Muybridge Leap
Sep. 21st, 2020 01:27 pm
Even if you haven't come across Eadweard Muybridge, I bet you've seen some of his photos: he did the ones that proved that a horse leaves the ground while galloping. This image comes from his photos of a man leaping. I just ASCII-fied it and made a gif.
Edit: a couple of frames were out of sequence. Fixed now.
Dangerous tool
Aug. 3rd, 2020 09:23 pmIn The Curse of the Wererabbit there's a garden supplies stall at a fete. When an angry mob forms, the stall holder changes the sign to "Angry Mob Supplies". When I was clearing out my garage, I found this scary-looking implement that looks like the sort of thing he would have sold.

Click to embiggen
I'm told it's an apple picker. I'm not sure. It seems much too... violent for that.

Click to embiggen
I'm told it's an apple picker. I'm not sure. It seems much too... violent for that.
Early photography
Jul. 31st, 2020 11:04 amI've been looking at Victorian photos. The people look somehow different. It's not just the outfits, or the very staged look. In a modern photo I often think "that face is a bit like so-and-so" but the older the photo the less that seems to work. Until I came across photos of 19th century black women. They're like modern people in costume. I worked with someone who looked like the first one (apart from the extremely long hair) and the third one was her boss. Well, not exactly, but they're similar.
The past is famously another country. But I like these photos because they don't feel so foreign.
The past is famously another country. But I like these photos because they don't feel so foreign.
Dressing up in the 60s
Jun. 30th, 2020 01:25 amNowadays this would be called cosplay.
I love the expression on her face. I'm also trying to imagine the colours of the carpet and wallpaper.

Lots more
I love the expression on her face. I'm also trying to imagine the colours of the carpet and wallpaper.

Lots more
Stairway to upstairs
Apr. 3rd, 2020 12:33 pmIf you do an image search for the Gustave Moreau Museum stairs, I predict you will have a moment of happiness.
Reblog this
Reblog this
Magnolia blossom arrives early in the spring before a lot of other plants have woken up. The blooms seem too big for the tree and they soon lose their freshness, turn brown at the edges and start to fall. But for a few days they are a confident and beautiful reassurance that the winter is over.

Click to embiggen.
As a paint colour, Magnolia is off-white, but the blossom is always pink-tinged to some degree. I think that the paint is doing the plant a disservice.
Edit: Magnolia facts! It evolved before bees, and the large flowers are to encourage beetles for pollination. You can eat some kinds of Magnolia (don't do this on my say-so). It's named after a French botanist with a *huge* wig, Pierre Magnol.

Click to embiggen.
As a paint colour, Magnolia is off-white, but the blossom is always pink-tinged to some degree. I think that the paint is doing the plant a disservice.
Edit: Magnolia facts! It evolved before bees, and the large flowers are to encourage beetles for pollination. You can eat some kinds of Magnolia (don't do this on my say-so). It's named after a French botanist with a *huge* wig, Pierre Magnol.
Press photo exhibition
May. 16th, 2019 03:03 pmI enjoyed some of the pictures from a press photography exhibition. I'd be pleased if I had taken the first one (with the moon) and the last one (with the cow) but I'd have been dead chuffed if I'd taken the one with the pig. That one made me laugh.
Photos I'm a little jealous of
Apr. 7th, 2019 11:02 amThis bloke concentrates on photographing one place, and it's worked for him.
Thornham Staithe: 'Magical' Norfolk coast captured in photographs
Thornham Staithe: 'Magical' Norfolk coast captured in photographs
Baroque church interiors
Mar. 5th, 2019 10:25 pmOne at a time, these would be OK, but when they're all on one page it makes it seem like they're made up.
https://designyoutrust.com/2017/03/cyril-porchet-photographs-ornate-baroque-churches-around-the-world/
https://designyoutrust.com/2017/03/cyril-porchet-photographs-ornate-baroque-churches-around-the-world/
BBC readers' photos of 2018
Dec. 29th, 2018 11:33 amLots of good stuff here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-46528185
More concert photos
Apr. 28th, 2018 05:28 pm







Classical concert photography is a challenge. The lighting is low, so movement blurs. The shutter noise is too much while they're playing. The lighting outside in the interval is completely different (and yes, much yellower). It was an unusual venue in that you could walk all around the orchestra, but the backs of the musicians' heads weren't so interesting.
Manchester
Apr. 28th, 2018 12:12 amI did AirBnB for the first time. We stayed in a flat in central Manchester for quite a lot less than a hotel.
We went to Ziferblat. Imagine a cafe that's more like a big version of someone's living room. You pay for the time you spend there, and you can work, play or just lounge. Everything inside is free. We had tea and cake and sat in some comfy chairs to read the newspapers.
Then we went to a concert in an abandoned TV studio, and heard pieces by six new composers. Someone not entirely unrelated to me was playing a saxophone concerto.

We went to Ziferblat. Imagine a cafe that's more like a big version of someone's living room. You pay for the time you spend there, and you can work, play or just lounge. Everything inside is free. We had tea and cake and sat in some comfy chairs to read the newspapers.
Then we went to a concert in an abandoned TV studio, and heard pieces by six new composers. Someone not entirely unrelated to me was playing a saxophone concerto.
