Phil Gyford (personal)

Links for 4 July 2009

phil — 2009-07-04T23:58:00+00:00

Stalled building sites in Square Mile to become allotments | News | Architects Journal: Temporary grow bag allotments, but still, better than nothing. (But not as good as having Milton Court undemolished either.)
AVForums.com Home: A good source of answers to the question "what model of TV should I get?" (and similar, I imagine).
Walton Rocks! - a set on Flickr: A nice simple set of photos of bits of Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex.
Notes.husk.org. The show, which is currently in production with an….: BBC4 "comedy drama" about the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair and Acorn Computers head Chris Curry. Why a sodding *comedy* drama? Let's laugh at the funny 1980s and their silly computers! Well, might be good.

Links for 1 July 2009

phil — 2009-07-01T23:58:00+00:00

Pulse Laser: Shownar: This is what I've been working on, off and on, for the past while, with the lovely folks at Schulze & Webb. Is good.
Scope (Schulze & Webb): More Matt Webb, his opening presentation at last week's Reboot. It was very, very good, and it's great to have the whole thing written much as he delivered it.
The Viridian Design Movement: Bruce Sterling closed Reboot last week and, even though I'd heard and read some of it before it was a wonderful, weary, preaching, telling off. It made me read this again.
Newspaper Club - A work in progress: Just down the corridor Russell, Ben and Tom are doing some marvellous things, and sharing their progress. This will be awesome.

Links for 30 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-30T23:58:00+00:00

Give Me Something To Read: "Selections from among the most frequently bookmarked articles on Instapaper."
Harrow Technical - Pentax Repairs, Pentax Spares, Pentax Cameras, Pentax Service: In case I need to get my old camera fixed.
YouNotSneaky!: How to read The Economist: Several friends seem to rate the Economist, which confuses the lefty in me. But this is a handy guide. (via Haddock)
The 1KB CSS Grid by Tyler Tate :: A simple, lightweight approach: As simple as a grid-based CSS framework thing could be. (via Infovore)

Photos for 30 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

Newhaven Harbour lighthouse
I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, but can't help thinking that by trying to balance the lighthouse and that little hut I didn't get the overall composition right -- the frame should be a touch more to the right.

50mm 1/250 f22
Kodak Tri-X 400

Newhaven Harbour
Not remarkable, but solid enough.

As Mary pointed it, it looks like it could have been taken at any point over the last several decades (if, like us, you know nothing about boats).

50mm 1/125 f22
Kodak Tri-X 400

Western Harbour
(I think it's Western Harbour, anyway. North of Edinburgh.)

I waited ages to get this, but it's not quite there.

The chap in the bottom right was fishing but had stopped by the time I was in a decent position. He was bent over his rods for ages, which wouldn't have been a good photo, and I just got this one off when he stood up and began walking away from the shore. Shame it's not straighter too.

Unfortunately the negative is streaked vertically. Not sure what's caused that. And there are loads of white spots, presumably from Snappy Snaps' scanning process. I usually retouch them but I've left all these in so you can see how bad it gets. I'm going to try Peak Imaging instead next time round...

50mm 1/60 f22
Kodak Tri-X 400

Sue and Mary
In Sue's flat when we went to visit.

Not because it's a fantastic photo, but because it makes me happy.

50mm 1/60 f8
Kodak Tri-X 400

Miguel and Isla
It could be much better: straighter, without the dark bin in the bottom left. But otherwise it's almost really nice, with the white everywhere except for the focus of the image.

50mm 1/60 f1.7 ?
Kodak Tri-X 400

Dropping scaffold sheeting
It's not the most incredible photo in the world but it's better than I remembered I thought it would be, as it was rather hurried.

50mm 1/60 f11
Kodak Tri-X 400

Photos for 23 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

Rosa wearing Barney's trainers
No idea why I didn't centre it more, still looks OK. I'll say this makes it "jaunty".

50mm 1/30 f2.8
Kodak Tri-X 400

Matt Webb
Quite pleased with this - certainly one of the most in focus shots I've taken - and the light was good. Could have been closer I guess.

50mm 1/125 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Nick Ludlam
I guess ideally the left side would be a little less in shadow.

50mm 1/125 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Ham and eggs at Leila's Cafe
One of the few black and white shots I've taken where I wish I'd had colour. Very tasty.

By Arnold Circus off Shoreditch High Street.

50mm 1/30 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Breakfast at Leila's Cafe
By Arnold Circus off Shoreditch High Street.

50mm 1/60 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Tabitha
At Michelle and Richie's birthday / housewarming.

50mm 1/15 f1.7
Kodak Tri-X 400

Luke
Black and white makes even a shot of a friend in an armchair at a party with a beer in their hand look arty!

At Michelle and Richie's birthday / housewarming.

50mm 1/15 f1.7
Kodak Tri-X 400

Links for 22 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-22T23:58:00+00:00

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel on Vimeo: Beautiful slow motion video shot using very high speed cameras, up to 2500 frames per second. (via Daring Fireball)
‎Lifestories On-Line Brochure: Poorly presented, if interesting, business videotaping people telling their life stories. However, the owner, Dr Ellen Brandt, @venerability, is a compulsive twitter spammer.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Vol 1 - 1666 by Various - Project Gutenberg: Completely wonderful 17th century science. Fascinating subjects, beautiful titles ("A Relation of Persons killed with subterraneous Damps") and gorgeous language.

Photos for 22 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Road bikes (3)
Sometimes I think this is a bad composition, and other times I think something bizarrely works about it (apart from the crash barrier sneaking in at the bottom right).

50mm 1/250 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Road bikes (2)
Not brilliant, but the least bad one of mine of road bikes going round a corner. There's something about it that looks too calm and still I think. Maybe they're too far away?

50mm 1/250 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Road bikes (1)
I'm not entirely unpleased with this one - at least one person is in focus. If it wasn't for the crash barrier on the right it'd be a lot better.

50mm 1/250 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Dahon man
The folding bicycle race at Smithfield Nocturne.

None of my shots were particularly good; this is one of the two least bad ones of the folding bikes.

50mm 1/125 f5.6
Kodak Tri-X 400

Brompton man
The folding bicycle race at Smithfield Nocturne.

None of my shots were particularly good; this is one of the two least bad ones of the folding bikes.

50mm 1/250 f4
Kodak Tri-X 400

Frobisher Crescent columns
This isn't quite there - there's too much going on at top right and bottom left but I really like the different shading on the columns.

50mm 1/30 f8
Kodak Tri-X 400

Orchids (2)
At least, I think they're orchids. The second shot I took with my Pentax K1000 in what, ten? fifteen? years (the first shot was the same only more blurry).

I'm leaving all these photos taken on film uncropped, in the hope it embarrasses me into getting better. Part of it's learning how the viewfinder compares to the finished product.

Constructive criticism on any of these more than welcome!

50mm 1/60 f8
Kodak Tri-X 400

Why has this happened? (2)
I took three rolls of black and white 35mm film on my old Pentax K1000 camera recently. I haven't used the camera in at least ten years.

One roll was fine. The other two had some or most of the frames completely black (white in negative), just one edge showing. Anyone know why? What have I done wrong? (See also the previous example.)

It's strange how random it is and how there are perfectly fine frames in between or around the ruined ones. Any advice appreciated.

Update: I've just realised that all the 90% black ones were shot at 1/1000 and the ones with a black edge were shot at 1/500. All slower speeds are fine. I'm glad I kept notes. But... why has this happened!?

Why has this happened?
I took three rolls of black and white 35mm film on my old Pentax K1000 camera recently. I haven't used the camera in at least ten years.

One roll was fine. The other two had some or most of the frames completely black (white in negative), just one edge showing. Anyone know why? What have I done wrong? (See also the next example.)

It's strange how random it is and how there are perfectly fine frames in between or around the ruined ones. Any advice appreciated.

Update: I've just realised that all the 90% black ones were shot at 1/1000 and the ones with a black edge were shot at 1/500. All slower speeds are fine. I'm glad I kept notes. But... why has this happened!?

Links for 21 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-21T23:58:00+00:00

Tow.com » MsgFiler: This is a handy little thing to make Apple's Mail application a bit more wieldy if you have lots of folders.
Alice and Kev: A tale of two homeless Sims. Read the Introduction then every page. It's wonderful. (via Wonderland)
Fever° Red hot. Well read.: Self-hosted, pay-for feed reader. Looks like a lovely interface and an interesting way of organising feeds and posts. (via Daring Fireball)
Flickr: gruntzooki's stuff tagged with perfectphrasesfordifficultsitautionsatwork: This looks like a manual for Pretend Office.

Links for 18 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-18T23:58:00+00:00

Styling buttons to look like links | Natalie Downe: For the very few occasions when you want to make a submit button look like a standard link. Not that you should. (via Simon Willison)
Asian Poses - The Definitive Guide to Asian Poses: A blog describing all the common standard poses people in that part of the world use in photographs. Fascinating. (via Kottke)
Photofusion, London, UK | Darkroom Hire Facilities: In SW9. A friend recommended them.
Seth's Blog: Textbook rant: Why textbooks prescribed for college courses are a bad thing: "They are expensive … They don't make change … They don't sell the topic … They are incredibly impractical." (via Preoccupations)

Links for 12 June 2009

phil — 2009-06-12T23:58:00+00:00

Cambridge University - CamTV - Video and Audio - The Phillips Machine with Allan McRobie: Video of the machine that simulates the economy using water. A few years back I couldn't even find a picture of this thing. The internet's getting better.
Welcome To The North » A whole lot of nothing: A transcript of an interview with Doncaster's new mayor, whose election manifesto might as well have been written by people who post the BBC's Have Your Say comments. (via Haddock)
Systemic - Too cheap to meter: Trying to calculate the monetary value of distant planets. I'd like to see calculations with a different example at the start, and different measures of inflation.