First Post

So this is the first blog post in this brand new blog. As a full time photographer and teacher of photography I'm well used to being out front and nominally talking about myself. But that's a character, I hide behind the camera and use it as a defensive shield. This is all about me.
I moved to the Midlands of England a couple of years. Transplanted from my Northern roots in a haze of post divorce decision making.
It took a while to make the transition in my head. I didn't settle for a year or more and was a fairly solitary beast. If I'm being totally honest I wasn't in the best of places in my own head and it took a while to realise that. Emerging from that darkness is still work in progress and I'll keep you updated on that.
Changing location, living alone though allowed me to explore a range of new experiences. I'd always been interested in cooking but could now go to town. What better than a new recipe book, a bottle of wine and a cracking meal as a result? Well it's a great thing to do but every day gets a bit wearing on the body and I ballooned.
It was only really when I started dating again that I realised just how many shirts didn't fit. How far that belt had been let out.
Still though there wasn't a great impetus to make a change. I still hid behind some beers, wine and food as a deflection from other stuff.
Then two dramatic things happened in my life. The first was that some of the fog that had been in my head for a couple of years started to lift. I actually started to feel that this was my life and I was a bit more settled in the area. Then I met someone.
Nervous as a kitten our first date was a fab chat with someone I felt very, very comfortable with. Not least when much of our talk revolved around music and food.
That was about three months ago and we're now a thing and still talking about food and music whilst I introduce her into my world of photography. I've been to Gin Festivals in that time and shown her the studio and got her a camera so we've both moved out of our comfort zones. One thing we have convinced each other of is the need, for both of us to lose weight.
Having looked around we decided that neither of us liked being told not to do something or had the time and energy to calorie count and weigh out every portion of food. We didn't want a diet that kept us away from booze, chocolate, kebabs etc but instead focussed us on why they weren't always great for our bodies.
We decided that the principals of the Slimming World plan met our goals and lifestyle. Denial of some stuffs but lots and lots of others and a general sense that whatever you want is ok but in moderation.
We're not going to classes to do this but there is an online plan you can follow but a friend brought around a ton of cookbooks and explanation books and it all seemed relatively straightforward.
The first thing you start with is a weigh in. GULP. Fear and trepidation and ................ just shy of 18 stone. Wow. As a young rugby player I'd have loved to be up at that weight. As a half centurion that explained some of the little noises when getting up, tieing laces etc.
And that comes to the first image above. My first meal prepared under the new regime. I'll share the journey with you, whoever you are, I hope it provides some inspiration for both photography and food.
This meal was meatballs and pasta. Everything in it is something you can eat until it comes out of your ears according to the plan. The meatballs are turkey mince, the pasta is dried tagliatelli and the sauce a mix of tinned tomatoes, garlic, onions and spinach with some thyme and fresh basil for more flavour. Tastes great and providing you only use a little 1 cal spray to cook things in then all is good. Had I used some olive oil or the like then it would count as a Syn point or two (I'm allowed around 15 a day).
Darned tasty, extremely filling and not at all a feeling being denied anything.
So we're off and running. More updates to come, if you've any questions. Ask away.
FFP (The Full Fat Photographer)