Event

One & Other In Photos_Day 001 of 100 - 06.07.09

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For 100 days I will be documenting this historical and monumental event. This is art that many people can relate to, interract with, and actually appreciate and understand. And for those reasons, in today's world, one may argue that it's not even art at all. If it's not art, it's better than art: it's us. Perhaps better pictured as a breathing monument to humanity and a modern homage to the public cultural ethos that Trafalgar Square has stood for over 160 years. 001_Day-09.07.06_Mo_0

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Animated .gif_Trafalgar Square Skaters_09.08.09

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Shot near midnight at Trafalgar Square, London. Lit solely by The National Gallery. My usual kit: Canon 50D body, Canon 70-200mm f4 L lens @ 70mm, ISO 3200, 1/70 @f4. I used manual focus, pre-focused on a cone, and took about 10 shots at 6 frames per second. Then used Adobe Lightroom 2.0 to batch process the ageing sepia look, and finally exported series of images to Photoshop CS4 and created the animated gifs you should see now. It's a nice.  Trafalgar Square Night Blader Skate-10

Chinese New Year_Central London_2009

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2009 Chinese New Year_Central London What a hectic Chinese New Year! The way London's China Town was packed so frantically, I'm definately gonna be celebrating somewhere else next year. With only one hour to enjoy the celebrations, emerging from Leicester Square station I almost immediately heard the distinctive banging drums of the famous Dragon dance. But Woah! If you actually wanted to SEE that Dragon dance you had to be like some kind of obsessed fish; swimming through the rough crowds surrounding the performance like piranha among lunch.

The dragon is the highest sign of prosperity in Chinese culture, and the Dragon dances from shopfront to shopfront, being fed vegetables and exchanging good fortune.

So I stepped away from China Town onto Shaftsebury Avenue, searching for other wonders. Like a quaint old tourist lady clutching helium balloons in the street, a young Chinese boy reciting a 5 minute long prose in Mandarine on stage, and then it started snowing! Global cooling!! And with that it was time for me to go.

Happy New Year (belated)!

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2008 New Year's Eve_Central London

Actually, I'm wishing you all a Happy (Chinese) New Year, in advance... ha! :) For January 26th, I think. New year celebrations, like many big events, are a strange time where people from all walks of life suddenly feel the opportunity to drop their guard and become community with everyone. Strangers laugh, talk, sing together - and perfectly sober, for the most part!

Perhaps it's the closure of the roads that liberate grumpy folk,  freeing them from the cramp curbs and like dogs unleashed we're running and barking with whoever we can find. But it was freeezing that night! Fireworks were a distant wonder, billowing brightly from behind Westminster station building as we clustered outside the Houses of Parliament for as best a view as we could muster.

People deep down do get along it seems, perchance we get bogged down in routine a little too often?