Day XVIII

Today we fringe upon something vaguely related to one of the issues in Kelly's blog:


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a sheet of falling MDF? No, it's the above photograph in Gert Lush High Resolution!

Recently, in my ever-increasing hours of evening boredom alone in my room, I have been prone to some comfort eating which was probably at its' worst yesterday evening and I initially thought when I woke up in the night feeling really sick, that this was to blame. Later I realised that the same thing had happened the last time I cooked the meal I ate yesterday so, that was probably it, but, I still don't think the comfort eating is a good thing! Now feel much less sick and have gone down the Domesticated Birds Scale of Sickness from "Parrott" to a level more like "Budgie" ...

Another little vice is bottles of Ale, I like the taste of Ale (in the absence of readily available Scrumpy) and there's probably a little bit of comfort drinking here but, at least how I justify it to myself (perhaps sub-consciously) is that it's to help me get off to sleep so I can be bright-eyed and awake in the mornings to greet Hugh!

Dragging some relevance to the world outside my room in, using a high-powered winch and a Land Rover: With societies many wrongs, ills and injustices sometimes comes the phrase "How do they sleep at night?" ... this was also a Horlicks advert. In relation to this and moreover my own matters of moment, the text for today reads: "Whatever helps you rest ..."

Day XVII

If you want to see this bigger, go here. If you don't, don't.

Spent a weekend doing very little more than watching Green Wing and a four-hour text exchange with Annie. Today's photograph of the corridor in my flat when everyone else has gone out is all to do with the fact that most of my time is now spent "Behind closed doors ..." ... how thrilling, in every possible way.

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 XIII

Aiming for a slightly less depressing tone, today I'm still going for a summary of thought but, in a round-about way slightly more positive and one of the things that keeps me here, plodding along with things as they are ...

Short of the usual introduction, today's photograph in Gert Lush High Resolution lies just beyond the underlined words.

Our text today is once again and born of my modern-Pringlist education (and also an inability to stop listing to old Millencolin albums) and summarises thoughts along the lines of: No matter how much things aren't quite ideal here; if I weren't here it would be altogether worse as almost everyone I know and care about has gone away to University as well; those who haven't are in jobs for a year before they do go, and regularly state that they rarely see each other. It's brilliant when we all come back for the holidays but, it's not like that all the time and so today, with some nice mirror-like glass I am reflecting on the fact that: "The grass will never be greener on the other side ..." ...

Day XII

Ahem! Testing, Testing, One, Two, One, Two ... Let's go nuke Moscow! I shall start today's post, and this new week by detailing a few changes ...

Firstly, I changed the principle text on the door (after re-painting all the white bits to be in line with current Daz guidelines) to something a bit more obvious and engaging of the viewer/people who stare at me when I'm out doing this ...

Secondly, after something of a miserable weekend (mostly spent in my room feeling a bit sorry for myself, like a puppy with one of those daft collars on after an operation) I was somewhat lacking in motivation to do Newspapers today so I've decided to start using my door to express thoughts more personal. At the moment I am reflecting outwardly the affectations of my state of mind, but it may not be strictly limited to that ...

For a closer inspection of my stencilling skills, click to view in Gert Lush High Resolution the underlined words just back up there ...

Today's text is what modern Pringlists call a "neat little phrase" that in the best traditions of Herr Pringle covers a lot of things, over a long time, very concisely. It's also written upside-down, this was not due to an imbalance in my cochlear, it was, also in the most logical traditions of Herr P done for a reason ... That's enough about my former-German teacher, I'm starting to sound like Barthes bleating on about his mother!

"I want the world to turn upside-down again ..." is a reflection of the fact that a lot has changed in my world since starting University in October. Some of this is good, some bad. It seems that the good and the bad in my life have flipped around ...

Before, I was absolutely happy with my friends, with all aspects of my life apart from my Photography, which I avoided and was therefore not bothered by after a while, I just forgot about it as I did other things.

Now however, it is the opposite, after I leave the classrooms (where I am happy to be with the people in this group, and enjoy myself) I have nothing to engage myself with other than my work, which is at least now bringing me pleasure and satisfaction. That in itself most certtainly not a bad thing.

When I return home, the old friendships remain as they were and my old life returns. I fit back into it like my very worn shoes. I forget Photography quite happily and enjoy life with people, something I do all too little of here despite being on good terms with my flatmates and you good people of Photography. Everything flips around again ...