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Manchester Local Image Collection

GS — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:55:33 +0000

I’m a huge fan of the Manchester Libraries Local Image Collection which puts 80,000 archive photographs at our fingertips online.

A week I ago I discovered some changes had been made which meant the hundreds of links that I have from my website to theirs didn’t work anymore. But I’m glad to say that after I alerted them to the problem they fixed it.

The Image Collection has been integrated with the site’s shopping cart system, making it easier to buy a high-quality print. An 10″x8″ print costs £7.

Classic Colgate toothpaste ad

GS — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:10:59 +0000

A marvellous Colgate toothpaste ad from the early 1980′s based on ‘Baggy Trousers’ by Madness.

And here’s a version for the US market with some of the same kids. But with every trace of Britishness and most of the Madness imagery removed it doesn’t quite ‘get it’ and ends up looking like a dog’s dinner.

Tram lines on Peter Street

GS — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:55:20 +0000

The water company is digging up the road at the junction of Deansgate and Peter Street. They’re replacing the old Victorian water pipes.

Safari for Windows

GS — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:50:41 +0000

Safari is the web browser for Mac users and Apple just brought out a version for Windows.

As I remember the horribly invasive player that is Apple Quicktime for Windows, I was in two minds about whether to try Safari. But I did…

Well it’s a piece of junk so far. When I start it, the top menus have white text on a white background, so I can’t see or do anything.

OK so it’s a beta. It may be fixed next time. Maybe it’s some quirk of my system. But I can’t remember the last time I tried beta software and it presented me with a bug as stupid as this one.

So safari has been uninstalled. I’ll stick with Opera and Firefox.

Other reviews say it seems like a ‘rushed if not a botched’ job.

Photographer loses image library in fire — how safe is your audio and visual data?

GS — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:59:53 +0000

As a photographer myself, I broke out into a cold sweat reading how this poor man lost most of his image library in the Lever Street fire. Equipment can be replaced but unique transparencies, negatives and digital images can’t be.

Bye bye Operation Fundraiser

GS — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:38:27 +0000

The Manchester Pride website reports that Operation Fundraiser will be ‘will be hanging up its buckets’ this year.

g7ukTalk: 27 April 2007

GS — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:55:38 +0000

UPDATE (October 2008): this podcast has ‘retired’ into the archives. I’ve left the production notes below.

Chris joins me to talk about:

* Queer Up North: Europe’s leading queer arts festival which starts here in Manchester in the next few days, with events throughout May.

* Peter Tatchell

* Our show Bargain Hunters: why we haven’t made any more since June.

* Big Brother

* The TV phone scandals that have engulfed Britain recently and the recent BBC Panorama programme on the subject.

* The Basement Social Centre

* The Conservative Party

* Scally wear: we find out, does Chris own a hoody or any trackies?

* Doctor Who and Torchwood

Bargain Hunters: Big Brother Special

GS — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:44:56 +0000

This episode has a Big Brother theme (Channel 4 not Tony Blair via George Orwell).

We filmed it on 1st June. Hilariously, considering the theme, during the making of this we were told that filming in Piccadilly Station is no longer allowed as it’s a ‘terror threat’.

The Power of Nightmares

GS — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:12:31 +0000

If you haven’t seen this fascinating three-part BBC documentary series, you can download it from the Internet Archive:

Part1 | Part2 | Part3

It explores ‘the origins in the 1940s and 50s of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East, and Neoconservatism in America, parallels between these movements, and their effect on the world today.’

And it shows how politicians have used the terror threat to restore their power and authority in a disillusioned age.

It’s a brilliant use of archive film of all kinds, combined with interviews. Give it a look even if you don’t usually watch this kind of subject, because it’s interesting to see how Adam Curtis the producer combines such diverse visual material.

If you have problems playing MP4 files, just grab the free VideoLan player.

Rushes: bluescreen test – mailbag

GS — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 02:34:39 +0000

UPDATE (October 2008): this video has ‘retired’ into the archives. I’ve left the production notes below.

Posts that begin with the word ‘rushes’ contain unedited footage, tests, bloopers and experiments.

I mess around with a lot of stuff which, up to now, has never seen the light of day. Also I’m a bit of a perfectionist and can easily spend twelve hours editing a four-minute video.

But, in recent months the tapes of master footage have been piling up, with not enough time to edit them.

I’m not sure how this will work or where I’m going with it. Some edits always have to be made for privacy and copyright reasons. But at least this way you get to see something. I think it can be fun to see what does and doesn’t work.

Either you can take a look at the rough stuff or ignore the posts marked ‘rushes’ and wait for the polished final products :-)

I wanted some practice at building a sequence using a bluescreen effect. It’s fairly simple if you stick with one wide shot only. But what happens when you cut in for closer shots? You need extra backgrounds from a narrower angle, possibly blurred to give that ‘zoomed in close-up’ effect.

We were thinking of including a mailbag section in our Bargain Hunters show, where we would read some of the email we receive. I shot still pics for the backgrounds (video would be nicer) and we ad-libbed this. The ‘indoor’ sound quality is a dead giveaway (as it was a test we relied on the camera mic).

It’s also a bit more experience of what lighting works best. I used an amber filter on a backlight. This warm rimlight is meant to help the separation between the subject and blue background to give a cleaner ‘keying’ effect. Strangely the backlight seems to work best at head height, even though that isn’t very naturalistic. Though in theory it could be from the sun setting I suppose.