Saturday, March 25, 2006

I'm probably addicted to fruit cake

Last night i met Ian Mackaye. I shook his hand (twice) and mumbled a few words. I've respected and looked up to him for a while, he was everything i thought he would be, i guess you could call him one of my hero's.
To cut a long story short me and Katherine went to see The Evens play in Leeds last night. The show was in a church and we were all sat on the pews with the band at the front. It was an amazing performance and atmosphere. It made a change to be sat down and not have to worry about being crushed by a drunk crowd or have some meathead blow smoke in your face but the intensity of the music meant everyone was still buzzing at the end.

I'm off to Dublin on Monday for a few days. While we're over there i'm off to see Henry Rollins and then to end the week me and Katherine are off to see Redneck Manifesto, which should be a cracking night. There won't be any updates for a week or so but expect plenty of snaps when i come back.

Oversmith


Oversmith
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.



Proof if any is needed that camo pants should not be worn because you never know when some idiot will have his camera with him.

Did you know that.....


Did you know that.....
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.



One of the shots i got on a stroll around Dean Clough Mills a couple of weeks ago. Click to see more.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Cut self not

The gig on saturday was amazing. The second support band came on and the these were the first words the singer said,
"Hey, we're Murder by Death from Indiana and we sing songs about the devil, drinking whiskey and cowboys."
At which point they're already won me over, they're set was over too fast and full of energy.
After that it was Against Me. It got very crammed near the front and the stage diving started from the first song. They didn't play as much from they're lastest album as i'd expected but it was one amazing song after another. I almost lost my voice from singing along and ofcourse got a stiff neck from all the head nodding!


Against Me!_1
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.



As predicted i finished the roll in my T5 and this is one of my favourite shots on it. This one was taken in a coffee shop in Windsor when we were escaping the cold. Click the image to see others and a few more from the gig too.


Coffeeshop
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Your not saying anything we haven't heard before...

Seeing how its the Against Me! gig tomorrow i'm listening to 'Searching for a former clarity' almost on full volume, that is when my speakers make up their mind to work.
Its a pretty routine friday night, which over the past few weeks involves sitting infront of a computer at home, alone, listening to music to avoid television and feeling completely wrecked after work. I swear if i did nine hours manual labour i'd be less tired it must be the act of forcing myself to be nice to customers that wears me down. I complain but there are advantages...i still have something to do with photography and i get to see other peoples photographs, which most of the time are shit but i deffo get my fair share of "interesting" shots.
I wish i enjoyed going out at night more. Maybe i over did it a little back in the day. A lot of times when i'm out it just seems like the only thing going on is everyone trying to out-do each other with stories of shitness. I'm as guilty as the next when i have a drink. The latter being pretty rare these days. I'm not gonna label myself as straight edge cause i'm sick of having to have a name or fit into a catorgrey just because you have a certain opinion. Plus tomorrow night you get £1 bottle at the gig and i'll be drinking it...might as well but it'll probably be my only drink of the night.
Its a weird time at the moment, kinda like i'm losing touch. Everyone's busy living their own life and time is flying. I don't activately fight the situation either..mix tiredness and laziness together and not much is gonna happen.

This kinda isn't the reason i started writing one of these blogs, so if anyone looking at this is wondering where the photography's at...click the photos and it links to my Flickr Page which is wall to wall imagery.
And on that note hopefully i'll finish the roll in my T5 at the gig and get the roll of slide film i have dev'ed next week, so i'll have some fresh shit to post.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Downside Whip (Thingy)


Downside Whip (Thingy)
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.



Well what a day. Spent most of the day at Silvertone where i produced this print for the Sandy Carson photography competition and a few others for my portfolio. Having a stint in the darkroom made me realise i'd become a little rusty but i was flying again after an hour. I can't thank Ian enough really and anyone reading this that needs some quality prints knocking out should check out the link on the right hand side of this page.
Tomorrow is Katherine's and mine one year anniversary. Doesn't time fly...only feels like yesterday i was single and out on the town every night.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

One of those days when its a minute away from snowing

Sorry for using an American Beauty quote but it sums up the weekend perfectly. Saturday morning was spent at Dean Clough Mills, the book fair was packed and buzzing. Vicky and her family were in attendence, very grateful for letting me join you for coffee btw. After a couple of laps of the fair and picking up all the flyers going i walked around outside taking shots of people unawares and then left.



Cute snowman
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.




On Sunday we woke up to snow, that kept going, and going....so much so that i couldn't resist running out and building snowmen. In the end i had a cute and an evil one, see the shot above and the rest i took on my Flickr page.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Do artists use business cards?

Below is a little thing i made so i can give people my contact details. The first occasion they shall be in use is at Dean Clough Gallery on saturday at the Artist's Book Fair.
Its unbelievable how much i'd kill for a darkroom of my own right now. I want to experiment and spend hours practicing all the different techniques that i read about but at the moment i'm limited to an hour here and there at college when its not too busy. However, Ian at Silvertone is letting me do a couple of prints next week for a competition, which i'm really grateful for, but still i'm always aware that i'm probably in the way a little.



contact details
Originally uploaded by Paper Thin.




Back to work tomorrow for another couple of days and then the weekend. If anyone knows anywhere in Leeds that serves free refill coffee or even better an American theme diner please let me know.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

the elderly rock my world

Its been a busy last few days. We went to 'Focus On Imaging 2006' on Monday at the NEC. It was pretty lame cause there was only three booths that had anything to do with black and white. The best bit was a toning demo at the Ilford stand and had a bit of banter with the guy printing but other than that it was like monochrome didn't exist. Most of the show dealt with penis-extension telephoto lenses and how to buy a DSLR with more megapixels than you need.
After that we stayed at Katherine's house for a couple of days and then today i've had a solo four hour drive up the M1 so i can go to work tomorrow.
In other news been running a film thru the T5 and trying to get some people shots. Any gud un's will be up on my Flickr thingy when i finish the film.
And in complete random news did you know Andy Kaufman died on the same day that i was born. And neither of us are related to Charlie Kaufman btw.