Talking, teaching, documenting. Using mobile tools, consulting & running workshops on digital storytelling..
While the world’s news is again preoccupied with North Korea, confirmation is seeping out of Washington that Assad has in fact used sarin gas on suburbs of Damascus and elsewhere, in what it calls a “small scale” chemical weapons attack. I’m not sure if 20+ people killed by chemical weapons would be considered “small” if […]
I’ve been trying to smooth my transition through airport security recently and in these couple of months I feel like I have it cracked. The time before the liquid restrictions came in seems like a different world. In many ways it was. Recently I’ve been to Austria, Turkey for a week, Sweden for four separate […]
There are no images of the iPhone 5 in this blog post. I imagine you have seen one by now and know what it looks like. This is certainly not the normal phone review due to some interesting realisations that forced me to change the way I look at comparing the iPhone 4s to the […]
[Disclaimer] This video is more of a quick look than a review. I have no personal connection with Tom Bihn and this bag was sent to me free of charge. I only paid import duty, but don’t let that lead you to think I haven’t been anything other than honest with my opinion. I already […]
ser·en·dip·i·ty/ˌserənˈdipitē/ The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”. Just like Aleks Krotoski in her BBC Radio4 series The Digital Human, I’ve been fascinated with Serendipity for a good chunk of my life. I don’t remember the first time I ever heard the word, […]
If my Granddad were still alive this year, we’d be celebrating his hundredth birthday. We often made fun that his birth was the second major disaster of 1912. When he died he took a thousand stories with him. And just as many songs. He was a guarded man. The few stories we shared only offered […]
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I had the fortune to be working in Cornwall this week. It’s rare that i get the chance to visit such beautiful coastline.
After mentioning my upcoming visit online, I was invited to stay at the home of Jen and Neil Dixon.
Apart from being the best hosts you could wish for, they’re both artists & makers. Great ones.
Please take the time to check out the work of @RegularJen at http://jendixon.com and @NeilDixon at http://about.me/neildixon
Working for nothing.
It’s not all bad. I think that at the beginning of every transition into a new business model I worked 50/50 for money and for free. That said for free was at least for expenses. When I decided to go freelance as a photographer it was more like 70/30 free verses paid.
Nowadays I’ll normally accept one in three offers to do something for nothing. That’s where serendipity lives. Those chance encounters that lead to great opportunities. I accept more if it’s someone I’ve had social contact with.
I would never use that as a selling point though. If you are asking someone to work for free please don’t promise them all kinds of serendipitous riches.. “Our speakers agree to do it as they benefit from the exposure and they people they meet.” Serendipity doesn’t work like that.
I occationally climb mountains. Do Bushcraft. The promise of ‘Exposure’ makes me think of being unprotected, open to damage, danger or risk.
Somewhere just before or after the “Think of the exposure” plea I hear the words ‘not for profit’.
I’m going to ask next time, after paying all the wages from the tea-boy to the director, what was last years surplus? I’ll be happy with that thanks. It should at least cover the £50 return to London you are expecting me to pay so i can speak at your event.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate you thinking of me. I’d be bothered if people weren’t contacting me offering me opportunities for ‘exposure’.
It’s just that this month i’ve got bills to pay, a family to feed. Same as last month. Same as the next one. And just like you would not ask a plasterer to pop around and plaster your walls because lots of people will see his handy work.. Please don’t expect me to prep, travel, talk and hopefully inspire because someone there might pay me to do it again.
This year there will be at least 15 occasions where you can see me talk for free. Many are workshops kindly sponsored by the Open University.
I don’t want you to stop asking me to do stuff for free. I’ll say yes to one in three.
I just want you to think about whether or not you can pay for my time, my travel, or something towards the cost of living in a world that still demands cash for goods. Both my family and I would really appreciate that.
