Yesterday I attended Photocamp Edinburgh 1 — not only the first in the city, but the first to be borne from the events we’ve run in West Yorkshire. A sibling, as it were.

Whilst there were differences – it was certainly more intimate – there were lots of similarities. The engaged, responsive audience and wonderful speakers made the event great to attend. And the buzz in the bar when we all went to lunch was obvious. Photocamps do get the audience excited an animated and friendships (if only fleeting) rapidly made.

I bit the bullet and decided to run an impromptu session. Having no access to WiFi (my only real grumble at hosts – The University of Edinburgh) I got on and came up with a quick creative session. I was very surprised to see everyone’s readiness in this single strand format to take part in my craziness and, whilst I’ve not seen the photographic responses), the visible response was quite exciting.

Edinburgh was brought together incredibly quickly – in August organiser Darren (JudyCabbages) met past photocampers John and Louise at the Edinburgh Festival. A few weeks later Darren attended Photocamp Bradord {2009}. I’m not sure if this is the case, but rumour goes that the Edinburgh venue was booked whilst he was in Bradford. The website and booking went live a couple of days later. All this means the event, including marketing, was brought together in less than 30 days.

I’m not going to review the event itself – as that is for the organisers and the attendees but here are my thoughts on the differences; and how this might impact on future events;

• The size (capacity: 45) was perfect for a first event. In retrospect eighty for the first Leeds event set expectations very high and didn’t allow us to experience how amazing a smaller-scale event could be.

• Edinburgh managed to pull off ’unconference’ a lot more effectively than we have in West Yorkshire. Whilst some attendees proposed sessions ahead of time the actual running order was pulled together on the day. I strongly believed this changed the attitudes of those attending. You felt more forgiving of speakers, over-runs seemed less invasive and all-ways round it seemed more barcamp-y; but also it felt like more people became involved in the conference – taking ownership of the day.

• Interestingly the organisers did the same thing I had; trying to deliver more ‘add-ons’ than they had time/capacity to prepare for. I’m coming to the conclusions that initiatives should be limited to one before and one during an event.

• The main ‘on the day’ initiative was similar to the one we ran at the first Leeds event – with delegates photographing another based on name badges; this seemed again to go down well.

Anyway the long and short of this is Edinburgh Photocamp 1 was, in my eyes and reflecting on others’ reactions, an absolute success – and I wish Darren and his team every best with planning future events.

I always disliked Kwik Fit –in the past I’ve had cars they fitted the wrong exhaust on, parts that wore out fast and generally felt not at all satisfied.

But, being stuck with a tyre in need of replacement on a Sunday and they being the only place open I thought I’d give them a chance at redemption. So, I phoned up, explained the problem and stated the tyres I had on. I was assured they had them in stock but that they couldn’t see me for a couple of hours.

So, I wait around for 2 hours — not wanting to drive far in car and not having time to do much else — and then take the car over.

At which point they agreed the tyre needed replacing… but admitted that they didn’t have any in stock. So, having wasted time on a Sunday, still having no new tyre and now thinking Kwik Fit are completely crap. I think they just managed to put me off them for life.

All this could have been avoided by  properly listening to me and checking stock.

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?

I hate undue celebrity being foisted upon the latest reality tv star, so it’s with a heavy heart I’ve started to use the term ‘Flickebrity’ — but I think this is due.

With a few exceptions — fame (or infamy) on Flickr is generally gained through talent, creativity and a talent for effective socialising. I accept that, whilst I have a natty habit of getting things done around the photo-sharing site, that I’m far from having some form of celebrity status.

I used the term originally to describe Cybergabi and Tootdood — both who came by their status by posting interesting imagery in an almost soap opera way — by giving us a glance into an edited version of their daily life through the ‘365’ images they have posted daily.

I realise that their celebrity is limited and it is closer to local renown than anything else — local being their social network sphere, rather geographically but it is great to see that people can achieve some level of fame from more than ‘right place, right time’ methods generally found in the mainstream broadcast media.

I remember when Amazon first set up. It was an underdog; no one thought it would ever beat Barnes and Noble.

Now, with the arrival of Amazon Fresh in Seattle I’m starting to wonder if Amazon isn’t in line to be the biggest global retailer sometime in the next few years.

As reported by Leelefever (on CommonCraft) it starts to make you question the future of the supermarket. I don’t think it will stop us using a supermarket but, if Supermarket shopping could be given the Amazon usability tratment and, if Amazon manage the supply chain by delivering too… could this mean a few less sheds on the edges of or cities?

I went supermarket shopping last night and, whilst I don’t hate it; I wouldn’t miss the experience. There is simply very little pleasure in grocery shopping — I would embrace Amazon Fresh if it replaced my big Asda shop…

The question now is… why don’t I feel the same way at using Asda for delivery?