Graham Smith Photography

    I thought it would be nice to update you all on my business at the moment.

    Since applying to University earlier this year, I was accepted and have recently started my studies in Law at the University of Gloucestershire. I am also training to do a volunteer role within a legal type environment, as well as working part time at the wine company I have been with since October 2009. So, I am a busy man.

    Earlier in the month I took photos at a wedding – the wedding was that of Jamie and Nicole – further details can be found on my galleries page where I have posted some of the photos from their lovely day. Please do look through these photos and if you would like to purchase prints please go to www.photoboxgallery.com/nicolejamie2011 where I have priced these fairly for you. Please let me know if there are any products I can add to the range you would like to purchase

    Work at the wine place has been good – I recently found out that I passed (with a merit) my WSET Level 3 Certificate in Wines and Spirits which qualifies me as a knowledgeable wine person – so feel free to ask me any wine-type questions! In terms of my job role, where I was dealing with internet queries, I have now changed over to a part time role in the call centre which is great. My company have really been great to me in the last two years and I am totally grateful for their assistance throughout my time with them so far!

    Another hobby I have recently taken up is cycling; I recently purchased a Raleigh Pursuit road/race cycle and have been cycling around Gloucester with my shiny new bike. I really love cycling around town at night – especially when I get to go through signs which say No Entry (Except Buses, Taxis and Cycles) – being on two wheels has added a really fun dimension to travel and I aim to use this more and more in lieu of my car in the future. This brings me on to my next aim: Fitness.

    In the next 3 months, leading up to the conclusion of this year, I would like to get fit. Very fit indeed. I have set a weight target of 100 kilos, which isn’t particularly light, but this is significantly less than I weigh at the moment. I hope, in an ideal world to hit this weight by my 23rd birthday on the 18th January 2012. I will keep you up to date with my progress on this as and when I can in the future.

    Regarding my blog, I have decided to keep this more up to date than I have in the past, so I will be writing more and more when I can. I will aim to post photos I have taken, as well as comment on articles I have come into contact with through my studies and also information relating to a project I am about to start with my friend Joe – the JOGLE (John O’Groats to Land’s End) Cycle 2012. At the end of August 2012 we will be cycling from John O’Groats in Scotland down to Land’s End in the South-West of England. Joe is aiming to purchase a bicycle in November with the aim of us cycling to London in February and other rides leading up to the JOGLE in August. We aren’t sure which route to take, or how we are going to prepare for it but we will be discussing this more in the coming weeks and months. In due course we will be contacting you to ask for donations, help, advice and anything else you can assist us with!

    It has been a busy week, and I am working all day tomorrow (a necessary evil!) but I will write again as soon as possible.

    Thanks for reading and I wish you all a great weekend (it is just around the corner!)

Graham x

Welcome!

I have been asked to explain how I polish my shoes – they are pretty shiny This post is all about how to get a proper military-grade shine on the toes of your leather shoes or boots. I hope you find this helpful and appreciate any comments you leave for me!

1. Take a look at your shoes. You should see that the leather on the toes of your boots, namely the texture of the leather.

2. If you have a look at a standard mirror, you will see that it does not have any texture. Light hits the mirror and reflects off the flat surface as there is no texture. Our aim of this polishing is to cover up the texture with the polish.

3. Take your Kiwi Black (or Parade Gloss) Polish and use your finger to apply the polish to the shoe. The best method I find to apply polish (from finger or cotton wool) is to apply it in little circles – this will ensure each of the individual pores of the leather are filled with polish.

4. Repeat this over and over and over and over until your finger no longer glides over the toe. At this stage, you will start to see the shoe get a background shiny when you rub the toe with your finger.

5. Repeatedly apply polish in this manner until you have filled in the texture, or until you get bored.

6. Take some cotton wool – any type, really – and dip this in water. Then use this to rub the toe (not applying any polish at this stage) to the toe.

7. When you start to feel the cotton wool scratching at the toe, you need toapply polish to the cotton wool and rub this on the toe. Please note, you only need a small amount of polish on the cotton wool in order to make this new connection.

8. After some while you should start to see that you are getting a good shine on your shoes. In order to improve the shine on the shoes, by using the polish to hide the texture of the leather, you need to use a small amount of polish on the cotton wool and some water and repeatedly rubbing the toe.

9. Repeat steps 4 – 8 over and over and your shoes will get more and more shiny. You only need to do steps 4 and 5 while there is visible texture on the leather where you want the epic shine. The more you do steps 6-8, the better the shine will be. One day you will end up with black glass for toecaps – that is the ultimate aim.

I polished my shoes last night, they looked like this:

You can see with my toes that the line between toe and the rest of the foot is fairly messy. If you would prefer a straight clean line, you can ensure this happens if you apply a line of masking tape just behind the toe area. This will ensure your toes will have a straight line rather than my, um, non-straight line.

I hope what I’ve said makes sense. Please do let me know if you have any questions or would like any further tips!

Have a great day

Graham.