In the UK in 2008, 96,892 stray dogs were found, rescued, and processed through local authority housing and rehoming centres. In 2011, that number rose to 126,176. It is becoming increasingly challenging to put the welfare of the animal before the physical limitations of the space allocated to temporary housing, but incredibly, even with this huge rise in strays, the number of animals put to sleep fell by one percent.

The past few months have been bad for Capitalism. In one of the latest major examples of how globalisation seeps into every section of our lives, a global protest under the name ‘Occupy’ has grown in scale to accommodate demonstrations in no less than 1000 towns and cities worldwide.

Thursday night saw the launch of 2011′s SWN Festival in Cardiff. And what a mighty introduction. Had I not been there photographing it I’d have probably been sitting at home researching another project, and having never been before, I would have had no idea what I was missing. Admittedly, my experience was stuttered slightly due to trying to get around as many gigs as possible – something that became progressively more difficult as the night progressed, but of those gigs I did see (if only for a fleeting minute), I can tell you that if you’ve never been, you absolutely, categorically must.

One of the benefits of working as a freelance photographer is being given permission to hold my camera underneath someone’s nose without being shouted or spat at.

As in any job, a photographer is constantly put in new situations where experience is key, and if you don’t have it, you can be left feeling a bit of a plum. Cue my first formal engagement at City Hall where the new Mayor was being sworn in and ‘robed’. The brief was simple enough. Get in there, get some pictures, and get them to the picture editor as soon as possible. Easy. Well, not quite so easy. I will share my experience with you here in the hope that you can learn from my mistakes.

So I know most of you will have had it up to here with with all this Royal Wedding coverage so I will forgive you for possibly wishing death upon me for inflicting more on you, but please give me 5 minutes of your time to tell you about my day covering the street parties in Cardiff on Friday. I came up with a plan late on Thursday evening to attempt to cycle round 22 street parties in 11 hours. I had been suffering with acute back pain all week and, as hindsight would have it, it was a bit of an ambitious proposition that I had laid on for myself. This was my hastily assembled, Blue Peter style plan of action:

A selection of photographs taken over the last few days in Cardiff City centre. This is going to be a continued theme throughout the year so this is a first peek, and draft, of something much bigger. I’ve decided to work in colour this time – last years can be viewed here.