September 24, 2018 at 15:50 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

“But I knew that someday I was going to die. And just before I died two things would happen; Number 1: I would regret my entire life. Number 2: I would want to live my life over again.”
— Hubert Selby Jr

That quote by Hubert Selby Jr made a big impact when I first heard it many years ago and it has stayed with me ever since. It’s been rattling around my head recently, thanks to this Chronicle 90 project that we are currently on. I’m sure all 7 of us (our eighth member will join us at the end of the project) have analyzed our lives through this experience and most have realized just how uneventful our lives are. Sure we can all blog about the exciting things that happen once in a blue moon, but mostly it just feels like putting your foot to the floor in first gear while sitting in a carpark full of snow. But I know I will want to do it all again someday.

This week: Kids on holiday, but with plenty of homework, Lots of driving, a trip to the cinema, a storm that caused a fair bit of damage, a notebook that just isn’t filling up as fast as it used to, and of course the X-T3. But now it’s time to hit publish on this post and start prepping my gear for tomorrows shoot.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 AT 20:38PM (BRISTOL, ENGLAND)

BY KEVIN MULLINS

Today I found myself watching a different kind of humanity.

A set of people so driven, so focused and so together, that it made me wonder just how on earth do the terrible things in the world ever happen.

Today I was the “behind the scenes” photographer at a half marathon and my remit was to capture the emotion, the happiness, the sadness, the turmoil, the struggles, the pains of running twelve and a half miles.

I run myself - quite a bit, and I’ve run marathons before (though a long time ago). Before I started shooting I thought “I reckon I could do this again at my grand old age”.

Then, as the last of the runners crossed the START line, the ones that left first, crossed the FINISH line. Around an hour it took them.

The human body is an incredible thing and for all our failings, we seem to be able to forge a togetherness, a stoic attitude to completion.

Some of course found it easier than others. Some found it too much and would never finish.

Others, like tetraplegic Tom have much greater struggles in life yet still face every challenge with a smile.

People are ace.

,

September 22, 2018 at 11:16PM (Zaventem, Belgium)

,

BY BERT STEPHANI

It hasn’t been a good week. I can see in my photography that it took a lot of energy. Even an exciting new camera, doesn’t push me to create. But today was good, not in a creative way but I got to spend it with my kids and a good friend that I don’t get to see very often. It opens up my mind and I know that with Photokina coming up, the creative juices will start flowing again soon.

20 September 2018 at 10:28 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

20 September 2018 at 10:28 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

It’s not that I’ve led a double life. Not really.

It’s more like several, sequential, sometimes-overlapping (but often not) lives.

I was back in Canada recently, where my parents are (finally) starting to think about moving out of the home I grew up in.

But the side effect of that is, everything in the house has to go someplace else; so the things I left behind, when I went overseas “for a year” (in 1996), now need to be dealt with, sorted through, decided on. And, being a filer - someone who files things - I could hardly just throw everything out.

So one of those bags that came back from that trip was full of paper - and now it’s here. And it still needs to be dealt with…

September 19, 2018 at 06:39 pm (Mårslet, Denmark)

Photography and words by Jonas Rask

Seeing old friends, making new ones.
This is the part I like.
This is what brings a smile to my face.
The rest resembles a charade

September 18, 2018 at 8:48 AM (Otterburn Park, Canada)

By Patrick La Roque

At 6:30 AM yesterday I was fine. Around 9:30 AM I started feeling a bit tired. By 12:00 PM, my throat was on fire and my head threatened to explode. Damn microbes—is there anything worse then a cold when it’s 30ºC outside?

I really had the best intentions in the world too: I wanted to document the conference I was giving last night at the photo club in St-Bruno. Fun night, despite my queasiness throughout—adrenaline is an impressive pain killer. But when I pulled out my camera and took the first of what should’ve been several shots, the light on the back flashed red: no card. Wow.

So we’re a day later and I’m just waiting for the pills to kick in...because I need to fight this off, pronto. It’s shaping up to be one of those days. Three quick double exposures below—I managed to find an SD card. Boy, I’m a real photographer now ;)

September 17, 2018 at 17:25 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

It’s been a quick week. Loads of editing in Lightroom for the first few days, then child number two left for an outdoor activities week. This is her first trip away without any family members. She was so excited, she was making weird dolphin squeaks in the back of the car on the way to the bus.

As usual, I’ve been tinkering on the music front, tweaking EQ settings for the saxophone. I’ve also been modifying a new keyboard case that the keyboard and accessories stay permanently inside the base. This should mean less wiring up to do. At least that’s the theory, but time will tell.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2018 AT 12:49 PM (MALMESBURY, ENGLAND)

BY KEVIN MULLINS

Its been a funny old week.

I’ve been all over the place this week; a couple of weddings, a couple of workshops and also trying to find time to give the new X-T3 a bit of a test.

I picked the camera up and because it’s a prototype, and because I’m not able to edit any RAW files yet, I have used it only for some personal snapshots.

I have this weird thing in my life where, when I get a new camera, I take a very quick snap of whatever is in front of me and keep those snaps as a kind of memory of the day I picked it up.

I have the very first picture I ever took on every single camera I’ve ever owned. Most, of course are sample snaps of a wall, or a table or something.

In this case, I had my friend Neale with me and raised the camera and popped off a bit-to-close-to-be-comfortable portrait of him.

On the weekend I had a workshop in that there London Town and took the X-T3 out for a spin. As I mentioned, I can only shoot JPEG with it, and the theme I’d given the students was light and shadow (original, huh?).

Anyway, I’m sat here on this blustery Sunday morning preparing a presentation for Photokina (you now Me, Bert, Jonas and Pat are all giving talks at Photokina, right? You can find all the details here if you wish. If you are there, please come and say hello. We’d love to catch up with some of you) and have just downloaded some of the images.

So, this week. What’s happening? Well, I’ve another wedding, I’m shooting the Bristol Half Marathon and I’m making a Legacy Film for a retiring architect in London. Coupled with the hustle of album design, blogs, marketing, taking the kids to clubs, trying to get to the gym, school runs yada yada.

I love my job.

Have a happy week everybody. See you next Sunday.

,

September 15, 2018 at 21h41 PM (Molenbeek, Belgium)

,

BY BERT STEPHANI

Today Noa played her first basketball game of the season. She’s no giant, she isn’t the female Steph Curry but she plays her heart out. Even with a little ankle injury and a huge lead she went for every loose ball and encouraged her team mates to play tight defense. That’s true sports.

September 14, 2018 at 03h48 PM (Toulouse, France)

6 days ago, on september 8, hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in cities across the world. I was there under the sun, on this little planet, in this tiny town, to feel the event, to ear the voices and songs of children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents... One day to say STOP, one day to rise for climate!

"Together they showed the world what real climate leadership looks like. There's no time to lose".
#riseforclimate

Fujifilm Xpro-2 + Fujinon 16-55mm