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February, 2010:

Google Reader Dates

Feb 18th, 2010
by Jim Millen.
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Having noticed something was screwy with my blog feed, this evening I finally got around to looking into it.  In the end it turns out there was nothing wrong with the feed at all – what was wrong was Google Reader’s presentation of that feed.

It appears that Google Reader displays posts sorted by the date at which it picks them up.  So for my feed, containing a bunch of items imported from my old Blogger site, they all showed up at more or less the same time, and so were presented in a weird and random order.

Although you can see the published date by hovering over the date in Reader, this still seems an odd decision for Google to have made.  The proper blog post date should be the date it was published, surely?  Or even give an option to use published date to sort on – how hard can that be?

All very strange.  I have now created a new Feedburner feed and this one seems to be displaying correctly in Reader, but really – that step shouldn’t have been necessary.

On photographic confidence…

Feb 13th, 2010
by Jim Millen.
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One of the styles I admire the most, and seek to develop in my own work, is candid photo-journalistic “street” photography.  My photo below shows the sort of thing I mean, not that’s its the best photo I’ve ever taken…

IMG_4707It’s simply the photography of people interacting with their environment, and trying where possible to tell a story with the image.

However, I struggle with confidence when taking photos of people.  This happened today in Newbury – the market was in full swing and there were any number of good photo opportunities.  Yet I couldn’t bring myself to take many photos at all!

I’ve been trying to examine why is, and I suppose it boils down to concern over what people might think I’m up to.  Will they be suspicious of me taking photos?  Will they resent it?  Or am I worrying over nothing and they wouldn’t give it a second thought?

Part of it comes down to the situation.  Where there’s an obvious reason for photographs, such as at a public event or wedding, no problem.  (Although the drinks at a wedding don’t hurt either!)  But where it’s just an everyday situation in which I’ve spotted some photographic interest, it’s really tough.

Since this is a style I’m passionate about and want to develop, I’m not just going to avoid taking these kind of photos.  On the contrary, I need to build my confidence & get more comfortable in these situations – not least as nervousness isn’t a great frame of mind for taking good pictures!

So how do I get better at this?  I’ve got to admit, I’m short of ideas.  Is there any way of improving other than just forcing myself to take more photos in these kind of situations?  How do professional photographers do it, especially in the highly charged environments they commonly work in?

I’d love to hear any suggestions, advice, or even just to discover if anyone else has trouble with this kind of thing, so feel free to comment!

Housekeeping – Blog Feed

Feb 12th, 2010
by Jim Millen.
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Apologies – I’ve just realised the feed for this blog is all messed up. Think it’s because of importing entries over from my old Blogger site. Will investigate and see if I can sort it out…

EDIT: Now sorted – it wasn’t the feed at all… (JM 18/2/2010)

So, about those New Year’s Resolutions…

Feb 11th, 2010
by Jim Millen.
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41/365Well into February and I’m only now getting around to sorting my fitness out.  Rubbish, I know – but got to get started if I want to be fit for windsurfing by Spring.

First step on the road back to fitness was a run the other day.  Nice easy flat course around Newbury.  2k, all good.  4k…  Hit a brick wall.

Legs aching, no energy at all, out of breath – oh dear.  Had to walk the remaining 2km home!

Probably was overdoing it at the start, but still not a great performance.  Going to go shorter the next couple of sessions – 3 or 4k – and take it easier.

I also managed to get to the pool for a bit of swimming this morning.  30 lengths, 1 in 3 front crawl and the rest breaststroke.  This was better, although was still more tired than I’d expect afterwards.

So – setting myself some targets for the end of March.  Running – comfortable 10k, ideally under 1hr.  Swimming – 20 lengths crawl or 60 lengths 1-in-3.  I’m also thinking about some gym work for strength, and pilates for flexibility – now just need to find the time – oh, and sort my diet out, but will talk about that another day!