Stretching Exercises

In the process of putting the cyclops back together the spring broke. I’m leaving it until I’ve got the energy to tackle it again. In the meantime I’ve been learning how to use PTMac / Panotools and joining up 2 or 3 shots from the digital. I bought a 2-way hot-shoe spirit level to assist, which may have the side effect of straigtening up my hip shooting. Obviously I forgot to use it on this picture.

Diary of a Dead Camera

No pictures from the new camera because it turned out that the suspicious noise was an element of the lens loose inside, so I only had three rolls of very blurry pictures. It was dissapointingly difficult to open up the camera and of course, the lens was the hardest part to get to. I’ve glued the glass back into the mount and repositioned it in what I hope is the right place. I should be able to get the rest of it back together but this is turning into more of a project than I’d intended.

Panoramic

I’ve been thinking about getting into panoramic photography again. Previously I’ve done 360s as QTVRs, but recently I’ve been looking at partial (less than 360) pictures.

I wanted to avoid 35mm but medium format panoramic cameras tend to be quite expensive. Then, just before Easter, in the process of selling an old lens on ebay, I noticed and bought this beast on the left.

Here’s a view of the top.

It was described as a “cyclops” and apparently made in the USA in the 1990s. There is no brand or model name on the camera. It produces a 6×17cm negative so that’s only 4 shots on a roll. I haven’t been able to find much mention of it on the web so if you know anything, please let me know. It appears to work and I’ve put 3 rolls through it today. If the pictures are any good I’ll post them here. In fact, I might post them here even if they aren’t. Update: I made a Cyclops page.

Tainted by the Regime

Todays task: Compare and contrast - the original (click trailer) and the advert.

Neat, neat, neat

Here’s a picture taken a couple of days ago, somewhere along Holborn while on a wander with Jawed and Joel.

Sculpture Comes Down

Maybe it doesn’t look as significant as other sculptures coming down in Baghdad but here’s Anish Kapoor’s Marsyas in the process of being removed from the Tate Modern at the same time. Another view.

If you didn’t see it while it was up, here are some 3D versions that you can fly through. [Update: not any more]

Small Pockets of Resistance

I’m winding myself up to get rid of my weapons of 35mm consumption. This may be one of my last 35mm pictures. Compact digitals are near enough to 35mm quality and I hardly use my SLR. Some e-bay links may appear later but I think I’ll be burning rolls of 120 for a little bit longer.

Launch Issue

Sorry if you’ve seen the first three pictures before but it’s been a bit of a struggle to set this up. Let me know if anything looks odd - HTML wise.

As the logo at the bottom indicates, this is driven by ‘Greymatter’ blogging software (was GM - it’s now MT). I’ve also used iView and a bit of Applescript to save myself having to type code in the entries.

New pictures should follow soon. [Update: now using Wordpress]

The Final Test

I hope that this will be a substitute for the Photo a Week project. Something less constrained that gives me an incentive to post pictures regularly.