Category Archives: News

News about what Chris Hawkins has been up to

7 Billion People, what number where you ?

Using the tool on the BBC website, I found that I was ( roughly) the 77,941,344,392nd person to have been born, in a worldwide population of 3,763,276,048.

The Population is thought to be around 7 billion now and to be 10 billion by 2050!

Canvas Under The Sky

Canvas Under the Sky Book COver

The cover of Canvas Under the Sky by Robin Binckes

I was lucky enough to meet Robin Binckes in 1993 when I was out in South Africa.  I went on a tour with him to a few interesting spots in Johnasberg.  He took me around of the poorer areas of the city, to a monument to the white settlers near Pretoria, to an early home of Nelson Mandela and to a farm where some of the many atrocities that haunt the apartheid years happened.

It was very interesting and I was able to see and photograph places where normally people aren’t overly welcomed.  Some of the photos I took are on Robins site – spearofthenation.co.za.

He has been busy in recent times, and his interest in the recent history of his country have moved him to writing a book called Canvas under the sky.

I am sure the book will be very interesting and I hope to get my copy soon.  Robins enthusiam, interest and massive knowledge of the history, politics and people were very much evident in the tour and I am sure the book will be just as revealing.

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Wedding Fare Bridal Show

Some photos of the Wedding Dress Cat Walk at Old Basing Wedding Fayre.  Well done to all the models!

[svgallery name=”weddingfare0911″]

Gary Evans Bow

A Gary Evans Artisan longbow from Wales Archery.

Woods used include Rosewood, Bamboo and Ebony with Buffalo Horn Knocks.

 

Gary Evans Longbow detail

Gary Evans Longbow top detail

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ING fail at Data Protection

I dont rant much, well not often in public, but there are some things I think large companies should get right. Data Protection is such a hot topic in the IT world and in Politics, but companies such as ING Direct still seem to be crap at it.

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Isle Of Wight Weather use my images

Isle of Wight Weather Webpage

Isle of Wight Weather Webpage

isleofwightweather.co.uk are using my images on the header of their site.  Best still they are allowed to use them !!!

The site is one I have used for many years, it gives information about tides on the island and has a cool lightning page, showing storms all around the UK.

A bigger version of the image can be seen here. Or you can look at my flickr pages to see more of the wonderful island.

Stolen Photos

One of my images has been used without consent again! First the Scouts, then the Basingstoke Gazette and now Basingstoke and Deane Council!

Basing View Development  Brochure page 22

Basing View Development Brochure page 22

Its my image taken from flickr.com. No name check, no permission asked, none given !

Festival Place in Basingstoke

Photography Served

I have been showcased on Photography Served!  The site showcases art from a range of different disciplines including typography, design and of course photography.

At the moment, my work is on the main page, but it can also bee seen here – http://www.photographyserved.com/Gallery/Water/351208

St Mary’s Junior School 2010 Calendar

Just completed a Calendar for the St Mary’s Junior School in Old Basing.

I did the photography, layouts and the post tweaking.  Not easy and some of the images are rougher than the others, but the staff knew their ideas were a little more ambitious than previous years and where very happy with the work.

Most of the images are montages of photos, this was done because we wanted to ensure all the children could be seen, so shots like the October one if you look carefully the same tree can be seen more than a few times!

The images have been sent to the printers and I should see the finished product pretty soon.

Page Rank

A little experiment into Page Rank, one of the considering factors used by Google to position a site on a web page.  The following sites are all connected to or written by me.

Page Rank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms.  Pages that Google believe are important pages receive a higher Page Rank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.

Page Rank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote, as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus giving the linked page greater value.  They have always taken a pragmatic approach to help improve search quality and create useful products, and their technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a page’s importance.

More info about page rank can be found on wikipedia.org.

In no particular order…

My Sites

Site Ranking
worrybomb.com Google PageRank Checker
wkins.co.uk Check PageRank
wkins.org Google PageRank Checker
basingstokebabyphotos.com Display Pagerank
treacletart.co.uk Free PageRank Checker
basingstokeweddings.com Free PageRank Checker

Customer Sites

Site Ranking
red-sea-apartments.co.uk Check Google Page Rank
underwoodjoinery.com Check Google Page Rank
carlvernonpools.com Page Rank Check
louisehight.com Check PageRank
bespokemosaics.com PageRank Checking Icon

Wedding Sites / Basingstoke Weddings Group

Site Ranking
basingstokeweddings.com Free PageRank Checker
alanbowman.com Check PageRank
paulasflowers.co.uk Page Rank
handmadebygemma.com Display Pagerank
professionalvideo.tv Check PageRank
table-treats.co.uk PageRank
jayneannsbridal.com Free Page Rank Tool
signaturepieces.co.uk Check PageRank
cruickshankscakes.com Display Pagerank

Page rank scores from prchecker.info.