Blog Day 56 - Fri 4th Dec

Today was one of the most hellish days I have ever had...

A phonecall at 3.30am. At work by 4am with police and forensics team. 6 iMacs, and 2 laptops gone including my personal laptop. Left work at 8pm. Arrived in Eastbourne at 11.30pm.

Eurgh.

Blog Day 55 - Sun 29th Nov

Eurgh, still raining.

Photo taken looking up at a curved tube train window. The image almost divides itself into thirds, with the reflection of the light and the bottom of the focused raindrops. C'mon golden rule of thirds.

Will it ever stop raining?

In other news...

Epic thanks to my Beau, who not only came up to London to visit me knowing he could only spend 2 and a bit evenings with me, but he had dinner ready and waiting on my return as well. His awesomeness knows no bounds.

Blog Day 54 - Sat 28th Nov

This weekend I booked myself onto a directing course at the London Film School. It was intense, fascinating and I learnt loads. It concentrated on screen grammar, blocking and mise-en-scene. Essentially, where to put the camera, where to angle it, and why; which shots to put in which order, and why; and how the audience may receive the information you are feeding them.

What was really drilled home throughout the weekend is there is no right or wrong in how you storyboard a scene, but if you make certain choices they will have very definite consequences as the language of cinema has been established for the best part of 80 years. For example, if you move towards an object or a person, it is well established that the director is saying to the audience: "Look at this, it is important, pay attention now." Exactly the type of course I needed.

Blog Day 53 - Fri 27th Nov

The Beau and I went back to the Natural History Museum this evening to go to a talk about the BBC's documentary series Life. It was given by the series producer Martha Holmes, who gave a fascinating insight to the making of the series.

The Beeb really pulled out all the stops to create this groundbreaking series. Four years in the making, 120 shoots across the globe, each of 3-4 weeks long. An incredible achievement. There were so many "oh my god" moments at the technology they made brilliant use of, but my favourite was a *tracking* time-lapse shot of life on a seabed under 8 foot of ice. This meant setting up an underwater studio with underwater lights and a computer-controlled camera and track... All for one shot. Mental and completely brilliant.

Once again, I couldn't get any decent interior shots due to the very low lighting, so here is an exterior shot instead.

Blog Day 52 - Wed 25th Nov

As my previous posts have mentioned I've been pretty ill over the last few weeks. I'll spare you any horrid and graphic details, and just say I'm all better now! In lieu of photo opportunities missed thanks to being in my sickbed, I offer this.

On my road to recovery, the Beau and I thought it'd be nice to get out the house and take an easy stroll around the Natural History Museum, maybe take a nice picture or two...

On a Saturday.  In November.  Mid-torrential downpour.  Either it was going to be empty, or rammed. Sadly it was the latter, and I had trouble standing and putting together coherent sounds thanks to the medication I was given. Nevertheless, I had a great time slowly walking around the dinosaur section (part meds, part dense crowds). The Beau talked me through all the dino-fun, and I learnt a heap I'd missed from never being a young boy, who as we all know, inherently have an interest in such topics.

As interesting as the dinosaur and mammal sections were, I was possibly more fascinated with the building itself. Especially the central hall (pictured) which has a very impressive Diplodocus cast dominating the space (not pictured). While it is very beautifully lit, the lighting is kept very low making photography problematic without a tripod, which of course you are not allowed.

This is taken with my iPhone as my D40's battery died. I couldn't leave without taking at least one semi-decent picture of the central hall to share!

Blog Day 51 - Wed 11th Nov

These are a few photos from a set I did over the Summer. I love the milky wash in pics 1 & 5 reflecting the delightful heat of the day, which I dearly miss now!

I post these now because the subject of these images has just today started his own blog!

Please go over and say hello, follow and generally welcome my beautiful beau to his first blogging experience! It is his aim to "become a leader in the field of historic western stage combat" amongst many other things, and he will be blogging every step of the way. Should be a good read!

Blog Day 50 - Tue 10th Nov

Wow, the big 5-0. And instead of being out and about taking pictures, I am in bed with (admittedly self-diagnosed) stomach flu. Pretty much the only thing I have seen consistently over the last few days is the bottom of the toilet. In fact our relationship is growing so steadily I momentarily thought to posting a picture of it.

Fear not gentle readers, instead I offer you a picture of something I cannot have.

Dinner.

I mistakenly thought on Sunday night I could handle food, thinking the worst of this bug was over. So I made the ol' Beau and I a mighty dish - Honey roasted winter vegetables, creamy mashed potato served in a giant home-made yorkshire pudding. With thick gravy of course! Delicious.

Vegetables included pumpkin (I never carved it for Hallowe'en!), butternut squash, parsnip and carrots. I had never roasted any vegetables before, but it all came together nicely in the end.