Personal

Me, Myself and I

16 July 2020

I’m going to share some thoughts and explanations on having two social accounts for the two sets of people I talk to.

I’ve changed my usernames, my branding and my social channels a little this past week. It’s not been a quick decision. It’s taken years to come to this conclusion. It follows my blog after my site was deleted last month in which I talked about how I was really focussed on using this space to share life away from portfolio/photography work.


It’s always been a sticking point though because I feel like I’m trying to talk to two sets of people.

Lifestyle work shot for Liverpool Tourist Agency

The first set are people who I’m trying to get commercial photography work through. It’s my main job, it puts the food on the table and it just about keeps our heads above water. When I first started social media and any sort of online presence it revolved around getting work and it still needs to serve this purpose.

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Gear, Photography

5 Must Have Accessories for the Fujifilm X100V

14 July 2020
Best accessories for Fujfilm X100v

I recently picked up the latest version of the Fujifilm X100V. It’s the third edition I’ve owned and I am absolutely delighted to have one back in my hands. I love it, a lot.

There are 5 Fujifilm X100v accessories that I absolutely must have with it and a few more bits and pieces that you can grab to make yours work for you a bit better.

1. Lens Hood and UV Filter

You absolutely need the lens hood (Black / Silver). I actually don’t mind a bit of flare in my photographs. I picked up the Fujifilm X100V to give me a 35mm experience both in look and physical feel. However, the lens hood does more for the X100V than you might think. 

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Personal

Recovering a Blog

16 June 2020

Arghhhhhh.

In an unfortunate series of events revolving around me changing bank cards and missing unpaid invoices to hosting suppliers and G-Mail, I lost Skip & Jump as it was.

I don’t have an offline backup, I’m not sure why, I thought I did through the Jetpack plugin for WordPress, I definitely don’t though. I’ve found the odd page archived on the Way Back When site however which is super useful 🙂

A fresh start

However, I’m really not that bothered. I have just finally ticked off the last of my big work obligations and goals that I’d set myself in lockdown and next on the list was really getting stuck back into this blog and developing it. If it wasn’t for making that decision it probably would of gone unnoticed for even longer, doh!

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Hiking, Personal

Hiking Homesickness

4 November 2019

Taking on a challenge like the Anglesey Coastal Path continuous hike last year, I really thought that I’d given it a lot of thought before setting out.

Admittedly, the space between deciding to do it and actually setting off was only a few months but I poured over thru-hike videos, did numerous practice hikes, checked my gear over and over, got my feet used to hiking long distance, sorted my work life and my family plans around the time I was taking away.

But one thing I totally didn’t do was prepare my head.

I didn’t give any thought to how I would feel mentally on the hike or how to help things if I did feel rubbish. Even with a history of feeling off, mentally, earlier in the year and experiencing severe homesickness during the three week blast of driving an ambulance to Mongolia in 2011.

Three days before I left I started to feel weird. I was fully prepared. I’d got my kit sorted. I knew my route and my day to day plans. I’d watched everything I could possibly watch on YouTube for tips and had nothing left to prep. There was now no distraction and I suddenly had no ounce of excitement about the upcoming adventure. I couldn’t sleep at night, tossed and turned, lying awake. I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

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Hiking

Must have gear for long distance hiking (2020)

10 October 2019

I’ve been getting a lot of messages on Instagram asking about which kit I carried on my 8 day hike around Anglesey Coastal Path. I’ve got some more in depth comments on the kit coming, will link this list up accordingly when it’s done.

Thanks gang!

Tent: Vango Makalu : https://geni.us/VangoMakaluTent

Sleeping Bag: Vango F10 Vulcan: https://geni.us/VangoVulcanSleepingBag

Sleep Mat: X-Lounger: https://geni.us/sleepMat

Backpack: Osprey Aether AG 70 https://geni.us/OspreyAetherAG

Waist Pack: Eastpak Waist Band https://geni.us/easpakbumbag

Waist Pack: Deuter Belt II https://geni.us/deuterpack

Sit pad: Therm-a-Rest Z-Seat https://geni.us/sitPad

Walking Poles: Vango Pico https://geni.us/1iuJ3

Pillow: Quechua Hike Pillow https://geni.us/hikePillow

Cookset: Tomshoo Titanium Set https://geni.us/TitaniumCookSet

Fuel: Gosystem Butane https://geni.us/stoveGas

Fuel Stand: Yellowstone Gas Canister Stand https://geni.us/StoveBase

Cooker: Docooler Super Lightweight https://geni.us/cooker

Water Bottles: Smart Water Sportscap https://geni.us/waterbottles

Base Layer: Icebreaker Oasis Zig Zag https://geni.us/baseLayer

T-shirt: Nike Park VI https://geni.us/nikeTshirt

Camp Shoes: Fobey Slip-Ons https://geni.us/FoamShoes

Socks: Stance Run Aspire Tab https://geni.us/StanceSocks

Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 3.5 https://geni.us/AltraLonePeak35

Tights: Karrimor Run https://geni.us/leggings

Shorts: https://geni.us/runshorts

Windproof Jacket: https://geni.us/haglofsjacket

Waterproof Jacket: https://geni.us/waterproofjacket

Neck Scarves: https://geni.us/neck

Down Jacket: Decathlon https://geni.us/downJacket

Fitness Band/Watch: Mii Fit Band 2 https://geni.us/fitnessBand

Vlog Camera: Canon G7X MK II https://geni.us/trailCamera

Headphones: Anker Bluetooth Earphones https://geni.us/btheadphones

Wired Headphone: Betron B25 https://geni.us/wiredEarphones

Powerpack: Anker Powercore 20100 https://geni.us/powerpack

Phone 1: Google Pixel XL https://geni.us/gpixelxl

Phone 2: iPhone 5s

Drone: DJI Mavic Pro https://geni.us/dronemavicpro

Camera: Fujifilm XT-2 https://geni.us/fuji-xt2

Memory Cards: Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB https://geni.us/memorycards

Tripod: Pedco Ultra 2 https://geni.us/ultrapod

Lens: Fujifilm XF-23mm f2.0 WR https://geni.us/23mmf2

USB Cables: Anker Powerlines https://geni.us/usbCables

Blister Care: Compeed Blister Pack https://geni.us/compeed

The links here are connected to affiliate links, these help give us a couple of pennies to pay for hosting if you buy through them. They’re generally some of the cheapest I’ve found too.

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