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Christmas after a pretty crap year...
Well that was a pretty crappy year wasn't it!? After pretty much all the weddings, events and sport I had booked in were cancelled or postponed it hasn't been the best of years! I know I'm not alone in this either, we've all been affected by this in some way, shape or form. Hopefully with the new vaccine and our expanded knowledge on how to make things as safe as possible things will look brighter for us all in 2021 and we can try to get back to some sort of normality when spring arrives.
One thing I can do though is wish everyone a very merry Christmas and say a massive thank you to all our customers & clients throughout the year, I really appreciate it and look forward to seeing you all (and of course any new customers) next year. As always, we will be looking forward to new projects and commissions throughout 2021, so if you have an event, commercial or private commission that you would like covering, please feel free to contact me using the form here

And we're back...
July 19th 2020 17 weeks after the lockdown began (and ended 6 weeks later) motorsport is back after a prolongued and unexpected closed season! For me, it was Autograss at York which was very welcome after such a long time off the cameras
NASA (the Autograss governing body not the space agency) compiled a thorough set of guidelines for which York and all subsequent clubs have to follow in order to hold a test meeting. All meetings are currently 'test meetings' where there are no spectators and no points awards in heats. Clubs also have to jump through the hoops with councils and the police in order to meet their criteria too, making sure all Gov guidelines are followed to the letter. The behind the scenes work is quite intensive so a big shout has to go the clubs for putting these on.
York was a great meeting with everyone eager to get out and get testing. Signs and hand washing were all in place and (sadly) I was limited to the outside but, nonetheless, it was great to be back out there! Next up is Yorkshire Dales on the 2nd August (NO spectators)

Covid-19 update...
It's May 31st 2020 and we are starting the 11th week of lock down/staying in/something else?!. The PM Boris Johnson made an announcement on Sunday 10th May to say that we were now allowed unlimited exercise outside, travel where we want to exercise (as long as we returned home and not stay over anywhere) and that if you can't work from home, to go back to work. In my head lockdown was officially over. The message officially changed to 'Stay Alert' too rather than stay home.
From tomorrow (Monday 1st June) groups of up to 6 people from different households can meet outside or in a garden and schools partially go back - I say partially as the Gov have picked a few random years (sorry, I meant looked at and were guided by the science) and sent them back. They thought it was all over...it is now!
Current worldwide infections are 6,160,429 with 371,006 attributed deaths. UK is 272,826 cases with 38,376 deaths. We're also still getting 2.5k cases a day but the ONS claims it's more like 8k new infections per day. Does anyone actually know?!
What I do know is that it's June tomorrow, schools are going back, shops re-open on 15th June and motorsport is back on July 4th in some form.

It's May 5th 2020 and we are starting the 7th week in lock down. That means we're still only allowed out for essentials and one hour of exercise a day. I've been walking on a morning then doing PE with Joe Wicks so I've at least kept up some form of physical activity whilst not out at events!
It's quite odd with a third of the world in some form of lock down or restriction and I think it's a combination of people doing what they are told and the fact that they genuinely don't want to catch it as it does seem to affect people in very different ways. Some are asymptomatic while others are ending up in intensive care and worse. It's also not always the case that they have underlying health problems either although most have and it's more common to die with rather than of Covid-19.
Current worldwide cases are 3,711,460 known infected, 257,034 deaths with Covid-19 and 1,235,503 recovered.
I'll post more later this month as we are due for a lock down update from the Government on Sunday evening with further information on how (not when) they expect to start release people back to work, schools, family and friends.

Covid-19, lock down and social distancing...
This is, without doubt, THE strangest period of time in my forty something years of life. As I write this, we are in lock down. Not just me, the UK. Yes, that's right, the entire Country. In fact it's actually wider than that, one third of the entire planet has been told they can only leave their houses for essential food shopping, exercise for one hour or to go to work IF you are a key worker and can't work from home. When you do go out, you have to social distance yourself from others at a distance of two meters in a massive effort to stop this bugger from spreading to fast. All events, weddings & motorsport is cancelled and even funerals cannot take place with VERY limited people present if any. The key phrase is STAY HOME, PROTECT THE NHS, SAVE LIVES. The reason for all this? A Coronavirus has jumped from animal to human and has caused a global pandemic. Welcome to a world of Covid-19.

As I'm writing this, 4th April 2020 there are 1,153,922 cases of Covid-19 (official name SARS-CoV-2) across the world of which there are 41,903 cases in the UK (first detected in the UK on Jan 31st).
Now, this doesn't sound a massive amount when compared to the annual flu figures (an estimated 1 billion catch flu every year), the problem is, these are only the confirmed cases. The general, professional concensus is that there could be between 15-20 times more un-confirmed cases which gives an approx figure of 15-20 million across the planet. At the time of writing, the total global deaths (those that have died WITH Covid-19) is 61,671 with 4,313 in the UK. The figures I am using are here should you want to check in the future.
This biggest problem that everyone faces (from Governments to Health Care to scientists) is that it's new. No one really knows anything about it. There isn't a vaccine. No cure. They are literally learning on the job with this one.

I'm writing this as a reference so I (and others) can look back at this in the future; plus it's also a pretty big deal. Not only in terms of infections and deaths but also how the country and world will be after this. Governments throwing billions and billions (UK have promised £350 billion for instance and the US nearly $2 trillion) at tackling this; plus the unemployment, businesses collapsing & shares plummeting all make for a really, truly frightening global scenario.
I'll continue to update this as we go along. The first lock down for the UK is three weeks but we are expecting this to be extended for a further period of weeks when the PM (Boris Johnson) updates us on approx Easter Sunday.

Awards and bookings...
A couple of awards evenings for February, the first being for Yorkshire Dales Autograss which was a great night at the Scotch Corner Hotel. A huge well done to all those who won awards (although I think there should be another for best dressed as Simon Farrar certainly brightened the evening with his tie/shirt combo and Steve Bowes' shirt and beard looked great!). Congratulations also to the new Club Champions and of course congratulations to Jack Hodgson who will be wearing YD1 on his car in the coming season.
York Autograss was next and another great night, this time at the Mercure Hotel in York. Congratulations to all that won awards and a huge well done to Jess Farrow and Peter & Caz Watson for their overall Champions Awards; well deserved wins for all. I think the raffle was fixed though after Becky Hindle seemed to sweep the board with tickets and obtained all the alcohol! Not complaining though as I was offered a quick nip from her spoils!
The Minster FM Local Hero Awards rounded February off nicely and as always it was a superb event, held again at York Racecourse. The awards evening is dedicated to the unsung heroes of North Yorkshire who deserve recognition for what they do or have done. Whether it be for the environment, charity or in their job, these local heroes are honoured during the evening. Congratulations to all those who won awards, there were some very deserving recognition and some true inspirations.

New year, new decade!...
Well, it's not only a new year, it's an entirely new decade! Blimey.
Firstly, happy new year and happy new decade! I think I'm looking forward to this year as it's going to be a bit of change for me, basically less motorsport and more events. That's not to say I'm giving up the motorsport stuff, just taking a small step back to concentrate on increasing the events/commercial side of things. I'm expecting it to be a bit of a challenge but I love that, I've always loved being challenged as it keeps me focussed on something that I love doing.
The last 10 years has been really good, expanding the photography business and covering a whole host of events, awards, weddings, sporting events and of course motorsport. Personally, it's been good too, confusing and frustrating at times but I firmly believe that's just all part of life and the learning that comes with it! I'm sure there will be more of 'life' over the next decade too so I'm going to embrace it and see what it brings.
With the diary slowly filling up since last October, if you have an event, gig, commercial venture, sports event, family or formal celebration you would like me to cover in 2020, please drop me an email or give me a call and I'd be more than happy to have a chat with you.
Happy new year to all and a BIG thumbs up for what 2020 has in store!

If you have an event you would like me to attend, why not get in touch? From sports meetings to corporate, private or fundraising events, I'm more than happy to hear from you and to discuss your requirements. Click for details