Monday 20 September 2010

family photos X2







I love how the sea is slanted, I reckon it's the imperfections that make these so perfect.


Saturday 18 September 2010

peoples faces, mug shots

I love how everyone looks different... I've always liked portrait photography because I think expressions and certain emotions shown through photography make a good photograph. It is detailed portrait shots I like, that show a hint of emotion through them, with high quality and character. Then again, something about mugshots, the thug really comes out in some, the little card with identification typed onto it, the facial expressions different in each one, the scrappy-ness of them?

A mug shot, or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part, with one side-view photo, and one front-view. A rogues gallery (or rogues' gallery) is a police collection of pictures or photographs of criminals and suspects kept for identification purposes. The term is also used figuratively by extension for any group of shady characters or the line-up of 'mugshot' photographs that might be displayed in the halls of a dormitory or workplace.



I like how the accused would have to hold a card with name, date and other relevant information on it, unfortunately that has been recently gotten rid of because of upgrades in technology.

Mug also can mean a small photo of your face that can be used for other purposes.

What I like about mug shots, is that it is such a simple idea to retract information that is reliable and honest. The genetic make up of someone is something that is tricky to avoid, with a card held up in front of them with their name and date, it's all you really need to know. I definitely prefer the old mug shots, to the newer ones. The quality of them and the card with the information on them is what makes a real mug shot.





Sinatra and Mickey Rourke.

Whoever is being mugshot always tends to look a little off colour as well?

They aren't rehearsed.




Friday 17 September 2010

portraits? mug shots?













SLEEP

IS GOOD

piano (pee-yah-no) pianoforte



- Most popular instrument in the world
- Wildly used in classical music for solo performances
- Versatility, ensured it's familiarity worldwide
- Been around since mid 16th Century
- Soft, calming sound delivered through vibrating strings and a special design
- They also, look really good




How it works-
Pressing a key on the piano's keyboard causes a felt-covered hammer to strike steel strings. The hammers rebound, allowing the strings to continue vibrating at their frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a sounding board that couples the acoustic energy to the air so that it can be heard as sound. When the key is released, a damper stops the string's vibration. See the article on Piano key frequencies for a picture of the piano keyboard and the location of middle-C. According to the Hornbostel-Sachs method of music classification, pianos are grouped with chordophones.

The complexity of the instrument makes it even better, it's as if the piano puts a lot of effort into producing it's sound, I appreciate it even more.

The invention of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of the Instruments. He was an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the previous body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a piano. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by the year 1700; another document of doubtful authenticity indicates a date of 1698. A friend of the family by the name of Sebastian LeBlanc suggested the idea to switch the black and white keys. The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.


Bartolomeo Cristofori, how he came up with this?










To be more specific, I realised piano was especially 'good' when I heard it in films, complimenting an scene. I researched into the 'effect of musical soundtrack', through an article by Sandra K. Marshall and Annabel J. Cohen.

"We investigate the effects of musical soundtracks on attitudes to figures in a short animated film. In a preliminary study in the main experiment, subejcts saw the film accompanied by one of two soundtracks or with no soundtrack, or they heard one of the two soundtracks alone. In the main experiment, Semantic Differential judgments on Activity and Potency dimensions, obtained for the music, predicted effects of the soundtracks on corresponding ratings of the film as compared to ratings in a no soundtrack condition. As well, ratings on the Activity dimension of the film characters themselves were altered by the soundtracks. It is hypothized that congruent auditory and visual structure directs the encoding of particular visual features of the film. In addition, associations generated by the music provide a context for the interpretation of the action in the film. As a result, stimulus features and concepts that are initially encoded as disjunctive conjoin in perception and memory."


The research stated that, "researched proved that music and film compliment each other in the type of information each can portray. Whereas music can provide specific emotional information, it lacks the ability of film to depict specific actions."


I definitely agree with that, and can easily believe it as well. I like piano as an instrument, it's sound, how it looks, the depths of it's clockwork and how effective it is as a soundtrack.

family photographs (taken with film)



I don't know what is it about family photos, but they also just look so much better than any other photo you might have hanging up in the house.

Everything about them is good.

Back in the day when everyone used film cameras, so already they have more character.

Maybe it's also something to do with the fact we are all so young in them, lack of vanity maybe, enables us to actually see the best facial expressions and outfits that we probably love and hate.

Bring back memories. We can remember a lot from our childhood, but photographs can just remind us of perhaps a strop we may have had, or a particular animal we may have fed at the zoo?








Every single photo is unique as well, it comes on a separate piece of thick paper, with a different kind of worn out shine, with a different amount of scratches on it or whatever. No old family photo fails to be good. No old family photo is ever boring.

I also like how the film photography can make old photos look washed out.

GOOD IS!

- deep sea creatures
- family photos
- faces, mug shots
- piano
- film trailers