Every year, I find it helpful and exciting to look back at what has happened over the last 12 months and write it down. Here’s what 2008 has been like for me:
January 2008
We started off with our final ever trade show for Light Paintings. Although we didn’t have any new material to show, it seemed a good idea when we booked our stand in June 2007. Admittedly our heart wasn’t in it, but when Interiors Birmingham turned out to the THE WORST SHOW we’ve ever done, we knew we wouldn’t do it again. Literally no visitor traffic, which was due to the organisers having put us in the wrong hall! We found ourselves next to companies exhibiting blinds and curtain-rail-end-pieces. When we told them about this faux-pas, CMP wound’t have any of it, nor offer us a refund. Avoid CMP / United Business Media like the plague!
February to April 2008
I welcomed both Thomson Reuters as a new clients for my portfolio of Broadcast Work, as well as Al Jazeera English. In fact, the year started off well for broadcast work. I also became seriously interested in 3D Rendering and Animation, and buried my head deep in DAZ Studio, Carrara and Poser.
May 2008
Jeremy Bronnit’s Loft London is growing bigger and better, and I’m pleased to be working with him in this new venture. My job is to duplicate old 1″ tapes to Digi Beta, and revisit the eighties on Channel 4. Since I wasn’t in the country then, so watching countless hours of Countdown is a nice way to catch up. Nice! I also made the company and its managers look great with pictures for their website – check it out here.
June 2008
Julia and I are having a well deserved holiday in South Beach Miami for a couple of weeks. We invested into a new 18-200mm lens for one of the cameras, bought a second flash gun (a Canon EX 580 EX-II), and got a super tiny Casio Elixim pocket camera. We tried it all out at Starbuck’s at the top of Collins Avenue, while watching the busy film makers on the set of Burn Notice (not sure if that’s reached the UK yet). What a great time we had!
On our last day, only hours before our plane was to take us back to London, we decided to start working on a project that I thought of many years ago, when I fist visited Miami: take pictures of all the Art Deco Beach Huts. This is work in progess, and we’ll definitely go back soon to collect some more. So far we’ve covered South Pointe all the way up to 13th Street.
July 2008
The Book of Clouds is very well received by friends and colleagues, so Loft London decide to buy the first ever Limited Edition on Acrylic Diasec for their new floor. It’s a huge piece, 1000x1600mm, and it looks lovely! This is it:
August 2008
A new backlit installation of the ever so popular Light Painting STRIPES is installed at the new offices of Metage Capital on Berwick Street in London. Thanks to Michelle Frawley from Inspire Design to to put our picture forward, and to Maryam Valentin at Metage for choosing it!
September 2008
The month goes by with intense training at http://www.lynda.com, for software suites like Carrara, Poser and some in-depth Photoshop techniques (you can never know enough). I find it invigorating to broaden my horizon of knowledge. I also sold some expired medium format film for over £30 on eBay. WOW!
October 2008
Due to the success of The Book of Clouds and my passion for the project, I conceive a separate channel for moving time lapse clouds, hence http://www.cloud-tv.com is born. I found a great service called http://www.mogulus.com, which allows for streaming video footage, 24/7 – 7 days a week. To my surprise, the brain behing Mogulus is Max Hoat, who used to work at TWI/IMG, just like I do very regularly. Although we have never met, I feel Mogulus is the perfect choice for this marriage bewteen my broadcast skills and art. Cloud-TV “Piece of Sky” is scheduled for a DVD release later this year, so in my spare time I’m devoting my Premiere Editing Skills to it.
November 2008
Although having heard big things about it, I’ve not tired http://www.wordpress.com myself. Big deal, I think at first, it’s just another blogging system. But when I install it to turn Cloud-TV into an easy-to-update website, I’m in love with the project. The ease of use, the non-profit workflow behind it, and the huge amounts of free themes and plug-ins make it my web design tool of choice for many more projects to come. Others often underestimate the importance of a great web designer, as my Miami web design buddy has said before. On a sadder note, Soundart announce they’ve ceased trading.
December 2008
Although the month isn’t over, I’ve already got http://www.oliverspanuth.com to show for it. Bringing my passion for 3D Logo and Webdesign together, WordPress is installed on Oliver’s server, and after only two afternoons of brainstorming between London and Bremen, his website and his legacy see the light of day. Oliver and I have known each other for over 20 years (see a Supersampler picture of him below), and I’m delighted to be his creative partner to bring him and his drum sound to the web. I’ve also conceived his Myspace Profile, essential for everyone these days. And on top of all that, the Cloud-TV DVD is still in production.
2008 has been an exciting ride, and I’m looking forward to 2009 for more fun and games!