Julian Obubo's Robinson Crusoe Challenge ends in failure

I had set myself a challenge, the challenge was that a razor would not touch my beard till the day I hand in my dissertation, I accepted this challenge so that my facial hair would be a constant reminder of the amount of work I need to do, this challenge was going on fine, and I last shaved way back in the second week of October. I am blessed with what I term 'follicular prolificacy' or the ability to grow hair really quickly.
This challenge was twofold, not only was it to be a reminder to work hard, but it was also a scientific study- to see how I looked with a long beard, or to see how long my beard would grow if I didn't shave it for 6 months.

Anyway....

The results are that I may never know. I was advised by both brother and sister to shave it, my good friend William Cunningham told me I looked younger without a full beard, it seems the world has suddenly turned averse to beard wearing. Also, I began to suffer from 'beard fatigue'- which is the restlessness a bearded person feels when their facial hair isn't 'going anywhere', there's the temptation to pull out a razor and style it, or there is the further temptation, like the one I had last night, to completely and utterly get rid of the beard and start all over again.
So razor in hand, I shaved my beard. My namesake, the last non-Christian Emperor of Rome, Julian The Apostate, was known for his rich beard, he even wrote an article called 'The Beard Hater' making fun of those who had mocked his hairy face (they considered him quite unkempt for a Roman Emperor)
So, the name Julian has a history of beardedness, and I intend to keep that tradition strong, the issue now is to find the right length at which I want my facial hair to constantly be, rather than letting it grow to a apostolic levels (by apostolic levels I mean, I start to look like on of Christ's apostles) and then shaving it off, I must find a sort of middle ground, a beard equilibrium, this is my new challenge.
So in the end, I could not achieve my Robinson Crusoe look, I frankly do not think I would have completed it, after a while getting food stuck in your beard, or eating your mustache is not fun. But at least I tried, below you will find pictures of me, before and after the beardotomy.


Me, during the Robinson Crusoe challenge


Me, in my new hairless state

NB- Both pictures taken on different days, I don't just put on my suit simply to take pictures of myself.

Tim and Sabina's Wedding

As I said earlier, I was the official photographer for the wedding of a couple at my church, below you will find some pictures I took at the great event. My first wedding in eight years, this one a mixture of English and Cameroonian cultures.

Click pictures for larger versions

















more pics to follow soon

What University is all about

Although I'm studying Public Relations, the optional modules I do are not closely related to PR, I decided to do this to broaden my knowledge base, what's the point of coming out of uni and not knowing anything but Public Relations, so this year I'm doing a module on popular music, and since I'm a hip-hop aficionado, and African-American studies is a topic I have huge interest in, I decided to do my essay on the representation of Black women in Hip-Hop, hugely fun, and it is quite surprising that our uni has quite a number of relevant books on the issue, taking into account that we don't have a degree on African-American studies, anyway, I just thought I should blog about this, I'm taking the pics at a wedding tomorrow, so I got to go get my suit ready.

L'Etude de Poisson

I decided to buy some fish (specifically Sprats, from the genus Sprattus) and I decided to get Natasha out (Natasha being my camera) and take some really close up pictures of the fish.
I thought fish were the perfect subject to test the macro capabilities of my camera. I set up the fish in nice compositions and shot them using many calibrations. It was fun. Although at the end of the exercise the flat smelled like fish, I decided to eat the subjects later but I had just had chicken earlier, and frankly the smell repulsed me, not particularly bad, but very...fishy, I know what you are thinking "How else is fish supposed to smell?" well, the fish I usually eat a.k.a sardines and tuna have a nice smell to them, Sprats have a very common bad fish smell.
Anyway, enjoy my fish

Julian The Photographer

Today was a very icy day, as you may know, the walk from my flat to my campus is quite steep, which is the source of much discontent on a normal day. However today was worse, a sheet of ice had covered Sunderland through the night, and I had to hold on the side-railings in order to walk safely to uni.
Anyway, came back from uni and decided to go camera accessory shopping. I am going to be the photographer for a couple's wedding, a couple from my church. I wouldn't have accepted it if I knew that the Fujifilm S100fs was not up to the challenge. The problem was, what 'real' photographer walks about with no accessories? Not just superflous accessories, but a tripod, and an external flash. A tripod, because the human (and more importantly- Me) is very shaky, and it's especially useful when taking pictures in low-light situations (the moon, sunrise, sunset etc) In a wedding, a tripod is particularly useful, no one wants to see blurs in their wedding album. An external flash because the in-built flash is not the best for 'semi-professional' settings, I want to deliver the best pictures they could get.
So, I went over to Charles Eagles and Son in Sunderland. I had seen a Vivitar 680AF flashgun going for £19, now that's a bargain. I did some research into the flashgun, I needed to know it's voltage, because it's an old flashgun (made before the digital era) and if the voltage is too high it can in essence mess up the electrical system of my camera. So, did the research and it was suitable to use, my only concern was that it was a fixed head flash, meaning it doesn't tilt, so I can't bounce the light off white ceilings or do other cool bouncy things, but hey, my budget was low, and I'm not exactly in a position to start considering efficiency, I want value first. So, where was I? Walked into Charles Eagles and Son, and inquired about the flash, the shop assistant duly retrieved the flash, loaded it with batteries, tested it and I bought it. I was very pleased, buying a flashgun for £19, the newest Nikon flashguns are pushing £350, so you can understand my elation.
After purchasing the flashgun, I looked around the store and spotted a sturdy tripod, going for..guess how much? £19!
I asked to see how high it went, I was satisfied, and duly purchased it as well. The shop guys were very nice and one of them said that there was the same tripod going for £15 somewhere else in the store! "Even better!" I said, "give me that one then".
So yes, I had got myself a Vivitar flashgun, and a tripod for a total of £34. Great day! (and the shop assistant sold me the flashgun loaded with batteries)
So yes, I'm all accessorized out, I've got my eyes on the Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens, but I'll wait till another day.
But I'm still thinking of perhaps getting a tilting flashgun, I don't want to spend over £20, I'm not stingy,I'm just a student! I would do more research into how important bounce is, and if I'll need it during the wedding.
Anyway, pictures below of my new gear
click the pictures for a larger version


Yes I need to clean my mirror


The tripod and flashgun


Obligatory macro shot

World AIDS Day