tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66338495860994819002024-02-19T23:49:29.398+00:00Jay Reynolds A blog for my thoughts and images. Discussion, films, photography.Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633849586099481900.post-90378799734317452612016-03-16T20:26:00.001+00:002016-03-16T20:26:22.046+00:00Essex Blades 1st vs King's Lynn Fury - Photographing Basketball <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUyAvW70YQhKUFwANhfQpm5_LpSQ1BCpXREjmgHlm0ChyphenhyphenTblMJULX5zoWbsVBzB_iarxQZK1XTJHvROklClbif31onqnRc8kyw5_jaIBaAlecb5FgUI4zBBpv2KoNCQ8dn7IVk7dqc2_q/s1600/12747985_10207266423232380_4569651384110394013_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUyAvW70YQhKUFwANhfQpm5_LpSQ1BCpXREjmgHlm0ChyphenhyphenTblMJULX5zoWbsVBzB_iarxQZK1XTJHvROklClbif31onqnRc8kyw5_jaIBaAlecb5FgUI4zBBpv2KoNCQ8dn7IVk7dqc2_q/s640/12747985_10207266423232380_4569651384110394013_o.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Essex player passes the ball</td></tr>
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I have only had this blog a month and have already racked up a backlog of posts that I should have written and photos that I should have uploaded. Not good! Anyway, my post today is about a basketball match between Essex and King's Lynn Men's 1st which happened on the 20th February.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>My friend Alex plays on the team and asked me if I'd shoot one of his matches. It took us many attempts to find a game that actually featurde Alex, would be played at home and I would be available to shoot for. It isn't like I even have a busy schedule past Monday, but my bed and I often have a lot of catching up to do which occasionally means slumbering softly until past lunch.<br />
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The Game<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">I could count my previous experiences with basketball on one hand - we would sporadically play it in the 'front playground' at school if we actually had access to a ball, I'd watch an NBA highlights reel posted to Reddit or Facebook and Alex and I had previously watched Essex's men's team play for a half so he could give me a basic rundown of the rules. The one thing that has really stuck with me is the frantic pace the players keep at for the duration of the match. Much like American Football, there is frequent rotation of the team but in basketball, there is the added constraint of the shot clock - the offense only has 30 seconds </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">in which they can score, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">I believe. The frenetic action was great to watch and I tried to avoid seeing it all through a viewfinder as much as possible.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCpQ4SIpTkXWUAl7AlczMIt5JOFR7DcAO9FEtDxzcWOkzzVYw-1fAd-MNp5SHOVQLNgnHSBHoLkMdoyMFECfk1czOgzHVe3TBM2rhPBbRTUqVy809-VyUgoV_gtVgMY6dVM-a-BPMhA0k/s1600/12747529_10207266426712467_3548150771719983722_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCpQ4SIpTkXWUAl7AlczMIt5JOFR7DcAO9FEtDxzcWOkzzVYw-1fAd-MNp5SHOVQLNgnHSBHoLkMdoyMFECfk1czOgzHVe3TBM2rhPBbRTUqVy809-VyUgoV_gtVgMY6dVM-a-BPMhA0k/s640/12747529_10207266426712467_3548150771719983722_o.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Essex player charges forward, King's Lynn looking on </td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">As always, I Googled "photographing basketball" which lead me to <a href="http://improvephotography.com/30194/20-tips-photographing-youth-basketball/" target="_blank">this concise article</a> packed with examples, written by </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Terence Fominaya. I am pleased to say that as I get more practise, I am becoming more adept at adjusting settings such as shutter speed and white balance to suit the situation. I turned to the article for suggestions on composition and where to actually position myself around the court. King's Lynn had their own photographer and she often got right up behind the nets, which must have produced some great shots. I, on the other hand, ended up seat hopping from end to end of the court to try and keep up with direction Essex were playing in.<br /></span></h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Admonishing one of the referees<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">There was a lot of 'discussion' between the crowd, the players and the referee, very little of it being friendly. Some of the King's Lynn supporters even went as far as to bring a megaphone with which they were certain to voice their concerns about anyone and everyone's performance. Quite honestly, with all the abuse being screamed at the Essex players, it had to be amongst the worst audience experiences I've had. I spent much of the game with headphones in to try and block out the drongos. It's great to have a lot of audience participation but I'd hardly call it an enjoyable atmosphere. Tensions were high and although no one was ejected from the game, at points it certainly seemed like it could have happened!<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBhfvv22hrLQW_8VfUF1cYfuCnoaIOdnbKO8-gs8vyYsq0tgAydb8SS_WN7EFFMoloRti8RvV_N22v586087yqk9c2cJb7GuM_k-8-n_hYMfEhC-X3Nktq7kHMI3_am-3xqMr4Q5bPQv1/s1600/12764451_10207266418592264_6858733051573379599_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBhfvv22hrLQW_8VfUF1cYfuCnoaIOdnbKO8-gs8vyYsq0tgAydb8SS_WN7EFFMoloRti8RvV_N22v586087yqk9c2cJb7GuM_k-8-n_hYMfEhC-X3Nktq7kHMI3_am-3xqMr4Q5bPQv1/s640/12764451_10207266418592264_6858733051573379599_o.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scrabbling for the ball</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRoARGoLyXmH9PO5dFPWMm8VY7d3ZUfhPVUzkYLEgODV0vxseHWCz76NkDChrLCKd49bnPt9azsXw-BJBxCtRy5q2PWF_olljnS-u96cipFvspt8lvgckgPH9gWFokDOdaE7i3Qlj4kvL/s1600/12716346_10207266431992599_6678803102264729424_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRoARGoLyXmH9PO5dFPWMm8VY7d3ZUfhPVUzkYLEgODV0vxseHWCz76NkDChrLCKd49bnPt9azsXw-BJBxCtRy5q2PWF_olljnS-u96cipFvspt8lvgckgPH9gWFokDOdaE7i3Qlj4kvL/s640/12716346_10207266431992599_6678803102264729424_o.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking for space</td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Herein lies the problem with not posting about events as they happen - I can't remember the score! All I know is that it was a close victory to King's Lynn, possibly the catalyst for the Essex boys not making it to the National Final in Sheffield as they should have done.<br /></span></h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Pressure being applied to a King's Lynn shooter - ref appears to be blowing up for foul play!<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>What I Did Today<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Today, I had an interesting experience doing portrait photography for to provide marketing material regarding some of the 'One to watch' athletes in the run up to Derby Day against University of East Anglia on 20th April. Portraiture was a new experience for me, specifically organised by the Student Union. In fact, whilst in the stark, pristinely white depths of the SU, I actually had the time to fill out and send off a job application to be a marketing photographer for the uni. I was paid in chocolate eggs and SU vouchers, not a bad gig at all! The next exciting thing in my schedule is charity abseiling on Friday, shooting from the bottom as apparently my lack of insurance means the student union don't want to risk me falling off the top of the North Towers!</span></h4>
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What I'm Listening To<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">This week, I seem to have <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZX6Q-Bj_xg" target="_blank">Take A Walk</a></i> by Passion Pit on repeat. Spotify tells me it's one of their most popular songs and I can see why. It's cheery, regular beat is a great way to start the day, especially in both the title and the chorus, as it encourages you to exercise and get moving! </span></h4>
Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633849586099481900.post-57286563942958572362016-03-08T17:00:00.000+00:002016-03-11T17:07:20.338+00:00SXDance Upstage 2016 - Photographing Dancing For The First Time<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzTcmktwF5HhC1RhQiluqYNYa8zEOZOaVeBiNYQ8sqVfHmF26KttHIvBOtq48-QxYCqIE-Dhqf5TMsvu1XA426fkNtqYu19aQixTHekSsz-U6YCGpy2xbORnZmfzrxTQEwDf9FACgc5iN/s1600/12795154_10207321941020290_6642948898952935344_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzTcmktwF5HhC1RhQiluqYNYa8zEOZOaVeBiNYQ8sqVfHmF26KttHIvBOtq48-QxYCqIE-Dhqf5TMsvu1XA426fkNtqYu19aQixTHekSsz-U6YCGpy2xbORnZmfzrxTQEwDf9FACgc5iN/s640/12795154_10207321941020290_6642948898952935344_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University of Essex (SXDance) Wilcard Commercial - my favourite photo from the day<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Last month, I received an email from the Vice President of the University of Essex Dance Club, known as SXDance, asking if I'd be interested in photographing their upcoming multi-uni, multi-genre competition. She had been referred to me from my previous work photographing rowing and athletics, which I will post about in the coming weeks. The difference here is that once I'd said I was game, she asked "how much would you like to be paid?". Now this was new for me - previously I'd had expenses such as lunch on the day paid for but never an hourly rate! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Payment:</span><span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">This was very much the outcome I had desired when I started doing sports photography. Whilst I enjoy the company and the opportunity to practice my photography, and experience new sports, my first day with athletics lasted thirteen hours not even including time spent editing. It was too much to do regularly unpaid but hopefully my luck with this will continue and I will be able to justify it, both to myself and my parents! Anyway, on to the photos themselves.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2s31T6tCXVSUv4bRvhzcjzdzkO5JJzuKWCoologQFMpxy6u-UlrQeVJYYBDN8-yAN6zsUOasQfHmpviy5MV057iuFuaL-ub0bveE0TrHCsPq0Y6gK3b1qWjxLKbQggVfg_6uXEY0xeLv/s1600/12764724_10207321796656681_3718801551549478605_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2s31T6tCXVSUv4bRvhzcjzdzkO5JJzuKWCoologQFMpxy6u-UlrQeVJYYBDN8-yAN6zsUOasQfHmpviy5MV057iuFuaL-ub0bveE0TrHCsPq0Y6gK3b1qWjxLKbQggVfg_6uXEY0xeLv/s640/12764724_10207321796656681_3718801551549478605_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University of Southampton Intermediate Ballet - I liked the careful poise of the dancers, particularly the central subject</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Photography:</span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">
As always, before shooting a new sport for the first time, I typed the following phrase into Google: "photographing X", X in this case being 'dancing'. The first result for this was Peter Norvig's resource on the subject <a href="http://norvig.com/dance-photography2.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Whilst there wasn't much beyond the basics of the importance of high shutter speed to 'freeze' the action and a low aperture to let as much light in as possible, there was suggestions for focus and framing that I found very useful. Unfortunately, the aforementioned combo of fast shutter and low aperture proved very difficult to use with good results in the poorly lit lecture hall. Motion blur or almost total darkness seemed to be the only results my D3200 could consistently produce. </span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> I really like the framing of this image (apart from the foremost girl's foot partially missing!) but the grain is very evident. Most of the photos were taken with the ISO cranked to 6400 and for once, Lightroom's auto tone feature was struggling to keep the final results correctly exposed. In the end, I had to whittle my original 1500 or so photos down to a more manageable 467, many of which I had to edit individually. Apart from the ISO being high, another compromise I had to make was reducing the shutter speed. Ideally, I would be shooting at a shutter speed of 1/400 sec to prevent blur but in this case, this simply didn't allow enough light to hit the sensor so I had to reduce it to just 1/200 sec, allowing motion blur to creep in. </span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As Peter Norvig mentioned on his site, it would be rather unusual to be allowed to use flash whilst mid-performance so I had to save it for breaks in the dancing such as the final pose of King College London's Las Divas above. Another example of lulls in action allowing for better lit photos is the following of Cardiff Met's Street starting positions. Whilst they waited to start, I was able to change to the No Flash mode on the camera and allowed it to do the work.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Overall, I very much enjoyed photographing the dancing and would happily do it again, hopefully with better lighting! Many of the dance styles such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uETWssqJZ4k" target="_blank">Essex's ballet</a> were performed to modern Top 40 songs rather than the more typical slower classical songs I expected. Other genres, such as jazz and contemporary, I had never seen at all before. The performances were fast paced and fun, resulting in a happy crowd and cheerful atmosphere.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Some other photos from the day:</span></span></h4>
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Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.com0Lecture Theatre Building, University of Essex51.876557899999987 0.945028200000024351.866754899999989 0.92485820000002428 51.886360899999985 0.96519820000002432tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633849586099481900.post-7605010361858193442016-02-22T22:26:00.002+00:002016-03-11T17:08:07.803+00:00How I Made Almost £200 From Matched Betting - A Very Brief Guide<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.slightlyastray.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/piggy-bank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.slightlyastray.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/piggy-bank.jpg" height="290" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit - <a href="http://www.slightlyastray.com/tips-saving-money-without-sacrificing/" target="_blank">SlightlyAstray.com</a></td></tr>
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As a quick disclaimer, this is absolutely not a 'get rich quick' scheme nor is it something I want to be regularly blogging about. I simply consider it worth it to inform other students out there of this relatively risk free method for earning a little bit of money on the side.<br />
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A few weeks ago, around the end of January, my friend G said he couldn't play games just yet because he was finishing up with some 'matched betting'. This made me curious because it takes a lot for G to not have the time to hop on Skype and start up a game and he also isn't the sort to recklessly gamble. When he was free, he told me to Google it and have a look at some sites about it. Essentially, matched betting is when you 'back' a result (e.g. Manchester United will beat Leicester) and also 'lay' a bet (in this case, Manchester will either lose or draw with Leicester). You do this by signing up to bookmakers and claiming the free promotional sign up rewards - free bets in most instances. Importantly for me, this is both legal (as long as you're 18!) and relatively little work, it being more of a waiting game than anything. G said he'd made a little bit but expected to make a lot more once he'd looked into it more. I tagged along and started doing it myself.<br />
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I followed <a href="http://www.savethestudent.org/make-money/what-is-matched-betting.html" target="_blank">this guide</a> by Owen Burek, hosted on Save the Student (Bookmark it now!), to learn exactly what matched betting consists of and how to do it. This page is useful because not only does it give you gist of what you need to do; it also provides an Automatcher for the following bookies:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.williamhill.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">William Hill</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.ladbrokes.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ladbrokes</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.coral.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coral</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.paddypower.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paddy Power</a></li>
</ol>
What this means is that you simply select the offer and it does the rest. It offers you a football match, tells you what it will cost you and gives you step by step instructions on how to place a qualifying bet. Once you've done that and earned your free bet, you simply select the other tab and it will do the same again, only this time it tells you how to place your free bet and how much profit you will make. With the smaller offers of £20 or so, you stand make about £10-15 back. You can't get all the money because your free bet stake is not returned.<br />
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My results:</h4>
So far from matched betting, I have made £174 profit from no more than a couple of hours work. I had a heart stopping moment where I thought I'd fucked up and basically thrown away £200. Thankfully, through massive amounts of luck and a tiny smattering of understanding what on earth I was doing, I came out the other end with a tidy sum. G has made only £13 but he has also only attempted a couple of signups - again, £13 per hour is almost double what either of us earn working in our respective supermarkets. Our mutual friend JK is also pleased to have been told about matched betting and is up over £30 himself. Not bad for a bit of reading and a few minutes work!<br />
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So there you have it - matched betting is a legal, safe way of making a tidy sum of money online. You won't get rich from it as the offers are often only for new customers and any secondary accounts would be quickly shut down by the bookie. However, it pays dividends in just a few days, money which can be put towards computer parts and travelling as I am.<br />
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Finally, I will say that I don't like writing posts like these. I am pleased that I am putting content on this blog fairly regularly, but I am not happy that the majority of posts so far have involved making money online. Whilst it obviously interests me and many others out there, it is not something I would describe as a hobby or a pastime and as such, is not what I planned on putting on this blog. I promise the next few posts will be about things I have photographed or enjoyable media which I have watched or listened to. Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633849586099481900.post-85970490183854513682016-02-17T18:00:00.000+00:002016-05-12T22:26:23.882+01:00Building A Writing Portfolio And Making Money At The Same Time<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGjGlBN0Mv5_9eJNOt0Auv0msTggd8uI9X0DhZEfR8Kf6G1uv6l3yFudG6V9-4oyQ_jLXJ1YMtypjxv7pX3d76HaXs-TncJ6wA1mS61WSqhEXg6OovMZaytI1aePGEMKBrZjSeI5Wvzab/s1600/12513493_10207085387626603_546488631705382750_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGjGlBN0Mv5_9eJNOt0Auv0msTggd8uI9X0DhZEfR8Kf6G1uv6l3yFudG6V9-4oyQ_jLXJ1YMtypjxv7pX3d76HaXs-TncJ6wA1mS61WSqhEXg6OovMZaytI1aePGEMKBrZjSeI5Wvzab/s640/12513493_10207085387626603_546488631705382750_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girl hurdling at Colchester Garrison Athletics Track</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I am only in my first year of university and I am already at a quandary as to what I am going to do after my four years here in order keep myself of the streets. My go to career I brought up when inquisitive relatives and family friends asked how I was going to spend my time after leaving education was initially always "Journalism". This later narrowed to "sports or technology" and finally, simply "sports journalism" which was always sure to receive a plethora of encouraging nods and an enthused "oh, interesting". Yet even trying to blog is proving difficult for me despite the abundance of spare time I currently have. I worry that the creative flame I used to have for story-telling and writing in general has steadily been extinguished further and further since turning my focus to 'content'.<br />
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Content consumption is the term used between my friends and I to describe playing games, watching too many films in my case and flitting between any number of TV shows. I hate to admit it but I have spent so much of my young adult life making use of media produced through someone else's creativity that I have lost much of my own. I hope to change this with my latest venture into both money-making (important to a student with only seasonal work) and journalism - the oft-ridiculed world of top ten lists and clickbait titles. Previously, my writing has been described as well flowing and easy to read and I hope to combine that with the wealth of general knowledge I have gleaned from 'content consumption' over the years.<br />
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The end goals for these lists and this blog is that in a few years time, when I am looking for potential employers, I will have a well curated online portfolio that is easily accessible and comprehensive. Some of the sites I have looked at, such as <a href="http://listverse.com/" target="_blank">Listverse</a>, draw in over 8 million viewers a month and the ability to say to a company "look, here are the stats for my work- I can adapt to various niches and bring in readership". Doing this also allows me to keep my options open - very important in the current economic climate, especially considering the state of the rapidly declining journalism industry. In order to live the life I want to, it may be necessary to follow my father into the City - sounds straight forward when worded like that!<br />
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I put a fair amount of consideration into the sites that I would be submitting my 'articles' to, most of them taken from <a href="http://www.minterest.org/how-to-make-money-writing-articles/" target="_blank">this collection</a> from Mahesh Mahon's marketing focused <a href="http://www.minterest.org/" target="_blank">Mintrest.org</a>. A few of these sites seem more like a scam than a legitimate publisher, offering such a pittance for your work that you feel insulted just looking at the numbers. Others have entry requirements too strict for someone like myself with little work experience. The three main ones that I chose to try and get published through are as follows:<br />
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<ol>
<li><a href="http://whatculture.com/" target="_blank">WhatCulture</a> - I stumbled across this website myself during a session of absent-mindedly clicking through the internet. They pay 40p per 1000 views and have no minimum or maximum payout. They claim this could translate into as much as £400 per article, although I don't recall seeing a single post with the million views in just one month such a payout would require. One positive of this company is that they're UK based, allowing me to create lists targeting specific localities that I wouldn't have the knowledge for with their US equivalents.</li>
<li> <a href="http://listverse.com/" target="_blank">Listverse</a> - This "place for explorers", which I mentioned earlier in this post, consider themselves to be the de facto place to go for top ten lists. Their monthly pageview and unique visitor numbers are both in the millions so they seem to speaking at least some truth. They are more stringent in their selection than WhatCulture and subsequently offer a more promising payout - $100 (~£70) per accepted article. If asked, they will also include a link within your article to anything which you would like to promote. In my case, that would be this blog - eight million visitors seems like a very effective way to drive some traffic!</li>
<li><a href="http://reverbpress.com/" target="_blank">Reverb Press</a> - This caught my eye in the Mintrest list as the author added a note specifically to point out that if accepted, this is a recurring writing gig. They expect content from you regularly which is a positive in that you can get paid regularly rather than the sporadic cashflow of the other sites mentioned. The downside of this is that you'll need to put in regular work! Rather than writing as and when you feel like it or want some extra beer money, you will have deadlines. Just like having a job, uergh. </li>
</ol>
Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633849586099481900.post-82105137925376346612016-02-12T17:35:00.000+00:002016-02-17T03:12:13.093+00:00Welcome to the blog<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVW5CGmZo9EMf8uRUptlz-x4KZJbniU0jQEKb73xFPPrOu_DLu7WQLfyZgC4CNKIteckVuGY7H-0y9rC83SqpCyjdacfAeIA9W7qibyK2F8PH4DoBsw8ZUrW7am2RkRtN9tp8NeWGKV3j/s1600/20150907_191851+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVW5CGmZo9EMf8uRUptlz-x4KZJbniU0jQEKb73xFPPrOu_DLu7WQLfyZgC4CNKIteckVuGY7H-0y9rC83SqpCyjdacfAeIA9W7qibyK2F8PH4DoBsw8ZUrW7am2RkRtN9tp8NeWGKV3j/s640/20150907_191851+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Converted dual seat TR9 Spitfire lies in a field near Woodchurch</td></tr>
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I have finally committed to setting up a blog that I will use to document my thoughts, photos, travels and experiences. Hopefully this will last longer than some of my previous attempts at blogging in which I limited myself to niches such as technology at an age where I couldn't afford anything I wanted to review and had to resort to curating snippets of other people's work (read - blatant plagiarism) into a post of my own.<br />
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This photo is one of my favourites. I took it in September of last year when a vintage Spitfire crashed just a few fields from my family home in Kent. After taking off from our neighbour's airfield, it was on its way to be sold for around £3.5 million when it suffered engine failure and was forced to turn back before crash landing in a field soon after the problems began. When I emailed him about, Rob (the neighbour) had this to say:<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"I was at Goodwood, I had flown the Mk.18 Spitfire
over from the Hangar 10 Museum at Heringsdorf in Germany, for the Goodwood
meeting. I also flew the TR9 Spitfire but on my way up to Biggin Hill, it
suffered engine failure and I had to force land it, not too far from your house,
as I was unable to make it back to the Airfield. It is repairable and I was
unscathed!."</span></i></span><br />
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My dad heard an awful noise above him as headed back from town and stood on the drive watching various emergency vehicles pass on the way to the scene but he was unsure what had happened until the news reports began coming in, briefly making the small village of Shadoxhurst national news! In the evening, when my little sister had returned from school and I from work, we walked the short distance across the fields as a family to take some photos, the best, in my opinion, being this one. Normally I would have brought my Nikon D3200 with me but I had stupidly let the batteries run flat so this was taken with an LG G2. Thankfully, the lovely sunset was still captured.<br />
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Please stay involved with my blog for more posts like this, often accompanied with a photo of my own.<br />
<h3>
Relevant links:<br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/11848575/Spitfire-crash-lands-into-Kent-field.html" target="_blank">News report on the incident </a><br /><a href="https://500px.com/photo/137050085/crashed-spitfire-near-woodchurch-kent-by-jay-reynolds?ctx_page=1&from=user&user_id=15751305" target="_blank">Larger picture and my 500px account</a><br /><a href="http://www.simplyplanes.co.uk/rob_davies_mustang_pilot.shtml" target="_blank">More information on Rob Davies MBE</a><br /><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjYp9Gp4fLKAhWHShQKHVqRB3UQFgggMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.woodchurchwarbirds.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNF5gg-CA0ihqp1tnV6Mr0MVGmxnpQ&sig2=b5SLg_J9V10ObtrpnQnD3g" target="_blank">Rob's personal website - Woodchurch Warbirds</a> </h3>
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<br />Jamireyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16509947881523111770noreply@blogger.com0