Live life for the moment because everything else is uncertain

Louis Tomlinson

A lot can happen in a moment – it can change everything.  I keep finding myself thinking back to the beginning of 2020. Thinking of January, then February and then of March – thoughts then turn to now, to June, to September, to December, to this time next year.  What will happen?  What will our new normal look like? If I think too much, it scares the shizzle out of me – But, sometimes it excites me too. As I remember the past year of all the hopes and ambitions I had, for Welshot, for myself, maybe, just maybe, now is the time to make it all happen. 

A year ago today I was feeling nervous, scared, and excited, all the feels in the pit of my stomach – Now I understood exactly how someone new to a Welshot event felt as they packed up their camera bag ready to walk through the doors into a sea of new faces and challenges – Full of excitement for a day of listening, watching, learning and taking photos – but anxious too, with those monkey on my shoulder thoughts telling me I might not be able to hold my own, maybe today was the day I would be rumbled as a fake and I was never destined to be a photographer and would always be the one who organises the chips, said that voice in my head. 

This was not any old photographic event, this was a “Food Photography” event and it was being run by the Olympus UK crew – held at the Kent Cookery School in, well, in Kent.

When I told the BossTog (Welshot) that I wanted to attend an Olympus event in Kent – 322 miles, 5hr 40min away from Anglesey, he thought I was bonkers, but just for a moment.

He knew instinctively that this was going to be a turning point for me, my pen and my camera.  He knew that it was something I needed to do, in order to move into a new beginning of my own personal photography and that of my putting pen to paper, or rather, fingertips to keyboard. 

Deciding to make it an adventure, there was a stop in High Wycombe, the Holiday Inn being just off the M40 is a good, all I want is a shower, a meal and a bed sort of stop on the way south, then a couple of nights at Eastwell Manor, based in Ashford and just a short drive from where the Olympus event was to be held – Shout out to the Kent Cookery School – I had phoned them to ask for recommendations on where to stay.  I do not think they could quite believe someone was traveling from Anglesey to attend. 

The day of the Olympus event was everything I could have ever wanted, it was the most beautiful day when we pulled up to the, very photogenic, courtyard complex (which even had a SECRET Garden!) that housed the Kent Cookery School and we were welcomed warmly with coffee and a chat about what would happen throughout the day.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Splitting into two groups we got a chance to shoot in the kitchen, watching all the action around the main, very large island work space and cooktop as well as learn all about composition and lighting with the food that had specifically been cooked for photographic purposes – then, we would swap, and work in a second room, again, learning about technique, composition, lighting and trying the plethora of Olympus cameras and lenses. Recording the action of the expert Chefs, from cutting and dicing, blanching and basting – there was event some flambe action to capture in camera.

After lunch, which was, by the way, simply splendid, we then got to work our cameras outside – as the BBQ was lit we were able to capture the activity and atmosphere that surrounded us, full of inspiration for our creativity, with the only limitation being from your own imagination.

That one day “Food Photography” event with Olympus turned into a seven day adventure – traveling from Kent to Wiltshire to mooch around the Cotswolds and onto Warwickshire, Stratford Upon Avon, it involved glamping in a medieval tent in the grounds of Leeds Castle, visiting Castle Combe Deep in the Cotswolds, (oh those doors) and windows and walking along the River Avon with the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company on its banks.

• 

• 

• 

The highlight had to be Lacock Village and a visit to the National Trust – Lacock Abbey, a country house with monastic roots and Britain’s birthplace of photography.

• 

• 

• 

That was May/June 2019 – On return life settled down to a steady, but busy routine – keeping up with admin, plotting and planning, bringing new developments and ideas to fruition and in a more than just plodding along fashion, we were getting things done, more events organised and new benefits formed for Members – Until we were told, in late July, we had to move Welshot to new premises. Once again, we downed tools and prepared to build a new home for Welshot  – It took us until late September to get back to that busy, daily routine, schedule and more than just plodding along getting things done but finally, we had a BIG office each and a third room, now home of the Welshot Creative Hub – a place to be creative and a place to inspire and help others to be the same.  Welshot had found its home. 

• 

• 

With a place for everything and everything in its place  

Benjamin Franklin

January 2020 – Finally, a year in which we could just concentrate on the new – The new year brought with it hopes and dreams, ambitions and excitement, ideas big and small, a schedule, a routine and finally, the space, technology, kit and equipment we needed to build our business into the community we had always wanted. For once, we could not see anything that would stand in our way of doing whatever it was we had to do, to get things done. Or so we thought.

Enter, stage left Corona, or, on a more personal level, Covid 19!

Thoughts of ideas, ambitions and developments soon turned to – We need to keep our Members and delegates safe, or of rearranging our Discover – Experience – Photograph adventures and how can we run Welshot, an events based business, from just three rooms in a building in Llandudno.

We left our office one Wednesday in early March, somehow, we’d managed to have the foresight to pack a few things into the car, not a lot, but more than usual – At best we thought we could work from the office, at worst, we thought we would be able to work just one day a week – Just being conscious, careful and considering, along with social distancing, we thought would be enough.

It was not to be – With recommendations given we were to self-isolate, to shield, – For the safety of those in our bubble – later the letters arrived confirming what we already knew – No going past the blue gate for a good few months, food to be delivered and parcels ordered to arrive by post and placed in storage bins, conversations outside of the bubble to be confined to text, What’s App, FaceTime or Zoom and Welshot soon became, solely reliant on Facebook and dodgy internet connections. Props and resources became a “Make Do And Mend” situation and the goodwill of friends for graphics, noodles, books and even a tripod became an important part of our survival. 

We were safe. We are safe – Sometimes happy, sometimes not. Being “Safe” brings with it its own anxieties – almost guilt like frustration of not helping or contributing towards the essential workers daily life, being dependant, a burden or a nuisance on others when you seemingly have all the time in the world but your friends are Home Schooling, working in the NHS in high risk environments and all the while looking after others outside of their own safety bubble. 

Now, a Year on, a year to the day in fact – of that adventure to Kent, that week of photography, that time for just me, my thoughts, the English countryside capturedin camera is the gift that keeps on giving – Now in a period of lockdown I am finding, no, I am making the time, to post process the images that have not been edited and the ones that have, have been revisited and serve as a reminder of the dreams, hopes and desires of what and where I wish to take my own personal photography. 

Now, a year on, I am making the time to do my “Food Photography” to remember that day with fondness and recall all the hints, tips and knowledge shared by a whole team of experts – I am trying, sometimes winning, sometimes failing miserably to style my food plates with the ease and expertise as those chefs at the cookery school in Kent.

• 

• 

• 

Now, a year on I am making the time to create and make, albeit with limited equipment, my still-life and flat-lay photography set-ups which provided me with an almost mindfulness tranquillity, washing over me to help stay (and keep) positive for the future – to have the faith and confidence to think about new ways, new normals and new ideas to keep me, and Welshot alive, not just in body, but in spirit too. 

• 

• 

• 

All images have been created with the Olympus CSC system – I mainly use the following:

• Olympus E-PL 8 and 9 PEN
• Olympus OMD EM5 Mk2
• Olympus EM10 Mk2

Today I looked back. From Tomorrow – I look forward. I will always remember the past with fondness and all the opportunities that it has brought me but it is the future that needs my attention now.

Muchly love

lee xxx