Author Archives: peter

About peter

'Death by Sushi' Fish can kill me. When I was very small (maybe 3 or 4 years old) my grandfather, who lost the sight of one eye from a bullet fired by a German sniper (fortunately not a very good one) during the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, wiped my face with the corner of his apron, an apron he had used to wipe his filleting knife on. He was a grocery shopkeeper who specialized in wet fish.

Niel Armstrong – you have failed us

I can’t believe that the promises my generation where given have come to nothing. Where is the moon base except in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson‘s creation?

Moonbase Alpha was sent hurtling uncontrollably into space – we, after the cold war’s race for the moon ended, were left earth locked. The promises of putting a man on Mars by the 1980’s just fizzled out when the cold war faded.

Whatever Happened to the Space Age

I did a series of paintings based on the space race…

Bring back the cold war we need to be less complaisant – we need the human challenge. The moon landing brought the world together it transcended nationalism and distrust – ironic considering the race for the moon was funded by Russia’s and America’s fears of extreme communism or capitalism.

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has died aged 82. What a waste of a dream. As an 11 year old I watched the first moon landing in 1969. I was mad about everything to do with space travel, I would read anything that was about rockets, cosmonauts and astronauts.

Later in my life I shook the hand of a man who shook the hand of my all time hero Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, that was for me like touching history, if only secondhand (excuse the pun).

Dead Rat – art theft

Dead Rat in Roof Guttering by This Window

There are people out there who will steal, copy and adapt your art for their own gain.

They always say that imitation is a form of flattery.

These vermin are annoying and like their namesakes rats – they belong in the gutter.

A  rat’s ability to learn, has been investigated to see if they exhibit general intelligence like larger or more complex animals…the one in the above photograph wasn’t, it is now food for the flies.

Photograph looking out over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel

Here is a view across out to Baggy Point, looking over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel. The photograph above was taken with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera using ‘old stock’ (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200. I am really impressed with the … Continue reading ?

Photograph looking out over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel

View over Woolacombe

Here is a view across out to Baggy Point, looking over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel.

The photograph above was taken with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera using ‘old stock’ (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200. I am really impressed with the vintage postcard look of this image – very 1950s. The slideshow below contains some images taken from the same roll of film, they have a distinctive red/brown tint.

It is fashionable to use vintage feel photographs in posts, on Facebook and on the web.

The rise of Instagram,  a free photo sharing program that was launched in October 2010 is the best example of this ‘look back’ at analogue photography from the 20th century. This service allows users to take a photo and apply a digital retro filter to it and then share it on most social networking services. The distinctive retro feature of this app is that it converts photos, which in contemporary formats are rectangle, to a square shape, like Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images of the 70?s. The most common aspect ratios used in still camera photography, are 4:3, 3:2 (more recently in consumer cameras 16:9 is being used). Other used aspect ratios include 5:3, 5:4, and 1:1 which produces the square format. Most mobile devices have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Still life images – Pentax Spotmatic

Here are some more photographs taken with another vintage Pentax camera that I purchased of ebay on the 15th July 2012. The Pentax Spotmatic takes M42 screw-thread lenses and was introduced by Asahi in 1964, it was the first SLR camera to sell well with a through-the-lens (TTL) exposure metering system. The light meter is activated by pushing a small switch (which is on the left side of the lens housing) upwards.

This was a really good find being considerably clean and worked straight away when I put a new battery in it. All the shutter speeds work correctly, the self timer works and the viewfinder is clear. The photographs above were taken using an out of date (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200 35mm film.

Still Life with tomato ketchup

My trusty Pentax P30

I have only recently acquired this camera but I have had a great time using it.

This is the camera I took to Lanzarote – I even managed to drop it onto a tiled floor without damaging it – I wouldn’t try that with my Pentax K-01 digital camera! The image below was taken with the P30 (no 3702885).

... an empty bottle tells a story - Still Life