New Camera Blues.

 

Carrying a Box

Reading Stuart Maconie's Hope and Glory on the bus to Cambridge yesterday. Quite engrossing, almost missed my usual stop by the Round Church. Psychological really, as I was about to do a very unusual thing.

I was about to spend some money.

I spent it on a new , yes new, camera. Of course I had a fainting fit trying to part with the money. And I bought it from Jessops, something you must never do. Already I had broken two cardinal rules of camera buying: buying new and only buying from Camkins.

The new camera has the magic ingredient of loads of pixels.

Afterwards I sat in a pub in a bemused state, mildly berating myself, wondering how I would ever afford my son's new bike. To be fair, the bike wouldn't cost the same as a small second hand car (one careful lady driver) but I am glad there is another pay day to come before the annual click of my son's mortal tariff draws near.

You see, the thing is, I didn't think things through. Gone are the days of assembling cameras from bodies and lenses sourced from second hand shops and pawn brokers. I am afraid I was seduced by design.

A little later I discovered the same model at 20 quid cheaper. In a vast warehouse of a supermarket out of town. Seduction by design is of a different order in such places. The hierarchy of consumer needs and wants functions in a different way; they are clearly indicated by the signing system. Reading skills are crucial in such places.

Austerity has been papered over by a veneer of  redesign of the value range. The value range in this superstore is clearly packaged in an attractive manner. Design for the times. The value range clearly informs us that it is just as good as products located in the other pricing bands.

So now you can buy your food and other products with your head held high.

Next time I need to update a body or a lens I will hotfoot it to Campkins, Tesco or indeed the pawn brokers.

Blink

CRW_6714_edited-1.psd, a photo by paul g neale on Flickr.

Blink.

I love it when a post disappears. Today is shaping up to be wet and dark which should be nice and cheery !

I like the wet weather. I like the way the raindrops smash into the electric yellows and greens . I like the way you can walk through the reflections. As a result I usually end up thinking about German painting of the late seventies and early eighties.

What I do not like about wet weather is the constant sense of catastrophe that seems to come with it.

And the flooded houses. Flooding is not unknown here and it is gruesome, life changing, tragic and traumatising.

Unlimited Printing of Money.

I have never fully understood the basics of economic theory and I do not suppose I ever will. What I do understand is unemployment, self employment, getting by, trying to make ends meet, scrimping and saving, making do, keeping the wolf from the door, saving for a rainy day, going without and budgeting. A day out is expensive, a holiday out of the question.

Perhaps what is most depressing is seeing boarded up shops. This isn't the first depression I have lived through, but it is the most intense and harmful.

Topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge. What more can be said about long lens blurry breasts? Not exactly the most stimulating of images. So , after flirting with the idea of celebrity,willingly creating and performing their own minor roles in the national soap opera, a posh bird gets her kit off and gets papped. Can't wait to see the paintings cropping up in galleries.

The jury is still out about what I feel about the tattoo re- imagery. My feeling is that the surface of the paper should resemble skin as closely as possible and post production kept to a minimum.

Some of the more recent redescriptions of models' faces are beginning to look a little more promising although the lighting can be difficult to manage.

Non Abstract Expressionism

 

Eye Dropper