Thursday, 29 July 2010
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Part one of the root canal surgery
One down two to go! This hurts and so I am feeling sorry for myself. However, I'll survive. I can't complain too much as I haven't had any work done on my teeth for years so the work now sort of evens that out. I'm not too sure at the moment - woe is me:(
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Better late than never - Lady Gaga and Ace of Base
I have just watched the Alejandro video on youtube and thought I have heard that song before. I realised that it is VERY similar to the Ace of Base song 'Don't Turn Around'. A new revelation for the world? Well no. There is a whole section on Wiki about just this subject and indeed Gaga herself acknowledges the debt she owes to Ace of Base. Better late than never to the party I suppose.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Why are 150 words so difficult?
150 words that is all I have got for the statement of intent for my ARPS portfolio. 150 words. This isn't much and yet it is one of the greatest challenges when you are writing to distil your ideas down to such proportions. Churchill, one of the greatest word smiths of the english language found this very difficult - what chance have I? At the moment I have only got 93 so have another 50 to play with. However, the first draft was just a wild stab in the dark in a vain attempt to get something down on paper - the hard work starts now. Drafting and redrafting - this is going to be so painful.
Anyway on a more positive note I am almost there as far as the selection is concerned. Almost but not quite. I need to give this another day or so. Perhaps I can think about this when I am having root canal work this afternoon.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Living with Edward 2nd
I have just spent the best part of a week working through the pipe rolls of Edward the 2nd. It has been back breaking work but really worthwhile as it has provided me with a huge amount of information to work through. The next step is to sit back and let the implications of what I have discovered sink in and then try and fold these into my historical research.
The enduring impression I have is that Sir Humphrey would have felt right at home in the 14th century court. The most wonderfully bureaucratic episode was when Edward 2nd was captured and brought to his estranged wife's court. In this act the governance of England is passed to Edward's son, also Edward. However, from the clerk's point of view, the most important item was that the pipe rolls of the King had been correctly sealed and passed over to the new king's clerk. The old king gets perfunctory mention compared to the sealed rolls. I think this says a great deal about what it is to be English.
Now back to the ARPS portfolio and having more dental work - I'm not sure which is worse.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Sunday, 25 July 2010
It's hard work this selection process!
Day three and more tears and frustration! This is to be expected as I slowly work through the combinations of photographs that work well together as a portfolio. I am now on the 5th iteration and I think I am finally getting somewhere.
You have to submit 15 prints around a theme - no problem there. However, they have to be a coherent display rather than 15 great shots of birds. this is where it gets more difficult. You have to display the prints in three rows, so that is 3 rows of 5 or twos rows of 7 with one on its own - balance being the key here - I have chosen 3 rows of 5. The first row is about flight, the second about small birds that you might find in your garden or local park. These have been settled and work well. The third rows is the one that is causing the real problem.
This is about breeding and the circle of life. So I want to capture the courtship, nesting, chicks and death with these prints. Boy has this been difficult and I am still not finished - just how do you capture the circle of life in five prints that hanging together in some coherent whole? Well I am still working on that but I feel I am getting close. However, the whole thing could collapse and I could be jibbering wreck crouched in the corner. Oh the joys of trying to get a distinction!
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Saturday, 24 July 2010
It's getting a little crazy..RULES RULES RULES
Well I am now starting to really edit and re-edit my selection. To be truthful I am starting to drive myself a little crazy! There are so many rules for the nature submission that I find myself second and third guessing the judges. An example is ' no sign of human activity must be shown...' what the hell does this mean? You try and apply this in the most literal sense and you could end up with no photographs at all. I have decided the best thing to do is now let things settles for the rest of the day and go back fresh at it in the morning. I'll be glad when this whole thing is over.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Friday, 23 July 2010
Finally started the process of selection and printing the ARPS Portfollio
Well it has taken me all day but I have finally got around to make a selection print. This is a mock up of the final selection and it will be used to see if the images selected work well as a selection. It will also be used to see if the images match the statement. However, in truth the statement will be written with the final selection in mind so in it is also part of the creative process - helping me to edit down my statement to 150 words. Actually this is a bit of a lie as I haven't written a word yet - however one step at a time.
So I have printed this off and will let it dry over night. This will also allow me time to ruminate on the selection. I expect more changes before the final prints are made.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
It is now time to prevaricate
Deadlines come and deadlines go and they usually motivate me into action. At the moment they are only motivating me into in action and prevarication. I need to have my ARPS portfolio put together and printed by mid august at the latest and so over the next few days I am going to start the process. Actually this is unfair as I have already put quite a bit of work into the process already. However, we are coming to the crunch and I have sit down and make the final choose and print the photographs. All of a sudden I have found new and vitally important things to stop me from doing this, such as writing this blog! The truth is I just can't face sitting down and doing the work. I know it will get done but getting started is so hard.
Sent from my iPad
Thursday, 22 July 2010
The Time iPad - oh what a circus ...
The Times iPad edition didn't arrive again and I wasn't surprised. Perhaps I am feeling tired but it is now becoming a bit of a joke. Yesterday I went to the app page on iTunes and found out that one of the things that might help is if you reboot you iPad. Now this would appear to drive another nail into the coffin of the iPad being a better way of using the Internet, instead this is turning into a rerun of the Amstrad circa 1988. This, of course, is grossly unfair on the iPad as the fault appears to be with the Times app, however, no app gets onto the iPad without Apple's approval so perhaps there is more going on here.
Anyway, away from the conspiracy theories I did reboot my iPad and guess what the Times iPad edition downloaded straight away. I suppose this is a case of back to the future.
Sent from my iPad
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
RHS Flower Show atton Park
I've had a few hours to think about the RHS Tatton Park flower show and the overall impression is '...are well um...'. There were some incredible displays of flowers but there was a huge amount of very expensive tack. Perhaps the most absurd thing I saw was the long queue of people trying to get into the Fortnum and Mason's over priced tent. Clearly you try and get in there for one upmanship and yet to stand there in a the damp in a vain attempt to get really does look very silly.
As I drove away I felt a tinge of disappointment. Will I go again? I doubt it but it was worth while finding out what it was like.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Read the emails you idiot!
Just got back from Tatton Park and found that the blog entries I sent from there had been posted. I couldn't work out why. Then I reread the email returns from Posterous and found the answer. Because I had posted them from my iPhone rather than this, my ipad or my PC, I had to authorise the the bleeding thing before it was posted. Needless to say when I did this it was posted straight away.
Note to one self READ THE EMAIL! Sent from my iPad
Tatton Park ... Queueing
So we have arrived at the RHS flower show at Tatton Park and the is a queue to get in. Yipee
I'm on line at:
www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
I hope you enjoy
Tatton Park
I'm on line at:
www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
I hope you enjoy
Tatton Park
Well we're inside now and wondering around the art section.
I'm on line at:
www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
I hope you enjoy
Discrimination at Tatton Park
I wish to register a complant...there are five times the number womens toilets than men. Shock horror! Yet the men still seem to get the job done a lot quicker.
I'm on line at:
www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
I hope you enjoy
The Times App
This just gets stranger and stranger. I can only assume that they are so ashamed, I know that is a strange concept for a News Corp project, about the truly awful performance of the app that they have given we early adopters another 30 days free. That is a total of 60 days, well sort of as the last free 30 days overlapped with the 28 days I had bought and this overlaps with the last free 30 days so it actually means a free 40 days - but that is around £15 so I suppose this is something.
Clearly they know they have problems with the app - if you go to the app's entry on iTunes you can quickly see all the faults listed. In short it was launched before all the bugs were ironed out and so we are being used as crash dummies until the app has been sorted out. All in all not a great start for News Corp - I wonder what life behind the pay wall is like?
Sent from my iPad
Monday, 19 July 2010
Times iPad edition - what a total con
Well the bottom of the barrel has been reached by News Corp. Having made such a fuss about the pay wall, which in principle I agree with - good journalism should be paid for - they have totally let down their readers. The iPad edition hasn't been published today. I have no idea why but seeing as I have paid for this I think this is a real con.
This doesn't surprise me because over the past few editions it has been getting buggier by the edition - sometime I have had to reboot the iPad to clear the problem! It would be nice if News Corp would let it's readers know when they are pulling something!
Sent from my iPad
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Errgh Newspapers...
I have just bought a newspaper for the first time since I bought my iPad and what an eye opener. They are cumbersome, especially on Sunday, and really difficult to navigate around. Worst of all they are filled with such negative rubbish - well at least the Sunday Times is. It is a month since I read that paper and the stories are still the same BBC bad (wonder why they say that?) royal family cost too much, Labour are sh*t and so on. It is almost impossible to find a positive story. I still read the Times Monday to Saturday and on Sunday I read the Observer/Guardian (all on line) and you know what this seems to give me a better spread of news and comment. So newspapers are such a pain and the content is even worse.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Two months on - were are we now?
Well it has been just over two months since the new government came together and the most surprising thing it that it has not collapsed. Well that was the view of some commentators. Of course we are in very early days but they do appear to have a very convincing narrative on many subjects, deficit reduction aside. Will it last? I suspect much longer than many commentators and many on the Labour side fear - if only for the fact that should it fail then the Lib Dems will get slaughtered at the polls so having made their deal with the devil they are going to have to stick with it.
So what of Labour? I believe there is a maxim in politics that Labour governments fall when the money runs out. Well we are that point in cycle and sure enough Labour are out of office. How long for? Well that depends I suspect on what they want to offer the public. At the moment they are shell shocked and thrashing around for anything positive to say. They can't really argue that they are full of new ideas because, well they are not and if they were why weren't they put into action whilst they were still in government? The short answer is that the Labour party need sometime to work out where they are going to go next. This should start with the leadership election. At the moment it is nothing more than a group of ex ministers trying to pretend they know the way forward - they don't. At least Diane Abbot has the benefit of not having been a recent minister and so is not tarnished by power. Of course that is the reason why she will never get elected or if she did she would very quickly be found out to be not up to the job.
I am still trying to work out why Labour cuts are good and coalition cuts are bad. I suspect so are the Labour party. Everyone knew that there was going to be a huge series of cuts whichever party was returned at least know we are seeing some honesty returning to the political debate. Whether the cuts are too great or too soon is an important debate - at least know they are being argued over. Before the election every party pretend that there cuts were the fluffy type that wouldn't hurt a fly.
There is much talk at the moment about a forthcoming winter of discontent and huge protests. I am not sure this will happen. There will be some very vocal strikes but I doubt that they will have that much impact. After all the BA strikes have been dragging on now for months and does this really cause any problems. There will be some disruption in public sector but nothing that would compare to the 'winter of discontent'.
The one really great thing the coalition is doing is starting to claw back the excessive powers of the state that have been introduced 'to fight the war of terror'. For too long it has been acceptable to cut back on freedoms, the final straw for me was the stop and search powers under sec 44. This meant that in any designated area you could be stopped and possibly searched without the police having any reasonable grounds for this. It wouldn't prevent an attack or the preparation for an attack on a high profile target, say the Palace of Westminster, as on any given day there are thousands of people milling around the area and the chance that the police would be able to find the one or two people who might be planning such attacks is fanciful. The best way to prevent such attacks is good intelligence not the off chance that you might get lucky. Good that felt really good to get off my chest!
So am I optimistic about the future? Well of course I am. You should never believe all these experts that predict the world is going to fall apart. We have been through much worse and survived. Will it be tough - well yes I think so but life will go on and it will always be worth living. In the end I suspect we will do what comes natural to us all - we will muddle through. Lets hope I am right.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Scream! No flash is really getting to me....
So this iPad thingy is supposed to be the best web experience going...well that is unless you want to use a site that is using flash and then well welcome to HTML 1. I suppose I should feel nostalgic for those wonderful far off days back in the mid 90's but I don't. I just want to watch flash on mu iPad - however to do such things would be too simple for Apple. It would mean a climb down and that would never do. Instead we have to suffer for this arrogance for no clear reason other than we are Apple and you get what we want to give you. I'm a Pc anyone.
Sent from my iPad
Street Photography
There was something in the back of my mind when we were talking about street photography the other day. I knew I had taken some photographs that I just hadn't gotten around to work on. Then it came to me where they were and I have to say to my surprise they were over a year old.
Now whether these are exceptional photographs or not I don't know but I know that at least one of the lads on the bikes wasn't too pleased to have his photograph taken. However, as he was cycling where he shouldn't have been I though it was only fair that he should get annoyed. Having just read that I think that says more about me than the lad or street photography but perhaps that is the attitude you need. Just a touch of bloody mindedness or perhaps it helps if you are over 6'3" tall - maybe that helps.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Monday, 12 July 2010
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Brushes it is so addictive
Another master piece - well I think I am getting better, not very good just better. It seems that David Hockney was right, the iPad is the way of the future for the budding artist. Now I wouldn't put myself in that category but the iPad does allow you to doodle and then rework the doodle until you get something more presentable. The main lesson I have learnt over the pays few days is that you have to start to plan ahead as to how you are going to draw something. You have six layers to play with so whatever you produce is easier to correct than a conventional drawing. It still means you have to plan ahead. With layer will carry what detail is almost as important as the final look of the drawing. Well that has been my experience but as I said above - I'm no artist.
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Picasso and Me.
Well what to say that hasn't been already said about Picasso? I suppose the first thing is to explain how I came to encounter Picasso. I have just been to the Picasso, Peace and Freedom exhibition at the Tate North, Liverpool. So what to say next? Well the whole exhibition smelt of fresh paint. Perhaps I have become very sensitive to this as we have just redecorated part of the house. Nonetheless there it was - the smell of fresh paint. Something new about Picasso? Well perhaps.
The power of Picasso could be felt in the room. He was the giant whose talent was laid bare all around you. His predilections were also there to see but this isn't why Picasso is so mind blowingly brilliant. I don't actually like much of what he painted when compared to the work that really touches me. The simple things touch me. Not the massive and well publicised works but the small and simple line drawings, his way of turning just the simple thing into something so much more. These are the things that talk to me.
The exhibition itself tried hard to paper of the cracks of the force that is Picasso but failed utterly. So we read that Picasso was a communist and anti fascist yet he thrived in the Nazi occupied France and he made a fortune. perhaps much of the contradiction that is and was Picasso can be summed up by a photo of him looking very admiringly at a photo of Joseph Stalin. Kindred spirits perhaps. Picasso certainly had a great force of personality.
So what was my favourite piece? Without doubt it was a simple doodle he did on someone's wall in London in the early 50's. When the house was going to be knocked down the plaster on which the he doodle as well as part of the wall were preserved - no doubt by then it was worth far more than the house.
So was it worth the trip? You bet. Forget all the bumph and fluff written about Picasso he never fails to deserve every letter, syllable and punctuation mark written about him and his work.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Friday, 9 July 2010
Whiling my time on brushes
Brushes are the death of using your time constructively. Well actually it is very constructive to doodle and sketch. Now I am the first the agree I am not very good - whatever that might mean - I am certainly a lot better photographer for example. And yet it really is enjoyable to sit here and doodle and sketch with my iPad. It really is very sickening when you see what really talented artist can do with this software and yet it at the same time it is not. I don't have the discipline to put in the hours to get really good - far from it. Indeed if I really tried to become a better artist I think the whole process would loose it's child like attraction. For a short period you transport yourself back to your childhood and forget all the worries of the adult world. The only thing that is missing is the smell of the paints - well I'll forgo that along with the mess. Perhaps I'm not that much of a child after all !
Sent from my iPad
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Bizarre iPhone Colours - don't you just love 'em
Still going through my iPhone phase - who knows how long this will last. One of the things I have been trying to do is just let my imagination fly with the work - I have no idea or really care if they work as photos I feel at the moment I just love the enjoyment of creating photographs. I may look back in a year and think '...what the hell were you doing?..' This is always a risk but you can say that about anything creative. You can only be honest to the here and now - the future will have to look after its self.
Now one of the great things about the iPhone camera is that it is just so rubbish. The colour balance is so poor that it throws up some incredible colours. The wild flower shot hasn't been processed that much - it came out of the camera very much as you see. This is the excitement of the whole process. Of course you could review the photograph on the screen but that would take some of the fun away. Anyway, in bright sun light, as this was, you still won't get any idea as to what the colour balance is and by then it is too late anyway. In short leave well alone and just see what you've get when you get back. Brilliant.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Monday, 5 July 2010
No flash - this is getting beyond a joke.
The more I use my iPad the more frustrated I get with Apple's refusal to support adobe flash. Apple may have a point about how flash consumes processing power but surely there are ways around this. The one thing I do know - it really spoilers the Internet when browsing with the iPad - I have just tried to watch some videos on the adobe lightroom Facebook page and guess what I can't because the iPad doesn't support the video format, I'm assuming this is flash.
Sent from my iPad
Sympathy for Steve Jobs
I know this almost sticks in my throat but I have suddenly felt sympathy for Steve Jobs. Don't worry it soon passed. At the recent launch of the iPhone 4 he was unable to get a wifi connection. I have just experienced the same. My router decided to throw a wobbly and so for about 10 minutes the wifi and Internet didn't work. When it came back my iPad wouldn't log onto the network. Total disaster. However, the all time favourite computer fix came to the rescue - I rebooted the iPad and deleted and reinstalled the wifi connection and everything was fine. The tranquil state of society has been restored.
Sent from my iPad
Printing - grgghh
I suppose it is the red bus law - why is it that when one tank of ink is empty then all of a sudden 5 others need replacing?
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
The best camera is the one you have with you.
We all live in an ever changing world, well those of us lucky enough to be able to afford the changes and I suspect if you are able to read this then that includes you. So everyday we are bombarded with new is the best. We must get the latest because that will only do. I know because I am that person, although in my defence over the past few months I have started to change my views. Those of you who know me might find that hard to believe, after all haven't I just bought myself an iPad, perhaps on of the most over hyped products of recent years. Well that was until the iPhone 4 came on the market. Suddenly the iPad is so last week and we must all have the iPhone 4 and I am sure that it is much better than my 3G iPhone in so many ways.
Well I am not so sure. I have started to really appreciate the beauty of the camera to the phone. Not because of it's technical brilliance but rather because it is so poor. You can do things with that camera that has been designed/programmed out more modern cameras and I suspect that includes the iPhone 4. It really is refreshing just to be presented with something that is the equivalent of a pin hole camera. You have to work just a little to make a good photograph and this is very exciting. I have a really good compact camera and yet I find I am leaving that at home more and more and relying on the iPhone. I have also decided that the best shape for the iPhone photograph is square. I have no idea but at the moment it just appeals to me. This will probably change but at the moment the square means that I pare about a third of the available image away leaving me with a 1200 x 1200 pixel size shot. Tiny but really interesting.
So is this a rejection of modern technology? Well no but it does mean I am trying to appreciate what I have at the moment without striving for the new which may not, after all, be better.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Saturday, 3 July 2010
219 spam emails deleted - feels so good.
Spam and a 600 year old slander case make for an interesting photograph.
'...I am single, very attractive Woman, 37yrs old from Illinois...' I know this sounds like the opening for the latest alleged Russian spy ring in the US but no it turns out this women has got money problems that I can help her with and she is willing to give me a considerable fee to enable this. I have been clearing out my spam filter's folder of dodgy emails of which Ms Cindy Westmiller's is just one. I am not sure what you can draw by one's spam - if you are to believe the emails in their I can all my prescriptions on the cheap from Canada, why I would want to go all the way to Canada is not explained. Then of course there are emails that wish to directly enhance my manhood and yet more from females who clearly don't think I need my manhood enhancing as they seem excited to see me. Just occasionally you get emails from unlucky businessmen in west Africa - these are more of a rarity and allow you to fondly remember the days, not so long ago, when these were coming in at an alarming rate. Clearly the banking system in west Africa has improved greatly so they can't have as many millions stuck in transit. Are those were the days.
Anyway, away from rummaging through the detritus of spam I have been receiving I have produced another photograph. It was really exciting to do this as I had spent most of the day working on the life story of William de Bereford, an early 14th century high court judge. reading some of the case he dealt with it makes you realise that some things just don't change. The funniest thing I read about this learned brother was that he was being sued for defamation and slander. He apparently '... asserted that John de Somery has obtained such mastery in the county of Stafford that no one can obtain law or justice therein; that he has made himself more than a king there...'. There is no result reported but you just know this is going to drag on - almost 600 years and no end in sight yet!
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Slowly working back to photography...
Well last night I made my first photographs for almost three weeks - here they are. Slow first steps but the juices are not flowing too much at the moment.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
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