Knickers in an Insta-twist

Oh it is a sad day for fans of Instagram today isn't it? In case anyone is not up to speed (although if your Facebook is anything like mine, you'll have read this 47 times already this afternoon), today Instagram have announced a change to their terms and conditions which will allow them to to sell people's Instagram shots with no credit or payment to the original photographer.

You can read more about this here. 

Obviously I get that this is a bit crap because who wants their photos making money if it isn't for their own pocket. I follow a lot of professional photographers on Instagram and their only option to keep their rights over their photos seems to be to delete their account before 16 January. That I can understand - clearly if you are a pro photographer then you don't want your photos sold behind your back. However, what I am struggling to understand are all the people on my Facebook and my real life friends who simply use Instagram as a sort of daily diary and post the odd photo of their shoes or a cupcake. For a start, if the photo is not well tagged, which most of them aren't, no-one will be able to find one that they want to buy anyway. Secondly, I am not making any money from those photos so if someone wants to use one of mine for something then I am not bothered as they are not taking anything from me personally. Thirdly, I do feel like all these people who are claiming to have some kind of "artistic right" to those photos is kind of kidding themselves. I think the creators of Instagram gave us these photo effects for nothing, and I enjoy using them, for free every single day of my life. If they want to make money back from that then fine, I really couldn't care less. I am hearing a few people saying that Instagram might sell their photos to a company with a bad ethical policy and therefore that company could make money from my photo. Well I don't think that argument can realistically apply to ANYONE who shops in Asda Walmart, gets coffees from Starbucks or buys eBooks from Amazon - these companies have terrible policy and if you shop there, they are already making money from you! So nothing will change. 

I think I am mostly peed off because I love Instagram, it is by far my favourite iphone app and you could say I am a bit addicted to it. I won't delete my account but I fear that of the 200 people I follow on it, about half will. And that is sad as I like looking at people's photos. Bloody Instagram. Anyway I will leave you for now with an Instagram shot of my beautiful new camera!

Lomography Belair - CitySlicker

Are you guys "insta-addicts"? Will you be deleting your accounts now? And am I just totally missing the point?
P.S. I am not even sure if this Instagram thing will happen to be honest, because of all the bad press and the fact that millions of users are threatening to go elsewhere. Fingers crossed!

Back with a bit of a change

So I have had a five month long hiatus from blogging, and to be fair, I can't say I have missed it a huge amount. I saw my friend Rachel for the first time in ages, and she has lured me back (I think so that she has some friends and looks popular or something!). Hi Rach, if you're reading this (you'd better be after making me return to the dark side when I ought to be ironing). I think the thing is, I am not a fashion blogger, and I am certainly not a photographer so trying to make my blog be about those things, just isn't going to work. Sure I love Instagram as much as the next iphone addict, and I intend to share a bit of Lomo every now and again, but in terms of having stuff to say, I can't just write about what I am wearing (because it is usually boring and from Asda!), where I have been (often just Nandos - multiple times in a week) and the X factor (although I do love it, I just don't have a lot to add which hasn't already come up on Twitter). That is not to say I don't LOVE reading that on other people's blogs, it really appeals to my nosey nature!

So Rachel's advice to me (for she is a seasoned blogger herself now) was to write about things I care about, or things that have captured my interest lately. This seemed like good advice, because today I have already planned out 3 entries! The first of which will be published in the next few days I hope. It is a bit deep, and I know I will probably use some of the few readers I already have, but I can't really care about that, as it is more important that I write for me now. So my first entry is going to be about Lord Longford (go Google it if you are unsure who he is as I won't go into a lot of detail about all that) and how I feel about his wacky and often frowned upon views. Sorry if that is really boring to a lot of people but it is just who I am! Hope to see someone back here tomorrow, even if it is just Rachel.

On a separate note, here are some photos of me and Dave at the Olympics a few weeks ago - we had a great time watching the women's weightlifting!

Me with Holly Mangold (USA)

Inside of the ExCel Centre

I hope you have all had a great Bank Holiday and that it hasn't been ruined with this Best of British rain we are having!

My mum

 Just a quick post today, as I am bogged down at the moment in new work ventures. Sorry I have been a bit absent this past week, I have been split in about 4 different directions with work and Dave has been a bit poorly with his stomache (again!). Anyway, with it being Mother's Day here in the UK I thought I would write a little bit about my Mum. 
My whole life I have been a proper Daddy's girl - we like the same music, love the ocean, laugh at the same jokes and I even look loads like him. Growing up, I loved my Mum the same amount as my Dad but always felt we had nothing in common and man could we argue! As I have got older however, and moved away from home, I have started to notice how brilliant my mum actually is. She is the one who stays in touch (honestly I think if it was left up to Dad to call me we'd only hang out once a year at Christmas!). We talk more now too, about everything, and often her advice is the only person's that matters to me. Also, every single day I realise I am turning into her, which, when I was a teenager would have horrified me I think, but now, I am proud to be a chip off the old block. As I meet other people's mothers (and sad to say, my mother in law is a great example), it only reinforces the idea that my Mum is the best Mum in the world. She is hard as nails, not like she gets in pub brawls or does weights at the gym or anything, but she is emotionally tough. When my Nan (rest in peace) had her stroke a few years ago, and all Mum's siblings gathered round sobbing, Mum was off driving to a nearby town to collect essentials so that Nan could stay at home and not have to go into care. You can't fail to be impressed by these levels of practicality!!! 
She is also tough in other ways, and I realise these points may be a bit controversial but I will try to explain. My Mum struggles to comprehend certain illnesses, like if she denies they exist then they can never happen to her. In a way I realise this sounds impossible and ridiculous, however, I know and have always known that if I ever went to my Mum and said something like "Mum I have become an alcoholic", she wouldn't buy it because it isn't a thing in her head. She would lock me in my room for as long as it took for me to not be addicted anymore. And although there are probably human rights issues in that area, I can't disagree that sometimes tough love is the only answer. That is a very crude example and of course I am not suggesting that alcohol addiction is not a real problem (after all, I do work at probation!) but it is the best example I can come up with. But in Mum's head, that is how it is and if she doesn't buy into it then it is easy to fix! 
Another quality that I think I have of hers is trying to please people. I always try to do what I think other people need of me and I like that. I know that in some ways I can be a bit selfish (hey, who isn't?) but in this way I really take after my Mum and when deciding on something I always try to factor all parties into the mix. Sometimes Mum chastises me for this and says that I am getting used or people are walking all over me but she is exactly the same!
Anyway, enough drivel and I need some sleep now - sorry if this is a bit of an incoherent entry! Here are some of my favourite ever PostSecrets about Mums.

Yeah it is!

This used to be true - Still respect her but don't talk shit about her anymore

What are your Mum's best qualities that you would like to inherit?