Since my last post I have realised that there is a hell of a lot to think about when you're crazy enough to decide to do a marathon... particularly a spring marathon. Specifically (but not exclusively):

1. Charity? If so, which charity?

2. Which training schedule?

3. How to keep warm enough to make sure 'it's too cold' doesn't become your excuse for not running.

I'm not going to talk about all of those in one post - I'd be here forever - but let's start with number one.

Since I got my marathon place, I'd been asked many times which charity I was running for. Of course because I was fortunate enough to get a ballot place, I didn't have to run for a charity at all, but it seems rude not to raise a bit of money if you can. The problem is deciding on which charity. The acceptance magazine contains 83 adverts for charities who would love for people to raise funds for them. And that's just the charities who can afford the advertising.

My dilemma was solved pretty easily when someone I had a lot of respect for (and owe a lot to) passed away after a long encounter with pancreatic cancer. As soon as I heard, I started looking for suitable charities and decided on the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. It was founded in 2004 by the widow of a man whose pancreatic cancer was only discovered after it had spread to his lungs. He died three months after they were married. The charity's aims are:

1. To raise funds for research into early detection, new treatments and ultimately a cure for pancreatic cancer
2. To encourage more of the research community to get involved in pancreatic cancer research
3. To promote the need for more research funding by the major cancer research funding organisations

So far they have awarded grants to 16 research projects, totalling £2.2 million.

If you would like more information or fancy sponsoring me, take a look at my fundraising page. Thanks very much to those who've already contributed.

If you're not a member of the running community, you may be unaware of the intense competition for London Marathon places. Each year, over 36,000 people line up at the start and begin the 26.2 mile journey to the Mall. Most would consider completing the distance as a major achievement, but for runners wanting to take part, this time of year means doing whatever they can just to get a place.

There are three main ways into this iconic race:
1: Get a place in the public ballot
2: Pledge to raise £1500 - £2,000 to get a charity place
3: Run another marathon in a time considered 'good for age' (GFA). For me that would mean 3:15-3:50.

There are also 'championship entries', club places and overseas ballots.

Public ballot applications for 2012 opened on 26th April and closed the next day after 125,000 people applied. I got my application in almost as soon as the ballot opened, then sat back and twiddled my thumbs for a few months. It's difficult to find statistics on how many ballot places there actually are, but popular wisdom suggests that you have a 1-in-6 chance of obtaining a ballot place.

Prior to Virgin taking over sponsorship of the London Marathon, there was a rule which meant that if you had been rejected from the ballot five times in a row you would get guaranteed entry on the sixth year. Sadly, Virgin stopped this, so unless you had been rejected twice when they took over this option isn't open to you.

I've applied three years on the trot, but this one was a bit different. I've always said that if I was going to do one marathon it would have to be London. I know there are other marathons. They're all the same distance and the rest aren't so crowded, but I remember watching the London Marathon as a child, my step-grandmother's done it twice, so it's the one I want to do first.

And what better year to do it than 2012, Olympic year? Who wouldn't want to be a part of that? In fact the week before the ballot results came out, I booked a place in the Bupa London 10,000 so I knew I had at least one chance to win a medal at London 2012 (!)

I knew the results were due out in early October but a friend mentioned that her friends had got their rejection letters through, so when I got home I though it was time to look for mine. And this is what I found.


And so begins months of planning, training, long runs in freezing weather. I'm really happy to have a ballot place, but mildly petrified at the thought of what's to come.

Back to Basics

I'm currently having a few frustrations with my camera equipment and until I can afford to sort it out, I've decided to give myself a bit of a study break. I'm starting by reading some of the best photography books that have come out in the last few years. First on the list is a trio of Michael Freeman titles: 'The Photographer's Eye', 'Perfect Exposure' and 'The Photographer's Mind'.

'Eye' and 'Mind' are to do with the theories of why certain images work while others don't. I have to be honest, I've never had much time for media theory - mostly because at University when we were talking about semiotics, lecturers would often say 'clearly by constructing the shot in this way, the director intended to emphasise...' and I'd think 'how do you know they didn't just shoot in that angle to avoid showing something distracting in the background' or whatever. Fortunately Freeman appeals to me within the first page: 'This will never prevent art critics and historians from supplying their own interpretations, which may be extremely interesting but not necessarily have anything to do with the circumstances or intentions of the photographer.'

I'm now a few chapters in and enjoying thinking more deeply about the arrangement of element in the frame.

Interesting experiment.

I've just done a very interesting little experiment. I currently have a few medium-quality lenses in my camera bag. Nothing really special - the 18-70mm kit lens from my D70, 50mm f/1.8, 105mm macro and the 70-300mm VR. At some point... Like when i win the lottery... I would love to gather together the cream of Nikon's zooms so I got my photo editing/organising software to look through my image library and collect together all the images taken at the focal lengths of the 14-24mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm. I will never be able to carry let alone afford any of these lenses so it's purely for my own amusement, but I was initially surprised that the 24-70 and 70-200 categories were pretty much neck and neck. Then I remembered that the results were being more than a little bit skewed by the 105mm macro I use for TtV work. With that taken out of the equation, the 24-70mm range is the clear winner, making up 43% of my shots. So in conclusion, the first lens I would buy when I won the lottery is the 24-70mm f/2.8. And the first camera I would buy would be the titanium Leica they've just announced... at the very reasonable sum of €22,000!

So that's what it was for!

This time last year, I sold an image through Alamy. As it was sold as royalty free, I didn't ow who it had been sold to or for what purpose. I'd pretty much forgotten about it until one of my colleagues returned from her lunch break and told me she'd just seen my photo on a card in Clinton's. She assumed I already knew, but it was news to me.

It turns out the image was sold to The Art Group and has been used as part of a series of cards on the theme of Best of British. It's nice to finally see where that image ended up and frankly quite exciting to go in and see something I produced in a bored moment sitting on s shelf in a high street shop.

Exhibitions are like buses...

This month sees some of my TtV shots in not one but two exhibitions.

The first is part of the Open City Manchester event I blogged about back in May. The 112 attendees each submitted three of their favourite shots and the organisers picked 28 of those to feature in an exhibition in The Triangle, Exchange Square, Manchester. The exhibition runs from 9-29th July, 10am-6pm, 7 days a week. My piece is a TtV work and it'll be interesting to see what it looks like alongside a lot of 'traditional' digital work.

The second exhibition is a collaboration with TtV artists from around the world. John Baucher (AKA Moochin Photoman) has created a mosaic of TtV shots featuring Belfast's residents and visitors. His shots will be joined by a wall full of shots submitted by other TtV photographers, including 15 of my photos. The exhibition is part of TransFestival 2010 at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, 5-24th July. On the last day there will be a 'TtV Takeaway', where visitors can pick out their favourite images and take them home for free.

Open City Manchester

If you were out enjoying the sun in the centre of Manchester this weekend you could be forgiven for thinking that there was some kind of paparazzi convention going on. The truth is that the city played host to a number of photographers who'd been invited by City Co to prove that Manchester is an 'open city' to take photos in.

The afternoon was hosted by four professional photographers who each took a group of 25 photographers on a themed tour of the city centre. I joined Len Grant's group, with the theme of 'The City as a Backdrop' - interpreted as portraits of people in their environment.

I took my TtV rig along, causing no end of speculation on what the heck this contraption was going to produce. A nice series of shots ensued and I now just have to narrow it down to my favourite three for submission to the organisers. You can see my shortlist on Flickr.