads, I remember the first time I saw one in the UK and it made those English lorries feel like some sort of go-cart, I cant imagine how hard they are to drive, but I wouldn’t mind giving it a ago. They are sell from anywhere from $30k all the way upto $100k+, and weigh an average of 68,000lbs which is 30.8 tonnes. If you were to look at something like the Volvo FH Lorries, which are pretty common on the roads in the Uk they weigh 14,572Lb, which is 6.6 tonnes. So these American Kenworth Semi trucks are just over 4 times heavier than a common lorry in the UK.

An even better fact is the Kenworth on average gets 8 MPG out of their trucks, in the UK the Volvo FH is getting 9.8MPG to 13.5 MPG with Germany Light (what ever that is, anyone know?), so I guess we are a little bit more efficient… but they definitely get more marks for the overall look, these things are like 30 tonne beasts.

Moving on, hopefully by the time you’ve read this Ive got some cool photo of a black squirrel, if not I’m sorry but I hope you like which ever one, future me has decided to upload. Sorry for rambling on about trucks and lorries, I kind of got a bit carried away with all the facts.

B156 (1 of 1)-2 — – this thing is a monster –

B156 (1 of 1) — – a nice quite canadian suburb –

B156 (1 of 1)-3 — – me trying to take a quick photo of the black squirrel but having my settings completely wrong, least I got the shot though –

B155;I’ve got a Dodge

September 4, 2017September 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

for most people in the states and canada a Dodge is just a car, but for us brits every dodge is a viper, they even sound cool ” I drive a dodge” and the car Im driving for the next few days is no exception. I have no idea what model this is, I only know it says dodge on the front and is pretty big. Ive only been in Canada for about 5 hours, its now 21:30 at night here in Toronto but thats like 2:30 in London, so its been a pretty long day. My plan is to say awake for as long as possible and then fall asleep for like 7 hours and be completely back to normal, Im refusing to let jet lag get the better of me.

since ive been here Ive literally seen the motorway and in side of the Chinese restaurant, so I can really comment on what its like here, but so far it does look really clean and the people seem really cool. Wish I had time to get out into the forests and stuff maybe see a few bears, but im not confident that will happen. but I have heard a rumour of some cool islands around here which you have to get a boat too, so hopefully if tomorrow isn’t so busy we might be able to get out and explore some.

If any one know of anything fun todo in Toronto, I would definitely like some inside information on this place. I really want to go and see the CN tower, but im not even sure if that is possible. I have 4 days here and will probably have a few hours spare over the four days, so anything quick, easy and not too busy would be ideal.

Anyway heres some photos from my last few hours here.

B154 (1 of 1)-3 — – even the gease stick to the pavements –

B154 (1 of 1)-2 — – there she is, what a beauty –

B154 (1 of 1) — – Sport at the front, soccer mum car at the back –

B154 (1 of 1)-4 — – this was the street I walked down earlier, looking forward to seeing more of Canada –

B151 – it was nearly over

August 31, 2017August 30, 2017 joshfspear1 Comment

the day were failing at post 3 photos each day was nearly here. ive had a pretty long day and a few technical problems a long the way but nothing that can be sorted and the only picture Ive taken today was of two people playing the guitar on the street. I literally just took one photo and I’ve been starring at a computer screen all day. its been one of those days where you genially just want to watch some crappy tv and sleep.

Well thats no happening now, im doing the true brit thing, Ive put the kettle on and im about to smash out four photos, screw doing just three im going to post four, just becuase I can. my thinking is, over this weekend I took so many sick photos and have a few cool stories and that I should post them and give you guys some content, i can do what I like.

At the weekend, Amy’s mum was baking some cakes, all of them were really tastey, but one went a bit wrong, it didnt rise or something. she was about to throw it away and start again, but that saying waste not want not popped up, so I though I would give this whole bake off thing a go and see if I could make something out of it. a biscuit cutter and some walnut sprinkles later and you have a finished bake off worthy cake.

please see below, ill leave the guessing up to you as to which one is my cake and which one Amys mum made. just a little bit of a guessing game for ya.

On a different topic, that picture I took today of those two people with the guitar, none of it is in focus, its not even straight and you cant even see the whole guitar. im not really sure if any of that matters. its street photography. but I would like to know what anyone think, is there a certain level of photography that goes into or can a perfect photo from the street just be right place right time. i think ive got away with it and can all it photography.

this post is a bit jumpy and all over the place, but so am I tonight.

B151-1 — – this was the only photo I took today –

B151-1-4 — – was this my attempt at saving the cake –

B151-1-5 — – or was this my attempt at saving the cake –

B146 – what I like to photograph!

August 26, 2017August 28, 2017 joshfspear3 Comments

Not sure what to write about today, im literally struggling to keep my eyes open. its really early on Saturday morning, im two coffees and a large macdonalds coke down and still going. but it is a good day becuase im on my way to Norfolk for the Bank holiday weekend where im just going to eat and eat and eat.

My idea of the photos today was to take them on my journey to the station, see if I could make the one stop on the tube more exciting, it actually worked, I left a bit earlier so I could take photos but Im pretty happy with the result.

the good thing about doing this whole project is that its helping to me figure out what I like taking photos of, if its landscape or people or adventure. I think its hard to figure that out, with everything today like instagram and facebook, its so easy to take a good photo, but its hard to figure out what exactly you want to shoot. 5 months ago, I didnt really have an idea, I couldnt decide, I knew I like to take photos but I couldnt work out what my favourite thing to shoot was. I would just take hunderds of photos each day and see where I ended up. but not I really think about what im going to take a photo of, and ive realised that its people. I love taking photos of people. they are a hard thing to photograph, because a lot of people don’t want to have the photo taken, so its all about being quick and not drawing to much attention. A good tip that i’ve found works, is to set the shot up, wait for someone to walk into it and then take the snap, that way they think they’ve just walked into your shot, rather than you snapping them on purpose. simple and effective.

anyway heres my snaps from this morning!

(and sorry for any spelling mistakes )

B146-1-4 — – i have no idea who they are –

B146-1-3 — – liverpool street this morning –

B146-1 — liverpool street, really early this morning –

B144 – Its a throwback thursday

August 24, 2017August 23, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

I did have 3 photos ready to go for Thursday, but then I started looking back at the past 144 days and though I should maybe do my first ever through back Thursday. Ive been trying to think of my favourite day of the past 5 months and I think that its got to be when Amy and me spent a day by this hidden beach that you could only get to by beach of if you swam somewhere on the Amalfi coast, not sure where it was but for some reason that day has stuck with me, we literally did nothing as well apart from swim, eat and sleep.

we sat on this beach for ages, would get up every 20 mintues of something and go swimming, doing the proper brits aboard thing, swim and the full asleep. I don’t know why this is my favourite day, its probably because its the last time I can remember seeing blue sky since being back in london, where we’ve just got that flat gray weather. not that Im moaning, its definitely better than that crappy January weather we get any way, looking back through all these photos, its one of those things were now all I want todo is be on that beach again doing the same time.

One of the best memories I have from that day was Amy and me trying to get a picture of her flicking her hair out of the water and looking like a mow-hawk. When it works, the pictures look amazing, but when it doest thats when you get art! the best picture I have is of the fail. from the photo it looks like amy is trying to all angelic in the water in front of those Italian boys in the back ground but its just gone massive wrong, obviously that isn’t the case, but I definitely think thats what this photo looks like.

anyway heres a phone of the hair water flick fail and some other cool photos from that day.

B144-1-4 — – amy being all angelic in the water and stuff –

B127 – CANCELLED TRAIN – 5 HOURS LATER…

August 7, 2017August 6, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

today was meant to be a straight forward travel day, spent the day on my sofa then catch a train this evening up north. a few diversions later and im standing a new castle train station waiting for a taxi to finish my journey off. this isnt a complaint its a big observation, it happens, I just wish it didnt happen on my straight forward travel day.

Im trying to keep this as something thats based around photos, but on days like today, where im a bit hungover and just sitting on a train, its just about trying to take the best possible photos from an adverage day, which is kind of fun because you end up trying to frame up everything you see and make something not so interesting, interesting.

anyway its late on sunday, i’m nackered so heres a few photos for today. in other stuff the hotel im staying in for the next few hours is really nice, if you’re ever in Hexham, then stay at the Beaumont hotel. They will actually show you to your room! not sure what breakfast will be like but just gimme coffee and its all good.

B127-1-2 — – New castle has some crazy sunsets –

B127-1 — – for some reason I like this photo –

B121 – what a day

August 1, 2017July 31, 2017 joshfspear3 Comments

Todays going to be short and sweet, its been tough and problem not the best day, but got a few good photos, Im going to keep this one shorter and sweeter than most days. im basically in Northumbria filming for this week, so SHOULD be good but probably really busy as usual.

I want to write more but would rather hit the pillow and get some sleep.

B121-1 — – starting the day at chancery lane –