roryosullivan.co.uk

I’ve been looking over the sites that I have found most useful, entertaining or inspirational in 2009 and thought i’d share these. Some are just plain simple, some are services, others are, well, probably old hat to some people but have made an impression in 2009. So in no particular order are:

http://www.twitter.com

Twitter has enabled me to keep better contact with lots of people, and take some conversations out of their normal environments and into a public area where others can get involved.

http://www.facebook.com

Another obvious one but it has enabled me to get back in contact with people, even in short spurts, that I haven’t spoken to in a long time.

http://www.lamebook.com/

Lamebook follows on from Facebook nicely, it’s amazing what people will admit and not realise what their privacy setting are like!

http://xkcd.com/

One of the funniest online comics there is

http://30-f-london.blogspot.com/

An interesting and well written woman’s take on love, life and sex in London (probably NSFW for some people due to language)

http://www.holymoly.com

Always funny, sometimes harsh but the best UK gossip site there is. I especially like the Rules and Corner sections

http://www.gizmodo.com

I’m a geek, I’m not ashamed to admit it, whilst I can’t afford a lot of tech I can drool over the gadgets and potential technology that Gizmodo

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

The Big Pictire is the Boston Globes photogrpahy blog of amazing photographs from all over the world. Some stunning photography

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

Passive Agressive notes is simply a great peice of entertainment

last but definitely not least

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Post Secret can be an awe inspiring source of inspiration and what people are willing to admit is amazing, one day I’ll get the courage to send something of my own one day

In my attempts to pull back some creativity in my photography I’m setting myself a monthly photography project. The idea is simple. The lucky dip. What does this involve you may well ask. Well it involves the list below. Each item is printed onto a bit of paper and folded up. They are all stuck in a hat and on the first of each month 2 bits of paper are pulled out, these two words form the basis of the project, at the end of each month I inted to post up on here a link to the flickr gallery for each project aiming for 10 shots for each project.

Below are my initial bits and pieces, the idea is there will be more than 24 items so that some will be missed and it gives a greater chance of a random project being created. Please feel free to add some suggestions in the comments or If you fancy joining in then let me know.

Adventure/Action
Animal
Architecture
Artistic
Black & White
Camera Phone
Commercial
Documentary
Event
Macro
Nature
Night
Panoramic
People
Pinhole
Scenic
Sports
Travel
Time-lapse
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow

2009 has been an odd year, there have been some good bits, some very good bits, and some, well, bits that didn’t go to plan. The main thing was my lack of inspiration and drive outside of work. Work has gone great, I’ve taken a step up and am working on some great projects now. However that’s not what has concerned me.

I’ve defiantely lacked the inspiration and drive to get out and do things outside of work. From my photography to keeping in contact with friends and family I’ve just well, not been massively bothered.  I’ve not purposely been crap at contacting people or anything like that or purposely not bothered going out if anything has been on but I’ve definitely lacked the creative inspiration to get out there and photograph and do things.

I’ve decided that 2010 will be a year of change. I’ve already made a couple of choices which I’ll reveal early in the year but for know I’m working on the friends and family thing first. I’ve never really used Skype although had it installed for ages. I finally imported my contacts from my address book and hope to make sure of that more to keep in contact. I’ve also decided that once a week I’m going to pick a facebook contact I’ve not spoken to in ages and send them a message.

The second thing I’m attempting to do is find some creative inspiration. I’m hunting out photography blogs and project ideas but i’m also trying to find something to inspire me. I suppose what I’m asking anyone reading this is, what inspires you?