Pictures of Jenny

They came, they saw, they rioted ...

Do the riots all seem a long time ago?  I took these photos on the way to the station the day after the riots hit the Midlands.  

I was travelling down to Tottenham, and spent the day just a stone's throw away from where it all kicked off in London.  The pubs were all boarded up, expecting trouble.  I finished my meeting around 6:30 and emerged onto the street into a large group of hooded black youngsters.

With impeccable politeness they directed me to the right bus-stop to return me to the Tube.  Never judge a book by its cover ....

it's all gone pete tong ....

Howdie Sheddists,

hope you've had a good week.  Tonight finds me hunkered down before the trusty Victrola with the volume turned past 11.  And yet I hear not a lot ....

I woke Sunday morning with a stabbing pain in one ear, which has since progressed to a full-scale infection sufficient to close off the right portal altogether.  I'm currently listening to, "Gimme Shelter" in glorious mono-tone, though not I suspect as its makers intended.

To compound matters, I woke on Thursday morning with two bright red bloodied-eyes that made me look like an extra from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.  Mrs electrofried duly marched me down to the Doctor's to present my less than alluring Spawn of the Devil look for medical inspection.  Yet more medication was prescribed, which I now add to the anti-biotics, statins, blood pressure pills, serotonin enhancers and ear-drops.

Oh, and I did I mention I damaged my shoulder muscle six weeks ago. It remains defiantly in spasm despite repeated applications of ibuprofen gels ...

Yours, consoled only with a half-decent glass of Sauvignon Blanc

electrofried(mr)

a different perspective

fifteen lessons

I like a challenge.

Last week I went to see a fascinating exhibition of photographs at a gallery not far from where I work.  Here are fifteen lessons I scribbled down on a sheet of lined paper from my Counsel's Notepad.

1. Black clothes on a black background; white on white.  Focus on skin and face.
2. The direction of eyes; the implication of where someone is looking by obscuring the eyes and letting the viewer make a connection.
3. Try some B&W abstractions.
4. What are you doing about using shadows more effectively?
5. Deliberately move your camera.  Get some motion into your pictures.
6. Explore Terence Malick's film, "Tree of Life".
7. Paint with light using a torch.   Think about longer exposures rather than wide apertures.
8. Deliberately use your camera settings incorrectly.
9. How minuscule can you make the key image in the photograph before it becomes meaningless.
10. Have you really explored the hardness and softness of lines in your photographs and how the two inter-relate?
11. Why do you always focus on the eyes?
12. Have you really let time seep into your photographs?
13. Are you really scared to use studio lighting and backdrops?  Where could you make a start?
14. How might destroying your photographs create something new?
15. What can you see in the reflections?

I wonder where these might lead me ....

still more again ...