Welcome to Harbour Creek Productions

Hello… Testing… 1,2,3. Ok… Here we go.

My name is Paul Inglis and I am an Isle of Man based cinematographer. I suppose I am probably best known for my natural history photography and filming work but lately have started diversifying into other subjects. My photography and video projects have expanded rapidly to cover the following subjects (mind you I have been shooting these subjects for years but have never published any of my bodies of work – until now that is);

• People and Lifestyle
• Nature and Scenics
• Travel
• Business and Finance
• Transport, Industry and Science
• Animals and Wildlife
• Concepts and Style

I don’t photograph nor film spontaneously, rather each image or piece of footage has been meticulously planned and executed. Right now I am working on my Harbour Creek Productions Showreel which will be five minutes long. Once completed I intend to upload it to both my website and this blog. I also intend to host it and use my own bandwidth, however if demand becomes too much I’ll switch to either Vimeo or YouTube.

Now I do photograph and film outside the Isle of Man but the majority of my images and footage is shot within this beautiful Island. So for those of you that are unaware of the Isle of Man or unsure about some specifics here’s a quick fact snippet about the Island.

About the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man (Manx: Ellan Vannin) or Mann (Manx: Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, which lies in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles. The Island is nestled between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, less than 60 miles west of the Lancashire coastline. It is 33 miles long, 13 miles wide and covers an area of 227 square miles. The habitat diversity on the Isle of Man is quite extreme with more than 40% of the Island remaining uninhabited. Hills and mountains make up much of the island’s interior with tall trees and deep valleys. A flat plain lies in the north of the island leading off to cliffs which drop down to the sea. The highest point on the Island is the summit of Snaefell which means ‘Snow Mountain’ and stands at 2036 feet (621 metres) above sea level. The longest river on the Island is the Sulby at 10.5 miles. Its wetlands and heathlands are best known but its coastland is also very rich and diverse along with its many wooded glens that can be found all over the island, each one with its own beauty and charm. The main towns and villages are located along the coast, where small bays offer shelter.

As I mentioned earlier the Island is a unique self-governing kingdom, a Crown dependency which belongs to neither the UK nor the European Union. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann and the Crown is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The Island has its own parliament (called Tynwald), laws, traditions, culture, cuisine and postage stamps. Furthermore it has its own Manx language and currency (though English is the spoken tongue and UK currencies are accepted everywhere).

The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man

The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man or the three legs refer to the island’s motto (adopted late in the symbol’s history): ‘Quocunque Jeceris Stabit’, traditionally translated from Latin as ‘Whithersoever you throw it, it will stand’, or ‘Whichever way you throw it, it will stand’.

Why the name Harbour Creek Productions?

Since I am explaining things here, I thought it would be a good place to mention why I named this site ‘Harbour Creek Productions’.

Well simply put, I love the great outdoors and enjoy walking, photographing and filming the beautiful scenery, wildlife and culture that the Isle of Man has to offer. There are many stunning places on the Island but I often end up at a small bay which can be found across the headland from Port St. Mary, on the southern side of Kallow Point. It is known as Perwick Bay which owes its name to the old Scandinavian word for Harbour Creek.

The beach is worth a visit , particularly if you have more than a passing interest in geology, as there is a noticeable fault on the bays south-east side. Furthermore, there is an abundance of rocky pools and small caves at the foot of the cliffs to explore.

I find this is a wonderful place to sit, relax and mull over the things that are zipping around in my head. In enables me clear my mind and take a break from the technological world we live in. After a trip down to the bay I always feel refresh and fired up to such an extent that often I produce my best work after.

So a little about Harbour Creek Productions and what it is all about. I will split Harbour Creek Productions into two segments; the ‘Website’ and my ‘Blog’.

The Blog

I’ll start with the latter since this is where we both are now. The purpose of the blog is to enable me to use it as a soundboard for future projects, my thoughts and musings, rants and raves, and to enable me to pass on any tricks or tips along with articles and reviews.

I am hoping for interaction with my readers and I can learn from you as much as I am teaching. By no means am I an expert, just an opinionated cinematographer / photographer.

The Website

Now as for my website, I am in the middle of designing it from the ground up. I am trying to keep it XHTML 1.0 compliant (Strict) except for maybe the contact form that will be HTML 4.0 (Loose) as I can’t code it to the XHTML standard and retain some features that I like. The website will hopefully be live in about a months time. The website will be more of a showcase for my work.

The designing of my latest website

I haven’t yet concluded how I am going to set up the navigation or how it is going to work on the website yet from the point of topics and sub-topics. However, it is work in progress and will look forward to any input from you.

I do have a nice nifty SEO friendly menu that I am going to use. So it isn’t the design I’m struggling to decide upon more titles both main and subtitles. I know that I have to use words that everyone understands and not get too clever or technical but I really want to try and create a refreshed, modern and chic system rather than the same old, same old. For example: how many websites have you visited that have an ‘About Us’ page! I have in the past used ‘Profile’ and ‘Bio’ to avoid this. This time I want to try and improve the whole navigation from standard clichés. If you have any ideas than please leave a comment.

I suppose I should leave it as that for now or this will end up as a thesis, rather than a blog post. However before I get signing off I would just like to say one more thing. Its about the number of blogs that I have read on the net, where the author states in the final lines of their first blog post that they are going to regularly post and keep the blog update, then you look at their last post which is already a year old! So I am not going to make any such claims here. I will say however that I have been blogging for quite sometime now and class myself as a blogger. So, I’m sure that if you keep checking back frequently that you will find new content has been added to both my website and my blog.

So until next time,

Paul Inglis | Harbour Creek Productions