William Bragg

The 10 worst halloween costumes.

(via Zoe Strauss)

I hate election time. Too much negativity. And this one is definitely descending quickly into the depths. So a friend sent me this link, and it made me smile. The English translation is not literal, but rather what the lyrics sound like in English. For your viewing pleasure:

Jordan, one of my students. (Taken with my Koni-Omega medium format)

Tameca, one of my students. Taken with the Koni-Omega medium format.

Of course, this was dumb. Banks didn’t really care (because they weren’t holding the bad paper) but the people investing in those “mortgage-backed securities” were slowly getting wise to the fact that many of the borrowers were in over their heads. What to do? The credit industry went ahead and lobbied Washington to change the bankruptcy laws. While corporations could claim bankruptcy and stop paying for their retirees’ health coverage, individuals would no longer be able to claim bankruptcy, and even if they did, they would still owe their creditors the money they borrowed, forever. The credit industry spent over $100 million lobbying lawmakers for the new provisions.

(my emphasis)

"Before someone amputates your penis, you want to be real sure it's necessary," he said.

Abstract:

This paper contributes to very nascent geographies of sleep. The paper is situated in the context of academic, media and policy debates regarding the health and well-being of children in Anglophone cultures. Drawing upon an extensive survey of websites dedicated to children’s sleep, it explores the ways in which bedtime and sleeping practices are represented by experts. Expert advice is aimed at parents (especially mothers) who are deemed to be involved in intimate but non-reciprocal relationships of care with their children. The paper highlights how expert advice is characterised by guidance around three key themes: detailed routines; intimate, bodily practices; material-environmental strategies. Our analysis of these themes extends contemporary human geographical research regarding everydayness, embodiment and material spaces. In particular, we argue that the geographies of young children’s sleep might develop and even challenge geographers’ extant interest in diverse but related issues such as care, domesticity, childhood and inter-generational relations and responsibilities.

It gets better:

Introduction

Our intentions in this paper are threefold. First, we seek to frame sleep (particularly, in what follows, children’s sleep) as salient, significant and problematic for Social/Cultural Geographers. Second, we propound contemporary, discursive representations of sleep as themselves significant, affecting, efficacious and problematic.

Read the rest of this entry »

Conservative or Liberal? Workspace Reveals All.

I posted some of the photos from my Koni yesterday, and alluded to the fact that I’d write up something about the process. I’m still experimenting with the camera, and shot as opportunity dictated and to get the film developed fairly quickly, so I could mull over how it fits with my photography goals. The pics posted therefore were not connected in any coherent way outside of the fact that they are types of portraits - my main reason to photograph.

I thought about experimenting with medium format out of some real interest, an idea for a project, and, honestly, some ego and inferiority complex. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, there seems to be a real hierarchy applied to different aspects of photography as implied by many in the non-commercial or fine art field of photography. It got to me a bit. I shot film years ago now (35mm), and have moved to 90+% digital now. I’m truly happy with that move, but my ego still needed the caressing from proving my ability to use an ‘old’ medium format film camera.

Anyone who knows me in meatspace, recognizes me as a pretty visceral guy. Granted I’m quite likely to spout some blather from some french cultural theorist too often at times, I like being out and about meeting and interacting with people. I will talk to anyone. Ask anyone remotely near me in a cafe or bar. My photography is an extension of that. I’m not trying to necessarily capture a secret moment, but I do try to capture moments as they happen.

I pride myself on the fact that, although I can’t make the camera disappear, I create a feeling of comfort that allows others to at least ignore the camera for the most part. 35mm film in the past, and now Digital SlRs afford me that opportunity to work quickly and seamlessly, while I’m still just hanging out, meeting and interacting with others. The kids in my program and my friends will attest that there are very few circumstances when there is not a coffee or camera in my hands.

Back to the Koni-Omega. It has the quality to attract attention itself, and does provide opportunities to engage in dialogue with others in of itself, but as I mentioned above, I don’t need that. I do like the images it produces quite a bit. But right now I have the film developed locally, then scan in the negatives. Hard as I try, I can’t keep the dust particles out. Do I try to set up a small darkroom? I don’t really have the time.

But I do like it. I will continue to use it, and my project idea will still benefit from its use. But given what really excites me about photography, the nikons will be continue to be my main tools. And that’s really what the camera is - a tool, and the nikon is the best tool for me at the moment. (Though if anyone made a decent digital in a Nikon F3 form, I’d be all over it.)

… but, please(!), “Just say No!”

STEP 1 - HDR it.

Given it’s election time, the taxpayer bailout of the rich and powerful, and so many other things, I thought this would be helpful and appropriate: collection of videos that make you feel better - Featured on BuzzFeed.

These are the most recent shots from my Koni-Omega medium format camera. I’m happy with the results, but I’ll have more to say about the process in another post. With no meter, I’m most satisfied that I can pretty much figure out the proper settings for a more or less accurate exposure.

Calculated Risk: Bailout Proposal.

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

(my emphasis)

The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com.

Some of his commentary follows:

What is more intrinsically corrupt than allowing people to engage in high-reward/no-risk capitalism — where they reap tens of millions of dollars and more every year while their reckless gambles are paying off only to then have the Government shift their losses to the citizenry at large once their schemes collapse? We've retroactively created a win-only system where the wealthiest corporations and their shareholders are free to gamble for as long as they win and then force others who have no upside to pay for their losses. Watching Wall St. erupt with an orgy of celebration on Friday after it became clear the Government (i.e., you) would pay for their disaster was literally nauseating, as the very people who wreaked this havoc are now being rewarded.

…

What’s most vital to underscore is that the beneficiaries of this week’s extraordinary Government schemes aren’t just the coincidental recipients of largesse due to some random stroke of good luck. The people on whose behalf these schemes are being implemented — the true beneficiaries — are the very same people who have been running and owning our Government — both parties — for decades, which is why they have been able to do what they’ve been doing without interference. They were able to gamble without limit because they control the Government, and now they’re having others bear the brunt of their collapse for the same reason — because the Government is largely run for their benefit.

…

Can anyone point to any discussion of what the implications are for having the Federal Government seize control of the largest and most powerful insurance company in the country, as well as virtually the entire mortgage industry and other key swaths of financial services? Haven’t we heard all these years that national health care was an extremely risky and dangerous undertaking because of what happens when the Federal Government gets too involved in an industry? What happened in the last month dwarfs all of that by many magnitudes.

(my emphasis)

**I can hear the bleats of the sheep right now**

One of my favorite photographers talking about his 1000 polaroids project while you watch some of the images.

I know it’s a long quote, but it’s just a piece of the whole:

To stave off the complete collapse of A.I.G., we, the American taxpayers, have generously loaned the insurance behemoth $85 billion of our national treasure. We refuse to finance universal health coverage for all of us, but we certainly don’t mind bailing out greedy scumbags who willingly gambled their investor’s money in stupidly risky ventures knowing that Uncle Sam would socialize their risk.

And may I remind you that the biggest supporters of free market economics are now the ones on their knees begging to be saved from themselves by the evil and inefficient government they’ve been badmouthing for thirty years. That’s right: these Wall Street Welfare Queens have been the champions of free market economics and deregulation for the last 30 years, but now these government haters are gladly going on the government dole to save their asses.

May I also remind you that three years ago George W. Bush thought it was a brilliant idea to privatize Social Security and let these high-stakes gamblers on Wall Street manage this public trust. Wouldn’t that have been a recklessly stupid venture in light of today’s horrific news about the state of our financial markets?

Go read the whole thing - Wall Street Welfare Queens | The Journal of Doubt.

I picked up the prints and all is fine! No light leaks, nothing obvious, seems to be in great working condition. Now I have to figure out how this is going to fit into my workflow. Below you can see two quick ’snapshots’ of Liam and his friend, Alex. Nothing fancy. I just wanted to run through a roll quickly and check out the camera. I scanned the prints on an old cheap scanner we have in the office. Though this definitely is one of the issues that I have to figure out going forward - developing, scanning, how, what, …

the boy and his grapes.

Alex with his.