As a lover of photography exhibitions I recently attended the Stories from Somalia Exhibition at the Foto8  Gallery.  The photos at the exhibition had been donated by award winning photojournalists such as Sebastian Rich, Kate Holt, Virgina Luling and Ed Ou. The photos captured the events of the past four decades expereienced by these photographers who bravely addressed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Somalia that has affected tens of thousands of people.  

The exhibition was organized by The Somali Relief & Development Forum to raise funds for their Education programme. My initial plan was just to go down and support and check out the photo’s and get some inspiration as a budding photographer myself. Little did I expect that I would end up falling in love with one of the picture which I ended up bidding for and winning.

The Photo was taken in 1967 and captures 3 beautiful young girls carrying water in pots on their shoulders.

I think the event was a success as they raised £6K for education sponsorships project in Somalia.

For more images from the exhibition and auction click here . Also visit the Website and find out how you can get involved.

Strangly enough I don’t do New Year resolutions per say, so I don’t class these as such. I am setting these goals now why wait till the New Year. These are some of my goals for next year (and now) and if I have learnt anything at work it is to make any goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound ) but fear not I wont be boring you with the finer details of my goal setting. I am sure as the months go by, and I start to cross my goals off my list I will be adding more to this goal list if I do I will keep you posted. So that said these are just some of my top goals for the year in no particular order;

1.     Travel More

Can be anything from a two week trip to a long weekend these are just some of the places on my wish list Ethiopia, Sweden Berlin, USA (NY, Atlanta, Wasington, Miami), Canada, Japan, China, Australia, Neq Zealand

2.     Read ‘Even’ More

Read 1-2 books every month from my ever growing reading list and post a blog about the current book I am reading.

3.     Start Driving

Take my driving and theory test so I can do a road trip somewhere exciting like the States and Ethiopia.

4.     Learn To Read And Write in Amharic

Learn to read and write in Amharic before the year is out, it either through self teaching, teaching one-to-one with a friend, joining a class so that by the end of the year I will read a book in Amharic and also write a letter to my brother in Ethiopia (that would give him a shock)

5.       Do More For Charity

Do something more than just giving money, either volunteer more, do an event, do a run anything but DO SOMETHING

6.       Do Something Daring

Do something daring, daring on my level that is something I wouldn’t even consider doing now either bungee jumping or sky diving etc.

7.       Exercise More

Well it should really say exercise full stop, as I need to just exercise rather than saying more. Whatever I decide to do whether it be to join the gym a classes do home training, run, walk whatever I need to do a hell lot more of it in my life. If I want to continue to enjoy the joys of cakes and sweets then this is a MUST!

8.       Lead a Positive and Happy Life

Keep doing what I am doing my happiness is dependent on me so KEEP working on ME

9.       Buy A House

Get that deposit sorted and buy that house of my dreams so I can invite my friends over for dinner and tea parties.

10.   Play The Bass Already

I brought a beautiful bass a few years ago with the hope of teaching myself to play. I haven’t done that successfully just yet so this year that’s my mission I want to learn at least a few cords and some tunes.

11.   Make Stuff

I have been saving some great DIY tips and steps I came across online with the hope of getting round to making some of them. So I plan to get the tools and equipment I need together to give this some of these wondrous ideas a go. I promise to post the ideas I do manage to complete.

12.   Photography

Do a course to further improve your photography skills

13     Start My Own Business

DO IT

As you can see I finally got round to doing my own website/blog, after years of consulting on other peoples websites and advicing folks to get their own done for their business etc. What do you think I hope you like. This site is really a way for you to learn more about me, what I do and can do. You will also get to see what my passions are and what inspires me (other then chocolate) from music, arts, design, styles, travel, culture, food etc.

As well as my website you can also find me on the social media sites so lets connect, lets talk, share ideas, create something, change something.

Finally before I forget if you like the site then hit up my girl Miss Diane Laidlaw  who created it.

Happy surfing I hope you enjoy.