051 - Rock Guitarist

051 - Rock Guitarist, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Ah, what fun one can have on a sunday night with some cardboard and a roll of adhesive tape. I was sitting thinking, in the special thinking room on that special thinking seat and wondered whether, if i had any sort of voice for singing, I could have been the front man for a group.

The guitar really is just cut up and taped together from a cardboard box I had brought home from the supermarket a few months ago for another project, and it has been acting as a stand in the wardrobe for another box I brought home at the same time but which my wife now keeps her supply of funky new belts in. Of course, in the excitement of taking the picture, I actually held it the wrong way around, so some editing was necessary - and while I was at it I gave it a very 1970s flare, and went green this time.

As I have mentioned before, I don't buy props, I just use what is around me. I might add that the guitar looks a LOT better in the picture than it does in reality, it's cardboard color for a start, and doesn't have any knobs on.

If you are going to make prop, don't make it perfect as the eye is good at spotting imperfections in detail: while a few broad strokes to indicate something and the brain fills in the details itself. The chances are, if I had not mentioned the guitar but talked about something else, you would have assumed I really had a guitar. You might also have assumed that I could play the guitar, which I can't. I could have just posted these rocker images and said that I had a jamming session, and you would have believed that as well, if you didn't know me. Remarkable, but true.

050 - Rocker Screensaver

050 - Rocker Screensaver, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Having taken a piece of my art and abused it to achieve a description of the art -craft divide, I decided to use it as a screensaver, but because the image was so big only this amount showed on screen. Another unexpected view on my image through taking an action. At the same time Iggy Pop was singing away in the background (he just popped around for a coffee, he said), and something else clicked. Now I have a new screensaver for work, with parts of the lyrics of that song in the image.

The more you do, the more you find you can do. When I don't take pictures, nothing much happens, but I just decided to take one this weekend and now I have a whole series. This is a general principal you can apply to anything (but use it wisely, said the master), and it only gets better with practice.

047 - D is for getting older Disgracefully

047 - D is for getting older Disgracefully, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Sometimes I wonder why the people around me are getting older so quickly, what happened to those promises they made when they were young? I know what they say now, but what will they say when they retire and can no longer remember the way back?

Often the issue is confidence versus the expectations of the society we live in. Follow the plan society lays down and you will have a happy, fulfilling life, but what if the plan is wrong for you, the way you think is different, what then? Does this make you a danger to society, might you point out some fatal flaw and the whole edifice will come tumbling down.

If you are secure in the system of society, you may be afraid that you will not be able to cope with the change, but the reality is that change does not come from the rebellious thinkers but those working societies knobs for their own gains, trying to put there power group at the top politically or taking risks with mortgage lending to make vast quantities of money.

Rebelious thinkers seem more often to say, hey, have you any idea how much pain you are doing to certain segments of society who lack the ability to fend for themselves.

Think about the kind of person who brings about war or stock market crashes, and then think about who brings changes in thinking that create equality for more people.

27-Smile... It's Friday

The end of my rainbow, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Smiling, and a shot straight out of the camera.

Always be prepared to drop an idea when it begins to fall apart. This one was supposed to show the top half of my head in the main mirror, and my smiling mouth offset in the small mirror, but it was just too difficult to set up without the shower appearing in shot. So I dumped it, and went for putting the beer in the small mirror and then doing a series of shots until I was in shot - and by some luck I picked up some of the flash on the side of my face.

The camera I set to the 'dusk' automatic setting after quickly trying out several other settings to get the best colour - the indoor setting was washing out the colours, while the beach and the sunset settings made everything go too red/yellow.