Apologies to start

I’ll start off by apologising for having been so quiet on the blog front for a while. Having been on a bit of a roll for me before Christmas, time just dropped away and I couldn’t get to blogging, but I will hopefully be posting more regularly again before too long.

Now the exciting stuff…

So why has time been a problem? Aside from the usual family and work commitments, there have been some exciting developments for me. Here are the reasons my wife has had to put up with my (apparently insufferable) smug face.

First Thing

First of all, I have had a number of photos sold and a few extras going up in Bewiched Coffee in Peterborough where I have had some items up for the last year and a half or so.

In the tweet below one of the photos  (with the red rose in the middle panel) is of the photos of mine that were up at the time:

Enjoy a cup of fantastic coffee @Bewichedcoffee #Peterborough and take in the view of some local artists handiwork 😀 pic.twitter.com/0W2RwoFkpC

— Michael Hall (@SofaFace) January 14, 2016

Quite exciting stuff, but not taken up that much time in itself. Just a few minor smug face moments.

Second Thing

I have been asked to do a few jobs.

Some are on a volunteer basis in return for a favour (more on this later) for a local gallery in Peterborough, Art in the Heart. This is helping provide some marketing images for their Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Another job was for Peterborough Cathedral. They needed a photo of Crowland Abbey to be used in the displays for their new visitor centre which is to be opened later this year as part of the preparations for the Peterborough 900 celebrations.

Needless to say I was very proud to have been asked to do anything like this.

Third Thing

It has been mentioned on a few occasions by the branch manager of Bewiched Peterborough that I could hold an exhibition in the coffee shop one evening after hours.

This was first mentioned probably a year ago and I was very tempted from that point but it was not until more recently I put much thought into it. So I have decided to bite the bullet and am holding an exhibition there on 22 July 2016:

This is the artwork I put together for it, and as you can see I have received help from some other local businesses as well as Bewiched. This includes Art in the Heart who are letting me to borrow the easels to use for displaying the photos, hence I am doing a few photography bits and pieces to help out when I can as a thank you. The Dalmark Group have provided some sponsorship for the event, whilst i-Lid Design has provided advice and sourced some additional boards for display as a favour, both of which are greatly appreciated.

This hasn’t resulted in a proper smug face as yet (though I was very pleased with how the posters came out when the printed copies arrived), but I am hoping one will emerge on the night assuming everything goes to plan and the exhibition proves popular – my main worry is how many people will actually come along, though I am quietly hopeful.

Fourth Thing

This one came about as a result of my photos on the wall in Bewiched. One of the photos of Peterborough Cathedral was spotted by one of the trustees. First of all they bought a few of the photos I have of the Cathedral (that had not been on display), but in addition they put me in touch with the people who run the Cathedral Gift Shop. This was with a view to seeing if they would be interested in stocking some of my photos in the shop.

I went along to the first meeting with a handful of prints prepared as examples and a selection of further photos on the laptop. After the first meeting it was decided that the interest was definitely there and I went away to prepare some of my favourite photos.

I put together a selection of about 30 photos for consideration. The following meeting came around and we were looking through the photos to see if any were wanted.

It was decided that 2 photos would be used for postcards that the Cathedral would be ordering and would pay royalties for the use of the photos. This was quite pleasing in itself. But the main order was very pleasing.

It was decided that they wanted to buy a stock of 6 photos. Of each of these photos they wanted 1 framed example, and then 10 further prints foam mounted. I have produced all of these and provided it to the Cathedral who are paying up front. Queue an epic smug face.

I delivered these about two weeks ago to the Cathedral. Having dropped them off on the Friday, I popped in with the family on the Monday. I hadn’t expected the photos to be up as not long had passed and I knew some rearrangement of the stock would be required, but it seemed silly not to look just in case. Cue the most epic smug face so far:

Very, very chuffed with that. Insufferable as well apparently. Oh well.

That’s All Folks!

So there you have my update from the last few months. Posts will probably still be sparse until the exhibition is out of the way as I still have a lot to decide and organise, hopefully I won’t leave it too long though.

Thanks for reading.