Melbourne Cup

Saw some random lady in the park today waving around the Melbourne Cup. The race is not on for another month.

Bob

EV +1

I got into a heated discussion with a camera whiz kid from JB Hi-Fi today. The discussion was over the exposure compensation function on digital cameras and what exactly it did. When set to auto mode, Whiz Kid believed that turning the exposure compensation dial on a digital camera was a 'post' process. Just like fixing the levels in Photoshop, it did nothing to alter shutter speed and aperture settings. He believed it 'just made the screen brighter or darker.' I told him it wasn't a 'post' process at all. When shooting in auto mode, changing exposure compensation actually does alter either aperture or shutter speed settings. It's the only way an image can get darker or brighter besides changing the ISO.

If I had remembered to point out that an exposure compensation dial existed on film cameras long before digital cameras, Photoshop and this 'post' business I could have won the discussion right in the shop.

Zines

Big day tomorrow. I spent the last few days hand making 32 copies of my two zines in parparation for the Museum of Contemporary Art's annual zine fair. There's still something really great and satisfying about the hand made. Sometime I wish my own art practice was less technologically driven. I hope people like my zines.

Do You Wink At Dogs?

$7.25

The money I found on the street this week while looking for things to photograph.

Waiting at Ōtautahi Airport

Missed

I ran up the stairs tonight to discover I had missed not only one, but two trains simultaneously. Both were stopping at my station.

Catching A Rainbow

CMYK

I was designing my photo book yesterday. In my excitement, I repeated the mistake that many designers do, which was to go straight to the computer and start designing without first doing any planning on paper. A few hours in, realising my mistake and that the best way to visualise the sequence of my photo book was to printout all the photos and lay them all out on the floor. I took a trip to the photo lab.

When I picked up my prints I was in for a surprise. A dozen of the prints looked like they had been digitally crossed processed. Their colours looked completely wacky. I’ve never seen digital prints turn out this way unintentionally. The photo technician explained that it was because those photos had been covered to the CMYK colour space. I had converted them for my book. He set the files back to RGB and the images printed out disappointingly normally. I left in a hurry in case he decided to charge me for the reprinting.

Police Were Called

Tonight a man in his late 30s' driving a car similar to this seemed like he was trying to abduct me while I was walking back to my car. I had to turn down 4 streets to try and avoid walking past his car. He doubled back 4 times waiting for me to walk pass. Scared the crap out of me.

After I got home and told my friends about what had happened I decided to drive back and look for the car. I immediately found a car very similar to the one that was following me and followed it until it pulled into a drive way. I took a photo of the car but can't be sure if it was the same one that had stalked me earlier.

Dope

Sniffer dogs back in action today at the train station. I saw one guy get pulled up by a sniffer dog. As the police officer informed him of his right to remain silent, he blurbed out, ‘It’s ok, I smoke pot.’ Dope.

Woof

At the train station tonight, I saw a police sniffer dog race along the plateform with it’s handler. The dog lead the policemen out through the turnstiles, up the concourse, down two flights of stairs, onto the footpath, then sat in front of a man standing on the street. Effectively accusing him of drug possession. I left. Amazed.

Secretly I have always wanted a sniffer dog to sit in front of me. Simply to prove dogs do make mistakes. But that has never happened.

Dear Vi

It was Vi's birthday. I have trouble expressing my thoughts on cards. Using a few well chosen words people expect you to write like a poet and share some profound personal thoughts while avoiding clichés. People never throw away their cards but they expect you to write in them as quickly as you write on yellow Post It notes. Only the message is not about paying bills or picking up milk but about that other thing, the same other thing present in all good art.

My Memory is Shot

I wasn't expecting to have one of those moments. We had just gotten off a flight from Sydney to Melbourne and was on a bus into the city enjoying our driver's comedy commentary about Melbourne, when out of no where he announced "they got him, Osama Bin Laden is dead." I will always remember where I was hearing this news, because I still haven't forgotten where I was during September 11.

Puko Opening a Bag of Dog Food for his Buddy

Before / After

I got my hair cut the other day. I go to a regular barber shop, but each time I go I never get the same hair dresser.

Soon after I got started a big guy with blonde, frizzy, curly hair sat into the chair next to me. I over heard him say he had not cut his hair in over 2 years. Jokingly, the hair dresser told everyone in the shop he was going to charge him $100 because he had so much hair that needed cutting. When they finished cutting his hair he looked like a new person, very handsome. I sat in the chair for another 15 minutes after he left before I was done. I guess it's not the length of the hair, but the shape of the haircut that takes the most time.