This is the first photo of my photo blog. I’ll just be selecting a good photo, probably enhancing it electromonically, and publishing it here. Some will be new photos (as with this one) and some may be taken from my collection, but they’ll all be my own. Click the thumb to see a larger version. If you like my photos and want to use them for any reason drop me a line to john@johnleach.co.uk and I might provide you with a full resolution version.
I’ve uploaded some new shots around Armley (plus one errant one in Bradford of my Sister).
I also bought a cheap-ass telephoto/macro lens to try sate my close-up needs. I’ve bunged up a few shots I’ve taken with it. It’s a Sigma 70-300mm APO (f/4 – 5.6). f/5.6 is useless at 300mm in dim light, so this is a strictly bright daytime or flash lens (though the flash is obviously of no use with anything other than close-up at 300mm). The auto-focus drive is slow and noisy too. Compared to the fast and expensive Nikon lenses of equivalent focal length, this doesn’t seem bad for the hilariously low price (though to be honest, I’ve not used the expensive lenses). I’m not experienced enough yet to comment on sharpness or colour saturation or anything. I’ve not noticed any obvious problems yet, and no obvious lense distortion, but I really dont’ know what to look for yet.
Two anime films back to back. First of all, Katsuhiro �tomo’s Steamboy. Truly impressive artwork, amazing sound engineering, utterly poop story. I enjoyed the film but a second or third viewing would only be to check out the visuals. Set in Manchester and London in the steam powered 19th century, young Ray Steam has to help his father and grandfather do some crazy shit protecting their high pressure steamball invention. It’s insanely surreal to see an army of steam powered soldier-robots and flying steam powered attack kites fighting against a Japanese-speaking British army led by Robert Stephenson in the centre of 19th century London. Really, it is, you’ll just have to take my word for it.
What this film lacks in plot, is almost perfectly balanced with lovely things to look at. Almost. Apparently I’m one of very few people outside of Japan to see this film. Don’t I feel so goddam elite.
(more…)
About Baghdad is a video collage of interviews and scenes from the streets of Baghdad shorted after the 2003 war (after? is it over?). Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi writer and poet who fleed to the US during Saddam’s regime, revisits his home and talks to other Iraqi people about their views. This was really interesting. What wasn’t suprising was that a majority of the views of Iraqi people are very different from how the mainstream press report them. They are of course very happy that Saddam is gone, and largely thankful to America for this but they basically feel that they need to be running things themselves now, and if this doesn’t happen soon there will be rebellion. Remember these are interviews from a year ago. Also remember all the violence going on currently and how it’s portrayed as a small number of “insurgents” who are going against the wishes of the real Iraqi people.
(more…)
Now I’ve seen two more films. First up was Vera Drake. Vera is a “working-class” 1950s abortionist. She performs the “operations” because she genuinely believes the girls need help, and charges no money for doing it. Eventually she gets caught and prosecuted under the ‘Offences Against the Person Act of 1861’.
Directed by Mike Leigh and with Imelda Staunton as Vera the film is absolutely wonderful. It primarily tells Vera’s story, but comments on many other things, including the story of an upper-class girl who pays for a professional operation and everything goes fine and dandy. Being rich rocks eh? Also, Reg and Ethel were the cutest couple I’ve ever seen, heh.
(more…)
My first film of the festival was Garden State, an amusing but pretty dark film starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman. My favourite scene was the 5 second shot of the main character modelling the shirt his auntie made from room decorating offcuts, but that’s not to say the rest of the film wasn’t great, just that I was considerably amused.
My second run was the short film panorama containing a number of short films made around the world. My favourite’s being “The Best Of Lukas M.”, “Scherubel”, “Handicap” and “Plasticat”. I’m not rating the films as requested by the organisers, as rating *anything* on an entirely arbitrary numerical scale is, well, entirely arbitrary.
(more…)
