Hello to all and welcome!
I can't really say what you should expect to see here as I've never before tried blogging or anything similar. It'll have to be a work in progress. I'll probably talk about photography in general (and mine in specific) as well as point out different things that are going on that I find interesting or worth commenting on. If anyone (assuming anyone actually ends up reading this) has questions or suggestions on topics, feel free to let me know.
I'm here you're with me, here at the beginning of all things.
Roger
p.s. Comments and feedback are very welcome.
Hollows
I finished reading "Into the Woods", which is a short story collection by Kim Harrison, half of which are stories set in her "Hollows" world and half that aren't.
I'm still quite surprised in some ways how much I enjoy her Hollows books. On the surface, there is nothing in them that I should like at all. I'm not a fan of supernatural, especially ones that feature vampires. So what is it about this combination a Witch, a Vampire and a Pixie that really works? Partly, I guess, is that the world is really well developed. The rules are laid out and followed, which I appreciate. Then, there are the characters. These are unique individuals who are well conceived and written. Their interactions are interesting because their personalities both mix and clash in believable ways.
As for this book, most of the Hollows stories were previously released (although I only had seen one or two of them) and one new. They are an interesting chance to see many of the main characters in close-up and in ways you don't get in the books. Especially Jenks, who is strongly featured in two of the stories.
The non-Hollows stories are a mixed bag of modern supernatural fantasy. I really liked the story "Grace," which takes place in a world where some people have the ability to affect and project electrical energy. This ability is HIGHLY regulated, to the extent that anyone who can do so either has to join the government division that polices such people, or else have the ability surgically removed. A couple other stories deal with dryads interacting with the modern world in different ways. The remaining one is harder to describe, so I won't bother.
If you like Kim Harrison's books, definitely a must. If you haven't read her books, pick up "Dead Witch Walking" and go from there. This will be waiting for when you're ready.
Arboretum Show
I was helping set up the APS show at the Arboretum earlier. Things are looking pretty good.
I copied the following description from the Arboretum website:
'The Larger Perspective'
Jan. 15-March 31, Restaurant Gallery, Visitor Center
The Arboretum Photographers Society's sixth annual juried show and sale of unique and pristine Arboretum images. In conjunction with the show and sale, the society members will conduct free, informal photo clinics from 1 to 4 p.m. each Saturday in January and February.
I'm signed up to do the clinic on January 26, so feel free to stop by and say hello.
A Week in Review
There's really not been all that much to write about this past week. Geeks Read on Tuesday was "Graceling" which was OK, but nothing I felt like writing about. Book/Movie on Friday was "She", but I wasn't all that thrilled with the movie and couldn't really get into the book either. I had an interview on Wednesday that I hope went well, but you never know.
I also got my framed print back for the Arboretum show, which is being set up on Monday night.
More black and white
Almost a decade ago I decided to take a class on black and white photography. It was a darkroom class and my reasoning was that I wanted to be better able to understand terminology and technique and what goes into creating a print.
Jump to a couple weeks ago. I was looking around my desk area and noticed the negative insert module for my scanner. So I figured I'd give it a shot and see how that works.
Combine the two and you have the photos that appear in this folder: http://www.pavellephoto.com/p812385125
It is interesting to see the old images. I can see different things that started in that class that I've played around with frequently ever since, from playing with shadows to shooting flowers from behind to ocular reflectivity (although I didn't notice or understand the reflection as much back then.
Happy New Year and Les Miz
Happy New Year to all. May the best of the past be the worst of the one to come.
Well, I saw the film version of Les Miserables the other day. I should probably preface the upcoming remarks by noting that I am a HUGE fan of the musical. I've seen it live 3 times, own the original British album as well as the Complete Symphonic version (because that one has the complete show on 3 cds instead of the others, which have edited things to a certain extent). I also own the 10th Anniversary concert (on both VHS and DVD) but not the 25th Anniversary version because I didn't think the singing was up to my expectations. So, needless to say, I went into the move with both high hopes and strong reservations. And, to some extent, both the hopes and reservations were fulfilled.
Let's start with the singing, since that is the most important part of a musical (bad singers can ruin a great show, as the film of Sweeney Todd showed). With one notable exception, I thought the singing in the movie was quite good and the best thing about the movie. The exception, unfortunately, was Russell Crowe as Javert. Where everyone else was bringing strength and passion to what they were singing, Crowe came across as listless and flat. Javert is a role that needs to project strong self-confidence and drive with a touch of anger or malice. None of those showed up in the movie.
Next, the film is generally well shot, but I found the constant use of wide-angle close-ups on the singers to be distracting and annoying after a while.
Finally, for some reason they felt a need to screw around with the script in really stupid ways. Rearranging the song order didn't make sense. Even when I could understand why they wanted to do so (like moving "I Dreamed a Dream" to after "Lovely Ladies" to have it reflect her fallen state) didn't work because it broke the flow of the scenes that surround it (on Broadway, Lovely Ladies flows smoothly and logically into Fantine's arrest, but in the movie it was broken). Other changes, like having Eponine shot before she delivers Marius' letter to Valjean/Cosette didn't make ANY sense since it just meant they had to give the task to someone else. Then, there were all the other small changes to the storyline that either caused problems (they show Fantine selling her teeth [not in the show, but in the book] but she has a full set when singing in the next scenes) or didn't fit (why spend 5 minutes showing Valjean and Cosette escaping into Paris?). I also didn't appreciate the edits to some of the songs (especially in "Drink with Me" and "Turning") which removed some of the sense of futility in what was going on. And, with all the changes, they didn't actually address the one part of the show that I've always felt needed to be made clearer. The book explains that Marius has some negative feelings towards Valjean because of the latter's supposed execution of Javert. This is why he is willing to let him leave and keep him away from Cosette. Thenardier incidentally clears this up at the wedding (as well as the ring which shows Valjean saved Marius from the barracade), which then leads to the finale. The musical doesn't include Marius tying Valjean to Javert, so he just seems like a shallow jerk for letting Valjean leave. I wish they had tried to fix this gap in the script, but no such luck.
So, to sum up, the movie is worth seeing for the singing and some of my issues will be irrelevant for those who are not as familiar with the musical. However, I feel no need to pick up the DVD when it come out. I'll stick to the 10th Anniversary concert if I want to watch it.