Podcasts about british institute

Fake Reviews are a plague in our industry - They can make a cowboy look just as good as you to acustomer or damage the reputation you've worked so hard for. However with new legislation coming into effect to fight these reviews they could soon be a thing of the past.Today we were joined by Damien Walters, the Founder and CEO of the The British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom Installation, and Steve Gray to learn more about the new legislation and discuss whether it will actually help.Plus here's also the pub lunch quiz and you'll hear the very best messages we received - Enjoy.

It's a late Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and the smell of freshly cut grass (and the inevitable hay fever) is drifting through the studio as I sit down to record this episode. After a whirlwind few months — including seven incredible weeks photographing on Crystal Cruises — it feels good to be back behind the mic, even if I'm a little sniffly. In this episode, I'm reflecting on the magic of authentic portrait photography, the rapid rise of AI in our world (and our inboxes!), and why the human touch still matters more than ever. Plus, there's news about upcoming workshops, a few tech tips for cleaner files and faster edits, and a good-natured rant about AI-generated podcast pitches. As always, it's a mix of stories, laughter, tech, and a reminder to stay creative — and stay human. Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript   Introduction and Podcast Setup So it's Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and here I am late on Sunday recording this podcast and I'm recording it with the smell of freshly cut grass, uh, wafting in through the windows, which is gonna trigger my hay fever one way or another. Um and also the reason I'm recording it quite so late at this stage of the day. It's 'cause my neighbors have been cutting their grass and they do have the loudest petrol mower in the world. I'm Paul, and assuming I can get through this without sneezing, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography  

With the Commons in recess the pod heads down the pub for another episode looking at the UK's hospitality industry and the struggles it continues to face - with a host of global headwinds and domestic policy contributing to a bleak outlook for the sector in 2025. Joining host Alain Tolhurst for a pint in The Westminster Arms, a stones throw from Parliament, is Conservative MP Richard Holden, vice chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Pubs and the Shadow Paymaster General, Morgan Schondelmeier, policy manager on tax and trade at the British Beer and Pub Association, Ellie Hudspith, campaigns manager for CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, Steve Alton, CEO of the British Institute of Innkeeping, and Jonny Garrett, chair of the British Guild of Beer Writers and co-host of the Craft Beer Channel. They discuss what the government can do to help this crucial part of the economy, that not only contributes £54 billion in tax receipts, £20 billion in exports, and is the third largest employer in the UK - but also plays a vital role in the country's social fabric - after it was hit by the triple of whammy of rising business rates, a National Insurance hike, and increased staff costs, this month.To sign up for our newsletters click herePresented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

In this episode, Camilla and Ruth are joined by Anthony Wenton, Research Fellow in Public International Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). Anthony shares insights on developing case law in insurance disputes concerning climate change related damages – particularly US case law. Together, they explore the relevance of insurance in the context of climate change related disputes.

At first glance, Mung'ora's work offers glimpses into everyday life in Nairobi, capturing moments ranging from bustling cityscapes to intimate portraits.Yet, upon deeper reflection, Mung'ora's canvases reveal a profound commentary on the fragmentation of urban landscapes, where physical and socialboundaries delineate diverse experiences from street to street. Through meticulously layered compositions, Mung'ora intertwines historical referenceswith modern-day scenes, highlighting the enduring imprints of past lives while emphasizing the disparities inherent in Nairobi's evolving environments. Mung'ora is a member of Brush Tu, a Nairobi-based artists' collective, and has exhibited widely including: A Tapestry of Contemporary Africa, MoCaL.I., New York (2024); Common Ground, NCAI, Nairobi (2023); African Identities, AKKA Project, Venice (2022); Walking the Edge, Afriart Gallery,Kampala (2022); 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair, New York (2022); Fragments, Antoine Dupin, Rennes (2022); A Gathering of Small Fires, MontagueContemporary, New York (2021); Sacrifice Pasture, One Off Gallery, Nairobi (2021); Kikulacho, British Institute in East Africa, Nairobi (2018);Remains, Waste & Metonymy II, British Institute in East Africa, Nairobi (2017); Stranger Times, Circle Art Gallery, Nariobi (2017), among others. He was the winner of the 2016 Manjano Art Prize in Nairobi, a finalist in the 2018 edition of the Barclays L'Atelier competition, and a finalist in the 2020EPI competition.His works form part of many notable collections, including the I&M Bank Collection, MFA Boston (promised), New Orleans Museum of Art (promised),Rodney Miller Collection, Nicolas Jay Collection, Rift Collection, Sir John Rose Collection, among others. His work been featured in the Artnet, Art inAfrica, the New York Times, and the Nation, among others. Installation, ‘Song of Lawino,' a solo exhibition by Kenyan artist Elias Mung'ora held at Indiana State University's Yang Gallery Installation, ‘Song of Lawino,' a solo exhibition by Kenyan artist Elias Mung'ora held at Indiana State University's Yang Gallery Unplanned Move 2 2024 Mixed Media on Canvas 71 x 71 in Self Portrait 2024 Signed and Dated on Front Mixed Media on Canvas 71 x 71 in

Summary: This talk explains Sudan's descent into a horrific war that is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The war has displaced over 11 million people, involved the targeting of civilians, including especially women, in mass violence, and precipitated a hunger crisis affecting over 24 million people, with over 630,000 currently facing famine. How, after a momentous civilian uprising in 2018-19 that toppled the dictator Omer el-Bashir after 30 years of authoritarian rule, did Sudan come to this? Unravelling the causes and events that led to tragedy begins with how counter-revolutionary actors within the State benefitted from the priorities of external peacemakers seeking to achieve a democratic transition in order to displace revolutionary forces, before carrying out a coup against that very transition. The war erupted when the counter-revolution itself unravelled, and its two primary bedfellows, the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fell-out violently with each other in a struggle for power. With complex regional geopolitical entanglements and drawing in other armed groups in Sudan, their war to the bitter end has mixed cruel indifference and intentional harm towards civilians in devastating ways. Remarkably, the revolutionary spirit of the Sudanese has not been vanquished, and has found expression in how neighbourhood resistance committees have transformed into ‘emergency response rooms' to deliver life-saving support. Sudan's plight and prospects lie precariously within these intersecting trajectories.Sharath Srinivasan is David and Elaine Potter Professor of International Politics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Founding Director, and currently Co-Director, of the University of Cambridge's Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR). Professor Srinivasan is a Fellow and Trustee of the Rift Valley Institute and a Trustee and Vice-President of the British Institute in Eastern Africa.Professor Srinivasan's work focuses on contentious politics in Africa in global perspective, from explaining failed peace interventions in civil wars to rethinking democratic politics in a digital age. He is the author of When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-editor of Making and Breaking Peace in Sudan and South Sudan: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Beyond (British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2020).Chair: Dr Juliana Santos de Carvalho, Centre Fellow

Summary: This talk explains Sudan's descent into a horrific war that is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The war has displaced over 11 million people, involved the targeting of civilians, including especially women, in mass violence, and precipitated a hunger crisis affecting over 24 million people, with over 630,000 currently facing famine. How, after a momentous civilian uprising in 2018-19 that toppled the dictator Omer el-Bashir after 30 years of authoritarian rule, did Sudan come to this? Unravelling the causes and events that led to tragedy begins with how counter-revolutionary actors within the State benefitted from the priorities of external peacemakers seeking to achieve a democratic transition in order to displace revolutionary forces, before carrying out a coup against that very transition. The war erupted when the counter-revolution itself unravelled, and its two primary bedfellows, the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fell-out violently with each other in a struggle for power. With complex regional geopolitical entanglements and drawing in other armed groups in Sudan, their war to the bitter end has mixed cruel indifference and intentional harm towards civilians in devastating ways. Remarkably, the revolutionary spirit of the Sudanese has not been vanquished, and has found expression in how neighbourhood resistance committees have transformed into ‘emergency response rooms' to deliver life-saving support. Sudan's plight and prospects lie precariously within these intersecting trajectories.Sharath Srinivasan is David and Elaine Potter Professor of International Politics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Founding Director, and currently Co-Director, of the University of Cambridge's Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR). Professor Srinivasan is a Fellow and Trustee of the Rift Valley Institute and a Trustee and Vice-President of the British Institute in Eastern Africa.Professor Srinivasan's work focuses on contentious politics in Africa in global perspective, from explaining failed peace interventions in civil wars to rethinking democratic politics in a digital age. He is the author of When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-editor of Making and Breaking Peace in Sudan and South Sudan: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Beyond (British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2020).Chair: Dr Juliana Santos de Carvalho, Centre Fellow

Summary: This talk explains Sudan's descent into a horrific war that is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The war has displaced over 11 million people, involved the targeting of civilians, including especially women, in mass violence, and precipitated a hunger crisis affecting over 24 million people, with over 630,000 currently facing famine. How, after a momentous civilian uprising in 2018-19 that toppled the dictator Omer el-Bashir after 30 years of authoritarian rule, did Sudan come to this? Unravelling the causes and events that led to tragedy begins with how counter-revolutionary actors within the State benefitted from the priorities of external peacemakers seeking to achieve a democratic transition in order to displace revolutionary forces, before carrying out a coup against that very transition. The war erupted when the counter-revolution itself unravelled, and its two primary bedfellows, the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces fell-out violently with each other in a struggle for power. With complex regional geopolitical entanglements and drawing in other armed groups in Sudan, their war to the bitter end has mixed cruel indifference and intentional harm towards civilians in devastating ways. Remarkably, the revolutionary spirit of the Sudanese has not been vanquished, and has found expression in how neighbourhood resistance committees have transformed into ‘emergency response rooms' to deliver life-saving support. Sudan's plight and prospects lie precariously within these intersecting trajectories.Sharath Srinivasan is David and Elaine Potter Professor of International Politics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Founding Director, and currently Co-Director, of the University of Cambridge's Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR). Professor Srinivasan is a Fellow and Trustee of the Rift Valley Institute and a Trustee and Vice-President of the British Institute in Eastern Africa.Professor Srinivasan's work focuses on contentious politics in Africa in global perspective, from explaining failed peace interventions in civil wars to rethinking democratic politics in a digital age. He is the author of When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-editor of Making and Breaking Peace in Sudan and South Sudan: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Beyond (British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2020).Chair: Dr Juliana Santos de Carvalho, Centre Fellow

Nikhil and Raph are joined by Peter Cherry of the British Institute at Ankara in the first episode of a new series about short story collections. In this episode, they discuss Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe's translation of selected stories by the Turkish writer Sait Faik: A Useless Man (2014). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hold onto your wine glasses, folks; this episode is a roller coaster of laughs, heart warming tales, and high-flying business ventures! I welcomed back Andrew Fishwick, CEO of Hestia and an irrepressible entrepreneur with a penchant for fun and "pulling wool over everyone's eyes"—literally (Read on)!

So after three days of judging images for the British Institute Of Professional Photographers, it's time for me to step down from my role as Chair Of Awards And Qualifications.  I have been in the role for three years and it is time for someone else to pick up the reins and run with it (if that isn't a mixed metaphor.) I have loved doing this and if it weren't for a million things I have to go on and do, I think I would do it forever!  So as I drive home from my last round of qualifications - possibly the best one I've ever been involved in - here are a few musings of things I have spotted. This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage! Enjoy!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP158 Heading Home From The Awards Introduction and Event Recap [00:00:00] Paul In The Defender: So for those of you who love the Land Rover episodes, you'll be thrilled to hear that I'm just leaving the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography Awards, uh, event 2024 25. Uh, why do we call it 2024 and 2025 is because if you get an award at the end of a year, it's a real pain from a marketing point of view if you can only say you have an award for 2024. So we call it 2024 slash 25, uh, just to extend the marketing value. So you're, you hold the titles for a year, , so why wouldn't we? Anyway, that's where I've been. I've just spent an absolute fortune on some fuel, uh, because I hadn't got a lot of choice but to fill up at a service station. [00:00:47] And I am just pulling in to traffic. He says, concentrating on driving. Driving and Multitasking [00:00:52] Paul In The Defender: I had a lovely, uh, lovely email from someone this week. , sorry I'm driving so I can't, uh, look up your name. I'm so, I think it was John McCarthy. I'm gonna go with John McCarthy. , who said, amongst many other things, uh, he doesn't know how I drive and record a podcast at the same time. [00:01:09] Well, the answer to that is I drive. And chat. Uh, there's not a lot of structure to it, , and a few people have said this week they like the podcast like that, uh, because, uh, they find it interesting to hear me ad libbing. I don't know whether that's, I don't know whether there's merit in that, but yeah, I am ad libbing because driving is the priority. [00:01:30] They also said, uh, John said, I'm sure it's John McCarthy. I hope it is, if not, uh, I'm crediting somebody who's a fictional character. , he also said that uh, he can hear in everything we're talking about just how busy we are here at the studio. And it must be hard to find the time to fit in to do the podcast, and it is, which is why, uh, I am recording while driving. [00:01:52] , but he did also go on to say, he loves it when we do them. Uh, they are really valuable. They don't just disappear out there into the ether. There are lots of you out there in the photographic community listening to, uh, hopefully enjoying, uh, at least to a, a greater or lesser degree, the podcast. [00:02:10] So here we are. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, hello one and all. Uh, I am in relatively. Reasonably slow, fast ish, medium paced traffic, which is not good for me getting home quickly. I've got about an hour and a half of driving, but it is good from a road noise point of view 'cause at this speed, the road noise in my Land Rover isn't quite as, uh, intrusive as it would be. I see. It's not so much the road noise as the wind noise in this thing. I'm just looking at the other side of the motorway and thinking, I'm glad I'm not going that way 'cause it's must have been an accident. [00:03:01] It's absolutely log jammed. Reflections on a Photography Career [00:03:04] Paul In The Defender: Uh, so what have I been up to? Well, it was the awards. It was the British Institute of Professional Photography International Awards yesterday in, uh, Bromsgrove, which is in Birmingham, in the Midlands, in the heart, in the heart of the country. Uh, an absolutely wonderful event. [00:03:20] Lots of our friends and lots of colleagues, lots of photographers, uh, having a drink, having a laugh, and celebrating some of the very best images. That you can, uh, possibly imagine is absolutely brilliant. Uh, I have to say it's my last formal event as chair, uh, of qualifications and awards of the BIPP and I. [00:03:41] I guess I have to just say a quick thank you, uh, to Martin Bains and the guys at the British Institute for asking me to take on the role. It has been the honor of a lifetime. You know, when you start out in photography, I, I was just a kid with a camera. Actually, to be fair, I still probably am, uh, just a kid with a camera. [00:04:02] I've just grown quite a lot older and now earn my living from it. But the enthusiasm and the awe and wonder of what you can do with this gadget hasn't diminished at all in the time since I first picked one up at age, sort of, seven or eight or whatever age I was when my grandfather's, uh, Kodak Brownie. [00:04:21] So to be. Chair of Quals And Awards for the oldest photographic association in the world has truly been the honor of a lifetime and when Martin asked me if I'd take that on three years ago, I think I might have been a bit reticent because I wasn't quite sure whether I could deliver what he needed, but hopefully we've gone on to answer the question. [00:04:42] That was an emphatic yes and he, he and the board let me create a program and methods and standards That I think we can be really proud of. , and at the end of the, uh, sorry, at the beginning of the awards yesterday, so it's the end of my tenure. It's my last one as chair. So it is a, it is a sort of a bittersweet moment for me 'cause I've loved it. [00:05:01] Uh, I'm only stepping down because I desperately need to find time to do a load of other things. And now is the time after three years, all the work we've done, uh, you know, on the, on the judging side for me, but particularly on Sarah. Putting in processes and making sure you can get judges when you need them. [00:05:18] , so I'm gonna say thank you to Martin, thank you to the B-I-P-P-A huge thank you to Sarah. And thank you to all the judges who've judged with me, , who've been part of the team. , hopefully over the coming years I'll be able to stand back on the other side of the line and judge alongside the judges that for the past few years I've been sitting in front of while chairing. Honorary Fellowship Award [00:05:38] Paul In The Defender: , the other thing that happened last night, , so forgive me, this is a very personal. It's one of those things where I don't know quite how to do it, but I'm so chuffed I'm going to tell you anyway. I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the BIPP. So, if you're not in the industry, I guess it's hard to articulate just how rare these things are and what an honor they are. [00:06:04] There's only 26 or 27 Honorary Fellows in the industry. And as of now, I am also one. I already had my Fellowship. I got that in 2011. , Uh, but I now have an Honorary Fellowship, which is, it's been given to me. It's engraved on the thing is for services to the BIPP, which I rather like it. Uh, so it's just a real privilege to be given that, , I never, you know, just being chair of quals was to be honest, gratitude enough but it is still a lovely thing to be presented with. And that will carry with me for the rest of my life, you know. You keep that title, , and I'm so proud. I was so surprised and pleased last night and so proud now. [00:06:50] But I must also just put out there that, although it is me because I'm the photographer, it's my letters. , actually, this particular one has to be 50 percent Sarah. It's Sarah that coordinated the judges. It's Sarah that managed things and runs me. It's Sarah that manages my time. It's Sarah, and even last night, several of the judges were telling me they were sad to see me step down, but actually, , it's Sarah they're really gonna miss. [00:07:16] So, uh, this goes to Sarah more than anybody else. Uh, so that's a huge, huge thank you. Right, traffic's all braking. Good job I've left lots of gaps, that's nice. Right, so, what was today's topic? Key Ingredient for Great Portraits [00:07:31] Paul In The Defender: Today's topic is, , based on a question that a client asked me the other day. So I was photographing a beautiful family, mother, father, nine month old baby, [00:07:42] The weather? Horribly unkind. It was cold and raining. Your perfect blend of the two types of weather that you don't really want to photograph a baby in. However, we did some studio work and the little girl possibly got a little warm and a little bit grouchy, and so we stepped outside just to see if we could get anything and it turned out, actually, just going out into the cool air, uh, sort of, she, completely cheered up so i think she might just have been a little bit warm or she just didn't like being in the environment of the studio i don't know which but out in the cool air so her mom's holding a huge umbrella over her she sat on one of my our doormats from the studio and scattered the front edge edge with leaves so it looks like the little girl is sitting in this beautiful sort of array of leaves but she's actually sitting on a dry mat in the middle of our lawn and beautiful light and of course when you have water around and Those sort of gloomy bluish tones from a cloudy sky actually the colors pop, you get these oranges and greens that are really interesting. [00:08:45] So we got these incredible pictures and, and afterwards we're sitting chatting and it was the, it was my client, it was the dad said, so what is it? He said, what is it that makes, what's the, the one thing you have to have to make a great portrait? Ah, well, you know, you don't ask someone like me to talk about stuff like that, or at least you don't if you want a short answer. [00:09:05] Uh, so of course the obvious answer, , I'm a lighting specialist. , I love portraiture, but I've always been fascinated by light, its qualities, its colour, the, the shadows that it creates, and I think light obviously is a key ingredient, and I think if you were being Purely pragmatic, you'd have to say the one thing you need to create a great photograph is light. [00:09:31] There has to be light because without it, it's dark, and if it's dark, you've not got a picture. So, that's a really pragmatic answer, but it's a bit dull and a bit obvious. And as I'm a portrait photographer, and during that day, I was taking his baby's portrait, and I've taken their portraits before now. It got me on to think, what is it? [00:09:48] What is that primal? Thing that absolutely makes a portrait. And I think it's a relationship. That is my answer. , it's the relationship you form. Oh man, we're in a rolling roadblock. , that's what's going on. , so there's a slow moving, uh, police car or two. [00:10:06] At the front of, , this particular traffic jam, so we're now travelling at 10 miles an hour. Uh, if we, if we carry on travelling at 10 miles an hour, I'm assuming we won't, but if we do, uh, I'll still be travelling home tomorrow. It's going to take us a while. I'm going to assume up, up ahead, somewhere, they're having to clear an accident, and so all of the traffic, we're sitting straight behind, , a police vehicle. [00:10:28] Anywho, uh, let's talk about the relationship. If you're creating portraits, the one ingredient that you cannot get away without to create a great portrait is a connection with your client. [00:10:43] When you connect with your client, when you create that magic between you, , then something happens and yes, you need beautiful light, of course you do, but in that moment, that split second when they look down the lens and you, uh, fire the shutter, if you have some kind of connection with your client, people who see that picture later will feel it. [00:11:08] It's a really subtle thing, but it's all about what happens when somebody else sees the picture. Because remember when you're holding a camera and you grab that shot. The ultimate consumer of the image isn't you. Yes, all right, you've got the camera, there's that moment, you can show the client if that's your particular workflow, , all of these things, but what you're doing is , you're going to show that image or the image is going to be shown by your client to somebody else. [00:11:34] Normally, that's how it works. [00:11:36] And if you've got that magical connection between you and the person in front of the camera, that connection seems to flow out to someone who views the image later. That's where the magic happens, and you really have to do it fast too. , when people come into our studio, we have an entire workflow that is based around getting our client to relax, getting them to feel comfortable. [00:12:03] And we are starting to create a very temporary but very powerful relationship. It's not, it's not a love affair, but it is that sort of some kind of rapport. Where. You can have a conversation, you can laugh, you can maybe learn a little bit about someone, which is always lovely. And when you do that, when you pick up the camera, you, that sort of momentum of that relationship carries through. [00:12:28] So if you tell 'em to look down the lens, it has a, a magic to it if you're tell, even if you're telling them to look slightly to the side or down, that still has a body language to it that feels comfortable. So for me and the kind of portraiture that I love, it's that. relationship that you build, that connection in the moment you hit the button, and that is the most important thing about a portrait, and it's beautiful. [00:12:53] And I said this to my client, and I really hope he sort of thought, oh, okay, that's a, that's a, you know, useful answer. I don't know whether, , I think he might just be making chit chat, same, because it was, he's the client, and so that's the rapport, right? So instead of me asking the questions of it, he was asking questions, , of me. [00:13:11] Anyway, there you go. Key ingredient other than light is a relationship, the connection with your sitter. Masteringportraitphotography.com Launch [00:13:19] Paul In The Defender: I know this is a short one as I'm pottling along, but I also wanted to take the opportunity in this podcast to formally, as much as, you know, anything is formal with me, to formally launch masteringportraitphotography. [00:13:33] com. Now of course the website has been there for an eternity. It's been there pretty much ever since we launched the book. Actually on the book there might be some news coming, but I'll keep you posted if and when contracts get signed. , But the website's been there, it's had sort of content, but we've really only used it primarily for the podcast as its spiritual home. [00:13:58] Yes, there's lots of articles, there've been tons of articles, , but we've never really used it as our first and foremost focus. [00:14:14] Mastering Portrait Photography is now very much in our viewfinder, if you like, if you like the metaphor, and we are pushing a huge amount of energy and content into it. So every month there will be a long form video. By long form I mean half an hour. Video, uh, talking about something, uh, I think the ones that are up there at the moment, like I said, I'm in the Land Rover, and while I did make some notes, uh, prior to clipping on the microphone, I didn't make all of them, so I think there is how to structure a shoot is on there, uh, I think there is how to work in harsh sunlight in there, , I know the one that's on the editing screens at the moment is five ideas for off camera flash, oh, we're all speeding up again now. [00:14:57] We're So it's about to get a little bit more background noise. They must have rescued whatever vehicle it was. , and so, uh, you get one long form video a month. There will also be an article a month, or every couple of weeks, with a lighting diagram. On top of that, there are the frame, room, whatever you want to call them, mock ups, where they are photorealistic Photoshop files that you can drop your own image into, and it just looks like that's how the image was put on a wall. Why do we do those? Well, originally it was to help sell, , wall art to our clients. Because obviously as a business, I need ways of getting them to visualize the, uh, the wall art that I'd like them to have. And the closer I can get it to photorealistic, the better it is. [00:15:50] Because they'll, they can't touch it. Because. That we haven't made it yet. And the old adage in sales, if they can touch it, they'll buy it. , we can't quite get there, but we can certainly visualize it. So that's really good. , and that's why we built them. I built them for my own team and everything about the website, Mastering Portrait Photography.com is of and for us, I built it or we built it to support us as a business. [00:16:17] The articles, some of it came out of the book, but then much of the rest of it. It's been to help train people, it's been to help train my own team when we've got assistants in, , the room mock ups or the art mock ups are entirely built for us. They were built for us to be able to improve our sales, and that works. [00:16:38] Make no bones about it, they work. You can see them, there's hundreds of them, we're building more all the time, , Oh, this bit's bumpy. The thing about recording in a Land Rover is if the road, the M40, as it is, has a rubbish road surface, which it does at this particular bit, , then it gets a little bit shaky. [00:16:56] You can hear everything rattling around. And so we built them to be photorealistic. We built them for us. There's tons of them, but there's actually a by product which I didn't necessarily anticipate. So while I'm building these things, I drop images into them all the time. I go back to my sort of stock of portfolio images, some of my favorite images, my favorite clients over the years. [00:17:17] And I drop them in, , to create, , thumbnails that when you browse the site you can have a look at. , but actually what I've learned, or I'm learning as I go, is how different styles of image work in different types of frame. So certain images work great big on a wall. You know, I think as photographers We're drawn towards the idea of the Mona Lisa type portrait photograph, or at least I am. [00:17:43] I love a headshot. I love a clean, big, bold, you know, almost as if it was an LP album cover. Uh, I think, you know, Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel, that's I'm sure my age, I suppose, , on an album cover, something like that, I think would be just brilliant. But would my client really put that huge on their wall? [00:18:04] Well, they might if it's Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel. They're unlikely to if it's them. Now, they might if they have an only child and they might if it's a picture of a dog. There's some amazing photographers out there doing pet photography and I can, and certainly when we do it too, you know, I can visualize how one of our dog photographs, for instance, might appear in a big frame on a wall. [00:18:28] I was with a client and an old friend of mine the other day and they had a A picture on the wall. It's one of Randall Ford's pictures. , and I know the family and their dogs and, and, uh, the dad. And I just think I could do exactly that with, uh, his dogs and his family. , something big and bold. A couple of frames lined up across the wall, but on the whole, if you are gonna sell big frames, single big frames, you probably want groups in there. [00:18:56] Now, if you've got clients with huge walls and. You know, a couple of kids, you might be able to put individual headshots into individual frames on the wall, and I do have clients like that, and they look stunning, my oh my, do I love it. Uh, but they're not the norm, they're not the norm. The norm is a normal sized house, with moderate sized walls, and if you put a big frame up on the wall, it's either got to be something like a fine art piece, where, let's say, The couple are silhouetted against the wall, small, but there's a big sky or something, , or a picture of a dog, or a picture of, you know, the two kids, or the whole family. [00:19:35] It's highly likely that they're going to want something full of joy and laughter, because that is something that would be appealing at that size on a wall. Similarly, if you're laying up three frames, you can tell a story across them. You can use a different star a different type of image. You can use individual shots in a different way. [00:19:52] For more information visit www. paulwilkinsonphotography. com , if you put three acrylics on a wall, you can triptych across it, so you have one picture that's spread across the three acrylics, and that could look super creative, uh, really, really interesting way to do it, , and all of this, my understanding of this side of it is increasing all the time, because I'm laying out using these mock ups, so on top of them being brilliant as a sales tool for you and for your clients, they're also a really creative thing to play with, just trying different ideas, And seeing how they look. [00:20:25] So that's the room mockups on the website. There's also, of course, the podcast, this very thing that you're listening to, that's the spiritual home for it. Even if you're listening to this on iTunes or on Spotify or on YouTube. The spiritual home for it is masteringportraitphotography.com. Upcoming Workshops and Events [00:20:43] Paul In The Defender: And then the final section, or the main section is the academy. [00:20:47] And this is now where all of our workshops, , are going to be. So, uh, while I'm on that topic, I'll just reel off the workshops that we have already got, uh, to book in the diary. Now these have got, uh, people have already started booking on them, , we only put them up a week or two ago. Uh, so on January the 20th, January the 20th, we've got an Off Camera Flash Workshop. [00:21:14] Uh, funnily enough, one of the toughest topics to teach, uh, but also one of the most rewarding techniques to learn. , so we did, uh, we are in the process of releasing a video on it that will go on, a long form video that will go onto the website, uh, and that is a deep dive into some ideas of what you can do with off camera flash. [00:21:33] I think people are a bit afraid of it because it's, , a little bit technical, but once you get your head around it and what you can do with it, you can do anything from create really natural, almost available light portraits but with stunning light wherever you are all the way through to theatrical halloween images with smoke machines and all of the paraphernalia and they're all in this video and the workshop on january the 20th is going to cover that ground it's Off Camera Flash we may or may not include some continuous lighting but at the moment the plan is for it to be Off Camera Flash but if the delegates ask to also cover continuous light then we could do Some of that because of course every workshop we run we tune it to the delegates We tell you broadly what the topic is going to be and then through the feedback we get in the Early forms that you submit and we can tune it if you want to [00:22:27] It's the joy of having a studio. I guess we can do anything we want to as long as everybody's happy with that on March the 31st, we have a Mastering Headshots Workshop, so As it says, it's all about headshot. It's all about, uh, the, uh, for me, I think one of the purest, most beautiful forms of portraiture. I love doing headshot. They're my favorite, uh, thing to do. [00:22:51] I think it, I dunno why I, maybe it's 'cause I've always been fascinated with faces and a headshot is simply an excuse to photograph a face. So that's headshots on, uh, April the 14th. So the headshots is March the 31st, April the 14th. We have got dogs and owners. We're photographing dogs with their owners for a day. [00:23:11] , Of course, during that we will take some pictures of the dogs on their own. We will also take some pictures of the owners on their own. But primarily it's targeted at how to photograph dogs in conjunction with their, uh, their owners. Why do we do that? Well, most of our clients would wish to have a shot with the dog. [00:23:32] That's the best shot you can get. , not all, we have plenty of clients that just want the dog photographed, but we also have plenty of clients, one in particular of the day, brilliant, oh man, one of my favorite sessions, Vivienne, who has given me permission to talk about and show the shoots. Vivienne came with her dog Dodie, tiny little West Highland Terrier, who contrary to my Nan's West Highland Terrier that used to bite my toes, this dog was the best behaved dog in the world. [00:23:59] PAULWILKINSONPHOTOGRAPHY. COM , followed her everywhere she went, but also would just wander off and get inquisitive and then immediately return. A beautiful dog, beautiful shots, and she booked us specifically for one thing. She said, I can find people who shoot their dog on their own, I can find plenty of portrait photographers, only one photographer came up who quite openly and on the website said, yeah, we can photograph a dog with their owner, and I do it all the time with the hearing dogs, why wouldn't I? [00:24:25] , I think it's a really lovely thing, and the shots of her. They're off the top of the scale. So that is April the 14th, Dogs and Owners. Uh, and then, this is a completely new thing. On May the 12th and 13th, we we have a two day bootcamp Now what's a bootcamp? Well, basically, it's as much stuff as we can fit in over two days. And we get the chance in the evening to have some food, maybe have a drink, have a chat, be together as a group. , We don't have accommodation at the studio, uh, but we certainly have plenty around us. So that will be, uh, two days, , either at our studio or somewhere local. [00:25:06] , depending on what we decide exactly where it'll be. But it will certainly be within a mile or two of, of where we are based two days. That's two days back to back a maximum of 10 people. So it's a few more than our normal. Uh, workshops, but it'll be pretty intense. We're gonna cover all sorts of ground, , using available light, using studio light, using off camera flash, maybe a bit of post production thrown into the mix, again, depending on what the delegates, the delegates would like to cover. [00:25:34] It's gonna be an absolute blast, cannot wait for that one. It's the first time we've run it, , and it's such a smart idea, it's Sarah's idea to do it. , as always, the smart ideas come from Sarah, uh, and, uh, looking forward to that one. That's May 12th and 13th. And then the final one that's available at the moment, right now, is June the 9th. [00:25:52] We are doing our regular jaunt, uh, we're gonna dance to the weather, see what we get, uh, on location in Oxford. Now this workshop, I think, might be, might be my favourite, because it's just me with a camera, with some people to photograph, on a location. That's it. We don't carry a load of kit, don't carry particularly reflectors and lights, we just go and find locations, find light pools and patches, find stories to tell. [00:26:24] We just go and photograph our models in Oxford on location. So that's on June 9th. And all of these workshops are now home, housed, ha ha, can't even say it, are now located, let's try that, are now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. We've moved everything over because that was always what we were building with the workshops. [00:26:50] , originally it was under Paul Wilkinson Photography, uh, but we always knew, , and had, and had a reasonably openly talked about this, Always knew that we'd be moving it across to Mastering Portrait Photography. 'cause that's the place that's all about learning, all about teaching, all about enjoying and exploring portrait photography. [00:27:10] So if you go to mastering portrait photography.com, there's a, a section called the Academy. So there's all these sections. There's The Visual Vault, that's all of the articles. There's The Podcast, there's, uh, The Resources, which is, , the mockups and , tools, Photoshop downloads and things. And then there is the, uh, Academy. [00:27:31] And this is where you'll find the workshops. Exactly the same booking process as before. Everything's as it was, it's just now hosed, ha ha ha, it's just now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. Now, for the articles and the videos and the mock ups, at the moment the mock ups are 9. 99 each, uh, which is already a bargain, there's a few free ones, just so you can get an idea, uh, so they're about a tenner each, , there's a few backgrounds, I'm working on building more backgrounds as I need them, but mostly it's the mock ups. [00:28:02] So they're a tenner, which is a bargain, you can create them, you can put them in magazines, you can use them on your website. It just shows your prospective or your existing clients how their images might look. A tenner. Bargain. However, there's a bigger bargain. I suddenly sound like a salesman. So sorry, it's because I'm driving. [00:28:21] And I want to give you not one, but two bargains. It sounds like that. Anyway, if you become a subscriber of Mastering Portrait Photography, you get access to the videos. , and you get access to the downloads. And you get access, well, to everything we put on there, except the workshops. We charge separately for those. [00:28:39] But you get access to all of the resources for 6. 99 a month, which is an even bigger bargain. So even if you only want to download a few of the room mock ups, it's still better to keep a subscription going at 6. 99 a month. It's less than an expensive cup of coffee. And, uh, we will keep the mock ups coming, we will keep the articles coming, we will keep the videos coming, so you'll always have value for money for your 6.99. If you're feeling a bit more, you know, a bit, you have a bit more conviction, then it's 69 quid, or 69. 99 a year, so that's 12 months for the price of 10. Uh, 10 percent saving, or whatever that is, 2 out of 12. Is it a 10? Yeah, it's a 10 percent saving. Is it? No, it's not. It's, I don't know what it is. It's two twelfths. [00:29:25] There you go. It's one sixth. No! Which is a great saving. My maths isn't good enough, uh, while I'm driving. I can't concentrate. I'm concentrating on the road, as I should be, by the way. Uh, so it's 6. 99 a month, , or 69. 99 per year. So head over to masteringportraitphotography. com, , and we promise, we promise we'll make it worth your while. [00:29:48] Oh, sorry, all of our members also. Uh, you get access to our Facebook community. Which is hidden and private. You can't get onto it any other way. , only people who are part of our community can be in there. And that way people can ask for critiques. People can ask for advice and tips is where we put discount codes for things. [00:30:07] , like software where we have, uh, access to discounts from suppliers, those kinds of things. They all go onto the Facebook community. I know a few of you aren't on Facebook, and if I'm honest, it's not my favorite thing. Because I'm just a dopamine idiot when it comes to social media. Once I'm on it, I can't get off it. [00:30:26] , however, it's the best way to do this to be, so you don't have to log into multiple places to find information. It's on our Facebook community, uh, and most of us have a Facebook account. So you see the, , the alerts come up when things, uh, are uploaded. So that is masteringportraitphotography. com. If you want to find the workshops, Head across there and go to the academy. [00:30:47] You can Google Mastering Portrait Photography Academy or mastering portrait photography workshops. , they're a little bit lower down the rankings at the moment because obviously I've spent my entire life saying just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops and everyone heads over there. So, uh, you might just have to scroll down, uh, one or two line items and we'll be there. [00:31:05] Uh, that will change more and more of you. Uh, search for it and click on the link. So search for mastering portrait photography workshops or Mastering Portrait Photography Academy and you will. Find us. Conclusion and Final Thoughts [00:31:15] Paul In The Defender: And that's it for me. The traffic is free flowing. There's cars going everywhere. The light is dimming. [00:31:20] They're salting the roads. They must be expecting some cold weather. It's a beautiful, beautiful afternoon. It's been a wonderful evening of celebrating photography. I am thrilled, thrilled to bits that I've rounded off my three years with setting up the most incredible monthly photo competition and also, of course, the surprise and honor. [00:31:46] So on that happy note, I hope you're all well, I hope things are treating you nicely, and until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. P. S. Sorry if this sounds a bit shouty, but when you're driving a Land Rover, it's really loud, and I forget that although I'm mic'd up, or I forget rather that because I'm mic'd up, it might sound weirdly, like I'm simply yelling! [00:32:27] That's because I'm traveling at Sixty mile an hour in a Land Rover Defender, so apologies if I'm shouting. Be kind to yourself. Take care. Bye.

Reed Smith partner Gautam Bhattacharyya sits down with Professor Yarik Kryvoi, Senior Research Fellow in International Economic Law and Director of the Investment Treaty Forum at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Yarik reflects on his career journey, highlighting the mentors who influenced his path. The duo then discuss the interplay between corruption and arbitration, the evolving role of public international law in the global legal landscape, and the intricacies of sanctions regimes and their impact on arbitration, before turning to the challenges arbitrators face when navigating these complex issues – and Yarik's love of judo.

In this episode of 'What Was I Made For?' podcast, we delve into the eclectic journey of Freddie Lewis, touching on everything from decaf coffee preferences to aspirations of being a ski instructor, scientist, and professional women's football player. Freddie talks candidly about their shift into music, early songwriting attempts, and their love for Facebook Marketplace finds. With charming anecdotes about school life, discovering their musical passion, and the transformative experience of studying at the British Institute of Modern Music (BIMM), this episode is a treasure trove of insights for aspiring artists. The discussion also explores the therapeutic role of music, queer writing retreats, and the empowering message behind Freddie's artistry. Join us for this engaging and inspiring conversation packed with humor, heart, and a giant cup of decaf coffee. Get tickets to Freddie's Livestream Show: https://bristolbeacon.org/whats-on/freddie-lewis/ Grab yourself an official 'What Was I Made For?' mug: https://whatwasimadefor.bigcartel.com/ Don't miss out on exclusive content and updates by following us on: Instagram: @whatwasimadeforpod TikTok: @whatwasimadeforpod YouTube: @whatwasimadeforpod Send us your thoughts and questions at whatwasimadeforpod@gmail.com Hosted by: Shaun & Rachael Reynolds Music by: Black Prez & Shaun Reynolds © What Was I Made For? is a Reynolds Studios Inc. LLP Production 00:00 Introduction and Welcoming Freddie 01:18 Freddie's Early Aspirations 03:03 Discovering a Passion for Music 06:46 The Role of Social Media in Freddie's Journey 09:23 Support from Family and Pursuing Music Education 16:06 Freddie's Writing Retreat Experience 21:10 Freddie's Transition and Vocal Journey 23:55 Nostalgic Memories of The Streets 24:36 Parental Support and Artistic Journey 26:25 The Drive to Create and Perform 27:50 Balancing Passion and Practicality 28:37 Innovative Tour Experiences 31:45 Funding and Opportunities for Artists 34:15 Exploring Sound Design in Theater 40:29 Advice for Aspiring Artists 46:50 Upcoming Projects and Final Thoughts

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Melvin Nario, MD, HMD, an integrative and homeopathic medical doctor with a diverse background that spans conventional and alternative medicine. With his training in both traditional Western medicine and homeopathy, Dr. Nario takes a holistic approach to healthcare, focusing on personalized treatments that address the root causes of illness. He is particularly known for his expertise in peptide therapies, anti-aging medicine, and integrative oncology, combining cutting-edge science with natural healing methods.  Episode Highlights: Dr. Nario's Medical Journey**: Learn about Dr. Nario's unique path, from his medical degree at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines to becoming a licensed homeopathic doctor in Nevada, integrating both worlds of medicine. Peptide Therapy**: Discover the exciting potential of peptide therapies in enhancing healing, boosting immune function, and supporting anti-aging. Dr. Nario shares how these therapies can regulate hormones, improve cognitive function, and promote tissue repair. Integrative Oncology**: Dr. Nario discusses his work at Forsythe Cancer Center and Bio Integrative Health Center, where he uses a holistic approach in treating cancer, combining integrative methods such as IV nutrient therapies and botanicals with conventional treatments. IV Nutrient Therapies**: Learn about the powerful effects of IV therapies, including NAD+ for cellular repair and anti-aging, chelation for detoxification, and nutritional IVs for overall health optimization. Homeopathy & Classical Medicine**: How Dr. Nario blends homeopathy with acute and chronic care, giving patients personalized, non-toxic options for healing and long-term wellness. Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine**: Dr. Nario shares insights from his work in the field of anti-aging, discussing how modern advancements like peptide therapies and IV nutrients are transforming the landscape of longevity medicine. Key Takeaways: - The science behind **peptide therapies** and their role in anti-aging, cognitive enhancement, and immune support. - How Dr. Nario combines **traditional Western medicine** with **holistic approaches** to provide a comprehensive care plan for his patients. - The potential of **integrative oncology** to enhance conventional cancer treatments with natural and supportive therapies. - Why **IV nutrient therapies** are growing in popularity for both disease treatment and preventive health. es. Connect with Dr. Melvin Nario: - Bio Integrative Health Center: https://www.facebook.com/biointegrativereno/ - Forsythe Cancer Center:  https://www.drforsythe.com/ - Clearfield Medical Group: https://drclearfield.net/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb Be sure to subscribe to our channel for more insightful conversations with experts in integrative and longevity medicine!   BIO Nario, Melvin Ibarra MD HMD Current Address: 6292 Dog Hollow Court Reno NV 89519, melvin_nario@yahoo.com Main Credentials: 1.)    M. D. Degree Doctor of Medicine – University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines 2.)    Licensed Homeopathic Medical Doctor (MD HMD) – State of Nevada 3.)    Internship - Residency Program in University of North Dakota, Bismarck Family Medicine 4.)    Internship in University Of Santo Tomas Hospital, Philippines 5.)    Doctor Of Medicine and B.S. Degree in Nursing, University of Santo Tomas, Manila 6.)    Degree in Acute and Chronic Classical Homeopathy, British Institute of Homeopathy 7.)    Former Medical Director – The Vitality Bar in Fitness For 10 Sparks, Nevada 8.)    Former Medical Director of Bio Integrative Health Center International Reno, Nevada 9.)    Visiting Physician – Forsythe Cancer Center and Clearfield Medical - Reno, Nevada 10.)    Junior faculty physician – American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) Women's Hormone Course 11.)    Vice President of the Nevada Homeopathic Board Of Examiners 12.)    Licensed Advanced Nurse Practitioner and RN, Nevada 13.)    Licensed RN – Philippines Certifications: 1.)    ECFMG Certified 2.)    Certified in the Fundamentals/Advanced Clinical Applications of IV Nutrient Therapies 3.)    Certified Shoemaker Proficiency Partner practitioner for CIRS 4.)    Academy of American Anti Aging Medicine Certifications – Peptide Therapy, integrative oncology, CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) 5.)    IV Therapeutics Certified – NAD, Integrative Oncology, Botanicals, Antiaging, Chelation, Nutritional 6.)    Institute for Functional Medicine  -  Member  Work Experience  8/8/2023 – present: Visiting Physician Clearfield Medical, Reno, Nevada 6/2015 – present: Bio Integrative Health Center International Reno – Health Care Provider (MD HMD) 6/2018 – present: Visiting Physician – Forsythe Cancer Center - Forsythe Cancer Care Center Reno, Nevada   Personalised Health Optimisation Consulting with Lisa Tamati Lisa offers solution focused coaching sessions to help you find the right answers to your challenges. Topics Lisa can help with:  Lisa is a Genetics Practitioner, Health Optimisation Coach, High Performance and Mindset Coach. She is a qualified Ph360 Epigenetics coach and a clinician with The DNA Company and has done years of research into brain rehabilitation, neurodegenerative diseases and biohacking. She has extensive knowledge on such therapies as hyperbaric oxygen,  intravenous vitamin C, sports performance, functional genomics, Thyroid, Hormones, Cancer and much more. She can assist with all functional medicine testing. Testing Options Comprehensive Thyroid testing DUTCH Hormone testing Adrenal Testing Organic Acid Testing Microbiome Testing Cell Blueprint Testing Epigenetics Testing DNA testing Basic Blood Test analysis Heavy Metals  Nutristat Omega 3 to 6 status and more  Lisa and her functional medicine colleagues in the practice can help you navigate the confusing world of health and medicine . She can also advise on the latest research and where to get help if mainstream medicine hasn't got the answers you are searching for whatever the  challenge you are facing from cancer to gut issues, from depression and anxiety, weight loss issues, from head injuries to burn out to hormone optimisation to the latest in longevity science. Book your consultation with Lisa    Join our Patron program and support the show Pushing the Limits' has been free to air for over 8 years. Providing leading edge information to anyone who needs it. But we need help on our mission.  Please join our patron community and get exclusive member benefits (more to roll out later this year) and support this educational platform for the price of a coffee or two You can join by going to  Lisa's Patron Community Or if you just want to support Lisa with a "coffee" go to  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LisaT to donate $3   Lisa's Anti-Aging and Longevity Supplements  Lisa has spent years curating a very specialized range of exclusive longevity, health optimizing supplements from leading scientists, researchers and companies all around the world.  This is an unprecedented collection. The stuff Lisa wanted for her family but couldn't get in NZ that's what it's in her range. 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To find out more about photobiomodulation, current studies underway and already completed and for the devices mentioned in this video go to www.vielight.com and use code “tamati” to get 10% off     Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, subscribe and share it with your friends! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review and share this with your family and friends. Have any questions? You can contact my team through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts.  To pushing the limits, Lisa and team  

So after three days of judging images for the British Institute Of Professional Photographers, it's time for me to step down from my role as Chair Of Awards And Qualifications.  I have been in the role for three years and it is time for someone else to pick up the reins and run with it (if that isn't a mixed metaphor.) I have loved doing this and if it weren't for a million things I have to go on and do, I think I would do it forever!  So as I drive home from my last round of qualifications - possibly the best one I've ever been involved in - here are a few musings of things I have spotted. This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage! Enjoy!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP157 - After The Judging The Exhausting Journey Home So I'm driving home from Birmingham, just in a service station, having bought the most expensive cup of coffee in the world, um, but I need one. It's been a long few days, um, and I am beyond exhausted. Reflecting on Judging and Achievements I've just been judging for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. I was there as chair of judges and quals for the last time, maybe not for the last time ever, but certainly for the last time, uh, in this current guise., it's been three years, I've done it for three years, and I need some time to be able to do some other things, it's nothing more than that, that's all I need, it's just to be able to do some other stuff, because we're building up Mastering Portrait Photography, which, by the way, we actually got another royalty statement through this week, um, for the book, ten years later, and the book is still .selling, I cannot believe it, uh, selling all over the world, and it's such an honor to have something out there that is still ticking over, you know, a few hundred copies, I'd say it might be more than that, but it's hundreds of copies, every year, around the world, it's still in print, after ten years, and while much of the book I would update now, it's still reasonably, uh, current, the pictures certainly stand up for themselves, as do the Uh, all of the notes. I think the one thing I would change is the opening chapter, which is all about current cameras. And of course that's changed in 10 years. They're not at all like that. And that's kind of what we're doing. We're building this incredible website called Mastering Portrait Photography. That is what I always loved, which is images and explanations and diagrams and ideas. And I have a bookshelf from floor to ceiling full of those kinds of books. So, it's time to stop judging for a moment, and I've just spent the past few days doing it. I'm on the M40 heading south. I'm Paul, and this, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, wow, what a few days it has been, and what an honour and a privilege it's been to have the role of Chair of Qualifications and Awards for the world's oldest. Photographic society or association, um, just beyond belief that I was asked to step into that role and it saddens me to leave, particularly after these couple of days because it's been just the most exciting thing. It's been absolutely wonderful, but I have to do it. We have to find a way of getting a little bit more time to do the other things that I need to get to. So. Stepping Down from Chair of Judges I've stepped down, I stepped down a few months ago and said I'd run it to the end of the year, so I've just finished the last set of qualifications that I'll be chairing, for now anyway, and the last annual printmasters competition. I've got one more round of monthly images to, uh, chair the judging for, and then I am done for a little bit. So I'm not done judging, I'll still be judging both for the, sorry, for the BAPP, I'm sure. And for the Societies where I'm going to be in January, we're presenting again in January at the Societies Convention in London. Um, I'm doing a couple of workshops, a couple of masterclasses, but I'm also going to be judging. I'm also leading the judging for the Click, uh, Click Light event, uh, sort of towards the end of next year. I already know that's in the diary. So it isn't that I'm stepping away from judging, it's just I'm stepping away from the role that I currently have at the moment. Um, because it's just too time consuming, it's all I can do. Um, so what have the last few days, uh, been? The Joy and Challenges of Judging Well, we've judged hundreds of images, and I, it is, it's hundreds and hundreds of images. We've judged eleven panels, there are six judges. I chair a team, there's myself and six incredible photographers across all genres, um, of our art form. commercialphotography, portraitphotography, weddingphotography, landscape, wildlife, you name it. Uh, this broad skillset in the judges, um, was in the room. Six just wonderful people, um, and it's that I think I'm gonna miss if I stop judging, of course. It's being in a room with these massive talents who make me laugh and inspire me every time we do it. So we have judged 11 panels. of which five, uh, came out as a fellowship standard. That's the highest grade we can offer is fellowship. Fellowship at the British Institute of Professional Photography. I got my fellowship, uh, 2011, I think. I should know the dates to my own life, but I don't. Um, and I remember then wondering what, where that would take me. What did it mean? And where it's taken me is to where I am right now. We've written a book. I've chaired all sorts of associations, I've chaired, I've been the Chair of Quals and Awards for the, um, for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. Um, I've travelled the world, I've worked on cruise ships, I, just, so much stuff has happened, and it's all thanks, or at least it was triggered, by me doing my quals. Uh, so five fellowships, uh, three licentiates, um, three of the panels we saw of the eleven sadly were unsuccessful, um, but of the others, eight were successful, and a couple of those were uplifts, which means they came in at one grade, and they didn't just get the grade they came in for, um, they were deemed to be so good, they were uplifted to the next level, the next qualification, and they both came out at fellowships. And I've had the chance to see and talk to the most wonderful photographers and their images. One panel in particular really just blew me away. And it's rare that I look at a panel and I wish I'd taken those images. There are panels where I love the images, but they're not really my field or it's just, you know, a different thing to what I do. But this was a panel of portraits of artists and creatives and artisans, famous artisans, some of them unknown artists, others, and the way the work was presented, the way the author was so down to earth and humble about what he did, the way he'd captured characters in a moment in time, the way he'd styled each image in each studio, everything about these images just made me wish. I had captured them and that's how it's left me. But what a way to leave, right? What a way to finish my tenure, um, after three years in the role. What a way to decide it's time, um, and although I'd taken the decision a few months ago that it was time for me to step away, I couldn't have foreseen that the last round of judging that I would chair like this would be simply the best couple of days of my time in the seat. Absolutely. uh, amazing. So as I said, we've just judged the printmasters 2020. I don't know if I did say it or not. Obviously when I'm driving in the car, I'm on the motorway, uh, concentrating on the driving is my priority. Speaking into a microphone is very, very low down the list. Um, so of course I'm making it all up as I go along and trying to remember what I've said. I have no idea. Did I tell you that, um, we've just been judging the printmasters as well as some qualifications? I've no idea. So that's what we've been doing two days, one day printmasters, another day. Quals, the print masters, hundreds of prints, hundreds and hundreds of prints. Insights on Photography Competitions So what have I learned over the two days? Uh, well, let's sort of think of, uh, some things. Firstly, and this sounds obvious, but I'm in the same way that McDonald's print caution is coffee might be hot on the side of their coffee. It's such an obvious thing, yet people don't. So I'm telling some of the obvious things and yet people don't read the rules. Start there. Whatever else you do, read them. Don't ignore them, because we will find out. We have had one image confirmed as being generated by AI. I doubt it's the last. We're gonna see more. The judges spotted there was something not quite right about it, so we dug in. Sure enough, AI. That's not to say there isn't AI we've missed. AI now is so good that if it's presented to us, Unless we forensically check every file, I don't know what else we're supposed to do. Um, we spotted it, we got it checked, that's disqualified. There are others maybe in there, um, that have more than a smattering, um, of artificial intelligence involvement. But, you know, uh, the tools will get better and better and better at spotting it. Um, and maybe it'll get to the point where in all competitions we have to ask to see The original RAW file, but even that, you know, you can fake a RAW file. So, what do you do? Uh, either way, absolutely brilliant. Um, also if it says it has to be a commissioned image, that does mean you can't use images from workshops. Um, commissioned means you had a client who paid you to take the picture, that's what a commissioned image is. And of course, when images of models start popping up, this In a room with six of the most experienced photographers in the UK, there's always going to be one of them that's like, I know that model, I've seen those pictures, I know where that was taken, I know who took that. Um, and so yeah, sure enough, we had to ring around a little bit and find out, um, whether some images were, um, within the rules, um, and the confirmation, uh, came through one way or the other. And of course, just read the rules. Uh, I say this every time I do one of these mop ups. Paper and mounts. Paper and mounts. Paper and mounts. If you have any white paper showing of the printing paper, it's a good idea that the matte is either significantly different in colour to that paper, or is exactly the same as that paper. Um, one of my favourite, um, ways to mount an image, and there were quite a few we've seen over the past few days, The idea behind this was to have a white paper border around the print that sits then inside the mount. So there's a gap between the edge of the actual ink on the paper and then the cut of the mount. It creates a really beautiful sense of space as it sits into the opening. But the paper needs to be the same colour as the mount. Otherwise it looks really weird. I suppose you could have a black mount and white paper. Yeah, that would be fine. But a slightly off white mount and a pure blue white paper probably are not going to sit that comfortably, uh, together. So think about that. Think about how the whole image appears. So what else? The Importance of Mentorship Well, good mentors matter. I might write a title. I might, might, maybe I should write a podcast on that and that alone. Good. Mentors matter. They really do. We can see the work coming through from great mentors. Um, because the panel is considered, the way it's laid out is considered, the image selection is considered, um, having somebody else's eyes on to help you step outside of yourself. The problem is when you're looking at your own images is you are by definition attached to them. You can't get around it. That's the way it should be. You are attached to your own images, which means you're not looking at them objectively, or at least most of us can't look at them objectively. I'm sure there are photographers out there who profess that they can. I can't. I need another pair of eyes on. I have a mentor, and having a mentor is utterly, utterly crucial. Um, someone who can not just cast their eye over what you're doing, but help and shape and guide, give you ideas, bounce stuff off of you. Someone, ideally, who you respect, that you think what they've created and maybe what they can drag out of you will just make you a better photographer. That's your mentor's role. They don't have to necessarily be a better photographer, they have to be someone you respect. Um, so have a good mentor and talk to them. Being meant, I've said this, there's a podcast on this somewhere in my history. That being mentored, being a mentee is a skill in and of itself. It's not just a case of a mentor telling you how to get better. It's you driving that, you asking for the right help. You listening to what a mentor tells, tells you, you deciding what from what they're advising, what to do with it. You won't do everything a mentor suggests because your mentor is them and you are you. You know, unless your mentor is your twin or something, they're always going to tell you things that, well, I can see how that might work for you, but it probably isn't what I want to do for me. That's fine. That's completely fine. As long as it's a rational decision that you're going to do something slightly different. It's not just, nah, can't be bothered because can't be bothered, got no one nowhere. So have a good mentor, listen to them, use them, drive it, uh, and, you know, It just, you can see it in the panels that came through where the mentor, the relationship with the mentor, uh, was incredibly, incredibly good. Staying Current in Photography The next thing I'm thinking of is be current. And what do I mean by be current? Well, the trick, I think, is to love the world in which you work. Look at the art, look at the Tele, films, listen to the radio, be influenced by the world in which you work. Don't just, you know, it's the temptation always, I think, when you do things like fellowships, is to say, well, that's defined me, that's who I am. And we see it sometimes in the work, and frankly, we see it sometimes in the judging, where, um, just because it's always been, So that's the way it always will be. And that's, that's, that's not a great way to be. I don't think, you know, mix with new photographers, new generations of photographers. If you're like I am just that little bit more experienced in the industry, you know, my influences now have to broaden into the younger market because that's not my natural fit. So I've got to get out there and explore what's being created. On channels that maybe just maybe I wouldn't normally gravitate towards. You know, I can't say I am a TikTok king, um, but I do go on there. I do keep an eye on what's going on. I try to learn from it. Um, Insta, I have a big account on Insta, um, which right now is still reasonably current, but it won't be in the same way that Facebook probably isn't anymore. So, be current, be aware of what's on magazine covers or the latest and greatest websites. Have a. I don't know, have a link on your browser that gives you the top ten designed websites in the world at any one time. You can do these searches. In which case, have a look at what they're using as the imagery. As a photographer, that's our job. You can have a style, of course you can. But, you should all, always be absorbing and assimilating. And, some of what we've seen over the past few days, It felt a little bit like it was looking backwards rather than looking forwards and we should represent the future as photographers, not just what's gone on before. Again, I'm not saying throw away the classical techniques, of course I'm not, because they're there for a reason. Cliches are cliches for a reason and rules are essentially just cliches. So don't ignore it, but interpret it in new and exciting ways. Style images. Finish images, use post production, try different things that it would never have occurred to you to do. Just be exciting and be current. Capturing Genuine Connections Uh, for you wedding photographers or frankly anybody who photographs people who are in love, uh, or people I suppose because there's an extension to this, um, one of the things that came up a little bit was a disc or various discussions around whether A couple had been photographed and it looked like they were genuinely and authentically in love. The connection between the couple, um, there needs to be movement in that. It's like choreographing a dance when you have a couple sort of, um, in each other's arms or really close to each other. Don't think like a photographer, what do you want the end, what do you want the shape of them to be? Think like a choreographer and think, what would I like the movement to be? And then as a, as a photographer, think, okay, now I've got the movement and the shape and the emotion and the rhythm of this, what moment do I want to hit the button? Now of course you can pose it statically, that's not a problem, but it should feel alive. It should feel like they're moving, that they are in harmony with each other. There needs to be a connection between them. And then ultimately, there needs to be a connection with you, the photographer. Or more importantly. The viewer who sees the image in the end and to do that they must connect with your camera now You're holding the camera So they have to connect with you and then you have to guide them towards the lens if it's eye contact that you want But there has to be they have to like you and you have to genuinely like them It shows in the images when there's a relationship between the subject and the photographer You can feel it. It's, it's sort of there in the picture. It's there in their eyes and their muscles. It's there in the timing of the shot that you take. It's there in the way their shoulders rise or fall or the way he's not just holding her or she's holding him or she's holding her. Building Connections Through Photography It's the way that they bring each other closer together with laughter or emotion of some sort. So have a connection with your with your subject and get them to have a connection with each other. Um, one of the biggest things I've thought of, I've lost track of where I am, of course, because I'm in the car and it's, the road's busy. The Importance of Entering Competitions Um, but one of the things that occurs to me, it's the most important thing you can do with, um, competitions and qualifications is do them. Actually get off your hands and do them. I know some very good photographers who think that they won't win something or they won't qualify. And they certainly won't if they don't enter, that's certainly true, but if they do enter, who knows? I know some of the categories that came through for the print competition this year were eminently winnable. There are great images in those categories, but I know photographers producing equally good images Who had they simply entered, stood as good a chances as anybody else? Why not? I obviously can't enter because I'm, uh, judging. But with another association I enter all the time quietly behind the scenes. I don't really make a fuss about it because if I'm not entering, if I'm not pushing my style and my techniques, how can I consider that I'm qualified to either mentor or judge others? So I do it too, and yes, it's heartbreaking when your images don't. Well, of course it is. It can be expensive and soul destroying. You know, it's a real problem. But, equally, it can be hugely rewarding. So you, you can't win if you don't enter. You can't qualify if you don't try. Learning from the Process And the process, particularly with qualifications, the process is so much more important than Than the qualification itself, though that is absolutely not , not how it feels. It's only afterwards when you can say these things. You never, anyone if, if anyone's ever going for qualification. Um, and I say to them, um, you know, uh, how do you feel? And they're like, ah, it doesn't really matter. It's just a process. It's a journey that I'm like, no way. No, no, no, no way. I know you are not telling the truth. Why? You wouldn't put yourself through that kind of expense and that kind of pain and discomfort if it was just about the learning. But the learning is the bit of the puzzle. When you look back with hindsight, whether your panel is successful or not is the most valuable thing you'll do. Because that's where the lessons are. That's where the learning is. That's where the development is. The letters give you confidence. The letters help you shape who you want to be. And they certainly, if you know what you're doing, help you market yourself. But they're not a definition of who you are. The process of getting there, though, is, because it gives you, or it shapes, or it demonstrates, I don't know what the right word is, that you have the dedication to your craft, that you're willing to get down and push and push and push to be the very best that you can be. You're never going to be a finished article, or at least I don't think you can be. Using Insecurity as a Driving Force I think every day, I mean for me for instance, I wake up every day it's a mix of enthusiasm and energy and ambition and insecurity. I just think, oh I'm not very good but today I'm going to be better. That might not sound like the most reassuring thing in the world but it is what it is. You know, I've learned to use my insecurities as my driving force. I don't like feeling that way. God, I hate feeling that way. Why would I like feeling that way? You know, I look at some of the photographers out there that are Sometimes massively, they overrate themselves, but they're just hugely confident. And I'm not that guy. That's not my personality. Mine is to feel, I suppose, um, insecure about my work. But I use that insecurity and that sense of, I wish I was better as my driving force. And everyone has their own driving force. You'll have to find yours. I've found mine. I know what it is. I wish it was something slightly different. I wish it was something slightly more sort of positive, I guess. I saw a counselor would ask me why, why have I empowered other people to make me feel insecure or something. I have no idea. I've never been to a counselor, but I'm guessing that it's my, my, the energy that I use, the fire that I have might not be the most positive, um, and reaffirming way of doing things. But for me, it, it is who I am. And it pushes me to do things. It pushes me to try things. It gives me the energy to overcome hurdles and, and create videos or create the website or write a book with someone. Um, terrifying though it is, I just want to be better at it and so I'll keep trying it. Uh, so put yourself forward. The Magic of Light in Photography Another thing I'm just thinking of is the headlamps. Headlamps and taillights are all around me. Is learn how to craft lights, or just as importantly, learn how to see light. Learn how it lands on someone's face, or their figure, or a scene, or a dog, or a cat, I don't know. Saw some of the most exquisite, exquisite cat photography today. Saw some And the author of the panel has learned how to use light to bring out texture and form and character and personality in cats. That's her skill set. It's wonderful. And she's learned how to do it. And, you know, that's where photography stems from. It's all about light. If you're a daylight photographer, learn how to see it. Learn how to observe. Learn how to almost Smell it out. , you know, you see it. You, you, do you ever get excited be, I mean, even now I'm watching a car ahead of me and I can see the pool of light on the road ahead from its headlamps and it's dark in between the Land Rover and him or her, and then there's a pool of light in front of that car. Well, that pool of light might be quite an interesting thing to light somebody in. I spent my life doing that. I can't help it. It's like light is addictive. It's like a drug. Finding good light, or interesting light, or light that might give an effect, when, you know, the cars coming the other way, their headlamps are giving the car I'm following, kiss lighting, because of course it's bouncing off the sides of the metal, and I can see these kind of pockets of light along the side of the car, you know, that's just, oh, that'd be really interesting to photograph someone in that kind of lighting, you know, let's say a, you know, a car's headlamps are probably a bit low to the ground, But if you had a truck or something with overhead lights and you could get them to point down so they're above someone's head but you've got other trucks in the distance where they've got their normal almost ground level headlamps on and they they're going to create the backlighting yeah that could be really super interesting and it's that enthusiasm for exploring light that I think photographers need if they're going to create the truly stunning interesting images. I mean I would say that, I love light. You know, as an Elinchrom ambassador, you'd expect me to say I love light, but I do. I just find it, I don't know why, why, I have no idea why that might be a thing, but I love it. I absolutely love it. And so, yeah, you know, after all of that, I'm sure there's a million things, I'm sure there's a million things that I've missed. And had I spent the time thinking about it and driving home and writing up my notes and recording the podcast properly in the studio, it would sound a little bit better. I'd be jolted around a little less, um, but it probably wouldn't get done because we're so busy just at the moment. So apologies for me doing a Land Rover edition at 70 mile an hour because I can hear it's noisy, but otherwise I was not going to record one at all. Um, the time pressures are now such that I really do have to dedicate more of it to mastering portrait photography, to our website, to building the, um, room mock ups to drop pictures into for beautiful framing, to creating interesting ideas on images and writing up notes on old images. Have I said the videos? I must have said the videos. Oh, maybe I haven't said the videos. Exciting New Projects and Team Members We're creating these beautiful videos. We've got so many news joined us in the team. Katie's joined our team, who's amazing. She's great. She's a real breath of fresh air. She's young. And so she sees the world totally different to me. Um, so, you know, between us, I think, hopefully, it's a two way street. I'll help her understand mostly software. I'm pretty good at picking up software. Um, and so Blackmagic's DaVinci is now another one of the tools that I'm reasonably comfortable with and can get my head around. Um, so I'm helping her get up to speed with that, but in return, she's showing us a young view of creating videos, which there's no way I would have done. Sarah and I wouldn't have done it that way. But I'm really loving having that around. But it takes time. All of this takes time. And, um, running the workshops, you know, we now run regular workshops and they're going to increase. Workshops and Community Engagement Um, because we just love doing them but also it's part of our business model going forward. Um, and to have time I've got to stop doing so many other things that I've been involved in for a while anyway. So, uh, Yep, standing down and it's all for mastering portrait photography. On that note about workshops, we do have a space actually, we've got a mastering studio lighting workshop which is on Monday the 4th of November, so it's a few weeks away, but there's still a space on there. I love this day, I think this day is one of my favorite workshops, um, that we do, where we just play with lights, play with ideas, try things out, smoke machines maybe. GoBos, BigLights, SmallLights, um, HighKey, LowKey, you name it, we just play. Because that's by far the best way of learning stuff. Um, you can do whatever way you want. Some people are bookworms, some people like a video or two. For me, I like messing around, um, and coming up with ideas. So that's on Monday the 4th of November, if you fancy it. Why is it right, when you're overtaking someone, why do they accelerate? Bye. Anyway, um, I don't like motorway driving very much. Everyone's very aggy, people are very aggressive, they just, it's a weird, ever since COVID it seems to be a very weird world. Uh, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I just love playing in the studio, and that's the workshop. So it's Mastering Portrait, sorry, Mastering Studio Lighting, uh, on the 4th of November, if anyone fancies it, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk, or similarly, you can go to masteringportraitphotography.com, and the workshops are in there, in the Academy. The same workshops, but they're in the Academy, uh, over there. Eventually we're going to fuse all of the workshops into Mastering Portrait Photography. There's one single entity, so at the moment they're sort of co existing on the two sites, um, but it's the same workshop. Uh, we will be putting more and more of them up on there. Subscription Benefits and Pricing If you subscribe, actually, to Mastering Portrait Photography, um, it's not a lot of money. It's 6. 99 at the moment, as at the time of recording, it's 6. 99 a month, which is actually the same price as the cup of coffee I've got sitting here in my Land Rover. So it's one very large pumpkin spice latte per month. Um, To join the website, but if you do that, you get an advance notice of the, um, workshops, um, and you get to, uh, jump on them earlier than anybody else. You get to be part of our community, the Facebook community, uh, which we're building, um, making that more and more vibrant and interesting. And, um, you can post pictures in there and people would jump in and give you tips. If you ask for it, if you don't really want it, then, you know, you can just post your pictures for the sheer joy of it. Uh, so that's all part of it. You get to download any of the tools for free, you get to download any of the room mock ups for free, you get to watch all of the videos and see all of the diagrams and there are hundreds of them. I did a count up the other day and it's still like 400 diagrams I think, it's a lot. Um, but the whole site is there 6. 99 a month. If you want to spend it, if you want to spend a little less on a bit of a discount and do it over a year then you can enter the annual one. Um, and so if you pay annually it's 69. 99 for the year. Uh, which of course is about, what's that, 10 percent cheaper. You know, have I got that right? It's 10, it's 12 months for the price of 10. There you go. I don't know what that is. It's a mathematical term. I'm going to have to look that up if I'm going to publicize this. Um, uh, but that gives you a slightly better rate. Slightly cheaper, but also gives you discount codes to the workshops. So not only do you hear about them early, but you get a little bit of a discount on them too. There are a couple of other options on there as well. If you fancy. And no, you're going to book onto our workshops or come to us for mentoring. There's two other options to, uh, for the membership if you want them, um, and you can have a look on our website for that. Just Google or search for Mastering Portrait Photography Pricing, or just head to our website and hit the pricing, uh, link. So that's where we are. Final Thoughts and Farewell I'm just heading south on the M40. Um, I've run out of things that I've remembered to say. That's not that I have run out of things to say. I just have run out what I have remembered to say. to say. So as I thread my, oh that blooming van's just overtaken me again, um, so as I head my way south on thankfully a relatively clear motorway, uh, I'm going to say thank you for listening if you have listened to the end of this podcast. I know it's a bit noisy when I'm driving in a Land Rover and recording it, um, if you're hearing it I managed to at least convince myself that the wasn't too bad, it didn't sound too rattly. Well, if you're not hearing it, it means I've pulled this podcast. I'm not releasing it because it's just not good enough, uh, audio, but thank you for listening to this point. Please do subscribe, wherever it is that you receive your podcasts or you consume your podcasts. By doing so, you'll get to hear the episodes as they come out. So if there are any offers and things, or any last spaces, you get to hear about them first. Uh, you can hear us on Spotify, iTunes, and all over the place, basically. And whatever else you do in the coming weeks, be kind to yourself. Take care.

If you would like to support the Homeopathy Hangout Podcast, please consider making a donation by visiting www.EugenieKruger.com and click the DONATE button at the top of the site. Every donation about $10 will receive a shout-out on a future episode. Ep 80: Animal cases with Brenda Tobin Brenda Tobin Homeopathic Practitioner, Veterinary Homeopathic Practitioner, Certified Canine Nutritionist, Reiki Master, Animal Reiki Practitioner Loving and caring for animals has been a passion for Brenda since childhood.  Her mother noticed this and enrolled her in a High School that offered an animal science program.  Since then, Brenda completed a two year canine nutrition program earning the mark of distinction award. She went on to develop an all natural pet treat for dogs, cats and horses, called Ruby's Naturals. Having been introduced to homeopathy in 2000, Brenda fell in love with this natural and gentle healing modality and became a classically trained homeopath. Additionally, she received a full scholarship to a veterinary homeopathy program at The British Institute of Homeopathy International earning her degree with a grade average of 98 percent. She also earned her certificate in Foundations of Hahnemannian Homeopathy To further her homeopathic education, she was a student at the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy under George Vithoulkas, one of the world's leading homeopaths and author of many renowned homeopathic books. She is a regular contributor to Dogs Naturally Magazine, as well as moderator of their Facebook group, DNM The Pack.  In addition to being a homeopath, Brenda also uses her knowledge of human grade essential oils, herbs, and Reiki as healing modalities for you and your pets. ​Brenda is able to treat you and your pets, ranging from household to exotic, locally and long-distance via phone, FaceTime or Zoom. You can reach Brenda here: https://www.wellnessmattersonline.com/

Well, this hasn't been the easiest of years with inflation, geographical tensions and all-out confrontations, terrible weather and political transitions.  And last night the trusty Land Rover Defender broke down one more time.  Possibly one LAST time. But through all of that, we have to look for the possibles - the light at the end of the tunnel.  But maybe it's us that has to create, rather than simply walk toward, the light.     Enjoy!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP156 - Creating Light At The End Of The Tunnel [00:00:00] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It's Sunday afternoon. It's late. It's getting dark. It's getting dark so early now. Um, Sarah finds it really depressing, but I love this time of year. I love the colors. I love the cool of the air. Though that said this has been well, a weekend of ups and downs. Uh, yesterday we photographed a beautiful wedding. Uh, Hannah and Tom, one of our clients, just the most stunning. Stunning day. [00:00:25] Sarah came with me because it was a bit of a handful. It was a lot of photography to get through far more far, far more. In fact, Then I would have liked to have agreed to. But in the end, it was one of those very complicated weddings where there was family from all over the world. And they wanted lots of different combinations of groups to be photographed in a very small space of time. [00:00:46] But they were the. The most incredible couple, the weather was beautiful. The venue were fantastic. The people there were amazing. And it was just, well, it was just a thrill to have Sarah at working alongside me, which made everything. Okay. Uh, the day before we'd spent with Jake, where. So we've gone up to Nottingham, stayed there for the night, had a wonderful night out and discovered amongst many other things, the magic of a wine bar that has vending machines, kid you not. So you put your card in. Uh, you can get a glass from any bottle of wine you like. And it was all just really, really lovely bit expensive, but really lovely. I also discovered the magic. Now I've not experienced these before I am 55 years old. And have never needed to use them. [00:01:29] Blister plasters. Yep. Blister plasters. So I bought a pair of Converse, uh, decided for a change to have a different style. And it turns out to be a style that cuts the hell out of the back of my feet. Uh, but didn't discover that until two hours into walking around Nottingham. So Sarah, obviously, a bit more used to these things than me having worn heels, um, showed me the glory that is a blister plastic. I'm still wearing them. They're great. [00:01:54] Anyway, an amazing day, a beautiful wedding, the following day. And then driving home. Last night, congratulating ourselves on having done a really good day's work, beautiful photographs, uh, into, uh, on the memory cards. Land Rover all packed up, um, and then proceeded to have a whole series of really irritating road closures, motorway closures queues, culminating in one [00:02:21] that turned out to be well, possibly the end of the Land Rover we're queuing and have been queuing for about half an hour. But by queuing. I mean, we're essentially stationary, just stop starting. And then I went to put it into first gear. Nothing. Absolutely no way of getting it into first gear. I've got my foot on the clutch, lift the clutch, nothing. Put my foot down, the pedal is staying stuck to the floor. [00:02:47] So I've got a couple of tons of land Rover in a single lane queue that no one can get round me. And it's not moving. [00:02:55] Now. I remember an old trick. My dad taught me. And I don't know why. Why this was a tricky taught me because we don't have, or didn't have at that time. Anywhere near where I lived level crossings with no gates, but he said, if you ever get stuck on a level crossing and you can't for some reason, get your car to start, or it's just stalled, put it into first gear. Turn over the starter motor and it will give you just enough power to get yourself out of that situation. [00:03:24] So I just very quickly thought, well, I'm blocking an already irate queue, cause we've all been stuck there for, for hours. Um, I can maybe get it over to the side of the road where I can call recovery. So I turned the engine off, wedged the gear stick into first where the engine, uh, stationary turned it over on the starter motor, which of course with the clutch being permanently engaged now. Uh, rolled the wheels and got me just enough movement to get out of the way of the barely moving traffic and onto the hard shoulder, up to the embankment, where Sarah and I proceeded to look like for the next five hours. [00:04:04] I kid you not it's cold. It's dark. Thankfully, this time. I'm like the last time I broke down like this. It isn't snowing. Uh, but we lay with as many layers on as we could and a high vis vest over the top with our feet. Um, strapped into boots, but also now in polythene bags to try and keep the cold at bay, because it was absolutely freezing. [00:04:23] We're laying on the embankment, up to the rear and above the Land Rover. And anyone who must have seen us and they all must have seen us. Cause we're wearing, high-vis looked like a pair of corpses. Just lying there in the Moonlight. It must've been a strain site, but given the RAC who came to recover us, took five hours and they took five hours, because all of the recovery vehicles were involved in re in, sorting out the crash that caused the motorway to close, which is the reason I was in a queue. So it's one of those very complicated things. But in the end. It culminated in Sarah and I lying side by side, like two corpses in a crime drama. Uh, it must've been a dump site, you know, the kind of thing the police say, wow, this isn't where they died, this must be the dumpsite. Um, and they've left them laying here on the embankment in homage to the Land Rover. I've no idea. I was very glad Sarah was there. Um, so in fits and starts, we slept eventually we got picked up at about, uh, I think it was about four o'clock in the morning, maybe half past four in the morning, um, and then, uh, took the recovery vehicle. The Landrover is right now sitting outside the garage that did the work on the engine earlier in the year. They're going to know the minute they turn up that something is wrong. My suspicion and I hope I'm wrong. Is that the slave cylinder on the clutch has failed because if it has, it means the whole transmission and gearbox has got to come out. And that's a proper, yet another expensive job. [00:05:52] And. I think maybe, maybe this will be the one that says the end of the Land Rover. I'm Paul. And this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast. [00:06:03] Well, hello again. We are back recording the podcast. And once again, it's a tale of woe and drama. Sarah said to me, as I left, she said, you need to record a podcast because you haven't done it for ages. She said, it's all right. It's all right. To feel a little less upbeat than you do normally. And that's just as well this year. I think this year is a year that I'll be happy to get to the end of, we started this year with such energy and enthusiasm. [00:06:50] We thought that. You know, we're getting to the end of the backwash from COVID, everything would pick up, but of course, inflation hit the roof. We've had in terms of weather, just awful weather, which always deflates the mood. We've had a general election In this country, as well as in the states that you're about to have yours and we've already had ours. Which I thought would , would Herald in good news and optimism. Um, you know, I think it was time we had to change. There's no question about that. And no matter which side of the politic line, uh, you prefer, there's no question at all that we needed to change, but that changed that the good news side of that hasn't lasted particularly long. Um, Inflation is still high. [00:07:28] The weather is still crappy. Seriously, we've had nothing but rain. I was so blessed with the wedding on Saturday. Um, the sun shone, and it was glorious. It was dry. It was warm enough. Um, it was just beautiful light. But that has not been the story of this year. The amount of water around us, just at the moment. [00:07:48] And nobody's thinking when they wake up and read the news about the terrible weather, the terrible economy. They're politicians causing just all, just doing stupid things. You know, inflation, um, the stuff going on in the middle east or stuff going on in, on the Russian borders. You know, very few people are gonna wake up and think, oh, with all of that news do you know what I need what I need is a photographer. It's uh, there's work around, but it's just not the year we thought it would be, this is not been. A vintage year for photographers. [00:08:18] And he really don't have to ask very far to find that out. Now we've done. All right. If I'm honest we're probably bucking the trend, but we have had to work, ah, back-breaking hours to do it far harder then we've had to work any of the year. It won't be a record breaking year, that's for that's for sure. But it will be good enough somewhere in the middle of our regular numbers, but we have worked tirelessly to do it. Backbreakingly tirelessly. [00:08:47] I cannot remember feeling this tired though, having said that. I've just spent the night laying on an embankment in the freezing cold, trying to get some sleep. Maybe that's why I'm feeling. I quite so tired, but even talking to the videographer. Uh, on at the wedding on Saturday, he was talking about the bits of the industry in his region because we were working out of region and he was saying the same thing. [00:09:10] There's just. It's just been a tough year. There. Aren't the number of weddings. For instance, if you're a wedding photographer. Um, and there isn't the money sloshing around at the has been, um, Sort of in the industry with our clients because our clients are under the same pressure as we are. I was trying to work out our operating costs. Um, on things like, you know, albums and frames. [00:09:32] And I think on average, somewhere in the region of 15 to 25% increase, over two years. And if you put that into the context of running a business, And, and also assume that your clients are having exactly the same problems with their day-to-day expenditure. It means that we're running a business that's less profitable than it would be if we don't change our prices, but at a time when people have less money to spend. If we did increase all of our prices and of course we're all juggling that particular set of requirements. [00:10:04] Uh, and on top of that, of course, one of the reasons we're also feeling tired. Is we're still running workshops. Uh, I'm still at the moment, the, uh, Chair of awards and qualifications for the British Institute of Professional Photography. [00:10:17] But. Um, I mean, big news on that one is I am stepping down from that role at the end of this year. Now I've loved every single second of the past three or so years I've been in this seat. [00:10:29] Uh, I've done everything that I wanted to do. We've organized it. We've got the standards where I wanted them to be, so that they're rock solid. You can trust if somebody got the letters after their name from. The BIPP then they've earned them. Um, and that means that we have real cute OSS in the industry. It means it's something that people really want to attain. [00:10:49] And that's, I guess what I wanted to be able to do. But I also loved being a mentor. And while I was chair of one of the qualifications bodies, it's very hard. To be a mentor because it can be really easily accused that I might be, um, swaying results or influencing the outcome of judging. [00:11:08] So I took the decision when I accepted . The chair of judge's role that I would not to do any mentoring towards qualifications or anything involved with people wanting to enter the competitions and things, because it just, it didn't look great, [00:11:21] But it's something I've always. Really enjoyed doing so it's something I can return to. I'll get a chance now to actually enjoy looking at other people's work, um, guiding, nurturing, you know, also spending some time developing our own work because you need at the same time, I need the time to dedicate to our own businesses for a little bit. [00:11:41] So I'm stepping back. At least, you know, in a frontline role. Uh, from, um, the chairing side of the BIPP. Hopefully I'll still get to judge, but I certainly won't be chairing it. Uh, we're still running the workshops, of course, on that note, uh, I think we have just two left this year. . [00:11:58] So the thing without podcast is our podcasts have a very long lifespan. [00:12:03] People are listening to podcasts from sort of six or seven years ago. Uh, but as of right now, which is the 28th of September, I think. Hang on a minute. Which I can't believe I had to go look that up on my screen, the 29th of September. Uh, 2024, we have two remaining workshops in our diary. I think there's one space left on each off the top of my head. [00:12:26] Uh, on the 4th of November, we have Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting, which is, I might actually have become my favorite workshop to run because we just play: we play with lights. [00:12:40] We play with ideas with form. Uh, we play with shape and color. We play with the smoke machines that people want to, we play with continuous light if people want to. Um, of course, as an Elinchrom Ambassador, that nearly all of it is geared around strobes. You name it? If it's in the studio, we can do it. And I absolutely adore this workshop. [00:12:59] I think there's a space left on that last, the 4th of November. It's an all day course. Uh, all day workshop, sorry. Uh, and then the second one we have, which is a brand new workshop. We've never tried this before and we'll see how this goes. Having spent the night lying on an embankment last night, I'm not so certain. I want to be outside at night for a while. However, it's at the end of November 25th. Of November. We have a mastering day and night workshop. Now this workshop. Is one, uh, I think it might've been Sarah's idea. Uh, If it's successful. It was my idea. If it doesn't work, definitely Sarah's idea. [00:13:36] No, I think it was Sarah's idea and I think it's a great idea. Uh, Mastering Day and Night. So we start unlike most of our workshops where we start at sort of 9, 9 30 in the morning. That this one. We're going to start straight after lunch. We're going to spend the afternoon working with daylight and then as dusk falls. We're going to work with a nighttime scene. [00:13:55] So it's not really a, it's not studio lighting, but we might use some lighting. Depending on what the delegates want. So we're going to mix it up a little bit. We're going to spend a half the workshop working with available daylight and half the workshop working with a combination. Um, of available light, which of course won't be daylight, but it might be street lighting. Um, or light coming from people's porches and those kinds of things working around the village. [00:14:21] We'll also have some lights with us. Just as I did at the wedding yesterday, I see. In this slide. Here's an aside. Uh, yesterday working with the videographer I had in the land Rover. Uh, I had to Elinchrom threes, which I thought we would work with. Cause I love them. Absolutely amazing lights. And I thought we'd do some stroke work. Um, but I also had a pair of aperture. Uh, continuous focusing, uh, spots, focusing spotlights led spotlights. [00:14:47] They really quite chunky. Um, and they throw off who wrote the most beautiful light as well. Um, and so I said to the videographer, um, we might do some nighttime photography and he looked a little bit glum and he said, yeah, you mean with strobes? Don't you? And I said, well, do you want to do anything with it? [00:15:02] So, yeah, I'd really, I'd really like to be able to capture some of that. So I'll tell you what, why don't we run the two spotlights were run continuous lighting for this one. Because working with a videographer, it makes it a little bit easier for you. Um, and while I'd still prefer to be using my Elinchrom Threes, there's no reason why we can't do something at least similar. Um, with continuous light, so threw a spotlight and had a play at night. [00:15:23] And the reaction from Richard, the videographer. It was just brilliant. He took one for, oh, it's not a photo who's doing. Slow-mo. High-speed video. And he just went. Wow. [00:15:36] And then everything I set up, he wanted. Like sort of five seconds of slow motion video of it. Um, moving around cause you get lens flan, all of those things. So we were creating very similar vibes that you can do with stills and a strobe, uh, with continuous light and uh, in his case with video. So it was quite exciting to do that. Um, anyway, back to Mastering Day Night, we will be using a mix of different lighting, maybe a bit of off-camera flash, depending on what people ask for. [00:16:00] Um, Now. On the topic of workshops next year, we're looking at. Um, some new ideas and that if there's anything you'd like to, uh, like us to host, so you think would be fun, then please do drop us a line. You can always get ahold of me on paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot code at UK. That's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk . [00:16:22] If there's something you can think of that, do you know what it'd be great. If you could run a day on whatever it is. As long as it's photographic people, not animals. And not buildings, not landscapes. I'm not good at all of those things, but it's photographing people. Uh, understanding light then of course, why not drop us a line? [00:16:41] Um, one of the ones we're already looking at, and this I'd be curious if anyone's interested. Um, we haven't got dates for these yet, but we are looking to do. A two day workshop. That's a back-to-back workshop. Um, Now I don't yet. So we haven't quite worked out yet. What will go into those two days, but we know, we know it's just going to be. Uh, blast. And of course, with it being over two days in the interim evening, we get to sit. Have a meal, maybe have a few drinks. And chat about photography and not quite sure. Um, what the format will be. [00:17:16] My guess at this stage is, uh, the very least. A day and a half of photography and then half a day may be. On workflow or maybe on Photoshop or maybe on Lightroom. Uh, maybe the use of AI tools, which of course are now a considerable part of all of our workflow. I don't know. I honestly don't know. We're still working it out um, for those of you who are part of our workshop community people who've been on our workshops. We've sent you a quick survey. Um, which we'd love to hear your thoughts on for those of you who listened to podcast, but never been on one of our workshops. Again, if you have an idea, and you think that might be fun to come along to, uh, please do drop me a line.paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk . Uh, of course alongside all of this. And another reason why you might hear the fatigue in my voice. I think today I can be excused. All right. I think today. I'm allowed to sound a little bit weary because having laid for five hours on an embankment next to a slow moving motorway. Um, until like four or five in the morning. I think I'm all right to feel to, to justifiably sound a little bit fatigued, but we're also running a couple of different businesses and one of the things we're still working on and I'm still reworking is the mastering portrait photography website, still a few bits to sort out. [00:18:36] So those of you. Who do go on and off the website, apologies for things moving around as we're doing this. , I had an email the other day that said, do you know your shops down? Um, and for every user that I tested on the shop was just fine. Uh, but for just one or two uses, not so much. Um, I had to go digging around in some code. Uh, to find a one-line and do you know what it turned out to be? [00:18:57] It was a line I'd put in to debug the rest of it. The rest of it was fine, but the line of debug code was glitching. It's just. Oh, I hate it when that happens. It's an old school. Uh, cockup . When you put in test code and it's the test code that causes the problem. Uh, so never mind apologies for that. [00:19:16] Uh, so. But we will keep you posted. There's lots of new articles and there's going to be regular videos and all sorts of. Uh, features on their rolling forwards. Uh, sad news this past couple of weeks, is that the incredible NPhoto magazine, which I just loved writing for has stopped publishing. What a shame I'm gutted about it. [00:19:37] I've loved every time they've asked me to write for them. And so it's just been, um, I dunno, it's just been part of my monthly activities is to sit down. Tapping the, uh, figurative pen on my teeth and wondering what to write. And of course it being about Nikon and my love of Nikon. It's been a real pleasure to do, however, as with all of these things, when doors close, other doors open and it looks like there's a chance, at least that I'll be writing for an even bigger online title. Um, They approached me. Um, some of the same editors were involved in the new, well, not a new sites and established site, but they've moved over from their role at NPhoto, into new roles. Um, and they reached out to see if I'd be interested. In putting together some ideas to write for that. [00:20:25] So. Um, like I said, you know, some doors close and while I'm really sad and photo has gone. Um, then, uh, maybe just maybe another door is, uh, opening. I've just got to figure out what angle to take on it, because it's a really open, brief, as long as it's interesting. Um, then he said, I can pretty much talk about anything. [00:20:44] I like. So, whether it's business or techniques may be creative ideas, I don't know. Um, the state of the industry, AI post-processing. I honestly don't know, but one thing they have said. Is I could do with writing some things that are slightly contentious, at least in the sense that they can create a little quote that, uh, will get people out of bed and engaged . There's some ways, many of the things, um, I'm not that good acts. [00:21:11] I don't know. That I'm particularly contentious. I did get in a, it was a wonderful review. We had at one of our workshops through the day. Um, and the review said. It's just great. And he said he really appreciated the fact that I was ever so slightly irreverent sometimes. Uh, which I think is about as far as I would get, I don't know. That I'm known for being particularly contentious, but it might be something I have to get my head round. [00:21:37] They also said I'm going to need. Good headlines now, for those of you who are regulars with the podcast, you'll know that one of my weak spots is I'm not very good at writing. Headlines. That's just not my scale. Just definitely not good at it. I try I've even tried just one of the few things that I've tried, getting chat, GPT input on. [00:21:56] So dear Chat, GPT. Uh, please give me some, uh, I dunno, punchy headlines for this article. And when it comes back with just they're even worse than the ones that I write. So I've come back to writing my own. Um, that's definitely not my skill and the editors I've been working with whenever they've taken my articles, they've written far, far better headlines than I ever have. [00:22:19] So hopefully they'll look after that, but it was there. In the brief. Um, so, you know, I'm gonna have to learn some new skills, enough to be a bit contentious. I want to write some better headlines. I'm just gonna have to get my head down and, learned some new stuff, but here's the point. No matter just how rough this year has been. [00:22:37] And I think in some ways, at least psychologically, this has been a tougher year than some of the ones we've been through recently COVID well, that was out of our control. Um, coming out of COVID. Well, everybody knew it was going to be tricky. But now, with so little reason for it to be quite so tough. [00:22:59] At least there's no. I mean, I know there are reasons for it. I'm not saying there aren't. But it just feels like there should have been a better year. But at the end of the day, there's only so long people can be depressed, whether it's me, whether it's my team, whether it's our clients or whether it's the bigger world, the greater world. In general, there always has to be. Light at the end of the tunnel, but here's the but, weirdly. I suspect that light at the end of the tunnel is the light that we put there ourselves. It's almost like a mirror being held up. So that it reflects back the light that you have to generate, and that's not an easy trick, particularly when you know, I'm facing yet another land Rover breakdown and possibly the Last land Rover Defender breakdown. [00:23:50] I'm not entirely certain that at the end of this year, we'll still have a Defender. I don't know how I can have a car, that I'm worried is going to break down every time I head out on to a gig. Um, But it is the trick that I'm going to have to master, to be, to have light at the end of the tunnel. It will be me that has to create it. [00:24:09] And it has to be reflected back at me. I have a suspicion. That's just the only way to do it. If you can't create the light, there's nothing out there to run to. And I intend to run towards the light. So in spite of the rain, the time pressures, rather buggered, Land Rover Defender. Ultimately it's down to me. To shine, a light that I am running towards, and I'm going to choose that light. [00:24:36] I'm going to make that light. I am gonna look for the new opportunities. I'm gonna. put, together new workshops. I'm going to focus on all of the new opportunities that are thrown up over the past couple of weeks. Um, I am loving running the workshops and they are going to get bigger and stronger and more exciting. [00:24:52] I'm loving making the website changes. To Mastering Portrait Photography, the videos that Sarah, myself and Katie are creating. Um, the time I've had to spend with the kids. And of course the incredible clients that we've been able to work with and the images that we've created so far this year, and the many more. There are to come. [00:25:12] That's the light at the end of the tunnel and that's what we're creating. [00:25:17] The team around me are well, frankly, fantastic. And one thing from last night is unexpectedly lying under the stars. I was lying under the stars with my wife, Sarah, who is to me. my savior. It was just not lovely. I'm not going to say it was lovely because it was so cold. Um, and so slightly depressing. Um, however, if I was going to be there with anybody, it would be there with Sarah. And so for me, that's a little high spot in what was otherwise quite a dark. Uh, at cold night, [00:25:46] On that note, I need an early night now as I haven't had any sleep. And I have to be up early yet again. To go and explain why yet again, I'm not really happy that my clutch has failed. Less than eight months after having the entire engine and transmission, replaced. But whatever else you're doing. In this cold weather. Shine a light and be kind to yourself. [00:26:10] Take care.

Send us a textIn this insightful episode of the "KBB Unstoppable Business Owner Podcast," Kevin D Bannister sits down with Damian Walters, the CEO of the British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom, and Bathroom Installation (BIKBBI). Damian shares his unique journey from working in retail at MFI to founding BIKBBI, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving standards within the home improvement industry.Damian discusses the motivations behind leaving a stable career to start a non-profit and how his passion for making a positive impact led to the creation of BIKBBI. He reflects on the challenges and opportunities of running a non-profit organisation, especially in a sector that traditionally focuses on profit-driven models. The conversation touches on the importance of addressing the skills gap in the industry, highlighting the critical role of apprenticeships and training programs in preparing the next generation of tradespeople.The episode also explores the future of the home improvement sector, considering the need for regulation and the potential benefits it could bring to both consumers and tradespeople. Damian talks about the organisation's efforts to integrate technology and AI to enhance operations and improve services, emphasising the importance of innovation and adaptability in navigating economic and political uncertainties.Throughout the discussion, Damian offers valuable advice for business owners on the importance of investment, even during challenging times, and encourages a mindset focused on growth and adaptation. His insights provide a compelling look at how to lead with purpose and resilience in a rapidly evolving industry.Join Kevin and Damian for a thought-provoking conversation that sheds light on the intricacies of running a non-profit in the home improvement sector and the future of kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom installations. This episode is packed with practical insights and inspiration for anyone looking to make a difference in their industry.Damien Walters from British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom, and Bathroom Installation (BiKBBI)  https://www.bikbbi.org.uk/ We hope you enjoyed this episode of The KBB Unstoppable Business Owner Podcast! If you found it valuable, please consider rating and reviewing our podcast on your favourite platform. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners like you. Don't forget to share this episode with your friends and colleagues to spread the word! How to Leave a Review: Apple Podcasts: Scroll to the bottom of the podcast page, tap "Write a Review," select your rating, and write your feedback. Spotify: Tap the star icon under the podcast title on the main show page. When you are ready here are 3 ways you can get more help/support: Join our workshop on How To Become An Unstoppable Business Owner. Download "The KBB Unstoppable Guide" and put an end to being overworked, low fees, and finally be paid what you're worth, starting today… Connect with me on LinkedIn - send me a message and say hi, I would love to find out more about you and what kind of support you may need. Connect here

In this week's episode I got to chat with California based architect, Michael Bohn. Michael is an architect and advocate for preserving historic buildings. During the episode he shares his journey into the profession and his passion for adaptive reuse and affordable housing. He discusses his activism and preservation efforts, including chaining himself to a building slated for demolition. Michael's firm, Studio 111, focuses on creating community and revitalizing overlooked areas through adaptive reuse projects. We also chat about the importance of sustainability and leveraging the existing character of buildings in adaptive reuse projects.Links:Studio 111 websiteStudio 111 WorkplaceJergins Trust buildingTangible Remnants on InstagramTangible Remnants WebsiteLinkedTr.ee for resourcesEarn CEUs for listening to this podcastSignup for Ask Me Anything w/ Nakita ReedGabl Media NetworkSarah Gilberg's MusicBio: As Partner of Studio One Eleven, Michael Bohn, AIA, takes an integrated approach to architecture, landscape, and urban design. One of his focuses is on the studio's housing practice with an emphasis on modular, transit-oriented developments, affordable housing, and adaptive re-use projects. His experience includes supportive, student, and market-rate projects that serve seniors, families, artists, and the homeless. A sustainability stalwart, Bohn led the development of the firm's Downtown Long Beach headquarters to LEED platinum and WELL gold certifications and is currently pursuing Net Zero Energy. In addition, he established an awarding-winning landscape studio and co-established an urban design practice that uplifts underserved communities. Bohn received his Architecture Degree from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau France, and worked at the State Archaeological Camp in Hampi, India sponsored by the British Institute. He is a licensed architect with over 35 years of experience and is a Board Member for the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Urban Land Institute Affordable/Workforce Housing Council, and the American Institute of Architects California. **Some of the links above maybe Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you.**

Ah, so it's the 4th July as I record this so Happy Independence Day to all my US friends and colleagues!    In this episode, I do my regular round-up of things I've heard during judging - I was chairing the Click Expo Print Competition (the standard was incredible!) and I made a few notes from this and a few other things I've been involved in.   I mention a couple of products and here are the links: EVOTO AI - https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson (if you use this link, you'll get 30 free credits!) ACDSee https://www.acdsee.com/en/index/  DXO - https://www.dxo.com/   Enjoy!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP154 - A Bit More Different (And Other Thoughts On Judging) [00:00:00] Introduction and Warm (Water) Review [00:00:00] So, let me read this out to you. I'm loving this podcast. It's like sitting in a bath of warm water in that the subject matter is gently flowing over you in a warm, friendly, soothing way. When I get to the end of the series, I'm going to start again. I think Sarah sends it to me, so I'm assuming it's on iTunes. So thank you to Skinny Latte via Apple Podcasts. Yes, it is. It's Apple Podcast. Who left that review. It made me laugh. I've never, ever. I don't think been compared to a bath of warm water, but Hey. It certainly, it certainly made me smile. And I will take a review worded like that. Poetry in its finest, in its finest watery form. [00:00:43] Podcasting Challenges and Episode 154 [00:00:43] I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:00:49] Well, I blew that ambition out of the water. Didn't I, the let's do one podcast every week for the rest of the year. Uh, I've barely managed three or four, I think. It has been just one of those. years, this is episode 154. And really it's just been busy. [00:01:23] As I record this, it's the 4th of July. So, happy 4th of July, to all of our American. Listen is in so many ways. The 4th of July might be something of an independence day for us too certainly with a little luck, a day of change. [00:01:37] Busy Year and Listener Feedback [00:01:37] Um, it's just been really busy in a year like this everything's working really well, but we're having to work that little bit harder to get there. Everything's a little bit more expensive. Clients have a little less to spend and somebody wrote in the other day. And said that they were waiting for episode 154. And partly because having the podcast, this podcast out there, from someone who is living and breathing the same industry that you are. It's feeling the same things that you are going through the same processes, the same client experiences that you are is comforting. [00:02:11] And just knowing that they're not alone. So here is episode 154. In that sense, I think we really are. Um, a market, we're a collective of individuals. We're all going through the same thing, but on our own. It's useful to know. Uh, that there's other people out there going through the same thing. So I don't sleep very much. Uh, we're working flat-out I love every second of it. [00:02:35] Don't get me wrong. Having having a camera in my hands is just the most natural thing in the world. So, and taking pictures for a living. Well, I couldn't ask for a better way to put food on the table, but that's not to say it isn't really hard work. And in fitting in all of the other things that seem to have crept up into my world. Um, it just takes a little bit of time. [00:02:58] So apologies that the podcast has been a little bit more sporadic then I would have liked. Uh, before I get any further, I would just like to say thank you to everybody that filled in the questionnaire that Sarah has sent out. Um, It's really, really, really interesting. The data in it is incredibly insightful. [00:03:18] And what we're trying to understand is what do we do with Mastering Portrait Photography? How do I push it and prod it and coax it forward? Um, we're due to give a really big kick this year? That's what we're trying to do, but at this stage we weren't entirely certain where to focus. So we now have an awful lot of really insightful, useful data. And the biggest thing that's come up is that it's well-worth. I know that sounds really bizarre. You know, I know people read our articles. [00:03:48] I know people like the diagrams, our stuff is out there in Professional Photo Magazine. And this month also, In Digital Photography Magazine, you want to pick up a copy of that. On the news stand of a Professional Photo. Uh, it has gone all Digital, but Digital Photographer. Is there a paradox there that professional photo magazine is now all digital, but Digital Photography magazine, you can pick that up on it. I can't. I think there must be a paradox in there somewhere or an irony. Maybe it's an irony. I never entirely certain. The difference between an irony and a paradox. Anyway, anyway. Um, thank you to everybody who filled that in. Uh, I was due to record his podcast. This podcast was meant to be. It was meant to be a podcast from the land Rover. Uh, but it's been a very hot day. [00:04:33] I was working. A two hour drive away. So two hour drive, half hour shoot, two hour drive back, and I was going to record one, maybe two podcasts. Um, weirdly the Landrover was more rattling than usual because, and I don't know why there is a toaster in the foot well. You know, when you get into a car and you, you, you drive away and you can either clanking rattling. There's a little Chrome toaster in my foot. [00:04:56] Well, I need to pick that up with my son. Uh, anyway. [00:04:59] Family Pride and Personal Updates [00:04:59] On the topic of kids. Both my kids. I know. It's got nothing to do with photography, right. But I'm a dad and you can't help, but be proud of your children and this couple of weeks. I am beyond proud. Uh, today. Jake got his degree. Uh, Sport Technology from Loughborough University. [00:05:18] So you got a two, one. Uh, degree in BEng. In it's literally engineering with balls, there's no other way to describe it. That's what it is. They study balls and things with which to hit balls. Cricket bats, baseball, bats, golf clubs, football boots. And then they also, uh, research things like, uh, helmets. [00:05:37] So when the ball hits you, it stops you being an unconscious cricket player or backstop or whatever. Uh, so truly, truly a magnificent result for him really, really proud of him. [00:05:49] And just as proud of our daughter who has for the past few weeks just started her new job, working in London for one of the biggest creative agencies, creative marketing agencies. In the UK. Um, as a creative account manager. Uh, she's just going to tear the world apart. She's super organized, super creative, super lovely to work with. [00:06:10] She's a grafter and I could not be prouder of both of them. So forgive me for saying that and giving a shout out to my children, but Hey, my podcast. You don't have to listen to it. Uh, so where are we? Right, it has been a very busy. Uh, I think it's about six weeks since I've done an episode. [00:06:28] Workshops and Masterclasses [00:06:28] Um, so I cannot I've lost count. I usually I'll give you a quick count up of everything we've done. Numerous hearing dogs shoots a load of workshops and one-on-one master classes them. I just. Do you know what? I never thought. I honestly never thought I'd enjoy running workshops and masterclasses as much as I do. There's something. And I don't know why, but there's something really thrilling about being in a room with a few people who genuinely want to, uh, take ideas and create ideas and push boundaries and try things and discuss things. Um, and that's turning into actually a really, really, for me, a really rewarding part of our business. [00:07:10] And I never, I don't know if I ever really expected that. It's, I'm certainly not one of those people. That I want, you know what, I really love doing training because it's giving something back. It's none of that. It's not that at all. There's just an incredible buzz. Of a group of people working towards creating an image and explaining. And understanding and learning how things work and why more importantly, why we do things, why it's always, everyone tells you what. You know, when you look at things online, everything's about the what and the how, but why, why do we do things? [00:07:42] Why do we approach. Light the way we do why'd we approach the camera settings the way we do. Why, why, why, why, why? I just find the Y. So much more interesting than the what and the, how. And I think probably more valuable because if I understand why then I'll do it. If I understand the what I won't necessarily do it, it might be a useful tool or it might be a useful technique. But if I don't really get why I'm doing something, I will bin that off as just not useful. [00:08:12] But if I understand why there's a rationale to why. And so all of our workshops and masterclasses now are premised on why. Anyway, that's a slight aside we'd last week we had a couple of students work placement students that are. Uh, 15 year old and a 17 year old. Two brilliant. Uh, young students who had approached us to come and spend. A few days with us in the studio. [00:08:36] Military Photoshoot and Student Experiences [00:08:36] Uh, they came with us to the hearing dogs for shoot. And then we did, um, a shoot here, uh, with, um, a guy in military uniform. Um, it's one of those, the shots. Uh, this was the perfect sheet for me. Um, a guy said, I want to do something. Really sort of vintage modern cameras, modern lighting, all the rest of it. But he sent me a couple of pictures that must've been taken. [00:08:57] I'm going to guess in the 1940s at, I don't know the exact date, but I'm guessing around there from the style, my grandfather. Both my grandfathers had pictures like these in their military uniform. There's something about the way it's lit. Something about the way it's styled something about the way it's posed and finished. [00:09:13] And of course it's on film, black, white film. And he said, I want to, we create these, but you know, he's a, he's a soldier. He's at the very top of what you can be if you're a noncommissioned officer. Um, and he wanted to celebrate that moment. And so we photographed these incredible images and there was a moment in the shoot, where literally the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I realized what I was looking at with the same pictures that I would have seen of my grandfather's the same styling, the same vibe, same feel. [00:09:47] And it's a sort of, it's an almost indescribable styling that makes all of that hang together. Anyway, it was absolutely wonderful. And I would love to share them. But I can't because he works for one of the top secret, um, units in the military. So I've got these beautiful pictures. It's of a guy that I can never tell you about and never show the pictures. I can tell you I did the shoot because it's of course nobody knows. Uh, but it's a real shame, but I really, really, really enjoyed it. [00:10:14] So now looking around for anyone with a military uniform of the similar style, That we could do something that we could do something with I can share. So if there's any of you out there who have, uh, retired from the military, but still have your number two uniform. I'd love to. Uh, love to take some pictures just for the sheer joy of doing exactly the same thing, but then I can share them. Uh, I think the students really enjoyed it too. [00:10:38] And then the day after that, a brilliant magician . I've worked with Sam strange. Probably for 12 years, I think now. Um, incredible magician. Part of the Champions Of Magic him. Uh, Young and Strange, he works as part of a duo with Richard Young. Uh, but this was a shoot just for him. Sam Strange, wonderful guy just playing. I'm so lucky in the studio that the human beings that come in here. Uh, I think some of the nicest people in the world, I mean, I have only met a tiny proportion of the people in the world. [00:11:08] I'm sure there are other nice people. But my client base is genuinely. Uh, just a never ending stream of people who I love to spend time with a, Sam Strange. Is right up there. So he spent ages taking pictures of him. And as, as a kind of, we wanted to get some shots where he was genuine, genuinely performing. [00:11:25] So the two work placement students became instantaneously his audience, uh, some card tricks. He did these card tricks. One of the students looked quite confused. I'm not entirely certain that she understood what had just happened while she was holding the card with her name on it and a knife hole in it. Anyway. [00:11:43] It was very funny and absolutely. Uh, wonderful. We've done a load of portrait shoots. The weather has been kind for a couple of weeks. Which is a pleasure. Uh, so we've been out in the sunshine, um, And just. It's just, it's. What I came into photography to do was to laugh in the sunshine, taking beautiful pictures. Uh, so that's really, really, really lovely. Um, we've been judging the monthly's the BIPP. The BIPP the British Institute of Professional Photography. [00:12:11] Monthly's over the past couple of months. I think we've done two. Monthly since I last spoke with you, sorry. That's my bad, just busy. That's all it is. We're just busy. Um, I love doing, I love chairing the judging. [00:12:23] And then on top of that, Um, I was asked to chair the print judging for the click expo. [00:12:28] Judging Competitions and Photography Tips [00:12:28] That was up in the Midlands a couple of weeks ago, some big names there, Lindsay Adler, and a few others. Uh, with some of the photographers presenting, it was. Um, it wasn't the biggest expo in the world, but we had a really good entry into the foot print competition. And the standard is out of this. World. [00:12:45] And when you see a panel of judges, we had judges on rotation. So five judges at any one time and me chairing it. And when you see the excitement, you see the judge's eyes just light up. When they are appreciating the very best of the craft of photography, I think, you know, there's, I don't know how to explain some of this stuff. [00:13:05] Why that, you know, that feeling when you take a picture right. And you hit the button and you just know, you just know you can feel it. That's the same sensation that I think we still get when we're assessing images at the highest standard, there's something really exhilarating about it in explicable. Uh, but exhilarating. [00:13:26] I see on the flip side of that, I was laughing with our two work placement students of the other side of the line, which is when you see somebody else take a beautiful photo and they're in the same session as you. Sometimes when I'm training people, this happens to me. And, you know, with talking through staff were doing ideas and then somebody hit the button and they'll create a picture. That I wish. I'd taken and then I have to suppress. I have to suppress that kind of. I'm really jealous about that. [00:13:54] Why didn't I take that picture? I cause you call and of course you have to celebrate. The absolute, the excitement. I still get the same excitement from the picture. I just wish I'd taken it. Um, Which is quite a weird sensation. I'm getting used to that sensation because if I'm doing my job well in a workshop, I won't do. My job well in a masterclass, if I'm genuinely. Um, passing on ideas and information, then. Really people in those workshops should be creating beautiful images that I'm jealous of. It is still quite hard though. [00:14:26] Anyway, we were judging it. Click. Um, and I'm going to come back, uh, to, to that in a moment as the topic of this particular podcast. Uh, but a few bits and pieces. Uh, one of the things that occurred to me this morning, and I'm going to drop this into this podcast because it's a useful thing to remember. Um, is always remember to pack your bag so that at a single glance, you know, what's. In it. And will more importantly, what isn't. I was driving along and I do this thing. [00:14:56] If you. I don't know if you're the same as me. I'll get halfway down the road and I'll be like, did I pack my passport? And I literally, I don't know how many times I've done it. I've pulled into a lay-by and gone and checked. I still do the same with my camera kit. But this morning I was driving away and I did that thing. Have I, I packed everything I need. [00:15:14] And then actually I remembered I'd looked over the top of my bag. Um, while it was open and I know everything was there because I pack it in a way that if something is missing, I can see the gap. And it's like, oh, okay. So, um, you could do it with checklists. Of course you can be much more methodical than that, but just as a simple trick, pack your bag in a way where you can visibly see if something is missing. Right. [00:15:39] So where are we in our warm bath water? I still think that's a great review. Thank you, skinny latte. That's just like the skinny lattes. They use it named by the way. That's not just me being random. Uh, that is like the best review. I'm going to put that on a, if I ever have a poster. You know, Paul Wilkinson appearing somewhere. , it's like sitting in a bath of warm water. I don't know what to do with it, but it's, uh, please feel free everybody. To write us poetic reviews like this, and I promise you they will get read out because it's absolute genius. [00:16:10] Um, I just love that I'm going to have that printed as a poster. I'm loving this podcast is like sitting in a bath of warm water. Anyway. Um, I thought I do these regularly, um, quick updates on things that I heard or saw during um, the judging. Um, So, let me just go over some incidentally as an aside one of the reasons we use, sorry, there's lots of asides with me. You get used to that or you don't. That was funny. The night I met someone for the first time and she laughed at me and said, you're always after the punchline aren't you. And I was like, yeah, that was really. Is very astute, but it did somewhat stop me in my tracks. Um, I don't mean to be like that. I just am a. [00:16:54] One of the reasons we use a panel of judges are more than one judge. Is so that we get a more reliable score, but I was judging in the monthly's this month round. I. So I wouldn't say who the judge was, but they were very worried that their score was out of kilter with the other judge. And they had no reason to be. [00:17:14] I, I can export the judges scores and I can see exactly what's going on. Um, I'm a big data, nut, I love data. I love the data behind scoring. So I've had a look at the data and their scoring is exactly where I would hope it would be, but you don't always agree. And that's really important. If every judge for every image gave the same score, we'd only ever need one judge. That's not how it works. That is so not how it works. [00:17:43] It's not supposed to work like that. A panel of judges are all supposed to bring different experiences. Different backgrounds, different hotspots that they look for different passions, different prejudices, different biases by using a panel of judges. You will always get a different score or you should always get a different score from every judge or you haven't picked your panel of judges very well. [00:18:09] And we pick up panels of judges incredibly carefully so that they are different. They bring different ideas to the table. We pick the panel of judges so that they're going to get on, they're going to work as a team. So if there's a challenge, if there's a discussion or they're not going to get into an argument, they're going to develop. Uh, thought process, and come to a considered view. [00:18:28] That's why we use a panel of judges. It's important that the judges are reliable and they are experienced and they're top of their game. Of course. But they will give different scores. Anyway in the, from a Click. At this time and a little bit from the monthly's I thought I very quickly go through one or two things I heard. [00:18:45] It's just useful stuff. You know, there's nothing major in that. [00:18:48] Um, so paper choice. Paper choice comes up in every single printer competition I am involved in. Just does. Um, the big one, this time was be careful, where. Um, If you've got a textured paper and you print something like a baby on it with smooth skin, it can look like the baby's skin is wrinkled, particularly when the baby or the face of the baby is quite small in the frame, newborns. [00:19:12] This was typically a criticism. What's your paper choice. If you're going to. Print things that would have a smooth texture in the real world, smooth skin, that kind of thing. Use a smooth. Paper. Uh, that said if you're using fine art matte, papers, go and figure out how to get your blacks to map correctly because typically fine art matte papers. [00:19:33] Don't give you much. Uh, changed between the grades of black. It suddenly goes, it goes. Sort of dark. So you get blocked up areas that aren't quite black and then suddenly when it gets to a slightly lighter. Like a lighter tone. You'll start to see texture again. There are ways of printing for that. Go look them up. Uh, Sanjay Jogia, I'm going to give Sanjay quick shout is a brilliant printer. Brilliant technician. Uh, he does, uh, workshops and seminars on printing. You can do a lot worse and go talk to Sanjay. And he's a super lovely guy, too. [00:20:06] Uh, stray hairs. We had one assay. This was in a digital file, um, in the competition. Uh, this month there's a stray hair in the print in a file. And that's clearly on the sensor. With print and competition judging. The judges are gonna zoom these things in. They're going to look at them under a light on a light box. If it's a print, they're going to zoom it to a hundred percent on a big Eizo monitor if it's a digital competition. If there's a stray hair or a dust spot, they are going to see it. So go find your files, go, go over them and over them and over them. [00:20:35] If you want to do one in competitions, get the little details, right. Uh, because that score that dropped, I mean, so many points. It was a great image. Great idea, creatively. Brilliant. But if you're letting things like dust spots and stray hairs go through, that's not going to be regarded as competition standard. [00:20:53] Mounts. We saw some incredible mounts. [00:20:55] We saw circular mounts and oval mounts and, uh, one photographer. I don't know if it's the same author, but I've seen this technique a couple of times where they cut out the edges of the mounts of the landscape picture goes all the way across and breaks out the sides of the frame. [00:21:09] Mounting and Presentation Tips [00:21:09] Um, they're brilliant. Um, you remember that with a print competition? [00:21:12] Typically the mount is part of the puzzle. So make sure your mounts are complimentary. Make sure they are adding to the image. They're not distracting from the image. Um, make sure that your everything is super accurate, super, just square. It needs to be lined up. We had one. Uh, image where the horizon wasn't horizontal. Uh, it was a seascape. And it wasn't horizontal and it may have slipped in the mound or maybe that the author just didn't notice. [00:21:40] I don't know which of those two things is true, but of course it's not going to do that. Well, So mounting is really, really important and we do zoom in to make sure the quality. Um, is there. [00:21:50] Uh, a few dead come up with banding issues, JPEG issues. In this day and age where computers are pretty powerful and you know, the sensors and cameras are at least 14 bit these days. Um, if not 16, Um, then please do just get your techniques down. [00:22:06] So if you got a big blue sky, make sure it's a big blue sky without banding in it. Um, it's just one of those things. [00:22:12] The Debate on Titling Images [00:22:12] Uh, titling. I don't. This comes up every single time. I don't like titling. I don't think it should be necessarily part of an image competition. Um, but I'm out there as I'm in the minority. I think. Um, but I just don't like it. I think we should judge what we see in front of us. But, uh, if the competition asks for a title, enter one, create one, invent one, stick your image in an AI generator and get a title. I don't care how you do it, but put a title in on average. Now I've only heard this anecdotally and I've no idea what the research was, but anecdotally, a couple of judges told me that titles typically give you one additional mark on average, if it's a sensible title. It certainly can add poetry to it. It can add a meaning to it. So if you put a picture. I have no idea. Uh, of, uh, a sad looking child. I don't know, making this up a sad looking child with no title. Well, it's a sad looking child. Put up a sad looking child and give it the title, Daddy's Gone Again. Suddenly, you've got a very different tone to how the view is and the judges. Our assessing an image. [00:23:23] Now this is why I don't agree with it because I don't think that's how it should work. I think we should judge the image. But given it's an opportunity to get a mark or two. And given you're entering a competition, which is a game. Then play the game. And put titles in. [00:23:37] Attention to Detail in Photography [00:23:37] Uh, where are we? Um, a couple of images came up this time round, which I wrote down all details and reading this and we notebook. I carry a note book almost all of the time. [00:23:46] It's a throwback to my PhD days. I think always had a notebook. Uh, title, sorry. All details. Some so EEG cushions, this was a, an image that came in where the hole that the room had been styled to perfection. But when you looked at the sofa, It looks like. Somebody had just sat on it. So the cushions were fine. Like the back cushions, the throws and all of those, but the actual seated part of the sofa. Had been left as if somebody just sat on it, perhaps sat on it to plump up the cushions. I don't know, but it just, it drew our eye to X. Everything else in the image was so pristine. What's your details, particularly with architectural and commercial. [00:24:25] Uh, confusion. [00:24:26] Understanding Image Composition [00:24:26] This came up. Where we weren't certain or the judges, weren't certain what to make of an image. I've talked about this a few times. It's not the judges, job to decode your story. [00:24:40] It's your job as the author to tell your story in a way that the judges can get it. It's got to be approachable. Um, you can be as clever as you, like, you can be as subtle as you like, but in the end, if you're not telling the story in a way that the judges can understand decode it, that's not the judge's fault. Um, so just, you know, make sure, maybe test it on other people and see what they think at image before submitting it. [00:25:04] Uh, we saw a few of these. Uh, what have I written down? Uh, They've written down. Uh, the only image here. Okay. I wrote down if only if only is one of those things. Have you ever done that with your images where you look at an image in Lightroom and you're just like, oh, if only. If only the background was clean. If only I hadn't blown a highlight, if only the eyes were sharp. You know what I mean? [00:25:29] You have these if only moments where the image you'd done everything. Right. But then you've missed a bit. Well, don't enter those into a competition for a star. Um, There was one image that came up and. It felt to me like. It felt like a grab shot. It was a beautiful shot, but a grab shot. Now the construction of the image was one we see all the time dog in a basket, nothing particularly clever about that. Um, or, you know, rare in that, I suppose. [00:25:56] But the particular angle, the way it was framed, felt like they grabbed the shot. Now, if you said to a fine oil artist or pencil artist, or a cartoonist or a commercial air brusher, create me a picture of a dog in a basket. They would have a real angle on it. There'd be something about the way they place the objects relative to each other and relative to the frame. There'll be a way of doing it. That would have a certain aesthetic, a style, a cleanliness for me, my particular thing is I love when the lens is absolutely horizontal. Low down in the frame, preferably on the floor. If it's a subject that is on the floor so that everything for me, I feel like it climbs into that world. [00:26:42] That's just my particular aesthetic. It doesn't have to be anybody else's. I mean, please. Everybody. I'm a Muppet. I don't know what I might have out, but I liked the idea that I've done something that has a, it has a statement to it. It has a shape to it. I love the work of E.H. Shephard who drew A.A. Milne's books, um, Winnie the Pooh and house at Pooh. The corner and when we were young and all of these beautiful Christopher Robin stuff. The drawings always feel like you're in the small characters world. You're not an adult looking down at it. [00:27:13] And I think that's the point I'm trying to make is have a view. Think about it. Think as if you're drawing it, don't think of it as a photograph thing. Okay. Take a step back. If you've got time. Sometimes you don't right. If you're a news photographer, you haven't got time, but step back from your image in your head. Say, okay, these are all of the bits of the puzzle. This is, I've got one of those, two of them, three of them. I've got these colors and this shape, this light. If I was drawing this, if I slowed down and somebody said, draw those on a piece of paper. So that made sense. How would I do it? Uh, you know, there's an, there's another picture. [00:27:49] It was a picture. Um, it was a newborn picture. And there were objects in the foreground. So it was, it made it feel like the baby was amongst objects and then objects behind the baby. But what's happened is they've. Thought that because we mutter a lot, and I'll come on to this one later. don't crop things at the edges of a frame. They pulled the objects. [00:28:11] That baby is surrounded by, away from the edge of the frame, but that meant, it felt like there was only a few objects. In this instance, using the objects and cutting them at the edge of the frame as if there was millions of them receding into the distance that would have made sense. And visually it would have had an expansive feel to it, rather than I only have four of those objects, so I've placed them where I have. And it's that sense of thinking about your layer? And if you look at the very best of these types of images, The guys really do know their way round it. [00:28:41] Uh, comping compositing. Combining images. It must be invisible. We actually, as photographers, don't have a problem on the whole, unless the category says you can't use composite images. We don't have a problem with it. Judges don't worry about it. [00:28:55] We just don't want to see it. So the compositing, the bringing different images and elements together has to be invisible. Uh, there are skills to this. Practice them. Because if you, the minute a judge spots that it's a composite, it's failed in its job. I mean, obviously there are obvious composites, you know, if you're doing a. King Kong thing of a gorilla climbing, a skyscraper. Fair enough. We're going to know straight away. That's not real. But it still has to look real, has to be believable. Uh, okay. What else have we got? [00:29:26] Um, baby skin. This has come up a few times. Be careful of. Using blue and dark green style filters, filter effects in your monochrome conversions. Uh, blue filter typically turns the lips dark, which is fine. If you have, um, You've got a model and smooth skin like ultra smooth skin and makeup that's flawless because you've got red lipstick and you punch them on a Chrome with a bluish or green filter. It drops the lips to a very dark color and that could look incredible. But with babies would it also does. If there's any red in the cheeks, it makes those go blotchy too. So you have dark lips and bruised looking cheeks, and that's not really, how probably you want to have. A baby photograph, by the way, if you can hear stuff going on in the background, I've got all the windows open because it's a really warm day. Um, and I'm sitting just recording. Uh, where are we? [00:30:23] On the converse side of that. So we've got blue filters, making skin look kind of grungy and textured and blotchy. Equally, we are still seeing way too much over smoothing. Um, on the skin work. Um, it just. It doesn't look, if it doesn't look quite right, you know, and it's really subtle. I don't know how to describe it, but we know as judges, when we look at I I'm a big one for, when someone applies makeup to a face really well, really beautifully. It smooths out the lumps and bumps, but what it doesn't do is remove the texture. [00:30:59] There's still pores, there's still skin pores there're still fine hairs. There are still little tiny ripples created by blemishes underneath the makeup. So, if you want to make it look real, when you're doing digital makeup or digital smoothing. You have to remember to leave details in that show reality, even when you're doing really fine art kind of work. [00:31:21] So just what's that. Um, incidentally, a shout again to EVOTO.AI. Um, I've just had a new release of that this week. Um, incredible bit of software. Uh, in that you can control how much you do. So it's not, it's not all the bells and whistles that make these things good. What make these things good is when you can turn it down, so it's imperceptible. Uh, EVOTO.AI is actually very, very good. Please do go and have a play with that. I will drop a link down in. Uh, further down in the show notes. [00:31:54] The Importance of Image Sharpening [00:31:54] Over sharpening. Uh, this came up as a bit of a debate actually, me and Sanjay don't entirely agree on this. I don't think. My view is that you don't need to sharpen images anymore. Um, I've never heard, not once have I heard. Uh, judge say this image needed more sharpening. Not once I've heard images get critiqued, cause they're soft by the which, I mean they're blurred. And the minute you try to rescue a blurred image using, um, Topaz or, you know, any one of the sharpening tools. Unless you're really on top of it and really, really, really careful, it looks like it's sharpened. However, I've heard many times. That an image looks over sharpened over, over you see halos, you see this kind of slightly, really weird edge effect. Um, I took the decision a couple of years ago to stop sharpening my images, because it removes one or two problems when you. Because for us, we don't, uh, we produce the same file to be printed at different sizes. [00:32:49] I don't worry too much. Um, about, uh, scaling at 300 DPI for A4, 300 DPI for seven by five, three to DPI. I just give the guys one file. Um, and our sensors now is so sharp that they reproduce and they give a, for me, they give a slightly smoother finish. Um, And I've only ever been pulled upon over sharpening when I did it. [00:33:11] No one's ever pulled me up on under sharpening. So I would say don't sharpen Sanjay. Doesn't say that he says you should do sharpening, but know exactly at which point in the workflow to do it. And that's fine. Um, Sanjay is a master at this stuff. So he does sharpen. Uh, I'm using Sanjay as an example because he's one of my judges, uh, this time round. Uh, so is there an interesting thing. My, if you're not absolutely a hundred percent certain of what sharpening to do, don't do any, you'll be fine. [00:33:40] Uh, where are we? [00:33:42] Final Thoughts and Recommendations [00:33:42] Um, oh yeah, one of the things. It has come up this come up in conversation a little bit is why we as judges get so picky about which images get over the line to be a merit or a bronze. So typically with all of the associations all slightly different. But around about the 80 mark for most associations is the break point for bronze or merit. Now. The thing about a bronze or a merit is that is something that's likely to end up being used on a website or being used in social media for the association. Um, maybe with the societies, it's going to end up on their display boards at the convention. [00:34:23] And that's why we're picky. That break point between professional standard is a lot, the associations call it and a merit or bronze. That break point defines what will be displayed to the public and to the rest of the photography industry. And as such the message we're sending is that this image is what you should be trying to attain. So when I go round, if I'm, uh, if I've entered a competition, I go round and look at all of the things that have. Uh, they're being displayed in the convention or they're in the magazine or in a book. [00:34:55] I look at those images from bronze to gold. As the things I should be aiming for. And that's why as judges, we're very careful what goes over that line. And if we find a defect that we think, do you know what the photographer should have spotted that. You're going to dump marks really quickly because the judges don't want to have that out there as something that becomes an exemplar for what a successful image should be. [00:35:16] That's why. That's why that break point is so tough. Uh, so just what you, it was quite funny, this in the competition this time round. Uh, and the monthly's is, uh, one of the images looked like the horizon. Wasn't quite level, it's a digital file. So it clearly wasn't anything to do the mounting. And by the way, it was a degree or two out, which is. I don't know. I don't know why people do that. Why would you do that? Given you just put into Lightroom or Photoshop and align with the ruler to it anyway, my two judges, I'm watching both of them on, uh, our Squadcast screen. So we record these sessions. Um, One of the judges went to his EITZO monitor took the file, put it into Photoshop and checked the horizontal alignment. [00:35:57] My other judge went to a cupboard. I watched them do it, went to a cupboard behind them, opened the cupboard door, got a ruler. And started measuring her screen, which is quite weird when you're watching it on the webcam that's on her screen. She's measuring the screen. It was quite old school, but it did make me laugh. [00:36:13] Anyway, things like horizons, check them. [00:36:16] Uh, Great. Well, so if we got, oh yeah, when you're, there's a lot of actions around and even I've written a few where you're going to soften or blur the edges. Um, So there was a particular file. Where I think a baby skin had been softened. You could see that it had been, and it was fine. [00:36:36] It looked very good actually it looked like they got a good technique on it. But what they hadn't done is lift all of the skin onto a new layer, just cut it out and drag it onto a new layer and softened it there, what they done is soften it on the original layer with all of the. Um, blankets and clothing around it. And what that did is, it dragged color from the blankets into the soften skin. So you could see a slight coloration around the edges where the softening had been done. And you expect that if you're using a blur. It blurs across the boundary. So what you have to do is cut out the skin onto a new layer. So it's transparent all the way around except for the skin, soften it there, and then you can drop it back in and you'll get no color contamination. Um, but we spotted it and of course it's a real shame. [00:37:19] Uh, With babies and with faces, the light, the light source should always be above the nose. [00:37:25] I heard this said a few times by different, uh, I think I was working with Elli Cassidy who is just like one of the best judges to work with, she's lovely. Super lovely, super nice person. Um, great newborn photographer and she raised the same point as did lots of others. The light source should be above the nose, nine times out of 10. It's very rare. Do you want the light coming up from underneath? [00:37:44] Um, I love this quote. This is one of my judges. He just, he liked a particular image because it was a bit more different. If ever I have another podcast in this industry, I'm going to call it The Bit More Different Podcast because I know it's a great title. [00:37:57] It's not English, but it's a great title. [00:37:59] Um, final bit on this bit. Is cropping at the edges. We can't, I kind of talked about it a minute ago with the baby and the objects. Just look around the edges of the frame. There's an amazing news image, this time round. Loved it. I'm not going to say what it was cause I'm not gonna draw attention for the author. But there was a scene in the middle of his action in the middle. [00:38:23] And on the right-hand side of the frame, there was nothing contaminating. Everything was kind of contained, but on the left. They were knuckles and elbows poking in onto the edge of the file when just moving the crop edge in by. I dunno, a couple of hundred pixels on a six megapixel file would have removed all of that, and focused, directly on the story in the middle. And it's such a silly thing. [00:38:47] We see it all the time. Is we get sidetracked by what's going on in the middle of our picture, the bit we want people to look at it and we forget to look. All the way around the edges of the frame. I look around the edges of your frame carefully. And if there's anything there that's distracting and pulling your eye away. Just change your crop or clone them out, whichever is easy for you. [00:39:08] Um, So that's it. Those are the notes. I mean, there's loads, of course there's loads of things. I carry copious notes, but I thought those are the most interesting. Um, to talk about, uh, particularly as we're, heading towards, uh, at this time of year, when people start to hive images away ready for the competitions, uh, for the BIPP print competition. Um, and eventually, you know, the doors will open for the society's convention as well. [00:39:30] So I thought there'd be useful. Um, The other thing, a couple of updates. Where are we with things that I've been asked? Uh, to look at. Uh, where are we? DXE DXE. CXO asked me to play with. DXA labs. Uh, the DXA labs for, I think it is an, a DX oh, film pack seven. Now the XO labs. It's not really the photo lab is not really for me because it, Lightroom is at the heart of my workflow. Um, we used the XO pure raw anyway, which is brilliant, pure, or for, by the way. Brilliant. [00:40:03] Absolutely love it. Uh, so don't, for me, that's not necessarily something I'm going to put into my workflow. I'm sure it's very good. I've used it a little bit, but however, the DSO film pack, film pack seven. It's an absolute blast. Loving it just for the moment. [00:40:17] I use effects quite a lot, but I like it if I can for it not to look effected. If you see what I mean that of course, the minute you really easily apply a film preset, of course he looks effected, I'm not an idiot. Um, but I love those kinds of tones. They feel very analog to me. Uh, it's really, uh, really, really, really good. [00:40:34] So, uh, highly recommends if you get a chance to have a play with that. I'm sure they do a trial. I haven't looked. Uh, DXO Filmpack 7. And the other thing I thought I'd give a quick shout about today. Um, his ACDSee, which I've continued to use again, they approached me and asked me to have a look at it and say what I thought it's really, really good. [00:40:55] Um, it's not good at high volumes of face recognition. I discovered that as it. just crashed my computer basically. Um, but that not withstanding. It's blindingly quick is great to have it there . Lightroom for us is our management tool for all of our raw files. Um, but the RAW files get archived away, and we then have all of the JPEGs that I've generated for print. Hi res. Uh, low compression JPEGs. [00:41:21] So having ACDSee that looks over all of my Dropbox folders and keeps that as an active catalog. Is great because I can get to any image. I like, in a heartbeat. Absolutely brilliant. So I absolutely, I would highly recommend that. Um, again, I will put a link to, um, I'll put a link to ACDSee in the show notes. And then finally just a more pop-up it's our beer festival on Saturday. [00:41:45] Now. I know none of you are local, but nonetheless, um, I will be at the beer festival if anyone fancies a beer and a chat we're in, but it had them in Buckingham share. Uh, I'd love to catch up if there is anybody around, because it's, I'm hoping that there's going to be good. Um, it's like the best place to listen to music. [00:42:02] Have a nice beer. And have a great conversation. And on that happy note, I'm going to go home now and we're going to open. I hope a bottle of champagne to celebrate Jake's success and Harriet's success in her new job. Uh, the sun is shining. And then we're going to try and stay up and see the results. Of this particular, general election. [00:42:21] Again, to all our American friends have a wonderful . Uh, July 4th. [00:42:25] And I'm going to go away and be more like sitting in a bath of warm water. I remember whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

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There are many factors to success and I have listed many in these podcasts, but the brutal reality is that it takes hard work.  Lots of it.  There isn't a silver bullet, no matter what every influencer, marketer, salesman, advertorial or Facebook campaign might try to convince you - and AI ain't gonna fix it either.  All I wish is that I could stop seeing the ads that tell me otherwise! Before all that, though, I head up the episode with a quick chat with Colin Jones, CEO of The Societies Of Photographers. This is one more in my series of interviews-from-the-photography-show (I need a snappier title) and it's interesting that once more, training and education are at the forefront of his thoughts. Also, I mention a brilliant app called EVOTO.AI in this episode.  At some point I'll do a deep-dive into it but rest-assured, this is well worth exploring if, like me, you create portraits for a living.  The guys have kindly given me a link you can use that gives you thirty free credits when you register: https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson One great thing about this app is that you only burn a credit up when export a finished image - you can test it out on as many as you like.  This means those thirty credits could be enough for you to play around with as many images as you want until you're happy and then go ahead and run an entire portrait session through!   Let me know what you think! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP153 It Takes Work And Life Would Be Boring Without Sarah Introduction to Colin Jones [00:00:00] I'm Colin Jones. I'm the CEO for the Society of Photographers. Excellent. It's lovely to see you as always, Colin. The Photography Show Experience [00:00:06] Tell me why you come to the photography show. Oh, the photography show is a great show. It's great to meet up with all the trade, seeing all the latest products and services in the industry and getting to network with other photographers. [00:00:17] It's a great show to come to. Passion for Photography [00:00:18] So, tell me why you love this industry so much. [00:00:21] Oh, I love the industry. I've always been part of the photography industry. It's been part of my family since my granddad and my dad, and it's an industry full of amazing people, creative people, uh, and, you know, so much passion for, for, for photography and for the craft of it. [00:00:35] And I love seeing people excel in the industry as well. [00:00:37] So that's all of the positives. Industry Improvements [00:00:38] But if, like everything, there was always things we could do better as an industry. If there's one thing, just one thing that you could change in this glorious passion of ours, what would it be? [00:00:48] I think I'd like to see photographers get more training, invest more time in training and more, more money in training. Uh, you know, I see, when we see people take that step and really invest in training to push not only their photography but their business, we see so much success. Uh, so I'd love to see training be more, , forefront of the industry. Importance of Training [00:01:04] When you're talking about training, what aspects do you think, photographers in the industry, certainly the industry we spend most of our time with, which is the UK industry, what do you think is the weak spot? Which direction do you think the development would be most applicable. [00:01:19] I think, uh, quite a lot of photographers, if they're in business, uh, that's where we see a lot of photographers really struggle getting clients through the door, marketing their services, uh, so that's, that's always been a big passion of mine, is getting photographers more training in the business side, but, you know, I, I genuinely think training of any kind, whether it's lighting and posing, or even just networking with your peers, uh, and getting training that way, just by talking to other photographers, uh, is a, is a real bonus. [00:01:43] Excellent. Interview Conclusion [00:01:43] Perfect answers, as always, from one of the nicest guys in the industry. Thank you, Colin. [00:01:47] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, so that is one more of those little interviews I did at the photography show earlier this year. That was Colin Jones, the CEO of the Societies Of, Photographers. It's always interesting talking to people like Colin. I mean, not just because he's a really lovely guy. But he hears from hundreds, possibly thousands of photographers, uh, on a scale that most of us can only imagine. [00:02:11] And yet the themes still seem to be consistent. [00:02:15] It's all about education. Podcast Introduction [00:02:17] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: And learning I'm Paul and this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast. [00:02:22] [00:02:36] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, it's been three weeks since the last episode and yesterday, yesterday. Wedding Anniversary Anecdote [00:02:45] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It was mine and Sarah's 21st wedding anniversary. She sent me a card and it simply said, imagine how boring life would be without me. Literally in quotes. Imagine how boring life would be without me. Well, this morning, She bit my toe, I was fast asleep. She bit my toe now I sleep with my feet. Out of the bottom of the duvet. [00:03:09] I've always done it. And I've no idea why, but I do. This morning. She bit my toe. And this isn't really a unique event. I think she probably does it a few times. A year I am asleep, then rudely I'm awakened. With pain. There is nothing in between those two moments except a searing sensation that someone has sunk their teeth. Into my big toe. I don't really know which bit hurts the most, the initial bite or the moments I react and pull away leaving tooth marks. This morning. She bit my toe. [00:03:46] It's true. Sarah is right. Imagine how life would be without her. Imagine how boring. It would be, frankly, I can't imagine it. I can't picture. How things would be without every morning. They're being the risk that she's going to sink her teeth into my toe. But Sarah is the person who makes me laugh the most. [00:04:07] She is the person who allows the extrovert in me out. She's the person who props me up when I'm down. And she's the person who keeps a lid on me. When I'm up. That sounds really weird, but you get the gist of it. Um, you know, I can be quite full on, I think, and it, Sarah, that just keeps things nice and steady. [00:04:28] And so thank you Sarah, for 21 years of marriage, 33 years of hilarity between the two of us. So, yes, life would be really boring without her. [00:04:41] Anyway, in the past three weeks, what has happened in our diary. Recent Portrait Sessions [00:04:46] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well there have been 22 different portrait sessions, which is lovely, including one, uh, just this morning, beautiful family. Uh, so a mom with her two children and her two grandchildren. Um, just lovely out in the sunshine, a quick drive over to their house. Shot in the garden. [00:05:05] What was funny about it was every single shot. She wanted her front door in the images. Which, uh, I've had sort of, you know, big Manor houses and different things about to be part of a shoot, but I've never had one where the front door has to be prominent, but it was a joyous shoot, beautiful people. [00:05:23] They made me very welcome. [00:05:24] Cannot wait to show them their pictures. And one of the two little girls -she's three years old -was wearing a Liverpool FC football strip. Now on two levels that just filled my heart, with joy. On the one level. It's Liverpool, which happens to be the team that I also have always supported all my life I've supported. [00:05:46] And when I say supported, what I mean is occasionally I've looked at their headlines and seen the score. Or occasionally, you know, a key match comes up and I might watch the first 20 minutes of it, before it gets way too stressful for me, and I leave the room. I'm not really a supporter in the supporter sense of the word. But if I'm ever, if ever I'm asked, and this is since I've been about five years old, it's been Liverpool. And she was wearing a kit this morning and the kit was almost identical to a kit I was bought for Christmas when I think I was about eight. There's something about the styling of the current, the current kit, the red with the white collar. The cut of it, the styling of it, that's almost exactly the same as it was all of those years ago when it was Kevin Keegan and the boys playing. And so that made me happy. [00:06:36] The main reason, it made me really happy. Is isn't it amazing. Oh, is it amazing or isn't it about time? [00:06:43] Maybe it's about time. Maybe we're just getting there. That a girl turned up at the door. She's three years old and she's a football fanatic. And I know now the way it will be for her is so very different, than for instance, if my sister, when she was that age wanted to play football. Now my, my sister, cause I was a drummer, my sister wanted to play drums, but the girl's school, she went to said that wasn't lady like. How heartbreaking is that? I know we're going back quite a long time, but how heartbreaking. Is that, that you can't do something. Because it's not lady like. You can't do something because because of your gender, it doesn't fit in. It's just ridiculous. [00:07:25] And so it is so heartwarming this morning. To see this little girl in bright red, bright red Liverpool football strip, kicking a ball around the garden and loving every single second of it. And unlike my sister, where I think life in that particular time. In the late eighties, early nineties. You know, Society's, it was sort of prevented things like that. I know this little kid that won't be the case. For her, at least. I trust it won't be the case for her. Hearing Dogs Shoots [00:07:57] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So wonderful shoot this morning, 22 portraits shoots over the past three weeks, we'd done five Hearing Dogs shoots. Uh, two of those have been out on a location and they've been so joyous, so profoundly joyous. Um, the one yesterday was of one of our recipients whose Hearing Dog has essentially. Been a lifesaver. [00:08:18] I mean, I, I hear this quite a lot, but I really do think, uh, the lady I photographed with her dog yesterday, she's in her mid twenties. Um, Is just, was just an inspiration, really the relationship with the dog, the way they were, the joy that dog has brought, um, And it was just a magical shoot. And one of the things about these all, I mean, all portrait shoots, I think, but in particular with shoots like the Hearing Dogs is as much as I'm providing a service, as much as I'm providing images that they can use for fundraising and publicity and PR and marketing and all of these things. Is, they provide me with a sense of, what's the right word, they energize me. They give me energy and positivity. I come away from these shoots so much more full of life than I do when I arrive at them. I just think. It's just incredible. The joy that a photography can bring, not just to the people I'm photographing, but also, uh, to me. [00:09:22] Uh, we've had five cleanse that was a bit abrupt, sorry about that. I don't know. I maybe I just couldn't think of a good point to wind up on, but being a portrait photographer is a thing of joy. [00:09:33] It is a thing of life is a thing of positivity and energy. Um, and I suppose that's what I'm trying to get to. It really is something, but it's not a one way street. I get as much energy and joy out of these shoots as my client's do. Client Reveals and Workshops [00:09:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, we've also had five client reveals. Uh, just wonderful. I love it when the clients come to see that images, we never quite certain what we're going to sell. But, uh, it's just a lovely thing to see the reaction to people when they see their pictures sometimes surprise. In fact, nearly, always surprise at how beautiful the pictures can be, I don't know why they're surprised they've come to us. They've come to us because they've seen what I can do for others. Um, and yet still the surprise very often it's clients who've been to us before, and they're still surprised. Maybe I should work harder at explaining what we, what we do, but that element of surprise. It's a lovely thing when it's done in the, in the reveal room and tomorrow we've got a little wedding, it was just a two person wedding uh, who are coming to see their pictures. And again, massively looking forward to that. Uh, we've run one one-on-one masterclass. [00:10:37] I love the one-on-one masterclasses. Because of course, every topic, every topic can be on the table. We don't need to worry about. Uh, suiting or fulfilling the requirements of four or five people. It's just one person and we can play, we can talk, uh, we can jump between different topics. We can try different things out depending on their needs. [00:10:57] Anything from business all the way through to how to prep your files for Photoshop. It doesn't really make any difference to us. And so for that, it's just a wonderful thing to do. [00:11:07] We've also done a, an off-camera flash workshop. Now the off-camera flash workshops are by far the hardest. Even this morning, a little shoot. Um, when I met bumped into the little girl, Uh, in her Liverpool outfit, Liverpool kit. I decided one of the shots we would do would be, uh, like a FIFA or UEFA. Uh, footballer's pose because all footballers are contracted to do these things so that when, uh, the, the, the TV companies roll out or, or show the team list or whatever, or feature a player, there's footage of every player walking into shot and standing a very particular way, they lit a very particular way. Um, and you can do that quite happily out in the garden with some off-camera flash. [00:11:50] So even this morning I was using. Off camera flash, and you have to sort of pause a little bit and think, okay. And you, you have to build the shot setting by setting. Then it's not as straightforward as it is just using TTL. You could just use TTL on your flash guns. Uh, but you get sort of slightly erratic results if you do that. You have to understand how, uh, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, they all interact to give you the output you're looking for. And this morning absolutely nailed it. But when you're trying to teach it, trying to get those principles across in a way that is clear, a way that is concise and a way that is repeatable so that you will delegates can leave. And use that, those techniques themselves. Isn't trivial. [00:12:41] It's the, of all the things we teach here at the studio, I think. It's the hardest. And I know it's the hardest because when I'm suddenly faced with having to get the settings right for myself on a shoot, invariably I'll change the wrong thing at the wrong moment. And it's like, oh, bugger. bugger Having to go back. And figure it out. Uh, so it was, it was lovely to do a brilliant day, lots of laughter and one that Sarah was away for. [00:13:07] So thank you to Katie and James who stepped in. And Katie stepped into the role of, of Sarah, because she had to go and look after my in-laws new puppy for eight days, honestly, she's come back exhausted that, that Sarah, that is not the puppy. Uh, she's come back. Absolutely exhausted. The puppy goes to sleep at midnight. The puppy wakes up at six and there's very little in between. It's on and off. Uh, and it's on from 6:00 AM to midnight and it's off from midnight til six. She was absolutely shattered. So, uh, she was away the week when we running the workshop, unfortunately. And it couldn't be helped, not a lot of sidestepping, but Katie, thank you very much for stepping in. And being sort of a surrogate, Sarah and helping me make sure that everything ran. Uh, smoothly. BIPP Qualifications Judging [00:13:53] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, also this last week we have done a full day of qualifications judging for the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography. Um, It's a wonderful thing. Qualifications are such an amazing thing to be a part of. And I mean, that from both sides of the line. [00:14:12] I kind of draw inspiration from the candidates, the people putting their images in for assessment and I draw inspiration from the judges, but in very different ways. [00:14:24] The candidates, of course. It takes quite a lot of bravery, I think, to submit your images. I mean, we've all been through it, but it still is quite a thing to do. To submit your images in for assessment as qualification, because you don't know, you don't truly know, even the mentors don't truly know, whether a panel is going to be successful or not. [00:14:45] , we did eight panels in a day. I'm chairing it. [00:14:48] So I'm not really a judge in that sense anymore. I chair it and make sure it's run smoothly And the process is meticulous in the way we do it, so that it's fair and equitable for every single candidate. [00:15:03] Firstly, the candidate sets up their panel and the judges, get to assess the images. At the end of that first assessment , we take a vote. Then have a discussion and then we take a second vote. And the reason we do it like that is so that the judges get to make up their minds independently with no influence. They're just assessing the images on their own. And on an individual basis. Then we vote. And then as a discussion and in that discussion, It's about the judging team, the panel of judges arriving at a decision that is, a combination of their own independent view and the views of the other four judges. And it's important that it's done like that because every judge has a different experience, different influences and skills for how they assess the images. [00:15:53] And so when the judges talk, each judge gets the opportunity to address the panel, and talk about why they think their decision is the right one. But they're also listening to the other four judges and taking into account, maybe things they haven't noticed or maybe things that they just don't prioritize quite the same way. [00:16:17] And listening to these six judges or five at a time, but the six judges in discourse, listening, giving their views, knowing when to be brave and when to stand their ground, but also know when to flex, and acknowledge that may be another photographer, another judge has more experience in an area or a spotted, something that they haven't, that that was exhilarating in the extreme, because the panel of judges each time there was a discussion , they came to decision and the whole panel doesn't have to be unanimous, but the whole panel of judges respects and understands the outcome of the process. [00:16:56] Now, of course the delegate might not. That is other candidate rather than might not. That is true. And it wasn't a hundred percent pass, uh, in terms of each of the panels. And it's always heartbreaking. I wish the candidates could see behind the curtain while we come to the decision. That's not part of the process that we've opened up just yet. Um, that may come in the future as we get our arms around a way of doing that, that is. Uh, fair. But genuinely when a panel was unsuccessful, you could almost hear everybody in the room, you can almost hear their hearts. Breaking. [00:17:37] When we say, we're sorry. We mean it. Because we would love every single panel to be a successful panel. We would love that. But in the end. It's a, it's a balancing act between making sure that we reward the endeavor, we reward the work. But the standards have to be high. They have to be. Consistent. They have to be something that when people look at the letters you put on the wall. They mean something and sadly they can only mean something. [00:18:12] If we hold our ground, on, uh, the standards, the process, and the reasons why certain panels will succeed where other panels may not make it this particular time, but what an absolute what an absolute privilege to be in the room with those judges, looking at those panels, the panels were stunning. Even the ones that were unsuccessful this time round, the panels were stunning. [00:18:34] So a huge, thank you. To the six judges who came and provided their skills, their eyes, their experience to, assess each of the candidates work [00:18:47] And what a beautiful thing to be a part of. [00:18:50] Um, what else? What have I written in my notes? Personal Reflections and Future Plans [00:18:52] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So, yeah, I've drank a little too much this week and exercised a little too little. That's something I'm now feeling very guilty about. And this afternoon, it's Saturday afternoon. And I sat and thought. Shall I go home and get on the exercise, bike or shall I record a podcast. [00:19:06] And I thought, oh, I better record this podcast, but trust me when this is recorded. I'm going to go home and do a little bit more exercise than I have this week. This week I've barely slept. I've been working in London. I've been working in Essex. I've been working here locally. This stuff has got to go out. [00:19:23] I've written an article for professional photo magazine, big shout out to those guys, by the way, the online magazine looks fantastic that's Professional. Uh, Photo Magazine. Uh, but what, uh, what a week it has been, [00:19:36] uh, final note, . Final note this week. Um, it's been a real run of it just at the moment in that. Product Reviews and Recommendations [00:19:43] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Lots of photographic suppliers have been approaching us to feature their product on either the podcast or masteringportraitphotography.com, or just getting it into our hands so that we can talk about it. And I have a really strict policy here, um, that I'll only talk about things and promote things that I use that are part of our business, part of our workflow, because if they are worth talking about, then trust me. I've already had a look I'm already using it. [00:20:11] So this one has, this came in yesterday. Um, and I'll put the link in the show notes. We use a bit of software, or we've been exploring a bit of software called EVOTO - E V O T O, which is it's an AI retouching package. [00:20:27] Now I know I can feel a few of you are hackles going up and bloomin' AI. retouching automated and all of those things. Why do I like it? Well, I like it because you have total control. So in the same way that we use actions in Photoshop, we put up, um, check layers. And do dodging and burning. This takes some of that drudgery out. [00:20:50] I say, drudgery that, sorry, that sounds dreadful. I don't mean it to sound like that because actually I love retouching. Balancing Business and Creativity [00:20:56] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: I love it when I've got an hour. And a beautiful picture that I can just work up, but my business model, doesn't allow me to do that for 22 portrait shoots in three weeks. It just doesn't. [00:21:08] Now I could outsource it, I suppose. But I've never been really that happy with the results when I've done that. I find, I find things, come back, just looking a little bit plastic. Um, of course I could pay really high-end retouches, but I work in social photography, not commercial retouching. Obviously, if it's going to be the cover of Vogue, I can spend thousands on a single image being retouched, but that's not my world. [00:21:31] My world is a very solid, very dynamic, very successful social photography. Uh, outfit and. Although I like the images to have a really high fashion look for an awful lot of my work, trying to find techniques to do that quickly is not straightforward. Discovering EVOTO: A Game-Changer for Retouching [00:21:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Um, so when EVOTO suddenly emerged a few months ago, it's still sort of in beta, at least a lot of the functions are. Um, it's E V O T O you can go download it. [00:21:59] Um, this particular piece of software allows you a huge amount of control and there are two. Uh, bits of Photoshopping that I really don't enjoy. I don't mind. I love I say. I don't mind. I love skin retouching. I love working at the colors. I love all of that side of it. I really don't like fixing crosshairs, and I don't like fixing creased clothes. [00:22:21] So there's a two things there, there are others, but those are two things I really just find irritating for whatever reason. EVOTO Features and Benefits [00:22:28] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, EVOTO on its own, it would be worth the effort of just fixing those, um, it does crosshairs brilliantly and it will take the majority of creases out of pretty much any type of clothing. [00:22:41] And even if that was all it did, that would be worth the money, but it does so much more. It helps me in so many ways. It's helping us automate and create a higher finish. But it's still looking natural, still looking like they, the images haven't been retouched, I'll do a deep dive into it at some point. Uh, but the guys have been in touch, and I do have a promo code. Uh, if you fancy it again. Uh, put that in the notes, but it's https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson capital P capital w all one word, Paul Wilkinson. And if you go there and sign up. Uh, you will get 30 free credits, which allow you to have a play. [00:23:28] So you'll get 30 free credits. The other thing about the software, which I really like is that you pay to finish the image so you can load it up with as many images as you like and run your, your settings on it and run. Basically all of that, the whole of the software. But you only get charged when you export the finished images out. [00:23:50] Now it's not perfect yet. Uh, only works on certain types of files. It won't work on PSD files. It works on TIFs or RAW files. Uh, or JPEGs, but trust me, it's an absolute godsend. Uh, particularly if you don't overuse it, if you just keep on the right side of the line. The images look natural, they look polished. They look finished. That you've got no crosshairs and even the clothes can get a little bit of an iron. So I'll put that link in the show notes. And if you follow the link, you will get, uh, 30 free credits. By the way, I get no kickback on this. I'm getting nothing out of it. It's just, I talked to the guys. Because I use the software. And I said I would happily, uh, promote it because I think it's, it's absolutely. Uh, brilliant. [00:24:37] And then anybody, the whole point of this podcast is to make life a little bit easier for anybody, uh, doing portrait. Uh, photography. Navigating the Photography Business Landscape [00:24:44] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So anyway, on to what is, I suppose, as much as it ever is the topic of a podcast, these are just, you know, It's the diary of a working pro in stuff that occurs to me as we, as I get all my life. Um, but here's the primary topic of this particular. Uh, podcast and in a sense. It's a little bit of a moan. I just, I don't like to moan. [00:25:07] It's not my style, but this is just a little bit of a protest protest. Sounds better than moan. Maybe. A little bit of a protest. Evaluating Business Advice and Authenticity [00:25:15] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Which is the sheer number of adverts I get in all of my social feeds with people telling me they have the answer. They can make my photography business successful. They can find me thousands of clients. [00:25:29] They have a six-figure photographic business. They can tell me how they did it. No one, no one has the answer. It's all lots of small parts. And when I'm looking for help, I look basically for three. Three things more or less. And these. These are three things that it would have to have if I'm going to use someone for some help. [00:25:48] Firstly, do I admire their pictures? Do I admire their pictures? Do I want or understand why they create what they do? Is it something. That's in tune. With me and what I want. [00:26:01] A couple of people have come into our studio and said, well, you could do it like this, you could turn the whole space into two working studios, have two photographers in each run, eight shoots. Uh, in each, uh, part of your space per day, that's 16 shoots. Per day, you need to get a sales team onto the calls, do cold calling to lead generation, and you could run a multi-million pound business. Well, I could. But I don't want to. Because those photos are not the photos that I want to take. Um, and besides I want to take them, I love creating pictures. That's part of why we do this. The idea of not creating pictures anymore is not part of my business plan. What I've got to always figure out is how to make this business as profitable as I can, given the caveat, I left a very well-paid job in the city to do it. I left a career and a life of money and shares and shareholder value, and watching stock markets and being a partner in a firm. [00:26:56] I left all of that behind me because it wasn't, what I wanted. What I wanted to do was create beautiful images and make life just a little bit better for people myself included. Um, so that the idea of doing that, so. I will only ever look for someone who's creating pictures. I truly admire. [00:27:12] Secondly, , does that business, the business they're describing, does it look like my business vision? [00:27:18] So whatever it is, they're trying to sell me. Is that part of my vision. [00:27:23] And thirdly, do I like the person who purports to give me that information. [00:27:29] If those three things are true, there may be, I'll dig into it a little bit further, but if any, one of those isn't true. I'm not going there. And I get so many ads with people, waving their camera around, telling me some number or rather. You know, I don't know. [00:27:43] I've created a six figure business in three weeks. Um, I did it all from the comfort of my own home. I mean, there's even ads. Now I get the, tell me they don't need a photographer. You can set up. A headshot business without ever using a photographer. And if I get one more of those ads from someone who clearly doesn't understand. What. Personal branding really is it's the clue is in the title, personal. It's not AI generated. [00:28:09] I know you can change hairdos and suits. And I use AI everywhere. Trust me. But there's a big difference in the, if you think about the one word you have to have in personal branding, authenticity is at the heart of it. An AI can't give you that. I mean, you can't synthesize authenticity. There's no such thing. Synthetic authenticity is an oxymoron, it is not a thing it's either authentic or ain't. So, uh, I'm sort of very. They're very cynical about those things and they, and these people are always waving a camera around at me, sometimes with the lens cup still on. I assume that it's because the Metta or social media algorithms reward, people waving a camera around. [00:28:53] So it gets it higher up in my feed and it definitely works as long as it's aimed at me. So I've got hundreds of these things. And they're always, there was a very particular type of person. They're always very bouncy and extrovert and energetic. And I like that. I'm bouncy and energetic and extrovert. Um, but I'd like to know, that their business has been running for 10 years or 15 years. [00:29:17] I'd like to know. That they consistently do these pictures with real clients, the kind of clients that we find, the kind of clients that are in tune with our business. Um, Now of course, when I dig into them and actually have a hunt around. 99% of them are paper thin. There's nothing underneath there's no, it's not substantiated by any real world. Business acumen or business experience. Some of them will have been successful, but you can feel that they are now going into training because the success of the business has probably beginning to wane. [00:29:51] I'm looking for a long-term sustained business. If what I want to run is a longterm sustained business. I'm looking for somebody who can do what I want to do. Um, Now it is true. It is true that you can be a great coach without being a sporting star on your own or vocal coach to rockstars. They're not quite the same thing, being good at something and being able to coach in it. Not quite the same thing as being a star in it. [00:30:18] I understand that. But I really do want to know that the war stories I'm going to learn from are real, that someone's been out there, someone's done it. That they've walked the walk and ideally are still walking the walk I'd much rather learn from a business than from a trainer. If you get what I mean. I want to go to a consultant . Who's still running up business. They're still learning. They're still evolving. I mean, goodness knows. In the UK, we're about to go into a general election. The dates of that have just been released, and if there's one thing I know about elections and anything sort of like, um, referenda, anything like that. Is the phones, just go that little bit quieter. So no matter what happens up until July the fourth, which is the election date, I know that the market will be ever so slightly suppressed because people don't wake up during election campaigning and think first as they wake up, I need to get some photos. That's just not what happens. [00:31:16] People wake up and thinks, you know, What's Rishi Sunak said today, or where are we headed with the election or any one of a million other things, but photography just gets down the list a little bit, further. So I know we're about to go into a quiet period and what I want is someone who's been through that knows that's what's coming knows that the little intricacies of running a business over a long period of time are far more than you can do something like this in 42 days, or in just three weeks, you can have this success or with just one camera and one lens and working from home, you can telemarket to a thousand people. [00:31:49] I don't care about any of that. What I want to know is do they run a business that looks a little bit like mine? And I know that they've been there, seen it, done it and are still doing it. Um, now. The Importance of Hard Work and Superpowers [00:32:00] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: A couple of episodes ago, I talked about four things, four things, I think are consistent to successful. Photographers that's energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. [00:32:12] I stand by that. They're very much there, but they're not all of it. And I did say that in a podcast, they're just the foundation stones. That, not the whole building there. The bit. They're the bedrock or the foundation, everything can be built on, but they are not. The whole building, maybe I'll get over the coming months to talk about each of the different areas that I think you probably need to get to map it out. [00:32:35] Maybe that'd be a good idea. if I draw it all out. Uh, maybe actually create a little bit, maybe I should stand in front of a camera and wave my camera around with my lens cap on and say, I've got the answer for you. I don't, I don't have the answer. I've just spotted some things that are consistent with people who are successful, energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. But you'll also need some other stuff. [00:32:58] And one of them is just hard work over a period of time. Call it, practice. Call it graft, call it wherever you want. It's doing it over a long period of time so that you have your chops down. You graft at it. You'll get some breaks. You'll miss some breaks. You'll have a bit of good luck, you know, have a little bit of bad luck. That's life. There isn't a silver bullet for this, and you really do need to plow through it. So these little ads that come up and say, I've got the answer for you in the next three weeks, you can do this. Um, then just, I'm just doubtful. [00:33:32] I certainly don't buy into them. And every time I have sort of investigated, they've come up short now we all have superpowers. We do. But we don't all have the same superpowers and there's no one superpower you need, you need a suite of them. But you can't have everything. It's just not possible to be good at everything. Um, my superpowers, I suppose, are I am a grafter I work hard. I can read light. I love, I love technology. I know it's slightly ironic that I'm muttering about some of the AI stuff given I've got a PhD in AI. I adore technology. And I get on with people. Well, mostly I get on with people. But I am not for instance, an avant-garde creative photographer. I'm not edgy. I'm not a visionary. I'm certainly not a master, of marketing or a sales. [00:34:22] I'm non of those things, but I work hard. At it, I love doing it. And so I do a lot of it. And I particularly love being amongst people. And I love being amongst people when I've got a camera. And if I'm, I suppose I, if I think about it, I can create a portrait. In almost any light. If I can see it. Well, probably I can use it. Those are my superpowers, but everyone will have different superpowers. Some of you will be amazing at business. Some of us will be amazing at marketing and sales. Some of us will be amazing photo shoppers. And fine artists things that I'm not. Um, but that's my superpower. Those are my superpowers. Uh, I'm a grafter can read light love tech and I get on well with people. [00:35:07] But even then in and of itself. that's not enough. It's a damn good start, but it's not enough. I've got to learn and I have learned as much as I can about everything else. I'm still learning. I'm still on that journey. We're still running. Uh, business that I've learned how to do it alongside Sarah. Sarah. and myself, we've worked out how to do it. [00:35:27] We've had a corporate background. So we were exposed to the fundamental principles of running businesses, which is really useful. But I've learnt how to run our little business, how to sell. We've learned how to sell stuff. We've learned how to market, we've learnt how to do those things. Using what I would consider to be natural tools. Um, so using the S the superpowers that we have, the ability to get on well with people, the ability to create a picture, actually, after that, you don't need to do too much on the sales side, a couple of little bits and pieces. [00:35:55] There are techniques. But for us, we've just lent into our natural talents. Um, of really liking our clients and really enjoying being there with them and really enjoying, creating images of them. Uh, and so that's how we've learned how to run a business and we're still learning. [00:36:12] But I do wish I could stop receiving ads from people, waving a camera at me telling me that they all 25 years old of them. Are the answer. Well, they may be the answer, but they're not the answer. that I would look for. They can't change my business only I can change my business and I'm very, very picky. About who I take advice from. Final Thoughts and Farewell [00:36:37] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Anyway, thank you for listening. [00:36:39] If you have enjoyed this, please do let us know. Please do leave us a rating on iTunes or wherever it is, you get your podcasts and also please do subscribe. So the minute we publish the next one. Bang. There is. In your in-tray or in your list, on your library, on your latest or on your alerts or wherever it is. That it pings up when you listen to your podcasts, please also head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is. the spiritual home of this podcast. But also of course includes a ton of stuff all about the love. The passion, the creativity in the business of mastering. Portrait photography. If you're curious about any of the workshops and one-on-one masterclasses that we run, um, where there's a whole suite of them. I go back to the thing I said earlier, though. If you think we're the kind of thing you'd like to do. [00:37:23] If we creating pictures that you'd like to learn how to do, and if you think actually you'd like to learn it from us. And then please do head over to, uh, paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And there you will find the, um, Coaching section, but just Google paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops and you will find us. [00:37:41] So on that happy note, I'm going to go, I think. And have a beer in the sunshine with my wife. And lament the fact that I've got one very sore, big toe. Whatever else you do. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

Hey, brilliant photographers!   Today's episode is all about kicking those mindset roadblocks to the curb with Jeff Brown, a very special human that loves to support people to become highly profitable. Let's dive into the juicy details from our chat:Background: Photographer, Author and mentor, Jeff started his photography career in the Royal Navy (yes, he is British) and has owned five photography companies of his own. t Plus, he's shot over 750 weddings! Talk about skills. He's on a mission to spread motivation and inspiration like confetti, folks!Writing Whiz: Jeff isn't just a pro behind the lens; he's also penned four No.1 best-selling books for photographers. Ambassador Extraordinaire: Not content with just conquering the photography world, Jeff's also President of the British Institute of Professional Photographers, a brand and marketing ambassador for some heavy hitters like OM SYSTEM and much more. Talk about wearing many hats!Mindset Magic: Ever heard of the saying, "What you believe, you can achieve"? Jeff's all about that. Listen to his journey from failure and depression to living the life he loves.Jeff dropped some serious wisdom bombs and steps to change your mindset. He suggests we…set up a vision and type it up as if it is already done.look at others that are successful to discover what is possibleread books, listen to famous people's stories, cultivate gratitude…write three things in the person, possession, and experience every daybe generouslimit your exposure to negativityfear…challenge your fears and take their power awayHe leaves us with this suggestion…Instead of sweating over your photography skills, Jeff reminds us to focus on our branding and perceived value. Wise words, indeed!So, folks, if you're ready to level up your mindset game and unleash your potential listen to the audio or watch the video.Then head over to Thephotographersmentor.com for more Jeff Brown magic.And check out my coaching programs, find more episodes or get in touch with me atwww.lucidumascoaching.comConnect with Photography Business Coach Luci Dumas: Website Email: luci@lucidumas.comInstagram FacebookYouTube

#Adrian, #health #DMSO, #endometriosisShownotes :https://theprinciples.co.uk/dr-amandha-vollmer-her-top-5-for-health-dmso-endometriosis-erectile-dysfunction-and-more/Dr Amandha Dawn Vollmer holds a bachelor of science in Agricultural Biotechnology from the University of Lethbridge (2000) in Alberta, Canada and a degree of Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (2008) in Toronto. She also has previous experience as a certified lab animal technician at the University of Alberta. Most of her life she has taken an interest in botanical medicine: self-educating on the topic many years before becoming her formal medical training. Having developed many of her extra senses with martial arts & dance, she realized a natural gift for sensing illness and a laying on of hands. She soon sought answers via the energetic healing arts and became a registered reiki practitioner & teacher, among other modalities.After much scholarly & independent study, her passion for the elegant and effective sub-molecular medicine known as homeopathy, brought her to study in South India under Rajan Sankaran. She also volunteered for a month-long intensive medical program in Northern India shadowing cardiologists, obstetricians, Ayurvedic practitioners and homeopathic doctors alike. Afterward, she took a 10 day silent Vippassana retreat in the Himalayan mountains. Originally training to be a veterinarian, she took courses through the British Institute of Homeopathy for veterinary homeopathic medicine. During naturopathic college, she was certified both in IV therapy and with Dr. David Leaf in Applied Kinesiology.Support the Show.

Join us as we record our final show of the campaign at the 2023/34 Player of the Year dinner. We round up the season following the final day game at Wycombe, and speak to players live at the event in the Fans' Bar at The Valley - including an exclusive interview with Addicks skipper George Dobson as we discuss his future.We'd like to say a special thank you to everyone who has listened to the show throughout the 23/24 season and also to our sponsors - the British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation - for their support this campaign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scholars have recently coined the term “gastrodevelopment” to refer to the leveraging of food culture as a resource and strategy of economic development. Drawing on a case study of Tucson, Arizona – the United States' first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy – Kinkaid uses the lens of gastrodevelopment to examine how food culture is transformed into a form of symbolic capital that animates a broader project of urban development. Kinkaid shows how this transformation encodes differentials of value that are racialized and racializing and risk contributing to Tucson's uneven urban geographies. Kinkaid then turns to community visions of food-based development to imagine alternative trajectories for the project of gastrodevelopment. Dr. Eden Kinkaid (they/them) is a human geographer and social scientist whose work focuses on themes of sustainable and equitable food and agricultural systems, place, race, and development. They have researched these themes in north India and in the U.S. Southwest. In addition to this line of research, they publish on topics of feminist, queer, and trans geographies, geographic theory, creative geographies, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia. Their work has been published in Urban Geography, Progress in Human Geography, Transactions of the British Institute of Geographers, The Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Environment and Planning D, and various other journals and books. Eden has served as an editor at Gender, Place, and Culture, The Graduate Journal of Food Studies, and you are here: the journal of creative geography. You can learn more about their work on their website or by following them on social media @queergeog on Twitter, Instagram, and Bluesky. In addition to this audio, you can watch the video and read the full transcript of their conversation on Shareable.net – while you're there get caught up on past lectures. Cities@Tufts Lectures explores the impact of urban planning on our communities and the opportunities to design for greater equity and justice with professor Julian Agyeman.  Cities@Tufts Lectures is produced by Tufts University and Shareable.net with support from Barr Foundation and SHIFT Foundation. Lectures are moderated by Professor Julian Agyeman and organized in partnership with research assistants Deandra Boyle and Grant Perry. Paige Kelly is our co-producer and audio editor, the original portrait of Karin Bradley was illustrated by Anke Dregnet, and the series is co-produced and hosted by Tom Llewellyn.  “Light Without Dark” by Cultivate Beats is our theme song.

If you would like to support the Homeopathy Hangout Podcast, please consider making a donation by visiting www.EugenieKruger.com and click the DONATE button at the top of the site. Every donation about $10 will receive a shout-out on a future episode. Visit our website for bookings or to purchase remedies: www.eugeniekruger.com   Ep 46: Animal Homeopath Brenda Tobin shares some tips to help you use Homeopathy on your furry, scaly and feathery friends Brenda Tobin Homeopathic Practitioner, Veterinary Homeopathic Practitioner, Certified Canine Nutritionist, Reiki Master, Animal Reiki Practitioner Loving and caring for animals has been a passion for Brenda since childhood.  Her mother noticed this and enrolled her in a High School that offered an animal science program.  Since then, Brenda completed a two year canine nutrition program earning the mark of distinction award.   She went on to develop an all natural pet treat for dogs, cats and horses, called Ruby's Naturals.   Having been introduced to homeopathy in 2000, Brenda fell in love with this natural and gentle healing modality and became a classically trained homeopath.  Additionally, she received a full scholarship to a veterinary homeopathy program at The British Institute of Homeopathy International earning her degree with a grade average of 98 percent. She also earned her certificate in Foundations of Hahnemannian Homeopathy.     To further her homeopathic education, she was a student at the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy under George Vithoulkas, one of the world's leading homeopaths and author of many renowned homeopathic books.  She is a regular contributor to Dogs Naturally Magazine, as well as moderator of their Facebook group, DNM The Pack.  In addition to being a homeopath, Brenda also uses her knowledge of human grade essential oils, herbs, and Reiki as healing modalities for you and your pets. ​Brenda is able to treat you and your pets, ranging from household to exotic, locally and long-distance via phone, FaceTime or Zoom. You can reach Brenda here: https://www.wellnessmattersonline.com/ ​

The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) is the only professional institute for interior designers in the UK. Our growing membership represents both the commercial and residential sectors, from heritage to cutting edge. In addition to rigorous entry requirements which assess training, experience and professionalism, they require our members to continue their professional development throughout their career to ensure their continued expertise in design process, practice and regulatory matters. For those wishing to find an interior designer or to confirm the credibility of a potential interior designer they offer a directory of our Registered Interior Designers.Each year BIID celebrates the very best of British interior design through its awards program. The BIID Interior Design Awards showcase the best interior design projects completed across the UK.Winners are awarded across 7 regional categories ranging from the largest commercial project to the smallest residential dwelling. In addition, there are two landmark prices – the Interior of the Year Prize, which is awarded to the best interior design project in the UK and the Anna Whitehead Prize, which is awarded to the best achievement in sustainable interior design. 9 awards will be given out in total, along with acknowledgements of Highly Commended projects.In this podcast, we are joined by two previous award winners and one of the judges of this year's awards to discuss the value of the awards programme. If you are reading this on an RSS feed, try and visit https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design to view the visuals from these brilliant projects.James Gavigan is co-founder of House of Kin (houseofkin.com) who were the Greater London winners for 2023 with their Riverside project. The Riverside is a unique nursery that preserves the character of the original church building, whilst combining clean aesthetics, soft colours, and simple lines with homely and interactive touches. The judges praised its harmonious and child-friendly design, emphasizing sustainability with cork-clad walls, wood waste flooring, and recycled plastic bottle tiles. The space is imaginative, thoughtful, and perfect for children's learning and growth. Susie Pfeiffer founded Pfeiffer design who won the Anna Whitehead Prize in 2022 for their design studio. The studio was designed with sustainability at the forefront; it uses a wide range of the latest sustainable technologies, sourced locally and is an inspiration to others looking to use similar sustainable elements within their own homes and offices.Asif Din is one of the judges for the 2024 awards. He is the Sustainability Director at Perkins & Will. He has worked across the world as an architect and is a keen advocate of Zero Carbon design projects and the use of circularity in design.Susie and James explain the importance to them, as past winners, of the BIID awards. How, the bring kudos and opportunity to their businesses but also how they bring the design community together and elevate design standards, especially when talking about sustainability and fostering creativity so that design doesn't become bland.From a judge's perspective, Asif comments on how it is often clear that biophilic aspects such as sustainability and environmental factors have been considered from the start as clear elements in any project. Such projects stand out and are key to achieving success at the awards.Throughout the discussion it is clear that just adding sustainable materials to a design doesn't make the overall design sustainable. Consideration has to be given to materials being appropriate for the design; the design can't simply include “box-ticking” elements.Durability is mentioned as a major factor in materials choice for many sustainable designs.The participants are all clear that a sustainable design doesn't involve a compromise on aesthetics. Indeed, taking a biophilic approach to design can enhance the look and feel of a space and contribute to a deeper, more meaningful aesthetic that resonates with the principles of balance with nature.Overall, the conversation brings to the fore the joy and inspiration that great design that fully embraces biophilia brings to those who use the spaces created. Oh, and you might also win kudos and recognition in the form of a BIID award! https://biid.org.uk/biid-interior-design-awardshttps://biid.org.uk/winners-23https://biid.org.uk/judgesChapel Barn: https://www.pfeifferdesign.co.uk/our-approach/sustainability/Riverside: https://biid.org.uk/design-practice-house-kin

Well, I'm back on the road with a microphone - but this time in my wife's nippy little Peugeot!     There are a so many aspects of customer service but one of them is how you explain what you're going to deliver and how you're going to do it and, given the stories in this episode, that is something that is very easy to get wrong!  Utlimately, clarity is king!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.  Full Transcript: EP148 - Clarity Is King [00:00:00] So for those of you with sharp ears, you may have noticed that that does not sound like my regular Land Rover biscuit tin on wheels, and you'd be absolutely right about that. I shall tell you the slightly sorry tale of what's happened to my Land Rover, uh, later in the podcast. In the meantime, I'm heading up to the photography show in Sarah's car, which is, frankly, as nippy as hell. [00:00:26] It's like driving a go kart. It's tiny, it's quick, it's a lot of fun to drive. It's not my Land Rover, but hey, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:00:40] So hello one and all, it is a very, very wet Sunday here in the UK. It's one of those, it's one of those days when I look around me And everything looks monochrome. You. You wouldn't be certain if this was an entry in a photographic , competition, I'd be accusing the author of putting a, a plugin on it that has sucked the color, sucked the life outta the scene. The sky is well gray, the road gray, the walls. The trees and hedges as I drive past them, sort of a grey green. Even, even the bright yellow markers on the roundabout signs that I've just driven past are not iridescent yellow. They're sort of a dull ochre. [00:01:44] Everything about today, except for my mood, is grey. And actually, it's been a little bit of a mixed month. Now, I know I said at the beginning of the year, and this, I said also at the beginning of the year, You never set yourself. New Year's Resolutions, because they're impossible to live up to, and if you want to do something, just set out about doing it, whatever time of the year it is, just set about doing it. [00:02:05] I set about doing a podcast a week, and then crunched into some of the busiest couple of weeks, I think, I can remember, which I'm now, well, sort of surfacing from. It hasn't, it's not exactly clear As in, the diary isn't clear, there's a lot going on but there are also chunks like today when I'm gonna spend the best part of three hours sitting in a car. [00:02:26] Now I know three hours, to my American and Australian friends, is like driving down to Starbucks for a coffee. For us in the UK, that is not an insignificant amount of time. So I'm going to record a podcast or two and then maybe over the coming weeks I'll get back into the rhythm of it and get these things rolling. [00:02:44] But there is so much going on story of the Land Rover so let's deal with some of the slightly sadder news over the last couple of weeks or last month or so. It started with an accident. Excellent couple of days up with the BIPP, that's the British Institute of Professional Photographers, or Professional Photography up in Preston, and then had a great meeting and spent a lovely evening with the guys for, with Martin and the guys there. [00:03:12] Discussing things like the monthly competition, how we're gonna, promote it. It's been very successful so far but of course, there's plenty more we could be doing. And then on The following day, went across to record a podcast, went across with a friend and a photographer, Sean Conboy, to meet a photographer who I had never met personally, but knew about, a guy called Stuart Clark. [00:03:35] Now, Stuart is 97, nearly 98 years old, and one of the sharpest, most interesting photographers I think I've had the privilege of meeting. We sat in his lounge and recorded, probably about an hour and a half, I have a conversation about photography, his life in it, his history in it, the things he has seen change, and when I say the things he's seen change, I mean fundamentally, you know, he started on glass plate cameras, and is now in the digital age, I mean that's in one lifetime how far it's come. [00:04:11] Almost in one set of stories we've gone from the origins of photography, maybe not quite, there's a little bit before that of course, I mean it started in the 1850s. But you know, almost the origins of photography as we know it through to today, and it's a fascinating interview, and as much as anything else, just listening to his voice on the microphone, I sat at the beginning of this interview and we popped a microphone in front of him and I put some headphones on, and as he spoke, it was the most breathtaking sound, he's quite quietly spoken, But the mic, and the room, and the ambience, and the stories he was telling, I mean, it was electric in my headphones. [00:04:51] I actually gave the headphones over to Sean so he could have a listen, simply because it was so beautiful. I'll cut that down, it's just a long interview, and I need to just figure out how I'm going to share that. But it was a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. And at the end of it, took a few portraits of the man with He said, oh, I've got all my cameras. [00:05:09] We said, oh, get them out, get them out. And of course, he went looking for them and couldn't find them in the attic. I mean, Sean and myself, slightly terrified that we've sent this 97 year old into his roof space to see if he can find a camera. Anyway, he eventually returned with a Raleigh, a TLR. [00:05:25] Twinlens, Reflex, Rolleiflex. Beautiful camera, and so I've got some pictures of him with that, so a little bit of his history. Anyway, roll o'clock forwards to that evening, I leave Leeds head down the M1, which is the in the UK, for, again, my listeners around the world. It's the motorway that runs straight down the middle. [00:05:44] of the UK connecting the north to the south. It connects all the way up to pretty well, it goes up to Scotland pretty much and then drops straight into London. And I was heading down the M1 when suddenly, 70 miles an hour, I'm in the fast lane, they, there is, there wasn't really a bang, but you felt this kind of thunk, and then the engine's vibrating, I can smell oil, oh man, the smell, it's, if you've owned cars for a while, And you've had them go wrong, you just know, when you can smell oil like that, there is nothing but trouble. [00:06:19] Coming I planted my foot on the brake pedal and manoeuvred my way across a couple of lanes of reasonably fast moving traffic. Sort of slan slapped it into the hard shoulder as quickly as I could, because if you're running an engine, You can smell oil, it's vibrating, the last thing you wanna do is keep going because you are at that point destroying what is left of your engine. [00:06:45] So I lifted the bonnet to have a quick look, just to make sure there wasn't anything obvious. Sure enough, there is oil everywhere. Engine's not good. That's not going. So, luckily, I say luckily, this is, it's my life. I spend my life in a car. And we have recovery, RAC recovery. So I rang the RAC. [00:07:04] They said they'd be there within an hour because I'm on, I'm in live, I'm on the edge of live traffic. This is the, probably the busiest motorway in the UK and I'm sitting on a hard shoulder in the pouring rain by now. And I keep getting the updates and, you know, it's like, it says it's going to be an hour, then it's an hour and a half, then it's two hours. [00:07:21] It's, it's four degrees, which is pretty chilly. It's raining and sleeting. So I've, thinking, well, I don't really, and this is a lesson, I don't have any rain gear in a car. Luckily, I had a couple of blankets in there that we use for, if I want to sit people, if I'm doing a shoot somewhere out and about, I've got it in the back of the car, just in case I need to sit somebody down on the ground. [00:07:41] So I wrapped myself in a pair of picnic blankets, sat under one of our wedding umbrellas. Luckily I got some battery packs so I could keep my iPhone charged up and sat and watch Netflix. And of course I'm watching the arrival time of the RAC and it keeps creeping out and creeping out. And eventually this orange van arrives he takes one look at the car, sticks his head under the bonnet and says yeah, you've blown your engine, that's not going anywhere. [00:08:04] I can't tow you, he tells me, because the limit for towing a car as heavy as the Defender is one mile, and I'm six miles from the next available exit. So, he says the next, they'll send the recovery vehicle, proper recovery vehicle out, and I say, well, am I supposed just to sit here in the rain then? And he says, yep. [00:08:24] And so, for the next couple of hours, yet again, I'm out in the rain, I keep my phone charged up, keep watching Netflix. It turns out Netflix, I like watching Netflix anyway, it's always on in the background while I'm editing. It turns out it's quite a useful distraction, because by the time the recovery vehicle turned up to actually put it onto the flatbed, the guy looked at me and he just said, Simply, get in the cab, get warm. [00:08:47] I could barely move, my legs were shaking, I was beginning to get hypothermic. You stay out of the car for safety reasons, but I'm beginning to think it was more dangerous being not in the car than it was being in the car, which is an absolute nightmare. He had to open the door for me, my hands were so cold I could barely pull the handle. [00:09:04] I climbed into the cab, which turned out to be like a sauna, and sat and defrosted as he hitched up the car. and took me halfway home. Yeah, halfway. Because I was so far away, they couldn't drive me all the way back to home. So of course I'm in touch with Sarah, I've told her what's going on. They parked me at Northampton Services where they're going to send another recovery vehicle out for me. [00:09:27] And again, it says it's going to be an hour and a half. And I wait and I watch as the time increases, two hours, three hours, four hours. It's not clear, they never, they're never clear about how long it's going to take. And they, they deliberately obfuscate, I think, so that you can't say, well you said you'd turn up then. [00:09:44] They give you a range and then they keep telling you the range is creeping out. And, apart from the gas, I'm not the only person that needs recovering. And the driver did give me a. a heads up. He said to me as he left, he said, you might be a while because you're no longer in live traffic, so you're no longer in danger. [00:10:02] You're just sitting in a services. Now I would agree with him about the danger bit, but sitting in Northampton services at what were we now? Sort of midnight, 11 o'clock I think I arrived there. Maybe 10. 30 we arrived. And it's not a place you'd want to sit. There's nobody else around. Then luckily for me, I have a, you know, guilty pleasure in McDonald's and KFC and things. [00:10:23] Can't help myself, the smell of it. And I thought, I'll get myself a McDonald's. And so I got, I did, I got myself a burger. Some coffee and some chips, and sat chewing on those. And within two minutes of me buying it and getting it, I noticed that McDonald's had changed their sign. The big signs outside say that it's open 24 hours. [00:10:43] Big sign. McDonald's. 24 hours. Five minutes after I buy my burger, they put up signs that say, Sorry, only serving coffee. So that's not Open. That's not, that's a complete breach of contract as far as I'm concerned. They said they'd be, I'm thinking it's alright, I'll just get a burger and if I need one in a few hours I'll get another one. [00:11:02] Nope, none of that. I could get a coffee but couldn't get a burger in spite of the sign saying 24 hours. I'm gonna come back to this point because it's quite important for us as photography businesses. Anyway, I'm sitting there. The great and good of those that probably need a little bit of help from mental support and social services came and went, came and went, came and went. One or two drug deals were going on out in the car park. I don't know how, the police don't spot it. You can see it a mile away. So it's a fairly lonely thing. So I recorded a podcast. I recorded what was going to be this podcast. I got my recorder because it was in the car. [00:11:37] Obviously, I'd been recording with Stuart. And so I sat and I recorded a pretty, I think it was a pretty good, quite emotive podcast, I sat clutching my coffee because obviously that's now all that McDonald's was serving. It's fairly lonely except for the rantings of one chap who was telling me all about his relationship with the Queen. [00:11:57] I don't think he was very well, if I'm honest. I also don't think he was sober. So I recorded this, what I think was a rather excellent podcast, very Radio Four very radio documentary, you know, lots of background sounds and lots of life real life going on. And at the end of it, I sat back and thought to myself, that, that is going to be an excellent podcast, and I noticed that I hadn't hit the record button. [00:12:23] I was just so tired by now and a bit stressed. just forgot to do it. And so that was the end of that really, and I never, I didn't have the heart to do it again, even though I did have the time, because I was there for another couple of hours. I think in the end I waited there for four hours front to back. [00:12:39] Recovery vehicle, the phone rings, he says, I'm here, but where are you? And I look across six lanes of moving traffic, and he's on the other side of the motorway. Heading North. So, I'm heading South, so I have to direct him somewhere. Surely the guys have told you where I am, and they had, but not very well. [00:12:58] And he had to drive up to the next junction, turn around and come back and pick me up. And then, on it goes, and, and, we drop the car, I nominate to drop the car at our next stop. The guys that service it, my local, well it's not local, it's about 10 miles away, but the garage that services the Land Rover on a regular basis. [00:13:15] I dropped it in there lay by, switched on the immobiliser, locked it all up and Sarah picked me up and I got home at just about quarter past four in the morning. Now having left Leeds at about Two in the afternoon to get home at four in the morning was, well, a little bit heartbreaking. By now I was fairly fed up, fairly cold, incredibly tired, and I knew I had to wake up really early to let the guys know at the garage they've got a service to land over and also to get on with our day that was already in the diary. [00:13:49] So rang up the garage the next day, he didn't sound at all surprised. I'm glad to hear from me having spotted my Land Rover and he knows If the Land Rover's there, it needs something doing. And, obviously I got the engine, I went over, I got the engineer out to have a look at it, and even he rubbed his chin a bit. [00:14:05] And the only good news was there was still oil in the engine, which gives you hope. If there's oil in the engine, you haven't seized it. That's the good news. Anyway, 24 hours later, I get a ring from the engineer who says Found the problem, you've got a hole in Piston 2. Now, I don't, I'm not a mechanic, but I've been around engines all my life, and I know that if you hear the line, you've got a hole in Piston 2, you're in trouble. [00:14:33] And so it has proved to be, because to get a piston out to replace it, you have to take the entire engine apart. There's no getting away from it. The engine has to basically be dismantled, almost certainly taken out and put back in. Or in a Land Rover, they can actually lift the bodywork and service the engine on the chassis, but it depends what they're doing. [00:14:53] On this, I haven't asked the guys, I haven't been back to get it yet, and this is three weeks ago. So, So he explained to me that if an injector is maladjusted and is running a little bit rich, the additional heat from the fuel burns a hole through the aluminium. And I said, well, should I have done something? [00:15:08] And he said, no, there's no way of knowing. It's just not something that you could detect. And it's something that used to go wrong a lot. He hasn't seen it for a while with the later engines, but this one, he said, we used to see this quite a bit. For the past three weeks, they have been replacing the hole or replacing the pixel. [00:15:22] Piston with the hole in it in my Land Rover. I got a phone call yesterday, Saturday, but unfortunately I was in a shoot, and this is how the phone call went. He said, We've road tested your Land Rover. It's ready to drive. You can come and pick it up, but please bring your piggy bank with you. I kid you not, he used the phrase, bring Piggybank with you. [00:15:43] So I couldn't pick it up yesterday, can't pick it up today, can't pick it up tomorrow because I'm running a workshop, so I'll go over on Tuesday. I still don't know how much it is because the garage hasn't told me, in spite of me asking because it's a labour led cost. So the parts have been 1000 plus VAT, I know that much. [00:16:01] The labour is 75 an hour and I reckon, he reckoned it was 4 5 days work. So I know I'm in it for quite a large amount of outlay. Unplanned, bad time of year. I've got to find, who knows, anywhere between four and seven thousand pounds, who knows. So again, no clarity. Something I'm gonna come back to. [00:16:27] However, rest of the week, not so bad. And Another story. I think about podcasts, right? I could just tell you the facts, but it wouldn't be that much fun to listen to. Well, I don't think it would be fun to listen to. I wouldn't listen to it. 20 years ago, and I only know this because I picked up the light that I still have and looked at the Flash Center's service and and Quality Assurance sticker on it, and the light I bought second hand was serviced by the Flash Centre in 2003. [00:17:00] There's a sticker on it, and I remember going to the Flash Centre in London, scratching my chin, and I can't remember the guy's name, he's still in the industry, he doesn't work with the Flash Centre anymore and I, he said, can I help? And I said, yes, I want my first strobe, please. He said, I said, I'm happy to buy second hand, I don't know whether this is something I'm gonna do, but Would you recommend? [00:17:20] And we looked at the shelves, and, and, if you've ever been to the Flash Centre in London, it was brilliant. It wasn't a posh shop. It was, in some ways, it was like the drum shops I used to go to when I was a working musician, and it's just got racks and racks and racks of stuff. You know, there'd be a posh rack somewhere with all of the new bits and pieces from then, Bowens and Elinchrom, but then there'd be sort of, you know, Shelves and cupboards with interesting little bits of second hand kit and cabling and softboxes and umbrellas And it was brilliant and I was like toy a kid in a sweet shop And he said I think this would do you and he lifted off the shelf a second hand Elinchrom 500 so that's an Elinchrom 500 as this is a A strobe but it's got the old school analog sliders on it. [00:18:09] There were two sliders, one that controlled the strobe power, and one that controlled the power to the modeling light. And if you wanted them to stay the same, you move the sliders together. The slider's been designed to be close together, so you move them up and down, which, to me, having worked on audio mixing desks for concerts in the music industry, was absolutely brilliant. [00:18:32] Perfect. It was absolutely brilliant because I knew, it felt completely natural. Now, of course, one of the things was you never had the same Bower twice. It was already a second hand light when I bought it, and not a new one. So, whenever you set the lights in the studio, you had to reset your aperture to suit. [00:18:51] Because the things, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that you put a mark against the sliding scale. The sliders were so worn that lighting power would go up and down all the time. But it was metal cased. It's got a fan. It was quite loud. It's quite loud. And I bought that light. I. I bought a big tripod and I bought an Octabox, a six foot Octabox. [00:19:14] That was the three things I bought. A tripod, an Elecrom 500, an Elecrom tripod, Elecrom six foot Octa. Took it home and for the next year or two, practiced lighting. It wasn't part of our business for quite a long time because I never really had the space to do it. At that time I didn't have a studio. [00:19:34] I just knew that was the road we were going to go down, or I thought I might go down. But I didn't understand studio lighting, and so I needed time to get my shit together. So, I used to practice, I bought a polystyrene head, so there's a shop in London called the London Graphic Centre, which sell stuff. They sell art pens and graphics and it's two glorious floors of anything you can think of to be creative. It's absolutely fantastic. And in there, for some reason, they sold polystyrene heads. I don't know what they're for. You know, if they were in a hat shop, I'd understand it. If they were in a wig shop, I'd understand it. [00:20:14] In a graphics shop? I've no idea. What do you do? Sit with your pen in your hand looking at a fictitious head going, What do you think of this? Having a conversation with Polybeads, and I don't know. Anyway, I bought one. It was like three pounds or something. Carved out the eyes like something from a CSI episode. [00:20:31] I got a penknife, carved out the eyes, got a couple of big glass marbles, and shoved them in. I mean, it was quite macabre, but if ever, I'm found out to be a psychopathic, sociopathic, you know, mass murderer. Everyone will go back to this head and say, Well, we could see it then. Look what he did to the eyes. [00:20:49] But I popped those in because what I wanted to understand was how I move light around, what happened to the face, And what happened to the reflections in these glass marbles? It was just a very simple way of me being able to, without having models, because I didn't have a reputation back then, I didn't have a client base back then, I didn't have a steady stream of people that would come to the house to be photographed, but I needed to understand it. [00:21:15] So this polystyrene head, with its macabre eyeballs, was my go to. I stuck it, I skewered it, like Queen Elizabeth would have done. And off with the head, I said! I skewered it on a pole of some description and stuck it in the middle of the room. And, that's how I learned to light. It was all with this Elinchrom 500, the, the, this brilliant bit of light, and I still own it. [00:21:40] I still have it, it's still in the attic, unfortunately the tube was blown, you can actually see that there's black in there. The rest of it I'm sure still works so if I actually sent it back for a replacement tube, I could probably get it working again. I don't know that I will maybe I will, maybe I will, because the footnote to this story is that last week, Elinchrom asked me if I would be an ambassador. [00:22:03] for them. Now, this comes off the back of a conversation where I'd looked at the Elinchrom lighting at the London the Society's Convention of Photographers in London, and got chatting to the guys, Simon Burfoot and the, and the guys, uh, at Elinchrom, people I've known for quite a long time. He used to work at the Flash Sensor, he's now looking after Elinchrom, so I got to chatting to him about the lights had a look over the product, had a look at what they're producing, both in terms of the technology, in terms of the roadmap in terms of the light that these things produce, and the light has the same quality that I remember with my Elinchrom 500. [00:22:38] Now the thing is, if you look at the cover of the box, Book, Mastering Portrait Photography. That was shot in a study in somebody's house with my very first light. It was shot with my Elinchrom 500, my 6 foot Octa, which was wedged in because the ceiling was only just 6 foot, so we had to wedge this thing in on its tripod in their room with some black velvet behind. [00:23:01] Pinned to the curtain rail, and it's still, to this day, one of my favourite ever shots. And, when you go to Elinchrom, one of the things I've always loved about them is the colour accuracy of the tube. Now, every time you ignite um, Xenon in a tube, it gives off a very particular light. For all sorts of reasons with the, to do with the design of the circuitry and the light, getting that right is really important. [00:23:26] And Elinchrom have always had this really beautifully consistent quality of light out of the units. Now I moved away from Elinchrom about six, seven years ago, I think to Profoto for the simple reason that And maybe it's a bit longer, but for the simple reason that when I went looking for a battery powered, rather than a mains powered monoblock. [00:23:48] Now a monoblock strobe is simply when everything is in the head, as opposed to a battery pack and the small flying heads. I didn't want that. I wanted something that was self contained. I wanted something with a battery. I wanted something with no cabling. And so when I went to Elinchrom at that time, they didn't do anything. [00:24:04] I think even now I have eight Elinchrom lights up in the attic. And I had to retire them because I went over to ProPhoto who produced the B1. The B1 is an excellent light. It's brilliant. There's, you know, it did everything and has done everything that I would ask of a light over the years. Beautiful kit, beautiful lighting, beautiful modifiers. [00:24:26] They're having said that I've kept all of my Elinchrom soft boxes because the Rotalux system is the best in the world and I still prefer it to my Profoto stuff. But nonetheless, you know, there's no doubting the quality of the Profoto units, and there's no doubting that I've created some images that I really like with it, But I've never felt the same nostalgia as I have with Elinchrom. And so when Elinchrom showed me their kit at the convention, it's you know what, I would absolutely love, love to switch back. It's about time that I thought about it. And so I asked the guys if I could get a price on a full rig of kit, switch over to Elinchrom and it went a little bit quiet if I'm honest. [00:25:12] I'd sent the email, I'd listed out what I wanted and then I got a quick message saying was I around the other morning, could they pop into the studio and come and see us, and Simon and Mark from Elinchrom popped into the studio, had a look around, and during that conversation asked if I would be an ambassador for Elinchrom. So for the first time in quite a long time I got a little bit emotional about kit. I do get attached to kit. Even though the Profoto stuff is brilliant, I've never felt that way about that. But with Elinchrom, it was that first light. It was that first moment that I learned to read and and understand Studio Lighting. [00:25:54] And to be asked to be an ambassador is, it has a couple of angles on it. I mean, the first and most important is that what an honor, you know, this is a lighting company who I have so much of an emotional connection with, and here I am 20 years after buying my very first secondhand light, here I am as an ambassador for them. [00:26:17] So I'm quite emotional about that. But also the kit is so. Phenomenal. There's something about the way it works, the way it operates. It feels like photographers designed it for photographers. So, I'm very happy. They've lent me some kit at the moment. Now, I have a bit of a challenge tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm running a workshop. [00:26:35] It's a workshop. All around, using studio lighting of various types in small spaces. Because if you go out into location, you very often end up in a boardroom or a kitchen. Well, the other day we ended up in a storeroom for computer equipment. It was quite bizarre where we were working. And you have to very quickly read the room, figure out what you're gonna do, and create something. [00:26:59] Magical from it. So, that's what we're doing tomorrow. And of course, it's premised on using my strobes. Now, understandably and I suppose predictably, Elinchrom are not that keen that I continue to use Profoto kit, my Profoto lighting for my workshops. So at 9. 30 tomorrow morning on the day of workshop, I am expecting a delivery of a whole load of Elinchrom kit that I'm going to actually then use for the training day. [00:27:33] Interesting, huh? It's a good job that not only did I learn to use light, but I'm really quick to get my head round the technology. Now they did leave me the other day with an Elinchrom 5 and an Elinchrom 3. And fortunately I have a trigger. I have a dedicated Elinchrom trigger anyway. Bye! From some Rotolight kit, which also uses, thankfully Elinchrom radio telemetry. [00:28:00] So, I've got the, I've got the Elinchrom trigger. Now, as an aside, here's a little bit of detail, right? This is just a bit of detail. It doesn't, it has no bearing on anything, really. My Profoto dedicated Nikon trigger. The something or else, something or else. Is it AirTTL, TTL, TTL? Unit. If I leave the batteries in it, it goes flat in about 10 days, even if it's switched off. [00:28:25] I pulled the Elinchrom trigger out of its box, having not used it as a trigger in probably three years, forgot that I'd left the batteries in there, which is a dreadful thing to do, never leave batteries in kit when you store it, but I had, so I hit the power button thinking, oh, that's not gonna work. Nope, fired up instantly. [00:28:43] There is a joy when you're When someone designs kit properly, there is a joy in it. This Elinchrom trigger has had those batteries in it for as long as I can remember. I can't remember the last time I used it as a trigger, and it fired up instantly. I know for a fact my Profoto unit would have been dead in 10 days. [00:29:02] And as designers of kit, this is a plea to everybody who designs for our beautiful industry. It's for good. Goodness sake, think this stuff through properly. You know, if you're going to turn something off, it shouldn't be draining enough current to flat a pair of AAA's in 10 days. It just shouldn't. [00:29:21] Because many of us don't pick up our triggers in those kinds of time frames. Many of us would just be out, you know, location photographers that use the strobes intermittently. So think about that. Think about how, um, The kit is going to be used in design. Even the circuitry has to be designed in a way that makes sense. [00:29:40] You know, Elinchrom, this unit, it's been in its box. It's still boxed. It's been in its box for a few years. Powered it up because I'd forgotten to take the batteries out. Nope, quite happy. Right, where do I go? Downloaded the new firmware because it's so old that It doesn't actually know about or didn't know about 3. [00:29:57] They weren't on its list of recognized Elenchrom lighting. Connected it up, and off it went. Just genius. That's I'm sorry though, that is an aside. Anyway, tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning, I've got a handful of delegates we've got a room full of people, a couple of models, and some lights that I have never ever seen. [00:30:13] ever used in anger. It's going to be an exciting day. Other good news this week so that's, I mean that is my good news this week, but other good news this week is that I finally managed to get our broadband account sorted out. We live in funny times my broadband contract had come up a little while ago with BT. [00:30:32] Um, I've got both the house and the studio are on the same contract because primarily we use it. all of the bandwidth for when I'm working, and I like to be able to work from home a lot. And we're paying, I don't know, I think nearly, I think we're paying 300 quid a month for the two. So I'd rung BT a couple of weeks ago and said, right, it's time to renew because I'm out of contract. [00:30:53] I will stay with BT although there are other providers in the village now, their reputation is awful, so I can't build my business on that. And while BT might be a little bit dull. They're also the most reliable. This is British Telecom. It used to be British Telecom. Isn't it interesting how a brand evolves to be known as BT? [00:31:12] But it has to have such a long history. You know, if you say BA, we know we're talking about British Airways. If you say BT, you know you're talking about British Telecom. You know, I've no idea in any more what ICI Stands for, we know what it does though. Interesting to see if the BIPP, the BIP, or the British Institute of Professional Photography can evolve the same way. [00:31:33] Time will tell. Anyway, BT, so I rang them up spent the best part of half a day on the phone because you have to. I'm sorry, we're experiencing a very high volume of calls at the moment. Your call is important, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Yeah, right. There's only, there's one call handler, but I have no idea, but there's certainly not enough. [00:31:52] So anyway, I got through a long conversation, got both contracts more or less nailed, or the one contract with both lines more or less nailed, and our bill came down by two thirds. My speed went up, I'm on a digital line, my bill came down. You have to think, maybe I was being stitched before, or maybe I built a bad contract before, but anyway, that was half a day well spent. [00:32:15] So, and it's, I mean, it's like, you know, it's 300 quid a month, or was. It's now for the two lines, 100 quid a month and I've got gigabit down, 100 megabit up, and life is pretty good. But the delivery cycle of it, I've no idea. I mean, I get random boxes, I get random texts from DHL, or FedEx, or Royal Mail, as to what's going to arrive when, it's I couldn't make head nor tail of it. [00:32:39] Sarah said, when are they connecting us? Well, I've got this date, Monday the 11th. Okay, Monday the 11th, that's brilliant. Monday the 11th, that's when they're going to connect everything up. Monday the 11th. Right, are we sure about that? Yeah, Monday the 11th, I've got an email here. Monday the 11th. F Thursday, before that, what's that, 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, so Thursday the 7th, I get I walk into the office 10 o'clock, and Michelle says, phone line's dead, and I'm like, can't be dead. [00:33:05] Why would it be dead? I look at the hub for the broadband, the broadband's working okay, but no telephone, and they say, oh, you are kidding me. They've switched it over four days early. Now, I'd had some text saying the engineer was working on our line, and the engineer had completed his work, but at no time, at no time, did it tell me which of the two lines were being affected and what they'd done. [00:33:30] So I rock up on Thursday to find no telephone. Now, again, fortunately, we'd had the digital phones arrive. They were in their boxes, but I hadn't set anything up yet because I had been told it was all going to happen on Monday the 11th of March. Have I got those dates right? Yeah, I'm sure it's Monday the 11th of March. [00:33:49] Monday whichever day it was, only the Monday of March. And, so I'm very frantic, because at this point, anybody that rings us up isn't going to get through. I didn't know even if we had voicemail because I got, none of it is done as far as I'm concerned. So we rattly, a bit of a rattly morning as I sort of ripped out the old phones, put in these new digital lines, logged in, set it all up, got admin rights, because of course it's basically VoIP is nothing more than Zoom without pictures. [00:34:18] So. And I got all of that set up and all of it is now working, but it got me thinking, and here we go. This is the point of this bit of this podcast. Now, I don't know whether the second half of the podcast is gonna be the second half of this podcast as I drive back from the photography show or whether I'm gonna release that as an entirely self-contained episode. [00:34:39] I guess it depends how much news I find at the photography show. But let's assume. This is a self-contained driving to the NEC Podcast, and it's done. This is the point of this podcast. I've told you three stories, okay? I've told you about the RAC, I've told you about the garage, and I've told you about British Telecom. [00:34:59] All of these have been suppliers that I would say on the whole, I rate pretty highly, the RAC. They've got me out of a pretty horrible situation. I pay money for that. By the way. It's not like they're, they're definitely not a charity. It's not the NHS, but. They rescued me when I needed it. Admittedly, they weren't clear about when and how, and it took quite a long time, but I'd have been in a lot of trouble if I couldn't have got off that motorway, and the car was undriveable. [00:35:26] Our garage. I know they fixed it because they always fixed it. But I do wish they'd be clear. I do wish they'd tell me how much, to the best of their knowledge, it's going to cost me. I don't like obfuscation. I don't like not knowing how long it's going to take. They've had the car for three weeks to do a week's worth of work. [00:35:44] Again, I know they've had to order parts. In a sense, I'm an experienced buyer. And then there's BT, who They told me certain things and then did them in a different order on different dates and put me into a flat spin when they disconnected the phone line to my business. All of these are quite important. [00:36:04] It's about clarity. It's about being clear with your client. It's about When you say you're going to do something, you do it. Now there is a theory about under promising and over delivering. So being, having things connected early, in theory, should be a good thing. But it's only a good thing if your client's ready for it and their new phone's ready. [00:36:25] If they're not, what you've basically done is disable part of their business for part of a day. Clarity is really important. For me, even now, I go back through the BT, various texts and emails, and even I After the event, couldn't tell you exactly what was supposed to happen, and the order. I still have some stuff to do, I still have to send some kit back, but, because I've got these two lines into two different buildings being contracted at the same time, none of the emails make sense, because they send both emails, or rather they send emails for both lines, on the same contract number. [00:37:02] It's never clear exactly what is going on. It's not clear. that some kit is going to work and some kit is not going to work. It's not clear quite what should have happened. And that can't be a good thing. That can't be a good thing when I'm sitting here telling you about three suppliers who I rate actually pretty highly. [00:37:21] I've chosen them through years of experience, I've picked them out of the crowd, and I've decided who I'm going to use. Are they all working now? Well, as far as I know, they are. RAC rescued me, the garage has rung me to say the car is ready, and I have Absolutely electric connectivity in our building or buildings, but the confusion is unnecessary. [00:37:43] The confusion, had that confusion happened in the sales process, I don't know whether I would have bought. It didn't happen in the sales process, it happened in the fulfillment side. So the sales guys, they got it nailed. When I bought my RAC, Membership, I don't know how many years ago. The guy was utterly convincing. [00:38:05] When I bought my BT contract, the guys were utterly convincing and of course when I go to the garage, well, the first time I went to the garage, I went reputationally because somebody else had recommended them. I bought instantly because they were They were utterly convincing. The problem happens in the fulfilment stages. [00:38:27] And as such, I think we need to keep an eye on that. We need to be very clear to our clients, exactly what it is that we're going to do, and when we're going to do it. I was doing a wedding pitch yesterday. And I had to be, and I've, I mean I've well practiced at it, I've done it a long time. I say to them, okay, here's the process. [00:38:45] I actually talk them through the fulfillment process. We talk loads about the wedding, but then I go through to the fulfillment process, and I suspect occasionally I lose a gig because of it, because maybe it sounds just a little bit too boring. Precise. I don't know. But, I said to the client yesterday, who are buying with us, by the way, you come to the studio two to three weeks after your wedding. [00:39:10] That gives you enough time to have a short honeymoon. If it needs to be longer, or you want it shorter, we can do that. Two to three weeks, you're gonna come, you're gonna have lunch. During that meeting, we are gonna show you a slideshow. We're gonna melt your hearts. I do say this. We're gonna say, I'm gonna soften your wallet, [00:39:27] We are gonna make life very difficult for you to say no to any pictures. Then we're gonna bring up those pictures and we're gonna, we are gonna help you choose the pictures that are going to go in your album. It's a lovely process, but it's not an easy process, so we're going to give you some lunch. [00:39:42] It'll take a few hours. At the end of that, you're going to pay for the extra images you put in your album. I'd say that a little bit softer, but that's what I'm saying. You're going to settle up with us as to the images that are going to go into your album, on top of the ones you've already paid for as part of your initial contract. [00:40:00] Then, We're going to give you a USB that has watermarked images of everything we've shown you, and the slideshow of the, uh, that we showed you in that reveal. We license the music, by the way, with the MCPS, so you can have any music you like. So, you let us know what music you like. That's what your slideshow will be set to. [00:40:19] It'll be on a USB. At the end of the meeting, when you've settled up with us, that's what you take away with you. The next morning, we start working on that design. Within a week, maybe two, depending on what's going on in the studio, we will send you a PDF that shows that design. You have a look at it and decide whether you like it or not, or if there's anything you'd like to change. [00:40:40] And the things we're looking for from you are A. Do you like the design? And B. Is there anything in any of the images that needs additional retouching? Fire exit signs, those kinds of things. When you eventually sign off the design, and you can go backwards and forwards as much as you like, by the way, because the most important thing is that you love your album more than anything else in the world. [00:41:02] You're going to have that for the rest of your lives together. You must love it. You make as many changes as you want. Yes, okay, by iteration number seven or eight, we might be rolling our eyes at you. But we will still do it, and we will get it perfect for you. When you're happy, you sign that off. We will do two things. [00:41:20] Firstly, we will order your album and any copy albums you need. I don't say it like this, I'm saying it really clearly because I'm driving a car at 70 mile an hour and I'm trying to make this clear. But nonetheless, this is the process, right? Uh, I say we will order that album and any additional copies you'd like. [00:41:35] Eight weeks after that, as a maximum, you will have your album in your hands. The actual order time, by the way, is shorter than this, but we always say, 8 weeks, because then I'm under promising and over delivering. You will also receive a link online that has a link to the finished images. The edits that we've done for you without the watermarks, because part of what we do is any image a client puts in their album, we will give them a digital copy of that as part of the contract. [00:42:06] We charge quite a lot of money for this, so it's fine that they can have the files, but we only release the finished files. When the album design is signed off. Why do I do it that way? Well, it gives me a couple of things. Firstly, it gives me a lever to pull when people are saying, Can I have a file? And I say, Yeah, as soon as you sign off your album. [00:42:23] The second thing is, The only hi res files that go out are fully retouched and finished. There's no danger that an artist Unretouched image can end up in a big frame on someone's wall. So that's why we do it that way. And I'm really clear about that fulfillment process to the client. Now, I think there's other bits of our business where we're not so clear and I'm figuring out those areas and trying to work out and make sure that everything we do is super, super clear because the experience I've had with three suppliers who genuinely, I rate, genuinely. [00:42:58] I'm happy to pay for their services. I think it's been a little bit muddled and a little bit muddy. And that, well, that can never be a good. Do you know what? I'm going to round this podcast off there and I'm going to make the journey away from the photography show another edition which I might release at a later date because that gives me extra content, right? [00:43:20] For those of you, for those of you who are part of our workshop community, we released a new challenge last night. So we, inside, anyone that's been on our workshops, you get invited into a secret and private Facebook group. The only way you can get in there is by being on one of our workshops because that is creating a super concentrated little audience, a little community rather. [00:43:42] of like minded people who can ask questions in a way that is safe, a way that is positive, and you get feedback from others in there. It's a really nice community. On top of that, people like Simon and Mark from Elinchrom are inside the group, so that if you have any specific questions about flash photography not only will you get answers from people who run the group companies based around this kit. [00:44:06] Of course they're going to bias their answers towards Elinchrom, but hey, I'm an ambassador for them. So what else would you expect me to say? Likewise Jeremy and Miranda and the team from Neal and the team from Graphistudio are in there. So if you have any questions about albums and those kind of things, it's just a really nice place to be. [00:44:21] But we run these image challenges. The current challenge which I released last night is the one chair challenge. Take a subject, take one chair, just one chair, and pop a photograph into the community. And then at the end of the month, I have a run through them, pick out my favourite, do a video critique, and set a new challenge. [00:44:41] And we did this one because the article is featured in Professional Photo Magazine this month from us. We do an article every month, but this particular one is of Lucy in a chair, and it's just a simple shot of a teenager. Just looking super cool in what is my Nan's old throne, old armchair. So that's that community thing. [00:45:02] Workshops, if anyone's interested in any of our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. You will find them they'll pop up in Google and And then you can see what's going on at the moment. The tomorrow's workshop is all about small spaces and it wasn't, but it now is about how to use Elinchrom lighting in small spaces. [00:45:21] We'll see quite how that adventure goes, so to wrap up, let's overtake this tanker in tons of spray. Thank you for listening to this podcast. It's kept me entertained for at least half of my journey up to Birmingham. If you have any questions, please do email paul@ paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk. I've had a couple of really nice emails in the past few weeks. Apologies. I know I've been a little bit slow in getting back to everybody, but it really has been a . a tiny bit, a tiny bit crazy at the studio but also head across to masteringportraitphotography. com which has a heap of stuff all around this beautiful skill of ours or topic of ours the joy, the creativity and the business of portrait photography. [00:46:08] Head over to masteringportraitphotography. com and do please subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. I don't know how you're listening to this right now, but I'll lay you a bet there's a subscribe button there somewhere. Subscribe to the podcast and then it just arrives. You know, you didn't even know you were going to listen to me today, and there you are. [00:46:26] Forty minutes later, whatever it is, I've no idea how long I've been driving and talking forty minutes later, you are sitting thinking, Well, that was worthwhile! Do you know what? I'm really glad I hit that subscribe button. Also, if you get a chance, leave us a review. [00:46:39] If it's a nice review, stick it somewhere public. If it's not such a nice review, email it to me, and then we can make changes to make things better, which is a constant process of evolution. Me and Darwin, well, we'd be great mates. And whatever else, as I head my way north, be kind to yourself. Take care.

Yay! Other than a crappy cold, a very good week.  Won a Gold Bar with the Guild Of Photographers a couple of days ago which got me to thinking about competitions: why we do them, how to do them and the fear of failure (when in fact, the only failure is to not enter at all!) There are one or two other things to bear in mind and I step through them in the podcast. Enjoy! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.  Full Transcript: [00:00:00] I'm really sorry, it's just been one of those weeks. I have spent three days, three whole days at home feeling ill and mostly grumpy. Sorry, I don't take to being poorly particularly well. Whatever Michelle and Sarah had last week. Of course, I inherited it this week. It turns out that the word viral is not a joke. [00:00:25] It's just a cold, really, but it's been quite a horrible one. It hit my chest straight away, and I just felt awful, and if I'm honest, after three days off work this evening is the first time I've really felt sort of compos mentis. I've spent three days sitting in the lounge with the fire on. It's been cozy enough, but I've, I hate being unproductive. [00:00:46] I hate not getting through the lists that I've got to do. I hate the idea that I've wasted three days, but in the end, that had to be done. So as I sit here next to the fire watching back to back episodes of Law Order, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:01:07] [00:01:20] So I hope you're all feeling a little bit better than me, and in terms of the catch up of the week, well, I can't really say that I've done that much out of the seven days or so. Three of them have been spent laid up doing very little. Obviously, I'm still doing some coding, writing emails, and an awful lot of judging has been flowing through my world. Not this time, not just as a judge or as a chair of judges but also as a contestant. It's been an interesting time. [00:01:47] So, I judged for the FEP this week, the first of the final rounds of their annual image competition. I'm one of the judges on the portrait category. [00:01:58] 647 images, I think, were there to judge. And if you think about that as a volume of judging and all of our, all of the judges. Whether it's for the BIP that I chair for, whether it's for the SWPP, the Societies, whether it's for the Guild, whether it's for the FEP, the World Cup, it doesn't really matter what the judging is. [00:02:19] It takes time and we do it for nothing. Well, I say nothing. We don't do it for nothing, but we do it for free. And so, if you think about all of that, 647 images. If I went at it hell for leather and judged one image per minute with no breaks, that's still basically 11 hours of judging, which is an awful lot when you think about it. [00:02:45] And yet, we put ourselves through it. And I do it because I really enjoy it. I really love the process, I love seeing the images, though there is some disappointment when we're judging and the images haven't come up to standard. But, nonetheless, it's cathartic, it's inspiring, it's very therapeutic, it's quite a rhythmical sort of thing to do. [00:03:04] And I really love it. [00:03:06] On top of that, if that wasn't enough, the results to the BIPP monthlies came out the first BIPP monthly round. So this is a new competition for us. We've set it up to run parallel to the print competition, which opens up in sort of June time and it's judged in September. And they run side by side and they are different beasts. [00:03:27] So the print competition, exactly what it says on the tin. Submit your prints in the category. Best print wins each category. That's it. Very simple to do. The monthlies are not that. The monthlies have been designed. [00:03:41] to reward consistency as much as really high quality inspirational work. With a print competition, you only need to shoot one image, and depending on what everybody else shoots, you could end up with the title of the print image of the year, the portrait print of the year, the wedding print of the year, whatever it is. [00:04:00] With the monthlies, it's been designed not to be quite like that. The monthlies It's about consistency more than it is about that one high scoring image. That's not to say that a high scoring image isn't a thing to be treasured and will get its accolades, but what we've done is design a competition at the BIPP, which is Sorry, the BIPP is the B I P P, the British Institute of Professional Photographers. [00:04:27] So we've designed a competition that runs for 10 months of the year. And we take, for every photographer, the top scoring image of theirs in each category. So it doesn't matter how many images you, you enter, that's irrelevant. Each month, we're going to take, for that photographer and each category they've entered, their top scoring image. [00:04:47] And over seven of the ten months, we're going to accumulate those scores. So you have the opportunity, if you wish, to take three months off. So you have ten months, take three months off if you wish, seven months. So your top seven scores for each category will be accumulated. So your top seven scores in portraits per month. [00:05:09] So in January Portrait. You enter five, we take the top one. February. You enter five in Portraits again, we still take the top one. And that's, that's two of your scores sorted. And the reason we're doing it that way is that each photographer in the BIPP gets one free entry every month. [00:05:28] So you have for free the ability to enter and win the monthly's competition for the year without laying out a single cent. All you have to do is find the time at the end of every month to pop in a high quality competition level image, upload it, put your name in, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, off you go, you're done. [00:05:47] And you could win it. [00:05:48] So what amazes me, and there's a point to this story, not only is this how it works, but the point is, why don't more people enter? We had lots of entries, but it's not everybody, and I can never quite get my head around why, if it's free, and you have the opportunity to create some great PR, I'm looking at the PR on Facebook this week, and on various websites and Instagram, and people are really celebrating their success in all of the monthlies, not just the BIPs, and it's brilliant, and that's what it's designed for. It's designed to give photographers the opportunity to have something to celebrate and to share with their clients. This is, in the end, about clients. I think too often in the industry we think about it as being about, it's about photographers, and it's not really. [00:06:31] It's about our clients. And the monthlies create every 30 days or so, the opportunity to share success with your clients and you can do it for free. So why, with the thousands of members do we have, do we not have every photographer entering? [00:06:48] Still can't get my head around that and if you think I don't put my money where my mouth is. [00:06:54] This month, I did enter as I have done for the past year, I entered the Guild Monthlies competition. Obviously, I can't enter the BIPP competition, because I'm chairing the judging. So I entered the Guild, and this month, for the first time since I've been entering it, I got a gold bar, which is nearly the top standard. [00:07:12] It's not the top standard. The top standard is Platinum. But nobody's won a Platinum yet, so I'm happy with that. I got a gold and won an image of the month. Now, that's not the point of this story. It's not really to brag. Though I am really pleased with myself because it's an image I took of I think it's the bass player from the band The Sweet. [00:07:31] He was very cool. He was in our studio. It was just a normal session shot I took for him. all for the band. And I decided to try it, enter it as a competition, and see how we go. I think the point is that I entered. I gave it a go. Now, people get really nervous about entering competitions, and I don't really understand why. [00:07:51] Now, you know my views on this. Competitions are not the best way to hone your skills, because you get no feedback, and even if you produce the best image of your life If your competitor has produced the best image of their life, they may just win. and give you nothing really, no, certainly no winning image to celebrate. [00:08:13] Also, you know, with the judging process, you don't know how you're going to do. Every photographer enters an image thinking they stand a chance. But judging is what it is. We've got to rank all of the images and who knows? Maybe it doesn't do as well as you'd expect. And people take that really personally. [00:08:30] I take it really personally. But the difference is I still do it. I just don't tell anybody I'm doing it. I do it quietly. And the images that succeed, well, I celebrate those and we publish them. And Sarah in particular loves it because it gives her an opportunity to talk to our clients and put out some PR. [00:08:47] And she's been doing that all day since the result came out yesterday, which is fantastic. So, I give it a go, I do it. I don't always do that well, if I'm honest, and judges typically, they, there is a correlation between the judges and success in competitions, but it's nowhere near as marked as you'd think it is. [00:09:08] And you can see this while we're judging. So if I'm chairing a panel of judges, you'll see marks from each judge fluctuate quite widely. So a challenge is triggered when one judge's mark is 10 away from the average decision. So whatever the judges came up with, we take the average, and if one or more of those judges is 10 marks different, we have a challenge. [00:09:29] And we have plenty of challenges, which tells you quite a lot about the fact that every judge has things that they are looking for, and if the image that is in front of them doesn't have it, they won't score it as highly. Equally, if it does have those things, they will score it highly. There is volatility in scoring. [00:09:46] You cannot use print or image competitions. as a measure of you as a person, or you as a business, you as a creative, but when you do win, celebrate it. When you don't win, well, you have to figure out what to do with that. The great thing about a monthly competition is that there is the opportunity for at least a little bit of learning. [00:10:10] because you don't have to wait for a year to try again, you can just wait four weeks. Re enter some more images, keep an eye on what comes back, what gets into the bronze, silver or gold. If you haven't quite made it across the line, what makes it into the the commended, which is what we have at the BIP. I don't know what the other societies do for those things, but everybody has a sort of way of doing it. [00:10:31] So the trick is, celebrate your wins, keep your losses to yourself, and then there's a whole load of pressure removed for you. So It is slightly different in in the monthlies. So, back on, I'm gonna bang on this drum. If you haven't entered into one of the monthlies, into any association you're part of, why not? [00:10:52] What's stopping you? Think about it. What is actually stopping you? It's almost certain, almost certainly rather, a fear of not doing well. Well, I enter them every month, I tell you when I've done well, and I keep it very quiet when I haven't. And I'm still amazed at how few people do it. And with the BIPP, every entry is £5, but you get one entry for free. [00:11:15] And with the BIP, every image is £5 a go. But you get one for free. So that's a value of £5. So if you had entered 10 months of the year, that's £50 worth of free entries. [00:11:27] Who's going to turn down 50 quid over the year? And the value of the opportunity to talk to your clients is priceless. Now you can argue you might not win, and that's true. I don't. But when I do do well, I will share it. When I don't do well, quiet. I just keep it nice and quiet. [00:11:45] So the results came out for the Guild yesterday, so they're on the 21st, and the closing date for the Guild is at the end of the month, so it's a leap year, so it's the 29th of Feb. So I've got about somewhere between 8, 9, 10 days every month between the results to the previous month coming out and the new round to choose what I'm going to put in. [00:12:06] I know I'll keep entering and I know I'll keep learning and I will keep being surprised at what does well and what doesn't even though as a judge and as a chair of judges very often I'm in the position of determining that and even having just judged the portrait group for the FEP, the Federation of European Photographers, I can tell you now when the second round comes back to me in a couple of weeks I lay a bet. The images that come back will not be in the same order as I pick them out. That's life. I'm working with judges from all over Europe, I'm working with people of different tastes, different influences, different things they value in an image. So you can never be certain, but what you can be certain of is if you don't enter it, you ain't gonna win anything. [00:12:48] That's a dead cert. So why would I choose absolute certain failure over anything else? Sorry, you never use the word failure. It's not a failure. Nobody fails. Except when you don't enter. Yes, you do. You fail. You've failed to enter, you've failed to compete, in which case, failure is the only word I have for it. [00:13:07] If you enter and your image isn't successful this time around, there's a million factors to that. You can learn from some, you might not learn as much as you'd like, you can take those images because you have them. And you can show your mentor, or show a friend, or show another photographer, or show someone get a critique. [00:13:21] [00:13:21] So there's just a few things I have spotted over the past week to ten days. with competition images. This is accumulated from what I've seen on the judging side with the BIPP, or the BIPP Monthlies, and what I've seen from the competitor side, so as a judge rather than as a chair, on the FEP. [00:13:41] One, don't over sharpen, particularly when it's an online entry. The screens tend to be quite sharp. They tend to make things look a little bit sharper than perhaps they could be, in my opinion, anyway, maybe it's the screens I've got. So don't over sharpen. No one on any competition I have ever been involved in the judging has ever said they've under sharpened this image. [00:14:06] But every round I will hear someone say, that image is over sharpened. Don't overdo it. Alongside that There's a huge temptation, particularly with the users of Lightroom to use clarity and or detail enhancement. These are still, so there's no such thing as sharpening, it's just localized contrast. [00:14:24] Equally, clarity and detail are variations of the same thing. If you're quite keen on the clarity slider You can see it in the image. It starts to look like it's been heavily processed. For some categories, that's great. For some categories, that will get hugely rewarded. For others, it won't. So have a look at what's done well previously and tune your effects and your clarity and detail to suit that. [00:14:51] Don't blow out your highlights or block up your shadows. What do I mean by that? I don't want ever to see pure white, and that's tricky if you've got, let's say, a grey flat sky, and you've lit someone against what light there is. So get it under control, make sure there's detail in the highlights, and there is detail in the blacks. [00:15:09] And don't think you can cheat by raising up the blacks to be grey. Thinking, well that's right, nothing in the image is now black. If there's no detail in it, we're still going to see that the blacks were blocked up, they've now just become very dark grey, and still blocked up. If there's no detail in there, I would suggest you find an alternative image. [00:15:32] Colour grading. A lot of colour grading knocking around, and there are a thousand colour panels out there at the moment. Be careful, that the colour you're using is part of the story you're trying to tell. Don't just make it desaturated because it's desaturated, or make the shadows a bluey green because you've seen it on a Netflix film. [00:15:50] Tell the story with your colour. If you're going to use colour, tell the story through it. Be careful that you don't just process for processing's sake. It must be part of the storytelling. [00:16:00] If this podcast makes you feel uncomfortable because I'm sounding ill, trust me it's worse for me. I'm sounding ill. Where are we? Next one, number five, look for emotion, and then number six, impact. These two are intertwined. When you look at an image as a judge, we have to react to it. [00:16:20] Judging as a process gets criticised a lot as to why don't we prioritise creativity, emotion, impact, these words. Sort of soft, the soft skills, I suppose, of photography. The truth is, we do. That is the top scoring band. Impact. Bam! Get it in front of us. Work out what it is about the image. [00:16:43] Whether it's the way you've cropped and formed the story, where you've laid out the parts of the puzzle, where you've used colour, the way an expression just connects with you as a viewer, whatever it is. Make it about impact, because as judges, we want to feel something. We want to know that you felt it, too. [00:17:02] Number seven, do not enter the same images everywhere. I kid you not, there's an image I've judged I won't say exactly where, but I've judged it this week that I've seen now four times. Four different competitions, I've seen the same image. I wasn't always the judge. I was a fellow contestant in one. [00:17:22] I was Chair of Judges for two, and Judge for the fourth. I've seen it four times. Well, imagine the lack of impact by seeing it that many times. Now I know, as a contestant, you may not think the same judge is gonna see it every time. But, the truth is, there aren't actually that many judges. Not really. [00:17:45] So there's a lot of cross talk. So you get to see the same images quite a bit, if you're entering them into different competitions. As an extension of that, and this is So the first one's not that easy to avoid if you enter lots of competitions. It would be great if you could, prep a different image from the shoot for each competition, but I know it takes time and it's expensive if you're doing print, but I would still recommend it. [00:18:11] This next one, though, is slightly different. If you shoot images in series, what do I mean by that? If you shoot dogs running and jumping, one dog running and jumping, or you shoot a certain style of child portraiture, or a certain style of I'm talking portraiture in particular, a certain style of female portraiture, I don't know. [00:18:31] Don't put more than one of that style into any round of a competition at one time. Don't put them all in January. The idea that we're going to pick out the highest scoring image, the image we think is best out of your series of five, simply not true, because we judge them in a randomised order, but sequentially. [00:18:51] We get an image, we judge it, we move on to the next image, we move on to the next image. So you have no control over what order we see them in. We have no control over what order we see them in. And the idea that we're going to go to the last image of a set of five, and could you know I've seen all of these? [00:19:05] I think image one was the strongest, I should have given that more, more higher score. That's not how this works. We evaluate each image based on its own merits at that point in time. But if we then see four more of the same image, trust me, the impact on the last image isn't going to be as great, even though they are technically different images. [00:19:26] So what you're doing is you're sacrificing four incredible images to get one through. You have to make a decision over which one to put in. And then, guess what? February? Put another one in. March? Another one. There's no way, it's not a, it's not a thing where we can pick images out, because we have to judge them one after the other, so that every single image stands the same chance of getting the same score. That's why we do it. [00:19:51] And number nine, so another point on the judging, is don't forget to finish your images, each and every one of them, fully. So there's an image during the recent judging I did, stunning. I looked at it on the screen, small, beautiful. Hit the 100 percent button, zoomed into the pixels, moved around the image, because when you're doing online judging, this is how it works, and you could see that the photographer, it looked like, I don't know, their nan had called round midway through them doing the retouch. [00:20:23] And they just never went back to that image. They submitted it with holes in the background and gaps where They'd dropped a background in over the top of the subject, and you could see the overlaps so clearly. They were just hard, like they'd hit it with the pencil tool, not the brush tool. And it clearly, all they'd done is not gone back over the image with a fine tooth comb. [00:20:43] It really, it felt like, they're sitting there doing this beautiful retouch. It's a beautiful lady, she's got flowing hair, the background's nailed. She's resting on a bench, or whatever it was. And then bing bong. Mom's here. Mom. It's your mom, Paul. It's your mom. Come down. Alright, I'll be down. I'll be down in a minute. [00:21:00] No, now. All right, I'll come down now. And that was the end of it. It's as if I went back to the image and just never picked it up again. I must have hit send or something. This is not my image, by the way. I really felt for the creator of it, because it was a stunning image. And I even put, it's one of the rare times I've put in the comments field when I'm judging. [00:21:18] If the judge is surprised at why I've classed this as not competition standard, when clearly it's stunning. Clearly the photographer knows their craft. Please get them to look at it like I did and see the holes they've left in the retouch. So finish them properly. [00:21:37] So don't do that. So those are the things I've noticed this time round. [00:21:42] And the great thing about entering a competition is it gives you an opportunity to experiment. Experiment in January. If it doesn't work, change the experiment. Or, no, you never change the experiment. [00:21:51] You experiment. That's not how it works. Experiment in January. Change what you try. in February. It's the same experiment. And then March. And then, who knows, by June, you might have got the swing of it. Who knows? What I will say, though, is that this ability every month to have a go, see how you do, celebrate your successes, learn from those that aren't quite so successful, is hugely, hugely powerful. [00:22:16] I still, still don't think competitions are mentoring. They are different beasts. You know my views on that. But there is still something to be learned from. Entering a competition monthly. [00:22:30] And the best way of entering monthlies, or any competition really, is if you are organized. [00:22:35] Then spend time with your images. Print them, hang them up, look at them over time, keep an eye on them. Because if you do that You'll get to see those little niggles, you'll get to appreciate where things could be fine tuned. [00:22:49] On the other hand, if you're like me, and it's all a little bit last second, then just make sure when you do the prep for your client, you're always producing images at sort of competition level. [00:23:01] There is a difference between competition imagery, what we would choose, how we'd finish them, and there is with what we produce for our clients. But for me, that gap isn't that great. I think if you're a fashion photographer, there's almost no gap. If you're, one of the Fearless Wedding Photographers, there's almost no gap. [00:23:19] I think there is for many sectors in the industry though. So just make sure you're prepping your images essentially to competition standard. If that image that I talked about earlier had gone out to a client, the client would have sent it back to me laughing. I'd have had to sort it out. And it did happen to me once. [00:23:33] It wasn't my retouch, but I did see it. It was my image someone on at the time, an assistant had retouched it, and I knew the minute I saw it go out, it's like, that's coming back to me. And I knew because she'd over whitened the floor, and it looked like the object was floating. I don't do that kind of photography very much, but when I do, it has to be right, and it wasn't right, and it's really frustrating. [00:23:57] Do it to the best that you can. Get it to competition standard, or as close as you can, with only just a little additional finishing where required, because that way, I don't need to worry about having tons of time to get it into a competition. The image I entered and got my gold bar was not the one I thought would do well. [00:24:13] I just didn't think necessarily of the set that I entered, it was the strongest image. Turned out the judges felt differently. But it was certainly finished to that level because the band could have been using it on a poster. [00:24:23] So, the same criteria is still applied. [00:24:26] There's no jeopardy in entering. The worst that can happen is that you don't do as well as you'd hope. And that happens to all of us. The gold bar this month? It's the first one I've attained with the guild, and it's just a regular image. It's now out, of course, on social media. [00:24:43] Sarah's celebrating it everywhere. I'm a little slower to get it onto social media. But it gives me an interesting topic to talk about on here. And so the question I suppose you're asking is, how many other images did I enter? I don't know how the other images did, I've only won one gold bar and got it one image of the month. But I can't argue that you can do this anonymously and then, for me, not be anonymous. So I'm not going to tell you how many other images I entered, but it's definitely more than one. And so why not make this, this year, the year you'll give it a shot. If you're part of the BIPP, you've only missed one month, you still have plenty of months ahead of you, there's nine more to go, deadline always at the end of the month, images, image results come out on the 15th, to give you time to reassess and figure out what you're going to enter for the next month. [00:25:31] And you never know what might happen. And if you can do it for free, and this is particularly to the BIPP, if you can do it for free, Then we really, and I mean this, this isn't a figurative thing, you have nothing to lose. It's free. The clue is in the title. And on that happy note, I'm going to dose up on some Lemsip, some Benelin, some Nurofen, and I'm going to call it a night. [00:25:56] Thank you for listening as I sit here in my cosy little lounge to this podcast. As always, head over to masteringportraitphotography.com for lots of articles and stuff, and also it's the spiritual home of this podcast. On top of that Please do leave us a review, tell another photographer or someone you might think would be interested in it about the podcast, leave us some comments wherever you can, and hit subscribe on whatever podcast player you use. [00:26:21] That way, as soon as I get round to releasing an episode, there it is right in your ears before you even know it. Whatever else, as I sip my Lemsip, keep warm and be kind to yourself. Take care.

Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast: Land Rover Edition This is one of our "Land Rover Editions" which is to say, slightly noisy.  I'm on my way to and from the Hearing Dogs for a shoot, which is always lovely.  Various topics, but mostly "Yvonne's Law: Shoot For Dough Before Shooting For Show".  In other words, it's all about your client before it's about us and our lust for awards! haha.  Sadly, it does mean you can't always create award-winning or qualification-worthy images on every client job, no matter how much you want to! 00:00 Introduction and Land Rover Editions 01:06 The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast 03:04 The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry 04:35 The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement 06:00 The Timelessness of Radio Programs 07:05 The Arrival at Hearing Dogs and the Importance of Initials 07:45 The Challenges of Building a Website and Judging Image Competitions 16:08 The Arrival at the Wedding and Yvonne's Law 20:14 The Wedding Shoot and the Difference Between Shooting for Show and Dough 27:17 Conclusion and Farewell   Enjoy! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.  Full Transcript: EP145 Yvonne's Law Introduction and Land Rover Editions [00:00:00] As I'm absolutely certain you can hear, I'm back in the Land Rover. I think maybe, maybe I should call these the Land Rover Editions and actually separate them out from our normal podcasts. Mostly because when I was at the photography show at the beginning of the year, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed them. [00:00:24] Though looking in the mirror right now, I do look like I think a pilot, with my microphone, it's either that or Madonna, and I don't know which is better. I'm gonna go with pilot with the microphone on. However, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed the podcast, when it's from the Land Rover, the podcast episodes. [00:00:43] Except for Fiona. Fiona told me in no uncertain terms that not so keen, doesn't like them, wish I'd stopped doing them. Sadly however, look at the weather out here, it's just ridiculous. There's a huge flood. Water everywhere. Good job I'm driving this thing, I think. It's going to be an exciting trip. [00:01:03] Note to self drive careful. The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast [00:01:06] Anyway, this is one of the Land Rover editions of the Mastering Portrait, no, hang on, yes, no, that's right. I'm Paul. This is a Land Rover edition of the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:01:33] The challenge with doing these particular versions of the podcast is, of course, the priority is to arrive safely at wherever it is I'm heading. [00:01:44] Today it's the Hearing Dogs: I've got to photograph of some newborn puppies. Well, eight weeks old, so cute, yeah, cute. And also some Christmas stock imagery. The date today is the something of February. What is it? 7th, 8th, 9th something of February. Haven't looked the date up. And we're doing the Christmas, or some of the Christmas stock imagery ready for the end of the year. [00:02:06] Now in some ways it feels absolutely ridiculous that we're doing that, but on the other hand, it's perfectly planned. So I'm actually quite happy about it because normally, every year I've photographed Christmas stock imagery in sort of August, which makes life very tricky when you're trying to hide flowers, make it, the light look slightly bluer. [00:02:25] And ignoring the fact that the dog is panting in the heat. Today, that's not going to be a problem. It's 4 degrees according to the thermometer on the car. It is absolutely tipping it down with rain and has been by the look of it for the past 12 hours because there are floods everywhere. It's going to be a slightly lively journey through the lanes of Buckinghamshire to the Hearing Dogs site. [00:02:49] So anyway, Fiona, I'm sorry I've, I set out at the beginning of the year that I was going to run at least once a week, the podcast would come out once a week, but finding the time for that has been nigh on impossible. On Tuesday. The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry [00:03:04] We spent the entire morning judging the images for the British Institute of Professional Photographers, the BIPP image competition, which is such a joyous, I mean, you know, some of the greatest pleasures of getting involved in the industry are that I'm involved in the industry. [00:03:21] I know that may be alien to some people. I get asked quite a bit, what do you get out of it? And I'm going to guess that everybody who sticks their head over the parapet and does judging, mentoring, gets involved with various associations. You get a fairly, a fairly repeated question of what on earth is in it, for me, for other, you know, people asking why they would join, for instance. [00:03:44] What do I get for my 15 quid a month or whatever it is, I don't even know how much it is. And the answer I'd always say is I get to be part of something. I get to be part of something bigger than just myself, Sarah, Michelle, and we're actually a pretty big business when it comes to the photography industry in terms of brand, but also in terms of turnover. [00:04:02] We have a You know, a reasonably big business, the three of us run but it's still, in terms of the industry itself, if it wasn't for the associations, we'd be running it on our own, and yeah, alright, I'm with clients all the time, which is amazing, but it's the, things like the society's convention. Being part of the BIPP. [00:04:19] com, being a judge for the FEP, that's just started this week, so I'm judging for the Federation of European Photographers as well, and it looks like I'm about to do some judging across the pond. with our American friends. The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement [00:04:35] So, all in all, a lot's going on and, and , finding time to record the podcast just isn't that easy. [00:04:42] On top of that, the thing I've suddenly had to become increasingly cognizant of is I've started to get emails of people who are discovering the podcast for the first time and are now listening to back episodes, and this particular message, I suppose, was triggered, or this thought was triggered, by an email that came from another Paul, I mean, great name, of course, another Paul, who had started listening to the podcast, and when he emailed in the other day, he was on episode 31. [00:05:09] Now, I didn't look up the date of episode 31, but given we've been doing this for about Eight years now. Seven or eight years. Episode 31 is quite a long way back. Goodness only knows what's changed since then. And it may be another six years at that run rate before he gets to this episode of 145. So, who knows? [00:05:33] So now I've got to be very careful. I don't get too specific on dates because by the time some people listen to these episodes it could be well out of date. Equally, there are people who've probably started episodes What, 144, and are now working their way backwards, but still won't get to 100, this episode, 145, for quite a long time. [00:05:53] So forgive me if some of the stuff I talk about is very particular to the moment. Can't do a lot about that. The Timelessness of Radio Programs and the Future of the Podcast [00:06:00] One of my favourite radio programmes to listen to is Letter from America. Have I talked about this before? I've no idea. Letter from America, by a guy called Alastair Cook. He's, he's dead now. [00:06:12] This was on Radio 4, BBC Radio 4, and I think you can still Listen to it. Oh, I listened to it on the BBC Sounds app and many of the back episodes are there. And I really like the fact that it's of its time. I was listening to an episode the other day that was actually about the Middle East, and it's incredible. [00:06:31] I mean, These episodes must be, I think, 40 years old? You're looking at the mid 80s. And the politic of the region and things that were going on sounded like they could have been today, right here, right now. And I find stuff like that really interesting. So I suppose in a sense you can have a recording that is of its moment and yet still be pertinent later on. The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of PodcastingThe Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of Podcasting [00:06:57] If I'm still doing this in 40 years, I don't know if I'm going to be driving around the country photographing hearing dogs, but that's what we're doing today. So thank you to Paul for emailing in. It's lovely to get these emails. We get them from people dotted all over the world. [00:07:12] Describing what they're up to. I try to get back to everybody within a certain time frame not always possible, but I do try to, to do it. And those that sort of make me smile, I, I talk about on the podcast itself. Uh, An awful lot going on just at the moment, which is also a reason why I haven't managed To do a sit down at my desk recording really, the only time I've got. [00:07:34] Sorry, I'm so sorry Fiona, I know, alright, I know. But I'll try and make the broadcast as clear as I can. [00:07:41] Even in this clattering vehicle. The Development of the Mastering Portrait Photography Website [00:07:45] Still building the masteringportraitphotography. com website, causing me no end of head scratch. The hardest bit is a combination of technology and trying to figure out where Articles should sit. It's not, it turns out, as straightforward as I would like. Mostly because the platform we're using, or trying to use, or switching to, is more basic than the one I have at the moment. [00:08:12] So the one I have at the moment, I can do anything I like. WordPress, with all of its plugins and all of its technology, of course you can do anything you like. But the problem is, with that kind of power comes an immense amount of work. Keeping on top of it, making sure it's patched correctly, making sure that all my licenses are up to date. [00:08:32] And on top of that, a huge amount of expenditure. Because of its sophistication, well, you pay for it. So, what we're trying to do is simplify everything, because I don't really need that power to do the things I need to do. It's overkill, really, although I enjoy having that sort of level of control. [00:08:54] But the kicker, of course, is now we're simplifying things down, is I'm discovering that certain core things that I relied on, for instance, the structure of how one article can be the child of another article, so you can have a parent which is a really simple idea. The Challenges of Creating a User-Friendly Website [00:09:12] But very powerful. I can't do that on the new platform, so I'm having to figure out ways of still making the content visible, make it logical make it easy to upload and easy to access. [00:09:24] And have a structure that really makes sense, but haven't necessarily been able to find the way of doing that. The Experience of Judging for the BIPP Image Competition [00:09:32] Of course, things like judging the other day they take up time too, but it warranted pleasure. It was just It's the new BIPP monthly competition. So this was month one. So if you're listening to this podcast five years later, you will know whether the BIPP. [00:09:47] com monthly competition has been a success because this was the very first round. A couple of hundred entries, which is really nice. Hopefully that will climb but the, the fun of it is sitting we've recorded the call, so I have it as an audit trial, but sitting on this video conference with two judges looking at images and enjoying the process of assessing images. [00:10:10] Now, the only thing is, it didn't really occur to me, I thought we'll film this, we'll do it properly, so we're using a bit of software called Squadcast which is brilliant, it's one of the, it's, there are various things, a bit, Riverside FM is another one. Where you do it as if it was Zoom, but the video and audio for each participant is recorded locally on their machine, which means it's really high quality. [00:10:29] I can run that then into our podcast software and do an automated transcription, transcribe it, because the new AI tools are Word Perfect. It's brilliant. However, what I hadn't allowed for in the four hour recording is, of course, we judge in silence. Why? Well, it's not because we're really dull. [00:10:53] Well, maybe it is. It's because, actually, we want each judge to determine the score for the image independently. And if there's chatter, if people are sighing, if people are going, Oh, if only they'd done this better, it influences the, the, the judges. They influence each other. And of course, we want there to be an independent scoring because that helps to take out any sort of personal or subjective, I mean the whole thing is subjective, but sort of variability and, and outside influence. So it's great, they judge in silence, they punch in their scores, I announce the score and record it. It doesn't make for a very interesting video. So I'm now not certain that we'll ever release these things because the idea was, and still is, to find ways of providing insight into why an image does well, why an image maybe hasn't done so well, what the judge's thoughts are, but we never really do that during judging. [00:11:50] So, having to have a think about how we might do it. We certainly can't critique a couple of hundred images in the time we have available. And we're going to do this every month. And the thing about the judges is that they are not retired. They are not Part time photographers. These are the best of the best. [00:12:10] They have to be. They have to be current. They have to have their eye in. They have to be working pros for the judging to have validity. If I just used people who are no longer in the industry, they're no longer up to date. They're no longer current. So it's not that I can use judges that have, or we can use judges that have a ton of time at their fingertips. [00:12:33] The most important thing about the judges is they are current and as such they need to be working and if they're working I cannot get a hole in their diary for more than a few hours at a time so we can't critique every image. It's not physically possible but somehow I've got to find a way of getting some of this information out to everyone who entered, entered the monthly competition. [00:13:00] Anyway, it's a lot of fun doing it and those results, the first set of results, will come out. Next week. So if you're a BIPP. com member, look out for those results if you're listening to the podcast. And of course, I would encourage all of you to enter. You get one free image every month. You don't need to pay any money. [00:13:18] But just make sure, just because it's free, doesn't mean that it can be any old image. It's a real competition. We're judging it to the international print competition standard. So it's tough. I make no apology for that. It's really tough, and as such, it's not your everyday work that is going to do really well. [00:13:41] And I'm gonna come back to that as a topic of conversation on the return leg of this journey. However, before I do that, as I'm getting fairly close to the hearing dogs now, the weather's improving. It's still pretty horrible, but at least it's not literally lashing it down as it was when I got into the car. [00:13:58] Quick tip! The Importance of Presets in Photography [00:13:59] This is a quick tip for nothing. It's not the subject of the podcast, but I thought about it while I was a moment ago prepping some files for a upload, and I was in Lightroom, and then in one of the Nik ColorFX, uh, plugins. Is, there are so many presets, lots, presets for plugins, presets for Lightroom. [00:14:23] Presets for Photoshop. There's so much stuff around actions that it gets really hard to track the ones that you created for yourself. And I have this very simple rule of thumb. is for any, any preset, any action, any workflow item, any LUT, any, sorry, a LUT, L U T, lookup table, any color LUT anything at all really, I put my initials at the front of it. [00:14:51] I always put P W because it identifies the things that I created for myself. As opposed to the things that I may have bought the things that I may have downloaded, the things that somebody else was helping me with, the things that I've done for myself, they have the initials PW at the front. And it's not an ego thing. [00:15:11] A couple of times people have cocked an eye because everything I've got has got PW, PW, PW, PW. It's got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with the fact that I get really easily confused with the different things that are in the business, the different presets, folders, you name it. So I stick PW at the front to make it clear I did that one and then in two years time Because some of the things I've written they are like five six years old There's some scripts I wrote for Photoshop that we're still using and I think I wrote them ten years ago I know they're mine because they have PW at the front as opposed to some of the scripts I found and downloaded Which are by third parties, and of course, you know, I can use them. [00:15:51] But I certainly couldn't distribute them. And I want to know that if I'm modifying them, I'm modifying somebody else's work. Which is only fair. So, stick your initials. At the beginning of any presets and things that you create for yourself. There you go, that's a top tip for nothing. The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Weather Conditions [00:16:08] I'm just about to pull in to the hearing dogs. [00:16:11] Wow, it's a grey day. Look how blue the light is, it's horrible. Ha, ha, ha. Usually, usually at this side of the hill, we come over a slight hill. Um, so it's only, how long I've been driving? What, 10, 15 minutes? It's not that there's a huge difference in location between us and the hearing dogs. The geography does change slightly. [00:16:33] We come over a slight rise onto the other side of a hill, and then onto a plateau, a little bit of a plateau at the foot of the Chilterns. And the weather here is quite often different, very different. Sometimes, particularly, it's most pronounced when it's snowing. We will have snow and they won't, and vice versa, and it really is only 10 minutes separate. [00:16:51] Today, sadly, the weather is exactly the same, which is to say, shitty. There's no, I'm sorry if you're offended by the word, but it's the right word. It is shitty. Dead flat light, cloudy, wet. It's gone down by 0. 2 of a degree since I've been driving. Over this side of the hill, it's 3. 8 degrees. Usually the temperature rises. [00:17:17] Today, it's slightly colder. And I normally would say that I am looking forward to photographing the Hearing Dogs, particularly the puppies. Today, I'm looking forward to the photography. I am not looking forward to lying in a wet field. God, that car park needs a little bit of TLC you can hear the car rattling around on all of the divots and holes and puddles. [00:17:42] And then my, my car cam pinging as it thinks I've hit something. I do think at the moment we live in a country where the roads are in such bad condition. My dash cam. Constantly thinks I've had an accident and records that little bit of footage automatically because it thinks I've hit something, and I haven't hit anything, I'm just driving along the A40. [00:18:05] Right, I'm here. I shall return with the actual subject of this podcast. Maybe that's what Fiona doesn't like, is the randomness of it. Sarah says I repeat myself a lot when I'm recording from the car, so apologies if I am about to do that. However I will see you at the end of this particular shoot. [00:18:23] Right, I'm back. So at the end of that, I've just spent, what is it now quarter past two, uh, four and a bit hours photographing puppies which is beautiful, photographing dogs which are equally beautiful, running dogs, jumping dogs, wet dogs, god the weather's been horrible, and some Christmas images. Of course it's this time of year when we shoot Christmas stuff, but actually created some really, well I mean I think they're beautiful, my client seems to think they're beautiful at this stage, I've only seen them on the back of the camera, but a lot of fun. [00:18:59] We're using more and more and more LED lighting. Which is great when you're balancing up against Christmas lights and fairy lights and daylight. It's so much easier using LED than strobes for that. For the studio stuff, we are still using strobes because we can freeze movement really well, which is really, really important. [00:19:20] So for the white background stuff, those standard shots we create for the charity, very much still strobe, and I don't see that changing. In the near future, uh, because that ability to have, you know, F 16 and that instantaneous pulse of light that freezes motion is a very particular look and just the moment, I don't see that becoming that being replaced. [00:19:44] However, the LED side of it we had four different LED lights two with modifiers, two focusable spots with modifiers and two LED bars. Which just added beautiful touches of light where I wanted them. Made life really easy. I'll share a few of those hopefully on Insta over the next couple of days. [00:20:04] Actually, I won't show them on Insta because they're our Christmas pictures. So no, no, I won't be showing them on Instagram. They're the Christmas pictures, but maybe I'll get to show them. In December next year, or this year. The Concept of Yvonne's Law in Wedding Photography [00:20:14] Over the weekend, and this is, I guess, we're heading towards the point of this particular podcast. [00:20:19] I was photographing a wedding, beautiful wedding, only 13 people, pretty hectic, lots going on, Friday night, Saturday all day, Sunday morning and some of the afternoon. A really beautiful venue, and on the Friday night I got sitting chatting to the mothers of the groom, or the mother, sorry, mother and father of the groom, mother and father of the bride. [00:20:38] And one of them said to me, she said Yvonne told me this. Now at that stage I didn't even know who Yvonne was, so Yvonne, Yvonne, said that she was complaining that all of the shots of her son were the back of his head. And it turns out Yvonne, at a different wedding, was the mother of the groom. And every shot of the groom, it was just the back of his head. [00:21:00] And I said, I don't understand. She said, well, there's lots of shots of them as a couple. You can see the bride's face, very moody, just the back of the groom's head. And do you know what? Instantly, instantly, I knew the kind of shot she was talking about. It's the kind of shot that we see quite a lot when we're judging competitions, or maybe doing Quals. [00:21:21] There's some, it's very moody, but essentially it's a bridal portrait using the groom as context. It's fine, there's definitely a place for it. But if you're shooting a wedding, you might just find yourself getting the reaction that, clearly, Yvonne gave. So, Yvonne is not happy that the photographer has not done what she would regard as the photograph that she would like. [00:21:43] Which, I'm gonna guess, is a photograph of the bride, the groom, three quarter length, front on, snuggled up. Smiling at camera. That's the, that's the, still one of the best selling shots you can create. Certainly if you're pitching to sell to the parents of the couple. Yvonne's Law, I'm going to call it from now on, and I think we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to add it to my list of things that people should think about. [00:22:09] Yvonne's Law is this. When you're photographing a wedding, make sure you cover everything that the people who are attending and the people who might be buying the pictures would wish for. Going for awards is fine. We all do it. We all need to do it. We need to push ourselves and be creative. That is For most of us, why we came into these industries in the first place, we want to do something exciting and different. [00:22:32] We want to do something engaging and moody, and on the whole, those are not the shots that you can sell to the couple. Not always, it's not an entire, there is a Venn diagram with an overlap. You can, of course, sell really dark, moody pictures of the bride to the couple, and that may well happen. But there's a law of averages here and you're being paid by the client to satisfy numerous different angles. [00:22:57] Now, the other thing I don't know about the wedding that was being described is whether the bride and groom had asked specifically for a certain type of image. I have shot a wedding, this is going back a little bit in my career. Where the bride and groom wanted me to, and I kid you not, ignore the mother of the bride. [00:23:16] That was my brief. Do not pay any attention to her. She's gonna ask you to do all of these different shots with different people, but she is not paying. The bride and groom were really very clear about that. The problem is, from a diplomatic point of view, I've got a nightmare because, of course, the mother of the bride is asking me to do things. [00:23:36] And I've been briefed not to, because it'll draw time and they're not shots that the bride and groom, who are my client, are going to buy. So yes, you can end up in that situation. But here's the rub for that particular wedding, is I ended up going back and doing a portrait shoot with the whole family, because the mother of the bride felt she hadn't got the pictures of them as a family that she would wish for. [00:23:56] We ended up dancing through, or jumping through a few hoops, jumping through a few, I can't even say the word, hoop, jumping through a few hoops, hoops to get to the end goal. So Yvonne's Law simply states, remember that you're shooting for a client, you're not just shooting for you. Eventually I'll word it slightly differently as I probably think of 25 iterations of it. [00:24:17] Let's just let these people out here. There you go. You go through there. That's good. Perfectly good. And so it was a really beautiful wedding and throughout the day though I laughed with the two mums about Yvonne's law and made it perfectly clear that I was getting everything they had asked for. The Differences Between Shooting for Awards and Clients [00:24:35] Now there's a slight addendum to this thought process which is well how come what you shoot for a client doesn't necessarily do so well in awards or so well in qualifications. [00:24:49] And the truth of that is that we have to, to a degree, separate out context from the picture. So when we're judging we don't have the context which makes it sometimes a little bit tricky. As wedding photographers we know that shooting on a commissioned wedding is that little bit more complicated which is why in the categories for wedding photography most of them state really clearly Must be linked to the wedding day, must be commissioned. [00:25:16] You can't use models, it can't be you just shooting for fun, because once you eliminate that sense of pressure, the time pressure mostly, but the performance pressure and having to work for a client, everything's much easier. Which is why fashion magazines have these beautiful pictures of models in bridal gowns and actually on a real wedding day. [00:25:37] It's a lot trickier, it's not impossible but it's a lot trickier to get those images. So there's this thing, and I, we all know it the best I've ever heard it was shoot for show, shoot for dough. The difference between shooting for your portfolio, shooting for awards, shooting for qualifications, and shooting for the money, shooting for your client. [00:25:58] They are slightly different things, and one photographer, a really nice photographer called Hoss Madavi, photographer, Put it like this. He said, think about designing for a catwalk. Think about what you would design out there for a catwalk and then think about what you actually end up selling through a high street chain like John Lewis or Marks and Spencer or whatever in the UK or maybe Macy's or someone like that in the States. [00:26:27] Think about the difference between those two. Your haute couture arranges that you're going to produce on the catwalk. By the time they end up being sold to the mass public, not quite the same thing. Nor should they be. They're for different purposes. One is to show the world what you're capable of. One is to show, or it's actually sell to the world. [00:26:46] Not quite the same thing because most people are not going to buy a really funky haute couture dress or outfit off the catwalk in the same way that a lot of our clients won't wish. to buy a moody dark shot that's of the back of the groom's head. There you go. Yvonne's Law is now what we're calling it. [00:27:05] I might have to change it. I feel, I don't, I've never met Yvonne. I'm going to credit her with it because that was the story that was told to me. On that happy note, I am just pulling into a garage because I am absolutely starving. Conclusion and Farewell [00:27:17] I need to get some food and I need to get some food quick before I start getting grumpy. [00:27:22] So I'm going to park up and I'm going to wish you all well for the week. So for this week's podcast, thank you for listening. Of course you can email me. At paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. You can head over to masteringportraitphotography.com. Please do subscribe to the podcast wherever it is that you consume your podcast. [00:27:43] And if you feel like it, please leave us a review. If you feel sorry, if you feel like leaving us a nice review, please leave us a review. If you feel like leaving us some nastiness, then please email me so I know what we could improve on. But on that happy note, I hope you're having a good week. I hope the weather is better where you are than where we are. [00:27:58] And of course, in the spirit of this morning, a very happy Christmas to you all on this February day. And whatever else, be festive, but be kind to yourself. Take care.

Dr Joe is a Homeopathic Practitioner, born in Brussels, then living in several different countries before deciding to settle in New Zealand. In this podcast, he shares how he went from working as a surgeon, to discovering natural medicine – and believe me, he has studied pretty much studied every single natural health modality there is. He has also published 11 books and lectured internationally. He'll also be speaking of the Fibonacci series, which has completely revolutionised the “potency problems” many Homeopaths experience. His CV is so unbelievably amazing, that I included it here for listeners to peruse.   Dr Joe's website is www.naturamedica.co.nz and emailed at homeosensei101@gmail.com    Curriculum Vitae. Doctor Joseph Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD, HMD, DO, OMD, DAcup, DIHom, DHerbMed, DNutr, HbT, FBIH, RCHom, MNZIA, MNZAMH, MNNZ, MNZSN. Born in Brussels, Belgium, March 14, 1951 Medical School Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, graduated 1976 Specialty in General Surgery: 2 years at Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel   4 years various hospitals in Belgium Belgian Specialist Surgeon 1982 Specialty in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada Diploma in Acupuncture, ABMA (Belgian School of Acupuncture for MDs)   Member of the NZ Institute of Acupuncture     Member of the NZ Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture   Society (Registered Acupuncturist)   Member of the NZ Chi-Kung and TCM Association   Certificate from the China Academy of Chinese Medicine     Sciences (Acupuncture and TCM, MEDBOO course)   Oriental Medicine Doctor (OMD) Specialist in Homeopathy:   British Institute of Homeopathy, Diploma, Post Graduate   And Fellowship   Institut Homéopathique Scientifique, Paris   Israel Medical College of Homeopathy   Westbrook University, Aztec, New Mexico, USA   Diploma in Homotoxicology   PhD in Homeopathy, Westbrook University   RCHom New Zealand     Specialist in Phytotherapy (Herbal Medicine):   The School of Phytotherapy, UK  Member of the NZ Association of Medical Herbalists Diploma in Nutrition: the International Academy of Nutrition, Australia Diploma in Applied Clinical Nutrition (USA) Fellow of the American College of Applied Clinical Nutritionists Diploma in Homeobotanical Therapy, Australia Post-Graduate Diploma of Dynamic Phytotherapy  Doctor in Naturopathy (UNM/YINS) PhD in Natural Health Sciences (UNM/YINS) Doctor in Oriental Medicine (OMD, Calamus International University) Doctorate in Osteopathy (Drugless) (D.O.) Permanent student in Ortho-Bionomy Student in Cranio-Sacral Therapy Student in Visceral Manipulation Advanced Dorn Method Practitioner Miscellaneous: Auriculotherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, Aromatherapy,    Reflexology, Iridology, Reiki Master (Usui), MPRUE Great GrandMaster Practitioner and Instructor in Tai Chi and Qigong. Former Lecturer in Medical Diagnostics at the Faculty of Chiropractics and Homeopathy, Technikon Natal, Durban, South Africa. Former Lecturer in Homeopathy at the Israeli Medical College of Homeopathy. Former Tutor with the British Institute of Homeopathy (Homeopathy, Anatomy & Physiology, Pathology, Diagnostics and Nutrition) Professor of Natural Medicine at Calamus International University Publications: - Dynamic Gemmotherapy. Integrative Embryonic Phytotherapy. - Organotherapy, Drainage and Detoxification. - Removing the guesswork from potency selection: the Fibonacci Potencies series (paper). - The Fibonacci Series: update, discussion and conclusions (paper). - The Potency. Advanced prescribing in homeopathy: the Fibonacci Series. - Third Millennium Homeopathy - Homeopathy and Mental Health Care: Chapter 16 of this Anthology - Homeopathy through the Chinese looking glass: Homeosiniatry revisited - Elementary Nutrition for Homeopaths - Elementary Human Nutrition for Health Practitioners   Non-Medical qualifications: Diploma of Creative Writing from the NZ Institute of    Business Studies. Certificate in Mauri Ora (Maori studies) from Te Wananga O Aoteaora   First Dan Black Belt Aikido   Second Dan Black Belt Karate   Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong Practitioner   Yoga Student/Practitioner

Do you ever feel like you're missing part of yourself? Humans are constantly on the lookout for their dream mate, their twin flame, their other half. What is that about? Why are we not "whole" to begin with? In this third and final episode of my esoteric series with Rudi Verspoor, we will explore the great polarities of life: the forces of love, resonance and attraction that power our universe. Rudi teaches us about the true origin of consciousness from ancient scriptures, how the law of attraction differs from the law of resonance, what our current society's gender dysphoria is all about, and why being heathy is the only way to distinguish illusion from reality and achieve self-actualization. Rudi will also let us in on the #1 sign that you are existing as a programmed ego structure and not your TRUE self. This one's deep, my friends! Buckle in and get ready to understand your world in a COMPLETELY new way! Rudi Verspoor is the Dean of the Hahnemann Center for Heilkunst and Homeopathy and has been studying and practicing homeopathy, Heilkunst, and Romantic Science Healthcare for more than two decades. He has extensive clinical experience that has resulted in the ability to identify and remove underlying causes preventing optimal health and wellbeing, particularly those relating to complex and chronic cases where other health professionals and modalities have failed, including allopathic, functional and holistic health professionals! He has written several books and has shared his knowledge lecturing in many countries around the globe. From 1993 to early 2001, he served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy Canada. Seeing the need for more comprehensive education and training in Heilkunst, he established the Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and the School for Romantic Science and Healthcare.  If you love Rudi Verspoor and haven't heard our previous episodes together, go listen to 175. Healing The Energetic Body & Increasing Your Generative Power with Homeopathy and Rudi Verspoor, Part I and 184. Be the Author of Your Life! Destiny, Reincarnation & Karma with Rudi Verspoor, Part II You can find more about Rudi at: ⁠www.homeopathy.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠www.MyHealthPlan.Center⁠⁠ and access Rudi's wonderful authored works on Amazon! TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 Episode Begins 00:11:23 An Important Preface 00:16:34 Leaving Eden 00:21:34 Physical and Etheric Polarity 00:28:04 The Secret to Building a Resonant Relationship 00:32:09 Challenging the Masculine/Feminine Polarity 00:39:03 The Secret to Discerning Reality from Illusion 00:46:54 A New Kind of Slavery 00:53:26 We Are Asleep 00:59:25 The Feminine Mind 01:06:41 Increasing Your Generative Power 01:09:22 Becoming Whole 01:14:50 Attraction vs Resonance 01:20:46 Procreation to Co-Creation 01:27:38 The Struggle of Atheism 01:32:17 Conclusion 01:36:26 Rudi's Resources Subscribing and sharing your kind thoughts & feedback in a review on iTunes is the ultimate way to support Amy and help Awakening Aphrodite in everyone...so thank you in advance!:) You can find all things Amy at: ⁠⁠amyfournier.com⁠⁠⁠ Jump on Amy's ⁠⁠email list⁠ ⁠where she shares her personal stuff and her newest health and wellness tips and favorite products, classes, course and events updates. For special discounts on Amy's favorite products, visit her ⁠⁠⁠estore⁠⁠⁠. We appreciate and encourage you to reach out and interact with us by leaving a comment, following and sharing the episodes at ⁠⁠@FitAmyTV⁠⁠ on IG and ⁠Amy Fournier ⁠on FB and remember, you can also watch the episodes on YouTube at ⁠⁠Awakening Aphrodite Podcast/FitAmyTV⁠⁠!

Do you ever feel like you're missing part of yourself? Humans are constantly on the lookout for their dream mate, their twin flame, their other half. What is that about? Why are we not "whole" to begin with? In this third and final episode of my esoteric series with Rudi Verspoor, we will be exploring the great polarities of life: the forces of love, resonance and attraction that power our universe. Rudi teaches us about the true origin of consciousness from ancient scriptures, how the law of attraction differs from the law of resonance, what our current society's gender dysphoria is all about, and why being heathy is the only way to distinguish illusion from reality and achieve self-actualization. Rudi will also let us in on the #1 sign that you are existing as a programmed ego structure and not your TRUE self. This one's deep, my friends! Buckle in and get ready to understand your world in a COMPLETELY new way! Rudi Verspoor is the Dean of the Hahnemann Center for Heilkunst and Homeopathy and has been studying and practicing homeopathy, Heilkunst, and Romantic Science Healthcare for more than two decades. He has extensive clinical experience that has resulted in the ability to identify and remove underlying causes preventing optimal health and wellbeing, particularly those relating to complex and chronic cases where other health professionals and modalities have failed, including allopathic, functional and holistic health professionals! He has written several books and has shared his knowledge lecturing in many countries around the globe. From 1993 to early 2001, he served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy Canada. Seeing the need for more comprehensive education and training in Heilkunst, he established the Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and the School for Romantic Science and Healthcare.  If you love Rudi Verspoor and haven't heard our previous episodes together, go listen to 175. Healing The Energetic Body & Increasing Your Generative Power with Homeopathy and Rudi Verspoor, Part I and 184. Be the Author of Your Life! Destiny, Reincarnation & Karma with Rudi Verspoor, Part II You can find more about Rudi at: ⁠www.homeopathy.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠www.MyHealthPlan.Center⁠⁠ and access Rudi's wonderful authored works on Amazon! TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 Episode Begins 00:11:23 An Important Preface 00:16:34 Leaving Eden 00:21:34 Physical and Etheric Polarity 00:28:04 The Secret to Building a Resonant Relationship 00:32:09 Challenging the Masculine/Feminine Polarity 00:39:03 The Secret to Discerning Reality from Illusion 00:46:54 A New Kind of Slavery 00:53:26 We Are Asleep 00:59:25 The Feminine Mind 01:06:41 Increasing Your Generative Power 01:09:22 Becoming Whole 01:14:50 Attraction vs Resonance 01:20:46 Procreation to Co-Creation 01:27:38 The Struggle of Atheism 01:32:17 Conclusion 01:36:26 Rudi's Resources Subscribing and sharing your kind thoughts & feedback in a review on iTunes is the ultimate way to support Amy and help Awakening Aphrodite in everyone...so thank you in advance!:) You can find all things Amy at: ⁠⁠amyfournier.com⁠⁠⁠ Jump on Amy's ⁠⁠email list⁠ ⁠where she shares her personal stuff and her newest health and wellness tips and favorite products, classes, course and events updates. For special discounts on Amy's favorite products, visit her ⁠⁠⁠estore⁠⁠⁠. We appreciate and encourage you to reach out and interact with us by leaving a comment, following and sharing the episodes at ⁠⁠@FitAmyTV⁠⁠ on IG and ⁠Amy Fournier ⁠on FB and remember, you can also watch the episodes on YouTube at ⁠⁠Awakening Aphrodite Podcast/FitAmyTV⁠⁠!

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It's core to the Jewish holiday of Purim, with singing, feasting, and other merriment. And it's unique as one of the few books in the Bible that doesn't mention God. At all. But it's also useful as a historical document, as Lloyd Llewellyn Jones writes in his most recent book, Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible (I. B. Tauris, 2023). While not perhaps entirely accurate, the book refers to political divisions, court customs, and gender politics that align with what we know about Ancient Persia. In this interview, Lloyd and I talk about the Book of Esther, what it tells us about Persian history, and whether other parts of the Bible might act as good historical sources. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones holds the chair in ancient history at Cardiff University and is the director of the Ancient Iran Program for the British Institute of Persian Studies. He has published widely on ancient history. His other books include Persians: The Age of the Great Kings (Basic Books: 2022), Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (Edinburgh University Press: 2018), and Aphrodite's Tortoise: The Veiled Woman of Ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales: 2004). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies

Right, after a bit of announcements by Brian, the show is returned to its previous host, Mr. Benjamin Whitworth CFSP, MBIE and best of all, a proper chap and embalmer.  Allow us the opportunity to be redirected by another undertaker who cares. This is a show worth sharing.  Learn more about the British Institute of Embalmers here: https://www.bioe.co.uk/  They're sorry for Brian, it's in the minutes. Hear more TVB stories here: https://www.toddvanbeck.com/ Donate to the Todd Van Beck Memorial Scholarship here: https://www.ccms.edu/alumni-and-support/supporters/ Do you follow RavenPlume Consulting? Check them out and find more Undertaking: The Podcast content here: https://ravenplume.com/

GUEST: Kateryna Busol - Ukrainian lawyer, Senior lecturer and Robert Bosch Stiftung fellow at Chatham House. ---------- Calls to treat as legitimate the ‘security concerns' raised by Russia, and to account for these in a future settlement of the war in Ukraine, disregard the fact that Moscow's requirements are fundamentally incompatible with European security. Proponents of a settlement in the war on Ukraine often put forward the idea that Russian ‘security concerns' must be taken into account in any such settlement, but also in broader revisions to the European security system. These proposals echo the Russian information campaign over the past 30 years to persuade European publics that there can be ‘no security in Europe without Russia'. They provide false support to the argument that Western security policy after the collapse of the USSR unnecessarily encroached on core Russian interests by expanding NATO and forcing Moscow to militarize its foreign policy. In this telling, Russia was merely challenging what it viewed as an unjust European security order. ---------- SPEAKER: Kateryna Busol is a Ukrainian lawyer. She is a senior lecturer at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and a fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Kateryna has worked on various issues relating to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, with a particular focus on the weaponization of cultural heritage, conflict-related sexual violence, reparations, and Ukraine's transitional justice process. She has worked with the Clooney Foundation for Justice, UN Women, the Global Survivors Fund and Global Rights Compliance. Kateryna has collaborated with Ukrainian NGOs such as the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and Truth Hounds and has advised Ukrainian prosecutors and judges on war-related proceedings. She was a visiting researcher at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, a Robert Bosch Stiftung fellow at Chatham House, and a visiting professional at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. ---------- LINKS: https://www.biicl.org/people/kateryna-busol https://www.ukma.edu.ua/eng/index.php/studies/departments/faculty-of-law/international-law/staff/61-dr-kateryna-busol https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateryna-busol-68b4271a9/ https://twitter.com/KaterynaBusol ---------- SUMMARY: Moscow's war of reconquest against Ukraine has confirmed in the most brutal terms how Russia rejects the values underpinning European security – the same values agreed between Moscow and the West at the end of the Cold War. As a revisionist power, Russia has made itself the primary obstacle to peace and security in Europe and beyond. For stability to be restored and protected, it is essential that the outcome of the war in Ukraine leads to a situation in which – in addition to the expulsion of occupying forces – the exercise of Russian power is contained rather than encouraged. Over time, Russia's leadership must also be persuaded to renounce its expansionist ambitions. It's now or never for Ukraine. A protracted or frozen conflict benefits Russia and hurts Ukraine, as does a ceasefire or negotiated settlement on Russia's terms. If Ukraine is to avoid these outcomes and turn tenacious defence and incremental battlefield gains into outright victory, it needs far more ambitious international military assistance than it has received to date. This report presents the case for an immediate and decisive increase in such support, seeks to dispel overhyped concerns about provoking Russia, and counsels against accommodating Moscow's demands. ---------- #katerynabusol #chathamhouse #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #zelensky #putin #propaganda #war #disinformation #hybridwarfare #foreignpolicy #communism #sovietunion #postsoviet ----------

Do you ever find yourself struggling to comprehend the meaning of life? Have you ever desperately wanted something but the Universe seemed to have other plans for you? Rudi Verspoor is BACK on Awakening Aphrodite and ready to share his rich knowledge on awakening to purpose and healing the root cause of trauma, illness and misfortune. Our first conversation, Episode 175 is a must-listen with extraordinary insights on society's current issues and alternative healing modalities. In today's conversation, Rudi explains the laws of Karma and Reincarnation and how they apply to our lives in ways both practical and esoteric. Rudi also illuminates the important distinctions between needs and desires, belief versus trust/faith and victimhood versus autonomy and accountability. If you're seeking a deeper understanding of your life's significance, THIS is the episode for you! Rudi Verspoor is the Dean of the Hahnemann Center for Heilkunst and Homeopathy and has been studying and practicing homeopathy, Heilkunst, and Romantic Science Healthcare for more than two decades. He has extensive clinical experience that has resulted in the ability to identify and remove underlying causes preventing optimal health and wellbeing, particularly those relating to complex and chronic cases where other health professionals and modalities have failed, including allopathic, functional and holistic health professionals! He has written several books and has shared his knowledge lecturing in many countries around the globe. From 1993 to early 2001, he served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy Canada. Seeing the need for more comprehensive education and training in Heilkunst, he established the Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and the School for Romantic Science and Healthcare.  If you're not already subscribed to Awakening Aphrodite, make sure you do so you'll be notified when Rudi returns for Part III where we will discuss The Evolution of Human Consciousness and Navigating the Great Polarities: the Masculine/Feminine dynamic! You can find more about Rudi at: ⁠www.homeopathy.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠www.MyHealthPlan.Center⁠⁠ and access Rudi's wonderful authored works on Amazon! TIME STAMPS 00:08:55 Th Law Of Karma 00:14:03 Separation From Source 00:19:12 From Victim to Author 00:25:17 The Role of Illness and Suffering 00:28:14 Dharma, The Flip Side of Karma 00:34:31 Wants and Needs 00:37:19 The True Meaning of Belief 00:46:18 Developing the Resonance Organ 00:49:47 Is There a Limit to Reincarnation? 00:51:55 The Positive Aspect of Karma 00:57:01 Reconciling Wounds of Abandonment 00:59:38 The Four Levels of Karma 01:03:26 Soul Contacts 01:06:45 Grappling With Abandonment Karma 01:11:19 Where to Find Rudi Subscribing and sharing your kind thoughts & feedback in a review on iTunes is the ultimate way to support Amy and help Awakening Aphrodite in everyone...so thank you in advance!:) You can find all things Amy at: ⁠⁠amyfournier.com⁠⁠⁠ Jump on Amy's ⁠⁠email list⁠ ⁠where she shares her personal stuff and her newest health and wellness tips and favorite products, classes, course and events updates. For special discounts on Amy's favorite products, visit her ⁠⁠⁠estore⁠⁠⁠. We appreciate and encourage you to reach out and interact with us by leaving a comment, following and sharing the episodes at ⁠⁠@FitAmyTV⁠⁠ on IG and ⁠Amy Fournier ⁠on FB and remember, you can also watch the episodes on YouTube at ⁠⁠Awakening Aphrodite Podcast/FitAmyTV⁠⁠!

Do you ever find yourself struggling to comprehend the meaning of life? Have you ever desperately wanted something but the Universe seemed to have other plans for you? Rudi Verspoor is BACK on Awakening Aphrodite and ready to share his rich knowledge on awakening to purpose and healing the root cause of trauma, illness and misfortune. Our first conversation, Episode 175 is a must-listen with extraordinary insights on society's current issues and alternative healing modalities. In today's conversation, Rudi explains the laws of Karma and Reincarnation and how they apply to our lives in ways both practical and esoteric. Rudi also illuminates the important distinctions between needs and desires, belief versus trust/faith and victimhood versus autonomy and accountability. If you're seeking a deeper understanding of your life's significance, THIS is the episode for you! Rudi Verspoor is the Dean of the Hahnemann Center for Heilkunst and Homeopathy and has been studying and practicing homeopathy, Heilkunst, and Romantic Science Healthcare for more than two decades. He has extensive clinical experience that has resulted in the ability to identify and remove underlying causes preventing optimal health and wellbeing, particularly those relating to complex and chronic cases where other health professionals and modalities have failed, including allopathic, functional and holistic health professionals! He has written several books and has shared his knowledge lecturing in many countries around the globe. From 1993 to early 2001, he served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy Canada. Seeing the need for more comprehensive education and training in Heilkunst, he established the Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and the School for Romantic Science and Healthcare.  If you're not already subscribed to Awakening Aphrodite, make sure you do so you'll be notified when Rudi returns for Part III where we will discuss The Evolution of Human Consciousness and Navigating the Great Polarities: the Masculine/Feminine dynamic! You can find more about Rudi at: ⁠www.homeopathy.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠www.MyHealthPlan.Center⁠⁠ and access Rudi's wonderful authored works on Amazon! TIME STAMPS 00:08:55 Th Law Of Karma 00:14:03 Separation From Source 00:19:12 From Victim to Author 00:25:17 The Role of Illness and Suffering 00:28:14 Dharma, The Flip Side of Karma 00:34:31 Wants and Needs 00:37:19 The True Meaning of Belief 00:46:18 Developing the Resonance Organ 00:49:47 Is There a Limit to Reincarnation? 00:51:55 The Positive Aspect of Karma 00:57:01 Reconciling Wounds of Abandonment 00:59:38 The Four Levels of Karma 01:03:26 Soul Contacts 01:06:45 Grappling With Abandonment Karma 01:11:19 Where to Find Rudi Subscribing and sharing your kind thoughts & feedback in a review on iTunes is the ultimate way to support Amy and help Awakening Aphrodite in everyone...so thank you in advance!:) You can find all things Amy at: ⁠⁠amyfournier.com⁠⁠⁠ Jump on Amy's ⁠⁠email list⁠ ⁠where she shares her personal stuff and her newest health and wellness tips and favorite products, classes, course and events updates. For special discounts on Amy's favorite products, visit her ⁠⁠⁠estore⁠⁠⁠. We appreciate and encourage you to reach out and interact with us by leaving a comment, following and sharing the episodes at ⁠⁠@FitAmyTV⁠⁠ on IG and ⁠Amy Fournier ⁠on FB and remember, you can also watch the episodes on YouTube at ⁠⁠Awakening Aphrodite Podcast/FitAmyTV⁠⁠!

It's easy to speak about mountain biking on the surface level. But speaking to its potential for transcendence, ecstasy, and yes, art, is another thing entirely--thus, we called in a poet to help.  Albert Flynn DeSilver has been an obsessive mountain biker for over 30 years. He is a trail advocate and wilderness explorer. Albert is also an internationally published writer, speaker and teacher who has worked with thousands of kids as a California Poet in the Schools, served as a county Poet Laureate, and taught writing workshops throughout North America at places like the Esalen Institute, the Omega Institute, and the British Institute in Paris. He has given a TEDx talk and bombed spectacularly, and then dusted himself off to go on to host and share the stage with writer-luminaries like Elizabeth Gilbert, Cheryl Strayed, Maxine Hong Kingston and many others. Albert writes, rides and resides in Northern California. We talk about: Reaching a transcendent state on a bike [6:03] The taboo of ecstasy [9:33] Moving meditation [12:45] How family history/upbringing can inform our practice [14:27] Using mtb to check in or check out [20:12] The art of mountain biking [24:36] The demand of mtb to pay attention [28:20] The social component of the sport [32:30] Grief on the trail [37:42] Dancing and doodling [44:09] Referenced in this episode: Singletrack Mind by Albert Flynn DeSilver Writing as a Path to Awakening, also by Albert “Miracles” by Walt Whitman Delores LaChapelle We also referenced this episode with Melissa Gill Let's connect! Book a lesson with SimplyMTB or work with Danielle's project-based growth model at You Need a Thing. Please don't forget to rate, subscribe, and share this if it resonates! Tips For Tips? It takes a lot of time and effort to put together this content and offer it, for free, to hopefully enhance your experience on and off the bike. If you appreciate and value the work we do on the podcast, consider sending us a tip here!

"You don't have to be stuck in illness. There is a rational method for transforming illness into evolution of mind and consciousness. If we are sick we don't need to be fixed, but rather helped to change our state of mind and being." - Rudi Verspoor My amazing guest today, Rudi Verspoor, is the Dean of the Hahnemann Center for Heilkunst and Homeopathy and has been studying and practicing homeopathy, Heilkunst, and Romantic Science Healthcare for more than two decades. He has extensive clinical experience that has resulted in the ability to identify and remove underlying causes preventing optimal health and wellbeing, particularly those relating to complex and chronic cases where other health professionals and modalities have failed, including allopathic, functional and holistic health professionals! He has written several books and has shared his knowledge extensively, lecturing in many countries including Canada, the US, the UK, and throughout Europe. From 1993 to early 2001, he served as the Director of the British Institute of Homeopathy Canada. Seeing the need for more comprehensive education and training in Heilkunst, he established the Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and the School for Romantic Science and Healthcare.  Today we get into the core theories that support homeopathy and true healing. Rudi shares his wisdom on healing trauma, the roots of disease, Aristotle's levels of causation, the issue of childhood vaccination, the opposing forces of control and individuation and the inescapable journey we all must face to embody your true, healthy self. If you're not subscribed to Awakening Aphrodite already, be sure to hit that button to stay notified when Rudi returns for Part II where we will discuss Divine Timing, the role of Karma and of course, Navigating the Great Polarities: the Masculine/Feminine dynamic in life!! You can find more about Rudi at: www.homeopathy.com⁠ and ⁠www.MyHealthPlan.Center⁠ and access Rudi's wonderful authored works on Amazon! TIME STAMPS 0:00:00 Episode Begins 0:09:46 Rudi's Mission 0:14:07 Two Streams Of Life Force 0:16:44 Healing Your Generative Power 0:21:02 Remedying The Trauma 0:25:47 Addressing Causation 0:32:46 What Is Homeopathy? 0:36:33 Aristotle's Levels Of Causation 0:42:30 The Order Of Healing 0:47:50 The Issue Of Childhood V's 0:51:26 The Mechanism Of Somatic Therapy 0:57:49 The 4 Categories Of Psychological Trauma 1:03:49 Climbing Out Of Depression 1:05:50 Finding The True Self 1:11:01 The Forces Of Control & Individuation 1:20:52 Closing Words Of Wisdom 1:23:35 Where To Find Rudi Sharing your kind thoughts & feedback in a review is the ULTIMATE way to support Awakening Aphrodite - THANK YOU:) You can also jump on Amy's email list and follow her updates at @FitAmyTV. Find out more at amyfournier.com and watch this episode on YouTube at Awakening Aphrodite Podcast/FitAmyTV! For special discounts on Amy's FAVORITE products, visit her estore.

Homeopathy is often viewed as an ineffective pseudoscientific scam. Knowledgeable practitioners, however, get great results for their clients. Usually, as a last resort when other systems fail. This conversation unpacks the science, mechanisms, and use cases of homeopathy. Meet our guest Jerry M. Kantor is the author of four other books: Interpreting Chronic Illness, the Convergence of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy and Biomedicine; The Toxic Relationship Cure, Clearing Traumatic Damage from a Boss, parent, lover or Friend with natural, drug-free remedies; Autism Reversal Toolbox, Strategies, Remedies and; under a pseudonym, Heymischer Homeopathy, the Schmendrick's Guide to Remedying Yiddish Kvetches. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Queens College, CUNY, a Masters's in the Management of Human Services from Brandeis University, and is a graduate of the Advanced Acupuncture Program for Foreign Students, Nanjing College of Traditional Medicine, Nanjing Peoples Republic of China. Mr. Kantor's Boston area acupuncture and homeopathy practice specializes in pediatrics, mental illness, autism spectrum ailments, autoimmune conditions, and infertility. He lectures and teaches across North America, and is a faculty member and board member of the British Institute of Homeopathy. He was the first acupuncturist granted an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School's Department of Anaesthesiology. A longtime practitioner of qi gong and tai qi, Jerry holds a fourth-degree black belt in the Japanese martial art Aikido. Thank you to our partners Outliyr Peak Performance Shop: get exclusive discounts on cutting-edge health, wellness, & performance gear Upgrade your brain with the FREE Outliyr Nootropics Mini-Course Key takeaways “Acute illness detoxifies while chronic illness informs” Characteristics of a substance/remedy matched to a human constitution Homeopathy once was the standard of care and is still a primary medicine around the world Links Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ceKvbp2D45c Full episode show notes: mindbodypeak.com/98 Connect with Nick on social media Instagram Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Easy ways to support Subscribe Leave an Apple Podcast review Suggest a guest Do you have questions, thoughts, or feedback for us? Let me know at mindbodypeak.com/98 and one of us will get back to you! Be an Outliyr, Nick

Now we need experts on Russian society and politics more than ever – not just to understand the war and its origins, but to understand what comes after it. Kseniya Kirillova is an Investigative journalist and analyst. She offers her expert views on several services of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, with a focus on analysing Russian society, mentality. For this podcast we are especially interested in her deep knowledge of the mechanisms of Russian propaganda (including in the US), "active measures" and foreign policy. Kseniya is author of several hundred articles, including researches on Russian propaganda and soft power for the Atlantic Council, the Jamestown Foundation, British Institute for Statecraft, EU Today, British-Canadian security project Defense Report, Ukrainian English-language media Kyiv Post and Euromaidan Press, Stop Fake project, etc. In the United States, she has cooperated with the Associated Press, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, ABC7, Newsy, and other media. Expert of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies.