Feb is for Fun

An update.

[Stacked Bottles, iPhone, 29/1/13]

 [Dog driving a car on the Ormeau Road, iPhone, 2/2/13]

I love February.  It has so many fun facets in such a short space of time!  Between my birthday and St. Valentine's Day, as well as the usual troupe of family dates, it is a brief month of occasions.  It is also the first real month of the New Year, the month where resolutions have faded and work (in terms of film) has started back.  And a time for travelling too (Berlin at the end of the month).

 [Me, pictured at home in the Glens of Antrim, on NYE 2013, Polaroid]

Well, my Christmas and first half of January was jam-packed with Offshore (now available to purchase here), so I only really had a break at the end of January.  And that was spent learning to drive.  It was a great week or so of repetition and routine: early breakfast, early lesson, reading and lunch, later lesson, evening and sleep (repeat until test).

[Self portrait on the morning of my driving test, Polaroid, 31/1/13] 

[Illustration by Hannah upon the news that I could officially drive]

So February is set to be a fun one.  The one regret that I have at the start of the year is not getting to London to see the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2012 (see here) at the NPG.  It was one of the most enriching experiences of last year to see hundreds of people jostling elbow-to-elbow around a gallery to engage with one hundred portraits.  I shall have to make do with the paperback this year and make a more committed effort next year.  

[Winner of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2012: Jordi Ruiz Cirera for Margarita Teichroeb]

On the upside, film production work has started up again and that means there might be more work in the pipeline.  I have been taking the opportunity to catch up on films and film writing (I've a new blog that I should use more), visiting the gym, shamelessly promoting Offshore to local art-zines and international photography magazines, contacting photo festivals in relation to Offshore, and planning future projects.  More on those as they happen (like the day of food photography tomorrow).  

[Sticky Life Notes 2013, 14/1/13]

-PM