http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2031514/Danny-Cohen-says-BBC1-cater-older-viewers-The-Daleks-doing-darling.html

I just don’t know where to begin on this one, I did write an angry comment in reply but surprise surprise that didn’t appear :’) 

Anyways, so it’s been a very VERY long time since I saw a paragraph that angered me as much as this one right here 

“Fair enough. But what on earth has sex got to do with a science fiction show? Why does the lead character have to be a ‘pansexual’? They’ll be telling us next that the Daleks all wore bondage gear under their tinfoil armour. But this is what you get when you hire a proselytising homosexual like Russell T. Davies to write mainstream drama. Gifted writer he may be, but he comes with an agenda”

Sorry, are we in the 80s, did I miss the memo about gay people not being allowed to write television programmes? In what way is there an agenda? I’m sorry right, but there’s like what one gay sex scene on mainstream tv a year but there’s a straight sex scene almost every day and nobody bats an eyelid. I imagine he wouldn’t give a shit if they showed straight sex on Eastenders, but show gay sex on a POST WATERSHED show and all hell breaks loose? I mean if you’re offended turn over, it’s not like you can say it’s happening all the time! 

As for the whole worry about metric and imperial measurements, I imagine he doesn’t really give that much of a shit. Let’s be honest the mail don’t care about the exact temperature of the country; if it’s really hot they can write about how “Britain’s immigration problem is the cause of this ridiculously hot summer” and if it’s too cold they can write “BRITAIN COLD IN WINTER, THE END IS NIGH”, that’s what they do best eh. If you’re that fussed about the fucking temperature whip your iphone out and have a look, they do both metric and imperial measurements right, he probably gets off on that fact. 

Basically the long and short of it is that LittleJohn I think if ever there was a good use for the word cunt, this situation is it. You are a horrible, scared, bigoted little man and how you are still allowed to write this shit is beyond me! 

I don’t really use Tumblr because I got sick of them going down for maintenance all the time. Anyways, next week is Leeds Fest so I think it’s the right time for the obligatory “Who I want to see” blog :D From the looks of it there’ll be a fair few clashes but that’s never been an issue I’ll just see both half and half :) 

Friday - the “I’m not so fussed” day

Muse - main obv
Interpol - main 
Enter Shikari - main 
DFA 1979 - NME
Dananananaykroyd - NME
Flogging Molly - Lock Up 
Pete Doherty - FR
Rob Rouse - alt stage  
Tom Deacon - alt stage
Tom Wrigglesworth - alt stage 

Saturday - the “good for indie bands but it’s still not sunday” day

MCR - main 
New Found Glory - main
Noah and The Whale - NME
Oasis lite - NME
The Vaccines - NME 
White Lies - NME
Miles Kane - NME
Simian Mobile Disco - Dance Tent
DIOYY? - Dance Tent
D/R/U/G/S - Dance Tent
Tom Vek - FR Stage
The Horrors - FR Stage
General Fiasco - BBC Introducing

Sunday - The “I don’t give a shit who i see today OMFG JARVIS TONIGHT” day 

PULPPPPPPPPP - main stage 
The Strokes - main stage
Madness - main stage
Two Door Cinema Club - main stage
Funeral Party - NME stage
Capdown - Lock Up
Mark Watson - Alt Stage
Transgressive records - Alt Stage  

and that’s it, definitely the hardest decision I’ve had to make at a leeds fest, and this is my sixth so for those saying it’s a shit line up you’re wrong :p 

Had some epic ideas for photos tonight, and for once have people to do them with! 

Doing a promo shoot with my friend josh leighton laing who’s a solo artist which will include garden gnomes and ribbons amongst over things :) 

An idea including an awful lot of barbie dolls and maybe some vinyls. 

Basically been looking a lot at storm thorgesons work lately and been inspired, the photos will look nothing like his stuff but i’d love to do some weird and wonderful dreamy photos so stay tuned! 

It’s 3.30am I’ve just finished editing some photos from the other day at my friends house. They asked me to do them some shots for their bfs, frankly the photos are terrible. Yes, the lighting was rubbish, yes we had a tiny space to work in and had to fight not to get clutter in the photo but the point is I shouldn’t be making excuses, if i want to be a proper photographer I need to learn ways to get over any obstacle in order to get the photos i need. Basically I’m really fucked off at myself, I know it’s not completely my fault we should have thought it through and if i could afford lighting equipment it’d have been better but I haven’t and I should be able to work with what I DO have. I’m so embarrassed by them, I mean I’ll be honest I’ve seen people do worse but at the same time I’m the one who decides what is good enough for me, and they are far far below my own standards. Something must be done! 

The way i’m getting around this is that tomorrow I will go through all my photos on flickr and give a critique on every one of them. 

• What I like
• What I don’t like/How to improve 
• Overall view of the photo 

I think if I do this it’ll give me a view of how I could go about making myself a better photographer! I’m also gonna try and shoot on film more in the new year, so that I can see what my photos look like when I don’t edit them and see how I can improve. It’s all very well people I know saying “oh thats good” but at the end of the day I can see if something isn’t technically perfect and so can other photographers and that grates on me. 

I WILL NOT STOP TIL MY PHOTOS ARE PERFECT! and if that doesn’t happen til I’m 70 then so be it! 

charly xx 

Todays favourite photo :) Not sure how happy I am with what I’ve got as usual I thought I’d done well and now I’m not so impressed but then when I think I’ve done shite I’m happy with what I get hmm. Anyways had a really fab day with Laura and Nikki (who did styling) bless her sitting around in the freezing cold in pratically nothing. Then to top it off 3 girls have asked me to do a “sexy calendar” for them and their boyfriends. Should be umm interesting haha 

In Other News 

• Other photos will soon be up on Flickr 
• I almost cried at corrie on several occasions tonight 
• ey them riots are bad aren’t they eh 

that is all 

charly xx 

As you well know, it’s all very stressful trying to get this photography off the ground. Yet to earn a penny out of it BUT my portfolio is looking fab (well when i get photos printed and make a physical portfolio it will be anyways) Have another shoot lined up with the scenester for a band called 8-bit ninjas who won our monthly competition :) Here’s some stuff i’m gonna be working on over the next few weeks: 

• In January I’m making it my sole aim to photograph as many gigs as I can!
• Tonight we’ll be adding some finishing touches to the website 
• My friends are gonna do some photos for me to put on my website (because I’ve got promo/band/travel but lacking a bit on the fashion/beauty section) 
• Gonna send some work off to a few agencies in hope of one of them liking my work. I know they’ll take half my earnings but it’s all publicity innit. One of them got back to me a few months back but when i told them i was from leeds just never sorted anything out haha so there’s a glimmer of hope right there. 

That’s my lot really. Going through one of the not so busy periods i go through right now, but as usual in a few weeks it’ll all come at once ;) 

charly xx

God knows I spend every single day looking at photos going “OMG they charged someone money for that!” and “FFS CROP YOUR PHOTOS WOULD IT KILL YOU?!” etc. But today I realised that no matter how harsh I sound when I do that I will never be as harsh on them as I am on myself. Looking through my flickr right now, every photo “thats a bit dark” “why didn’t I shoot from that angle” even the Gary C Williams stuff I did last week just looks a bit…meh. 

As such I estimate that I will be approximately 50 years old before I can take a photo I am COMPLETELY pleased with. But I don’t think it’s such a terrible thing, I wish more people did it I guess. 

On a different note I have set myself new targets re: my work :) 

• Photograph more than one festival in 2011 
• Take a gig photo that I’m truly proud of, pretty important this one because I’ve only been doing gig photography since the beginning of this year and find it particularly hard when I shoot Indie bands who don’t move around much :/ 
• Attempt to get a photo published on a site/in a magazine that isn’t based in Leeds 

So yeah, some targets to be aiming for in the next year or so….I’ll report back on them :) 

Best photo from today! Did a photoshoot with a leeds musician, Gary C Williams lovely chap we went to Keighley aiming to get photos from the steam train only to find the ONLY day it doesn’t run is bloody wednesday. Got a few photos in the station, then made our way to east riddlesden hall…..CLOSED! So i guess it’s been one of those days. As it happens he says he loves the photos we did get so it’s not all bad news. 

In Other News

Went to see Harry Potter tonight, good film shame i never have any idea whats happening having not read the books since I met JK Rowling once and decided to boycott her work haha 

Just developed a MAJOR crush on the young stephen fry, he was quite the fitty, if only i could turn him ;) 

charly xx

So, I was asked to shoot another Twisted Wheel gig, this time in Sheffield. Pretty good night tbh, bit bizarre being backstage and onstage etc feel like I outstayed my welcome a bit but that sofa was too comfy to leave in favour of standing on a sticky, wet floor full of people haha. 

This week, I have a photoshoot for the scenester, we’re going for a “mod/retro” feel, so the whole shoot is taking place firstly at Keighley station and then on the steam train between there and Haworth. I have a good feeling about it! Plan is lots of black and white high contrast stuff, all tres atmospheric, if you can get ‘atmospheric’ on what will no doubt be another cold, wet, windy november day in west yorkshire ;) 

In Other News

It’s sale launch at the day job. Great stuff. As if I needed another reason to be successful with the photography haha

It’s been a while since I last blogged, so i thought i better justify it with an explanation. In the past week I have: 

• Helped the boyfriend designing my website (it’ll be done and dusted before the week is out) 
• Taken some very pretty photos of Bridlington (Brid and ‘pretty’ shouldn’t really be used in the same sentence tbh) 
• Shot a twisted wheel gig and been invited to take photos of them backstage AND their gig in sheffield on friday 
• Attempted to decide on what i’m gonna charge for my photos ;) 

Thats the beef, pretty exciting week really i’ll keep you posted!