I bought a small glass prism recently. The only place where I get strong directional sunlight in my apartment (or studio) is from a small south facing window directly above my bed. It actually arrived slightly chipped, so the company I bought it from are going to send me another. From now on when I sleep in I will wake to a mini rainbow wonderland.
I only recently realised that the actor Steve Martin also writes, collects art and writes about collecting art. Apparently, Shopgirl, a film he stars in, is a screen adaption of another he wrote. I enjoyed Shopgirl so I thought I give An Object of Beauty a go given the novel's setting in the art world, and given that it was available for free in my local library. I enjoyed the book, however, I felt it was missing a little something at the end. According to the city library catalogue they have Shopgirl too, but its missing which seems to be the case a little too often. In a "you shouldn't judge a book by its cover" but with a "a good looking book is much appreciated" point of view the other version of the book cover is much more visually appealing.
I was watching videos on my computer with a project right after frying something. I think there was smoke in the air and as I could really see the dust particles floating around through the light of the projector. The projector was just projecting a white screen but I think when I changed the shutter speed on my camera it was catching different colours light waves. I thought it was because I had white balance set to auto but I don't think that would cause the rainbow effect.
I woke up today to perfect lighting and made some video clips. These are a few stills from the footage. I have a new sound recorder so I plan on making some audio later (if I ever read the manual).
I have to get up early for the right light for video and stay up late to record audio when the traffic is not so noisey. I am thinking of taking up insomina.
I am finding myself thinking about advertisements a little more than ever before. I think I thought I tuned them out, but of course that is what everyone says, either way they never really bothered me.
Increasingly they have been p*ssing me off and sparking a sparkling variety of emotions. Perhaps it is because I am curious as to how media influences people not only in what they purchase but in who they are, particularly in regards to gender based identities. Perhaps it is because I watch Mad Men which is set in a New York 1960s ad agency. Perhaps it is because I watch The Apprentice which usually has tasks involving the development of ad campaigns. This causes me to imagine the thought process behind the things I see. (I am not sure if it is even a semi accurate portrayal of how things get done but I suspect the shots of cringing graphic designers copying and pasting up the stereotypical ideas of idiots-with-egos might be realistic.)
I hate being sold a lifestyle and I hate being told what it is to be a woman but somehow I love this John Lewis ad. I first learned of the campaign at the Guardian a while back. John Lewis is a British department store that is known as an old reliable. It is unique in that its employees are referred to a partners as they all have a share in the company. It's selling point is that it is a fair, consistent and people orientated company. The developers Adam & Eve communicated this with emotive success.
Usually women in television adverts are very one dimensional. They are often characters informed heavily by Sex & the City style lifestyles. Shoes and bags and cocktails with the girls kind of thing. Although the female lead in the advert is not challenging stereotypes, she is portrayed as a complete human being. She is an innocent child, a beautiful wife, a caring mother, an ambition career woman and a stylish elderly person. Woman are too often dehumanized in the media by being represented as incomplete people. I think this plays a huge role in the objectification of woman and so, in violence against women too.
Or perhaps it is the golden light, the Billy Joel cover and the stylish elderly lady that has me.
For a brief moment the setting sun reflected off a window of a building in the horizon and into mine, causing a tight beam of glowy light to illuminate my tea. The steam looks like flames. I had to dash to find my camera, the focus isn't quite right as it lasted for only a minute, no time for fiddling with settings. 5.15, it's magic!
Unedited stills. I have a new found love for video stills over photography or the video. They seem more lively than a photograph but more perfect than the moving image.
Light really ignites my inner photographer. A camera really only is an apparatus that captures light so I suppose photographing a light is quite rudimentary. Looking through a lens can give a different perspective on things, don't these light bulbs look like the moon. (I feel like howling.) The E.U banned the sale of non energy efficient bulbs some months ago, so I suppose these are retro kitsch now.
Normally I am not a nostalgic romantic about the dawn. In actuality it ignites fear and panic in me. I think it might have something to do with staying up late. The dawn was my signal that I had stayed up (or out) too late.
I also hate getting up at dawn, or anytime when it is still somewhat dark. But I enjoyed this one. Perhaps because I was on my own time in no rush or no panic. Perhaps because the light was a comforting glow of pink rather that a spooky blue. Perhaps I won't mention whether this was at he start or the end of my day.
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