Blur – random images

Been ill for three weeks – Christmas is just a blur.

The original date for the celebration of Christmas in Eastern Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where it is a public holiday. As of 2012, there is a difference of 13 days between the modern Gregorian calendar and the older Julian calendar. Those who continue to use the Julian calendar or its equivalents thus celebrate December 25 and January 6, which on the Gregorian calendar translate as January 7 and January 19. For this reason, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova celebrate Christmas on what in the Gregorian calendar is January 7; the Church of Greece and all Greek Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25.

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Paignton Pier – Pentax Espio 120mi

Paignton Beach - Pentax Espio 120mi

I recently went down to Paignton in South Devon to see me my old mate Garry – we had a splendid day drinking at a Beer Festival and managed to take some decent photographs of Paignton Pier with an old Pentax Espio 120mi. This is point-and-shoot, mid-range, 35mm film camera. The Espio is an autofocus unit with automatic exposure settings and a built in flash unit.

One of the most useful applications available on this model is ‘backlight compensation’ setting, which enables you to take a photograph using natural light in the background and flash in the foreground, giving an even tone across the image. Panorama mode is included in this little package which gives a different aspect ratio from most other cameras.

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Still life painting – Pentax Espio 120mi

Bottle and Glass - Pentax Espio 120mi by 35mm_photographs

Still life painting is something that I have grown into and I am inspired, not by the great masters like, Caravaggio who applied his form of naturalism to still life, but photographs.

Using the camera to – set the composition, the precise aspect ratio, depth of field, the distance – is a great tool. I then use these images in conjunction with the real observed objects.

The photograph above was taken using a Pentax Espio 120mi, which I obtained from a charity shop for £1.50. I used Ilford HP5 Plus a 35mm black and white film. More on HP5  here?

The quality of point and shoot 35mm film cameras is rather poor if you compare them to modern digital SLRs but…

The warm quality and retro feel of the images are perfect for my paintings.

The Pentax Espio 120mi is point-and-shoot, mid-range, 35mm film camera (also called a compact camera) and is a still camera designed for simplicity. The Espio is an autofocus unit, having automatic exposure settings options and a built in flash unit.

Flowers Vase and Bowl - Pentax Espio 120mi

Design initiatives make this a small and flexible camera – notably the physical size and overall quality of finish make this camera a stylish baby. It houses a good quality zoom lens (38-120mm), with plenty of features that enable a variety of picture taking settings.

The focus and exposure system on this easy to use camera is an improvement on earlier Pentax compacts, giving sharp results and a decent contrast of tones. One of the most useful applications available on this model is ‘backlight compensation’ setting, which enables you to take a photograph using natural light in the background and flash in the foreground, giving an even tone across the image. Panorama mode is included in this little package which gives a different aspect ratio from most other cameras.

Caravaggio‘s Basket of Fruit (c. 1595–1600) is one of the first examples of  -pure still life, precisely rendered and set at eye level.

The painting at the bottom of the stairs

My iPhone died and I decided it was time to try another phone. I am now an android. This photo and post was created using the WordPress app.

Android is a Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is currently developed by Google in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance. Initially developed by Android Inc, whom Google financially backed and later purchased in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.

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Surrealist poetry or “key search words”

Sometimes our language has a fixed distinctive expression whose meaning cannot be deduced from the combined meanings of its actual words – this jargon based spaghetti can in itself be termed as an art form or the keywords in website optimisation.

T H E L A N G U A G E OF M E . The sharing of personal information, feelings, personal details (could be fact or fiction – the majority of online persona are fake) is a strange concept. Do we like to talk about ourselves – do we think we are special? Is our online persona more interesting? Are our ‘friends’ as insecure and as dull as us? What does your boss think?

The fact that most of us have an on-line persona suggests that computer communication enables us to visit places and have discussions with people we would normally avoid. We are engaging in the pseudo-anonymous system/society. Underground activities have long since migrated out of analog media (the printed word, film etc.) into ‘this world’. This world has evolved into a global system with multiple layers in which new authorities compete to control its uses; platform wars, chip races, and operating system alliances etc. The pseudo-identity of the user is being exposed; law is punishing non-conformity, censorship and the rules of globalization have invaded the system. The Klondike Spirit has taken over the open system and turned it into the homogenized high street we all know. The art of language and communication has been shackled.

This emphasis on words as a search engine tool has in many respect created a censorship, we can only use language in a manner that Google prescribes to gain a placement in their searches. The very nature of language has been changed an altered to accommodate this new set of rules. Closing the door on non-conformity.

Words taken out of context lose their meaning. Publishing documents that contain controversial language puts the author at risk. Any constructed environment can promote alienation, but it can also enhance communication to form a quasi-organic platform for human interaction, unless of course Google disapproves of the dialogue.

Falmouth boats

Falmouth boats (Photo credit: 35mm_photographs)

The art of language and communication has been shackled by Google.

Creating good solid business keywords is not a decorative process it is a complicated exercise. Juxtaposing words together is a bit like creating a collage, the mind always tries to create a narrative when confronted with the written word. The main problem is creating a text that not only makes sense but is also effective in attracting good search engine placement. All this weight and burden the written word carries somehow devalues the purity and the the soul of written conversation, making us slaves to the likes of Google.

(A non-homogeneous system, whose terms and relationships are not constant, allows language to break up, to stumble over the rules of its grammar, by necessity it has to respond radically to other linguistic components, creating a new linguistic order and syntax. )
PB
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