The Conversation - Episode 3

Tuscon Jim vs. Traceyflowerpot

Tracey, I know you only by your journal, you appear to be a very busy person so thanks for letting me interview you.

And on that subject, how do you manage to juggle your family life, pets, gardening, various other hobbies, your martial arts discipline, photography and everything else?

I do manage to get through my busy day but as you say I am a very busy person, I wish I had more hours in a day as we all do, I have three lovely sons whom I love dearly and I like to spend as much time with them as possible, chatting and having a laugh, I also have Fudge (my dear rabbit) he isn't to much bother other than eating all my plants as he has free access to the garden (that's why he eats all the plants) the rest of my day is mostly taken up by photography which I love with a passion (that's after the housework etc).

Do you have any advice for those Blippers who want to improve their photography and still maintain a busy lifestyle?

Yes... It doesn't really matter how busy your day is, everyone should make a little time for themselves a day, so get your camera out and keep taking photographs, practice, practice, practice.

You have a very eclectic collection of images in your Blipfoto journal. If you had to select only one style of photography and one theme to photograph, what would they be and why?

I love all kinds of photography but I must admit I love portrait photography the most, especially when you take photographs of people and they are so happy with the images that they get a tear in their eyes as they love the way they look in them. I also love doing creative photography I feel this can add interest to some images and give them a more exciting look.

Tell us what you believe to be the most important element in a good photographic image and why is it at the top of your list?

I think the most important element to a good image is enjoying taking the image in the first place then getting home and uploading them to see the final results.

Now for the inevitable interview question. Would you share with us the "Top 10 Images" from your Blip-journal and why you selected them?

I have more than 10 images that i really like but I shall have to narrow them down as best as I can.

Light In Your Eyes - I really enjoyed taking photographs of my son Kieran on this day, he doesn't always like having his photographs taken but on this occasion we had a wonderful time.

Aaron Style - Aaron enjoyed having these photographs taken and I really like these ones of him as it is showing him turning into a young man and the fact it was some he wanted to have taken at the time.

That's My Boy - This is one of my favourite images of my oldest son Jamie, he didn't used to like having his photograph taken at all, but now he feels more relaxed and he does some lovely work for me and he loves them all which I like because now I have lots of images of him.

Summer Loving - I just love Eric to bits as you all know but this is one of my favourite images of him, it has such a lovely feel to it and it really shows off Eric's quite nature (unlike my busy one, haha).

Ready For Take Off - I adore this capture of Fudge he looks like a cool dude, Bless Him and he is not eating all of my plants.

Toffee - This is the best image I have ever taken of Toffee, she one of the most adorable pets I have ever had, she has become a little star here on blip.

A View In The Mist - i love this image as it is the place where Eric and I go most of the summer for walks and to take photographs and we always have so much fun there and it is such a beautiful place.

Light Shower - Not only did I like this photograph of Eric in the shower I think most people did, I had some very good and fun comments on this, it was nerve racking uploading but fun reading all the comments. I thought I was going to offend people but it went down well.

Me... Only Me - I like doing self portraits (not because I am a poser, haha) but to experiment with taking photographs of myself in ways I don't see myself. this is one of my recent ones and favourite.

School Days - This has to be the funniest one out of the lot my 365th Blip one, it was so funny, whatever must the neighbours have thought on that day, haha.

Describe your surroundings so we can get a feel for who TraceyFlowerPot is?

I live in a historical town surrounded by wonderful buildings and I live quite near a lot of open space, I do like to spend my free time with my husband and boys but when I do get the time to myself I like to go out walking and taking photographs of things that make my day feel great. I love being busy, pottering around as I don't like sitting about doing nothing, I hate being bored (not that I get that bored as I am always busy).

Blipfoto is a give and take community of photographers. What do you give and what do you take?

I hope I give some people laughter with my journal and ideas to try out for themselves, and I take a lot of pleasure viewing and commenting on other fellow blippers work also, this is a great community.

I see you have become a Founding Member. What influenced you to make this decision and how does this option benefit you personally?

Yes I did become a founding member, I think Joe and all the blip crew are wonderful people and they all do a grand job, I spend a lot of my free time on here and get a lot of pleasure for Blip, this is was my way of saying thank you.

I enjoy thinking up titles for my images and I can see you do too! Some artists say that titles are not important or get in the way. Why are titles important to your photographs, instead of generic titles like flower, sky or bug?

I feel that a title is as important as the image itself, you take time to take the photograph so I feel it should have a lovely title and it makes it more interesting and personal to the author.

Were do you hope to be photographically in the next 5 years?

I would love to be on a dessert island laying in the hot sunshine after selling lots of my images, haha... but this will not be the case, I hopefully will still be taking photographs on a daily basis for my own inner contentment and pleasure and hopefully be able to sell some of my work and get into the odd Photography Magazine still here and there.

I love your Blip-name, why did you decide on "traceyflowerpot"?

Well as you know Jim my name is Tracey, I love flowers and I am slightly potty, haha, then put it all together and you get Traceyflowerpot (minus the ty as that did sound a little silly even for me).

What question didn't I ask that you wish I had asked? And what would have been your answer?

I wish you had of asked me out for lunch as I need a bottle of wine and a nice meal after doing this Jim, haha!

Tracey, thanks so much for your time. I think we all know a little more about you, your photography and your life. Hmmm, I wonder who Tracey will choose to be next on the chopping block?

You are more than welcome Jim, thank you for choosing me to be the next person to do this, it has been great fun and a pleasure.

Tracey x