Mark Gillett – Junglemoon Images

Here is a piece I recently wrote to finalise my Quest trip… I will repost it here in a few days too…

http://bit.ly/yq3NLS

I just watched Brent Sass preparing his dogs for the next leg of the Yukon Quest, from Peli Crossing to McCabe Creek. I watched in awe of how he is with his dogs…  He had a bag of booties and told someone how he bought 4000 of them before the race. 4000 at 85cents each… Thats a lot of cents! 

He then attended each dog taking the paws one by one and checking them for soreness or injury. Not just checking though, he took each paw and pushed gently checking between the claws. He then would kiss the dog and give it a hug, then slipping on a bootie and tying it carefully.. Each foot painstakingly checked and cared for. Each with a new bootie for the next leg of the journey and all to be repeated again very soon.

Brent shows his team the respect they are due for without them he would not figure in the race. If he did not care for them he would not be cared for by them. But more importantly if he did not care it would eventually bite in the rear in some way…

He chatted to some of the photographers with passion too. Never too busy to give of himself. Never too tired even though he had not sleep much for the last 8 days… Never too focussed that others don’t matter.

Brent is a kind of special competitor.

He is not alone, though as this race seems to breed special people and strong teams.. I have watched other in the same way and they are different from other sportsmen that are so often too obsessed with themselves and non caring. The Yukon Quest has some real stars.

Last night I watched Lance Mackey arrive at Stepping Stone, stop for a Burrito and  then checkout.. He had no reason to chat but did… But that is another story and my next….. The race continues…

The rest of Brents team… http://on.fb.me/AqJLtm

We have a new EyeforLife coming up in January from 19th to 21st… Contact me for details or go to www.eyeforlife.net and book now

New course, new material and all very exciting.

So here is a my Happy New Year to anyone who reads my blog… I have not posted enough recently so again vow to start the year well, get bogged down with lots of good work, struggle to blog as often as I should BUT this year I will make a change.. I will keep up the blogs throughout the year and hopefully renew the current blog look.

I also have an exciting year ahead with a number of projects already started.

The first is the Yukon Quest in February. Myself and a small team have been awarded the media/photography contract which has been on my wish list for some time. Well now we have it and now we have to perform…

I also have a Kuwait trip coming up in January with a new EyeforLife workshop, new material and very exciting too…

The rest I will inform you about gradually over the coming weeks… Please comment and keep in touch in your way too and connect to this blog by subscribing to keep up to date…

Happy New Year

Mark

It was great to be back in a studio yesterday even if only for 15 mins with a crazy bunch! A few Christmas shoots coming, I think….

Well, I have just completed another EyeforLife and it was a great pleasure to meet so many new photographers… Also the workshop at the Kuwait Journalist Association was brilliant too.

View the images on Facebook and checkout our new vid with some info on me! http://eyeforlife.net/markgillett/

RT @markgillett538: RT @Aymstrong: Eye For Life Video about Mark Gillett (@markgillett538) is uploaded. Check it out http://eyeforlife.net/markgillett/...

This is a quote from a student I recently wrote to complimenting his photography. I did not send him the email looking for this reply, I sent it because I noticed. I noticed how good this young man was becoming as a photographer. I wrote it because I thought he should know. Read the rest of this entry »

My daughter started surfing this holiday. She completed her first 15 hours of practice and the improvement was huge.

Working with people as I have for 30 year, I have learnt to recognise many factors in the way people perform. I have had arguments with parents about their children when they believe that their talent will get them through, I have seen some highly skilled individuals rely on their attributes and receive praise only to end up failing and not understanding why. And I have seen child prodigies who, by the time they reach 18, are no different from their peers.

I have, however, Read the rest of this entry »

Eye for Life workshop registration is well under way…  Our season starts in October when I will be in Kuwait with AYMSTRONG. The two key workshops are Eye for Life and the Next Right Answer. The latter being for those who wish to embark on a programme of study with coaching over 8 months. This is an exciting new development for us and one that will keep your interest throughout the year with workshops, assignments, critique and group meetings.

We also offer the one day workshops which can be found on the same link on the right of the page so please drop by EyeforLife and see what we do.

In short, we “do” our dreams and work with you in “doing” yours.

Just thought I would try to create a huge thread somewhere…. Facebook or here on the blog. Whats your favourite phone, old or new? For me it has to be the 6210i.. Post!

Learn to look at your world from a different perspective. Take an EyeforLife course.

Exciting times ahead with EyeForLife…. We have our new courses starting in October. Checkout the website http://eyeforlife.net/ for all the latest info. In late November we will run a trip to South Africa on safari, this is not to be missed. All details are on the site too, or just email me or Yousef.

We will also take online participants if getting to a course is not possible.. Obviously the Safari is not possible online, well, not yet anyway.

Back to breakfast now!

I just dug out one of my old phones, a Nokia 6210i, and wow! What freedom. Freedom from the clutches Read the rest of this entry »

More on words….. http://wp.me/pvysu-pG

I have now been presenting the Eye for Life course for a year in Kuwait. It has been constantly developing and improving and the post on the AYMSTRONG blog sums up what its all about. Read it here http://bit.ly/e1iFgB and come back and trail through a few post on my blog…. Your “eye for life” is critical for your future…

The next Eye for Life courses are being planned for May. If you would like information, please contact me or Yousef at AYMSTRONG for details.

Mark

MDS Start Line 2010

…You are about to run the event of your life, or at least most of you are, so don’t be overly worried about ‘stuff’; if your shirt is the right material, has great wicking properties, shoes that support better than any others, or do my gaiters stop all the sand?

It does not matter a whole lot. You need enough food for a week so choose that well and pack it well as you have to carry it. Your shoes are to protect your feet. The best are those you have been wearing for the last 3 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Not my car, but I thought an apt image for the article!

I haven been debating for some time about upgrading from my 1Dmk 2′s to the mk 4 and 5Dmk2. I am not debating anymore!!

I have used my current setup now for a few years and am very comfortable but the question of upgrading always eats away at us when I believe it should not. I beat the urge some years ago with computers and cars always thinking the next thing will be so much better. It usually is for around 4 months but then the novelty wears off and seeing any benefit is truly difficult. Except for an upgrade I made 4 years ago from PC to Apple. This was of course a major step up.

I now only upgrade when my current computer is falling apart from travel wear or it just dies….  As this does not happen frequently I am only on my second Mac in 4 years and thats becasue my first was literally falling apart. Held together with Duck Tape and one replacement hard drive I thought I was justified. Plus, my daughter was in need and desperately wanted a Mac so I fixed it up, cleaned it nicely and gave it to her. This of course made her really happy which in turn made me happy too. When asked if she would like a new computer she said “I’d really prefer your old Mac daddy”.

So, to my car….  This I used to upgrade every time it reached around 60,000 miles as I heard heard this was high mileage. Or of course if my ex deemed it too dangerous as it did not have enough safety bags or too hot as it had no air con. Not anymore though. Now I have my car that gets me back and forth between Paris and Haslemere frequently and has around 180,000 miles on the clock, no air bags, no aircon and it makes it far more eco friendly than any other car. Around 300% more than most. Every now and then I clean her and she feels good again. My mechanic is cool and loves to see her from time to time so between us we keep her sweet….. Read the rest of this entry »

One of around 15 performance athletes who enter the MdS each year.. Mohamed Ahansel

In my last post I talked about words and how we can use them positively for ourselves.

This post is about one of my bugbears. It is another use (or misuse) of words but often for financial gain and persuading people you are a better coach or sportsman than you are and assuming most people do not know better.

When it comes to business and sport it really irks me that so many use terms or latch on to words that they do not know the real meaning of but can gain from using them commercially, often just buzzwords for a year or so………but still monopolised for as long as possible…

When I first started playing tennis Read the rest of this entry »

I love words…. I always have. Even as a young child I remember playing with them. I think most children probably do this. I would put the emphasis on different syllables or letters. Change the tone. Sing them….  I would do anything to see what they sounded like in as many different ways as I could. Then I would notice that the word would often sound silly once I said it more than 5 or 6 times..

What I noticed was that just by small changes in the pronunciation or tone, the effectiveness or even meaning of that word would change and sometimes quite radically. Try saying “I had a great day” in as many different ways as possible and feel the difference. Just say the word “great” in different ways too…. Said sarcastically of course it means the opposite. Said with passion, it comes from the heart. Said blandly it means nothing at all.

When I started coaching Read the rest of this entry »