Pointless review

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Guthlac
I’ve just skipped through this review of popular smartphone cameras and I have to ask what is the point? Treating a smartphone camera as anything other than a stepping stone to getting images into a photo app before the real fun can begin is only going end in failure. I know all these phone manufactures like to pretend they make really great cameras but they don’t and trying to pretend that they do is missing the point. For me a smartphone image is about creative exploration rather than absolute image quality.

http://m.connect.dpreview.com/post/9219904986/shootout-samsunggalaxys4-vs-htcone-vs-iphone5-vs-lumia920?page=4

Anyway, I feel better for that…not sure it will make the slightest bit of a difference!

Simon Marchini
WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
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Insomnia

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Guthlac
As I get older I realise that, from time to time, I wake up at 5am and just can’t get back to sleep. You turn and turn and just try to go back off but some how sleep has left the building.

So what to do? Perhaps you could just lie there and pretend to be asleep or perhaps you give up to the invertible, get up and do something constructive. But what to do without waking the rest of the house? Well for me it’s sitting down with a pencil and sketch book and make a drawing.

Simon Marchini
WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Rebuilding the past

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Guthlac

Well it has been coming, I’ve felt a dull acre in my bones – some far way light I just have to move towards.   After a 6 months break I’ve started my historical research again..  For those of you who are not aware I researching the routes of pre historic salt ways (in England that is usually seen as pre 43 AD or CE)

Saltby Pre Iron Age

I’m currently looking at a small village in the north east of Leicestershire called Saltby.  The reason for my interest is the name which would indicate that there was some sort of connection with Salt but that is unknown.    The village has a mineral spring which some have taken to be the source of the Salt element in the name.   However, when you examine this you very quickly realise that whilst the spring has a ‘salt’ element it has nothing to do with Sodium Chloride so this is unlikely to be the source of the name.

Instead I believe it sits on an undiscovered salt route from the Lincolnshire fens and I have been trying to prove this.  To do this I’ve been trying to rebuild the prehistoric landscape by looking at geographical and topological features,  examing the archaeological record  and then plotting them on a map.

Saltby Heath from Bing

 

I also look at the available air photography, which we are now blessed with a unrivalled supply.  This image is from Bing because it really shows the crop marks up that run village towards the village of Wyville.  The archaeological records mention these features but doesn’t really give any explanation as to what they are.  However, from examining the information I suspect that this are drove tracks for animals to be taken off of the heath, which being on top of porous rocks is very dry.

Once you’ve done all this you then have to look at the bigger picture and then  try to work out how this fits into the hypothesis you are working on at the moment.  It takes time and, in truth, you’ll never have the full answer because we talking about over 2000 years ago and no matter how much you think you know you know very little.  However, it can be really absorbing and hours just seem to disappear.

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Oh dear more Photo Apps to clog my ageing iPhone!

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac
Just as I’ve really got stuck into the KitCam app for my iPhone along comes another great freeby, for a short time I believe, FX PhotoStudio. Now I’ve no idea how good/bad this is compared to other image manipulation apps available but I must say it looks interesting. We’ll have to see how I make more interesting images with my iPhone. I will still use KitCam but then scrub the results through FX PhotoStudio. Well that’s the plan but who knows what will really happen.

Whilst I’m on about great new free apps for the iPhone/iPad world I must mention the new Yahoo mail app. Again, this is not some form of balanced assessment of the app but just to say I find a whole lot better than the rather staid and difficult to use iPad standard email client. The killer feature for me is that I’m now able to upload multiple attachments with my email. Now I’ve not found a way to do this with the iPad default email client which, if it actually does this, means that it is so difficult to achieve that I’ve not found it. I have no idea whether this works if you don’t have a Yahoo email account but I find it a whole lot better than the iPad standard app.

Simon Marchini
WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Tulips

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac

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America the mad?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac

A very pertinent blog from John Snow.

America the mad?
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/america-mad/20308

Simon Marchini
www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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How photo realistic should I go?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac

Just what is the point at which a painting becomes photo realistic? I’m not sure there is a hard and fast rule – especially when talking about digital painting – and I’m also mindful that you have to take into account personel peccadilloes. Given all these things I think I’m reaching the edge of my own personal boundary between painting and photo realism. Of course you also have copyright issue to consider which is a bit boring but equally important.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Progress

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac

Slowly but surely she is starting to become interesting.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Seedlings

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Guthlac

Oh the joys of spring! With lambs frolicking in the meadow, the larks ascending and the swallows once more flying over the glen spring is finally with us.

Before we get all dewy eyed about the rural iddl in which I clearly live – nothing could be further from the truth – there is one thing that I always wonder at. The frantic struggle for life shown by plants, in this case sunflowers. They go from small seeds to plants up to 6 feet tall in the space of in less than 6 months. Such a force for life should give us all pause to consider how much we appreciate life – whether it is a gift or biological fact.

BTW I was brought up in a small village surrounded by countryside and I have to say I’m glad to be out of it. The countryside is a wonderful place to visit but give me the grimy diversity of city life any day.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Compton Verney – no 3

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Guthlac

This is the final selection of creative juices, now that does sound really quite disgusting, I created at Compton Verney. These were made with my G1x and for me they are the least successful…interesting that

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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