Launching the fleet
Launching the fleet is a weekly blog where I bring you along on my voyage to become a master of my talents. Throwing them all together to propel my creative practice and how this will help to assist my clients with their projects and ambitions.
I want to explore my journey to become a freelancer and creative who combines writing, photography, design, and videography. And what could be a better way to do this than through a journal?
This journal is personal, a memoir if you will. Which will hopefully assist you with your creative practise.
Monday 10th June
I think it is important that I tell you guys the point of this little writing blog. Its purpose is first to entertain but then also to show this wonderful world of being freelance. The good and the bad, the struggles and the freedoms.
I have been practicing creativity for a while. But I am now at the point where I am hoping to make money and be that little bit more professional with how I go about being creative, while also trying to pay the rent.
My niche and my angle are that I can describe myself simply as a creative. This is because I have experience and abilities in the world of photography, videography, and writing. Some might say I am the complete package.
Rather than doing the typical and often justified thing of pigeonholing myself into a creative field, I'm going broad; very broad.
But I know my style and what I enjoy and that is creating around the sphere of ‘lifestyle’ content from food to adventure, from fashion to travel, and the adventures I find in these different aspects of ‘lifestyle’ content.
And funnily enough, Falmouth in Cornwall, UK might just be the best place to get started on this voyage. I am surrounded by extremely talented and creative people doing so many different things for so many different clients. So, to use a boring over-used word, there is a market for my work down here in this little corner of the British Isles.
I am so excited to finally begin my journey to become a well-rounded freelance creative. But I am already starting to notice the copious amount of work that I will need to do so that I can be successful; it's going to be a busy summer!
And why am I calling it launching the fleet? Well, I live by the sea right, and boats and ships are cool, at least I think so. And a fleet is a group of ships, and my talents are also a group, so it works; I hope.
So, hop on board and come with me on this adventure. Join me every Monday and start your week right. I will be celebrating other creatives along the way and showing you the goings-on in the creative freelancing world, at least in my little corner.
Monday 17th June
Summer is in full swing down here in Cornwall. With the glorious sun and the famous Cornish light comes socializing. This for me means cold cider in waterside pubs, morning black coffee from my favourite coffee shop Beacon Coffee, and fishing from secluded spots along Falmouth's picturesque coastline.
The sun is hanging high in the sky late into the evening and rising from its slumber in the small hours of the morning. Despite the abundance of daylight, the past week has been one of socializing and spending time with distant friends who had come down to visit, making up for the lost time.
Therefore, this has meant current projects have been placed slightly on the back burner. And plans and the necessary steps needed to bring them forward had rather halted. But it’s a new week, the calendar is looking slightly clearer. I do not predict the pouring of too many pints for me this week, but maybe a few more coffees.
My current project, this being the refreshing of a restaurant's brand is starting to get into full swing. I have had my first business meeting as a freelancer. This was fun, relaxed, and yet productive. My recent purchase of a new camera lens for my Fujifilm X-H1 has greatly assisted my output and motivation for capturing photographic and videography content. Momentum is shifting back in my favor.
The next week shall bring further steps along this road of pulling together a compelling pitch regarding the refresh of the restaurant brand. And I will also be doing some networking with other freelancers to learn from and hopefully collaborate with.
It is still early days for this blog/ journal and so I am still figuring out the quirks and navigating what is and isn’t relevant to put in here. But so far, it's helping me understand how I define myself as a freelancer and hopefully, it's giving you a slight insight or at least a slight chuckle maybe even a smile.
Monday 24th June
This week has been busy! From working at my chef job at a steak restaurant to creating branding content for the very same restaurant. This branding is my first attempt at a larger project, making up this project is photography, videography, writing, social media management and general project management.
It is a proper test. A test of how I can pull my fleet of talents together so that I can deliver for a real-world client. With the added challenge of working a chef job at the same place at the same time. Yes, this gives me an edge as I have the inside knowledge of the brand and the direction the project needs to go to succeed. But it is challenging juggling all aspects.
There is a proposed end date for the final composition of the content I have and will be producing. This is a couple of weeks from today. I have a lot on my plate with this project and it is a juggling act to keep all these plates spinning. But I am learning a lot as I go, and it is a great opportunity to gain real-world client-focused experience.
The sun is sitting high in the sky and for considerably longer. We have just passed the summer solstice so Falmouth and Cornwall are truly showing their best colours and all the wonderful things this county can offer on sunny clear days. From early morning swims to late evening fishing with an odd pub quiz in between.
Life is good, life is busy. Plenty of sun tans to get and tourists to serve. The energy is up, and the creative opportunities are truly in full bloom.
Tuesday 2nd July
The weeks just keep rolling on, don’t they? This blog is making that obvious. I seem to get busier as time goes on. I sometimes think back to when I was last not so busy and that must have been when I was about ten. But I think this adapting I must do so that I don’t implode is something most people in their early twenties experience. But I would rather have the stress of being busy than the fear of being bored.
I say that but avoiding burnout is a struggle, but that’s ok. Life ebbs and flows and we must adjust our sails to stay afloat. This burnout is truly showing itself, mainly in the fact that I am posting this update to the blog a day late. Something I hope not to make a habit of!
The irony of being your twenties but feeling like you’re running out of time (a line from Dan Whitlam’s song young minds) holds so much truth, almost too much. From socializing, to working to keep the lights on and a roof over my head to then pursuing my creative practise all whilst trying to full fill the requirements of an MA dissertation. Its certainly a lot.
But maybe this is where in life we find beauty. Amongst the chaos of a storm of things to do, the beauty shows itself in those moments of growth and purpose. In completing both big and small tasks. Living up to the demands of working in a kitchen and then be rewarded with the delight of customers to getting recognition for creative prowess. This beauty maybe hard to spot often but it is there. Sulking behind the façade of our busy lives.
Tuesday 9th July
That’s right it's been another week. My first-ever branding project for a real-world client is coming to an end. I am in the process of pulling together the pitch, which I will present to the business owners in the coming weeks. I am bringing together the different aspects of content I produced for the brand, combining this with an analysis of the approach and comparing this to other brands.
It has been fun doing this project, it has but it has been a lot of work to squeeze in between other aspects of life. It's given me an insight into the branding freelancing world and it’s a chaotic one, to say the least, but like I said it is fun.
But with this coming to an end, and other projects starting to find their feet, I'm in a transition period. Finishing one piece of work and moving on to others. Frustratingly at this same time, burnout is truly setting in. There are a lot of things for me to look forward to, from moving into a new house and committing to another year in Falmouth, to finally learning how to drive and beginning training toward becoming a Junior Sou in a kitchen. Oh, and I also have my sailing course at the end of the month, the Royal Yacht Association competent crew course. An intense week of learning how to sail whilst living on a yacht in close quarters with strangers. Should be fun right?
I have interviews booked and this next feature I am writing around the evolution of the modern chef industry is close to my heart, because of my personal experience of it and most prominently the mental health struggles that seem to go hand in hand with it. The opportunity to explore this with accomplished and engrained individuals is a privilege I won't take for granted. (The batteries in my mouse just went, frustrating).
This little journal, this little blog has proven to be a great resource for me to keep track of what is going on in this chaotic life of mine. A reflection on how I am coping with it all and the progress I am making and the realisations I am coming to along the way. So yep, I am eager to keep it up, hopefully you’re not too bored of me quite yet.
Wednesday 17th July
Honestly not much has changed since last week. Burnout is proving to be a stubborn burden to overcome. But going out to grab a coffee in the morning or simply spending time with friends is helping from watching the Euros to going on little adventures.
Sadly, I must admit it has been not easy to find the motivation to pick up my camera with everything on. The pen is proving easier to lift but still challenging. Work at the restaurant is becoming a struggle and the chaos of working in hospitality is starting to show especially during the busy and unpredictable summer months. But the weather isn’t following suit. It's rainy and grey most days and the humidity is up.
The chaos of being busy and the spinning of the many plates above my head is a challenge. But I have said it before and I'll say it again, I would much rather have the chaos of being this busy than the boredom of being idle. I must remember the adage of making hay when the sun shines. That’s what I am trying to do, to keep the embers lit and the fire going so that when these chaotic couple of months come to an end, I have something to show for it. From becoming a better driver, learning to sail and completing a master's. I am sat at a tipping point, and it feels like I could fall either way, be that into success or failure. I think I’m tipping in the right direction.
This summer, these next few weeks, is simply about me getting my head down, stoking the flames and reminding myself of the reasons I am facing these challenges and that it will be all worth it in the end. I am sorry to say this may not be the most positive of journal posts but for me, it’s about maintaining clarity and direction. Penning these thoughts and emotions down is certainly helping. I know next week's post will be more positive. I am heading in the right direction. I will prove this to you and myself. Just wait and see.
Wednesday 24th July
I do think this post is gonna be more positive than last week's. As I have said before though, the current chaos is not likely to subside for some time, it's looking like the next couple of weeks. But I am starting to notice the positive small things mixed amongst it all, a little better.
The weather still is dreadful but that hasn’t changed much other than slightly dampening the mood. The hospitality industry is still treating me to its beautiful chaos. I'm still driving, slowly but surely that’s coming together. I just wish there were some tests!
In terms of photography that still definitely is on the back burners, but I do have a small photoshoot planned this evening but nothing major. Pen very much still in hand. My week of sailing, the competent crew course is approaching next week so I best get packing. I best get packing especially because I am moving house a couple of days after returning from this mini adventure.
I hope all will settle down by the beginning of September, at the end of the course and having settled into a new house. But part of me has a sneaky little suspicion that things might never settle down again. Or at least maybe until I retire, which seems like a ridiculous thought to have but at the same time life seems to get busier and busier, showing no signs of tapping on the brakes.
I will be starting a mini poetry collection, titled ‘Twenty-something’, where I am hoping to help myself and hopefully, others process the messed-up nature of being twenty-something. I am planning on posting the first poem tomorrow. But as chaos ensues, I make no promises.
So, there we are another week rolled on and before I knew it, I am sure I'll be sitting down again to write for this blog soon. Although there will not be a post next week due to my being upon the waves, I am sure a larger addition will follow soon after! See you then.
I had to dive into the back catalogue here to taste Black and White. Trust me it suits the weather.
Wednesday 7th August
Okay, I'm finally sitting back down at a desk not even my desk to get back into the creative flow. The last time I left you guys was just before I was off sailing for a week and moving house, that very same week. But as of now I have completed the sailing course and obtained a Royal Yacht Association Competent Crew qualification and I'm in my new house. It's been a little hectic. And all this time firmly in the back of my mind has been and still is the looming deadline of my final project, for my masters. Most likely my last ever academic adventure.
This is going to be a slightly longer piece. Don’t get bored, I have a lot more to pen down. It's refreshing to get back to writing even simply after just a week off. But this past week, the sailing course has been a refreshing adventure. I could switch off from the tumultuous world and simply focus on pulling the right rope, holding the appropriate course and heading and raising the right sail so it's tight and catches the wind. The wind, we just did not have quite enough off, at least on the first couple of days.
The sun shone bright and strong, but the wind did not show. The sea was calm and still like an isolated lake waves were miniscule and irrelevant and yet the vast openness of being on the water, the great big sky above afforded time for thought and contemplation. I took photographs and videos of passing feeding pods of dolphins and colonies of Gannets dive-bombing the passing sholes of migrating mackerel.
But the wind did find our sails and so we sailed. At night by navigation buoys and practised racing lines heeling against the wind. It felt like we might capsize. We navigated bays and headlands, finding quiet anchorages to shelter from the rocking swells and sailed into historic ports to pick up olive oil and of course the odd pint. It was indeed a needed escape, refresh and obtainment of a clearer perspective. The next step for me with sailing is to simply find a crew and get back on the water. There is peace to be had out on the waves.
But I am happy to be getting back to the flow. To be writing once more. Putting together the content I have gathered over the last couple of months: the words, the interviews, the videos and the photography. Through my content consumption, I am made aware of the trends within the copywriting and photography spheres. And what I have been noticing within both aspects is the profound step towards vulnerability and putting the artist within the work. This is what I have seen from larger branding/advertisement campaigns to smaller copy or photographic endeavours.
It seems to me that within the world around us and how we are constantly bombarded with content and calls to action. The way to stand out and yet fit the trend is to be personable and relatable. I have seen this within my friends who are embarking upon this creative journey, where not simply is their work a financial pursuit but rather it is who they are, and they put their heart and soul into the projects on which they find themselves.
This however does seem to result in a fair few burnouts and yet the work being made is substantially more profound because of this. There seems to me to be a greater moral investment by companies and individuals producing creative content. And this can only be a positive.
I believe that because I have recognised this vulnerability present within contemporary content creation, I am starting to gain a greater understanding of my practice. Both with how I write, communicate and photograph. And that simply is quite formal and maybe a little flashy and poetic. An approach I have recently found myself trying to fight against and yet I think that I am realising that this is my defining and strengthening trait. How I will stand out and set myself apart from the pack.
It's important despite the mad panic of life, to take a moment and step back. View your life in its entirety and appreciate its terrible beauty. I am also about to begin a small poetic project to help and thus hopefully help you explore this.
I have given you a little more to chew over this week, until next. Vulnerability is, I'm slowly discovering, the key to compelling contemporary content creation. So be brave, embrace the fear and simply create. Pour your heart and soul into what you do and make it worthwhile, and I am sure the results will come. Oh, and the move went well, I’m settling in.
Wednesday 27th August
It's been a couple of weeks. Simply I have not had the chance to sit down and contemplate the time that has flown by. My plate is full, and my belly is half empty. A lot has been going on, I had thought to myself that by this time, after having moved into my new home and having finished the sailing course I would have more freedom, but this has not proved to be the case.
This rainy August is proving to be a significantly defining and busy period of my life. The first and smallest part is driving, I'm making progress, and I am on the cusp of actually being able to drive, time to find a test, a near-impossible task. And yet this endeavour falls to the bottom of my priority list currently.
In just the past couple of weeks, my work in the kitchen has exploded. I have gone from having maybe 15-plus hours a week to over 40. Why is this? I am being trained as a Junior Sous Chef and in just a short week I will be running the restaurant kitchen for three full days, an ominous and gigantic jump from being a kitchen assistant. The level of responsibility and pressure Is high and bordering on overwhelming, but it is indeed an exceptional and rare opportunity to prove myself. To gain knowledge and experience in an industry that provides challenges you cannot find in any other workplace.
Oh yes and, I am in the last couple weeks of my master's degree in professional writing. It's Sod's law once again. Major life-altering instances are colliding once more at the very same time. I am not complaining simply this is an expression.
But why once more am I expressing myself to you again? This is because I am hoping through my professional practice to be relatable and honest. Something I hope will define me as a writer, photographer and videographer.
Part of my achieving this ability to be relatable and honest is to not present my world, the world of a professional content creator as one of being anything but chaotic, stressful and tumultuous but at the very same time incredibly rewarding, exciting and beautiful. This world of trying to be creative and be successful at it whatever that might look like is stupendously soul draining, but this is because it becomes who you are. Your inner thoughts, what creeps up in your dreams and the voice in the back of your head. This creative inner essence can and will guide you on your way propelling you forward but sometimes after sustained periods, the voice grows louder and louder, before you know it, they are screaming, and deafening and it gives you a taste of early-onset tinnitus.
I have absolutely and unequivocally fallen in love with my creative practice and the person it has made me, since I first started writing stories and taking photos, through first and secondary school and into university where I was essentially paid a wage to study the creation of work I wanted to create and finally into this masters. The simple ability to learn and grow from the things I love is a true blessing and privilege which I shall never take for granted.
I might be getting a little soppy here, but I am turning a new page, ending the chapter and any other reading-based pun you and I can think of to do with a new beginning. I am at the end of my academic journey, for now… but that does not mean in the slightest I will stop learning and growing. Again, why am I telling you this? I hope that expressing my journey in its truest form may help you to either gain an understanding of the path of the creative so you can take it forward or simply come to better understand my work and practice so we may work as well as possible side by side in the future.
But this might be my last post for a little while. It’s time for me to take a little break, a short one I must emphasise. Time for me to focus on myself for a little while without the pressure of university, so I can turn my attention to my day-to-day life, my work and my plans for the future both big and small. Believe me though that I shall not lay down my camera or pen for too long. And I am sure you shall read these little words of mine once more in the weeks and months to follow. It's important we take a break, a step back from the chaos to take it all in, to appreciate the undeniable frantic lives we lead and learn from it the good, the bad and the ugly, each just as important as the other.
So, for now, take care, look after yourselves, keep creating however you see fit and stay tuned for more to come. Thank you for reading thus far and for hopefully reading in the not-so-distant future.
