Pinhole camera image?

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This was taken in the 1980s when I was at college I remember. I think it was done with a pin hole camera? Take a sheet of photographic paper and put it in a tin with a tiny pin hole in it in a darkened room. Have a flap of paper or card to cover the hole, then you can take a photo by removing the cover over the pin hole. You will need to experiment with exposures because the paper will react to light. You need to know how quickly the paper will darken. Once the picture is taken you cover the pin hole again and develop the picture. As it’s 40 years since I did this I don’t remember what the chemicals are that you need. I do remember that if you are developing film you have to take it off the reel in complete darkness and you end up with a negative which you then project onto photographic paper. With a pin hole camera you use black and white paper and the image comes out as a positive picture.

There are other forms of pin hole images. You can project a live image on a wall using a tiny hole if there is bright sunlight outside. The image cast will be upside down. This is called a camera obscura and may have been used by painters in the renaissance and onward to project accurate images onto their canvases..

Youdraw

 

One of my favourite drawing websites over the years is Youdraw.com they were trying to collect over 500,000 drawings to bring people’s attention to population growth. I had the pleasure of drawing there, and sometimes the pain of moderating it.

Unfortunately these are distorted, they were originally drawn in long thin boxes but the WordPress system has turned them into squares.

I stopped drawing there because I had computer problems then started using a tablet which doesn’t let me draw there.

The site has a tiny space to draw in and only has a thick and thin black pen and a thick and thin eraser. But you could work out how to erase and then redraw so you could get some impressive shading results.

I miss the old days. I’m glad I saved a lot of my old drawings.

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Selfie but I don’t like being seen.

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The world is full of selfies and selfie sticks. People pouting and preening. Apps that smooth your skin, add bunny ears, turn you into altered individuals that follow the latest fashion….

So here is a selfie of me.. Yes I do them, but I try and hide from them if I can. .

Maybe I should try and get one of the back of my head? Photography can be so interesting and surreal, and so can life.

And why are photos usually in colour or sometimes black and white.. Why not more yellow and blue or purple and green….. Hmmm… Maybe….

 

Play time

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Last year we went to see a play set in the Spode Factory site, it was called Dirty Laundry and was written by one of the actresses from Coronation street. Apologies as I have forgotten her name cat the moment. The story was about the complexities of life in the potteries in the mid twentieth century. It was thought-provoking.

The car in the photo was used to give the play a genuine feel.

Now a new play called Hot Lane, by the same author, is coming to Spode again in November. I’m looking forward to it. It is wonderful to see creativity continuing to return to the Potteries.

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Abandoned chair

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I took this photo last year. A chair left on a little triangle of a traffic island near the local police station.

Cars were rushing past, oblivious of the empty chair. I wondered what it had been used for? Sitting, standing on to reach cupboards or an electric meter, decorating or painting the ceiling?

It looked fine so why abandon it? Had its ex owner got a new table and chairs or just disposed if this because it didn’t fit in with their new colour scheme regardless of whether it was still useful.

Maybe there needs to be a royal society for the prevention of cruelty to chairs?

Just saying.

Terracotta warriors

 

I enjoyed drawing today. We went round the terracotta warriors exhibition at the world museum at Liverpool.

The exhibition was crowded and I felt guilty at standing the way of the crowd as I drew. I got barged a couple of times and someone jarred my arm just as I was drawing one of their faces. But I also got a few complements. It was hard work. I took lots of photos. But drawing really makes you look. And quick sketching makes it all the more of a challenge. I finished my sketchbook but I think it was worth it. I’m hoping my drawing skills are improving. Sometimes I’m still a bit hesitant but that’s to be expected.