Jigsaw Puzzles

The Flying Scotsman Jigsaw Puzzle

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Brand New Jigsaw Puzzle Design of The Flying Scotsman Locomotive Train.

Over the past few days I’ve been getting lots of messages from customers that know about my jigsaw puzzle making, that all knew of The Flying Scotsman and that it would be traveling through Hinckley, my home town.

They all told me about it and probably was secretly hoping that I would go and get a photograph to make in to a Jigsaw Puzzle.
How could I refuse such a unique opportunity?
Of course, I couldn’t and now I have a great photograph that i will make in to a jigsaw puzzle of The Flying Scotsman!

Yes it’s exciting isn’t it?
I know!

Here it is…..

The Flying Scotsman passing through Hinckley Railway Station in Leicestershire.

So the plan is to now get stuck in to creating a new design for the packaging over the Christmas period and create a point of sale for you to place your orders.
Once again I’ll be offering pre-orders at a discounted rate while the puzzle is in production.

So make sure you sign up for my emails to stay in touch and find out when it’s ready should you wish to get one for yourself or a loved one.

Here’s a little bit of information around how I made it…

After receiving lots of tip offs, I dropped my daughter at school on the Wednesday morning of the 13th of December 2023 and headed to my studio to sort out my equipment and then drove to Hinckley Railway Station. Upon arrival I sat in my van because I was about 10 minutes early. I wanted to stay in the warm because it was a bit chilly and sat scrolling through my Facebook feed and to my horror, I came across a post that said The Flying Scotsman had made a flying stop at Humberstone Gate in Leicester and was therefore going to go through Hinckley station 10 minutes early. I grabbed my camera and ran to the station to find there was already approximately a hundred people on the bridge and lining both platforms.
I made my way to the end of the platform because I knew it would work best if I went to the back and zoomed in to the composition I wanted so it would compress the image and include more details in the frame, which always works well for a jigsaw puzzle.

I took my position and then looked around and spotted some of the other professional photographers that I knew on the other side of the platform, to which we had some banter across the tracks. It did actually raise a concern to me over whether I’d picked the right side of the platform though.
I wanted to have the station visible in the background and get the people on the bridge.

Then an Intercity came whizzing through and I noted the speed, considering that The Flying Scotsman would emulate that speed as it wasn’t stopping. This meant to me that I would have to increase the shutter speed to make sure I could have a sharp image.
The settings I used was 1/800th of a second at f6.3 with an ISO of 3200.

In post production I performed a post crop to 7:5 in order to be the right size for a jigsaw puzzle. I altered the exposure to look as it did when I was there, sharpened it a little and had to do Denoise because of the amount of ISO I had to use to get the fast shutter speed.

I then prefocused the shot on the station and when she came flying through I just kept hitting the shutter button and managed about 6 photographs to get to choose this single one.

That’s how I made this photograph, so if you would now like to express an interest in buying this puzzle when it’s ready, please enter your email address below and I’ll be in touch when it’s ready.

Loughborough's 800th Street Fair 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

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My next and most exciting Jigsaw Puzzle!

I’ve been to the street fair in Loughborough because it was their 800th anniversary of such an age old tradition and have made a picture that I believe is fantastic for a jigsaw puzzle and I’m actually really quite excited about it.

Loughborough’s 800th Street Fair 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

I was reluctant to put another jigsaw puzzle in to production this side of Christmas because it’s such a tight deadline that there’s no guarantee to be ready for Christmas, although it probably will be ready right at the last minute.

I did this last year with The Mews, Ashby De La Zouch and 70 people had ordered one, meaning I’d got some serious pressure on my back. Well I’ve eased that level of pressure a little by only ordering 10 puzzles.

So if you’re in to your jigsaw puzzles and would love to have a go at this one, you need to act fast.

This button will take you straight to the ordering page on my website.

Selling My Own Photography Products

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How my photography business has changed and how I’m adapting to changes…

I’m beginning to use my blog as a sounding board or more of a way to release my thoughts on my artwork and business. Today I’m going to talk about how I’ve had to be like water to flow with my business as it changed during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The Wharf, Hinckley, Leicestershire

I started my business in 2012 at the same time that I enrolled on to a level three photography course at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. I’d alway loved photography but never realised I could do it for a living. I wished I’d thought about this when I first left school because I’ve made billions of mistakes in what feels like hundreds of different jobs.

I’ve never been a very good employee! I always know better, hate rules, can’t apply myself to other people’s businesses as an employee and my nature is really quite rebellious! Believe me I’ve tried. I can’t say I’ve been a bad person within my past jobs because I’m a people person and love to be around others and get on with almost everyone and have stuck it out at some jobs. Three years was my longest reign in just two jobs.

Anyway, I was made redundant from Croner Consulting as telephone appointment maker for Health and Safety and Employment Law consultancy services. It was a tough job, speaking to over a hundred people each day to try and make an appointment for the business managers to go and close a sale.

St. Catherine’s Church, Burbage, Leicestershire

I think I’m digressing as usual!

I opened my photography business initially to be a wedding photographer until I learned more about the artwork side of things through college. Anyone can be a wedding photographer, all they need to do is buy a camera and watch a few YouTube videos. That’s all there is to it really, if you don’t factor in experience and knowledge! I know some amazing wedding photographers and by the same token, many who think they’re that! I also worked freelance for local and international businesses and charities, which was all great until the Coronavirus Pandemic popped over to the UK.

At that time, all businesses were ordered to close, taking all the people I could work for with them and leaving me with nobody to hire me. Of course I wasn’t the only person in the world for this to happen to but this is my journey…

Locked Down, Documentary Project

I had nothing to do, so I began to document the lockdown and ended up making a book and working with the community to tell their stories. My book publisher then began to also make and produce photographic jigsaw puzzles for their photographers and I jumped on the bandwagon to see how it would work.

Booom!!!

As if all I needed to help me get off the ground was a global pandemic!!!

I couldn’t believe it, upon making 6 of my favourite local photographs into JIgsaw Puzzles, right in the middle of a jigsaw puzzle boom was all it took! I guess we all need a break every now and then. Well this was my moment and I grabbed it with all of my hands!

That was my turning point.

Since early Summer in 2020, I’ve been making puzzles now and I’ve been fumbling my way through. I had zero experience of selling retail, especially my own products. It all went amazingly well until the summer of this year 2021. The lockdown was lifted and everyone went back to work. Plus the summer was here and people wanted to be in the garden instead of sat around the dinner table doing a jigsaw puzzle.

This hurt my business massively because I’d been led down the path of abundance throughout 2020 and this was very different. Less people were buying my jigsaw puzzles and I’d been caught out through ordering lots of stock and a reduction in sales. For this I have literally just had to bide my time until things picked up for me. I knew Christmas would be good for me.

Jigsaw Puzzle Leicestershire

The Horsepool, Burbage, Leicestershire

I’m finally getting around to telling you the actual point of this blog. I’ve had to be like water and flow with my business, which controls me more than I control it. I’ve become a slave to my business and I love it!

To move with the times and help my customers have a better experience, I’ve flattened my puzzle pricing out to £20 for any puzzle. I was selling them at £22 because I needed that extra bit of income to help pay for things like my office and insurance etc. When selling my artwork on the local markets, it was sometimes a bit awkward dealing with the additional coins. I’m hoping that by flattening my pricing, it might lead to more sales on the market. So far it seems to be working, let’s see how it pans out on the run up to Christmas.

If you’d like to learn more about my interactive artwork and local Leicestershire Jigsaw Puzzles, please visit my shop.

My Favourite Jigsaw Puzzle Creation Yet!

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Sutton Wharf 1,000 Piece Fine Art Photographic Jigsaw Puzzle, Leicestershire Photographed.

This is the backstory behind the creation of what I believe to be one of my favourite and best designed jigsaw puzzle to date.

Sutton Wharf is a locally renowned beauty spot in the Leicestershire countryside and often marks the beginning, middle or end for any walks around Bosworth Battlefield. I don’t know why I hadn’t considered making a puzzle here before now but at least I’ve done it and now have almost 30 puzzles in my posession.

I first visited in the summer of 2020 to see if I could make a puzzle there, we’d just opened up after the first massive lockdown and people were out and about but I just couldn’t make the photograph work as a puzzle. I tried but couldn’t find the right composition (below).

Sutton Wharf, Leicestershire August 2020 - Failed attempt.

I needed the photograph to work, so I created a postcard design from this picture and it’s been very popular already. People haven’t really seen the one I’ve chosen to become a jigsaw puzzle yet, until now!

I wasn’t happy that I hadn’t found a jigsaw puzzle but all wasn’t lost because I’d bought a new camera, the Panasonic Lumix TZ200 and planned to return.

Now this camera is something I’d been searching for, for a long time and I didn’t realise it existed until I’d finally took the plunge to do some deep searching. I needed a camera with a good quality lens, big sensor, a wide range of focal lengths and be small enough to fit in my pocket because I was fed up with carrying my huge dslr and massive lens around with me. The sheer size of it drew a lot of attention to myself, which was not really good nor safe for me to do my latest project Leicestershire Photographed.

Now I can move around relatively unseen and still produce better photographs with enough pixel power to be useful as my art products.

I have the Lumix now and I’m getting very comfortable with it. This is the first jigsaw puzzle I’ve created with my new camera and I have to say that it’s so good to use. I was able to get the right focal length I needed and enough clarity and sharpness to convert in to a puzzle.

Here it is….

Sutton Wharf 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

All the ingredients were in place for me, not immediately but I stood balanced on top of the bridge railings for about 10-15 minutes watching and waiting for everything to come together. The light needed to change and the right people had to walk in and out of the frame so the puzzle was ready. I also had to work out the composition while balanced on top of the bridge and that was a bit nerve wracking, I just didn’t look down.

Isn’t it amazing what a difference a slight move and angle change makes?

Sutton Wharf 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle is now available and in stock. So you can either order online or come and see me on the market stall in Hinckley every Saturday or Market Harborough every Tuesday.

Ps/ You might also catch me at one of the local car boot sales this weekend.

Click below to order online.

Raising Funds For The Fire Fighters Charity

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Lancaster Road Fire Station, Leicester.

Recently I’ve been collaborating with Firefighters from Leicestershire Fire Service to produce a jigsaw puzzle of the historical central fire station at Lancaster Road in Leicester.

In connection with my latest photographic project where I’m touring the county of Leicestershire to document people and place in a bid to cover the entire county recording life as it is today for future generations to refer back to historically. I’ve collaborating with the Firefighters to create a photographic jigsaw puzzle for the purposes of creating awareness and raising funds for The Fire Fighters Charity.

Lancaster Road Fire Station, Leicester - 500 & 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

The jigsaw puzzles have began their production journey, which starts with the idea, going out to make the actual photograph, which took three attempts at getting the composition right, the light and positioning of the appliances. Then the photograph goes through post production to ensure the colour and presentation is suitable before sending to my suppliers who then design the boxes.

Although on this occasion there’s been the added communication with the Firefighters and The Fire Fighters Charity.

The prints are then made and pressed on to a 1.5mm puzzle board before being cut in to the individual shapes. The puzzle pieces are then bagged and sealed, put in to the right boxes and then shipped to me for distribution to you.

This process takes an average of 4 weeks.

The Fire Fighters Charity provide confidential, personalised support to the whole of the fire services community, delivering mental health, physical health and social wellbeing services at their centres, remotely, online and in communities around the UK. Championing the health and wellbeing of all those they support - serving, retired or dependant - They exist to support all fire and rescue service personnel, whatever their role in the service. They’re also here for all those who have retired, as well as for spouses and qualifying dependants.

The Fire Fighters Charity provide confidential, personalised support to the whole of the fire services community, delivering mental health, physical health and social wellbeing services at their centres, remotely, online and in communities around the UK. Championing the health and wellbeing of all those they support - serving, retired or dependant - They exist to support all fire and rescue service personnel, whatever their role in the service. They’re also here for all those who have retired, as well as for spouses and qualifying dependants.

I’ve started off by ordering a small quantity to test the market - 10 x 500 pieces and 20 x 1,000 pieces.

I fully expect the first batch to have sold out long before the puzzles arrive. I will of course be ordering more but each time a new order is placed, it can take a while before I get to see stable stock. So it’s recommended that if you would like one of these jigsaw puzzles, then please get your order in asap.

The puzzles come out during my Spring/Summer sale where all puzzles are £20, which includes a £2 donation towards The Fire Fighters Charity.

If you’re feeling generous, you can pay £23 for the puzzle where you’ll also get a free postcard of Lancaster Road Fire Station and £5 will be donated towards the cause.

Place your order for a jigsaw puzzle using the product link below…

DSC_4485-Edit-Edit.jpg
sale
500 & 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Lancaster Road Fire Station
£20.00 £25.00
Size:
Quantity:
Add To Cart
Donate to The Fire Fighters Charity
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Kicking Off In 2021 With Brand New Jigsaw Puzzle Designs

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Let’s Start 2021 With Four

Brand New Jigsaw Puzzle Designs.

“My choices are to sit back and wait for things to happen or I can get my head in to gear and make a start now.”

We’re in the second week of January 2021 and I’d been worried about promoting my puzzles during this month because I know everyone has just gone through Christmas and if most people are anything like my family, they’ll not have a lot of money in this month. When I used to have a job, I always spent January living on toast, waiting for the end of the month to get just enough money to see me through to the next month end.

Hinckley, VE Day 2021, 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

The above photograph (Hinckley, VE Day 2021), I created during the first lockdown in 2020. When the virus reached Britain, I was genuinely frightened and worried what kind of life my little girl would have being brought in to this world. Then in one swoop, all of my clients revoked the work they’d assigned to me for 2020. Overnight, my business disappeared and up on looking at the future landscape, I couldn’t see it changing anytime soon. So I started making jigsaw puzzles from the archives I’d created for my project Hinckley & Burbage Photographed.
So the first lockdown kicked in and I pulled my daughter out of Nursery, keeping her safe at home and we did lot’s of cycling trips. I always took my camera with me and documented what I was seeing around the town. One evening I had a brain wave, which hurt a little but it was destined to lead me on to a very bright pathway.

I began a window portrait documentary, recording stories of people that were in lockdown and how they were surviving. It was a brilliantly fun project to do that enabled me to do something for the community. Also during that first lockdown was the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Many people came to their front gardens to socialise with others from a distance, safely to keep their community spirits alive and I spent the day riding around Hinckley & Burbage with my little girl to see what photographs I could make.
I found this photograph above and it’s also featured in my colouring book and now a 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

Aston Lane, Burbage, 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

I’ve been waiting since 2017 for some snow. The last decent photograph I made in the snow was ‘The Horsepool’, which has featured heavily in my 202 products as the december picture in my 2021 calendar, my most popular Christmas card and my most popular Jigsaw Puzzle.
Well, about two weeks ago, we had a little sprinkling, that had me racing around both Hinckley & Burbage and as much of the Leicestershire county that I could squeeze in before it melted.

I initially headed straight for the centre of Burbage to see what I could find. It’s difficult for me because I’ve spent so much time walking around the same places trying to see if I can make something better than the last time. I created loads of photographs around by St. Catherine’s Church, down by The Horsepool and all around the centre and eventually came back to Aston Lane. I’d already made a few photographs here and received great feedback telling me that they’d love to do a puzzle of this scene but I could never get a satisfactory composition or at least one that lit my own fire.

It has to meet my own approval before you even see it.

This one worked for me, I have faith. So it is now in production along with the other three puzzles I’ve started this years campaign with.

Beautiful Blackfordby 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

On October 13th 2020, I started a new project called ‘Leicestershire Photographed’ because my supplier mentioned to me that he needed someone to cover the entire county and not just Hinckley & Burbage. If I didn’t take it on, they’d give it to someone else that would. Could you imagine me having someone else on my doorstep covering Leicestershire for jigsaw puzzles and calendars and all the other stuff I’ve started making. There’d be a lot of trouble and problems with boundaries etc.

So it was just easier if I took it on myself.
I did just that!

Now I have a new a massive project that is gonna take up a lot of my time in the future but pay me huge dividends in terms of earning a wage to support my family, although weirdly enough, I never really think of earning money. My first thoughts are always on making the best photographs I can. What I earn from them afterwards is simply a bonus that allows me to keep doing this.
I produced my first two puzzles last year; The Old House, Cadeby and The Mews in Ashby De La Zouch, which have both been incredible. What a way to start the new project.

Now I’ve created two more jigsaw puzzles for the Leicestershire Photographed project, including the one above, Beautiful Blackfordby.

Blackfordby is a tiny village, hidden in the far North West corner of Leicestershire, near to Ashby De La Zouch.

The Mews, Ashby De La Zouch

The Old House, Cadeby

My fourth puzzle to be created in this jump start to 2021 is The Plough Inn and Smithards, Ashby. I sought collaboration in choosing this puzzle from the residents and members of a social media group called ‘Ashby De La Zouch Community’. This group has been amazing and instrumental in helping me get my message to the community of Ashby and beyond, for which I’m very grateful.
I feel like I have a nice strong audience in Ashby De La Zouch that have faith in me already and have been buying lots of my jigsaw puzzles. I’ve warmed to that community very easily and plan to do many special things for them over the coming year with some new product releases once I’ve built a big enough archive of pictures around their area.

The Plough Inn and Smithards, Ashby.

I think I may have written enough now. I hope I’ve got my point across. I simply wanted to share my new jigsaw puzzles with you and also give you an insight in to my thoughts. I’m so very proud of these jigsaw puzzles and even more happy at how many people have bought them. It really does make me feel like my work is appreciated because for 8 years leading up to this point, my work was just digital photographs on Facebook. I had no real substance and no end goal. All I did was keep making work for enjoyment, not knowing if any of it would go anywhere or achieve anything. I’d even got to the point where I was close to packing it al in and go out to get a job. I’d tried knocking on all the doors I could find in the industry but all I could ever come up with was earning from commercial photography and filmmaking. Of course that’s all great but my heart was always with the artwork. So now you see me doing well with all of these art products, believe me when I say this, it was never this good. I’ve been through so much hardship on the way here. Even borrowing some money to do a weekly shop one time.
This has all been a long time coming and now I’m doing it, I’ve made myself a job from my artwork and boy does it feel great. I hope I can continue to keep making work that you love and are happy to buy because mine and my families lives depend on it.
Thank you and please sign up to join me and watch me grow as an artist.

Link to view my jigsaw puzzle designs and place any orders.

New 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Design

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The Mews, Ashby De La Zouch

1,000 Piece Real Photographic Jigsaw Puzzle

This article discusses a new 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle design that I’ve recently created, making the twelfth puzzle design in my series and only the second one from the project Leicestershire Photographed.

The Mews, Ashby De La Zouch - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Leicestershire Photographed.

You might be aware already that I’ve started a massive project ‘Leicestershire Photographed’, where I plan to document the landscape across the entire county of Leicestershire. Along the way I’ll be on the lookout for pictures that might be worthy of going in to an adults colouring book, Christmas Cards, Framed Prints or my new calendar in the making for Leicestershire. Also (and of course), I’m searching for photographs that I can create jigsaw puzzles from and I think I’ve found another one for this project.

“So far…….
I’ve driven to quite a few places and covered 262.6 miles, collecting 178 Photographs and have created 2 x 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzles.”
— Paul Hands

The Mews in Ashby De La Zouch.
Since starting the project, I’ve been to Aston Flamville, Bruntingthorpe, Cadeby, Cosby, Desford, Heather, Kirby Muxloe, Lutterworth, Marefield, Market Bosworth, Peatling Magna, Potters Marston, Shenton, South Croxton, Stoney Stanton, Twyford, Watery Gate and Willoughby Watersley. I only started the project on October 13th, which in hindsight, I should have perhaps gone for a different date, so I’m not celebrating any birthdays on Friday 13th, but I will be!

The Old House, Cadeby

The very first jigsaw puzzle I’ve created for the Leicestershire Photographed project, is The Old house in Cadeby. I now have two jigsaw puzzle designs from this project and twelve in total, when including the designs from ‘Hinckley & Burbage Photographed’.

Here’s an example (above) of the box designs and the shapes of the puzzle pieces. The puzzle design shown here is of St. Catherine’s Church, Burbage, which has been one of my most popular jigsaw puzzles.
I only began making jigsaw puzzles in March of this year and all because of the lockdown. I lost all of my commissioned work that was set up for the year and didn’t really know how to get around the situation. I had nothing but photographs sitting on my hard drive that had come from my Hinckley & Burbage Photographed project, which I started in 2012. As you might imagine, I’d collected loads, over ten thousand.

I had to innovate, so I began by turning 6 photographs into jigsaw puzzles and began advertising them online in my website shop and shared them on social media. Oh my days, it was incredible. It was one of the single most important decisions I’d ever made in my life because my business boomed from that moment onwards.
I didn’t realise I had a proper product business like this and it surprised me, coming from nowhere.
Now I’m on a mission to replicate Hinckley & Burbage Photographed but for the entire county of Leicestershire.
It’s started off quite well, with two real photographic jigsaw puzzle designs within the first month.

Leicestershire Photographed Logo.jpg

The Mews, Ashby De La Zouch is my latest release and I’ve managed to get it in before the Christmas delivery cut off date. So they’ll be here in the first week of December. I’ve only ordered 20 x jigsaw puzzles, so these are a limited edition. Also for the first 7 days only, these are reduced from £22 to £20 on pre-order.
They’re available to order in my online shop, which is accessible by this product link below.

Rebranding Hinckley Photographed

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Hinckley Photographed - Rebranded

A big old project of mine, Hinckley Photographed has been rebranded to allow for better creativity and more inclusivity.

Hinckley & Burbage Photographed

Since 2012, I’ve been creating work for a personal documentary of people and place in and around Hinckley in Leicestershire. Initially this was set up so I could simply share my work online. I needed a place to exhibit the work I was producing, while I was studying photography and video at NWHC and De Montfort University.
I began by making photographs of the geographical location, looking at the urban environment and the way in which the local community used the spaces and buildings. I also focused on the people that live here in a wider idea to create a permanent place for the community to relate to people they may know and also for a record of the truth of life.

The Concordia Theatre, Light It Red, July 2020

Hinckley Photographed was where it all started and as time went on I changed the name to Hinckley & Bosworth Photographed because I wanted to include the wider area and felt that I was too restricted with Hinckley. However, I soon felt that with Bosworth it was too much alike the Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council and often was miscredited.
I needed to distance myself from the council, so I reverted back to Hinckley Photographed, which now felt wrong when I posted something from outside of those Hinckley parameters. I now actually live in Burbage and often produce nice work from around the village but it felt wrong sharing it on Hinckley Photographed.
So I changed the name to Hinckley & Burbage Photographed for very good reasons.

St. Catherine’s Church, Burbage, Leicestershire.

Until last year Hinckley Photographed was just a way for me to share my photographs from the project. I joined a scheme that is specifically for photographers that is restricted to one photographer per area and I produced the very first calendar that Hinckley has ever seen. I put together some great photographs from my collection and began to sell them to the community. It was strange for me because I never intended to make money from this project. Since creating the calendars and realising that I have an audience that wants to buy my work, it gave me the boost I needed to dive right in and create more products.
Now I’m producing 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzles from the best photographs and they’ve been incredibly popular, especially during lockdown.

I’ve just received my latest batch of new jigsaw puzzles, which include The Marina, Ripples of Nature and Billa Barra Hill.

The Marina Jigsaw Puzzle, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Ripples of Nature, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Billa Barra Hill, Leicestershire

There’s no prescription for the way I work with this project and each day is a new day for me.

If you’d like to view the work for Hinckley & Burbage Photographed, there’s a place on my website with selected mini projects here or on the Facebook page.

All in all, I’m just a photographer that enjoys making artwork.
I’m just an artist with a family at home and I hope you continue to enjoy my work.
As you should know already, that I’m easily accessible via the Facebook page or by email to paul@paulhands.co.uk

Please subscribe to my email blogs.

Jigsaw Puzzles Are Back In Fashion

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The Global Coronavirus Pandemic Has Boosted Jigsaw Puzzle Sales Across Britain.

Since Covid 19 landed on the shores of Great Britain, the Government initiated the first lockdown in recent history and the British people have been reverting back to playing indoor games like the great Jigsaw Puzzle.

Ripples of Nature, Trinity Marinas, Hinckley, Leicestershire - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

British Adults are turning to Jigsaw Puzzles to both unwind and challenge themselves during a relaxing time at home and I’ve found myself asking what the big fascination is.

So I took it upon myself to find out.

Completing a Jigsaw Puzzle improves your memory.

Solving puzzles usually helps to reinforce existing connections between our brain cells. It also increases the generation of new relationships between cells. This, in turn, improves mental speed and thought processes.

Jigsaw puzzles are very good for improving your short-term memory, which helps us to remember shapes, colors and visualize the photograph to figure out which pieces will fit together.

Doing Jigsaw Puzzles improves your problem solving skills.

If you can creatively solve problems and think critically it’s usually valued in your job as well.

Puzzles help us to develop those important skills.

Puzzles always require us to take different approaches to try and solve a problem since there’s a lot of trial and error involved. We also learn the value of formulating theories, testing hypotheses, and changing our perspectives when something doesn’t quite go as you wanted it to.

Billa Barra Hill, Leicestershire - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

Improved Visual-Spatial Reasoning.

When we have a go at solving a jigsaw puzzle, we look at different pieces and figure out where they fit within the bigger picture. Doing this regularly helps improve our visual-spatial reasoning.

Better visual-spatial skills help with a number of everyday tasks, including:

Driving a car (parking, switching lanes, etc.)

Packing and figuring out how many items can fit in boxes, suitcases, or the trunks of our cars and using a map.

More Education Opportunities.

Even crossword puzzles and other word games provide great educational opportunities. They help us to improve our vocabulary, as well as our language, research, and spelling skills.

Increased IQ.

Puzzles provide improvements to our vocabulary, memory, and overall reasoning. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the other benefits of puzzles is that they help raise our IQ (intelligence quotient).

A researcher from the University of Michigan found that adults could raise their IQ by four points after spending 25 minutes a day playing puzzle games.

St. Catherine's Church, Burbage, Leicestershire - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

Delay Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Puzzles can help delay the symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies show that by keeping the mind active through doing puzzles can reduce the amount of brain cell damage that occurs in Alzheimer’s patients and supports the growth of new nerve cells, strengthening the connections between them.

Researchers have also found a correlation between the number of years someone has been solving puzzles and the likelihood that they will develop Alzheimer’s. So, the sooner you start making puzzles a regular part of your life, the better. It’s never too early to start exercising and protecting your brain.

Improved Mood.

One of the amazing benefits of puzzles is that they increase our brains’ production of dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and feelings of optimism. It also affects memory, concentration, and motivation.

Dopamine is released every time we successfully solve a puzzle — or even just get one piece in the right place. This encourages us to continue working on solving them and challenging ourselves.

Lower Stress Levels.

Puzzle’s also help us to relax.

Our brains go from a “Beta,” or wakeful, state to an “Alpha” state when we’re solving puzzles, which is similar to the state we’re in when we’re dreaming.

This shift in consciousness comes with many benefits, including:

Ability to make deeper connections

Improve our mindset

Relieve stress

Improve mood

Increase our self-confidence

Rugby Road Park, Burbage, Leicestershire - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

Increased Attention to Detail.

When you’re solving a puzzle, especially a jigsaw puzzle with tiny pieces that all look alike, attention to detail is crucial. You need to train your eyes to pick out slight differences in color or shape that will help you put everything together.

An ability to pick up on small details helps in every aspect of our lives, especially at work. When we’re more detailed oriented and precise, the quality of our work improves.

Increased Productivity.

When we’re happier and less stressed out, it’s easier for us to concentrate. When our concentration improves, our productivity naturally skyrockets.

Many offices are actually starting to include jigsaws and other puzzle games in their breakrooms. These puzzles let employees take their minds off work for a few minutes and come back refreshed and ready to go!

Better Collaboration.

If you’re looking for another reason to incorporate puzzles into your workplace, tell your boss that they’ve been proven to build collaboration between coworkers.

Researchers at Yale University found that giving people the opportunity to work together on solving puzzles allowed them to improve relationships and their abilities to cooperate to finish a task.

Wow, with all of this new information about completing a jigsaw puzzle in mind, what are you waiting for?
Buy a jigsaw Puzzle now and improve your whole life.

The Wharf, Hinckley, Leicestershire - 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

Since lockdown began, I’ve invested heavily in my artwork and introduced a new product line of Jigsaw Puzzles in to my online shop, where you can browse the latest jigsaw puzzle designs available to buy.
Link to my online shop.

I currently have 7 designs at the time of writing this blog and also have many more new puzzle ideas brewing, with several photographs in waiting for production. Up To now, I only offer 1,000 piece Jigsaw Puzzles, with a view to introducing 500 piece puzzles at a later date.

Fine Art Photographic 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzles

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Making Photographic Jigsaw Puzzles.

I now have a new art product on the shelves that is incredibly popular, 1,000 piece Photo Jigsaw Puzzles.

Since lockdown began, I’d lost all of the work I had booked in. A 4 x commercial film deal collapsed in the first week, I lost several commercial photoshoots, one at a laser tag event and all of the weddings for my wedding photography and filmmaking business, rescheduled, leaving me penniless, jobless and with just a creative mind left wandering.

I got creative with a personal lockdown project but also did a bit of housekeeping…

…So I spent some of my free time looking back and tidying up my archives, when my calendar supplier introduced jigsaw puzzles as a new product line. I tested the waters with a few of my archived photographs and they literally flew off the shelves and I’ve been left with almost zero stock from the first order.
This was so exciting, so I went back out with my camera, thinking differently this time and I searched for scenes that could be used as a jigsaw puzzle. I even changed the way I frame a photograph, so that particular elements were placed in specific places in the frame and there was just the right amount of sky to not make the puzzle too difficult.

This was a revelation!

There are 7 puzzles in my collection now, these are the photographs, you can use the link below to learn more and to buy jigsaw puzzles.

Making a photograph for a jigsaw puzzle isn’t straight forwards and you can’t just turn any photograph into a puzzle. There has to be the right elements, not too much sky, not too much detail and the exposure needs to be perfect. Hi res images are what’s really needed and you’d certainly struggle to produce good enough quality with a mobile phone. Not that you’d want to offer an art product made as a snapshot on your phone.

So I’ve taken great care over these photographs and have designed them to offer just the right amount of interest and challenge in different parts of the puzzle. They’re all made with a very high resolution camera so you don’t lose any detail when trying to piece together the puzzle.

Since 2012, I’ve been making photographs around my local area with all the techniques I’ve learned through my photographic education (still happening) and taken great care to produce the best quality photographic jigsaw puzzles, which is completely unique for Leicestershire.

You can click on the link below to get more information about the puzzles and to buy.

Link to the jigsaw Puzzle's / online shop.

Contact me.