I don't usually write posts about fellow flickr users but something really caught me with Anatoly Zenkov's work. I'm not a fan of overly photoshopped work (it has it's place but it's just a tool) but this selection shows of processing and manipulating techniques, starting from good photography as a base and working on it in Processing / Flash / Java.
Persistent pyramids (via Anatoly Zenkov) "Persistent Pyramids was made with flash application that I made specially for this project."
Chocolate Factory (via Anatoly Zenkov) "That's it! First step in processing."
Mouse pointer track (via Anatoly Zenkov) "Mouse pointer track after 3 hours of working in Photoshop. Black circles are pointer stops (not clicks)." Jave applet code for the click tracker is in the comments. [originally found via grom]
Reblogged with permission. Click through to see the original flickr pages and the rest of the stream. Go on, show some love.
You can find some inspiration from other Second Look members, along with the above shot of mine. It's from my new charity shop find panoramic camera. 2 quid with a 6 year out of date black & white film sellotaped to it! Here's some more shots from it around St Austell and Charlestown:
:: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 :: I can't believe we left it so long
Heya! It's been some time. I know I may have thrown you the odd scrap of music now and again but that old spark, it just hasn't been there lately has it. I know you have other places to hang out. I hope you understand what a death in the family has done here. But it's great to meet up again, have a drink, chew that fat, catch up on what we would have been chatting shit about if other events hadn't conspired against us.
Did I tell you I attended the BLDGBLOG book launch last week?
[v.o.g.: You mentioned you were going]
Ah, well, I did. And not only did I get a great book out of it, not only did I meet with and chat with Geoff Manaugh, whose a really inspiring guy, not only is there a photo floating around flickr of me sat at the same table as Warren Ellis (I didn't realise that at the time, I was distracted by the woman with him), but I've also come away with some blog based inspiration.
In the introduction to the book Geoff explains that when he started BLDGBLOG he decided that he wasn't going to pour concerns and negativity into it, it would just be for stuff that interested him. Things that made him think, gave him ideas, starting points for flights of fancy. I like that philosophy. I may try to take it on to some degree.
Its good to know that The American President is an Ass Man, Apparently "But seriously, is this not one of the best presidential photographs of all-time? Even Sarkozy looks like he's sneaking a peek, though he's French, so we expect him to do it. However, in Obama's defense, that is a great ass!"
"Solicitors for the National Portrait Gallery are apparently threatening legal action against a US Wikipedia user for downloading 3,300 digital photographs of paintings in the UK museum's collection, and then uploading them to Wikipedia." [via clayton cubitt]
"Patti Smith is one of the most anticipated gigs of the week, and the audience the most vocal. … joined by SMZ leader Efrim Menuck on drums and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, who attacks a guitar with a paintbrush to spooky effect." Festival review: Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown, Southbank Centre, London SE1 | Music | The Observer I mentioned this to Leafcutter John, wondering if he was aware Ade was at the Polar Bear gig where John had used the same paintbrush trick a few months back. His response was a spirited "Ah, but did he do it better?"
Open Source TIC - ePetition response | Number10.gov.uk "The Government supports the principle that, where new software is being developed by the Timely Information to Citizens pilots, this should wherever possible be released under open source licence and available for use by other local authorities. ... Where the pilots will result in new software tools, ownership and intellectual property rights will usually remain with the individual local authorities" Is this not a contradiction?
Stuff you've missed on the tumblr * a whole bunch of new photographers discoveries * shoes by architects * a bunch of LEGO stuff inc jewellery, USB sticks and giant Star Wars models * London Underground Map print dress * Geek guide to shoe lacing * The Battleships drinking game
I've also just discovered that Blogger is limited to 20 tags per post.
This shot shows the local wildlife playing with a busted hydrant outside my old flat in Salford. The title is a direct quote of the abuse that was hurled at me by the kid pictured as the water was directed at me moments later. The shot was worth the soaking.
This will be exhibited, among others, at the Second Look Group Exhibition: Street Life @ Photographique, Baldwin St, Bristol, 14.05.09 – 20.05.09 and The Raven, Bath, as part of the Bath Festival Fringe, 22.05.09 – 07.06.09
There is a pattern to my blogging here that shows that every time I buy an actual hard copy of a newspaper I blog about half a dozen stories out of it I may otherwise never have stumbled upon. This is no exception, here are my picks from Thursday's Guardian:
British therapists still offer treatments to 'cure' homosexuality "Survey suggests a significant minority of mental health professionals continue to provide treatments to gay men and lesbians despite no evidence they can change orientation and concerns they are harmful...One counsellor who is a member of the British Psychological Society said: "Although homosexual feelings are usual in people, their physical expression, and being a person's only way of having sexual relations is problematic. The physical act for male homosexuals is physically damaging and is the main reason in this country for Aids/HIV. It is also perverse."" This is outrageous. It can be criticised, if not demolished, from so many different angles I don't think I need to point that out. It's like a throw back to the 50s, when our society lost great minds like Turing because of it's backwards treatment of sexuality. From some of the quotes in the article there are, to me, some scary signs of counsellors forcing their personal (probably 2000 year old religious based beliefs) on people. These practitioners should not be allowed to "help" people again.
There is a Second Look group photography exhibition, on the theme of Looking Up, at Photographique on Baldwin St from Thursday evening. I should have a couple of shots in there. Please come along and have a look.
Fri March 13th - Fri March 20th Mon - Fri 12-6pm; Sat 12-5pm Preview Thurts 12th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
I posted about the free-for-all at the Bookbarn a couple of weeks ago. The opening of the doors at the Bristol book warehouse made national news.
The capitalist past of me was offended that all of those books, some of which were mine that I had taken there for them to sell on my behalf, were just being given away. I felt better about this once I'd visited and made up for my losses.
The anarchist past of me loved the idea of the free distribution of knowledge.
The liberal part of me loved the fact that all sections of society were represented, from charities, to students, to squatters with dogs, to opportunistic wheeler dealers, to pensioners with walking sticks, all picking through the mess.
The English part of me loved how polite everyone was. There was no barging, no shouting, no fighting over anything. Just a melancholic air of acceptance of the literary post-apocalyptic feeling that pervaded.
If ever anyone wanted to stage an intellectual coup d’état in the UK all they would need to do would be to spray all the books in a warehouse like this with legionnaires, open the doors to the public and leak the story to the press. You would wipe out every free thinker in the area. I'm sure there's a book in that.*
* Idea published under a non-profit creative commons licence, thank you very much.
NickPlant says: Ho! I see that searching flickr for "evil snowman" yields 497 hits so assume you've checked them all. NB: I changed the title to quote you!
Well, that was a little presumptuous of you. For all you knew I was some fraud who had only ever seen two snowmen and had declared the other the most angelic, therefore making this the most evil by default.
Fortunately, however, I am actually the worlds leading authority on evil snowmen. I have indeed studied all 497 (now 502) evil snowmen to be found on Flickr and although some do look quite badly behaved (stabbing Pingu with scissors, for example) or even faintly demonic (but discounted on account of being painted and not made of actual snow) this one does indeed retain that honour.
It is definitely the only example I have found that appears to have been made by bleeding children's hands, compelled by some unknown force to carry on despite their cries of agony, possibly just leaving them with bloody stumps by the time its overwhelming presence and its power are complete.
If the above scene is not included in the next series of Dr Who it will be a herald a sad period for children's television.
:: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 :: The Perils of Acoustic Consultancy
Sometimes I have to measure the Reverberation Time in a space. In large spaces sometimes a starting pistol is required, as here. Sometimes this leaves residue of explosives on my clothes or my testing equipment. I then get stopped by airport security in Belfast or at the Eurostar terminal because I've tested positive for explosives and have a lot of explaining to do.
Sometimes, in smaller rooms, popping a balloon is good enough. This means I have to go and buy balloons from an old woman who is suspicious I am going to use them for selling nitrous [oxide] at "raves."
With a memory as bad as mine I have to write a note on my hand before I go out for lunch to remind me to buy balloons. Today I choose to draw a small picture of a balloon as it would be more subtle than writing the word.
When I draw a small sketch like that one of these two thoughts commonly result: 1. Not bad, I should sketch little things like that more often, it's strangely satisfying. 2. Fuck. I've just drawn a sperm on the back of my hand.
I spotted the sun catching this band of red as my train pulled into Bath Spa last week. This is the best shot I could hastily grab from my phone as everyone shuffled down the platform. But I love the way the shop sign, the Coke display and the two women all colour coordinate.
flikr2846 Originally uploaded by flikr. Image made by flickr user flikr using agony, which he wrote and is available for free download (although it's not open source)
In the scientific world, fractals were first identified in the mid-1970s by the mathematican Benoît Mandelbrot.
However, it’s possible that artists and artisans have long been using the fragmented shapes in their work.
In 1999, two Australian physicists famously showed that the “paint-drip” canvasses of Jackson Pollock could be dated by computing their fractal dimension — which tended to increase as Pollock matured as an artist.
Now, Yuelin Li of Argonne National Lab in the US has posted a paper on the arXiv preprint server claiming that calligraphy done by the “maniac Buddist monk” Huai Su more than 1200 years ago contains fractals. Li analysed a request for “bitter bamboo shoots and tea” written by the monk and found that it can be characterized by two different fractal dimensions.
Li believes that the fractal nature of some artworks “can be attributed to the artist’s pursuit of the hidden order of [the] fractal”.
Also in physics related art, Physics World are trying to pick their favourite cover image from the last 20 years to celebrate their anniversary. You can see the 20 short listed images and vote on the link above.
I bought a CatCam and a CatTrack from Mr Lee. Having tested them out on myself I am now flooding flickr with Isis's own photography. The slide show below shows the build, testing, and the first outing. If you don't fancy the soldering you can buy complete set-ups, I just built it myself to save money.
So now my entry for Bristol: A Second Look is in, not that I expect to get anywhere with it. It's just an image I like. My thinking behind it was this:
"The pictures have to represent a hidden or unnoticed aspect of Bristol. Show us what you think the soul of this city is. We want to see Bristol as known to the people who live here."
Where it was taken: It fits into the 'places which people might not normally be able to see category' as it is inside the clock tower on the roof of Colston 33, on Colston Avenue. The shot is sat on the drive arm for the clock, looking out through the clock face, across the centre to Eagle House (on the right) and the rear of the court house (on the left). You can also see the top of Carwardine's on St. Stephens St at the bottom of the frame.
What inspired you: Several things. The first was my love of getting into parts of buildings people don't normally see, which fortunately I get to do from time to time with my job. On this occasion I wasn't there for work related reasons except that my office is in the building and after some persuasion I talked the security guard into letting me onto the roof. I have always been fascinated by clockwork mechanisms so getting inside of the clock tower was a great scoop. The view out is not spectacular by any means, but as the clock has been sat there ticking away since 1928 I can't help but wonder what changes that face has seen with it's view across the city centre, especially through the Second World War, sat atop a building originally named Northcliffe House after Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe), a man known for his warmongering through his newspaper empire. "Soon after the outbreak of the First World War the editor of The Star newspaper claimed that: "Next to the Kaiser, Lord Northcliffe has done more than any living man to bring about the war."" [Source]
In shops where clocks are on sale, the time on the clock face is almost always set to either ten to two or ten past ten, to give the impression of the clock face smiling. Although accidental, I like that fact that this has been captured at about a quarter to two, giving the impression of a slightly wonky, one-sided, knowing grin.
I happened to be working in Weston yesterday so had a look at the pier. These were taken around 10am and the blaze was under control by then.
I was listening to GWR **shudder** as I was driving towards Weston. (My excuse for listening to it was that the hire car was already tuned to it and the Weston story hooked me in as I was heading there.) The reports were ridiculous. They compared the loss of the structure to the Twin Towers and compared the outpouring of grief to when Diana died! Twats. Then some troll phoned in to try and give them a dose of perspective and told them it was a good thing it was gone as it needed modernising. Then the death threats for this guy started. It was hilarious. Exactly what shitty local radio is for.
I am sad to see this go, mainly because I fear some hideous new monstrosity may take its place. What I like about Weston is the air of grotty melancholy that surrounds all Victorian seaside towns. It's just not the English seaside without it.
"[Pinhole Photograph] Taken with a ZeroImage 6x9 multi-format camera. Port Clyde, Maine / Sept. 30, 2006 Artifacts of an Uncertain Origin
These have been scanned for awhile but work (gasp!) and other projects have kept me from sitting down and playing with them. Of the three images posted with the tea kettle, please let me know which one you like the best. Only one will make it into the final series. At the moment, I am liking this one the best, perhaps because the presence of the giant Sea Truk creates such a strange scene. **Oh, and I should add that the tea kettle was there on the rock when I took the photo...it was not added via Photoshop."
Not that I'm bitter about missing Glastonbury this year or anything. I was supposed to be working there but just couldn't afford to take the time away for it so had to drop out. To make myself feel better, I've dug out the 1997 photos.
Anyway, it was thoroughly miserable. We had seen Aphex Twin had play a great set that morning and seen Beck present a moving target in a white cowboy suit. The mud was everywhere. It was sticky. It took infeasible amounts of energy to get anywhere, and on top of that you had to walk ridiculously long routes everywhere due to flooding. By the Saturday afternoon we were pretty fed up with it.
We retired to the tent to cook some beans. We sat watching people trudging by as our food gentle simmered, a light drizzle replacing the steam coming off of it. (We had tried in-tent cooking the previous day but I'd set fire to my jumper.) There was some shouting coming from a large tent of crusties just across the "road" from us but that had been going on must of the weekend. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a syringe full of blood and scag lands in the mud between us and our lunch. Both our heads swing in the direction it came from to see two junkies running for it, pushing as they went, like rugby players after a stray ball.
One of them grabs it and they start to wrestle for it. Our gas is quickly extinguished and we retreat into the apparent safety of the tent and listen to the fighting just outside. They fall into the side of our tent, causing a partial collapse, which removes the last illusion of a safe hideaway. As we escape they tear through it, stabbing at each other with the syringe and spraying blood over all our stuff and our neighbours tent.
We go and find a security guard in the corner of the field. He claims he can't see anything and won't get involved. When we return everything has been flattened. A few items are salvaged and returned to the car, everything else is left to fester, to be trodden over and buried in the mud like the blood on a battle field.
At the farm house we are offered space in the barn along with several hundred other people (this was the year of the tent thefts). We decline and decide we will head home at the end of the day. We catch the end of Reprazent's two-hour set and then a great Chemical Brothers performance. When we head for the car we have to pass the front of the pyramid stage, in the middle of what later came to be regarded as Radiohead's greatest performance. I just cussed "fucking Radiohead" to myself and I fought my way through their fans. We have a surreal experience when we stop to watch some opera for a couple of minutes and chat to Stephen Frost, who seems just as bamboozled as we are. The drive home to Bristol was unusually quiet.
I swore I'd never go again after this. That lasted until the fence went up. I think I've been four more times since. It was my brother's first festival and I think he's only been to one other since.
Bristol city centre's temporary new fountain after an accident involving a council worker this morning. He made a couple of attempts to turn it off, throwing his key down in disgust each time he failed, and spent a lot of time on the phone before back-up arrived. Meanwhile, an office full of environmental engineers watch on in horror.
Unfortunate ad placement. An animated spinning figure, fairy sparks flying, disappears into the washing machine k-hole with the message "Indulge your senses", in the middle of an article about the dangers of ketamine.
Horse tranqs are a bit of a leftfield choice for even the most seasoned drug user. Most people stay well clear of it. But it does seem to be the drug of choice at breakcore nights. The Croft often complained about Goatlab attracting too many drug users and not enough drinkers. K heads usually lead to an ambulance being called rather than the police, so you'd think little difference for the venue, except that they didn't make any money on the drugs in the first place as they would have done with the booze.
There was a guy thrown out of the December Goatlab who collapsed on the pavement and was eventually taken to the hospital. He checked himself out as soon as he could and by 3am was trying to get back into the venue. Much as I don't partake in anything like this and do not encourage it, I'll never have it said that our fans are not hardcore.