I was given the choice of two cameras, a Fuji 6×9 (which I used in first year) and a Mamiya RB67. I thought I’d play with something I’d yet to have time with so chose the Mamiya with a 120 back.

The exercise started with me shooting a film with my eyes closed.

By the end of the exercise I had my eyes open and trying to pose - you would not believe how hard I find it to pose in front of a camera!

The lighting was setup in this way so that it would not distract from the simplicity of the photographs themselves.

The aim of the session was to get me to look at simple lighting akin to David Bailey, Sally Man and Richard Avedon to try to open up the possibilities of a series of portraits I’m currently shooting. I may have more from this set (I’ve got photographs of two other people too and if they will let me post them I’ll share them with you lot!).

Hope you have a look over there. Got a few things to write about - hopefully I’ll get time to get them online tonight!

May I introduce Pink Tentacle (they will be renamed I’m sure by the final owner!) - this is the only Pink Tentacle.

This tentacle took a few hours to make. I’m quite proud of this one - the wool isn’t the easiest to work with and its much finer double knit than I’m used to working with.

These suckers are just fantastic if I do say so myself!

I hope that Pink Tentacle is happy in their new home after the 25th December.

To quote @contactmcr

“Are you going to join in? You need your face,paper,pen&camera”

I think that everyone should get involved - Contact are a great venue and wonderful people. Its also a very simple project to get involved with.

This is my offering

The rest of the photographs are on Flickr.

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a splurge on cooking real food. Kian’s dad took me to Wing Yip’s Manchester store just before university term started. I picked up many things including stuff to make wontons.

If you fancy some let me know - I’m happy to make more here at Tentacle Tower.

I’ve started a gallery for Food photography. I’ve been doing much of it lately. I seem to be enjoying cooking and the photography that goes with it.

For months I’ve been trying to find something I could claim as a “Cat Safe” Hot Chocolate. Now, most cafes pile on cream, most powder versions have enough skimmed milk powder in them to trigger my intolerance and most chocolate bars I have to consume in moderation so I can’t use it to make a Hot Chocolate. Well that changed when I found that I could eat Aero - I somewhat love Aero. Somewhat hate Nestle, but I can’t do much about that.

Dried Skimmed Milk itself doesn’t seem to affect me much.

Ingredients for “Cat Safe” Hot Chocolate
Aero 4 mini treat size bars (around 40g) (of which is ~6g milk solids of that between 0.12g and 0.48g may be lactose)
a mug full of full-fat milk (lactofree or normal)
a tiny grating of nutmeg
a handful of marshmallows

Method

1. Heat the milk and chocolate over a gentle heat - DO NOT BOIL! Keep on heat until all the chocolate is melted in.
2. Once the chocolate is combined with the milk grate in as much nutmeg as you like (you can leave it out if you don’t like it!)
3. Pour into mug (for preference a Large Mug).
4. Cut up some marshmallows and top. (May need a spoon to consume this awesome drink/dessert.. )

*It may not be strictly Lactose Free, but it hasn’t upset my body so I’m happy to say I can make it again for me.

Last night was this month’s GeekUp Manchester. Due to a few issues with the venue (including GeekUp being double booked, shifted around at a drop of a hat, and last night being told as we arrived that they had a private party until 10:30pm!) we’ve moved to Pitcher & Piano, Deansgate Locks. That’s right, we’ve moved next door. Better WiFi, nicer snug, better lighting and less music!

I’ve put a selection of my photographs from last night.

So, at the Printworks Odeon, Manchester today I went to Guathon. I was there to see a showcasing of ASP.NET MVC2, Visual Studio 2010, .Net 4.0 and SilverLight 3 given by ScottGu. Honestly, I’ll leave folks with much more knowledge and with interesting things to say discuss those (although there seemed to be a few cool things that are coming in the new shinies)- I went along to photograph the event.

After the showcase I managed to get a quick photoshoot in (around Scott answering further questions about his various projects…).

Scott Gu
Single strobe (Canon Speedlite 580EXII with built in fill card used) camera left ~1-2ft off subject on the desk set @ 1/32th power.

The rest of the gallery from the Guathon.

Apollo (aged 4 years 3 months)

So I’ve been playing with the new triggers and off camera flash. At the moment I’m only playing with a single flash gun (although I can up to a second thanks to the Vivitar 285HV working happily with the triggers).

In no particular order

Hannah (aged 12 years)

Hathor (aged 6 years)

Henery (aged 8 years)

Seti (aged 6 years)

Squeaker (aged 4 years)

Walnut (aged 16 months)

That’s all the cats, bar Apollo (aged 4 years) who hasn’t been around to photograph for a few days. I’ll be getting a photograph of him as soon as I possibly can.

Each of these photographs was taken in the cat’s favoured place. Hannah being in bed, Seti near my dad in the living room, Walnut on the stairs, Henery on top of the fridge, Hathor under the bed and Squeaker at the top of the stairs (well he likes to hide..). So I hope you like them.