The Gallery

Visited The Photographers Galery with Amber again. New exhibitions to see including entrants for Deutsche Borse prize 2015. Images and styles varied and hard hitting. Probably best viewed on separate days, so you can process and appreciate all the visual information. I enjoyed the display by Mihhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse. A project documenting a decaying building and the effext on the residents.

I wouldn't like to be a judge on the panel, So many superb images and graphics. 

The plan was to hit the streets after the gallery, and despite the rain, we did manage to get a few shots.

I experimented with some slow shutter speeds, attempting to capture passers by in the rain, with their umbrellas and any other feature that would catch the eye, but I didn't get anything good enough to post. I did learn a few lessons, that background is still important even when blurred, and panning takes practise and patience. 

Eventually the rain defeated us, as we were worried about water in the cameras, so headed home to Herts. 

Poker as life

I have heard many sports compared to life. Football, chess, but none of them come as close as poker does. Playing poker seriously, as opposed to recreation or fun play, is a seriously hard business. You have to study strategy, keep up to date with the trends in the game. Have the courage of a lion, and the temperament of a zen master. There is a concept called Fundamental Theory of Poker, which basically says, you must minimize your mistakes versus maximising the errors of your opponents. Even if you put the hours of study in, and have a good understanding of the many concepts there are, poker will still test you. Test you in ways, that will make you question your objective existence. Things will happen, you will not believe. All that is because of luck, otherwise known as probability, variance, dancing with the poker gods and "OMG, I cannot believe he hit that river card".

The great poker commentator and author Jesse May once said mastering poker is about how you deal with luck. Because you can do everything right and still get punished. Punished again and again, and while you are getting punished, the poker gods will interupt your punishment and find ways to punish you a little bit more. So why play?

It can take many thousands or tens of thousands of hands to overcome variance. It's when you do, that the profit rolls in. Bad players make bad mistakes and they pay you off hand after hand. Sometimes it's harder to notice when this is happening as this is how things SHOULD play out.

I played 15, 367 hands of poker in April, not including tournaments, I am talking cash game hands only. Not a big number of hands by any means, some grinders notch up hundreds of thousands or even millions hands per month.

For a loss of 5.16 big blinds per 100. I checked through my hands and made a few errors, but nothing too bad. I am also running above above expected value, which is slightly worrying as I was luckier than the maths expected. I have been playing for about fifteen years, and should have progressed to higher stakes, but it just has never happened (yet). Who knows? keep plugging away.

This hand was a highlight from a session I have just finished

Always nice as the odds of making one are huge. 

The magic button — Make Everything OK

The blog been a bit sparse lately, so I tought I would gift you a magic button.



The magic button — Make Everything OK

Great Days

Today is a great day for road cycling. Not that I have been out on the bike today. Even though I have a day off work, feeling a bit tired, so will endeavour to get out tomorrow.

No, today is the day I changed the lens on my cycling sunnies from clear, to full on shady. A day that says Winter has gone, Spring has sprung. Paris-Nice is done and Milan-San Remo is under way. I have a 100k IOW coming up, so need to start getting some K's in the legs. Although coming to road cycling relatively late, I enjoy it so much. The lanes around North Herts ideal to get some fresh(ish) air and see some wildlife.

Here are my rides, add me if you are on Strava, and I will post some to blog. 

Lastly, always remember, The arms of your sunnies shall be OUTSIDE the helmet straps.

Amber Pics!

Are here.

Very nice selection of her personal fav's. Head on over and let her know what you think.

Dean Street Soho London Feb 2015 Part 3

Concluding set of pics from recent shoot. Overall I am happy with them, and I feel my personal vision continues to develop. Feel free to comment, I am not afraid of criticism and it may help me be a better photographer.

Dean Street Soho London Part 2

Edited a few more pics today.

They have all had some post processing. Hope you like them.

Human Rights Human Wrongs

Had a superb day out with number two daughter yesterday. Visited The Photographers Gallery to view their latest exhibition. A collection of conflicts and some people who won Nobel peace prizes as a result of them. It was not light hearted viewing, but raised questions for discussion on the photographic medium and genres and general philosophy. TPG also has an excellent bookshop and cafe, where we had coffee and indulged in a bit of people spotting.

After the exhibition it was off, into deeper Soho for more photography as part of my continuing self assignment about this area of London. I chose Dean Street and the small streets coming off it. Got some pics I am happy with, and the first part uploads are here.

I will hopefully post another set next blog if memory serves.

Once we got to the bottom of Dean Street, it was around and into Frith Street and the coolest coffee bar in London, Bar Italia. Great coffee and authentic Italia food. Great ambience and a mod icon. Train home a quick after match Birra Moretti in Wetherspoons.

Fantastico!

P.S I am trying to encourage Amber to display her pics, but I am not getting very far!

Dusting off the cobwebs

Managed to get on the bike today.



Carrying too much winter podge and it was pretty windy and wet for a good timings, but excellent fun. A couple of hours and 40 odd kilometres along the country lanes around Stevenage. Very little traffic which is always pleasant.

Before Color - William Eggleston

If you are an artist born into our class, The Working Class, you are in trouble. There are many obstacles preventing you from creating, and very little help. Equipment and materials are expensive, sometimes unobtainable, competing with life's essentials. Of all the myriad crimes of capitalism, and there will always be too many to list, the hindrance of art is up there with the best of them. The greatest paintings you never saw, and the greatest music you never heard are by artists from the working class.

But as Elvis said, If you are looking for trouble, then you are in the right place. The camera is a genuine democratiser of art. It takes next to nothing in skill to lift the viewfinder to your eye and press the shutter. You can get a basic camera fairly cheaply, and away you go. This simple start is deceptive though. The more you look the more you see. Light becomes an object and all things take on new meanings. The tenacity of the working class cannot be stamped out, and what does not kill us, makes us stronger.

William Eggleston is a pioneer in the genre of vernacular photography. The study of everyday things. His book, Before Color, is a collection of images from the late sixties to early seventies of America's South. He breaks the 'rules'. Body parts cropped out of frame, horizons skewed, Because the subjects take centre stage, not technical banalities. Working class life is captured in all its reality. Americana cars, diners and lounges transport us back through time and history. I love these pictures as I love work by Stephen Shore and Henri Cartier-Bresson. To the unskilled and uncultured eye, these images may be described as banal. Until you sit with them for a while, meditate on them and let the sublime aesthetics seep into your soul.

I found my copy in my local WHSmith. A poor excuse for a bookshop, but the only option around. It has a pathetically small photographic section, maybe ten books, so I snapped up this gem feeling like a diamond prospector. At the till, the barcode didn't register a price or any other details. It seemed right and fitting that something as beautiful as this book, and what it represents bucked the corporate retail machine. For minute, I thought they wouldn't be able to even sell it, but that part of the transaction was successful, of course.

Enjoyed today's meditation. I think I have attained level two of the Shamatha course. Level two is continuous attention, but don't get fooled by the title. It is similar to level one, but with longer bouts of attention on the chosen subject. The mind still wanders all over the place, like a porcupine treading on jelly beans, but is able to keep some attention.

Ambers birthday meal tonight yay! Happy eighteenth to my penultimate child. I could not be prouder of all of them.

Still playing the cards

After not playing much poker last year, I have returned to the baize. Still in the micro's and still in the basement, 2nl. That is No Limit Texas Hold 'em, tables with a max buy in of $2.

I had always hoped to progress up through the stake levels, and make a second income from the game. As time has gone on, the game has got much harder to win at. You must study the latest trends in playing style and keep up to date with strategy.

Here was January

Small profit, but only 1.70 bb/100. 3bb/100 is considered the minimum for a good win rate. Here's to a better February.

Contemplative Photography

Buddhist philosophy has a concept called 'Seeing things as they are'. This means looking at things and not judging them. For example, you see a red traffic sign. Probably, most people, in their busy worlds, will not even see the sign. If they do, they may only register it as a mundane object. The contemplative photographer see's the red as it is, and appreciates it for what it is. This way of seeing, opens the photographers eyes to beauty, symmetry and all aspects of life. All you have to do is look.

For this set of pictures, made I sure I took my time and really tried to look carefully. One of the greatest photographers of all time Henri Cartier-Bresson coined a phrase The Decisive Moment. Which is a way of explaining when a photographer makes a picture and why. The next picture, I was hoping for something to happen in the frame, maybe someone walking across it. To add to the composition, but it was really cold, and that put me off waiting longer! So patience and timing and meditating are all vital skills for the photographer.

The Himalayan Boy and the TV Set

Is an excellent thought provoking, beautifully photographed documentary about Laya, a village in Bhutan in the Himalayas. It is seen through the eyes of an eight year old boy Peyangki. It documents the traditional versus the march of civilisation, as electricity and a road enter the village.

I laughed at this scene where Peyangkis Uncle and his wife have a 'domestic'. The uncle has travelled three days out, and three days back, sold a yak to buy a TV.



"Calm down" He says? How can you calm down from being the calmest person in the world?

Full Movie

Two posts in two days! Who'd a thought it?

I have recently started on a new buddhist course. It's from the Shambhala tradition, which has Tibetan and Hindu traditions. Specifically I am following the methods from a book by B. Alan Wallace called The Attention Revolution. It is a ten stage mindfulness and meditation program.

Stage one is called Directed Attention. You meditate by focusing on the breath. When you are able to do this, if only for a few seconds, then you have achieved directed attention. The book recommends twenty four minute meditations, I am not sure why this duration, but it is a nice number. I managed the twenty four minutes today and I am feeling very pleased with myself! In my opinion (and zen masters) modern living has seriously messed up our ability to concentrate and be still. I am hoping to achieve better mental focus, keep depression at bay and generally become a better person using this method.

I am also going to use the method in my photography. Becoming more contemplative in what I see, and how I see.

Thought it might be time for another post. It's only been a few years. My daughters stumbled across it somehow.