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.