To all those people I’ve annoyed with my behaviour or upset with my attitude — I’m really sorry.

But I’m so bloody happy right now! I’ve just come back from Sixpiece — a one day only exhibition of images submitted from the mass photo shoot at Kirkstall Festival. 33 photographers submitted images to what will probably become the start of an amazing archive images recording the festival and it was amazingly curated by  Rachel Barker and Lauren Pissochet and supported by Ken Stratford (along with both East Street Arts and Kirkstall Valley Community Association).

Some days (well most of them) I’m too busy dealing with the future to enjoy what’s happened — and the last 18 months have been an absolute blast. Exposure Leeds has been amazing and the fact that we’re now moving this to a structure that will hopefully allow it to flourish but what has been amazing is how this little social enterprise has allowed me to flourish.

This probably isn’t such a deal to others but tonight I walked up to an MP and introduced myself; and he turned around and congratulated me on all I had achieved. I doubt he really knows anything much about Exposure Leeds — and he probably says the same to loads of people he meets. But, I introduced myself to an MP!

My little bit of world has changed shape so much lately and I can’t help but be proud of all that the group of amazing individuals that is Exposure Leeds has managed to do. As the group moves from loose form into a properly constituted entity and starts to set in place elements that will ensure future stability and continuity I hope to review the first year and a half — but one thing is for sure; when I look back at what we’ve achieved I’m always amazed at how we’ve done so much, made so many good links and given a wonderful energy to so many people.

And for those of you out there who are part of it — every last one of Exposure Leeds’ members is a true star in my eyes!

I’m quite excited by the concept of a Bigger Society — of people taking more control of their lives and in support the lives of those around them.

Hopefully this will limit waste in supplying social activities and not do too much harm to those who need the help most however is society ready for the supersizing?

After years of the diminishment of mutuals and charities; of less natural volunteering — people used to do things to help their community out without this being organised. Now it seems to require an army of support.

My personal thought is that we need to promote altruism and this needs to come from society as a whole, here are some suggestions:

• Freeing parents and carers up to volunteer
• Employers to give every employee a day’s paid volunteering
• Bosses to be given a reward or recognition for mentoring
• National service for the jobless young
• Day release for teenage employees
• Volunteering accepted as a natural part of unemployment
• Pre-retirement volunteering introductions
• Tax breaks to professionals for providing services to the voluntary sector
• Some form of GiftAid for voluntary work — allowing charitable bodies to claim some tax from those who volunteer for the organisation.

However biggest of all — we need new ideas to demonstrate that taking part in society isn’t about purely being some selfless saint character. Taking part in voluntary activity is good for you — it teaches new skills, opens up new experiences, broadens social circles and gives a huge ‘up’.

How is it so difficult to get this across to people? My feeling is that for so long the populus have been told to think that it’s government’s job to supply these sorts of services — I, for one, would prefer society as a whole to take a firmer control of itself.

People do have time to volunteer and take part in their communities — it’s just about freeing up time. I suspect most people are able to do this, given the support of their family, friends and neighbours. It’s also about exposing people to those opportunities that appeal and effectively reward them.

Well, I have to admit to being a dreadful blogger — it’s so long since I posted to this (or most of my other web presences… maybe having so many is part of the downfall)

However I’ve got a newfound vigour to this — brought on primarily by being interviewed last night by Caterina for her PhD on social networks and migrating these to the real world (my description of her work — must check what this actually is!).

What was a real eye-opener to me was how little I understand about what I do — and poor Caterina seemed to receive a significant ‘brain dump’ of where all these crazy ideas I have come from, take root and get to fruition. I think by the end we were talking about event planning based on ‘horizon clouds’… go figure!

So — as I am not in a position to blog about my day job I think I’ll try and document a little about how and why my activities around Leeds group on Flickr, Exposure Leeds and Photocamp came about — and where I like think they’re heading.

But the big question is… how long til I really offend someone?

This is one of those annoying blog entries — where I talk about me and all the uninteresting things I’m upto in my life…

Well, the first of those is the great first networking evening for PhotoNN; held on Thurs 16th at the Design Innovation Centre in Leeds. I think this group has the potential to go far and hope to become involved myself, once the fun of Photocamp Leeds {2008} has died down.

The second of my great nights was earlier on — when I enjoyed a great evening with a bunch of bloggers at WordPress UK North. As I keep saying to anyone who bothers to listen; there’s a lack of networking opportunities for those with a commercial eye to working in micro organisations for the ‘digital’ sector. This is another group I hope to get involved with in the future.

Because of these two events I’m going to press on and try to establish ‘Under Construction’. The concept is that this becomes a virtual network with occasional real world outings for companies working primarily in consulting roles in the digital and creative industries having less than four employees. The premise: to share ideas on how to best do business. If you are interested in this type of thing, head over to the web space.