SXDance Upstage 2016 - Photographing Dancing For The First Time

University of Essex (SXDance) Wilcard Commercial - my favourite photo from the day

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! 

How I Made Almost £200 From Matched Betting - A Very Brief Guide

Credit - SlightlyAstray.com

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.

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.

Building A Writing Portfolio And Making Money At The Same Time

Girl hurdling at Colchester Garrison Athletics Track

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'.