Small Update

A Small Update

As I’m just starting out with this blog, i just want to clarify what it will be about.

Pretty much anything that interests me, and most probably you.  Things that will educate and be fun.

A ‘Jack of All Trades’ if you will.  It stemmed from an idea put into my head when i was learning about photography.  Someone told me i couldn’t be good at different genres, that it would be countermount to giving up being a master at just one of them, or words to that effect.

My feeling is, you don’t have to pick between being great at one thing, or mediocre at many things. Why can’t you learn to be good at whatever you want?

Learning isn’t a Zero Sum activity at all.

The way is see it is, knowing a little of everything is sometimes better than having one specific specialist skill.

Quora Designer David Cole puts it in a great way. ‘Would you rather carve a door 1% better than you did last year, or learn how to build the rest of the house in the same amount of time?’

The argument is, the connective tissue between these skills may actually be more valuable than incremental gains in a single practice.

For instance

I’m a pretty good all-rounder when it comes down to IT. I work with everything from Desktop PC’s to Server and Network Related Services.

With Photography I’m a pretty good Astroscape photographer, but also quite good with portraiture.  Check out my other blog on my photography page HERE.

I love learning.  I love understanding techniques and look at something with an eye to actually learning how to do it.

I renovated my house from top to bottom last year.  through electrical, plumbing, tiling, plastering, kitchen and bathroom fitting, I either did, or got my hand in to learn about the processes.

That’s what i think we should all do.

Learn about the things that make you feel good.  Make amazing things, be able to mend and repair items.

This blog will be about that.

Here’s a list of some of the things I have in mind

Building a Garden Workshop (well I need somewhere for my projects)
Building a Pergola in the garden.  Notice I’m starting with the big impressive stuff.
Cooking a fantastic paella
Tying a Tie a couple of different ways
Repairing some old tools and other bits and bobs.
Upcycling furniture
Hopefully some Forging!!
Knifemaking
Maybe a Motorbike Rebuild
Dressmaking and Sewing (for repairing and also I want to make some amazing props for my photography)
How to prepare Animals for cooking like fish and game.
How to take a good Portrait Photo
And on and on……

Some are going to be fun, some interesting, but hopefully all useful in some way.

I will be making sure that if you like what I’ve done, and some of the things I make will surely hit etsy, or ebay at some point that you can grab these items, or if you want to do it yourself, links to the kit I use so you can grab it yourself.

This world is full of rich experiences, and learning experiences, and I want to seize as many as possible.

 

 

Any suggestions or advice, shoot me an email or drop a comment.  Always happy to share and always happy to understand process better.
Or even twitter

About Me.

I’m Gareth, a 38 year old IT contractor, Photographer, Optimist, Blogger, Dad and Maker/Restorer of things.
Trying to make my life as full as possible with learning experiences, and helping others along the way.
I love cooking, making, restoring/upcycling boxes, doing fun stuff with my family, photography, giving myself skills and learning something new everyday.
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