It’s Over!

So, as most of you know, I’m an RPG nerd. Not, y’know, as much as I was a teenager, but still – I’m an RPG nerd. I had a few years break a while back, but then, on a whim, I got a group of friends together, and started running a game of White Wolf’s old game, Mage. I came up with a plot that I thought would take about a year or so to play, assuming a three to four hour session every other weekend – a game based on a gnostic murder mystery and a series of conspiracies and mad bastards as old as the human race. As it turns out, I was a little off in my estimation.

Tonight, three and half years later, playing more or less every other weekend, we finally finished that game, and it went exactly as I might have wished. The players saved the world against impossible odds, and in the end it all came down to one final roll of the dice – either they would triumph, or they would perish, and triumph they did.

It seemed appropriate to mark it. Three and a half years. I’ve had important relationships that didn’t last that long. :)

So, thank you to everyone who has ever taken part in it – [info]marysiak, Danni, [info]wmute, [info]tintintin, [info]cairmen, [info]tyrell and most especially to [info]burge, [info]stu_n, [info]chrisisiddall and [info]anw.

And in two weeks time, we start something new. Thanks, guys.

Seasons bleatings

Nothing terribly exciting to report – fog related delays caused brief trauma, but we arrived only a day later than planned. Food, drink, family all very nice. Hope everyone is having as much fun as I am. Back in London in a few days, assuming fog doesn’t get in the way. Try not to break anything while I’m gone.

Rendered Light

Rendered Light

I saw these all-wax candelabras in a Chelsea shop window, and thought they looked like 3D rendered objects somehow given physical existence, and the post-processing on this shot is my attempt to bring that out, while leaving just enough detail in to make it clear that they are, in fact, real.

Character workspace

Character workspace

I saw this on a sign in Chelsea the other day, and all I could think is that this was where someone assembled strangely dressed eccentrics, mad tramps, and funny uncles.

If only…

Secrets Of The Red Lodge

Secrets Of The Red Lodge

Snapped at my company Xmas party. This one’s a bit of an unusual crop for me, but I only saw the photo op (including the most obvious bit of the post processing – this is one of those shots that I knew *exactly* what I wanted to do to it before I took it) as we were leaving, so snapped it very quickly, resolving to fix the composition a bit in Lightroom.

To me, the obscuring pillar on the right is an integral part of the shot, but I’m curious to know if it works for you.

Festive Season

Festive Season

I’m not actually sure if these lights are just up for Christmas, or a permanent part of the fixtures at Tooting’s most recently revamped nightspot. But I only spotted them the other day, so I figure they count as festive at the moment.

(OK, the term “nightspot” is generous. “Grim drinking hole” might be more accurate. I don’t drink there, anyway. I just thought a picture of the lights might look pretty.)

1927 Aparition

1927 Cabaret 3

Suddenly realised I never got around to blogging some of the other half-decent shots I got and White Mischief: From The Earth To The Moon, so you might get a few more in the near future. This one is a shot of the Pianist from the 1927 Cabaret.

Misty Morning, Wandsworth Bridge

Misty Morning, Wandsworth Bridge

“I dreamt we were standing,
by the banks of the Thames.
The cold grey water rippled,
in the misty morning light.
Held a match to your cigarette,
watched the smoke curl in the mist.
Your eyes, blue as the ocean between us
smiled at me” – The Pogues, “Misty Morning, Albert Bridge”

I don’t cross the Albert Bridge going to work, but I was thinking of that song when I took this photo in the fog the other morning on my way in. Obviously, I’ve doctored it, to make it look and faded, to lend it its own air of nostalgia.

Skinphony

Skinphony 1

This is one of the ladies of the Skinphony, the human orchestra.

This is the last of the shots I really like from White Mischief: From The Earth To The Moon. I might put a few more up here, because they’re not too bad, but this marks the end of the ones that I’m actually quite proud of, as opposed to ones I just think are OK…

(Although once again, a glance at the popularity of the various photos on flickr reveals my opinion of my own work to be drastically at variance with everyone else’s, so perhaps some of the one to come are better than I think.)