I Am Out Of Step With The World

On the day John Peel died, a quick script I ran up this afternoon to check the archive counted 22 mentions of him on my friends list.

Already today, 23 people have mentioned Steve Irwin dying (yes, I know I have just made that number 24 – fuck off). The day is some hours from over.

This is, I feel, indicative of the sick, sad state of the culture we live in.

I recently vowed to watch no more TV that pandered to my worse instincts. Nothing that appealed to my sense of snobbery, or schadenfreude. Nothing that humiliated people, or pandered to the proletarian. I shall be quite happy to drift further and further out of cultural touch.

Recognition at last!

So, the site(s) I’ve been working on for the last six months (and will likely be working for next six months) have just been made New Media Age’s site of the week this week. We score badly for branding, but that’s as a result of the client’s choices (made, I should add, for perfectly good business reasons). The bits I and my colleagues spend time on, usability and monetisation (how easy is it to use the site to the point where you get what you want, and the site gets money from you) we score pretty bloody well on.

A nice start to Friday.

Strawberry Swirl

Strawberry Swirl

I change my mind every other minute about the curls of red in the foreground. One second I like them, and the colour contribution they make, the next I’m cursing myself for having them in the foreground out of focus like that, getting the way of the lines of the girl’s face.

Regardless, though, I love the colours in this one. I’ve made the blue a little darker, to better bring up the pale skin, and I’ve added a bit of extra saturation to the reds – if that thing is going to be in the foreground, then it’s bloody well going to jump…

Carnival Spirit

Carnival Spirit

The first of well, at least two, possibly more, shots from the Notting Hill Carnival. I’m pretty sure he had no idea this was being taken, and the look on his face is definitely the one he was surveying the carnival with.

I’ve started shooting RAW images, rather than the hi-res jpegs I’ve been using up to now, and yes, I know I should have made the switch sooner, because fuck me can you get so much more out of them… It does make it rather harder for me to explain what I’ve done to this image, though. In short, I’ve leeched a little colour from it, and darkened the shadows a bit. I still can’t decide if I’ve overdone it on the right hand side of his face, though.

Heart Beats Broken

Heart Beats Broken

One of those pictures that suggests a story. The truth is more prosaic, as always, and so I shall leave it unsaid.

I’ve added a very, very slight blue tint to the whole image, just to cool the wall, and make the heart fractionally more vivid, and I’ve made the shadows a little darker.

Military Man

Military Man

Here’s an unusual one for me – a portrait. It’s a shot of my cousin’s boyfriend, taken at a family do a couple of weeks back. He’s a soldier, although I forget what rank he is, and indeed, what regiment he’s in, but it’s something moderately impressive. He’s the only man I’ve ever heard describe Prince Philip as a “bloody good laugh”.

As is obvious, this is quite heavily post processed, for tint, shadows and a bit more fine detail, but I haveto say, I’m delighted with the result. I’m normally very unhappy with how my photos of people come out, but this one got exactly the effect I wanted.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait

I’ve been working on some lomo-style pics recently, and this is one of the ones I’m happiest with. It’s not the most exciting of pics, but I like the heavily saturated colours, and the way the brightness intensifies as the lines lead the eye along the wall.