There was one day with any sunshine to speak of last week - Wednesday. To make the most of it, I went to the park at lunchtime. Apart from a few fishermen on the lake and a couple of lads kicking a football around, it was almost deserted.
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The Stout Fiddler
It might look like the sign reads 'The Scout Fiddler', but it doesn't.
I went in there for a pint once, but there wasn't much cause to go again, especially when the Cluny is only a short walk away.
I went in there for a pint once, but there wasn't much cause to go again, especially when the Cluny is only a short walk away.
20060329
Get Carter
The delapidated, sagging concrete monstrosity in Gateshead that featured in the film 'Get Carter'.
It's a grotesque but strangely fascinating place, suffused with damp and possessing a grim Eastern bloc ambience. And no photography is allowed - not even if you're using a Zenit!
It's a grotesque but strangely fascinating place, suffused with damp and possessing a grim Eastern bloc ambience. And no photography is allowed - not even if you're using a Zenit!
20060328
Royal Mail
Judging from my post this evening (does anyone get theirs in the morning any more?) it now takes eleven days to deliver a parcel first class.
I must be getting old because I can only think of things to moan about today. Royal Mail. The TV licence fee. People with expensive cameras who only use them once before selling them on eBay, etc., etc...
I must be getting old because I can only think of things to moan about today. Royal Mail. The TV licence fee. People with expensive cameras who only use them once before selling them on eBay, etc., etc...
20060327
New and Used Furniture
Five things I saw today:
1. A blonde girl in a silver Peugeot 206 with near side damage;
2. A guy with a 'Flock of Seagulls' haircut;
3. A wary magpie, pecking at a piece of bread;
4. Sunlight on the old abandoned Odeon cinema;
5. Three silver Porsche Boxsters.
I've never seen this place open, but it's near to a well known shop that sells refurbished and antique furniture, so maybe they're part of the same set up.
1. A blonde girl in a silver Peugeot 206 with near side damage;
2. A guy with a 'Flock of Seagulls' haircut;
3. A wary magpie, pecking at a piece of bread;
4. Sunlight on the old abandoned Odeon cinema;
5. Three silver Porsche Boxsters.
I've never seen this place open, but it's near to a well known shop that sells refurbished and antique furniture, so maybe they're part of the same set up.
20060326
The Tyne
I've just seen a short preview scene purportedly from the new David Lynch film Inland Empire, and it rates along with Lost Highway for oddness (disturbing disruptions of time, space and causality, for example.)
Unfortunately, it's also geniuinely poorly shot, so I hope it isn't representative of the majority of the film. It's not irredeemably bad and it improves towards the end, but the first part of the scene is execrable.
If, as seems possible, Lynch has radically altered his working methods - and I think it's probably more a practical issue than the difference in visual qualities between film and digital video - eliminating processes that were important in creating the visually involving and unsettling aspects of his films, Inland Empire isn't going to work. And after so long without a new David Lynch film, that would be an enormous disappointment.
Unfortunately, it's also geniuinely poorly shot, so I hope it isn't representative of the majority of the film. It's not irredeemably bad and it improves towards the end, but the first part of the scene is execrable.
If, as seems possible, Lynch has radically altered his working methods - and I think it's probably more a practical issue than the difference in visual qualities between film and digital video - eliminating processes that were important in creating the visually involving and unsettling aspects of his films, Inland Empire isn't going to work. And after so long without a new David Lynch film, that would be an enormous disappointment.
20060325
Green Door
Ever since Brendadada posted this photo on Flickr with the title from a track on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, I've been running the lyrics (the last few lines, anyway) from it through my head and it's been near impossible to get rid of them -
One red bean stuck in the bottom of a tin bowl
Hot coffee from a crimped up can
Me and my girl named Bimbo Limbo Spam
It's all in the timing.
It could be worse, I suppose - Steps or SClub7 or something.
One red bean stuck in the bottom of a tin bowl
Hot coffee from a crimped up can
Me and my girl named Bimbo Limbo Spam
It's all in the timing.
It could be worse, I suppose - Steps or SClub7 or something.
20060324
In a Lonely Street
... also the title of an excellent study of film noir by Frank Krutnik.
This photo might serve to illustrate why being beeped at pedestrian crossings can be annoying (referring to yesterday's entry).
Those few millimetres of glass and metal that separate the dry, comfortable and perhaps air conditioned interior of a car from the cold, rain soaked streets of Newcastle are seldom thin enough to equate to a few moments of consideration for poor shivering people making their way on foot from one place to the other. Some people are more considerate than others, I suppose.
This was taken about half past five this afternoon, and despite the rain (or perhaps because of it?) I wanted to get a shot of this before heading home.
This photo might serve to illustrate why being beeped at pedestrian crossings can be annoying (referring to yesterday's entry).
Those few millimetres of glass and metal that separate the dry, comfortable and perhaps air conditioned interior of a car from the cold, rain soaked streets of Newcastle are seldom thin enough to equate to a few moments of consideration for poor shivering people making their way on foot from one place to the other. Some people are more considerate than others, I suppose.
This was taken about half past five this afternoon, and despite the rain (or perhaps because of it?) I wanted to get a shot of this before heading home.
20060323
Stop
A bashed up sign in an alleyway off King's Walk. It was hit by a lorry after some portakabins were moved last week, and is now bent through 90 degrees.
On the subject of bad driving: walking into work last week, I was waiting at a pedestrian crossing for the green man. After the lights had changed and as I was crossing, the front most driver beeped her horn aggressively, so I pointed at the green man in an a slightly more emphatic manner than was necessary, as an alternative to giving her what the French refer to as the 'bras d'honneur' - that's the one where you raise your right arm in a fist in front of you at the same time as bringing the left down and across the inside of the elbow.
With the day already off to a bad start, she decided to try to drive over the crossing anyway, almost running over the man directly behind me. He was a little more direct in his approach, and for all I know he may still be there pounding on the bonnet of the car and swearing at her.
On the subject of bad driving: walking into work last week, I was waiting at a pedestrian crossing for the green man. After the lights had changed and as I was crossing, the front most driver beeped her horn aggressively, so I pointed at the green man in an a slightly more emphatic manner than was necessary, as an alternative to giving her what the French refer to as the 'bras d'honneur' - that's the one where you raise your right arm in a fist in front of you at the same time as bringing the left down and across the inside of the elbow.
With the day already off to a bad start, she decided to try to drive over the crossing anyway, almost running over the man directly behind me. He was a little more direct in his approach, and for all I know he may still be there pounding on the bonnet of the car and swearing at her.
20060322
Reeds
It was sunny today in Newcastle after what seems like an age of rain, snow and grey skies. I had a wander around Exhibition Park at lunchtime, looking for graffiti and abandoned things, and shot three or four frames.
Meanwhile... I didn't get a good enough look at this to find out what it was for - I was on my way to work and it was in the middle of a manoevre. It was involved in the reconstruction work at the Playhouse theatre near the Newcastle University campus.
Meanwhile... I didn't get a good enough look at this to find out what it was for - I was on my way to work and it was in the middle of a manoevre. It was involved in the reconstruction work at the Playhouse theatre near the Newcastle University campus.
20060321
Distant Baltic
A Quayside street leading down to the Tyne, with the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead in the distance.
Recently, I've made a resolution to shoot more with my digital camera (Fuji S5000).
Film photography is less spontaneous, more surprising and sometimes more satisfying. But I miss the versatility of digital as well as the convenience - which brings me onto the other point. Cost - I've been spending too much on processing.
Recently, I've made a resolution to shoot more with my digital camera (Fuji S5000).
Film photography is less spontaneous, more surprising and sometimes more satisfying. But I miss the versatility of digital as well as the convenience - which brings me onto the other point. Cost - I've been spending too much on processing.
20060320
164B
I bought a new camera on ebay a few days ago - a Canon 300V film SLR - to replace the Minolta, which is next to useless as it has no manual settings (it's still possible to modify the aperture on the lens, of course, but that's it.)
The Canon will be great for the Tale of Two Cities project, where two photographers from different parts of the world swap films to produce a double exposure collaboration.
I've just finished my first roll (on the Minolta), and it's going to be on its way to Bristol before the end of the week.
Today's photo: a building - no idea what it's being used for* - on the corner of Wandsworth Road in Heaton.
* Duality and Detailista on Flickr tell me that this is a gay sauna. I am apparently the only person in Newcastle who didn't know that.
Note about comments: I've only recently noticed that comments have been turned off. I hadn't meant to do that, and they're now back. I appreciate it very much when visitors comment, so please do leave me a message if you're so inclined.
The Canon will be great for the Tale of Two Cities project, where two photographers from different parts of the world swap films to produce a double exposure collaboration.
I've just finished my first roll (on the Minolta), and it's going to be on its way to Bristol before the end of the week.
Today's photo: a building - no idea what it's being used for* - on the corner of Wandsworth Road in Heaton.
* Duality and Detailista on Flickr tell me that this is a gay sauna. I am apparently the only person in Newcastle who didn't know that.
Note about comments: I've only recently noticed that comments have been turned off. I hadn't meant to do that, and they're now back. I appreciate it very much when visitors comment, so please do leave me a message if you're so inclined.
20060319
Fragile
I've been thinking for a while that I should be adding more interesting content on Espion Daily in the form of some meaningful text to accompany the images.
But what? No way I'm writing about personal issues, although I may start a new blog anonymously to do that, treat it like a literary project and build up some material, try out some ideas. As I think of myself as a writer first and foremost, it would make sense. I used to write a lot. I would write more for pleasure now if I didn't have this PhD thesis to finish.
So unless I'm inspired to write about photographic issues, how much I dislike the Minolta Maxxum 3000i, like Fuji Sensia film and would like a film scanner - all of which would be mind gratingly dull, I imagine - for the moment I'm going to stick with the bland descriptions.
This is a sign in Saltwell Park, Gateshead.
But what? No way I'm writing about personal issues, although I may start a new blog anonymously to do that, treat it like a literary project and build up some material, try out some ideas. As I think of myself as a writer first and foremost, it would make sense. I used to write a lot. I would write more for pleasure now if I didn't have this PhD thesis to finish.
So unless I'm inspired to write about photographic issues, how much I dislike the Minolta Maxxum 3000i, like Fuji Sensia film and would like a film scanner - all of which would be mind gratingly dull, I imagine - for the moment I'm going to stick with the bland descriptions.
This is a sign in Saltwell Park, Gateshead.
20060318
Close
Saltwell Park in Gateshead. Despite having lived a relatively short journey from it for many years, I visited it for the first time only a few months ago.
I shot a lot of film with my Holga while we were there; one of the rolls includes a relatively close shot of a swan in full spread - It was an impressive sight.
Unfortunately, I think I've lost the film, although I've got a couple of rolls of 120 still to be developed that it might be on.
I shot a lot of film with my Holga while we were there; one of the rolls includes a relatively close shot of a swan in full spread - It was an impressive sight.
Unfortunately, I think I've lost the film, although I've got a couple of rolls of 120 still to be developed that it might be on.
20060317
It is a terrible terrain
no mortal eye has seen
whose image still seduces me
this morning as it fades
-Baudelaire
Holga #100 - xpro elite chrome - Buckinghamshire, December 2005
whose image still seduces me
this morning as it fades
-Baudelaire
Holga #100 - xpro elite chrome - Buckinghamshire, December 2005
20060316
Red Scrawl
Graffiti on a wall in Ouseburn Park, near the 'wheelie bin farm' council depot in Heaton.
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Civic Centre [Dirkon]
Finally finished the roll of XP2 in the Dirkon (my homemade paper pinhole camera, design from a 1970s Czechoslovak magazine) and had it developed. Unfortunately this is the only shot I currently have to upload from several decent looking ones on the film - the unusually shaped frames didn't transfer to CD very well, so it looks like I'll have to scan them myself.
I'm pretty pleased, really - it's miraculous I got anything recognisable on the film at all, and some of the shots look almost sharp. Well, ish.
More info on the dirkon here.
I'm pretty pleased, really - it's miraculous I got anything recognisable on the film at all, and some of the shots look almost sharp. Well, ish.
More info on the dirkon here.
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Flare
Can't remember where this was, probably on campus. The sign says 'Petroleum, Highly Flammable.'
20060305
Disabled Parking
Bays at the University. Like most disabled parking spaces, often used by people who don't have a right to park there.
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20060303
Get Ahead
The flickr account is rapidly heading towards a century on the holga photo front - although pinhole photography is likely to be taking up my time and film budget for the next couple of weeks.
Holga, expired (1996) medium format Kodak Vericolour film, triple exposure.
Holga, expired (1996) medium format Kodak Vericolour film, triple exposure.
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