Day XV

A bit like the now delightfully retro Semisonic album recently re-discovered in all its' glory, today I'm Feeling Strangely Fine. Nothing has changed drastically but, I always seem to enjoy myself in classes, looking forward to leaving my flat this evening too! Also, in a thrilling game of cat and mouse with the wind and clouds I narrowly managed to cheat Mother Nature out of a drenching ... 1-0! Back of the net!

As you've come to expect, and don't say I don't spoil you, like a recalcitrant camel travelling across the temperemental University internet, is the Gert Lush High Resolution image.

One of the things playing on my mind at the moment is the prospect of housing for next year and, to date, having nothing remotely sorted in that area. There's one nice possibility, but certainly nothing definitive and this is the most excited I've been able to get about the whole thing!

In the traditions of vaguely strapping this onto something current and relevant in the world (a bit like a bodged bicycle rack made out of some bungees ...), in my mind, at least, I've linked this to the general uncertainty surrounding most things in the world right now. The Environment, Energy resources, The Economy are all really quite unstable and unsure of where we might going at the moment. It isn't just these issues either. So, like almost everyone, if I stop to think about it: "I don't know where we are going now ..."

Day XIV

Whilst continuing with my downward spiral, I did do something positive and went back and had another chat with the driver of the buses that are parked on Haydn Road all day. He's a really nice bloke and was the first passer-by to really take an interest in what I've been doing. Was good to chat with him, probably did something for both of our days ...

Having not posted many links, I will post another with little or no relevance to Photography unless you really strain hard and look at the, simply excellent, Photoshop work as being linked to the issues of Documentary Truth. I'm posting it because it really made me chuckle, I give you, Dave Benson-Phillips as Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'.

Allowing you see every last rivetting detail is the Gert Lush High Resolution which can contain a double-decker bus, sideways.

Our text for today comes from the emotions of yesterday. Had an alright day; got up, did the door, did the blog, went to our Seminar, talked about Camera Lucida for a seemingly interminable amount of time and then even managed a semi-decent evening not really thinking about the negatives and just enjoying what came along, I was feeling quite good ... Until something got to me and I lost all calm.

The text is an ironic, modern-Pringlist reflection of the fact that (my music taste hasn't changed since I was 13 ... and) forgetting about or ignoring something will not make it go away. In the real world; outside my brain (the weapon of self-destruction that can launch in 45 minutes), this is most commonly seen with Global Warming; something the world and mass media (or mass media and the world, if you prefer), with the exception of the Guardian which is so environmentally conscious it's offices are a treehouse that also serves as a protest base for those opposed to the widening of the A303, seems to care little about until the next new report or study comes along showing how ineffective we have been at reducing emissions. It's suddenly headline news for about five minutes, maybe ten on Channel 4 or Newsnight, before something else comes along the next day and we forget about it again ... until it comes back.

"I guess if we ignore it, it'll probably go away ..."

Day V

Following on from today's tutorial with the lengthy discussion about McDonals, today I have prepared the "Headline double-header"; the double-whammy; the Big Mac, BK Whopper or Footlong Sub of this newspaper headline based feast, all served up on the usual blue door.

With fractionally less writing to appease Hugh (although the border remains because as well as liking it; I actually use it for the very reason suggested for its' removal - the connotations of an uncropped image and as someone who does everything possible to acheive the desired composition in camera to avoid cropping, that's important to me), here it is in all it's chipped, faded and flaky glory:

Thursday is traditionally the day of publication for my local newspaper, the Somerset Standard, so I was keen to include that if, on the off-chance their lead story had any relevance to something going on in the world outside of a small Somerset market town. By chance their lead story: "Driver's miracle escape." was deemed sufficiently relevant to what the Times were going on about with "Huge rise in traffic is choking the roads." (Can't resist: Choking the roads? Probably isn't doing much for the environment either, but I suppose that may be a story for the Guardian to get it's teeth into ...) so I slapped them both on and I too hit the road.

Today's location continues to bring a visual connection to the news into my work and is a car dealership, a place that sells new cars to add to those already on the road.