I feel like I’ve spent much of the weekend looking at job vacancies for my son – he hasn’t asked me to, but as his dad, it’s my natural desire to help him as much as I can. He will need to get his CV updated before he can apply for any of them though, which he will hopefully do this week – his colleagues have said they will help him with this and also coach him on interview techniques.
It’s quite a positive sign that there are a number of vacancies in the local area that look like they will be a good match for his experience, although some of them specify a specific qualification that he doesn’t have. I’m hopeful that this will not be too much of a hurdle as the different qualification he does have, plus his on the job experience, may be sufficient.
And, just because this is my photo blog, here’s another photograph of a classic car.
Fujica GW690 & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Following yesterday’s bad news, I’m feeling a bit low at present. Doing all you can to ensure your kids (no matter their age) are happy is a massive responsibility and driving force of being a parent, so until the current situation around my son’s future job situation is resolved I expect that I’ll likely be unhappy to some degree.
At present, there is a lot of things that are unknown, especially because it is the weekend, and I really don’t like uncertainty. Once a plan is in place to get things back on track – and most importantly of all, my son is happy – I think I’ll start to feel better. Although I’m somewhat shell-shocked about it all, I’m positive for his future and will continue to reassure him that everything will turn out ok, because I’m certain it will.
I’ll still hopefully post here each day, but there may be pictures only more often than not. As much as I love photography, it’s importance to me is as nothing compared to the welfare of my children, and it feels difficult to give it much attention right now.
In an attempt to publish something bright and cheerful, here’s a colourful red classic Cadillac.
Fujica GW690 & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I decided to go into the office today, rather than working from home as I usually do. This afternoon I received a phone-call from my son asking if I was at home as he’d left work early and not taken his key. After explaining that I was out but that his mum was at the local shops, I asked him why he was home early, to which he said he’d tell me later.
A short while after, my wife called me. It turns out that he’s been told that he will not be kept on when his apprenticeship ends next month. He’s been there for over two years and done good work, making friends and getting on well with his colleagues, and achieving a Distinction pass for his apprenticeship course work. There was no indication that his contract would not be made permanent. Apparently the business has decided that they want someone with a higher level of experience to fill the role.
He’s obviously pretty upset about this. Not only does he now have to start looking for a new job, he’s also sad that he will be leaving the friends he has made. While there is some possibility of him finding another role at the same company, I’m not sure if this will happen or not, or if any vacancies there will suit his skills or be what he wants to do. I feel aggrieved and angry that someone has upset him in this way.
I feel absolutely heartbroken for him. I remember how happy he was when he first found out he’d been successful interviewing for the apprentice role. This was just after covid, and he was pretty anxious about things. He was also anxious when he first started in the role – unsure about what it would be like, or the people he would be working with – but he soon settled in and we were very pleased and happy for him that he had landed a good position. Now he will have to start the process again.
Of course, he now has two years of proper work experience under his belt, both in terms of the specialist area he’s been working in, and also his general on the job experience and skills building – something which is very valuable – so I do think he’ll be able to find another job without too much difficulty. He has also been promised help and support from his manager and colleagues (who are not responsible for the decision to not employ him in his current role). I just wish he didn’t have to go through the stress of this.
No matter how old or independent your kids are, you never stop being a parent. You just want to hug them and kiss them and make everything all right.
Apropos of nothing, a picture of a car.
Fujica GW690 & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I spoke to the owner of this truck and asked if the rusty patina was a deliberate choice (as I suspected) and he confirmed it was. Apparently he treats the scuffs with Linseed oil as it forms a barrier to prevent further corrosion, while allowing the weathered look to be maintained.
Fujica GW690 & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
One of the old vehicles lovingly maintained by the South Yorkshire Transport Museum (or two, if you count the one partially out of frame at the right).
I remember riding on this model of bus – a Leyland Atlantean – when I was younger. It doesn’t look all that dated in style to my eyes, but these were first introduced into service in Sheffield in 1968, before I was even born!
Fujica GW690 & Lomography Color Negative 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Three more classic cars photographed at this year’s Classics on The Moor event. This marks the last of the shots I took on Kodak Ektar, but I’ve got pictures from a roll of Lomography Color Negative 400 AND a roll of expired Kodak Plus-X still to come…
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Following yesterday’s photos of Ford Capri’s, here are a couple of shots of it’s stablemate, the Cortina. If the Capri was the British equivalent of a US fastback, then the Cortina was probably it’s muscle-car brother – most particularly, I think, in the Mk III version.
The one shown here is a Mk II, which while still a nice looking car, lacks the sculpted shape of it’s descendant.
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
If there was one car that most teenage boys yearned for when I was such an age, it was the Ford Capri – Britain’s version of the fastback coupes and saloons from across the pond. It was obviously smaller than it’s transatlantic cousins, and was supposedly a bit of a pig to drive – stories abound of having to put a bag of cement in the boot to improve the handling – but it looked cool and Bodie, from the popular TV show The Professionals drove one.
Ford recently brought back the Capri name in a new model, but it really doesn’t have the same appeal, being a boxy, squashed-looking design nothing akin to the sleekly desirable air of the original versions.
Here are a few old Capri’s at this year’s Classics on the Moor event in Sheffield.
Fujica GW690 & Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
I’ve photographed St Peter’s church at Elmton on a number of occasions before, and posted the results on the blog here, here, and here.
I decided to drive past again to finish off this roll of film, with a plan to shoot the church building with its low, squat tower, from a different angle. Ala, it wasn’t to be – the light wasn’t great and the fixed prime lens on the GW690 introduced limitations on how I could frame a shot, essentially meaning I’d have had excessive converging verticals, or the tips of gravestones poking into the bottom of the frame. In the end, I decided to take a picture of this small outhouse affixed to the rear of the building. The weathered door, and caretaker’s paraphernalia served to add a little interest.
