About Me

My name is Kol Tregaskes and I’m 30something guy from the UK. I’m normally a quietsome sole who keeps himself to himself and generally get on with everybody I meet (and have met a wide variety of people along the way). I’m very friendly, helpful and reliable and if I start something then I do it an do it well. I currently looking after my poorly mother, her house and my lively dog, Kaz in Kent while also trying to pursue my huge interest in photography, looking for jobs and hunting for ways to make money to pay the bills. I have just completed a contract at the BBC and my background is more IT-related then art/photography. The details…

Home-life

At the moment live in Kent, in a small town called Edenbridge. It’s my second stint here, first was when I was made redundant and moved out of my Croydon house, the second was when my contract job came to an end and I decided to move back to my parents home to help my Mum out with looking after my very poorly Dad. Sadly my Dad died in January 2008 and now my Mum and I have been left with many things to do and, as always, our lively dog, Kaz. As things stand it’s very likely the house would have to be sold but we’re not sure exactly what will happen yet. In between my two stints I lived in West Berkshire for 3 years. First in a couple of 2 small houses in Newbury then last in a town called Thatcham, just down the road. Previous to all this I lived in Croydon in the Surrey/South London area, where I was born and breed (for over 20 years).

To me Croydon is a typical London suburb, very closely linked to London. I was much happier in West Berkshire which was more rural but at the same time still had some modern touches. Edenbridge is even more rural and I’m only minutes away from big fields and long countryside walks. It’s great for landscape and nature photography but not quite got that town/city feel that I still like. Saying that it can take just 50 minutes direct on the train to London. But I feel my potential home will be closer to the city and one day hope to move to somewhere like Teddington in the Middlesex area, which gives me great access to London but also very easy access to scenic places like Richmond Park. It’s also not too hard to get out of Greater London and to the rest of the country from there.

Work-life

My latest adventure was in West Berkshire while I worked as a contractor on various Vodafone projects. I was actually only supposed to be there for 2/3 weeks but the job just went on and on and I was there for a total of 4 years! I worked as a Systems Integrator for a large engineering company called Bechtel (on a Vodafone railway project) then as a Technical/Project Co-ordinator for Vodafone proper on several projects including one to implement broadband speeds onto Vodafone’s network (so you can now browse the Internet on your Vodafone mobiles much faster thanks to us )

I used to work in the computer games industry. My first ever job was as a games tester. It was brilliant, someone paying me to play, er, test games all day. I learnt a lot there, not just about testing but also about computer hardware and customer support. I soon moved into the IT side of things (so I’m a little bit of a techie/nerdy-type). 7-8 years I spent in games; I worked for publishers, Warner Interactive, GT Interactive, Infogrames and then the “godfathers of gaming”, developers, The Bitmap Brothers. I was with them for 3 years as their webmaster (I made their web site by the way) and administration manager before being made redundant. During my time in the games industry I met so many people from various countries and great characters and creative individuals. It was a brilliant, a wonderful experience.

But being made redundant twice in 3 years was a wake up call and left me with no confidence that a job is permanent. After being a contractor for 4 years I kinda like it. OK money at first glance is a lot better but there are many disadvantages, such as higher risk, large tax bills and more responsibility but that doesn’t faze me now and I hope I can contract for a long as possible. I’m glad that I’ve experienced the world outside games. I can’t really say what it’s like now as I’m sure it’s changed a lot but at the time it was a big culture shock when I started at Bechtel as things were perhaps more professionally done and more serious. Again, I learnt a lot with Bechtel and Vodafone and has put me in good stead for future work.

I’ve just finished at the BBC. The role was going to be data entry but it was more involved than that in the end.  The project was supposed to last until August but we completed much early (mid-June).  It was perhaps a little step back but I’ve been out of work for over 6 months and these things are to be expected. Besides, I wanted something a little less stressful to start in work again.  What it means, though, is money in the bank and my return to London after a 6 year break. It was interesting to work at the BBC.

Interests

I guess I have quite a few interests. Of course my main interest is photography (see below) but I also love:

Music:
I absolutely love music and always got something playing at home or on the move. I’m always searching for new music too, via Zane Lowe and the other Radio 1 specialist DJs, iTunes alerts, MySpace, movie soundtracks, xfm, Last.fm, iLike and thesixtyone. My main genres are indie, trance, dance, rock, alternative dance or indie, trip-hop/downtempo and breakbeat. But anything goes except probably jazz, blues and opera (though don’t mind a bit of classical).

My top artists are (in order roughly) Radiohead, Hybrid, Prodigy, Union of Knives, Lamb, Unkle, Oasis, Nirvana, Placebo, Portishead, The Killers, Sneaker Pimps, Freelance Hellraiser, Whip, Snow Patrol, Chemical Brothers, Hooverphonic, DJ Shadow, Coldplay, Frou Frou, VAST, Ils, Splitloop, 8mm, Maps, Bat for Lashes, Damien Rice, Mint Royale, Filter, Paul Van Dyk, Linkin Park, Cardigans, Keane, Foo Fighters, Orbital, Sugababes, Avril Lavigne and Mint Royale.

With the expectation of the artists above and a few others I find that I rarely like a whole album completely and so my music collection consists more of singles than albums. I generally listen to newfound music over my older stuff. I don’t really watch music videos and read about music, so don’t see the bands or know much about them except what they sound like but do watch any festivals, like Glastonbury and live shows like Later… with Jools Holland when it’s on TV.

Perhaps strangely I dream about being a DJ but I’ve never touched a set of decks ever and also to play the violin. When I was young I watched MTV all day long but now I don’t have the channel and most music shows have gone from TV, like ToTP.

I long for Pandora to be available outside the US one day.

Movies:
I’m a big movie fan and watch as many movies as I can. I don’t particular have a favourite genre, I like horror, action, thriller, science-fiction, comedy and animated films. My favourite movies (in rough order) are Sunshine, Seven, The Matrix, Children of Men, The Bourne Ultimatum, Predator, Aliens, The Departed, The Usual Suspects, Saw, The Ring, Black Hawk Down, Zodiac, 2010, Pirates of the Caribbean – The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, Memento, High Crimes, Basic, Leon and Good Will Hunting

I mainly rent out movies from the likes of Blockbuster and Lovefilm. I like movies that have a twist or two or have a great ending but hate movies that have poor acting and even poorer storyline. A good storyline is important but I can ignore it a bit in good special effects movies. I try and find new movies to watch via IMDB and Flixster by looking at the actors, directors and writers I’ve liked in the past. Generally I like movies by David Fincher, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski, James Cameron, John McTiernan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Shia LaBeouf, M. Night Shyamalan, Gore Verbinski, Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly, Andrew Kevin Walker, James Patterson, Philip K. Dick, Robert Zemeckis.

I’m a big fan of Johnny Depp, and my other favourite actors are Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Charlize Theron, Christian Bale, Clive Owen, Colin Farrell, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Giovanni Ribisi, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Josh Hartnett, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins.

TV:
OK not a big interest as most of it is trash nowadays but I though I’d list what type of things I do watch on the box. I mainly watch documentaries. It doesn’t really matter what, so long as it’s not too dumbed down, programmes such as wildlife, nature and world current affairs. I also watch the odd comedy show like Have I Got News for You and dramas like Waking the Dead and Messiah. I don’t watch any reality TV apart from the Apprentice, which is great and extremely well created. I also watch boring things like Newsnight and Question Time, oh and any England, Liverpool or rugby matches that are lucky to be shown on terrestrial TV.  And I live US shows like Heroes, Lost, X-files and 24

Sport:
My favourite sports are rugby, football (I’ve been a supporter of Liverpool FC since I was 4 years old), tennis (I hope to get to Wimbledon every year), motorsport (Formula one but mainly rally car which I would love to see a lot more of and gope to see at the Festival of Speed). In the past I was good at athletics and ran for my school in a county championship. I was a pretty fit lad then and also cycled a lot and played football every weekend. In the last few years I’ve started cycling again (mainly to get around and get to work) but I don’t do enough exercise and want to combine cycling with photography in some way. I can be tempted to play the odd snooker or pool game and I guess if you pushed me I could play squash but have done neither for a looong time.

Computing:
I’ve used a computer in some form since I was little and now that computers are everywhere there isn’t a way to get away from them. I’m always finding new software to try and use and I’ve been involved in technical support and PC building at work.

Computer games:
Since I’ve worked in the games industry it probably goes without saying I like games. But saying that I’ve not played a game in any shape or form for several years and don’t have and don’t plan to have any of the new consoles (saying that I’m tempted to get a PlayStation3 to get a Blu-ray player). I find that you could lose so much time with games, time I don’t really have now. I still keep one eye on things though and have many friends still working in the industry.

Web development:
Perhaps it’s evident but I’ve created this site myself (well with the help from services on the web and friends). I do enjoy it though and spent a long time producing and editing sites for work. I’m no expert, don’t really know much about HTML, but pick things up very easily and generally work it out in the end.

The Internet:
Well of course; there is so much on the net! I’m always browsing for new sites and keeping up to date with news. Always downloading and trying out new software and ways to make things more efficient and easier. It’s a great resource and a lot people take it for granted now. There is a lot of articles and tutorials to be had on the Internet and it’s constantly evolving.

Art:
I have been known to draw in my time. Well I was a very keen artist when I was young. I drew all the time during my school years. But after school I stopped. I’m not sure why, though I feel it was something to do with feeling I had reached my best and finding it wasn’t that good. I can happily draw with a pencil, the problem is I’m pretty awful with every other media and so decided against art for college. Instead I went for a more technical drawing course but it turned out to be not at all what I was expecting. I failed this course and have never drawn since. But I feel it will come back and plan to combine my pencil drawing skills with my potential photography skills. As with photography I would like to take a course so it’s just a matter of time (and money). In both I feel I need to be learn the techniques better than I was ever taught at school. As an observer I of course browse photography but I’m also interested in digital/computer art and used to browsing CG sites every day. Luckily I have a few friends from the computer games industry who are great artists.

Comics:
This relates to my art interest. Sure I read them if I can get my hands on any but it’s the artwork that interests me the most. I mainly read big-name US comics (which are not so easy to get hold of in the UK unfortunately). I think if I had any spare money it would be spent on buying comics. As I don’t have any spare cash and don’t think I will for a few years comics are firmly sitting on the backseat for the moment.

Science-fiction:
Love it, this and futurism or whatever you want to call it. I love reading it, I used to love drawing it and I love watching it (TV shows and movies). I guess I wish I could live in some of these worlds or be able to experience the future but, of course, this is not possible and I’m content with the fiction.

Reading:
Perhaps not as interested in reading as I was, it’s still an interest nevertheless. As mentioned above I tend to read science-fiction but I guess I’d mention I read newspapers, science magazines and of course anything relating to my interests (mainly photography). I do have a dream I will be writer when I’m old and wrinkly but I haven’t the first clue about writing so doubt it will happen.

Sci-tech:
I really like science and technology. I used to subscribe to a science magazine, New Scientist and it become my favourite mag. Science documentaries are perhaps one of only a few reasons why I still watch TV. And there is tonnes of it on the net.

Space (Exploration):
Did I dream of being an astronaut? No, not really. But I’ve always been interested in space – I read lots of books when I was young and always watch documentaries on the TV.

Dogs:
Well Golden Retrievers definitely. I love my dog, Kaz and my previous dog, Max. They are just fantastic! I will miss it when I won’t be able to take Kaz out every day when I’m back in work. I’m sure I’ll make up for it over weekends though. I do dream of being a breeder at some point. It’s expensive initially and time-consuming but it looks very enjoyable and I always signed up to be a dog boarder this year.

Walking:
I’m a keen walker (well I don’t have and don’t want a car), but I’m no rambler. I’ve walked plenty round Edenbridge and can walk for hours and hours. It’s great being outside and you can capture some good photos along the way.

Cycling:
I used to cycle to work every day when I lived in West Berkshire. While I was living in Thatcham I could cycle along the canal from my house all the way to the Newbury high street – it was great! I’m a beginner but would love to go out trekking in the future.

Social media:
At the bottom for a reason, I’m putting this down to it being a fad. I started digging and stumbling only recently but I’m kind of hooked. I mainly use it for finding interesting articles (e.g. for photography) but I get to see some fun sites and pics along the way. Including all my interests above I also look out for world news stories, big events, fun/viral sites and pictures, and any kind of list or graph (yeah a strange one I know). I have to say that I’ve tried out a load of other sites and updated all my profiles recently but I don’t really use them as they are very time-consuming, But where can you find me, well check any or all my main pages below (full list is here):

Photography

Oh yeah I’m interested in photography too.

I don’t think I need to go into too much detail as the pages here and posts on my blog have explained it but I’ve had a camera for eons. I decided to upgrade from my compact in August 2006 when I got my first digital SLR camera. I’ve not looked back since and my interest has grown and grown. I upgraded again to a semi-pro camera in December 2007 and are slowly making the jump from happy snappy. I’m always looking on the net for articles and tutorials to read and got tons to learn. I subscribe to several photography/Photoshop magazines and get out and photograph as much as I can. I have no particular main genre(s) so will try anything at the moment. But I would like to go professional one day and hope this site demonstrates what I’ve done so far. I nearly got a temporary job photographing for the Edenbridge Town website but alas nothing really materialised. I would like to try being a photographer’s assistant, I think that would be a good step to take first.

For more information check the web site as I’ve added bags of info.

1. Up on the farm (no border), 2. Winter leaves, 3. A morning walk in Kent (no border), 4. Rural scrawl, 5. Into the light, 6. Fence post, 7. Web strings on branch, 8. Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2007 (Brandon’s Painting Tool), 9. City Hall (revisited), 10. Kaz at sunrise revisited, 11. Le Tour de France London Urban Acid, 12. Wimbledon 2007, 13. New Forest donkeys