Friday, June 26, 2009
Expensive homes too, now
It took a while, but the most expensive houses are now suffering the same fate as the general market. One property is marked down fifty million dollars from last year!
A have a friend with a successful business (last I heard). A few years ago he told me how he was buying houses in Paris, Africa, all over the place. I asked him if this was wise? It could be a real trap. I mean, it didn't even sound like he was planning to rent them out or anything. He said "no no. OK, right now we have to work like hell to pay it all, but this is the new way to get rich. Your method, living beneath your means, is the old-fashioned way."
I never really saw the logic of it, and I'm guessing by now he does not either. Hopefully he did not get caught too badly.
A have a friend with a successful business (last I heard). A few years ago he told me how he was buying houses in Paris, Africa, all over the place. I asked him if this was wise? It could be a real trap. I mean, it didn't even sound like he was planning to rent them out or anything. He said "no no. OK, right now we have to work like hell to pay it all, but this is the new way to get rich. Your method, living beneath your means, is the old-fashioned way."
I never really saw the logic of it, and I'm guessing by now he does not either. Hopefully he did not get caught too badly.
Bare fruit
It seems I've had so many "sexy" posts in the last couple days, I might as well add this one.
How you doin'?
A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you.
-- Bert Leston Taylor
Yes, funny, isn't it? I've always been a little bit confused about the greeting "how are you?" Because it's not the same as "hello" and you can't say "hello" back. But at the same time it's not really a request for a real answer, because unless it's a close friend saying it, he really does not want to hear about your recent little personal problems or victories. So basically the only appropriate answer is "good, good" or similar, which makes the whole thing a bit meaningless, doesn't it?
Actually I found out that "thank you" is a good answer which leaves everybody happy, even though it does not really make sense.
Author Gary Renard, in a recent podcast, told how he'd said "how you doing?" to an old guy working in a menial job in an airport. And the guy, seemingly non-sarcastic and actually happy, said "I'm living the dream".
I like that. It's not in how you have it, but how you take it.
-- Bert Leston Taylor
Yes, funny, isn't it? I've always been a little bit confused about the greeting "how are you?" Because it's not the same as "hello" and you can't say "hello" back. But at the same time it's not really a request for a real answer, because unless it's a close friend saying it, he really does not want to hear about your recent little personal problems or victories. So basically the only appropriate answer is "good, good" or similar, which makes the whole thing a bit meaningless, doesn't it?
Update:
Author Gary Renard, in a recent podcast, told how he'd said "how you doing?" to an old guy working in a menial job in an airport. And the guy, seemingly non-sarcastic and actually happy, said "I'm living the dream".
I like that. It's not in how you have it, but how you take it.
Video cameras and combo cameras
Article about the difference between a still camera which also does video, and a real video camera. Turns out there are many more differences than one might expect, and some are interesting.
On composing pictures (updated)
Article on composing photos.
The amazing thing about composition is how few people really do it, both painters and photographers. They just arrange things so they fit in the frame, that's it. Very rarely does anybody work consciously with lines and tension in the frame. How rare? Well, as an example I've probably had pictures submitted to Domai from over a thousand photographers. 98% of them were good enough to be publishable. In other words, these guys are far better than the average snapshooter. And yet, of those thousand photographers I've found maybe five who seemed to me to be working consciously and artistically with composition.
Update:
Tommy said:
Eolake.. Composition, I'm glad that this subject came up again. I've been reading a book on composition and you recently had a posting of a picture that you say has good composition. It's a posting from May 13th 2009 of an old neighborhood covered in snow [see below, posted again. -E]. I've looked and thought about that picture quite a bit while thinking on the book that I'm reading. The book doesn't (unless I haven't gotten to it yet) talk about lines in a photo being what makes good composition, which if I remember right you thought was what made it a well composed picture. I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute and make some additional comments on that picture as to what makes it's composition good.
Well, now you put me in the spot. Nobody agrees on anything in aesthetics and composition! :-)
Firstly, for some reason I tend to think about pictures mainly in terms of lines. I don't know why. Others has "Shapes" as their basic, others have Color, others have Message, others have Subject... you get the idea.
Why do I think this is a good composition? The short answer is, I enjoy it, it excites me. But that does not help you. The longer answer is hard... I doubt whether we will ever get a scientific formula which explains it, but to me it feels like every part of this picture "is aware" of every other part. As if they are placed deliberately to make a Whole. As if there is a particular tension and at the same time harmony between every shape and every line within the frame.
Too much tension and too little harmony makes a picture (or book, or song) discordant, unpleasant. Too much harmony and too little tension makes it boring and predictable.
Pop music and cookie-jar paintings tend to lean towards the harmonic side. Avant-garde art tends to lean towards tension.
Example: in the picture below, the wires across the sky are slanted. If they were horizontal and if the tree in the middle had been totally vertical, the whole thing (to me) would be too harmonious and thus boring. It would have lost the precious tension.
Hope I'm helping.
Basic courses on composition usually explains about "L" compositions, triangle compositions, circle compositions, etc. I think this is a good start, because it makes you start to think about the frame and elements as a whole. But of course as an artist advances, he goes beyond those basic shapes.
The amazing thing about composition is how few people really do it, both painters and photographers. They just arrange things so they fit in the frame, that's it. Very rarely does anybody work consciously with lines and tension in the frame. How rare? Well, as an example I've probably had pictures submitted to Domai from over a thousand photographers. 98% of them were good enough to be publishable. In other words, these guys are far better than the average snapshooter. And yet, of those thousand photographers I've found maybe five who seemed to me to be working consciously and artistically with composition.
Update:
Tommy said:
Eolake.. Composition, I'm glad that this subject came up again. I've been reading a book on composition and you recently had a posting of a picture that you say has good composition. It's a posting from May 13th 2009 of an old neighborhood covered in snow [see below, posted again. -E]. I've looked and thought about that picture quite a bit while thinking on the book that I'm reading. The book doesn't (unless I haven't gotten to it yet) talk about lines in a photo being what makes good composition, which if I remember right you thought was what made it a well composed picture. I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute and make some additional comments on that picture as to what makes it's composition good.
Well, now you put me in the spot. Nobody agrees on anything in aesthetics and composition! :-)
Firstly, for some reason I tend to think about pictures mainly in terms of lines. I don't know why. Others has "Shapes" as their basic, others have Color, others have Message, others have Subject... you get the idea.
Why do I think this is a good composition? The short answer is, I enjoy it, it excites me. But that does not help you. The longer answer is hard... I doubt whether we will ever get a scientific formula which explains it, but to me it feels like every part of this picture "is aware" of every other part. As if they are placed deliberately to make a Whole. As if there is a particular tension and at the same time harmony between every shape and every line within the frame.
Too much tension and too little harmony makes a picture (or book, or song) discordant, unpleasant. Too much harmony and too little tension makes it boring and predictable.
Pop music and cookie-jar paintings tend to lean towards the harmonic side. Avant-garde art tends to lean towards tension.
Example: in the picture below, the wires across the sky are slanted. If they were horizontal and if the tree in the middle had been totally vertical, the whole thing (to me) would be too harmonious and thus boring. It would have lost the precious tension.
Hope I'm helping.
Basic courses on composition usually explains about "L" compositions, triangle compositions, circle compositions, etc. I think this is a good start, because it makes you start to think about the frame and elements as a whole. But of course as an artist advances, he goes beyond those basic shapes.
Thom on compact cameras
"The other place for growth is to sell something to everyone you've already sold something to. That's what my Compact Challenge was all about: every serious shooter I know--not some, but EVERY--is looking around for their Everywhere Camera and not quite finding it. We try new compacts like the P6000, G10, and LX3 when they come out and pick the one that comes the closest to what we want (another Nikon problem, it isn't the P6000). But we're not happy. We're still shopping. We looked at the DP-1 (and DP-2) and passed. We're looking at the E-P1 now and finding something that looks like it might pass muster."
Thom, Nikon expert. (His site does not have permalinks to posts, but the quote is from a June 21st post.)
Thom, Nikon expert. (His site does not have permalinks to posts, but the quote is from a June 21st post.)
Parents banned from taking pictures of their own children at sports day
Parents banned from taking pictures of their own children at sports day, article.
This insanity is reaching ever-higher levels, especially here in the UK. I'm banging my head on the wall. If some pedo gets off on seeing clothed children, all he has to do is go out in the street and look! So banning photographing them makes as much sense as... fuck, I can't even come up with an equally insane example to mock this. It's a self-parody.
This insanity is reaching ever-higher levels, especially here in the UK. I'm banging my head on the wall. If some pedo gets off on seeing clothed children, all he has to do is go out in the street and look! So banning photographing them makes as much sense as... fuck, I can't even come up with an equally insane example to mock this. It's a self-parody.
More revolutions per minute than Argentina
Dyson DC31 Handheld Vacuum Has The World's Fastest Motor, article.
"James Dyson claims his 2.2lb DC31 handheld vacuum has the world's fastest motor "by a long stretch." Thanks to a new switched reluctance motor, it's capable of achieving 104,000 revolutions per minute."
That is impressive.
I have a compact Dyson myself. Best vacuum cleaner I ever had or tried.
"James Dyson claims his 2.2lb DC31 handheld vacuum has the world's fastest motor "by a long stretch." Thanks to a new switched reluctance motor, it's capable of achieving 104,000 revolutions per minute."
That is impressive.
I have a compact Dyson myself. Best vacuum cleaner I ever had or tried.
No sexy apps for the iPhone?
No sexy apps for the iPhone? Article. Too bad, would have been cool for Domai.
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