Hello lovely readers! I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far!
I have just returned from a couple of great days in the south so I thought an update was in order. It is now thirty-eight days since I left my job to chase this dream and it's been a rollercoaster to say the least!
Prior to going down to London, I spent Monday and Tuesday trying to put a list of people together, people who I could contact to try and get involved in this project by way of funding and in return, whom I could benefit by association with a venture which is supportive of both environmental awareness and the investment in talent. Richard Branson's people have already said no due to it not falling into their current investment remit. This is always going to be the biggest hurdle to overcome, despite having total costs of less than £30,000, much less than your average film of this type, it is still a lot of money to ask that somebody invest in me, however, given the quality of what we will be able to produce, I am certain it is money well spent and which will hopefully be returned with profit as soon as possible! This side of my venture is without doubt the most difficult however, most things worth doing usually are!
On the upside, on Wednesday and Thursday I was extremely fortunate enough to spend my time with some incredibly kind, generous and hospitable people who I am delighted to say I can welcome aboard the good ship Shark Adventure!
On Wednesday, myself and Hamish met with Dave Glanfield and Mario Vitalini from the very highly respected Cameras Underwater (http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/). I had spoken to Mario a couple of weeks previously and when I say the guy knows his stuff, I am understating his expertise somewhat, he is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to cameras, housings, strobes and all other facets of underwater photography and video!
I initially expected to have about an hour with them, discussing the project and whether they would be interested in getting involved, instead, I was given almost five hours and both Mario and Dave fully understood where I am coming from and what I want to achieve. Their enthusiasm and energy when discussing "From the Office to the Ocean" was matched only by their generosity in offering their support to me in several ways, all of which will be a huge help to me in making this happen. I will give more details in the weeks to come but what I can say is that I am chuffed to bits to be able to say that Cameras Underwater are now in full support of "From the Office to the Ocean" and I can't wait for us to work together in the months and years to come!
After the meeting finished, Mario's generosity extended to his offering us a place to stay at his lovely new house with his equally lovely girlfriend Caroline. Great company, Chinese takeaway, Wild Berry Rekorderlig cider and hours and hours talking about sharks and diving...Not a bad way to end a brilliant day.
Thursday saw an early start due to Caroline and Mario having to go to work so we decided to head down to "The Devil's Punchbowl" near their home in Liphook. The scenery there is jaw dropping, the sun was shining and we were feeling good to say the least! When the guitar came out along with a magnificent sounding travel amp, the ambience changed somewhat, the local ramblers must have wondered who the two strangers playing Metallica, Ted Nugent, AC/DC and Foo Fighters songs were and what on earth they were doing up at 8:30am!
We left at 10am to make our way to a meeting with underwater cameraman extraordinaire, Hugh Fairs, blasting out the new Cypress Hill album (very good by the way) whilst navigating the winding, narrow roads to a lovely pub in the middle of nowhere called "The Parrot." Again, we were excitedly discussing the film for almost five hours, I made good use of probing Hugh's expert knowledge and it was again fantastic and encouraging to see how enthusiastic Hugh is about all of this.
So here we are, I already feel closer to getting this film made and changing my life forever, I have had incredible support from people with enthusiasm, expert knowledge, industry expertise and perhaps most importantly, a shared vision of what I can achieve. The most important thing when you have ambition, is to approach the right people who you feel understand your ambition who you think can help you. It is of course, a two way street, you have to understand how you can help them in return and that is how great, successful partnerships are formed.
If you have belief, passion and a plan and you can articulate that passion and vision eloquently, you always stand a chance of getting people to believe in you, when that happens, you are closer to realising that ambition. It isn't easy though, it is a journey with enormous amounts of obstacles but with every obstacle overcome, you get closer to your goal. If your goal is worth reaching, you won't mind the obstacles along the way.
www.officetoocean.com
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