Is it all in the edit?

Watching Coast tonight someone made the observation that digital photography is all about the editing rather than taking the picture.

Don’t know that I agree with that. Sure I can edit what I’ve already taken, but I’ve seen (and taken) any number of lousy photos that no amount of editing would save. Managing press releases and websites, I’m forever in search of pictures, so I’m in a good position to say that many many people should receive training before even looking at a  camera.

Men at Work vs the Kookaburra

I like Men at Work. Overkill is one of my all time favourite tracks. They’re a Luxembourg group – something I listened to under the covers with my ear pressed against the transistor radio listening to the Airplay chart on Radio Luxembourg. Husband and I still play their albums regularly (they’re on the iPods) and we’ve got some Colin Hay solo albums too. So it was interesting to hear that they’ve been sued for breach of copyright of “Kookabura sits in the old gum tree” (which I sang regularly as a round at Guides) on “Down Under” (the group’s multi-multi-multi selling single which was no 1 in the UK in 1983).

Cobblers, but interesting.

More interesting was what the copyright holders are asking for: 40-60% of the song’s earnings since it was recorded.

Yup, 40-60%

In the interests of being fair to the money-grabbing barstewards I listened to Down Under again, and there seems to be a flute reference of sorts to a couple of bars of the song. Colin Hay has even commented that he used to sing along part of the words to Kookabura when playing live. Husband points out that PRS would have ensured that the song’s copyright holder would be paid for this.

But there’s only a couple of bars and not even an exact match at that. OK, even a passing reference has to be paid for I suppose, but 40-60%? I wonder how much George Harrison was forced to pay up for My Sweet Lord or Vanilla Ice for Ice Ice Baby? OK, I’d be happy if all of the money from the latter “song” had had to be given to charity, but that’s a quality issue.

No doubt, expect the group to be sued by Vegemite and the cities of Brussels and Bombay.

The bump in the road – solved?

We went for a wee walk today and wandered past where the bump in the road would have been, so we decided to look closer. On the map aerial view there are some trees, but only at ground level was it obvious that this was a remnant of the hedging running on either side of the road. It was quite amazing actually.

We wandered down to the burn and looked about for any further ‘clues’. Fir trees have been planted on the other side, but there’s a gap which would correspond with the road carrying on. I realised that what I had thought was a path, was actually the line of the burn. Husband, being the sensible person that he is, wondered how carts would have got across the burn. And then deflated me somewhat by pointing out that maybe there wasn’t anything for the road to go around, but instead it was just angled to go down the steep hill. Makes perfect sense, but it’s a shame.

Maura O’Connell

Seen on Celtic Connections programme tonight. What a voice!

Mercator: the man who mapped the planet

Mercator by Nicholas Crane

Of course, since I’d started on another book, it was only natural that I go back to one I’d put down a while back.

I bought Mercator because I like old maps and the history of science, but I found it very confusing. For one, there were too many names to remember. I felt like someone dropped into a tight knit family party where everyone keeps referring to cousins and uncles that I couldn’t keep track of. Crane obviously knew his topic inside out and I didn’t. And so it was put aside.

And then a few weeks later it was picked up again and this time we got straight into Mercator’s adult life, the making of maps, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Erasmus and printing. This was why I’d chosen the book in the first place and so I’ve settled down with it and am now about three quarters of the way through.

There are still things that annoy me about the book though, primarily the lack of maps! Unfortunately, my knowledge of the Low Countries and Germany is sparse to say the least. It was amazing to see how Mercator had drawn his own hometown on his own map, but I was still left with no idea where it actually was! My copy has some gorgeous full colour plates, but it could have done with some basic geography.

Secondly, Mr Crane has a tendency to end sections and chapters with “doom dooms” – soapy cliffhangers. Thus at the end of chapter 13 we get, “It did not last” (doom doom doom); chapter 14 “Mercator had his own enemies” (doom doom doom). It’s like something the kids would write at school or as I often found myself doing … (doom doom doom) but then I’m not claiming to write a historically and scientifically accurate book.

Anyway, I can forgive these little faults, because it is absolutely fascinating. I think I’ve seen everything Nicholas Crane has appeared in -(and why is Map Man not on DVD yet? And why are there no more series?) and appreciate his humour and his enthusiasm and his willingness to get soaking wet just to prove a point. Can’t swear to the getting soaked bit, but the rest comes through in his book.

Sometimes you’ve just got to start reading something else to appreciate the previous book.

Flickr

I often play about with my photos before uploading to Flickr. Most of the time, they just need cropping and resizing, but sometimes, they need the colour tweaked and that’s particularly true of the latest bunch of snow photos.

However, Zebraboy was making his latest powerpoint alphabet so I settled down with Husband’s laptop during a moment of lucidity before the cold took over again.

Today I looked at the results on the household computer and I’m horrified. The colours are dreadful, they’re far too dark and the whole lot will need redone. Yuk!

But there’s a wider concern. The only difference here is the screen and the light falling on it.  How is a Flickr user supposed to know what everyone else will see? They can’t. So how can someone learn? Is that possible using Flickr? Or does the whole thing not matter because everyone sees in their own way, no matter the computer screen, lighting or time of day?

The most favourited item on my photostream is the interior of a log cabin. It’s an ok picture, but I’m bemused by it’s popularity. And today, it was added to a Flickr gallery on Interiors. Maybe that’s the clue? Or maybe it’s the social history? I don’t know. I was just documenting a day out. It’s nice that other people have been able to share, but I suppose it proves that everybody is different.

Jencks’ mine art

I’m really excited about an article I’ve just seen on the Scotland Outdoors website. I love their podcast and was exploring the articles on the website when I noticed one called Charles Jencks landscape artist.

I really like a lot of the land art that I’ve seen, although unfortunately it’s mostly been online or in books rather than ‘in the field’. I love the idea behind public sculpture, which is so often viewed in a flash and gone at high speed (like those on the M8 – especially the lovely Heavy Horse), and you can’t get any more public than using the land as your palette.  It’s always worth checking Andy Goldsworthy’s work whether online or in books, and there’s lots of examples on Green Museum and on Flickr. Plus, it’s cheap and fun to try your own (especially when you can play with it in Photoshop afterwards ) It’s nice to manouevre objects around and then leave them for someone else to spot long after you’ve gone.

Anyway, Charles Jencks has created the blueprint to build the Fife Earth Project from the St Ninian’s opencast mine near Kelty. It looks spectacular in the VR, with a loch the shape of Scotland surrounded by huge bings and step pyramids. It’ll be visible from the M90, and include paths for walking and cycling. I can’t wait, except it’s not likely to be open until next year, so I’ll have to.

I’d not heard of Charles Jencks before (before recognising Landform from the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh) but now I’ve looked at his website (which needs a major redesign, BTW) I’m enthralled by the humour and ambition of his work. I can’t wait to get out and see some for myself. Turns out he is also behind the Maggie’s Centres in memory of his wife, Maggie Keswick.

And let’s drag this down to the level of work for a moment. Geography departments go on field trips, Art departments visit museums and galleries . I say it’s time for an Artistic field trip as part of a Land Art investigation. It could be a really affordable unit – just ask the class to pick up their materials on the way in from school!

God a coad

Coads are awful. You feel dreadful. You look silly with tissue stuck ub your node. You’re not unwell enough to collect much sympathy, even though you really want it (especially when your friends appear more ill than you – get well, you guys!).

You drag yourself to work and end up girning at everybody because you can’t take the prattling that normally you wouldn’t even notice. And throughout, your eyes are boiling inside your skull, you can’t think straight, your throat aches, you’re dehydrated and you stink of menthol.

I just want to curl up in a lovely comfy duvet, let somebody else take all responsibility for everything and go to sleep. I can dream.

Where was BA?

Disappointed by the Scottish Songbook coverage from Celtic Connections tonight. There were some great performances but overall it just didn’t hang together right.

Highlights were Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice and Errant Apprentice, both well worth another watch over at the BBC website, and a gorgeous version of Party Fears Two. I was a wee bit annoyed that the programme information specifically mentioned BA Robertson, only for him to appear for a second at the end banging a tambourine, and he doesn’t seem to appear in the online coverage either. Why not?

What I learned today…

… from a 2nd year pupil is that when a body enters a black hole it spaghettifies! i.e. it is streched long and thin.

Spaghettify is now officially one of my favourite words.