An autumn holiday

Just spent 4 days relaxing in the hills near Carcassonne, France. It was chilly and rainy, but a beautiful setting. More holiday snaps in my flickr album.

Bringing in a little colour

The Sea

Geotagging

I've just had my first play with Flickr's new (well newish - it was released in August) 'geotagging' software. And in summary - it's pretty damn good! The software is tied into Flickr's organizer tool and the way it works is pretty simple. You simply find a location using Yahoo! Maps (you can enter an address, postcode, street name, city, etc. or just navigate around the map until you find where you want to go) and then from the organizer's thumbnail bar below you simply drag and drop your photos on to the map in the appropriate location and you are finished. Like a lot of things at Flickr, simple and elegant.


Why do I love this? It open's up a whole new world of possibilities! I could create a city map with pictures of where I like to hang out, a world map of places I have been to - zoom in on my favorite resturants and art galleries. However the big downfall is the limitations of Yahoo! Maps which is especially week in terms of street detail in anywhere other than America. In New York and San Fansisco I can zoom down to the level of the actual building and stick my picture ther; but in Oxford all I get are the Banbury and Woodstock roads. You can make an educated guess by viewing the city through the satillite map (for instance it's easy to spot port meadow). But putting a photo on G&Ds in Little Clarendon Street is pretty impossible. However the potential is there so come on Yahoo! get it sorted soon so I can play some more!

Little boy on the rocks revistited

Interesting. The black and white version of this picture, with the further zoom has received more positive comments. Although a couple of Flickr users still call for it to be cropped, which I think would defeat the whole purpose of the photograph. Many commented on the feeling of lonliness within this picture and I think expanse of the wall behind works to make the boy seem small and fragile. I still think I prefer the colour version though, to me it's a bit more captivating.

Flickr Scoring

I've been playing around a bit with Flickr scoring groups lately. The idea is that you post one of your pictures to a scoring group such as score me, or score me in detail, and other group members critically rate your picture. When you post a picture you have to rate the five previous pictures before yours too (to make it all fair). Now, I'm not sure if I like this. You do get lots of comments which is nice, and sometimes some pretty constructive feedback, but I've put up a couple of my favoritist, most proudest, pics and have received average, or even bad feedback. For instace my close-up elephant shot which I love hasn't been recieved too well, neither has my Paris ants, and particuarly not my little boy on the rocks which is a recent addition:



You see, I quite like how he's camaflaged against the wall and his gormless expression, but the flickr users want a closer crop and 'expression'. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. It is interesting though seeing what pictures really grab people, my Clouds on Glass for some reason has received lots of poker chips from the Flickr Poker Group. I like this group because when you post a picture the idea is that you then distribute 5 poker chips to your favorite five pictures posted that day, rather than just comment on the 5 pictures uploaded previous to your, so more choice. I'm going to keep playing around with the scoring groups for a little bit just to see which of my pictures are popular, I'm going to put up another shot I took of my Boy on the Rocks to see if the different angle, focal length, and colours (people seem to prefer Black and White), draw a different response. Don't think I'll keep doing it though, never been one for criticism.

Snapshots

I don't know why I have developed such a fascination with photography lately. I think it's something to do with being able to present snapshots of a life. Humans, in our society, have been conditioned to walk through our daily, ordinary lives looking for that special metaphoric photo. We are constantly looking for meaning, waiting for something to become 'perfect' in some sense. Sometimes things already are perfect, meaningful, but because of our preconceptions or expectations of the way things should be, they never appear to 'right'. It really is as if we are walking around, hoping/waiting/wanting for our lives to be a scene in a movie or to emulate that really great Ansel Adams shot. Most of the people I know are, in fact, waiting for each moment to be (seem?) meaningful...

Sticks and stones

Boat dwellers, horse dealers and alchemists

It's a watery, raffish, amiable, trickster-like world of boat dwellers and horse dealers and alchemists. The character of this part of Oxford is very ancient, quite unmistakable, entirely unique. (Phillip Pullman)

I love the curious world of Jericho and the Oxford Canal. It's a window into another existence quite separate from the pomp and circumstance of the academic buildings and university streets. It still has a fairytale feel to it, but a darker, more sinister one that gives you goosebumps. You can tell that ghosts prowl the terraced streets of Jericho.

As you move towards the canal, away from the trendy bars and resturants of Walton Street, walls start to crumble and weeds weave inbetween the iron gates and the cracks in the pavement. The sky is dominated by the romanesque tower of St Barnabas Church (1860), built in concern for the spiritual welfare of the new community which was developing around the university press.


The canal itself is a centre for a large community of people who live on boats. The setting is not far from the picture of gypsie boat-dwellers that Phillip Pullman paints in His Dark Materials Trilogy. One thing I love to do is to walk along the towpath and see the curious little alchemy boat yard site - wonky old buildings, rickety-looking stables that have been there for over 100 years. And, people use them, and work them - it's a useful place. Sadly it looks as if the boat yard is going to be wiped out in a bid to build 47 luxury flats which would earn up to £2m instant profit for British Waterways. I don't think the ghosts would be very happy with that.

The true glory of Jericho however is Oxford's most ancient, and most beautiful monument - Port Meadow. Older than the university and any building in Oxford these 400 acres of common land have never been ploughed and are home to a population of grass, thistles, ponies, cattle and geese. Every year a medieval custom takes place where the Sheriff of Oxford, and his followers, drive all animals off the meadow and into a pound. This is supposed to be a 'top-secret operation', so that owners without grazing rights cannot remove their animals at the last minute and escape a fine. But most years, news leaks out and many animals suddenly vanish before the Sheriff's arrival.

References
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1282810,00.html