Ingredients
Journalist Alex Watson, technology, books, reading, photography, the Far East, the iPhone, technology’s role in creativity, lots of caffeineMethods of consumption
Greatest Hits…
...Although none of these were ever Number 1s in Azerbaijan, Japan or on college radio.
* On visiting countries that have been the subject of airstrikes by allies of your home country
* Why it's important for The Beatles to make their songs available digitally
* A visit to Peleliu, home of some fascinating WW2 relics and origin of the phrase 'thousand yard stare'
* Five ways to beat writer's block and get words going
* On Holbein and Shakespeare
* Blights on the English language - most hateful words in techFrom which department?
This is the past
Category Archives: Photography
In Taipei: taxis, rain, daysleeper
I’ve been in Taipei, Taiwan all week for Computex 2010. A lot of time dashing around, existing on very little sleep. I was reminded of a lovely late R.E.M. song called Daysleeper. It’s partly because it actually references Taipei (one … Continue reading
What is David Cameron an expression of?
“You know, when they forced Khruschev out, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor. He said – ‘When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. … Continue reading
Posted in Ephemera and links, Photography
Tagged conservatives, david cameron, images, photoshop, politics
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How can you tell if an image has been Photoshopped?
Photoshop Disasters is great fun if you want to see just how warped software can make people (well, women usually) look – think missing limbs, plastic skin and banana-shaped spines – but these images are easy to detect because they’re … Continue reading
Garden photography
Since I’ve got family nearby, I’ve visited Wakehurst Place in West Sussex a couple of times this year. It’s lovely; it combines an Elizabethan country house with extensive gardens and the Millennium Seedbank, the world’s largest seed conservation project. Earlier … Continue reading
The cover of 1984 (updated)
“The typescript of George Orwell’s latest novel reached London in mid December, as promised. Warburg recognised its qualities at once (“amongst the most terrifying books I have ever read”) and so did his colleagues. An in-house memo noted “if we … Continue reading
New Flash Hack
This post from a while back on a flash hack for the Nikon D40 has been one of my most popular pieces here, but sadly the original images it linked to are long since gone. Today I found this article … Continue reading
Flickr Superstars
A post on the Flickr blog got me thinking about my 12 ‘Flickr Superstars’. As I made my notes, several themes emerged: i. The Far East, specifically Japan. Having visited the Far East specifically, and having a Japanese fiancee, it’s … Continue reading
No, I don’t want my photo taken
Another excellent set of photos on The Big Picture today, focussing this time on animals in the zoo. As always with The Big Picture, there’s a real (if subtle) sense of a narrative running through the post, thanks to the … Continue reading
Too much Photoshop
When is too much in Photoshop? This article (translated from Danish) tells the story of a photographer who entered a competition, and was then asked to send unedited samples of his images. The article reproduces the pictures – before and … Continue reading
Input from everybody – Peleliu links
I ended up on Peleliu more by accident than design; I have family living on Palau, so my partner and I went to visit, and Peleliu seemed like an interesting day trip. I took the photos, wrote up the guide’s … Continue reading
