Saturday 16 February 2008

Daily Photo #70

This one was shot at the rapidly decaying Swan Centre in Yardley. Its tagline is Swan into the Swan for a bargain. Sadly, all the bargains are now gone and all there is are boarded up shops and a bingo hall that's seen better days. It almost has a Phil Larkin or Graham Greene sadness about the whole thing. A shopping centre now left to rot.

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I remember it pretty well as a kid, it used to be a thriving shopping centre until the likes of Safeway and Asda turned up. It's quite atmospheric when the wind whips through the place, it sounds like the moans of the undead.

Friday 15 February 2008

Daily Photo #69

I took this one back in December but did some Photoshop CS3 voodoo with it to make the tones, colour and feel of the subject matter a little more off kilter.

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The weather over the last 2 days has been less than great but fingers crossed for saturday morning, see what the day brings.

Still on annual leave and have a few errands to run. But this DVD dropped through my letterbox so I know what I shall be doing this afto.

Thursday 14 February 2008

Of antiquities, fedoras and crystal skulls

Could this be the movie that fans have been waiting 19 years for? Will Lucas and Spielberg deliver? Only 3 months 'til we find out.

From the trailer, it's looking a little more hokey and Indy is looking a bit creaky but the iconic and epic feel still remain.

I'm rather excited, aren't you?

Edit - better quality trailer in QT can be found here.

Daily Photo #68

Happy Valentine's Day!

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I haz flowers for you but winter got in the way.

Sooo, that day invented by Hallmark to sell a few cards and some tacky ephemera. Well, I for one don't buy into that ideology but I will mark the occasion by cooking dinner for Linda (crispy slow roasted duck breast with plum sauce and pancakes) with a glass of ice cold Champagne (thank the lord for price offers at Tesco's as I couldn't justify spending £26 on a bottle of bubbly!).

It's a funny day, when you're single you dread it or if you're attached (we've just hit 17 years of being together), you get a little ambivalent.

I still don't like Valentine cards though...

Wednesday 13 February 2008

Daily Photo #67

This was taken ages ago, 2004 (pre-DSLR) on a nasty little HP digital compact (it would only take 10 pics before the batteries died but we thought it was wonderful back in the day).

Anyway, my comics are long overdue for an audit/bagging and boarding session so I may call on Linda's skillz to rectify this.

Powered by Red Wine and Chocolate!

I want to go out and shoot pics but not sure where as yet. I think a bath and shave are on the cards first then a little googling/AZ voodoo to make up my mind as to where to go. With the trains being compromised here, that may limit my options somewhat.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

And some more nice words!

Podnosh saying some really nice things about my photography.

I could really get used to this, lol!

Thanks to everyone who is dropping by here and get going on your "one a day". It's addictive!

Daily Photo #66

So, escaped the shackles of the office until next week so hoping to get some more shooting in and around B'ham done along with kicking back and fitting in some work around the house, DVD watching and some Xbox if I am lucky.

So, I'm loving the quadtone at the moment and this is another one of the shots I took during the weekend.

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I think the hue gives it a slightly aged/timeless look and doesn't really detract from the subject matter. Rather happy with the clouds in this one.

Monday 11 February 2008

Daily Photo #65

Truly a blast from the past. This was shot during my Uni years on recording film and push processed to give a sense of a denser grain.

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Recording film was the number one choice of the police back in the day when they did surveillance ops. Not the best scan in the world but you get the picture, pardon the pun.

Sunday 10 February 2008

Daily Photo #64

I cannot believe started this 64 days ago as it seems such a long time ago! Today has been spent spodding around the house with Xbox and consuming bacon sandwiches, oh so decadent. Didn't feel like leaving the house today and I have 3 days of leave coming up later this week to go shoot stuff so laziness is good.

Spent last night with the wonderfully good Steve and Lou. Good times with gin and conversation were had by all and felt wonderfully relaxed today. Although, Solihull afterdark on a Saturday night is a most unsettling place. I was shocked to see McDonalds had security/bouncers on the door and pale, vampire like chavs and emos, their faces tinted by the garish lights making them seem even more animalistic, walking the streets like they owned the place. Scantily clad 15 year olds swore at each other and there was an undercurrent of impending violence that I couldn't quite put my finger upon. Still, it was a great night and all the chavviness in the world could not detract from that.

So, anyway - the photo of the day was again shot yesterday on the canal basin. Fitting in with my mood and the riff on suburban (and urban) decay, we stumbled across an old pub Linda and I both loved. Sadly, it is no more having shuffled off its mortal coil.

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In the light of day it looked sad and neglected but at night I bet it looks downright scary.