Short shorts

The Queen is Dead

2011-11-12T13:14:00.013+01:00

Following my last post concerning my first bee hive colony I took some advice from experienced beekeepers and gave them more freshly made sugar syrup. It was late (October) for this but I felt I had to provide them with something to make food for the winter months ahead. Two weeks later I noticed that they hadn't touched it, so I took it away and placed some fondant directly above/on the frames. I noticed the colony were down in numbers but not drastically. I also placed the mouse guard on the entrance.

Yesterday, 10 days later, I watched the hive entrance for a while and saw no activity. The sun was up and was hitting the hive, it was a cold day but warm in the sun. I noticed a few bees flying but they could either not find the entrance and flew away or they were bees from another colony.

I had assumed that it was too cold for them to be out or due to lower numbers needed to stay close to the queen. I couldn't resist lifting the roof to see what was happening and to my horror I found it empty apart from maybe 50 bees huddled together, presumably around the queen. I quickly put back the roof but realised that they wouldn't survive like that. I also noticed there were many wasps around probably because of the dead carcasses around the hive and blocking up the entrance.

The next morning I was proved correct, the queen was in fact dead and lying on the floor of the hive along with about 40 bees. Where are the thousands of others that were there two weeks ago? Would they have died outside the hive?

I took the hive apart and inspected all the frames to see if I could find out a cause. I photographed them too, you can see them below.

I'm not sure now what I am supposed to do with these frames, as I do not have any other bees. Should they be stored, spun-off, destroyed? Not sure yet if they were diseased or not but there are some bodies part in/out of cells and the floor board has many heads amongst the other debris which had fallen through.

I have kept some of the dead bees and the queen, in the hope someone can look at them to help me evaluate the cause. I'll put up some closer images of what I find in the next blog.

11/11/11 a sad day indeed.

To see the frames as a more detailed image, you should download it first otherwise your browser(or blogger) will just resize it smaller to fit in the window:

Bees, Frames and Hive, Italian Alps, Oct 2011

2011-10-14T20:36:00.013+02:00

So on a balmy Indian summer October day I checked the condition of my bee hive and the occupants. Its my first and only hive which I took ownership and responsibility for at the end of August.

A new colony from early summer who spent the summer months drawing out the wax and growing in numbers. The hive has been only a brood box as they have not needed to expand at all and therefore there has not been surplus honey for us to steal away from them This is expected in the first year.

Now that autumn should be well underway and winter around the corner, I wanted to make sure that they were treated for varroa and nosema and fed. I took a video of the inspection and you can plainly see that the two end frames are drawn out but with very little in the way of stores. Being a novice I was not that confident that I new what I was looking for. However I spotted the queen, you can see her quite clearly on two of the frames, she has a white dot painted on her for ease of recognition and to show the year she took the thrown (2011).

The treatment of varroa seems to have been successful since the bottom board showed about 300 mites after the first week and a little more the second and the third less. Each treatment I preceded by placing a new white piece of paper on the board smeared with vaseline.

I have given them about 6 kilo of sugar syrup so far and this was fed to them over a four week period, there is about a liter left which they seem to be avoiding. About 50 bees have drowned over that same period.

Wasps are very interested in the hive and I have seen one enter the main entrance and I didn't see it leave. I thought they were being robbed once by other bees which panicked me for a while. I realized that I probably caused the commotion as it was when I made the first ApiLife Var treatment.

Any comments or thoughts on what I should do (or not do) with regard to the apparent lack of stores is welcome! The hive is in a good place for the hot summer days since it also offers some shade but I realize now that there will be no sun falling on it during the cold winter months. At 650m altitude the temperature has dropped to -16C in previous years. Although most of October has so far stayed between 15C and 25C, only dropping to 11 once at night.

Apple harvest Val Venosta 2011

2011-09-20T11:45:00.010+02:00

A time-lapse sequence (25 fps = 0'44") of all 1100 photographs I made 19th September 2011. There is a jump toward the end, I was distracted and didn't replace the 2nd 16GB card in the camera on time, I missed about an hour, 120 shots (4 secs) :-(

Subjects include:
Apple picking in Val Venosta, South Tyrol, Italy

Typical! The only two days that it rained in September were these, and just when these trees were harvested. Shot from a back window of the castle (Schloss Goldrain) so the camera was dry. It was also the first snow of the season, you may just see it on the mountains at the end of the sequence. Over these two days the temperature dropped 10-15 degrees but one week later back to summer!

I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM and a timer - 1 shot every 30 seconds.

Not Enough Time

2011-06-14T20:01:00.015+02:00

Just thought I'd give an update on how my latest show was received at the Fantadia Festival 2011.

Not Enough Time (Non abbastanza tempo) 6 minutes, HD (1920x1080)

I was honored that it was selected to close the festival on Sunday evening.
It was felt that it epitomized what the festival was about in content, emotion and execution.
The Duse Theatre was almost at full capacity.

Inspired by a poem, of the same title, a collection of words by Daniel Rowbotham following the loss of his daughter in 2008. When asked about the apparent hidden meanings, he replied:

"I had been guided to write everything down, as my head was in a mess. It was the time when Beren was in the chapel of rest around the corner at the undertakers. I woke with a start, sat up scribbled, crashed back into deep sleep. This happened again not long after, the result is the words printed on the sheet unaltered, unedited. It is remarkable that you have found such fantastic meanings in them."

It was an emotional struggle for me to complete the show on time and was only possible to due the dedication and hard work from those who helped me get there. Especially from Sandro Di Stefano (Rome) who composed the music and created the finished soundtrack. He understood the subject and my initial concept so well that we were able to work from a distance, he propped me up. The voice of my brother Dan was recorded from an even further distance over the telephone, this was meant to be a guide for a voice-over artist to recreate in English as well as Italian. In the end it features in the soundtrack, it lends so much of the power behind the emotion and message that I could not leave it out. The poem was kindly interpreted from English to Italian by Silvia Tiso and with the help from Marcello Mazzilli and expertise of Federico Pelle we were able to record the great voice of Maurizio Busato for the Italian, this was recorded at The Basement in Vicenza. All of these people donated their time and energy for free, without much notice and with a tight schedule. I shall remain eternally grateful to them. Additional thanks also to my wife Sabrina for organising me and the donations in Asolo, to Hans Ruedisueli who helped me through some technical issues and for his moral support, and of course to all the Fantadia staff and crew.

The original visual material used in the show came primarily from online image stock sites, paid for through royalty-free use or from free image sites. Also many images came from the Menigitis Research Foundation website www.menigitis.org (Book of Remembrance). A small selection came from various family members or were created by me.

It is dedicated to my niece, Beren Rowbotham ,who at the age of ten lost her fight against meningitis (meningococcal septicaemia). The opening title was written by her older sister Cendl.

Even though the audience had bought tickets for the whole evening of shows, a donation box outside the theatre collected 230 Euro. This will be put towards the sponsorship of the 1000 mile tandem bike ride by Dan and Jen, from Hereford (UK) to Vierzon (France) which starts this weekend (18th June), to help raise awareness and funds for further research.

For more information about this visit: http://1000milesforberen.com/

If you weren't in Asolo to see it's first screening, then you can watch it here online. Eventually it will be available to download in higher resolution for use at other fund raising/ awareness events and distribution.

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SWF movie - Right mouse click/Ctrl click, Play

"...please send this tear-stained thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has helped you make such a wonderful work of art from the few words that I gave you. A great tribute to Beren." Dan Rowbotham

Masters of Photography

2011-02-11T18:16:00.011+01:00

This month I feel greatly honored that my name appears alongside some of the most well known names in the history of photography. Not that I am now history but because one of my photographs has been selected for an exhibition which opens tomorrow (12 Feb 2011 - 02 Apr 2011) at the Falmouth Art Gallery in Cornwall.

Falmouth's art collection is one of the most important in Cornwall, and features works by major British artists including international photographers.

"This major international photography exhibition features iconic images by Eve Arnold, Jane Bown, Julia Margaret Cameron, Fay Godwin, Linda McCartney, Lee Miller and Man Ray.

"Showing for the first time are some of the best images of the short-lived photographer, Ian Stern, who worked for several years on the ground breaking Man Alive documentaries, learning his craft under the BAFTA-winning cameraman Phil Meheux.

"Among Cornwall-based contemporary photographers featured are Vince Bevan, Anthony Fagin, Kate Fagin, Miles Flint, Andrew Lanyon, Slavek Leszczynski, Alex Rowbotham, Nik Strangelove, Steve Tanner, Gary Treadwell, and Mark Webster."

If you're in the area, you shouldn't miss it.

Total photos - November 2010

2011-01-03T21:06:00.004+01:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'02") of all 14 photographs I made during November 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include::
Val Venosta, South Tyrol, Italy

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2010

2010-11-15T15:05:00.006+01:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'36") of all 217 photographs I made during October 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (South Tyrol, Italy and Cornwall, UK):
Sorgente, Holiday Cottage, Penryn, Cornwall, UK
Porthoustock and St.Keverne, Cornwall, UK
The Curtis family and Natasha's muffins!
Istituto di Accoglienza Emiliani, Fognano di Brisighella, Ravenna,Italy
Schloss Goldrain, Vinschgau, South Tyrol, Italy

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2010

2010-10-31T18:33:00.009+01:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'15") of all 455 photographs I made during September 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Tuacany,Italy and Cornwall, UK)
Borgo di Barigianino, Toscana, Italia
Sorgente, Holiday Cottage, Penryn, Cornwall, UK

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2010

2010-09-10T23:47:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'15") of all 89 photographs I made during Auguust 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Stelvio pass, Alto Adige - Südtirol - South Tyrol, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Italy
Briony and Dan's big adventure
Schloss Goldrain - Castel di Coldrano - Coldrano Castle
Rainbow, Circuit boards, night sky
Stelvio Bike day 2010, Hotel Franzenshöhe

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2010

2010-09-09T19:43:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'12") of all 72 photographs I made during July 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Italian dinner
Gemona del Friuli (UD)
Miniature steam railway, Fiat 500 cinquecento rally
Todd Gipstein photographer
Green beans

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2010

2010-09-09T19:42:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'06") of all 38 photographs I made during June 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Schloss Goldrain, Vinschgau - Val Venosta, Suedtirol - Alto Adige, Italy
Fire on the mountains, Vinschgau - Val Venosta, Suedtirol - Alto Adige, Italy

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 5D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - May 2010

2010-09-09T19:41:00.003+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'18") of all 470 photographs I made during May 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Swallows on the river Adige, Val Venosta, Italy
Schloss Goldrain
Yamaha XT500
Castle Obermontani
David and Kari-Anne's wedding, Borgo di Barigianino, Tuscany, Italy

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - April 2010

2010-09-09T19:37:00.004+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'51") of all 305 photographs I made during April 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Rocca di Calascio, Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Abruzzo
Land slide train derailment, Laces - Latsch, Val Venosta - Vinschgau
Schloss Goldrain

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - March 2010

2010-09-09T18:44:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'33") of all 558 photographs I made during March 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UAE)
Meydan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - February 2010

2010-09-09T17:34:00.008+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'06") of all 36 photographs I made during February 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK, Italy)
Schnalstal - Val Senales, path 5 and 13 and Bergalm, South Tyrol.
Watchout projection programming, London

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - January 2010

2010-09-09T16:22:00.013+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'33") of all 197 photographs I made during January 2010, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK, Italy)
Biddulph Valley Way, Congleton canal, Gritstone Trail, Old Man of Mow, Mow Cop, Cheshire, Staffordshire.
Schloss Goldrain - Castel Coldrano, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Lyfi Alm, Marteltal - Val Martello
Snow and snow chains

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - December 2009

2010-09-09T16:07:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'25") of all 145 photographs I made during December 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK
Congleton New Year dinner

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2009

2010-09-09T15:26:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'16") of all 87 photographs I made during October 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Sonnenberg, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - South Tyrol
Lago Maggiore

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2009

2010-09-09T15:09:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (1 fps = 0'04") of all 4 photographs I made during September 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Schloss Goldrain, coat of arms, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - South Tyrol

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2009

2010-09-09T14:57:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'18") of all 107 photographs I made during August 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2009

2010-09-09T13:33:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'14") of all 135 photographs I made during July 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
ACER conference, Rome
Marta and Luca's wedding, Rome

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2009

2010-09-09T13:17:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'14") of all 82 photographs I made during June 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Timelapse of Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro (the "Square Colosseum"), EUR, Rome

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - May 2009

2010-09-09T12:46:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'26") of all 154 photographs I made during May 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy)
Ebay products
Colosseum, Family, Infinera truck shoot, Rome

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - April 2009

2010-09-08T10:02:00.012+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'49") of all 291 photographs I made during April 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK)
Daffodils, bee keeping, bluebell woods, potato fields, making a bread oven, Looe Pool, Cornwall
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK
Interior design, Belgium
Jorwert, Netherlands
Wank, Germany

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Tota photos - March 2009

2010-09-08T10:01:00.008+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'08") of all 48 photographs I made during March 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy, UK)
Building projections, Asolo, Italy
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - February 2009

2010-09-08T10:00:00.013+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'29") of all 172 photographs I made during February 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK, Italy)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK
Penryn in the snow, Cornwall, UK
Avalanche, Gomagoi, Marteltal - Val Martello, Zufritthuette, South Tyrol, Italy
Gran Sasso National Park, Abruzzo, Italy

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - January 2009

2010-09-08T09:58:00.002+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'28") of all 169 photographs I made during January 2009, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - December 2008

2010-09-07T23:56:00.003+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'18") of all 106 photographs I made during December 2008, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (UK)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK
Lower Lanner Art Exhibition, Helston
Christmas with the Davies'

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - November 2008

2010-09-07T23:29:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'05") of all 389 photographs I made during November 2008, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy, UK)
Miramar Castle and Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Bra, Barolo, Piemonte
Dragons Theatre - Teatro Dragoni, Meldola, Emilia-Romagna
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2008

2010-09-07T17:19:00.014+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'25") of all 148 photographs I made during October 2008, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (United Kingdom)
Sorgente Holiday Cottage renovation, Cornwall, UK
Lanner Estate, Helston, Cornwall
Fal Estuary, Falmouth, Cornwall

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2008

2010-09-07T16:43:00.008+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'15") of all 90 photographs I made during September 2008, only those in the horizontal format :-)

Subjects include: (Italy, Belgium)
Amelia, Umbria, Italy
Schloss Goldrain - Coldrano Castle, South Tyrol - Alto Adige
Ipres - Ypers. Flanders, Belgium

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

Some of this months images also appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them, I'll leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2008

2010-09-04T22:38:00.014+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'35") of every photograph that I have taken during August 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Painting with Light projections festival
Silandro - Schlanders, South Tyrol - Alto Adige
Staff portraits, Schloss Goldrain - Coldrano Castle
Wind turbines and solar panels, Castel del Monte, Trani,
Bari and airport, Lecce, Mattinata, Vieste, Peschici, Gargano, Puglia - Apulia
Rocca di Calascio, Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Abruzzo

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 932 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2008

2010-09-04T22:20:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'43") of every photograph that I have taken during July 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
ACER conference, Rome
Silandro - Schlanders, South Tyrol - Alto Adige
Kestrels, Staff portraits, Schloss Goldrain - Coldrano Castle
Outdoor projection event, Faenza
Projection tests for Painting with Light festival

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 256 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2008

2010-09-03T23:42:00.004+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'58") of every photograph that I have taken during June 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Fire on the Mountains - Val Venosta
Kestrels, Schloss Goldrain - Coldrano Castle
Lago Maggiore
Architectural projection, St.Michael-Eppan 100yr celebration
Farming pollution, Val Venosta - Vinschgau
River Adige, Val Venosta - Vinschgau
Vitorchiano, Lazio

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 348 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - May 2008

2010-09-03T22:04:00.011+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'53") of every photograph that I have taken during May 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Poppies, Vitorchiano, Lazio
Baptism of Margherita, Rome
Renovation of Schloss Goldrain - Coldrano Castle
Lago Gioveretto - Zufrittsee, Val Martello - Martelltal
50th birthday of Richard Theiner, Mals - Malles
Kestrels - Turmfalk

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 316 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - April 2008

2010-09-03T20:05:00.003+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'30") of every photograph that I have taken during April 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy, UK)
Projection tests at Schlandersburg
Apple tree blossom protected by ice, Coldrano Castle
Marienburg Museum paintings
House renovation in Cornwall
Natural art by Bruce Davies
Fox cubs in woods near Helston, Cornwall
Demolition of a building in Padova - Padua

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 179 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - March 2008

2010-09-03T15:57:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'57") of every photograph that I have taken during March 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Projection tests at Marienburg monastery
David Chocron's 50th birthday, near Pisa
Aquarium fish, Easter chicks at Aquaprad visitor centre, Prato allo Stelvio
Val Martello - Martelltal
Building projections, Padova - Padua, Veneto
Sclandersburg - Silandro Castle courtyard

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 340 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - February 2008

2010-09-03T14:50:00.011+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'18") of every photograph that I have taken during February 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Hotel Maciaconi
Marienburg monastery
Architecture - car park
Mals - Malles, FIS Junior and Under 23 World Cross Country Skiing Championship opening ceremony
Ortler - Ortles

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

The photographs may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 105 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - January 2008

2010-09-02T23:40:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'14") of every photograph that I have taken during January 2008.

Subjects include: (Italy, Switzerland)
Snow scenes in Switzerland
Interior design (architecture)
Livigno, Italy
It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 85 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - December 2007

2010-09-02T23:29:00.005+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'28") of every photograph that I have taken during December 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Interior design (architecture)
Christmas projections in Silandro - Schlanders
House and damage before renovation, Cornwall

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 167 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - November 2007

2010-09-02T21:45:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'26") of every photograph that I have taken during November 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Apple agriculture, Val Venosta - Vinschgau
ACER conference, Rome
Silandro - Schlanders

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 158 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2007

2010-09-02T19:22:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'40") of every photograph that I have taken during October 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy, UK, Belgium)
Ron & Anji's wedding, Bodmin, Cornwall
Mash tent, projections event near Hereford
Yorkshire
Architecture Day, Ghent, Belgium
Gastro Art, Tradeshow, Bolzano - Bozen
Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Road to Stelvio Pass - Passo dello Stelvio - Stilsferjoch

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.
These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 600 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2007

2010-09-02T16:42:00.016+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'06".) of every photograph that I have taken during September 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy, UK, Germany, France)
Zufritt, Zufrittsee, Lago Gioveretto, Val Martello - Martelltal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Stelvio Bike, Stelvio Pass - Passo dello Stelvio - Stilsferjoch
Spraying insecticide by helicopter
Apple agriculture
Kempton, Germany
Chartres Cathedral, France
Dartmoor, Devon, Lands End, Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK
Fishing
Shetland Ponies

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. I started with May 2005 and you can find more in my Blog Archive in the right column ---->
I have not used audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore respecting the rights of artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 755 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2007

2010-09-02T15:08:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'13".) of every photograph that I have taken during August 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Hasenorl, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Caterpilla

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 76 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2007

2010-09-02T10:53:00.006+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'11".) of every photograph that I have taken during July 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy & Austria)
Val Senales - Schnalstal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Vanessa and Ferdinando's wedding, Rome

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 792 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2007

2010-09-02T10:43:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'31".) of every photograph that I have taken during June 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy & France)
Dolomites - Dolomitti - Dolomiten, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
St.Michael-Eppan 100yr celebration event
Parc National des Ecrins - Ecrins National Park, France

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 548 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - May 2007

2010-09-01T18:53:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'46".) of every photograph that I have taken during May 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Asolo, Veneto
Mal and Gabby's wedding
Santa Maria di Follina, Veneto - monastery
Lago Gioveretto

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 275 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - April 2007

2010-08-31T19:32:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'10".) of every photograph that I have taken during April 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Blackbird

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 59 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - March 2007

2010-08-31T19:30:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'45".) of every photograph that I have taken during March 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Luna eclipse
Val Martello - Martelltal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Lake Gioveretto frozen and covered with snow
Wine corks, St.Michael-Eppan, 100yrs, building projections

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 271 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - February 2007

2010-08-31T19:21:00.009+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'50") of every photograph that I have taken during February 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Val Martello - Martelltal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Lake Gioveretto frozen and covered with snow
Spraying forests with insecticide by helicopter

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 303 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - January 2007

2010-08-31T17:52:00.012+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'10".) of every photograph that I have taken during January 2007.

Subjects include: (Italy)
Val Martello - Martelltal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Timelapse over Laces - Latsch
Mountain rescue team, avalanche training

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 420 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - December 2006

2010-08-31T17:02:00.010+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'51".) of every photograph that I have taken during December 2006.

Places include: (Italy)
Val Senales - Schnalstal, Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol
Asolo, Veneto

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 305 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

10th Stelvio Bike - 2010 Stelvio Pass Italy

2010-08-30T14:57:00.052+02:00

Alarm goes off at 5.45. Out of the door 45 minutes later.

28th August 2010, the 10th annual Stelvio Bike ride to the Stelvio Pass (2760m), the second highest in the Alps. The road is traffic-free for the day, 48 hairpins, 25kms and a rise in altitude of approximately 1810 m, the average incline is therefore about 7.4%.

I've done it a few times before by bike (and once in a 20 yr old camper) but this is the first time with a GoPro camera strapped to my chest. See other posts about this camera and tests.

Living so close to Stelvio meant that we could arrive and start early before the 7000 other cyclists turning up throughout the day. Even though we were early, there were many locals already enroute to the 'official start' in the town of Prato allo Stelvio (Prad am Stilsferjoch). You could tell they were locals because they weren't wearing helmets.

I dropped Sabrina off in Prato to meet with friends who would then cycle the full route together, whilst I drove on up to my starting point in Trafoi. I did this in order to be arriving at the pass about the time they did, it takes me longer because I stop frequently along the route to take pictures, and in this case video.
If you are cycling this road for the first time, and you begin here then you will be starting straight into the steep climb without any warm up... and you'll miss the breakfast at the real start ;-)
The Hotel Bella Vista (ran by the Gustav Toni family) is on hairpin 46 and this is where I began after an espresso in the hotel bar. It was then almost 8am.

For me, on the way up the temperature was perfect for this ride, apart from about 20 minutes of light rain from about turn 20. At this time of the morning one doesn't reach the sunshine until about turn 30 and this is welcome because it can get quite hot when you're burning the calories. Along route there are few refreshment stops and a National Park 'cabin' where you can buy your souvenir cyclist shirt (10 Euro) so that you have something dry to wear on the way down :-)

It's uncanny, but Sabrina always catches me up and overtakes me at hairpin turn 4, just before the top. This time I caught her on video heading for the last turn.

At the top there was a growing crowd of people and bicycles with still space to get through and lean my bike against a wall somewhere. Later people just leave them piled up against each other or lay them on the floor.

The low cloud began to arrive, a sure sign that the rain would too, so after a brief refreshment, and the obligatory photo by the sign, we left to descend again. They went down the other side of the pass and back through Switzerland, therefore avoiding all the cycle traffic still coming up. I went back the same way, as I wanted to make the following video... plus I had to get back to my car at turn 46 and a warming cup of tea with the lovely bar staff at Bella Vista.

My back light fell off and bounced over the wall soon after setting off so I had to stop and go mountain climbing to get it back. After that it was 30 mins of free wheeling, cold fingers and dodging those coming up on the wrong side of the road. The video you will see is 5 times faster than normal and for a while there is a rain drop smack bang in the middle, which makes it look like one of my migraines.

See you there next year!

From Stelvio Pass to hairpin turn number 46 in 6 and a half minutes.
Music track: "Steel Cube Idolatry" by Orbital, from the 1996 album Orbital - BUY it, it's a great album to cycle to.

Speeding in Naturns/Naturno

2010-08-27T15:29:00.021+02:00

Yet another test, I took my new GoPro camera out for another long(ish) bike ride, down the valley to Naturno, this movie is part of the return leg, shot with standard video (r4) 4:3 (960p @ 30 fps) by mistake as I thought I'd set it for timelapse (P5) 1 shot every 5 seconds. Oh well. I sped it up using After Effects as I did the last time.

As with the previous tests I was using a chest strap with I have added foam padding to in order to lift the angle of view to include the horizon more.
This time I got the balance right.
I still have to try mounting the camera and J-hook (adapter) upside down allowing adjustment in the opposite direction rather than the crude way Ive done it thus far.

So I'm set for Saturday and the Stelvio Bike 2010, the annual bike ride to the Stelvio Pass (2760m), the second highest in the Alps. That is if the storm, that is now upon us, has cleared away by then.

The road is traffic-free for the day, 48 hairpins, 25kms rising in altitude of approximately 1840 m.

I've done it a few times before by bike (and once in a 20 yr old camper) but not with a camera like this!

Just nipping out to get some butter...

2010-08-27T14:30:00.028+02:00

As another test, I took my new GoPro camera out for its first long(ish) bike ride, to Coldrano (Goldrain) from Lasa (Laas) a small town in Val Venosta known for its white marble. Still in my 'testing period' I chose to use 1 shot every 2 seconds on the way there and standard video (r4) 4:3 (960p @ 30 fps) on the return.

As with the previous test I was using a chest strap with I have added foam padding to in order to lift the angle of view to include the horizon more.

This time the final movie (above) was created using After Effects to speed up the original film to 25%, 4x faster and to add the frame. Then using VisualHub to make the Flash file (swf). It may keep pausing if you haven't got a fast internet connection, sorry about that.

I still have to make a better 'wedge' of foam for the chest strap as during the journey it moves around and loses its higher angle view. Or perhaps mount the camera and J-hook (adapter) upside down allowing adjustment in the opposite direction. I'd then have to invert the image again later but that's not a problem.

Hoping to get this right by Saturday as I'll be joining in the Stelvio Bike 2010, the annual bike ride to the Stelvio Pass (2760m), the second highest in the Alps. I want to record it!

The road is traffic-free for the day, 48 hairpins, 25kms rising in altitude of approximately 1840 m.

I've done it a few times before by bike (and once in a 20 yr old camper) but not with a camera like this!

Total photos - November 2006

2010-08-27T12:10:00.007+02:00

An animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'43".) of every photograph that I have taken during November 2006.

Places include: (Italy)
Barolo, Cuneo, Piemonte
Bormio, Sondrio, Lombardia
Martelltal - Val Martello, National Park dello Stelvio
Val Venosta - Vinschgau, Alto Adige - Suedtirol

It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 258 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2006

2010-08-27T11:37:00.004+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'45".) of every photograph that I have taken during October 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 633 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2006

2010-08-27T11:19:00.006+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'36".) of every photograph that I have taken during September 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 935 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2006

2010-08-27T11:17:00.003+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'46".) of every photograph that I have taken during August 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 277 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2006

2010-08-26T21:15:00.005+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 0'34".) of every photograph that I have taken during July 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 204 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2006

2010-08-26T21:11:00.005+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'08".) of every photograph that I have taken during June 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 766 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - May 2006

2010-08-26T16:34:00.004+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'34".) of every photograph that I have taken during May 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 565 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - April 2006

2010-08-25T15:33:00.008+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 4'12".) of every photograph that I have taken during April 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 1511 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - March 2006

2010-08-25T15:29:00.004+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'04".) of every photograph that I have taken during March 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 740 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

GoPro Hero HD Camera Test

2010-08-25T13:27:00.016+02:00

Well I couldn't resist and my new toy arrived 3 working days after I ordered it from ActionCameras.co.uk. So last night I read the instructions played with the settings and charged the battery.

Today I went out and did a circuit on my mountain bike of about 7 minutes, three times, each with a different setting. I also bought the Chesty too, so the camera is strapped to my chest rather than the helmet.

1. The widest angle, standard definition video (720 @ 30fps).
2. The camera default, standard 4:3 video (960p @ 30 fps).
3. Timelapse sequence (animation below), 1 shot every 2 seconds.

The movie was created using QuickTime Pro as an imported image sequence at 6 fps, the reulting movie was then converted using VisualHub to a Flash file (swf).

I have only two comments so far, one about the strap and one about the camera:

The Chesty strap mount does not allow you to raise the camera angle enough to include the horizon, in my first test it shot mainly the handlebars, my knees and feet and some of the road ahead. With the second it was a better because the 4:3 ratio included a greater angle in the vertical. For the third test I placed a strip of foam rubber under the plate forcing the camera to point higher. Now you can see the horizon, but before I go out again later today for a longer jaunt I will use a thicker piece of foam just to push it a little bit higher.

Maybe it's my posture or the shape of my chest isn't the same size or shape of the average bloke.

My second comment is, and you will see this in the example video, that the exposure can't be fixed to a known source. That is to say, the first picture taken after leaving shade to full sun is over-exposed and the first one taken after leaving full sun is underexposed. So you will notice "flashing" frames during the sequence. It would be nice to be able to tell the camera to use an exposure for one or the other, a manual setting in other words.

Total photos - February 2006

2010-08-25T12:56:00.004+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'10".) of every photograph that I have taken during February 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 420 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - January 2006

2010-08-24T18:46:00.005+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'37".) of every photograph that I have taken during January 2006. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 581 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - December 2005

2010-08-24T14:58:00.005+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'57".) of every photograph that I have taken during December 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 1060 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total Photos - May 2005

2010-08-24T13:00:00.009+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 5'50".) of every photograph that I have taken during May 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 2099 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - June 2005

2010-08-24T00:15:00.005+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 1'17".) of every photograph that I have taken during June 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 461 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - July 2005

2010-08-24T00:14:00.003+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 3'55".) of every photograph that I have taken during July 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 1412 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - August 2005

2010-08-23T18:59:00.009+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 3'15".) of every photograph that I have taken during August 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 1169 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - September 2005

2010-08-23T18:54:00.010+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 5'27") of every photograph that I have taken during September 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues, and therefore to respect the rights of the artists.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 1959 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - October 2005

2010-08-23T01:31:00.010+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 5'56") of every photograph that I have taken during October 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 2135 images... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D or 350D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Total photos - November 2005

2010-08-22T21:41:00.020+02:00

A very fast animation or slide show (6 fps = 2'32") of every photograph that I have taken during November 2005. It is my intention to do this for every month, this may mean only a few images or 1000s in each movie. There is no audio mainly to avoid copyright issues.

These may be work related, just for fun, in different countries or just for future reference... everything in fact that I compose or snap! Except for dupes and the vertical/portrait ones.

This month the movie contains 912 images (less than half as many as last month)... some of which appear on my photo prints website with others being uploaded soon. Browse them or buy them I leave that up to you to decide :-)

http://www.fotoprints.co.uk/

For those that like equipment... these were all taken with:
Canon 20D with either an EF 14mm f/2.8L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.

Alex was most popular in 2009!

2010-08-22T21:39:00.005+02:00

Yes that's right, it seems that the majority of boys born here in South Tyrol last year were named after me! I'm honored and flattered. When I was in shorts and knee socks at my first school, and later at my secondary (but not in shorts), I was the only one in the world to be lucky enough, or as I thought at the time, unlucky enough to have this name. I just wanted to be Stephen, David, Andrew, Mark or some other boring, normal name that all the rest of the boys had. Standing out from the crowd was not what I wanted, as that was more ammo for the Stephen, David, Andrew and Mark brigade... no it isn't short for Alexander (or Alexsandra you idiots), I was christened Alex.

My mother did a great job at finding names that, at the time, we all hated because of the teasing one gets as a small child fending for your own space. Now it's great to have these as our identities, especially for me because Alex is Alex in most languages and nobody spells it wrong (that privilege goes to my surname). She also tried to find names that could not be shortened as she had a dislike for nicknames. My siblings are Delia, Daniel and Bruce, and much to my mother's disappointment we all had names that our friends used, which have since stuck - De, Dan, Al and Bruce, well he could hardly be called Bru. So she managed one out of four I guess.

So now I will here my name being called in parks, shopping centers, bars, by the pool, on the beach... and for the first time it won't be me that they are yelling at.

I will still turn around though.

Traveling Rellies

2010-08-05T16:02:00.032+02:00

My eldest nephew Dan is on an epic tour of Euroland with Briony in their faithful campervan 'Big Bluey'. Why this name?... beats me as it is neither... even if they say it is. I know, I've seen it and been in it even while it was on the move.

Anyway, they paused briefly with us in the South Tyrolean valley of Val Venosta, but I'll let them fill you in on their time here on their own blog brionyanddan. As a contributing 'sponsor' I'm just adding some images and a movie of their impressive adventure.

It was great having them here and they promised to come back and conquer the Stelvio Pass on bicycles... well Dan did anyway and he also volunteered the rest of his family too although they don't realise it yet.

For those that don't know, the Stelvio Pass (2760m) is the second highest road in the Alps (the highest is only 12m higher), it has 48 hair-pin bends, very popular with cyclists, motorcyclists and car enthusiasts from afar, just ask Jeremy Clarkson. It takes a very long time to get to the top in a 20 yr old camper and almost as long to come down again without melting the brakes completely.

Movie of their 48 turns on YouTube

The Thusday League

2009-10-19T18:16:00.013+02:00

They say that football, or rather calcio (kal-choh) as its called in Italy, is not so much the national sport of Italy but an Italian way of life. Not a day goes by even out of season without some reference to it at work, in the bar or on TV. If you go to one of the many public parks, gardens or beaches you will see a lot of jumpers for goal posts and not one picnic without a ball of some description within a bounce away.

I hated football as a teenager and in consequent years, it always seemed to have too much machismo and bullying for my liking. For a short time I went through a phase of being anti-competitive, it lasted about 25 years. This dislike for contact sports wasn’t because of being a poor loser, because that was something I was quite good at, but because I didn’t like what I saw people turning into when they started to prove who was King. It is a well known fact that at school unless you had natural flare, were a bully, or a bully’s stooge, you were never encouraged to get involved. Being undersized for my age as well as wearing specs courtesy of the National Health, I was one of those that were always picked last for any team sport. I hope sports teachers these days have more balls (pun intended) and decide on the teams rather than leaving it to the kids with the bum fluff moustaches and metal studded boots (sharpened). Three or four years of being picked last will have a demoralising effect on any child, especially when the team captains say,
“you can ‘av ‘im.”
"don’t want ‘im, you ‘av ‘im.”
“no, we ‘ad ‘im last week, you ‘av ‘im.”
“all right, hey Specky, stay back ‘ere in goal, and if you let any in you’re dead.”

No glory of scoring goals for me then. Had I been taller I would have satisfied myself by goal hanging in the literal sense, instead I passed the time making mud pies and throwing them at the other ‘left-over’ defenders.

Rugby, which came earlier in my sporting career, was much the same although I liked it at first. I say at first because this was the first year of secondary school and it was something new to us all, and relied more on teamwork and not prima donnas. I didn’t mind the tackling or the mud but once the honeymoon period was over and the boneheads had realised it was a good excuse for authorised thuggery, I discovered it was best not to touch the ball. Even better was to forget my kit or feign illness.

I find it increasingly frustrating to watch footy on Italian TV, not because my team is losing yet again, but of how the TV companies decide to present it. First of all there is an unwritten rule, shall we say a gentleman’s agreement, whereby if a player should be unfortunate enough to stop play because he’s been fouled, they run an advert. Which actually lends itself perfectly to a theory that the players are paid to foul so that the station, and therefore the clubs, earn more revenue from the advertisers. More fouls, more adverts, more money, more crying, more diving, more money. Albeit quick, they sometimes get the timing wrong so when you return to the action, the free-kick is already underway and quite possibly the ball is billowing out the back of the net. You then get to see the ball going in again 17 times from every angle followed by the ecstatic ritual of team players running around with shirts over their heads, skidding on stomachs along the ground, pointing the index finger in the air, doing a little jiggy jig jig, and generally hugging and kissing each other all over in celebration. They certainly didn’t go to my school, except maybe for bad tackle training. It seems the TV people believe that the actual skilled play that leads to the eventual goal, is not as important as showing the heroes acting in a way that would otherwise get them arrested, or at the very least punched, if they did the same thing in the local shopping centre.

Sometimes the camera points to the crowd of the managers box for about 20 minutes just in case you may be getting a bit bored watching the match and want to miss something crucial.

“OK camera 2 just pan around a give us a shot of the crowd, yeah that’s it, the one with the painted face, yeah that’s great! Hold it there...”
“They’re in the PENALTY AREA..!” shouts the commentator wetting himself.
“I’m sure they are but people must be getting fed up with watching these blokes kicking a ball about. Keep focusing on the weirdos in the crowds, or the girls with big..."
“FOUL! PENALTY, PENALTY!!”
“OK, run the four second Wonder Bra ad.”

Then there’s the station that believes it should show two live matches at the same time. I sat watching a EUFA cup game, it was one of those that didn’t stop every two minutes for a free kick and so fast play flowed, I was really enjoying it, yelling at the referee and at the players that gave the ball away. Then all of a sudden just as they were getting close to scoring, there was a completely different game in front of me. OK I thought, they are just flicking across to show the goal just scored in the other important game that evening. No, they kept it on for at least 25 crappy and very annoying and frustrating minutes before the veins in my temple swelled to volcanic proportions and I lost it throwing the fucking thing out the window!

Actually I didn’t, instead I punched the off-switch after sticking two fingers up at the channel number hoping they noticed the sudden drop in viewer statistics.

This was 2002, the year that the World Cup was held in Japan and Korea. I found the whole thing quite disappointing with all the shirt pulling, diving, pushing, and cry baby liars (not wanting to name names because that’s childish too) like Rivaldo, but amusing at the same time. This was due to the fact that the majority of the favourites to win were being knocked out at the first round, including France who held the last Cup four years previously. I had my feet in two camps England and Italy both of whom I didn’t hold out too much hope for, it would be great to see them in the final, however Brazil and the referees ruined everything.

The world time difference meant that the matches appeared on our screens at breakfast and after lunch. At the office we got around that by cramming around forty-five people into the meeting room with a big screen and video projector fed from the company's network server, tuned to Rai Uno. I watched one game in there but, with the personal volume of the guy next to me getting really out of hand yelling venom at the referee down my ear hole, I decided that the next game I would watch elsewhere in case I flipped, turned around and punched his off-switch and through him out of the window. Besides it was hot and stuffy, and someone had rubbed their armpits with a crate of garlic the night before.

The fact that the meeting room could usually only be used for important games (Italy), meant that there was possibility of a serious amount of sick leave, twice a day, throughout June. In order to remedy this fever, the computer network was hooked up so that each and every one of us could have games running in the corner of our monitors. It has to be said that having other nationalities working for the company meant you often found the meeting room being used by lone fans. Notably whenever Brazil or England played. Only, the latter were relegated to Rai Due so after having making the effort to get into work extra early, I spent the first half trying to switch channels and the second half watching Argentina v Sweden and a cheesy show host selling rugs. I waited for the results on the Internet, we were through!

In the period leading up to, during, and after the World Cup, a group of us from work had been playing five-a-side every Thursday after work. Calcietto (five-a-side) or calciotto (eight-a-side) is so popular here that there are centres which do nothing but hire out pitches by the hour. The first centre we used had at least twelve pitches and were also floodlit to increase earning potential, with places for the wives and girlfriends to hang around and watch if they so desired, which helps the bravado and pose factor for the chaps. I have realised that almost as many women seem to like, and follow, football as their male counterparts but as yet I haven’t seen or heard of them partaking in the game.

When, what turned out to be the final game for Italy was broadcast, everybody was in the office but nobody was at their desk. Except me and I was watching it with a network delay of 20 seconds later than the crowd in the meeting room, which meant when I heard lots of shouting and screaming or crying, I had plenty of time to prepare myself to see an up-and-coming goal, miss, foul, corner or bad linesman decision. Before the final whistle blew at my desk, I already knew that Korea were the victors due to the amount of tumbleweed I saw rolling out of the meeting room. The silence was then only filled with the clicking of computer mice shutting down the video players. No one spoke about it for the rest of the day, I wasn’t sure but I thought I heard a few sobs.

The Italians believe that they were not beaten fairly by Korea and the linesmen; during the tournament they’d had a total of five goals disallowed. The conspiracy theory going around said that the officials were paid off so that the hosts’ teams did well in the tournament. This was proved otherwise when the other joint host, Japan, lost in the same round.

A few days later the press were reporting that Luciano Gaucci, president of Perugia football club, had effectively sacked the winning Korean goal scorer Ahn Jung-Hwan from his squad, saying;

“That gentleman will never set foot in Perugia again”. “I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football”.

Only in Italia.

On the news that evening they showed a lot of people in Piazza del Popolo in Rome falling back on their second national sport of crying in public, and a small group of very happy and smiling Korean tourists being encircled by a small group of not happy and not smiling police for their own protection. It was a sad day indeed.

On a positive side many of my colleagues in the office had decided to now support England, which was heartening, but the rest couldn’t face the possibility of more tears so they opted for Brazil. Cowards.

I was quite nervous about my own five-a-side debut as most of the others are quite a few years younger and have played football since they were weaned on to it as replacement for the breast, plus it was more than twenty-two years since I last kicked a ball about in a park let alone on a proper pitch.

I scored!! Amazing I scored!! I think the others were just as amazed as I was, especially when two minutes later, I scored again! However, I didn’t slide on my stomach on the sandy Astroturf because I like my skin, although I didn’t want my team mates coming over and smothering me in kisses, I did wonder again about whether women do play football here. At this point I thought it was a great game, I should have done it years ago, twenty-two years ago to be precise, I could have earned big bucks in the Premiership by now, maybe even transferred to Perugia. Every five minutes someone shouts “cambio!” which is the signal to change goalkeepers giving everyone the opportunity to receive the full force of toe-ended shots from two metres. I take a turn and decide that actually it’s also a good way to rest my lungs. I close my eyes and duck twice and let two in. I never did get over the fear of stopping the ball with my specs. Oh well, maybe I’d have only made the Northern Premiere League. Anyway everyone here believes it’s the taking part that counts and I believe it too. We won that game 12-10.

What was also quite refreshing was that even though I let two goals in I wasn’t beaten up behind the bike sheds.

Keeping fit is rapidly becoming big business. Very big business. There are so many gyms and sport centres around Rome, even with membership being well over-priced, people are jogging over each other to get in. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of these places because we seem to be trying out as many different calcietto centres as possible, it’s gives us a sense of playing away.

Once you pay your membership for the gym of your choice, you can also then pay for a personal trainer and/or join a group, training together such as on exercise bikes. This sport of “Spinning” is usually done to bleeding-eardrum volume levels of dire music, very Dire Straits music in fact, and an over-excited, over-tanned and over-hyped body beautiful screaming at you. Or, you can opt for the water aerobics in the outer pools during summer, that is if want to keep your backside hidden but still look extremely silly even without Dire Straits.

Those that prefer the less expensive outdoors go running in the parks. There’s a big one close to me, Villa Doria Pamphilj, and I’ve spent many a weekend afternoon wandering around and lying down in the sun next to the sign that says "keep off the grass", watching the parrots flirting between the palms above me. Everyone, and I mean everyone that is running, is doing it mainly to get noticed but at least this kind of posing burns off the pasta too. Being Italian they seem to treat it in the same way as they would if it was the Sunday-afternoon-post-lunch-stroll, and manage to chat the whole time they are running which I find most impressive. Fashionable state-of-the-art sports wear is on display along with radio headphones, iPods, minidisk Walkmans and hair gel. After a while you get to notice familiar sweaty faces and lycra suits running past for the twentieth time, some of them at a speed I could only dream of, others shuffling along just short of walking speed due to their youthful age of 97. On each of my visits I decide to come jogging here myself to show them all how it should be done, maybe once or twice a week in the summer months before work when its cooler, but that means getting up extremely early which is far too painful... one day though, one day.

Outdoor summer sports at school meant boring tedious cricket, once again I was relegated to the outer fielding to where the ground was too hard to amuse myself making mud pies. The ball never got out there anyway due to the fact the bonehead batsmen were crap and the bowlers were only interested in seeing how much damage they could inflict with wild legal lobbing of the leather clad missile. However, athletics were never popular with the lard-arsed hard-men because they had lard-arses, and a distinct lack of stamina. Now maybe all that running away from bullies had done me some good over the years because I actually did well in these games and especially the longer distances of 400, 800 and 1500 m. It was always a great day passing the red-faced sweaty numbskulls who fell by the wayside even before the end of the first lap, in fact those of us who threw mud during the winter took all the glory in the summer... sweet revenge indeed.

One day comes, and it’s a Sunday evening. I’d done my warm up, stretched all my muscles and strapped up my knee, it was 7.30 pm but the temperature was still in the 30’s, everyone else was running, cycling or playing football, so it was all okay. I set off after deciding that once around half of the park would be enough to start with.

I can’t help but notice that this place is always packed out with hundreds of people of every age involved in numerous activities and that back home the parks seemed only to be used as dog exercise grounds, for picking the daffodils on mothers day or for drinking cider out of brown plastic bottles.

My fellow joggers didn’t seem to understand that taking short-cuts kind of defeats the object, however the routes they take are better pose roads. All the tracks are either sun-baked mud, well trodden and scarred with the treads of cycles and pushchairs, leftovers from the last time it rained, or sun baked dust. The park’s hilly landscape is fairly wooded so offers plenty of shade, all paths seem to lead at some point to the central focus of the 17th century ornate gardens and villa, hence the “keep off the grass” signs. I didn’t bring a water bottle as there are numerous drinking fountains on route, which I find most thoughtful.

I must have been going for about 40 minutes, beads appearing on my forehead, mouth drying up and lungs feeling the heat and dust as they heave in the air, I checked my watch it said 7 minutes. I wanted to stop but people would notice that I’m crap, so I pressed on in the hope that I would find my true rhythm and a less crowded area where nobody could see me giving up. I plodded on still further but the heat of the sun and the steady incline that I’d just conquered was too much so I paused for breath, just after being passed by a sprightly 97 year old. As I was trying hard not to be sick, a fitness-freak couple approached from the opposite direction, she being about one fifth of her baboon boyfriend’s body weight, they looked at me, shared a remark and sniggered as they went past. I turned and shouted “Fuck you, at least I don’t look like a fridge and run like a duck!” But they didn’t hear me.

The park with it's picturesque paths, pine woods, fountains, small lakes and gardens, is divided into two main parts connected only by a footbridge. It was first created between 1644 and 1652 for Prince Camillo Pamphilj, the nephew of Pope Innocent X and now surrounds Villa Doria Pamphilj. It is the largest park in Rome at about eighteen square kilometres, so, even sticking to one half of the overall circumference, once around the park now seemed like once around the world, and since I didn't have eighty days I took a short cut or three. Not for the pose value at all, but more out of the need to search for the medicinal qualities of one of the many drinking fountains hidden amongst it's seemingly endless terrain.

Close to the center of the park is the Villa itself with ornate gardens fenced off from the curious plebs, and the occasional missed kicked football. In one corner is a flight of stone steps, well worn with time, the same ones that I'd often watched people running up on previous visits, they all attack them with their headphones blaring the “Best of Rocky” themed soundtracks. Suddenly, this didn’t look like a short cut at all, however at least it was nothing like the days of my youth when my so-called mates laced my 21st birthday drinks and chased me up the infamous “108 Steps” threatening to strip me of everything, leaving me a mile from home completely naked, and with no money for a taxi. Even Rocky would’ve struggled with that one.

My tongue was hanging out for refreshment, I was willing a water fountain to appear out of the ground two paces in front of me, but then I spotted one not too far off, sweet cool bubbling water splashing out of the tap, I was almost there and would’ve been salivating too if I hadn’t been so dehydrated.

From his lazy day family picnic, an old chap sat up and stretched, and brushing sleep out of his eyes saw me padding down the dusty path tripping over my tongue in desperation to reach the oasis, his oasis, so he decided to make a quick dash to get there just before me and spent two days wetting his hands, splashing his face and not drinking. Me thinks he probably enjoyed picking football teams too in his school years as captain.

Carpet Burns

2006-12-13T18:33:00.001+01:00

If you like all things colourful, intricately woven, flat and underfoot, the carpet channel is just for you. Yes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, carpets. Not, you may think, a channel full of interesting cultural documentaries about their history and the exotic places from which they come, or of the communities who dedicate their lives through choice or circumstance to be the creators of such desirable masterpieces. No, in fact it’s just one of the many exciting programs to be found on the many TV channels broadcast to the Italian population. This one merely displays rugs hung in a badly lit studio with a cheesy salesman, sorry I mean show host and auctioneer, doing his best to increase the monetary figure that appears all fuzzy at the bottom of the TV screen in an early 1970s font.

Fascinating don’t you think? Should have huge ratings, can’t imagine why they haven’t exported it further a field.

Whenever I have the irresistible urge to pause there during the endless tuning and flicking through the huge choice of class entertainment that’s on offer, even if only for a few seconds (honestly), what I find intriguing is that it’s always the same cheesy guy in the same cheesy suit and indeed what seems to be in fact the same cheesy carpet hanging behind him, and the fuzzy price doesn’t seem to have increased at all. It may well be a well-worn repeat (the carpet too) but I’m not sad enough to watch it for long enough to see the credits roll. If I did it would be one of those rare occasions of welcome relief and excitement to see the adverts, and I’d probably decide to wait for part two before rushing off to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Mind you, these would more than likely be well placed ad campaigns selling vacuum cleaners and good old Shake’n’Vac, not to mention the marketing-savy Rugs-R-Us buying time to demonstrate their new range of toupees.

Who watches this crap is anyone’s guess, so I’m going to do just that. I guess its people who really get-off on floor furniture, so much so that it gets on the walls too. They probably like gambling but have never done so and are too lazy (or rich) to be bothered with going down to Carpet-U-Like like the rest of us to feel, first hand, the fine quality of that imported nylon-polyester-static-electricity machined wall to wall foam-backed fabric. They are missing out on that rubbery new carpet smell too! They probably also daydream about hanging carpets on their walls, so that other rug lovers can gloat over how much they must have cost, and of the day they strike it lucky, and rich, by buying an old rag which turns out to be the one Aladdin used to get about on.

Alternatively, maybe they’re just like me, found themselves with time on their hands and so bored that they easily get hooked on remote control surfing. Actually I’m an even worse case scenario because my communal kitchen’s TV is, not surprisingly, a late 70s portable model requiring the old fashioned method of changing channel by leaving ones seat to adjust the aerial.

I can’t help but wonder at how they make money to run a station like that or indeed whether they do in fact sell these rugs, I mean that rug, and who is buying? I’d say the most lucrative time slot would be the post-pub night shift, (pre soft porn show) where the alcohol has a way of convincing even the scrooges amongst us that its time to whip out the plastic, even though come morning you’ll know you did something you regret and will feel somewhat burnt.

Rugs aren’t the only ones to get their own TV show, there is also a 24 hour show about loosing weight using electronic pads slapped on all over. This one has slightly higher production values than Carpet Channel since it uses three people and an extra couple of lights. There is still a cheesy show host but this time he’s wearing a white lab coat and his two assistants are sat behind him grinning inanely in trunks and bikinis with fake tans and rubber suckers placed in the wobbly regions. Maybe it's not about weight loss at all but a home movie of a recent visit to the local sanatorium.

Now there’s an opening for a new show which I know would just pull the ratings, if only they'd combine the two shows, they’d have it all ... A scantily clad couple on shag pile rug demonstrating a new rubber antistatic weight loss programme workout, shaking ‘n’ vac’ing… Actually I think it probably does already exists and comes on in the wee hours post sobering up but pre hangover.

"Rug Lovers" - Introducing balding men to the new (old) way to get a head…

Another thing that is immensely annoying when it comes to watching any of the available three hundred and eighty-four plus television stations, is the way they return to the programme following the commercial break but then immediately say "see you next week, thanks for watching" and roll the credits. Then you have to sit through the commercial break all over again by which time you’ve whittled away the best part of twenty minutes.

God bless the BBC.

Which reminds me, and since I’ve mentioned the 70’s several times, a kids show that used to really annoy me when I was knee-high to a grasshopper was called "Why don't you?" It was an understandably shortened name for "Why don't you switch off the television set and go and do something less boring instead?" A phrase with which they always began the programme by shouting out loud. So why didn’t I do just that, why did I continue to watch it until the end? How did a programme survive when it was effectively telling its audience that they were stupid to stay watching something that even the presenters had said was boring? Never worked that one out. Later, in the evenings, however there was a programme that succeeded in getting kids to switch off, it was called "John Craven's Newsround", you knew then it was time for tea.

Karma Coma, doing it in Roma (pre - Euro)

2006-12-11T12:50:00.001+01:00

1. Wake 7.30, open doors to balcony, check the sky.... still blue.
2. Quick shower, throw on Armani, grab crash helmet... step out into still blue.
3. Cappuccino, cornetto in bar downstairs (not the icecream kind but the sugary croissant type), quick glance at papers, pretend to read Italian.
4. Dig out loose Lire (pronounced leer-ray) by the thousands and pay owner of said establishment, remembering to take receipt just in case the tax inspectors decide to raid that morning to test that everyone is keeping them employed with excess bureaucracy.
5. Exit and jump in nearest steamy pile, kindly left by the community’s four legged all-night poo delivery service, probably more bureaucracy involved in order to keep the cities population of dogs and their owners suitably employed.
6. Spend next four gagging minutes scraping shoes on curb and using discarded lollipop stick, notice all dog owners suddenly crossing to opposite side of street.
7. On scooter and buzz off down the street easing myself into the erratic flow of the smoking kamikaze mobile-phone-holding Emerson Fitipaldis. Sky still blue but with a tobacco filter kinda haze.
8. See fur clad woman with squatting dog, resist hit ‘n’ run just in case extra mess gets on Armani.
9. Try not to think of accidents involving drivers (see 7) who forget that there IS another world OUTSIDE of their mobile fishbowl and that scooter riders are soft and squishy. On average I see one a fortnight, accidents that is...ones involving two wheels and squishy bits.
10. Swear a lot at state of road with holes that fit both wheels in. Ride in to, and then out of. Mental note to remind old history teacher that the Romans aren't the worlds best road builders, and perhaps Rome WAS 'built' in a day.
11. Regularly toot the horn at regular intervals at the regular cars which regularly pull out in front of you. Swear a lot...regularly.
12. Arrive at office, remove helmet and check Italian quiff in scooter mirror or in mirrored windows of office building. Run wet finger over eyebrows. Feeling good.
13. Smile at 1st receptionist, and pretend she smiled back. Walk on up to first floor and my workplace, trip in through door. Take off shades.
14. Smile at 2nd receptionist, ask if she had a good weekend.
15. Lean over desk so she can give me a big smacker square on the lips before she says, "si grazie eet was wanderfool, are you camming again tonight?"
16. Realise I'm only day dreaming again and that she's looking a little nervous. She asks whether I had heard that she's getting married this July, or maybe even next week. Note that today is in fact only February.
17. It's 9am and in before everyone else, turn on computers and head for caffè machine. Six sugars (no choice). Black.
18. 10am, everyone in so I stop doing my emails and look not so busy so that everyone doesn’t think I’m brown-nosing and making them look like they are doing even less than they actually are. Which is hard.
19. 1pm lunch. Grab book of luncheon vouchers and head for restaurant with a few colleagues who continue to like me even though the bosses do too. Stroll past swimming pools to find tables in sun. Eat... Drink... Chat... Wipe off tomato sauce from chin after getting the 'you’ve blown it' smirk from the coolest most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
20. Check sky, still blue but sun is now hot and I'm thinking of the beach.
21. Start feeling tired so back to bar for caffè, double espresso, no sugar. Spot sexy waitress with spray-on uniform. Spill caffè down my lap, or on shirt or in similar obvious and therefore 'he must be English', sort of place.
22. 3 ish. Back to looking busy followed by caffè break and six more sugars. Try to find out why I haven't been paid again. Make note to try again tomorrow, and every day for the rest of the week.
23. Arrange to meet group after work in one of many piazzas with one of many fountains crawling with many cool teenagers, looking cool. Even cooler now I’VE arrived.
24. Get lost in one way ‘system’ and turn up late.
25. Beer and pizza and beer. Remember that girls from work have boyfriends.
26. Decide to go for spin on aforementioned transport along the cobbled streets of the old part of the city. Remember to find chiropractor and buy shock-absorbing haemorrhoid protection device.
27. And a louder f#!%kin horn! Just saw another scooter get it, this time from a woman looking at her knees, probably shouting into her mobile that she just dropped whilst trying to light a cigarette without spilling the ice-cream on yapping lap-dog. Which is still yapping at the guy now peeling himself from between the cobbles.
28. Notice my fuel is on the 'vapours only' part of the gauge. Only place I can find uses self-service machine, minimum value is twice as much as one can get into a scooter.
29. Arrive home safe and sound. Stop gripping teeth, let tension out of neck and shoulders.
30. Padlock wheels to lamp-post making sure chain is well off floor to avoid all-night leg-cocking patrol and so prevent need for trip to hospital after forgetting to wash hands before handling breakfast.
31. Notice that some other unfortunates have slipped on same dog parcel so that now I'm using a well practised childhood skill, learnt from hopscotch, to get to my front door.
32. Greeted by friendly but very forgetful chain-smoking landlady who is surprised (yet again) that I am staying there. Show her the entries in her diary,… again.
33. Shower and then remove Armani, hang up for morning to drip dry and therefore avoid ironing with triangular object that gets hot after plugging the frayed flex into one of three different kinds of electricity sockets and leaves white powder on all garments needed in a hurry.
34. Curl up with good book, well any book that I can find in English.
35. Get as far as Aardvark, put in ear plugs.
36. Wait for the neighbours to stop shouting at each other over their TV which they don’t watch but is at full volume.
37. On balcony, check sky. Not a cloud, but who knows maybe it will rain tomorrow. Nah. Close patio doors.
38. 1am Repeat 36 and 37
39. Bang on wall
40. Repeat 36
41. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
42. No not sleep but mosquitoes out for their evening serenade and piss-up, they’ve heard about a good vintage imported from England.
43. Drink bottle of Umbrian red to lower blood pressure and aid eventual sleep.
44. Alarm goes off 7.15am, wake up and, once in cold shower, realise it's Saturday.

Better Wait for a Better Beta

2006-11-16T13:25:00.000+01:00

Update: 29.12.2006
Blogger is no longer a Beta however I still have the same bugs as mentioned in the original text below. Apparentely there are known issues with Safari which they say are working on... we'll see how long it takes....

This new all singing all dancing Blogger, seems to be an improvement... however, it is only a Beta version and I'm surprised that it is not possible to sign up with the previous version. I say this because here I am trying to create content on my new page and none of the "configure" pop up windows (that I have so far tried) do what it says on the can.

For example the form to upload an image (of only 20k) just hangs forever, so as an alternative I tried putting the URL of an existing image on the web and "save changes" only to get an error message telling me to "Please specify an image" Huh? Isn't that what i just did.

I'll pop back sometime in the not too distant future to see when the Beta has become better.