Changes at Ilfracombe TV

Hi and welcome to this new post from Moonshadow Media

Several quite major changes have happened within Moonshadow Media since the last blog post I wrote. The most significant of these changes is the Ilfracombe TV update.  Thanks to the power of Facebook we are now able to transmit a live update every morning and this has, in effect, replaced the Capstone Bulletin and has taken the audience figures upwards dramatically.  Today alone in just 3 hours the Morning Update had reached almost 1000 people which is on average 5 times more than the Capstone Bulletin did.

To say that I am very excited by this is an understatement!

The weekly What's Going On video still proves to be popular and we are working hard to improve that as each week passes.  This week we have added the opportunity for people to make contact with us and see exactly how much it would cost to place some form of advertising with us.  We can look at programme sponsorship, simple name and contact info (the cheapest option) and more.

The other things that have happened in the past weeks are :-

A new show for Capstone Radio entitled Home Grown hit the airwaves and Home Grown 2 is in production at present

2 new shows hit the air for CauldronFM - the North Devon Firefly and Faery Fayre update and the Litha show

Coaching Radio continues the serialisation of the Tao Te Ching

Wytchwynd Photography has had a very busy week starting last Sunday (11th) with photographing the official Victorian Celebration gathering, then the Pip n Jim's Queen's Birthday Garden Party, and on the 18th Mr Alexander, Steampunk Alice and Celebration Fireworks

So as you can see it has been a busy old time, not that I am complaining, especially when I read some of the positive comments on Facebook and when people stop me in the street to shake my hand and thank me for doing this for the town.

And this leads me to my final point - I am looking for people who care about the community and the issues / celebrations that are raised on a month by month basis, to join the team.  It is all voluntary as yet, but if you care, as I hope I do, about things that go on in Ilfracombe and the surrounding communities,  the money tends to fade into the background

If you would like to have a chat, please email me to arrange a mutually suitable time so that we can discuss the ways you could get involved.

email - moonshadowmedia@mail.com

Tel - 07050 644101

All the very best

DAve

Copy of an interview for fellow blogger "Ghostman"

This is a transcript of the interview I have just completed for a fellow blogger who goes under the name of "Ghostman"

Ghostman - What inspired you to set up the radio station?

Well that is a difficult question - many things have inspired me to do it. So to be able to answer fully I need to go back in history.

I have always been involved with the entertainment industry, from the early age of 5 I was on stage, at 11 I was studying music with the London College of Music.

By the age of 15 I was playing in a band, songwriting and had my first song published by a company called Belsize.

I continued life as a musician through various ups and downs and eventually set up an artist management company called Westworld

My songwriting consisted of what I would call "normal work" but then I went to Glastonbury and that visit changed my songwriting style and my life forever.

During this trip to Glastonbury I met a person who asked me why I had gone to Glastonbury. I could not answer him properly until several days later when I went to the top of the Tor and that revealed to me why I had gone to Glastonbury.

From that visit onwards a love affair began and I could not get enough of the place and that love affair continues to this day.

During one of my visits in 1989 I did a meditation on the top of the Tor at 5.30am and during that meditation my whole future spread out before me like a roadmap on the satnav.

As a result of that meditation I was inspired to write my very first album of instrumental music. In its very rough state I took the basis of that album to a company that was called Pagan Media and they had a record label of the same name.  The owner – Steve – really liked what he heard and on the basis of that he offered to help me record the album.

We continued to produce the album and although I changed recording studios in mid – stream so to say Pagan Media stuck by their promise.  The album was called Somerset Story

During the time we were recording the album I was also working with Halton Borough Council as a freelance consultant to develop a community music project.

One part of this project was to set up a community radio station and I was invited to go into the broadcast studio and be interviewed about the album Somerset Story. (The DJ who interviewed me went on to become a senior lecturer at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts)

As a result of that interview I was offered a presenting post on the next round of broadcasts which were to take place some 6 months later.

I was unsure about accepting the offer but I did and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

So I suppose you could say the die was cast and the seed was sown.

Lots of things happened with the band and the work I was doing we were scouted by London Records, I became the Musical Director for the Spotlight Theatre Company, worked with a duo, recorded with OMD and much much more.

But now the story has to move forwards to my move to Devon and here as part of my work with Westworld I met someone who was to become a long-standing friend of mine.   Between us, this person, Tom Armstrong (who was also a broadcaster) and I worked on books, CDs, advertising, show production and lots more.

We had several projects running one of which was a recording studio based in Georgeham and then Braunton.

As part of the studio we set up a video/audio link between control room and recording area.

We were also involved with our own theatre and performance training school which was the All-Stars Academy and we put together several productions and as part of that work we recorded the artists in our studio.

One of our conversations during these recordings sessions went along the lines of wouldn't it be great if we could broadcast these sessions either on radio or TV?

However at that particular time this sort of idea fell at the first hurdle because of the cost and so we continued to work this way until Tom migrated to Lanzarote and I stayed behind with my family.

Cutting a long piece of the story out the next major thing that happened with regards to my work in radio was that I was working in a show at the Queens Theatre in Barnstaple when I was interviewed by Lantern Radio as it was then.  This interview was with TV presenter, broadcaster and former Bond Girl Jenny Hanley.

From this interview I got a telephone call asking me to attend a meeting I did and the upshot of that meeting was that I had my own radio programme on another radio network.

The terms of my engagement with the station were that I was allowed to feature music that I wanted not necessarily what was on the playlist. I negotiated hard for this and told the manager that if he wanted me on his team then he would agree to my terms.

I stayed with that station for two years and during that time I witnessed and was enthralled by the growth of podcasting.

I saw podcasting as being "the future" and decided that getting into this method of broadcasting would give me an opportunity to reach a global audience for very little money and also give me total control over what I broadcast.

Now that sounds like I'm a control freak but I'm not!  It also sounds like I operate from a place of ego and to a certain extent at that point in my life yes I was!

Now however I take on the philosophy of a very highly respected gentlemen Dr Wayne Dyer and his philosophy was and I quote

"I like approval I enjoy approval but I don't need approval"

So to pick up the story again - from getting the equipment and starting my podcasting I found other people who shared the desire to broadcast their own programs. And so I offered them space on my podcast channel.

This podcast and several others that I was doing started to grow in popularity and I then began to look at ways of being able to broadcast a streaming service online rather than having people needing to click to play

So I spoke to various people one of whom said I can make that happen for you - and he did!

And hence CauldronFM was born alongside Coaching Radio and more lately Capstone Radio

However of the three radio channels that I operate only CauldronFM broadcasts 24/7 at the moment

Ghostman - What are your aims?

Wow another great question.

I suppose that the main aim for the radio side of me is to go onto mainstream broadcasting such as an independent radio station the ethos of that being of course that the programming will still be the same.

However mainstream "proper" broadcasting comes with constraints on content so maybe that is simply a flight of fancy

Ghostman - What plans do you have for the future?

The immediate plan is to obtain a new computer and to link that into my broadcast accounts which will enable me to broadcast Capstone Radio and Coaching Radio on a split daily basis i.e. eight hours devoted to Capstone Radio and four hours to Coaching Radio then 12 hours off air

I also want to get back into live broadcasting rather than pre- recorded programmes. There is something very special about doing a live show - you have to think on your feet and I like the buzz that doing that gives me

Another thing that I want for CauldronFM and Capstone Radio is to bring more presenters on board so if anyone reading this or listening to it feels that they can become a part of the Moonshadow Media family please get in touch with me

Ghostman - What music do you play and do you interview the artists?

Ok let's look first at CauldronFM - since this is a pagan orientated service we mostly feature pagan artists or world artists.  We are currently play listing an Appalachian prog. rock outfit Tuatha Dea; Danish pagan rock band Omnia; American singer/songwriter and personal friend Celia Farran and local to N Devon, reggae band Malachite

Moving over to Capstone Radio the music on there has a more local feel and is currently playing Jess Richards (Bideford); Maggie Davies (Ilfracombe) Dumbos Feather (Exmouth) and Ange Hardy (Williton, Somerset) among others.

I often interview the artists about their work and try to get a feel for who they are away from being a performer and touch into their likes and dislikes etc.

Probably the three most famous people I have interviewed recently are Paul Brett (guitarist with The Strawbs and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown to name but 2) Paul also has a range of signature guitars on sale internationally), The Strawbs were a UK chart topping band of the 70s with Union Man reaching #2;

Tom Newman who produced Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells - the groundbreaking Virgin album of the early 70s. Tom is a multi – platinum producer;

and finally actress and TV presenter Jenny Hanley, Bond Girl, radio presenter and presenter of the children's tv programme Magpie

Personal Information

I am not just a radio station owner although that is something that takes up a fair amount of my time. I have a number of other things that I do :-

• I am a singer / songwriter
• I am a press photographer and run wytchwynd photography 
• I am a personal development coach, a Reiki Practioner, Crystal Therapist and “fingers crossed” soon to become qualified as a music therapist

To contact Moonshadow Media

call - 07050 644101

email - moonshadowmedia@mail.com

A Little Story Telling

The Little Seed

Once upon a time.............. or maybe twice there was a little seed, and that little seed wanted to become a big strong tree.  So the little seed made the incredibly long journey to the bottom of the garden path and stopped by a giant Daisy. " Excuse me Miss Daisy but can you tell me how to become a big strong tree?"

"Hmm let me think" -

"Go to the foot of our stairs and stand there for a week or more"

"Will that make me a big strong tree?" the seed asked

" Maybe" replied the daisy.

So off the seed toddled to the foot of the stairs and waited and waited, then one day a speck of dust flew by

"Excuse me Mister Dust Particle" it asked enquiringly "am I a big strong tree yet?"

"Hmm, not yet, but I'll tell you what,  climb onto that sunray over there and follow it until you reach the Rainbow's End"

"Right Ho!" the seed called cheerily and climbed aboard. It was warm and pleasant and our little traveller felt just like a seed on a sunbeam.

When the seed reached the Rainbow's End he hopped off and stood there bathed in sunlight - suddenly he was aware of a tiny voice,

" excuse me Mr Tree, but can you tell me how I can become a big strong tree just like you?"

Looking down the little seed was amazed to notice that he had grown tall, strong and erect, he had become the tree he had always wanted to be but without him realising what was happening.

So remember that in this life we can often achieve our desires and not realise that we have done so...

When you have a goal, make it huge, make it your destiny and take the little steps towards it that are necessary and then sooner than you think you will achieve what you want.



To contact Moonshadow Media

Call: 07050 644101
email: moonshadowmedia@mail.com

ANATOMY OF A PHOTO SHOOT

An in-depth look at a recent wedding photo assignment that I undertook

The object of this post is to give you an insight into a recent photography job I was engaged for in North Devon.  From beginning to end this booking took the biggest part of 5 days and a lot of local travelling.

Wednesday evening

The bride to be had invited me over to her house for a coffee and a last minute chat about the “big day” and what was the basis of the plan.  Fortunately I had been given the information that the florist was going to be there and that she would be working with the bride and chief bridesmaid on the floral designs.,

I arrived at approximately 7.30pm and almost immediately began taking photographs, the bride looking stunning in her pink dressing gown, pyjamas, pink rubber gloves and with her sunglasses perched on top of her head.

The room was a blaze of colour with all the beautiful flowers and the air was heavy with the aroma of the flowers and greenery.

I took several photographs with my phone to get a feel for the atmosphere and colours then began with the camera – a mix of shots with both the standard and telephoto lenses gave an interesting combination of images.

Some two hours later I left the venue and headed home.

Thursday

Today was spent checking and editing the 120+ photos from the Wednesday shoot.  They were then compiled into a file ready to be put into their own online album and sent to the bride after the wedding itself. 

Once this had been achieved it was sort the camera time…………. Lenses cleaned, external body cleaned, internal mirror cleaned.  Both batteries fully charged, phone fully charged (my back up camera in case of camera problems) and lens cleaned.  Tripod sorted (just in case I needed it!)

Friday Morning and Afternoon

The bride and chief bridesmaid were being picked up from the hotel at approximately 11.45 to make their way to the wedding venue so I arranged to get to the hotel at 11am and take some preparation photos. 

As it transpired things were running a little close to the wind time wise so we ended up simply taking photographs of the bride and bridesmaids in the hall of the hotel, a couple in the lounge and 1 in the garden.

It was in the garden that panic set in – my camera screen went black, the shutter would not operate, the preview image function was not working, and I did not know if there was a power failure.  So I took the battery out, left it for a few minutes and replaced it, the lens motor ran and then stopped.

Now I was really panicking………………

I removed the battery a second time and waited.

I replaced the battery and the camera burst back into life!  I still have no idea what caused this situation but we were back in business.

Time had been marching on and as I drove out of the village the wedding car passed me going to pick up the bridal party.

I now had about 25 miles to drive to the wedding venue, a town to navigate around and only an hour to do it in.

Isn’t it strange how whenever you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry all the traffic appears to be on a go slow and drivers decide to stop in the middle of the roads for no apparent reasons, traffic lights always appear to be against you and so on?

Anyway, I made it to the venue just prior to the coach that was bringing the groom, best man and the first of the wedding guests.

I met and spoke with the Registrar who apparently remembered me from the last couple of weddings I had done that she had officiated at.  She took me to the room and ran through the procedural issues although she said “I am sure you have done enough weddings to know this anyway”

There was then just enough time to grab some photos of the groom and the best man before the bridal party arrived and I had to divert my attention to taking their photographs.

Time to head up into the ceremony room for a few quick shots of the gathered throng, the groom and chief bridesmaid before the bride and her step father arrived at the door.

I took photographs throughout the ceremony and finally I made a quick dash downstairs to take the outside shots including those of the happy couple getting into the car.  I then began the dash back the 25 miles to the village and get ready to do the bandstand shots before everyone arrived.

When the bride and groom arrived at the bandstand there had been a change of plan and it was just a few photographs of them and then to the reception to take the group photographs in the beer garden.

I had an hour to complete those photographs before my parking time expired.  Fortunately the group shots went well and with a little bit of artistic direction provided by the chief bridesmaid the shots were “in the can”.

Now it was back home and a quick download of the photographs I had already taken, a quick selection of 20 images to go onto the iPad to show the happy couple at the evening reception.  A quick wash and brush up followed and then it was time to head off again back to the reception.

Friday Evening

I arrived at the reception venue at approximately 7.30pm and spent the next 3 hours photographing guests, the buffet table, the presents and another 100 plus photographs later we made our way home and collapsed in a heap.

Saturday / Sunday and Monday

All photographs reviewed and the wedding images placed into an online album first.  This was sent over to the bride by Saturday evening.  The album of the evening reception followed mid afternoon on Sunday and then the flowers album followed early Sunday evening.

On Monday I had to take one image to the photo printers to have an enlargement made and framed and tomorrow (Saturday 28^th May) I will be collecting that framed print and delivering it to the newly weds after they arrive home on Saturday 4^th June.

To contact Moonshadow Media 

call - 07050 644101
email - moonshadowmedia@mail.com

Long Time Gone.............. but now I am back!

Well I have to say that it is good to be back and chatting to you again.  So much has happened over the last year or so that I really don't know where to begin.  So I think the best thing to do is to just go with the flow and put it out there in any order that it happens to come - which is the way it should be anyway.

So starting with

The Crystal Spring

Kaz and I have now qualified as Reiki Practitioners and we were planning on doing our Master's this year, which may still happen but when we do not know.  The reason for the delay is that our teacher has given up her business in N Devon and so is only looking after certain of her students........ we have been included in that list but other matters have also far been instrumental in prolonging the wait.

For the first part, Kaz and family moved home to her in laws house following the passing of her father in law.  So that meant that 2015 was a year of major upheaval, added to that the building we were going to be occupying is still leaking water despite thousands of pounds being paid to the "builder" to rectify the problem and no completion date is on the horizon.  So as a result we turned our sights on different horizons............and began working alongside The Heart Centre in Combe Martin.  I started a meditation group and nobody turned up, Kaz started a Reiki clinic on a Friday and nobody turned up.  I ran Part 1 of a course about Personal Development and that had 5 attendees but thus far have been unable to set a date for Part 2.

So I think out of frustration we both looked for other things to be doing while the Crystal Spring marks time.  Kaz is now running a nice little business as a Scentsy distributor and I am concentrating on my photography (wytchwynd photography) and training to be a music therapist.

Once we get the Crystal Spring trading properly I am sure that we will build a nice client base.

Capstone Radio / Cauldron FM

Both the radio channels tick over quite nicely, it will be much better once I get a computer that I can dedicate to Capstone Radio and then that channel can stream 12 hours a day instead of just the daily Bulletin interspersed with the odd show here and there as time allows

Ilfracombe TV

Our TV channel is enjoying some long awaited popularity again and I am looking to develop this with proper programming and funding this through advertising.

Wytchwynd Photography

This is probably the most self indulgent aspect of Moonshadow Media and yet it is proving to be the most lucrative.  I have recently been commissioned to take the team photographs for the Ilfracombe Colts Under 14s Football team.  I have been the official photographer at 3 weddings recently and I have been appointed the official photographer for the 2016 Victorian Celebrations in Ilfracombe.  There has been a fair bit of exposure in the press (particularly the N Devon Gazette).  My coverage of several local events having been considered worthy of publication.

At the time of writing there are examples of my work in The Coconut Bus Juice Bar and The Portland Art gallery in Ilfracombe

if you would like to check out the photography website it can be reached via the following link but here are a couple of examples to be going on with.

http://bit.ly/wytchphotog

So as a final little piece if you would like to get in touch then doing so is very easy

Call the Moonshadow Media Hotline on 07050 644101

or email moonshadowmedia@mail.com

Love, Light and Blessed Be.

A Different Way of Thinking

I know that it is a long time since we last spoke and I have been working furiously to build all the various elements of the business and pull them all together into one cohesive mass.  That finally appears to be happening - the Crystal Spring Light Centre is well under way in its construction phase, Kaz and I are now both qualified Reiki Practitioners and as of 5th September we will be qualified Crystal Therapists also.

Kaz has been working towards qualifying in Indian Hand Massage and we have teamed up with the North Devon Heart Centre to develop a united front for another set of projects.

The Altered Image coaching practice is still moving forwards but that too is undergoing a few changes - in particular one area is about to change quite considerably but for the moment let me show you a video that will go some way to explaining what I mean

We partnered with the Optimum Living Channel to create this video since I have been reading the book "Clarity" by Jamie Smart and my thoughts and opinions have been turned quite literally inside out.  At the end of the video you are invited to join my mailing list to receive all of our updates.

So whilst there is a lot more to tell you about things that have been happening over the last few months those will wait for another day,

In the meantime, live a life of love, have fun and above all be happy.

DAve x

PS Click here to visit our website

Enter "The Crystal Spring"

Greetings and Merrie Meet to all our friends and followers.

I know that it has been a long time since my last post and I trust that you will all forgive me when I explain exactly what has been happening.....

Some of you may already know that I have carried with me for over 20 years the desire to open my own Healing / Light Centre and that during said time there have been a few false starts with each one bringing me a step closer but still staying tantalisingly out of reach.

The last attempt I had was so close I could smell it, I had located a High Street shop that was actually perfect for how I saw the centre in my mind's eye.  There had been several viewings, mental plans had been drawn up and yet at the last minute (or so it seemed) it was snatched away from me - I was bowled over by this but I resigned myself to the belief that the universe had again decided that there was more to do and a new place to be.

Almost 12 months to the day since I last stood inside my "dream" I was standing in the middle of my new dream and helping clear away the debris and rubbish so that we could actually see the floor.

Those 12 months have been magickal and have seen me forming an alliance with a fellow pagan after one day telling her of my dream and wish to open a centre - she said that it was also her dream and that was it, the roller coaster ride had begun.

We have both studied Reiki together and in 3 months have gone from being complete novices to been certified as Practitioners.

But, best of all (at the moment) we have a home for our centre, it has been given to us on condition that we are prepared to share the facility as and when sharing becomes necessary and we have also been given a lovely room that is going to become a treatment room.

As part of this wonderful ride thus far we have also been offered use of a facility in nearby Combe Martin to hold our own workshops etc. until such time as our centre is ready to open its doors AND we are also in negotiations to set up a satellite clinic in Torbay.

So we, Kaz and I are pleased to announce that "The Crystal Spring" is real and will be running via the Devon Heart Centre,  Combe Martin sometime after the 29th November.

We are looking to be adding Crystal Therapy, Colour Therapy and Laughter Yoga into our range of therapies in the early part of 2015 and we have already had several enquiries from other therapists in and around North Devon who wish to use the centre for their own work.

So we are really excited about the progress thus far and are looking forward to the journey as we move ahead.

If you would like to join us on our Facebook page the visit this link http://bit.ly/crystalspringilf

You can also follow us on twitter where we are @cspringkaz and @cspringdave

We have also produced an audio introduction to our centre and to listen to that please follow this link Crystal Spring Introduction

You can also email us at thecrystalspring@mail.com

If you want to speak to us by phone please call Kaz on 07969 973762 or Dave on 07050 644101

So until we provide our next update all that remains is to wish you

Love, Light and Reiki Blessings

Kaz + DAve