This time of year is tough for most photographers. I am still flat out with wedding work, also still very busy with commercial and news jobs. For me there are two bottlenecks the first for me is 'desk time', the busier I am the more time I need behind the desk editing uploading and filing.This obviously becomes a vicious circle. The second bottleneck is IT - we deal with tens of thousands of images a week and when it is busy it is hard for the IT to keep up. I try to do tasks overnight where possible but this clearly is not always possible. Today I find myself in one of those becalmed places. I have tons to do, a multi page to-do list with a heap that needs finishing now. The reality is that all three machines are flat out processing and I need a little break. So what does a photographer do for a break? I took my canine sidekicks Bob and Marley for a walk and of course took my camera. Last week I pitched for a commercial job and am still reeling from being told that my work is 'Too commercial' and 'not what we are looking for'. Bizarrely I actually got the work but it got me thinking. What is too commercial, is it the same as a wedding photographer being too weddingy or too portraity - is it that mountain of consistent work that we are all guilty of producing. Or is it just about delivering what the customer wants.Through the hectic, busy, silly season you get your head down and deliver images - eventually! I like to think of myself as a creative but art can quickly become a service industry and producing the safe image is the name of the game. I am always advising people about how important personal projects are - they can be what defines you. A chance to take risks, make mistakes and produce what you want, not what you think your customer wants. I will be kicking off some simple little projects that I have been thinking about for a while. If you are interested in getting involved let me know. Anyway back to the walk - a few images from the hedgerows. The beauty of nature with just one light - the big one in the sky

A Picture or Two - Becalmed

Alan Langley