Products from a Former Life

Since it’s too late to think about shopping I thought that now would be a good time to mention a few items which have recently become available again. Three videos that I made for Cabaret Mechanical Theatre are now on DVD and a book that I co-authored has recently been reprinted. The book is about basic mechanisms and making things move - it’s available directly from CMT, or from amazon in the UK and now from Make:, the Make: Magazine people, in the USA. The DVDs are available from CMT as follows: Cabaret Mechanical Video, How to Make Automata and my favourite, Made in Stithians.

Street Panoramas Book

I’ve been intending to make a shelf-challenging book of panoramic photos for a long time but the intended size has even intimidated me, so in the meantime, I’ve put together a small, pocket-sized, version. Entitled, Small Book Big City, this is a limited edition of only ten copies and to ease the pain of the size versus price ratio it comes with a print (approx 20″ / 50cm long) of one of the images. You can see all the pictures in the book and find out more, here.

Pavemental

I spent an hour or so teaching a friend how to use his Canon EOS-1D Mark II and he gave me an old 35mm (doh!) Ricoh 500 rangefinder as payment. His excuse was that he thought I collected old cameras, which I definitely do not. I’m not trying as hard as I should to give up 35mm film and couldn’t resist putting a roll through it. The focussing tabs and the film winder on the bottom are nice features. There were lots of blank frames so I guess the shutter is sticky but this picture is one that worked.

Meanwhile, my new book is ready! It’s called Pavemental and has 22 wonderful photographs in it. Unfortunately, I’m too busy working on a DVD to post any more information. If you’re desperate, just send me cash.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, corner of

I’ve finally made some progress on the new book. Deciding on a change in the way it’s put together is making it look a lot more feasible. Keep nagging me.

Crisps

Watching the New Shock of the New on Saturday, I was surprised and disappointed that Mr Hughes highlighted a spelling mistake in a Tracey Emin piece. Finishing on an extra ‘L’ in beautiful seemed more stupid than the spelling mistake to me and undercut his argument somewhat. Still, I’m looking forward to the re-run of the original series, which I haven’t seen since it was first shown.

In trying to work out the date of the first transmission, I came across this tragic tale. I’d assumed the stick was just old age.

This woman is eating Walker’s Crisps. Which reminds me to recommend this unusual book on London Walking.

It’s the Colour Man!

This conversation with Kevin Bjorke reminded me about two great books that I haven’t looked at in a long time. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain will get you over the blocks that most people have about their ability to produce a likeness when drawing. Understanding Comics is a great read on art, graphics and the psychology of sequential art even if you’re not interested in comics.