Hello! My name is Kate, and I’m a writer, photographer and NCTJ-trained multimedia journalist currently based in the North West of England. I currently work as an overnight sub (a kind of copy editor for those of you outside the sector) for a large entertainment website, and am also starting to build up freelance work in filmmaking, stills photography and writing.

Some areas I’m interested in are current affairs and constitutional reform, sport (notably open-wheeled motorsport) and arts and entertainment (especially film and music).

I edit a collaborative music blog called The Fugitive Motel, which launched in February 2007. One of my ongoing missions is to start to delegate to either one or two assistant editors – hopefully this will allow me to plough through our never-ending backlog and concentrate on interesting features, maintaining the backend of the website, and our special reports like festival coverage. Our contributors are mainly based in Manchester and London, with one or two in mainland Europe.

I’m also part of the Bridgestone e-reporter – ‘class of 2009′ – all the finalists’ reports are archived at the e-reporter website, and they make illuminating reading, whether you’re a petrolhead or a motorsport newbie.

I fully believe in the idea that we learn new things throughout our lives from the cradle to the grave, and it’s one of the reasons I became interested in journalism. Not only can you learn so many fascinating new things as a reporter or programme maker, but I really do think that great news features, films and documentaries are key to encouraging life-long learning.

Things I like include hearty (preferably vegetarian) food, QuarkXPress, parks and open spaces, quiet corners of London and the company of my wonderful friends. The five things I would most like to learn are: how to ride a bicycle, conversational Spanish, how to feel more at ease when networking, how to be a better guitar player and, most crucially, how to fit 36 hours into a 24 hour day.

This blog is named in honour of a song by a wonderful Scottish band called Broken Records. The song’s full title is Thoughts On A Picture (In A Paper, January 2009). You can find out more about them here: http://www.brokenrecordsband.com/.