ajax_andy

Thanks for that mate its a very helpful reply I'll speak to the designers about the not loading till scrolling down as that might be the best option. I know they've set it up to be cached so I'll do what you said and see if it's slow again

Ahh ok... which C and L are we talking about?

I have no idea what this means

Cheers lads... think I need to make the file sizes of the images smaller as some people seem to be having trouble

I have a new website and aI need to see how quickly things are loading to make sure it's working for everyone. I tested myself yesterday and it was a little slow loading images but today it's fine so am a bit worried as to if there's a slight issue with the file sizes of the images. Anyway all I need people to do is click the following 2 links and tell me if everything loads up quickly or if anything seems to be taking too long: http://www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk/photography-portfolio/ This one you'll need to scroll down to check all images have loaded http://www.andyhudsonphotography.co.uk/portfolio-item/helen-chris-wedding/ I'm really looking to find out if everything loads up on screen at once, or if some images do but others have a buffering kind of icon. Cheers!

Not exactly, but during my worst periods of insomnia if I did nod off I'd waken up no long after with sleep paralysis which is a rather lovely experience where one side eefect is a nice dark figure stood over the bed looking down at you

Same here mate... it's kind of come back recently too. I always say it's like being an alcoholic in that you're never cured and just in recovery, which means from time to time you fall off the wagon again. I regularly went 2 nights in a row with barely any sleep... never experienced anything like the horror of it being Wednesday and the last time I slept was Saturday night. Luckily it's usually just Sundays I'm struggling with at the moment, and even then I get to sleep between 2 and 4 am (up at 6:30am). I feel ok if I fall asleep at 2am... I feel shocking if it's 4am or after though

No worries mate It's nice to see someone getting bitten by the photo bug as it's only just over 2 years ago since I bought my 1st DSLR and it reminds me of how great it is to learn this dark art... keep plugging away and experimenting and you'll be getting great results in no time. No idea about embedding them larger tbh as I use flickr. Try Tinypic.com and set the size to 'message boards'... I know that works and is probably a better way than using photobucket and easier than flickr. Like I said though if you get out there with specific ideas in mind it helps focus your mind on developing that aspect. For me it was exposure first and then aperture. After that shutter speed and then you kind of build from there and get better images as a result. Each bit is like a piece to a jigsaw and it's only once you learn to put them all together correctly that things start to get rather nice

All pretty decent... one thing I'd recommend is embedding them properly so they are full size and I don't need to click each one to view it at a size suitable I would say these courses are always going to teach you the basics, so you're never going to post something that blows anyone away... however there are some nice touches that should you use them regularly will help you become more creative and get some nice shots. Firstly I'd say you've balanced your exposure nicely so the sky is still blue and the buildings well lit... always keeping the colour in the sky is a great way to make an image look good. If it's a complete blank white nothingness it looks shit... you'll learn over time getting it right all the time is hard and something I fuck up quite a bit still Secondly the use of reflections and lines is a great tool and you used it well in some of these pics. Especially the one where it's only the reflection in shot, but 2nd bottom is also very nice. I can tell they've got you to play around with apertures on this shoot and again this is a key aspect of photography... you've used it well I think in these shots. The main thing now is to remember what you learnt and get out there at every opportunity to practice. I often got up early on a Sunday and drove in to Newcastle, or went to the river near mine to practice things like shooting with a shallow DOF, or doing some street photography, so set yourself little challenges and think 'ok on the course we learnt about reflections and it's been raining so I'm off out to get this type of shot'... that way you have a purpose for shooting and it helps hone that skill. Same with DOF and the like. If you have friends who have kids then go shoot them (if the parents are ok with that)... they get some pics and you get to practice on a different subject, and just things like that. Seems like the course / class was worth while though based on these pics

Yeah it's all part of the learning mate... experiment, learn and things start to become more natural like angles and compositions

I prefer the non cropped version tbh... the angle you are at to them doesn't really work for the cropped version IMO.

You need to get yourself lightroom or photoshop mate

Not bad but needs a load of cropping IMO. I'd take a load off the right and some off the top. At the moment there's too much dead space and he gets a little lost in the image. Crop a load off the right and top and there'd be a little dead space still but he'd be much more the focal point of the image and then people will start to wonder what he's looking at... at the moment it looks like he's looking at nothing because we can see some much to that side

Feel free... I also stole it from someone

I got her a card and that's it. I did demand she cooked me a 3 course slap up meal though which is very romantic of me... said as it was her birthday on Sunday i'd spoilt her enough and now it was my turn. Yeah I'm a smooth operator!

Roses are red Violets are glorious Never sneak up on Oscar Pistorius

So anyway... Berwick anyone?

I've had 2 different NHS physio's for my back... both utterly shit! I now see a private lass who's £30 an hour but is top class... do you want her details mate as will be 1000% better than anything you'll get on the NHS

I like the top one... bottom one is a nice photo but yeah heavy vignette doesn't do it for me, although I suspect it does actually make the image good even if I don't like it... if that makes any sense?

Aye I did that for 3 years... not the best of experiences! Used to live across the road from some big time drug dealers who broke in to me house twice and stole everything... Argyle Square I think it was called. Remember the 1st day I went to look at the flat and there were 2 tramps sat on the wall outside drinking cider. Such a lovely place to live!

Have you ever been to The Klub for a night out? I always fancied going just to see what it was like lol Aye there's worse places than Wallsend in all fairness... I drive all around the North East for my job and there's places I'm actually scared to get out of the car and sit there with the doors locked until dodgy looking types walk away. Benwell and places in the west end spring to mind!

I think that's where I was trying to direct my dad too but failed miserably and ended up somewhere else. It wasn't the Rising Sun mind... more towards the Silverlink I think and just off there somewhere... was proper rough like! I don't want to live in Ryton forever but looking back I should be glad to be living somewhere a fair bit nicer than I used too. Funny thing is I used to work at the People's Centre in Wallsend (did some teaching grannies how to use the internet) and the council put up these plans for renevating the whole of the town, pedestrianising it and opening loads of trendy cafe's and shops... they dubbed it 'The New Jesmond' or words to that effect... hillarious or what! I drove through Wallsend a couple of months back and needless to say nothing came of those plans

I remember when my parents came to visit they'd always take me out for some lunch in Wallsend... I couldn't handle the Anson again so we walked the length and bredth of the high street in both directions looking for a different place to eat... not a single pub did food other than the Anson. I demanded me dad drive us somewhere else, so we got in the car and drove about 15 minutes in circles looking for anything other than the bloody Anson. Finally pulled up outside a pub off the coast road somewhere near Battle Hill... walked in and it was the same chain, same menu, same decor, same clientelle. Ended up having to eat in there as me dad was refusing to drive around for ages... proper gutted lol! I remember when 'The Klub' opened... that was quite an improvement, however after a few weeks it was just the same skanky toothless tramps that frequented The Anson occupying the sofa's so I never went again. Can't believe I somehow managed to live in Wallsend (above a pedo) for 4 years!

Imagine what it used to be like before it had the make over!