Negative Reclamation

My first attempt at reclaiming the negative from a Fuji FP-100C shot.

Chris

Badges

Exposed (Test Shot)

Stolen Thoughts

Thinking about possible output for MPP led to the borrowing of RB's tweets and profile image. Apologies to him, but it is for the greater good, so to speak.

Chris

Dissertation Proposal

David Hockney Limerick.

There was an old man from Bradford,

Who one day released the cable cord,

It was only then that he noticed,

That traditional one-dimensional focused,

Photography made him very bored!

Ok, so poetry was never my strong point, but you get the idea. By the end of play today I will hopefully have on paper exactly where my dissertation is heading.

Chris

Photography and The Magazine

I am not sure whether it is just me, or whether I have been particularly unlucky, but photography magazine subscriptions are not exactly reliable. I take out a fair few subscriptions over the year, and so keeping track of what should have come and when is a challenge.

• PHOTOICON magazine - After taking out a year's subscription to the magazine back in 2009, I received only one copy before they decided that it was financially impractical to print anymore. Two years on, no more copies have arrived, but their website is still raking in the money from advertisements. Only one word for the people over at PHOTOICON: charlatans.
• Turning Pro magazine - A yearly direct debit taken out in 2010 when the magazine was quarterly, it soon became more expensive with the switch to bi-monthly. Today I discovered that they have stopped printing the magazine as of two months ago, but hadn't bothered to contact me to organise a refund for the money I have already paid. Shocking and appalling behaviour to say the least.
• Amateur Photographer - The recent copy dated 03/12/2011 arrived in a less than perfect manner. The pages had not been cut properly, so they all required careful 'ripping' apart before the magazine could be read. A short email prompted a quick response the following day. "We can confirm that your subscription will be extended by 1 issue by way of compensation." On top of this, I received a letter the other month informing me that I was being switched to their cheapest subscription price. The magazine might use the word amateur in it's title, but they are one of the best companies for treating their subscribers.
• British Journal of Photography - I am not the most organised of people, but about this time last year took it upon myself to sort my magazines and journals into some kind of order. I promptly noticed that my August 2010 copy of BJP was missing, emailed them and was told that another was being dispatched immediately. I am still waiting over a year later for it to arrive. I guess someone must really like the work of Lee Friedlander, featured in the edition in question, and decided to keep the replacement meant for me along with the original copy. Considering how expensive BJP is, I'm still a little gutted about this.
• Ag Photography Journal - The death of Chris Dickie is unfortunate, which is what makes Ag's ability to offer brief (almost bi-monthly) updates via their website all the more remarkable. Ag 64 - The Memorial Issue will be something to treasure, no doubt.

Apologies for the rant. I have decided to trim back on subscriptions in the year coming, both to help out my pocket and to minimise stress. I am also in the process of producing a newspaper for the Dinner A Day series which should be ready around mid-January.

[EDIT / UPDATE]

• I take back all those nice things that I said about Amateur Photographer, shortly after I posted this, they sent me a letter confirming my new quarterly direct debit was to increase to £26.52, which is significantly more than the £18.99 that new subscribers are currently being offered. What price loyalty? £7.53 clearly. Suffice to say, I cancelled my subscription, their loss really.

Chris

Distractions

Rather than doing the work that needs to be done for the Dissertation module, I decided to spend today thinking about marketing and design for the Professional & Community Practice module. One thing led to another and, before I knew what had happened, I was hooked on QR codes.

This QR code is for Izzy's 'in my eyes.' website. I have updated the site today to include some of her digital 'drawings'. She's already better than me!

I am currently mulling over whether to include a QR code on my new business card, in place of my website address. Not sure whether I will end up going with one in my final design, but it has certainly given me food for thought and some welcome distraction from the more pressing matters in hand.

Now I really must get on with the Dissertation work...

Chris