My Background

• I’ve been taking photographs for the best part of 25 years, firstly on film and then I moved to Digital SLRs in Feb 2004.
• I had my first image published when I was 7.
• I started taking a photo every day on 1st January 2008 and am still going – through 2009 and into 2010.

Qualifications

• No formal traininging, most of what I’ve learned has been self-taught.
• I gained my LRPS in 1995.
• I got my ARPS in 1999.
• I’ve applied for an FRPS a couple of times, but no luck yet!

Amateur Photography in the UK

• UK governing body for clubs in the UK is the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB).
• My local area is the East Anglian Federation of Photographic Societies (EAF).
• The PAGB Handbook publishes lists of approved Speakers and Judges for local clubs to consult when they are looking to arrange their programmes. There are three levels of Judge:
  1. ‘C’ Panel
     Used for general single-club competitions.
     I was appointed to the ‘C’ Panel in January 2000.
  2. ‘B’ Panel
     Used for local inter-club competitions, print battles etc.
     I was promoted to the ‘B’ Panel in January 2002.
  3. ‘A’ Panel
     Used for Federation-wide or inter-club events and competitions.
• The EAF (and some other federations) run annual Judges’ Workshops each October, where people who would like to become a judge can gain some training and experience, There are three levels of workshop:
  1. New Judges’ Workshop
     For those seeking to gain experience of judging with a view to joining the EAF ‘C’ Panel. Also suitable for photographers who have attended previous New Judges’ Workshop but have not yet joined the ‘C’ Panel.
  2. Intermediate Workshop
     For current ‘C’ Panel judges. This will focus on the development of candidates’ judgine skills with the prospect of promotion to the ‘B’ Panel. Current ‘B’ Panel judges may like to come along for a ‘refresher’.
  3. Advanced Seminar
     Bringing together both ‘A’ Panel Judges and those seeking promotion from the ‘B’ Panel. This workshop will provide an opportunity to share knowledge and experience, and discuss the judging of work of the highest standards. The course will include practice in the use of an electronic scoring system, particularly relating to the selection of exhibitions.

Skills
There are a few skills which are needed to be a successful photographic judge. Some can be taught, others have to come naturally!

• Improvisation
  You most often do not get to see the pictures before the evening when you judge. A 10-minute preview for prints or run-through of projected images is all you are likely to get to make an assessment of the overall standard of the competition. As each image is then shown individually, you will have to come up with something unique to say about each, on the spot.
• Fairness
  Even if you don’t like a picture, you must give it a fair assessment and critique, and say why you weren’t keen on it, and how it could be improved upon.
• Diplomacy
  Nobody wants to hear a damning criticismn of their work, especially if they are a new member who might have entered the competition for the first time. Be diplomatic, and try to use non-confrontational language.
• Encouragement
  Try to find good points, even if a picture isn’t up to scratch. The “Kiss-Slap-Kiss” technique is often useful – tell them something good, give them constructive criticism, then finish on another plus point.
• Entertainment
  Try to keep comments light, add a touch of humour at times. The club members will be sitting listening to you for the best part of 2 hours (often in the dark), so a monotone delivery is going to send them to sleep!
• Timing
  100% important this one – if you run over time, everyone will get bored and some clubs might be charged if they don’t clear the hall by a certain time. This is one of the hardest things new judges find to get right, but it takes practice. If you’re unsure, ask the Competition Secretary to give you an indication of how far through a class you might be, and how long you have left before the break/end of evening.
• Bad Habits
  Try to avoid bad habits when judging – waving your arms about, pacing up and down, and (worst of all), rattling change in your pockets – it drives people nuts.

Technical Points
As a judge, you will be expected to comment on most of the following points about each image:

• Exposure – has an appropriate exposure been used for the subject matter – look at burnout on highlights and blocking of shadows.
• Focus/Depth of Field – where is the main point of focus, is the DoF sufficient for the subject?
• Composition – does the composition make the best use of the scene, can anything be cropped from the edges (intrusions around the frame) or should a wider viewpoint have been used (things cut off the edge of frame).
• Lighting – how does the lighting affect the mood of the image – harsh shadows, soft tones, texture, etc. Sometimes it might be a great composition with the wrong flat lighting – this isn’t going to help the overall effect.
• Print Quality – if judging a print competition, you should also mention the print quality of the image – is there any banding, colour casts etc.
• Post Production – if any obvious post-production has been done on the image, is it appropriate for the subject? It helps to know a little about image maninpulation techniques yourself, such as the Orton Effect, HDR, Sepia Toning etc.

Technique
The way you make your comments is just as important as what you say:

• Eye Contact
  Talk to the Audience! Don’t just turn your back on them to examine a print carefully, and talk to the easel.
• Clear Enunciantion
  Don’t gabble, take a breath at the end of each sentence and slow down. What seems like an age-long pause to you, will probably be unnoticable to them. Try to project your voice to the back of the room, whilst not actually shouting.
• Language
  Try to use a wide variety of adjectives and avoid the repetitive use of words such as nice and lovely. Nobody wants to play Vocabulary Bingo at the back of the hall. Try not to “erm” during a pause, it gets really annoying after a while.
• Euphamisms
  They can be useful at times, phrases such as “The light didn’t do you any favours” can really mean “it’s a terrible picture, I would not have bothered to take it under those conditions” ! But choose your words wisely.
• Don’t Be Descriptive
  Any fool can stand up and describe what’s in front of them. “There’s a tree and a lake with a boat on it”. That tells the audience nothing. What they need to know is your response to the image, and how it makes you feel. Ultimately, photography is a subjective medium, and if you don’t explain your feelings, someone might well be disappointed with the mark you decide to give to their picture.

Good Signs
If you get asked back for repeat engagements, and receive glowing Thankyou letters in the post after your visit, then you know you are doing something right. I’ve had many of both, and have thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 years as a judge. If you would like to hear me judging sometime, why not come along to one of my next engagements and say hello.

So if this has whetted your apetite to become a photographic judge, and you live in the East Anglian region, you can get in touch with the EAF Judges’ Officer, Sue Dobson, and enquire about the next workshop dates for 2010. Places sell out quickly, so don’t leave it too late! Unfortunately, I can’t link directly to that information on the EAF website as it’s built around frames. Argh!

[Picture Credits - thanks to Steve Reid and Peter Crane for their images of me presenting trophies]

My main camera, a Canon EOS 30D is approaching 3 years old now, and my Ixus 850IS compact is even longer in the tooth, having been bought in Feb 2007. I can hear you thinking: “Caz is due for a new bit of gear”.

One of the things that struck me when doing the 2009 Photo A Day review was the fact that I had not used the Ixus once during the 12 months. I’d not even taken it out of it’s bag. I had instead lugged the 30D around with my larger lenses, or at least the 50mm f/1.8 prime. That’s quite a large lump to carry about each day. But I did it probably because, although the Ixus takes decent enough snaps, if that’s all that I had with me during 2008, I was often disappointed in the technical quality if I found a really good pictorial composition.

I wasn’t consciously looking for a new camera, but just before Christmas, a good friend mentioned she was getting a Panasonic Lumix GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 “pancake” lens from Santa. That’s a new format called Micro 4/3rds – a kind of half-way house between the sensors on pro-sumer DSLRs and the tiny postage stamp chips in most compacts. And it has the advantage of interchangeable lenses, although there is no optical viewfinder.

So I did some research and was hugely impressed with what I found in the reviews. It’s a cracking little camera and although quite heavy for its size (I like that aspect, actually) it fells like a properly-built camera of old, not one of the plastic throwaways which are so common now. And the fast f/1.7 prime lens is roughly equivalent to a 40mm lens on 35mm format, so quite versatile all in all.

I was lucky enough to get one of these beauties for my birthday on 1st January, and have been using it more or less every day since. I’ve now wracked up over 1000 exposures, so I guess I have an initial idea of its capabilities and drawbacks, although I don’t feel I’ve more than scratched the surface as yet. You know it must be impressive as it’s the first non-Canon camera I’ve owned since 1987!

The main control dial on top is easy to access, as are shooting modes (single, continuous, self-timer etc). The shutter button is nicely placed on the top plate, next to a small video record button. Yes, it does video too, although I’ve never tried it (and am not very likely to). I was even able to use the controls wearing thick gloves, when I was out and about walking in the recent snow.

There is a huge LCD screen on the rear, which gives you good clear pictures. In the absence of an optical viewfinder, that’s essential, and I haven’t found any problems as yet, even in quite bright conditions.

The thumbwheel at top right also has a push function, which swaps you between various command modes.

As a long-time Canon user, I was a bit worried that I might not be able to find my way around, particularly in the menu system, but so far I have had to consult the rather thick accompanying manual on surprisingly few occasions!

I have been mainly using the camera in Aperture Priority, as if left in full-auto, the settings seem to default to opening up the lens as wide as it will go – and f/1.7 isn’t always what you want, to achieve a big enough Depth of Field.

The reviews do say the camera gets a little noisy if you use it at ISO’s above 800 – so far I have stuck with 400 or below and have had quite acceptable results. It also does RAW, and the results from that are allegedly even better.  But I’ve not had time to experiment with that as yet.

Pro’s

• Smaller and more lightweight than comparable-spec DSLRs
• Full control over Shutter, Aperture, ISO, Exposure & Flash compensation
• Comprehensive range of lenses from Panasonic, Leica and Olympus
• Excellent technical quality for a camera of its size
• Versatile shooting modes for less experienced users
• Built-in on-camera flash
• Optional external viewfinder
• Aperture and Shutter-speed preview on rear LCD screen
• Live view on LCD

Con’s

• Can be a little slow to focus at close range with the 20mm pancake lens – haven’t tried others
• Fixed lens isn’t long enough for some landscape or work where subject is at a distance
  (not a fault of the camera though)
• No optical viewfinder
• Quite expensive

So there you are, a long ramble and a few first impressions. I will try and write some more in about six months when I’ve had time to really get to grips with what it can do. In the meantime, I will not be far from my reach when I’m out and about for general photography, although I will still take the Eos 30D when going on specific photoshoots.

You can see a 25-page preview of the book online, it is a large-format hardback with 80 pages and paper dust jacket. More details on how to purchase are on the Blurb website.

Here are a few pages for you to have a look at:

You don’t need expensive lighting to achieve dramatic effects, particularly if you are doing small tabletop work. I was using just a single halogen desk lamp, angled to different positions for the following shots. It just shows what you can do with a bit of movement of the light source – and helps if you have an appealing shape formed by the shadows.

[Short shadow from left - the light is quite high up and close to the object]

[Short Shadow Angled - a similar setup with the chair at 45° to the light source]

[Longer Shadow from left - turning the chair again but moving the light further down produces a longer shadow]

[Low Light bottom left - this gave much more emphasis on the edge of the seat and the complete shadow is out of frame]

[Long shadow from right and left]

This time the light was much more oblique from the bottom right and left, throwing a long shadow onto the background.

In the end, I liked this pink and green version for Day #743.

Why not limit yourself to a single light and see how creative you can be with it?

[Crayons all sharp - and again, a rather conservative composition]

[On the Diagonal - a bit better, but not really saying much]

[Sharp at the Back - DoF is limited here]

I was beginning to get the feel of a shallower depth ofield. But focus is then really important. For me, I don’t really like things out of focus at the front of the frame, so I wasn’t happy with this one. Shifting the focus forward:

[Sharp at the Front - still limited DoF]

That was better, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced. Some more moving around the subject brought the one I was happy with for Day #742.

Why not try and limit the depth of field in your pictures and experiment to see how this affects them?

We are all given thousands of choices every day, and even with photography there are so many ways to take a particular scene or image that sometimes it’s hard to decide what is best.

For the first topic, I suggest limiting yourself to one or two picture elements and try to take as may different set-ups and compositions as you can. See how each changes the mood or feeling of the picture.

Initally, I started off with rather too many elements:

There’s too much stuff, and the central composition was rather boring. So I cut it down.

Here’s what I did with just two pieces of paper and a couple of feathers:

[Feathers to the Left - they were different sizes, so I knew I wanted to accentuate the asymmetry]

[Feathers to the Right - a different balance with them this way round]

Two vertical format versions, each with its own merit. I quite like the diagonal which is now creeping in – it give the shot a bit more dynamism.

[Diagonal and slanted backwards - this limits depth of field whilst still retaining the diagonal]

In the end, I decided to go with this composition for Day #741. It’s just my personal preference, but it was worth experimenting to see which I liked best.

Why not have a go at limiting yourself too?

So, I’ll move straight on to…

A few Statistics

For those of you that like numbers, here are some stats:

Pictures made at home: 89/365 = 24.4%
Pictures made within 5 miles of home: 88/365 = 24.1%
Pictures made further away: 188/365 = 51.5%

Pictures made with Ixus 850 IS Compact: 0/365 = 0%
Pictures made with DSLR (Canon EOS 30D): 365/365 = 100%

As you will see, I haven’t used my Ixus compact once this year. Not just for 365 pictures, but at all. I don’t know why, but I’ve just been in the habit of taking my 30D everywhere with me. I think there were a few occasions last year when I really liked the composition of something taken with the Ixus but it was let down by the technical quality, so perhaps subconsciously I was thinking I’d rather lug a bigger camera around and get better quality images.

And compared to last year, I’ve also “got out more” – a greater number of pictures were taken further away than 5 miles and fewer at home – or perhaps that’s just a sign that I’m running out of things to photograph around the house!

Interestingly, between Monday 13th April (Day #469)and Friday 22nd May (Day #508), I didn’t make a single image at home. That’s 40 days straight, the longest period I’ve been without resorting to something close to hand.

And in case you care, here are my favourite and least favourite shots from each month:

* Pic of the Year: Day #501 – Tyneside Dusk

** Dud of the Year: Day #690 – Mono Textures

Final Thoughts

Has 2009 been harder than 2008? I’m not sure that’s true – although I seem to have been more pleased overall with the general standard (perhaps I took a few weeks to get “warmed up” in 2008?) – but I feel the duds this year were worse – so perhaps bigger peaks and troughs throughout the year would be the best way to describe it.

Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve decided to keep going during 2010. It’s addictive

Firstly, I went with the Great Notley Photography Club on their outing to Ely on 6th December, Day #706. The weather was terrible at home first thing, but I made the effort to get out anyway – and the four of us who did turn up were rewarded with some lovely winter light around the town and along the banks of the Great Ouse [right].

[Life, Jim - a lifebelt cover by the river, covered in lichen]

The thing for which Ely is most famous is the Cathedral, known as the Ship Of The Fens. Never having visited the city before, I was a little unprepared for the size of the building – which can be seen for miles around as you approach.

After a lovely walk by the river and a very pleasant lunch in a pub overlooking the water, our group returned to the Cathedral to take some more interior shots. High Altar View [left] was my favourite of the shots I took inside.

You can see all the images I took in Ely on Flickr.

Talking of Flickr, after missing the last couple due to other commitments, I have enjoyed two photowalks with the Chelmsford Flickr crowd. Three of us went out in the snow on 20th December and had a long hike through Central Park and along the canal to Barnes Mill Lock, then across Baddow Meads. We did punctuate it with a warming half hour in a local coffee shop at lunchtime!

[Icicle Fans Rodney and Bev taking shots of the icicles under the bridge on Baddow Meads]

See the rest of the walk’s pictures on Flickr.

We all needed another constitutional on 28th December to blow off the cobwebs and walk off some of the excesses of Christmas. This time, four of us went on a walk around Little Waltham Nature Reserve. I’ve visited before, exactly a year ago (Day #363) when I went on a geocaching trip with Alistair.

This time, although the walk and banter was fun, I didn’t feel ultra-inspired by the surroundings – much of which were very muddy. But I did like this image below, which was a strong contender for Day #728:

[Barbed Intent - a little detail found in Little Waltham Nature Reserve]

You can see the others I took on Flickr.

Well, that’s it for 2009! You can expect a full roundup of the year very soon. Keep watching…

First, there was a severe frost on 15th December, and I had some time to walk in the Noak Hill Nature Reserve near Basildon. Here are some images which didn’t quite make it for Day #715:

[Frosted Twist - I loved the strand of creeper winding around this thorny branch]

[Frosted Rose Hip - this was in a shady corner and did not see any sun all day]

[Oak On A Bench - another lovely leaf]

Then I was pretty happy when we had a 5″ snowfall at home on 18th December. The first thing I did was run around Galleywood Common and take a load of shots, then hop in the car and tentativey drive to Ulting to visit the lovely little church by the canal there.

Over the next few days I also explored the local parks and other places. Here is a selection of some of the images which didn’t make the cut for Day #718, #719 and #720:

[A Light Flurry on Galleywood Common]

[Divine Light, Ulting Church - a magical location at any time of the year]

[Tracking in Chelmer Park]

[Dingle Dangle - more ice on the railings in Chelmer Park]

[A Go On The Swings - Central Park, Chelmsford]

[Icy Teasel - some delicate snow on the banks of the canal]

I know it can be an inconvenience, but I’m looking forward to the next lot of snow soon – it’s great for pictures with a difference and if you are wrapped up warm, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get some cracking images and have fun.

]]> http://www.cazphoto.co.uk/blog/2009/12/22/december-freeze/feed/ 0 http://www.cazphoto.co.uk/blog/2009/12/03/november-09-review/ http://www.cazphoto.co.uk/blog/2009/12/03/november-09-review/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:22:06 +0000 admin http://www.cazphoto.co.uk/blog/?p=472 Looking back over November, I only had one really big photographic day out. That was to take some images for a client in Thorndon Country Park, a lady who walks dogs. I had to try and keep ahead of 4 lively hounds, run up and down hills and still get some decent pictures! All a bit of a challenge, but I also had a bit of time before the dogs arrrived to have a wander around the park and take some Autumnal shots of the foliage.

Copper & Grey was one such image [above] which very nearly made it on Day #674.

For most of the rest of the month, I only posted one image per day. And although this wasn’t much better than September, I somehow felt happier with the overall standard during November.

Click the image to see the larger version to save. Best viewed at 1280 x 800px.

I also continued with my 40@40 project, meeting up with friends and spending time with them – some of whom I’d not seen for nearly 3 years. It’s far too easy to let time slip by sometimes.

One weekend, I spent a most enjoyable day with photographer friend Paulo on a photowalk in London. We started off in the City, walked to the river and took a boat trip down the Thames. There was some wonderful light, and this Shadow Play Pavement [left] nearly pipped it for Day #643.

A few days later, it was the turn of photographic friend Antonia to visit for some photography, and we spent a lovely afternoon pottering around the ancient log Church at Greensted. There were many colourful image to be had, and Reflected Colour [right] was very nearly my favourite for Day #649.

Mid-month, I spent a great weekend in Blackpool for a break and BarCamp Blackpool. Lots of fun, and the sun shone too (at least, for some of the time). When it was fine, we got some great Autumn light with long shadows and impressive sunsets. After Sundown nearly made it for Day #655, if I hadn’t been seduced by the lure of the Illuminations!

There was more BarCamp mayhem a week later in London, with geeks turning up from all over Europe to join in the fun. Poor old Alistair seemed to be plagued by Ducks all weekend (so naturally that had to be the subject of Day #663’s image). But I was also rather pleased with Duck Love [below]:

Some people are quite skeptical about the merits of Essex, and I wanted to show that it’s not all like Dagenham – there are some beautiful spots to be found if you know where to look. The majority of the images have been taken within about 5 miles of Chelmsford, but there are also pictures from all corners of the county.

Here are a few example pages from the Spring section (click the images to see a bigger version):

A trip to Brighton early in the month gave me a few reasonable images, and this one taken on the right showed what a Windy Beach it was! It nearly made it for Day #614.

For most of the rest of the month, I took very few photos each day, perhaps only one half-decent one making the cut. I think it’s probably my longest patch of doldrums during the whole project so far.

But by the end of the month, things picked up a little and I enjoyed a weekend away in Somerset, camping (yeah, I must be mad!). This fine cockerel [left] was sharing the campsite, and was rather keen for a can of coke…

I went on several nature walks and managed to catch some excellent wildlife images – not something which is usually my strong point, so I was quite pleased. This lovely male Ruddy Darter [right] nearly made it on Day #583.

I also visited the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and climbed up The Monument one Saturday, which gave a great view over London, plus providing some interesting views of the building itself.

On Day #598, I enjoyed another long photowalk along the South Bank with a friend, and it was therefore difficult to choose which picture would be the best to represent the day. Polka Dot Trees [above] almost made top of the pile. Here are the rest.

Click the image to see the larger version to save. Best viewed at 1280 x 800px.

The sun was certainly out in force in Barcelona, where I was visiting friends at the beginning of the month.

This image [left] was taken around noon on Day #549. It was a close-run contender for the best image, but instead I went with the typically-Spanish Paella which we enjoyed for lunch.

There were several days during the month when I didn’t take many pictures. I enjoyed some geocaching trips but the scenery wasn’t always very picturesque.

The spiney picture [right] was a contender for Day #561 when Alistair & I went on a massive caching mission around Edney Common. I liked the lines and abstract quality of it.

I went with a bunch of Geek friends to visit Bletchley Park one Saturday. There was loads of old computer gear in the Museum of Computing – this rather colourful panel on an analogue computer took my fancy. It would have been pic of the day on Day #565 but that honour had to go to the mechanics of the Turing Bombe.

I was out geocaching again on Day #571, with the lovely Foxton, and of course he had to be the star of the day.

However, I did rather like this busy bee [above] which we found during our walk.

I had to take an evening trip up to London on Day #575 and passed St Thomas’ Hospital near London Bridge Station. This was a rather striking view of one of the buildings:

In the end, I went withe the colourful shot, but this b&w image was rather interesting.

Nevertheless, I managed a lovely walk around Herongate and Thorndon Park on Day #530. If I had not spotted the wonderful butterfly in the churchyard at Thorndon which I used, I think I would have made this shot of flax and oilseed rape my picture for the day.

I loved the contrasting yellow against pale blue of the field [right].

Opportunities for picture-making were left a little bit late on Day #534 when the first shot I took was at nearly 10pm! This one in the pub [left] was a close contender for the best, but in the end I liked the shadows under the gate more. I’ve certainly learned not to panic if I haven’t taken a shot until late in the day. Something always seems to present itself just in time!

The next day I had to go and photograph some rooves for a website (ooh, the glamour of my life!). I nipped out first thing for a short walk and was going to use the image of backlit grasses [below] when I first saw it. But then, once I saw the dramatic lighting on the roof, I couldn’t resist using that for Day #535.

I made two very different trips in June. The first was a long weekend in Sheffield for an unconference. It was good to see some old friends and meet new ones. A couple of days were spent largely indoors, but Alistair and I managed a bit of geocaching on the Monday before each returning home. It was good to get out and about in the Peak District again – something which I haven’t done for ages.

One urban image which caught my eye was the silhouette of this car park [above] which I noticed on the way from the hotel to the unconference venue. I thought it looked very Moorish.

Then, right at the end of the month, I went to visit friends in Barcelona for a few days. I went previously in 2006 and did a lot of the regular tourist sights. In fact, on my return, I wrote my very first post in this blog! But this time, apart from the fact it was very hot and we didn’t feel like doing a lot during the day, I was able to see some of the more unusual and out of the way bits of Barcelona.

On the first evening I was there, I went with my friends to an open-air film on top of the hill at Montjuïc. We had a wonderful view of the sunset [above], and this silhouette of the church very nearly made it on Day #546.

Some of you may know that one of my pet hates is Portraiture. I don’t know why, but I really don’t enjoy it, and the images I produce when I do try are fairly awful. Add to this the self-portrait and we are into a whole new order of magnitude of underachievement!

So, this week I took the bull by the horns. It’s because another group I’m in on Flickr, 52Themes2009, are having a Portrait theme this week. I’d been dreading it since I saw the list.

I set up a tripod in the bedroom and took down a mirror, so that I had a nice blue background and plenty of room to dash between the camera and my posing spot.

The first issue was to photograph a frame against the wall, not caring what was in it. Then I set about pulling faces in front of the camera through a piece of matte board – so that I could appear to be breaking out of the frame.

It took nearly 50 shots with me to-ing and fro-ing between the camera and my spot, checking pose and positioning of each, before I was half satisfied with the results.

Once I got things onto the computer, I chose a selection of faces and cropped them to the right size to fit in the frame I’d already taken. I chose a suitably horror-struck face for Day #532 and then I posted a small selection to Flickr, where one of my friends suggested putting together a montage of all the moods. So here it is, The Rogues Gallery. You can click the image to see it in all its glorious detail!

Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean I shall be posting Self Portraits left, right and centre anytime soon, but it has forced me out of my comfort zone for a bit, and that’s never a bad thing.

The interview itself will appear in the August issue, but the current magazine (#33/July ‘09) has a quick tease for the interview and a picture of yours truly. Here’s a little preview for you. I’m hiding at the bottom right corner!

The August issue (#34) will be available at all good newsagents from 2nd July. Keep your eyes peeled!