Exciting Times

On the weekend I decided to brave the crowds and head to the TNT Travel Show. My official reason for going was to hear a talk from some punter on Travel Photography (does that need capitalisation? It felt like it did for some reason, if only I had Fowler's Guide to Modern English Usage handy - or a direct line to Mr Callaghan). The show was free and you could tell, every antipodean and his sheep was there trying to get inspiration for their next adventure, and to gain the valuable discounts on offer if we booked then and there. I'm still furious at myself for not taking advantage of the £3 discount offered for a day trip by one particularly generous travel company. For what it's worth the talk was nothing special and at the risk of sounding like a dick I pretty much already knew everything he had to say, but what's that they say about gift horses and mouths?

The day was not a complete write off however as I had a clandestine motive for attendance. Most of you probably know (who actually even reads this blog anyway?) that last year I did some pseudo pro work, instead of being paid in pounds I was paid in holidays and flights, but as it was the first chance I'd had at doing something like this I wasn't really in a position to make demands. I went on an 8 day trip around Ireland with Shamrocker, a backpakers travel mob, and since the entended photoshoot they've gone on the use about 16 of my photos in brochures (which you can pick up at your local Australian travel agent no less), their website and magazine ads. I had a suspicion that they may have converted one of my shots into a big poster which would be in display at the travel show, and I wasn't disappointed!

I'd never seen one of my shots blown up so big before, the resolution looked good even though the camera was *only* 8mp and the shot was taken with an 18-200 lens which isn't the sharpest lens in the kitbag, the fact they'd cropped the shot quite heavily made it all the more miaculous. I'm sure if I got close enough there would have been some quality issues, but who goes that close anyway? I struck up a conversation with the girl behind the counter, casually asked her what happens to the posters once the show is over, she said they re-use them at other events and asked me why I was asking. Thus came the highlight of my week.

"Well, I actually took that photo on the left so I thought it would look pretty good in my bedroom. And I think you'd look pretty good in my bedroom as well"

"Wow, so you were on Kevin's tour were you? I think it's about time I went on your tour..."

Okay, so each of those quotes had a true sentence and a fabricated sentence, but you get the idea.

Long story short I didn't get to take the poster with me but I did manage to get a shot of it. I actually much prefer the way they've cropped it, not sure why I didn't do it that way in the first place!

I'm doing a test, if you've read this post down to here can you do me a favour by leaving a comment saying you've read this post? Thanks muchly.