Photography, geek, gadget stuff and life.
Archive for November, 2010
The best way to do street photography
02 years ago
Call you what you want, but walking around busy urban areas with a SLR camera is dangerous these days. People either think you’re terrorists or think you’re a pedophile on the loose. However this guy Bruce Gilden is legendary for how he shoots Street Photography. Just watch this short documentary about him taking photos in New York.
I admire his ‘no-ethic’ attitude, but it is not a moral that sits comfortably with me. I like to gain people’s trust but the best shots I’ve taken on the streets have been with a long lens and definitely NOT the IN YOUR FACE approach which Bruce Gilden adopts.
What are your thoughts on Urban Photography? What is your style? Perhaps you’re not a photographer but just a normal guy who’s annoyed at big SLRs being shoved in your face?
Please comment and let me know if you’re for or against it.
Famous artist uses Apple iPad to draw and exhibit in the digital age
4
David Hockney is a renowned British artist. Even though his work has been on traditionally been on print and canvases he has embraced technology to drawn and display his images at a gallery in Paris using Apple iPads.
I think this is awesome; it is the sign of the times. However, I do think this devalues the work because it has almost become disposable. A digital image is just a series of code. I do not believe this is the full future of art as a medium. I hope it will coexist with traditional materials for many years to come.
Fibre Broadband. Why BT Infinity is the better option
1
Right now in the UK, the competition to get Fibre Broadband into our homes has just begun. For a quite a while now Virgin has had the monopoly in providing very fast broadband but that has all changed as of October 2010. BT has been trialling their version of Fibre for some months and has finally become available to the general public; BT call it Infinity.
On paper BT Infinity looks like the better option; up to 40mb download and (more interestingly) up to 10mb upload. As a professional photographer who needs to upload a lot of media online having an option to upload photographs to my own websites as well as to clients is a delicious treat. Also I have been shooting High Definition video; on my bog standard ADSL line it can take hours to upload a full HD video to YouTube or for clients to preview. With a 10mb upload that does not seem as daunting.
Virgin Media Broadband has similar qualities to Infinity in terms of downloads. In fact, data suggests the download is slightly more reliable with faster average download speeds, but here is the killer for me. The maximum they offer for uploads is 5mb on their XXL package. It is not all bad news, it is well documented Virgin do not restrict the broadband speeds if the user’s usage is deemed as heavy. BT’s policy is to restrict the user’s speed (both up and down) for several hours which is unreasonable in my opinion. If a user pays for the premium of having high speed broadband, then he has the right to use the broadband as he deems fit so long as they are not knowingly breaking any laws.
According to various posts on ThinkBroadband.com, Virgin are throttling users on USENET ports as well, so if you thought you could bypass any P2P ports by using Newsgroups I’m afraid you’re out of luck. I have no information if BT do the same thing but it’s highly likely they do.
ThinkBroadband.com have a very good guide on Fibre Broadband. Click here for the link.
The Walking Dead broadcasted in the UK.
02 years ago
by Terry
in Television
This 6 Part American TV show is worth a mention. It is about a mixed group of people who have somehow survived an viral epidemic. The virus is transmitted through bites and, you guessed it, once bitten you become a Zombie…I just hate it when that happens. 
The first episode aired in the United Kingdom on the FX channel. Having watched it once, I had to watch it again. It is very well acted and there is a sense of menace from the Zombies.
What makes it different, is this has to be the first Zombie TV show that does it really well. It is naturally very graphic, but I wouldn’t consider it a “horror” show. It’s more of a character piece which I like. Full on gore would not have been as good. I mean, I have seen enough Zombie movies that sometimes I side for the dead guys!
Just from the first episode I can thoroughly recommend it. You can catch it on Friday’s 10PM GMT.
Aylesbury Youth For Christ at Coventry.
0Once again filmed with the Canon 5D Mark2, I was asked to document our charity’s commissioning at Coventry. it was a great day, even though I was hobbling along because of a foot injury. The camera performed brilliantly. The only problem when shooting video with the Canon 5D Mk2 is the battery life. I think it would be necessary to have 2-3 batteries and a whole heap of Compact Flash cards if you wanted to film all day.
The music is called “Hungry” by Kathryn Scott.
Slow websites kills vistor satisfaction. Marissa Mayer
0
While researching Web Browser comparisons I found some research from Google’s VP of Search Marissa Mayer that suggests that if a website takes 0.5 seconds longer than normal to load it can result in a whopping 20% drop in traffic AND revenue! ...more
