In some professions illness and injury are just a hazard of the job.

For the first time in my 40+ years of life, I have caught the ‘dreaded lurgy’. Not man-flu or man-bola, I have won the battle of those harsh illness’ on a handful of occasions but this time its a chest infection; leaving me short of breath, pyrexic, lethargic and coughing up nasty thick green phlegm.

I’m not a sickly person but this time I have just had to go with it and give in. Two different lots of antibiotics and various over the counter medications with plenty of rest and use of my very rock ‘n’roll hot water bottle (it has a faux fur cover).

This also means that I have not been taking photos for a couple of weeks and this will be the second week I will show up at class without completing the homework assignments.

To be honest I’ve been feeling pretty sorry for myself and didn’t want to go in last week, nor do I want to go in this week. Problem is, the course feels very much more geared towards the commercial side of the industry and I already have a sense that I can not afford to skip any classes.

I still have a bronchial cough and feel fatigued but there is no more yucky stuff being expelled. I believe my infectious period is over so if I go into class I am confident I’m not going to be passing The Dreaded Lurgy onto my class mates.

Although I have been stuck indoors I have done some work towards planning my next two projects, purchased a .com domain name and had a little practice at some retouching images on photoshop.

Portraiture is going to be one of my topics and one of the genres I have started to really enjoy.

Sometime ago I was thinking about buying a mannequin so I can practice different lighting and really start to nail certain looks and moods.

Why a mannequin? Anyone that takes photos and has needed to practice portraiture will know that friends and family only have so much patience; mannequins don’t fidget, need to run to the loo, want a cigarette break and don’t give that ‘I’m bored now’ look. 😉

Using a mannequin would also give me freedom to take my time or break up the day with a stroll to the shops or to pop out for lunch. Something I might need to give more thought to. In the mean time here are a couple of mannequins from a trip to Barcelona earlier in the year.

Its possible I may have posted them before because they are so much more fun than what we tend to see in the UK. However, I have done some minor retouching as I think post capture processing is going to carry more importance this year.

The retouching was very quick and intended to just familiarise myself with the functions rather than being a finished product.

Thanks for looking.

Jim Jimmy James