Family, friends, stereotypes and chocolate?

Sunday saw us both at the movies. We decided to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

If you're after a fun light hearted look at childhood stereotypes with lots of singing oompaloompas, don't bother. In true Tim Burton fashion this is a dark tale of Willy's demons, with Charlie being the catalyst that turns Willy into the prodigal son.

The opening sequence is an amazing piece of CG, and when you see the credits at the end you realise that there was enormous amounts of energy spent on this aspect of the movie alone. However it doesn't detract from the story in any way shape or form. The story, which I have never read by the way, is at one level about the tour of the factory, and the children who are punished for their misdeeds throughout. It is also about the importance of family. Handled in a relatively non-sacchrine way.

This version however focuses primarily on the character of Willy. Willy's success it seems is because he is driven character, with a demon. Dealing with this demon seems to be the only way for Willy to regain his chocolate/lolly empire. Which in true Hollywood fashion he manages to do. Charlie on the other hand finds success from other areas and only goes back to the factory after Wily has decided to allow his family to come along as well.

The cast are all stellar in my opinion and if anything, the support actors kind of steal the show, which is never a bad thing in my mind. The story line has only minor variations on the 1971 film with Gene Wilder, but a slightly different ending.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but I have issues with several areas, the stereotyping of the children,for one, I felt could have been made more contemporary, i.e. TV Mike could have been sucked into computer game rather than into a TV, although his character was obsesssed with video games. Several parts were direct quotes from the 1971 movie, and having never read the book I'm unclear as to the importance of these quotes to the story. So I'll need to find a copy of the book and find out for myself I guess.

One of my favourite aspects of the movie is that it operates at several levels, have fun looking out for other movie references, I suspect there may even be some TV references in there as well, may need to go back and have another look.

My final verdict at this stage is, if you like Tim Burton's style, you'll like this movie, if you want a bright colourful simple song and dance romp don't bother, this movie is dark, and operates on several levels, some of which I don't think kids should see.

Green Curves White Light

I love my job!

Where else could you be able to stop and marvel at the quality of the light in any given situation, and be encouraged no expected to make an image of what you saw?

Well here is that light. The graceful curves and the shadows all compliment each other, the delicate hue of the green is really calming as well. It took half a dozen goes with composition and exposure to get what I wanted, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

Lurgy?

Currently suffering the annual or sometimes bi-annual Pseudoephedrine frenzy, things could be quiet around here for a few days?

Walking Melbourne?

I often like to wander the streets of Melbourne, [with my camera of course], walking allows a much deeper insight to the culture and feel of places like the CBD, here's a web-site that will help you focus my future walks around Melbourne, hope you both can find some use for it.

Sometimes I only need walk in my backyard.

Spring.

Symbolism?

Recently I wandered off to post a letter, [kind of ironic I know] when I noticed this bag caught in tree. The tree was full of blossom, as were the nearby trees. The wind had been pretty strong for a couple of days, and this bag had lodged there as a consequence no doubt.

I glanced up more interested in the blossom and all it's promise and the gorgeous light that was happening, it was late in the afternoon. When I noticed the bag, stuck in the tree. I was mesmerised for a moment. Then quietly pleased as I had made a point of carrying my camera with me, as always. So I made several exposures, and compositions, resulting in this final choice.

What first struck me though, was, the bag's tenacity in what seems an otherwise futile struggle. A struggle to not get blown away to who knows where. Then there was the tree's will in keeping the bag there, in some kind of deadly embrace, which seemed poetic, or maybe it was more metaphoric? The dark symbolism of the deadly consumer item, trapped and held against it's will by the most powerful symbol of spring itself. Two symbols engaging, or was it a struggle, maybe something more gentle like a tussle?

All of this occurring as the sun was getting low in the sky, after what had been several lovely spring days windy but lovely.

Ah yes indeed, spring IS just around the corner.

Where was THAT shot taken?

On a more positive note, check this article out? Maybe one day someone will investigate where and when I made an image?

Also here's a couple of shots taken on Friday, both are posted on FLickr, but I wanted to tweak them a little more, using as always Photoshop and Lobster. Taken in specific place for a specific reason, based on a small discussion that murmured away for a few days over in the Melbourne pool of flickr.

Am currently experimenting with the higher film sensitivity settings on my camera, pretty pleased with the results so far.

Using this setting is no mean feat for me, I have been using fine grain film and film developer combinations for many years, and have callouses on my hands from lugging around my tripod. So it is kind of refreshing to not get too hung up on the idea of super smooth grain images and just follow my intuition. I've even created a set for it over at flickr.

Who is watching who?

Recently my best friend, returned from London. He was there when the bombings occurred a few weeks back.

As any tourist would do, he carried a backpack with him.

He has dark skin, he tans easily as he lives in the warmer part of our country, and dark curly hair.

What state of mind would I be in if the London authorities adopted a racial profiling approach to security while he was there?

It was bad enough when I heard that bombs had gone off?

My friend DRP over on flick has a thought provoking piece on the whole issue, go read it I made a comment down the bottom.

Four?

I'm a gemini you know?

Photographic Musings

Had the usual tough day at the regular Tuesday gig. Got home at a reasonable hour and started musing, about photography, digital and the internet,[ have one group show in the very very early stages of planning, that has come about because of the internet]. So I'm having to collect my own thoughts about what I'm doing and why I do it. This what I've gotten together so far.

An interest in the changing nature of Photography, and how Photography changes nature, or at least our perceptions of it, has been a major motivating factor in my creative output for almost twenty years now.

It was Frederick Sommer who said,
“...some speak of a return to nature, I wonder where they could have been?”
Indeed where have they been, and what have they got to show for the experience? Images are produced with an ease and grace never before imagined. Who will see these and share them?

What about collective memories and experiences of the places we live inhabit and occupy, how can an individual or a collective of people get together and represent this in a cohesive and creative way, is it even at all possible, is it even worth worrying about? Has digital made it the process of image collection, even more democratic, [not just in the political sense] ?

Is digital an adjunct in the process of image collection as a collective experience, and is it also able to re-awaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment?

Does seeing groups of images, made by separate people occupying the same city, exhibited in the most public of all places the internet change a collective or individual’s understanding of that city?

Part of the process of musing has had me drag out an almost 15 year old exhibition statement from my undergraduate show in 1991. It blows me away now when I read it, that I could have the insight to think of these things then. Here it is, slightly edited for grammar and perception.

“ The Lost City.
Who hasn’t been compelled to peer down dark alleyways,what do they expect to find, why isn’t the cacophony of the city enough to keep people on the main street?
Perhaps it is a search driven by desire or fear, how much then; of a struggle it must be for some, not to take that first tentative step into that arduous journey, destination unknown.”

Spring has sprung.

You know that the weather is on the up and up when the trees start to show some blossom.

And you have to marvel at the tenacity of nature itself.

These shots also serve as a reminder that images are to be made anywhere and everywhere, all it takes often, is the right light, and the right frame of mind, the rest will present itself.

Currently part of a group of Melbourne based serious amateur photographers who have met through flickr and are keen to get some recognition of their work either via an in-the-flesh exhibition, or some sort of organised cyber-show. I must confess that my involvement with flickr along with the purchase of my Nikon Coolpix 5400 camera has re-invigorated my passion for image making. While time is still a major constraint in regards to making the actual images themselves, processing them and presenting them can be done in the comfort of my own home, at my leisure, or whilst watching Television. Flickr allows me to organise them, and create collections of ideas and series that can be continually in flux if I so chose. Many many people look at them and some even leave comments. So creatively I feel as though I'm moving along quite nicely, and am starting to think about how to present images on a screen rather than on a wall.

Poor Interface Design

Gripe!

Poking around the intranet of one of my major employer's today, and found this gem of an interface! The old underline the word coz it's important trick, never mind that on a website this means something else these days! And no it doesn't work as link, don't get me started on the non-existent links that I stumbled on and the continually opening windows everywhere! Sigh maybe in 10 years time this will have disappeared completely?

Spring Begins?

Spring is around the corner. Got inspired this arvo by the rapidly flourishing Melbourne pool over at flickr. Produced these two shots. Sadly my batteries ran out!

s2art & Technorati?

Some weird stuff is going on out in cyber space with my "handle" s2art Technorati lists several entries by Scoottie and one by Swissmiss. Hmmm?

Flickrites Inaugural Melbourne meeting 2005

What a glorious day weather wise for the inaugural meet up of Melbourne Flickrites. Photos galore will no doubt be uploaded. check my flickr sets section to see what eventuates?

As far as I can tell,scootie seems to have been the only one to blog the whole affair.

Online Play and Toys

Flickr has a group of people who make lots' of little toys that hook into the databases there, somethings called API's, this new one is great, it's called delivr and sends a postcard from your own stream or that of the entire database of 1,000,000 members to anyone you care to send one to. On the world of the internet this is nothing new, however, what makes this special is you can source your own images or others and make some weird and whacky popstcards.

Canon G5, 350d versus nikon Coolpix 5400?

Camera test and reports coming soon.

I am testing a Canon G5 this weekend ready for a class next week. Recently I used a Canon 350d for a series of tests, and I own a Nikon Coolpix 5400, so I'm planning on a write up on all 3 cameras from a users perspective. Stay tuned.

Recently found some online news regarding the new breed of Epson Printers on the market. I also recently attended an intense weekend workshop on colour management, that indicates to me the end of the wet darkroom is nigh, what are the ramifications and what does this mean for Photography educators? Stay tuned for this article also.

Insignificant Microbe?

Finally. Finally, spent some time tweaking my blog template to get it more the way I want it to look, only taken 12 months, a solid dose of insomnia helps too? Both of my readers will notice only the smallest of changes and then only if they scroll down the page on the right and look? There is aslo a new addition to the other links there. My TTLB Ecosystem addition. According to their home page, you can have their database scan your blog and see where you fit in the scheme of things, i.e. the blogosphere. No surprises here, (as I write), I'm not much at all, just an insignificant microbe, ah well, maybe that's a good thing?

Perhaps if I could write as well and as frequently as Vitriolica, or Jess, then maybe I'd end up a “ Higher Being” like, Instapundit. And if indeed I could write this well and often what would my photography be like? Would I still be able to teach workshops in Photoshop? One things for sure, I'll never be a Despot in Training!

[A small edit and after thought, if I may, the truthlaidbear seems to list primarily neo-conservative and conservative sites as the top ranking sites. Surely this is not the case. There must be some other left leaning blogs out there getting the traffic, or a more even representation of them. Or are we seeing a cultural backlash to left leaning thinking, and the blogo-sphere is a reflection of that?]

Ages ago I got a little recognition for one of my shots on Flickr by Flickrzen a site that highlights the cream of the crop from flickr itself. A quote from Susan Sontag, prompted by my visit to Flickrzen.

"Naive or commercial or merely utilitarian photography is no different in kind from photography as practiced by the most gifted professionals: there are pictures taken by anonymous amateurs which are just as interesting, as complex formally, as representative of photography's characteristic powers as a Stieglitz or a Walker Evans."

Transport!

Friday night at Transport Bar, Fed Square, colour colour every where.

The colours here are simply as the camera recorded them. My camera was set on daylight colour balance at the time, some levels adjustment and burning in using photoshop have occurred after converting the file to a better colour model using Lobster, the colour management plug-in for Photoshop

Digital RAW files?

Recently went out and about testing a new camera purchased by one of my more regular employers.After shooting away frantically, and enjoying the whole process, I got home and much to my surprise, the raw files I had shot could not be opened by my copy of Adobe Photoshop CS™.
"What the hell" I said
Is this another upgrade scam from software giant Adobe™? A dig around the Adode™ site seemed to indicate the only way to open these files was to use the latest version of their RAW of converter. Not to worry I knew of a demo piece of software, made by Phase One that opens many files and does a much better job than Adobe Photoshop CS™ anyway. As it was a 30 day demo version, I thought I'll include this in the next years computer budget, (assuming I'm still working there). A bit more digging around on the web and I discover that low and behold, Adobe™ has released a FREE tool that is designed to open any and all RAW format presented to it. Indeed it works and works more than adequately for most people's needs. So if you can not afford to purchase the Phase one Software or justify it's price then you can use the new DNG software made by Adobe™

Here's an image made with the Canon 350d and opened using the DNG RAW file converter, then tweaked slightly in Photoshop to enhance sharpness and contrast

Here's some more info on RAW files, as part my regular research for my Part time photography teaching work at PIC photographic imaging college.

Waiting

Winter has some advantages, this sunset occurred last night as I was waiting for my wife to pick me up from work. It was pretty spectacular to watch, sadly both my camera batteries died before I could get much more than a handful of shots off, this is the most dramatic, I cropped out the city skyline in a couple of the other shots but I liked the impact of this one the most.

Photograph, manipulated using Photoshop and the excellent Photoshop colour correction tool Lobster

Podcasts?

It seems it's not enough to blog away madly or even photo-blog, but now podcasts are all the go? Hmm personally I'm not an Aural person? So podcasts aren't on the horizen yet, we'll see, I might give podcasting a go, seeing as my felow flickrite macaddict has given podcasts a go. Time oh time where is it going?