Wednesday, August 30, 2006


Guitar with glowing edges...

Me wrestling with the guitar. Be glad the blog doesn't come with sound...

I was over in Dumbarton yesterday, and this is a photo of the castle superimposed on part of the war memorial in Levengrove Park.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Saturday, August 26, 2006


Fly on the window. Outside, fortunately.
Me and the Holga looking old-fashioned. It turned up yesterday, and I've so far managed to get the film in okay, accidentally double-expose a picture (the Potatoes of the Night superimposed on my Dad - he says it's very uncomfortable), take a picture of the back garden, and deliberately double-expose the cat and one of my hands with three different colours of flash. I'm sure the sheer badness will amuse the developers endlessly. Assuming I can actually find somewhere to develop it. Photo Factory claim they will, but that's probably just their Auchenshuggle branch...

I also came across a guy on flickr who's been running a project where he takes a roll of film, then rewinds it and passes it to someone else who takes photos on top of his. Some of the results are really lovely.

I'm also quite a fan of this guy's photos. The lamp one's particularly nice. Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 25, 2006

I was looking for a pattern for a bag that I could attempt to sew (preferably one with three or fewer pieces to it - I'm still not up to speed with my sewing and fell foul of a 4-piece top the other day). Anyway, I wasn't struck on any of the bags, but I realised that what everyone really needs is a Furious Purple Bear:
 

Wednesday, August 23, 2006


While I'm waiting for the Holga to turn up, here are some faked versions... Posted by Picasa

Purple lupin. Posted by Picasa

A magpie flying over the house. The cat's terrified of them. They're always chasing her and I think she's scared they'll pick her up and carry her off into one of the rowan trees. She's probably quite right to worry, they're very big. Posted by Picasa

The cat looking at the table. Posted by Picasa

Helicopter Quartet

I saw a bit of a programme last night about Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet which involves each member of the quartet flying around in a different helicopter while playing lots of tremolo and yelling numbers in German. This is clearly where 4forte have been going wrong. Luckily they include the first page of the score on that webpage, so all I need to do now is turn up next week with four helicopters (and lose my fear of flying - although it may be overridden by my fear of Stockhausen...)

Holga again

Since the University might actually get round to paying me at the end of the month, I've splashed out the grand sum of £40 on a Holga with filters and flash! Everyone seems very taken with the fun of using them - it's apparently quite liberating not to be able to take perfect photos, no matter how hard you're trying, so you can just get on and enjoy yourself, ignoring all perfectionistic tendencies.

And the colour photos - particularly when cross-processed - have a kind of old Super 8 cine film look about them, which I've always felt looks more "real" than video. Although video actually does look more real. I'm not big on reality. The greeny-yellowy cast also reminds me of The Double Life of Veronique, which is one of my favourite films ever, possibly because it has very little truck with reality...

Music makes your brain happy...

Or so Wired says... I think they're right.

Monday, August 14, 2006


Have finally managed to turn myself into an old photo (in the style of Auntie Cathie). I wonder if there would be a market for portraits in this style (i.e. very little focus, vignetting, lots of diffuse glow)? It's certainly about a gazillion times more flattering than your average modern photo (which I always try to stay out of)... Must find more vict...I mean subjects, to try it out on... 

Saturday, August 12, 2006


Mrs Rule's rose looking slightly surreal... Posted by Picasa

While looking around on Flickr, I came across several mentions of "Holga", then found an article about it in a magazine the other day. Apparently it's a very cheap Chinese medium-format camera, brought out in the early 80s, which has been enjoying a surge of popularity lately. Despite, or perhaps because of, its many flaws - vignetting, blur round the edges, light leaks - it takes oddly appealing pictures. I don't actually have one of these beasts (although I'm quite tempted to get one), but found a Photoshop action that simulates the effects. Here's the rose above Holga-fied. Posted by Picasa

Trees in the sunshine. Posted by Picasa

And the Holga version... Posted by Picasa

Polarised rowans. Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 11, 2006


Scary tower shot. A tourist helped me spot this angle by asking me if I'd take a picture of him with his camera. I realise there's been a bit of a plethora of tower photos recently, but it's just so picture-skew... Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 09, 2006