I was beginning to give up seeing the sun again until today. I was firmly tucked up in bed with my ear poking out from under the covers, listening out for the rain tapping at my window and the gusts of moaning wind that get caught between my house and my neighbours. But today seemed different, I peered out of my covers half expecting to be blasted by the cold air whilst watching the penguins and Polar bears make their escape out of my room to warmer climates, instead I observed bright sunlight breaking through the gaps of my curtains, beaming it’s blinding rays on to the wall opposite. Taking a deep breath and lifting the curtain up, I was greeted by white fluffy clouds floating on the river of light blue sky. Could this be what we have all been praying for? Can we safely lock this angry winter up once and for all?

So follow me in raising your two fingers at the morbid skies and tell that Winter it can stick it’s low pressured into it’s cold front, because from today we have a date with the sun and Mr blue sky. Lazy picnics in the parks & day trips to Brighton will be here very soon. You’ll soon be cycling those empty city streets every Sunday with a grin from ear to ear, and lets not forget those long hazy nights spent in beer gardens of your favourite hipster/media tosser gastropub . Hallelujah.
Whether it’s carnival, the festivals season and yes, even The World Cup (Yawn), it’s all coming to a Great Britain near you. The wait is over, spring is here, so that can only mean two things. Girls in short skirts and low tops. Yes, but no. I mean, sunshine and happy(ish) Londoners worshipping the almighty ball of yellow. So, dust off and slide uncomfortably in to those union jack shorts, expose your pale body parts and raise that ice cold glass of cider you have been saving for those hazy days and steamy nights ahead of us…. Summer is on it’s way.

Shot on my Holga: Londoners: 2009

Roy Ayers: Everyone Loves The Sunshine
Purchase from iTunes

The Red Cross contacted me and advised me to stop the raffle because the all the fraudulent websites around.

What’s funny, as soon I announced what had happened on Facebook & Twitter the donations came flooding in. HAHA. It just shows that negative publicity works, but we all knew that anyway, didn’t we Kate Moss.

So in the true random spirit, I’m pulling the plug on raffle but still going to do the draw. So, if you have entered, you have a much better chance of winning something. Now that’s exciting isn’t it?

Again, thanks to everyone who helped, i’m not sure how much we raised, but it’s not bad for about 8 hours of spamming fund raising on Twitter & Facebook.

A big thank you to James, Elaine and Becky who were going to donate some of their amazing art and textiles for the raffle. You lot are ace :-)

All the best, and thanks again.
Random Sam
xx

Expect the results in the next couple of days… Fingers Crossed :-)

And lastly and most importantly, go and donate on the British Red Cross website. Haiti needs your help.

Good luck!

Hello my Random friends,

Well over a week has passed since the earthquake has hit Haiti and things really don’t seem to be getting better for them with large aftershocks happening this week, making life even more unbearable than it already is. If the photos and videos coming out of Haiti have affected you as much as they have affected me, then please, just for a second… carry on reading…

British Red Cross photostream from Flickr

I propose a raffle in aid of the people of Haiti.
I’m going to try and raise £1000 for the British Red Cross in 4 weeks (Or shorter if we can)…. I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m sure we can pull together and do this. I know that i’m no Bono or a member of Coldplay (Thank fuck for that), but I feel it’s my duty as a traveller/human to do something for the people of Haiti, who are in dire need of our support at this time. PLEASE HELP!

How’s it going to work.
I have 1000 raffle tickets priced a £1 each.
You can buy 1 ticket or all the way up to 50 tickets, it’s totally up to you how much you spend, but the more you buy the better chance you have winning. So let me clarify it for you:
1 ticket is £1
50 tickets are £50

What you do you win?
Having just bought 3 A3 size frames the other day to decorate my wall with my photos. I thought, instead of decorating my walls, how about I decorate someone else.
I shall print 3 photos from my Far From Home project, frame them and give them away to the lucky winners.

This way, you have 3 chances of winning something. Now that’s exciting, don’t you agree?
I’ll even pay for the postage to ship the photos out to you, even if you live in Timbuktu.
And for the kind soul who donates the most, they win a  Toy Camera T-Shirt.

Prize 1.

Prize 2.

Prize 3.

How/When will the winner be announced?
Once the last ticket has been sold, I shall put all the names into a hat (Probably not a hat, more like a cooking pot) and pull 3 names out under the watchful eye of my house mate ‘A Guy called Guy’. We shall make a video of it and stick it up on YouTube, so you can see that it was done fairly. The winners will be contacted by the email they used to buy the tickets with.

Raffle is now closed

#FridayFeature
Thanks to Twitter, the past year I have found so many great photographers/bloggers who have shown me some unbelievable pieces of work. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be great if each Friday I could feature one Photographers from Twitter on my blog.

What’s in it for me?
Well, nothing really, except keeping my blog looking fresh and interesting with amazing photos from all over the world. It will also keep me active on my website.

What’s in it for you?
The smugness of being crowned the #FridayFeature King or Queen for the week. As well as free promotion for yourself, your photos & your website. You can’t say fairer than that, can you?

Do you want to see your work here?

If your interested in having your work on my blog, this is what you need to do:

1. Follow my Twitter - twitter.com/samdj1210
2. Send me up to 5 of your best photograph’s to FridayFeature@randomphotographer.co.uk. No more than 500 pixels wide.
3. Tell me about yourself and include your Twitter id, website and blog (if you have one).

Small (BIG) Print – The Rules

1. You can only submit your own photos.
2. You agree to provide randomphotographer.co.uk a non-exclusive right to publish your work.
3. The copyright remains the property of the photographer, like it should be. We shall have no funny business going on here.

Random – Sam
A guy called Guy – Guy
Jay – Jason
Monkey Boy – Matt
Grub – James

Good times boys, good times…….

Rate and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Wish you were here xx

Sorry about the aspect ratio, I messed it up in Final Cut. (I’m still learning)

All the links you should need.

Random Sam & A Guy Called Guy

Twitter Me

Cancer Research UK

Music used in video
Track 1
Roni Size/Reprazent – Beatbox – New Forms
Track 2
Sigur Ros – Untitled 3 – ()