Author Archives: Alex

Nikon D40: A couple of weeks in, time for some ‘terrific honesty’

So I’ve had my Nikon D40, complete with kit lens (18-55mm) for a couple of weeks now – my first SLR and a choice that I arrived at after some fairly protracted hand-wringing. How has it worked out? Brilliantly, to be honest – considering I’ve basically just taken it out and about in London, I’mContinue reading “Nikon D40: A couple of weeks in, time for some ‘terrific honesty’”

Questions about the flannel panel

While it’s well known that computers have a tendency to iteratively generate linguistic geekery – acronyms, memes, slang – magazines also have their own weird and wonderful dialect. In the English-Magazine dictionary, a ‘flannel panel‘ is basically the team sheet for a magazine. It lists who works on the mag, their job titles, contact details,Continue reading “Questions about the flannel panel”

Bad predictions: storms, world to end

The weather continues to frustrate my plans to get out and about with my new Nikon D40 – or rather, the weather forecast does, since every day it predicts terrible storms and then by lunch time it’s sunny but my new camera is stuck at home. So in the evenings I’ve been experimenting with someContinue reading “Bad predictions: storms, world to end”

I For One Welcome Our New SLR Overlords

  I For One Welcome Our New SLR Overlords    Originally uploaded by Sifter. My Nikon D40 is here! Under £400 from Walters Photo & Video (arrived very quickly, excellent service), plus a 2GB memory card for £20 from Crucial (again, top notch service). Now I just need to learn to use the thing –Continue reading “I For One Welcome Our New SLR Overlords”

The Digital SLR Camera Conundrum

Ever since I started using Flickr and got my own digital camera, I’ve been getting more and more into photography. It might be the competitive impulse that Flickr’s well documented game-like elements introduce (Flickr originally began life as a game called Game Never Ending), or the fact that once you’ve got a digital camera andContinue reading “The Digital SLR Camera Conundrum”

Fantasy New Year’s Eve Party

Gather round… Philosophical journalist (Pop Philosopher? Celebrity Proust Fan? Oh, I don’t know) Writer Alain de Botton has a quick little post up on the Guardian’s Arts blog called ‘My Fantasy New Year’s Eve‘ where he picks out his ideal guests for NYE. Even better than Alain’s picks (Proust, Keira Knightley) are the comments: "MyContinue reading “Fantasy New Year’s Eve Party”

Holbein – real, unreal, super real

[This was originally posted on Treacle Down, my London blog] Finally made it to Tate Britain’s ‘Holbein In England’ exhibition, which I’ve been desperate to go to since the end of the Summer! It was brilliant, but because pretty much everyone is on holiday at the moment, absolutely packed. This meant it was difficult toContinue reading “Holbein – real, unreal, super real”