SMLP: – Page 105 – Whatever you want it to mean…

Taking the Sparkle

The weather has started to get worse as winter approaches and when its too cold to go outside to take pictures you need to find another way.

I had myself some leftover Sparklers from Nov 5th; so I thought I would do a little indoor fireworks photo action.

I set my camera up in the kitchen pointing from a high position looking down into the white kitchen bench to give a clean background for the photo.

I set myself up an holder to stand the sparkler upright using a chopping board as the base to minimize any burns on the kitchen bench. Positioning the camera at the sparkler to ensure only the white kitchen bench was visible in the background.

I took about 90 photo’s overall so that I had enough to find a decent shot. I picked out my two favorites not including the one’s where I light the sparklers.

Due to the fact the two pictures of burning sparklers don’t actually look that different I decided to invert the colors on one to give two very different photos.

Let me know what you think in the comments below or @smlp me on twitter.

You can also click on the image to comment on Flickr.

Not Going for Apple

When you work in retail and you are is passionate about Apple’s product there is no greater prestige than getting the opportunity to work for Apple retail. With only 20 stores in the UK jobs for the Retailer are few and far between and when living in the North East you have no opportunity’s available to you at all. Well that was until now. The only problem is that it doesn’t feel very “Apple”.
When you think about buying an Apple product you want to make sure you are getting the best advise available to you and heading in to an Apple store is always the place to get it. When you live in the North East of England you have to make do with the resellers; John Lewis, Fenwick of Newcastle, Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World to name a few. When you buy from a reseller you don’t get the same passion in the products that you would get from individuals that work in the Apple stores. Their product knowledge is reasonable but its diluted by the volume of other products that they have to focus on. Apple staff basically, live and breathe Apple. The Apple Stores surrounding environment match the company’s passion for great design and this rubs off on every person that walks through the doors of these stores.
My own passion for Apple products is so great that when a friend decided that when a job with Apple was not for them they thought of me for the role. I live in the North East of England, so with no Apple Stores to be seen; what was the job position?

Design for the planned Apple Concessions at PC World

PC World are going to be rolling out Apple Concessions into their stores that are in locations outside of the catchment area of Apples own stores. The difference in this compared to PC World’s normal Apple product displays is that they are going to be manned by Apple employees instead of PC World staff. These “Lone Rangers” are going to be masters of their own space within the PC World stores. Their role “bring new customers to the Apple brand and increase the sale of computers to users who currently do not own a Macintosh computer and first time personal computer buyers”.
I do think that this is a good move for Apple. Driving revenue and Brand awareness come hand in hand. Having a higher profile for the Apple brand can be nothing more than a good thing for Apple. These concessions will improve Brand awareness to people that may have not considered buying an Apple product.
So what about my application for the job? Well, I won’t be applying.
My reason for not applying despite Apple being one of the only retailers that I would consider leaving my current employer for? As one of my friends pointed out “would you take a job trying to sell fine wines in Lager World” The answer is no! Apple does have a need to increase their outlet locations but I don’t believe that this is the way to do it. People that shop at PC World, shop there because they want a bargain not quality. Apple is quality and although I see a need to encourage new people to buy the Apple brand and these concessions will help towards that; if you’re the person on the front line being paid a commission on selling a brand that you love, to a customer base that is focused on budget; it just doesn’t work.
In time I do hope that this changes the PC World customer base and open their eyes to the same passion I have for Apple and its products but for now I will continue to sell Apple products the same way I always have. Sharing my passion and excitement for Apple products to encourage my friends and family to make the switch.

Do you think I’m right in not applying?

Would you buy an Apple product from a PC World conssesion?

It’s all about the girls

Just been having a look a my video views for my first video post “vID 001: Hello’s and Mushrooms” and it looks like the girls are digging it… I just don’t understand why!?!
First off I would like to thank everyone that took the time to watch it and even more so to the people that commented on it. One of the things I have learn very quickly when it comes to doing something people might want to read, watch or look at; is feedback. Understanding what people like or dislike will always help me to improve the quality of my online content.
So how did the video do. Well as I write this – SMLP: 102 – Viddler: 16 – You Tube: 28 – so that’s 146 views in 5 days. Not bad for the first time I have published a video post. So what about the girls?
You Tube provide a brake down of who is watching your videos (You Tube Insight); including their sex. I know that not all my views have been from women but all of my views on You Tube are, well; that’s what their telling me.

Now I’m not to sure if this is a good of bad thing (my girl would say bad thing) but for now I’m going to bask in my own self worth that for once in my life the girls are digging it.

Don’t forget to let me know what you think about this post or any others on SMLP:

You can now also post Video comments directly to the site. Just click on the “Add Video Comment” button below.

Follow me: http://www.twitter.com/smlp
See me: http://www.viddler.com/smlp/ – http://www.qik.com/smlp
What I see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscuitsmlp/

viD: Hello’s and Mushrooms

viD: Also available on YouTube

Don’t forget to let me know what you think in the comments below:

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/smlp

Newcastle Photo Walk: http://www.flickr.com/groups/newcastlephotowalk/

Mushroom Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscuitsmlp/sets/72157608211508531/

Friend me up: http://smlp.co.uk/blog/smlp/

Video Blogger

No reason could justify looking at my ugly mug for any length of time and to subject the world to it is nothing less than cruel. That said I’m can a cruel guy at times; so here is my first video post.

The idea behind it is that…. Well the truth of it is that I talk lots and because of that I find it much easier to talk about something I have done than to write about it. Sitting in front of my laptop and type up what I’ve been up to on my latest photo outing, a news stories that is driving me round the bend or trip I have been on is always enjoyable the only problem is finding the motivation to sit down the type it up. Any one that knows me will know that I need no motivation to talk.

I’m still playing around with Viddler at the moment but expect my first video blog very soon.

SMLP: Rebranding

Just been playing around with a few things lately to try and do one simple thing. Brand everything I do on-line.

For a long time I have used a very similar user name for all of the different websites that I use. I’m sure most people do this; your “sign up” email address will normally match the user name you register when you head over to a new social network site. twitter.com/bob digg.com/bob etc etc.

For a long time I used “biscuit” which was great to start off with but lets be honest there is no way I would ever show up in a Google search with a user name like that. So I have been moving everything I do across to “smlp”.

My goal was to make it easier for people to find some of the crap that I put on the interweb. Basically I wanted to get things to the point of when you search from my avatar/name you would easily find some of the things that I do. Now there is no prize for doing this you understand, it was just to see if I could do it.

Turns out.. it was easy. I basically changed (where possible) my user name for sites that I’m registered to match my website address (i.e. smlp.co.uk or smlp) and I’m starting to re-register to all others using “smlp”.

Six of the top ten searches in Google now find my different networks and also just typing “smlp” into the address bar in most browsers take you here. Before I did this it was only one in ten on the search results and finding my site was a nightmare unless I pointed people straight here.

Basically I have set-up my own online brand.

or have I?

Let me know if you don’t think I have even come close to Branding my on-line stuff or if you think I’m just full of shit… I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Also if anyone out there want to help me with a bit for wordpress theme editing…. I want to use a 3 column layout just @smlp me.

The Great North Run

Its was Sunday morning and I had nothing do with my time; fortunately for me several thousand of people did had something to do…. RUN!
It’s the biggest half marathon in the world and its on my doorstep; so with nothing better to do on a Sunday I thought I would head down to the start line and see what photos I could get. I’m not going to lie I didn’t think I would get any photos was worth showing people but once their the atmosphere kept me there.
First it was to see the people heading toward the start line. This picture set the mood for the day for me. Normally people want to do nothing but move out the way when you point a camera at them, however the friendly atmosphere everywhere seem to put have put people at ease. There were a lot of faces with a real look of panic and worry but 95% of the people I seen on the way to the starting line were laughing and smiling like they were on their way to see an old friend.

Next to see people walking down to the start before to gun fired. Other than there being the largest collection of men pissing in bushes I have ever seen, it was nothing more than a mass of people all doing there last minute preparation before starting the race. I did find Banana Man with a worried look on his face and I couldn’t help but think it was worry about how he would hold up wearing the outfit he had on.

After not being able to take any photos for a but due to being bang in the middle of a sales at Primark and fear of people pissing on my bike I had to move on. Off the new Northumbria University footbridge; almost as soon as I got there the celebrity bus of death headed passed on its way, directly to the finish line.

I then got a shot of the first wheelchair athlete whizzing passed at some serious speeds.
I decided to head to the Tyne Bridge to see the masses. The atmosphere on the bridge was electric. Everybody cheering on the determination of each and every runner and it was contagious. Every time a runner waved of shouted the spectators went crazy. It wasn’t till I seen a man in a very small thong run passed followed by a group of women running directly behind he that I started to think about heading home.

No sooner had I start putting away my camera to head home; the roar the engines hit the bridge like an explosion. They were so quick that I almost missed the shot. On the second fly by however I was lined up and ready to shoot. The feeling for the people running across the bridge as the Red Arrows flew overhead must have been a great adrenalin rush.

If any of you took part in the race I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

You can also check out my photos on Flickr HERE.

Do you think I’m some kind of comic?

I’ve been playing around with an idea of posting more things about my everyday life to my Blog recently. Then I remembered that my life is not all that interesting so a gave up for fear of making my life even less interesting. Andy Cap isn’t the most interesting person in the world ether but for years people have been reading his comic strip. So with that in mind I thought I would give my own comic strip a go.
Basically the idea is to do a comic strip about some of the things I see, hear and get involved in that make me smile or laugh. There is one major problem with me doing this. That would be my inability to draw a straight line; or for that matter a wavy one. The fact that I can’t draw however; shouldn’t put me off.
So hear it goes; my first ever comic strip with its educational story line and its high quality drawings. Hope you like it and please let me know what you think in the comments below – smlp

(Click on the image to see full size)

New Toy.

Today we my first outing on my new bike… I’m sure none of you actually care about this fact however I was quite excited about this so I’m going to tell you about it anyway.

I’m very must a new starter when it comes of Mounting biking; about three months ago I bought a bike from my flat mate for next to nothing. It was one of them cheap £79.99 things that are always on offer at Harfords. I had been using it to get to work and back but it became apparent that it was not going to last me long the way I had been riding it. When I found out my company did a Cycle the Work scheme it was time to get myself something that won’t fall apart on me when I was riding up a hill.

I got myself a Carrera Kraken; with Suntour XCR 120mm travel fork with magnesium lowers, 30mm stanchions, Adjustable pre-load, rebound damping and remote lockout, 27 speed, SRAM X5 front mech, X5 triggers, and X5 rear mech, Tektro Auriga hydraulic disc brakes, wavy rotors, 180mm front, 160mm rear AND Truvativ Isoflow chainset with Powerspline bottom bracket. Sounds good? Just don’t ask me what the hell it all means because I just don’t know. Basically I got me a voucher for £700 popped into Halfords picked what seems like a good bike and got loads of acessiores; Panya rank and bag, clothing etc etc. So today was here maden voyage from Gateshead to Newburn and back. Camera on my back…

First trip out so I thought I would get a nice picture of my new toy.

Anyone out there into there monuntian biking got any advise for a new starter I would be more that happy to hear it.

NCL Photo Walk – The Calder Leadworks.

It was the day after the worst flooding in Morpeth since 1963, heavy rain falling all across the north east, massive train delay in and out of Newcastle and I didn’t bother to bring any decent water proof clothing!

The fourth Newcastle Photo Walk went ahead yesterday and it was a wonder off to wasteland next to Newcastle Metro Arena to find a derelict building. I found out about the building from Flickr user Arron Cupid. The waste land the building sits on was the site of Calder Industrial Materials, a lead manufacturer. The site shut down in 2002 and since I don’t remember it even being their I thought I would have a quick look and see what I could find out about it. Continue reading NCL Photo Walk – The Calder Leadworks.