Anyway, after finishing up I decided to go to the public gallery at the House of Commons, something which I have never done before, and thoroughly recommend that you do if you get the chance. I then went to the UK premier screening of Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission in Soho, before heading back to my office to set up for a shoot first thing in the morning. Not having a subject to check the lights on, I grabbed a rather old and grubby vacuum cleaner and put it in position, and fired one test shot. Reviewing the image I was struck by how good almost anything can look when it is well lit! Which reminded my of a conversation I had this afternoon about the end of the world being built in Lego, a concept that had me thinking that my sons’ bedroom looks pretty much like the end of the world in Lego. Boys, I have some advice: if you light your room well, it will definitely look better!

Vacuum cleaner - tested for lighting. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2011

That should do it. Let’s have a little stillness and fog to celebrate:

Foggy dawn. Forest Row, East Sussex. September 2011. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2011

Had a whole load of big commissions book in over the last couple of days too, with my printer working over time, and good news from one of my best clients about use of one of my images – watch this space.

Today I found myself scurrying around under the tracks of the Southend Cliff Railway working for a different client. As I returned to my car I was presented with one of those wonderful moments that nature gives you from time to time. A sunset behind low cloud that was just thick enough to allow you to look straight at it, and just thin enough that you could still see the disc of the sun as it slipped beneath the horizon. And in it were at least a thousand shades of orange.

Sunset, Southend-on-sea, Essex. November 25, 2011. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2011

My interest in this is of course photographic. When in early 2008 Northern Rock was having all its problems, Branson was heavily involved in another of his ventures – Virgin Galactic. On the 24 of January he held a press conference at the Museum of Natural History in New York to unveil White Knight Two and Space Ship Two. That evening, Virgin Galactic hosted a reception for the “astronauts” and other interested parties. It was at that event that Branson met a London based financier who knew of his interest in Northern Rock. Said financier advised Branson that he acted on behalf of two of the biggest shareholders in Northern Rock at the time and might be in a position to help. I took this photograph at that moment. A second later Branson turned to his aide de camp and told him to set up a meeting with the financier back in London for the end of the week.

Richard Branson at the Virgin Galactic reception in New York City discussed matters pertaining to Northern Rock. January 23, 2008. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2008

Of course, there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I had originally hoped that the initial Virgin deal might go through in 2008, at least then I would have had a picture that might have been pivotal to that story. Instead what I have is evidence that when things do not initially go quite the way he might hope, Branson is not put off. I suspect that he is the kind of man who takes the view that all things happen for a reason, and all outcomes pose opportunities rather than problems. Indeed it is precisely that frame of mind that has allowed him to build the Virgin brand into the hugely successful organisation that it is.

Vince Cable, now Business Secretary in the Coalition Government, might find that its harder to come to conclusions when he has to act on them. July 6, 2010. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2010

So here we are nearly four years later, and Branson has got Northern Rock. Has it worked out better for him? Has the tax payer taken a hit? I’ll leave you to consider that for yourself by reading this rather enlightening article published in the Daily Mail just a few days after the photo above was taken. It was written by one Vince Cable, at the time in the enviable position of being the Treasury Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, and apparently never likely to have make important decisions to affect the economy… like I said, a lot of water under the bridge since then! Do I have a photo of Vince for you? Of course I do. Happy ruminating.

Then it was back to the main action.

The scene to my left as I was on the set of a TV advert. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2011

Dessert. © Michael Cockerham 2011

Bit of cheese to follow?

Cheese and figs. © Michael Cockerham 2011

Anyway, as the sun set and the tide ebbed away, I turned from the carcass of my cod and chips to see the beautiful colours of the evening on the sand. Something said grab your camera, so I did, dropping to one knee for the angle. I tripped the shutter. I had not even seen the girl walking across the sands, but she chose that instant to leap. I have no idea who she is, or why she jumped, but it sums up a fabulous weekend of unexpectedly good weather nonetheless.

Sunset at Minnis Bay, Kent. Fuji X100. October 2, 2011. Photo: © Michael Cockerham 2011

So what has all this to do with photography? Well, not a lot. But it does have to do with this site and my main site. At the moment the internet uses something called the IPv4 protocol. Designed in the 1970s, it was built to accommodate about 4 billion devices connecting to the network. That seemed like a lot at the time, but the explosive growth of the internet means we’re closing in on that number. In order to allow the internet to continue to grow, a new protocol has been created: IPv6.

Unfortunately, the IPv4 and IPv6 networks are incompatible. Unless you have a gateway of some kind if you’re on one you can’t visit websites on the other. And, even more unfortunately, the gateway solutions typically are hardware-based and cost tens of thousands of dollars per website to deploy. This means that most of the world’s websites are unavailable for the 1% of the internet that is already using IPv6, and the percentage of users on IPv6-only networks is only going to grow.

Without putting too fine a point on it, I will be buggered if I intend to sit idly by while my web presence becomes less and less visible, but equally I do not have the tens of thousands of dollars to invest in beating the problem. As a result I have recently begun using CloudFlare, a free online based resource that improves user experience of my website, and as of today allows me to make my sites IPv6 ready. If you have a website, it might be worth your looking into this too.

With thanks to CloudFlare for the info and the solution.

Among working photographers that should come as no surprise. But I am intrigued as to how often I am stopped by people I encounter in my work who enquire whether I am shooting on film or digitally. Clearly there is an expectation among layfolk that if you are a “professional” photographer, you must being doing something that sets you apart from the hoi palloi.

This is a slightly curious film, certainly in so far as the manner of its narration (it gives the impression of being a computerised archivist in a library of the future), but with contributions from six proponents of doing it the old fashioned way, including no less a man than Elliott Erwitt, it achieves its effect of painting analogue practice as the “true” photography. There are many that no doubt will take issue with that idea, and Erwitt to his credit tempers any such notion with what I regard as an absolute truth that to be a successful photographer you have first and foremost to be curious.

Personally, I regard all these arguments as being so much hot air and a distraction from the world we should be taking an interest in. Analogue or digital, they are all just tools. It is the subject which interests me most.