davymac : pixels+print professional

I realise this is probably not news to those who are already active Flickr users, but a few weeks ago I decided to try and make some more time to improve my photography. Not exactly easy for me to get any free time these days but, since photography has a role to play in my work, it is of more than casual interest to me.
So I did some Google searches for Camera clubs in my area only to find… very little. From what I did see either they have chosen to conduct their activities completely offline, or they had really basic/old websites with little activity. There were a few exceptions, but none that I could find close enough to where I live that I would attend regularly.
So I went to my (languishing) Flickr account, changed it to a Pro version and proceeded to load some photos from the hundreds I have stored on my Mac. I also checked in on the resources of my Twitter network and found a few folks with an interest in photography there too. Luckily enough there were a few Flickr events coming up that I could get to, two in Belfast and one in Dublin, it seems there has been a bit of a dearth of them lately but things are now looking up.

Now I’m a veteran of two Flickr meetups, both hugely enjoyable and both very inspirational in getting me out with the prime directive of improving my photography, what’s not to like.
In a post-shoot discussion over lunch in the Kitchen Bar I mentioned that I thought Flickr is the contemporary evolution of the ‘Camera Club’, Phil thought that made sense too and Photography definitely is booming on the web, as opposed to being notable by it’s absence in the real world. I’m sure there are still active clubs, I just found it difficult to locate them.
Just like Twitter, Flickr is now becoming mildly addictive, an easy achievement to someone already addicted for many years to creating images. Yep, Photography is my drug of choice and Flickr is my dealer.

The second meet-up was in Dublin, fantastic day out, thanks to our fearless leader for the day Shauneen and the rest of the photographers who turned up; Caitriona, John, Darren, 73 Man, Phil, Nathalie, Alexia, Debs, Will, Bob, and Claire. A separate post is required for that one I think.

Having thought some more on the whole phenomenon I think we should now be officially recognised as Phoblographers.

Last night was my first night at a Belfast Open Coffee club meeting, a very interesting meet-up with some (more than expected) like-minded souls.

Good fun and, as always with those who are fired with enthusiasm for their work, some exciting projects under discussion. One such project is The Big Word Project

I chatted briefly to Lee from the project last night and so I thought I would throw my tuppence-worth in ($4 actually, luckily I have a short nickname) and buy my name:

This is a very interesting, and popular, project - already getting picked up on the web by many highly-regarded sites (such as one of my favourites: daringfireball ).

I wish them all the best with this and maybe you’d like to pay them a visit (and some dollars) and buy your own word.

I’m pleased to report that the video project I’ve been working on recently has just been approved for release.

Our brief is to promote Northern Ireland as a leading resource in ‘best practice’ web for business, hence ‘Northern Ireland’s Digital Hub’.

But, as they say, “a picture’s worth a thousand words” - so go check out a few million word’s worth in the video.

Hmm, word’s worth - how poetic…

We’re using Brightcove to host the media file, will probably post to YouTube as well, in due course.

…Well I definitely wasn’t.

Working as a freelance creative is a demanding job, I spend a lot of time generating concepts and in the subsequent production work - in addition to the necessary admin in running the business itself. This means an unhealthy amount of time sitting in my work chair, so I thought I should do something about that nagging thought I’ve been having that my old office chair was less than ideal (it was!) and about that even more nagging back pain that had been on the increase lately.

Being in the design industry myself I’d already heard of Herman Miller, but I never got to actually sit in one of their chairs until a while ago while doing some freelance work in another design office, where they had installed the famous Aeron chairs from Herman Miller. You only need to sit in one of these chairs for a short while to understand why they are so popular, despite the high price-tag, it really is that noticeable, the chair even feels better as you get more used to it. I was convinced.

These chairs are truly excellent products and, of course, they come at a premium price, but I think they offer good value for money as they really do live up to the comfort promise and are built to last. Herman Millar chairs come with a twelve-year warranty, yes, you read that right, twelve years.

I didn’t spring for the Aeron model, I went for the Mirra instead, since almost all the chairs in their range have the same huge number of adjustment options for a really personalised fit anyway - and I like the lighter look of the Mirra.

On many a long working session I have wondered what it would cost for a really good chair, now I know… the Mirra costs around £500 here in the UK, depending where you buy it from. I bought mine here. Worth the money I say, not only do I feel comfortable and less stressed when working but the backache is noticeably reduced now and I know it’s this chair that has made the difference.

But hey, don’t just take my word for it, here’s a great review of the Mirra chair from another designer.

I really wish I’d bought this chair a long time ago, but I’m glad to have it now. If you spend a lot of time at your desk owe it to your good health to check out the chairs from Herman Miller.

Technorati Tags: equipment

I got to see Gary Hustwit’s ‘Helvetica’ movie a few weeks back at my old Art College in Belfast. I really enjoyed the movie, it was done with abundant wit and charm, but most of all I was carried along by the enthusiasm of it’s director. Gary really achieved a lot in delivering such an engaging story of what sounds like such awful dull subject matter, I don’t know what the actual running time was but the movie was well paced and the time seemed to fly in.

Gary did a little Q&A session after the movie too and I was surprised to hear that it was almost entirely self-funded - resulting in some ‘interesting’ credit card bills, as he put it. He says he’s having a ball traveling around the world promoting the movie, I don’t doubt it and it is well deserved after the two-year development of the project. Worth keeping an eye out for further work form Gary I would think.

Official site for the movie is: http://www.helveticafilm.com/

Co-incidentally I was watching the movie right at the time Apple were launching the iPhone in the States - and guess what typeface is used on the iPhone interface?

Another one of my pet obsessions is movies and their effect on popular culture, so I recently picked up the ‘Alien Quadrilogy’ (is that a real word?) DVD box set at my local HMV shop. I’ve seen them all quite a few times of course but the one that really stands the test of time is the first movie in the series, directed by Ridley Scott. One of the bonus discs presents tons of background info in the making of the film, I particularly liked the storyboard drawings produced by Ridley himself (an art school graduate), almost every scene was hand drawn before setting up to shoot. The payoff is that you can see the attention to detail in every frame, this film is a masterpiece of art direction and cinematography - in addition to being the first real ‘A’ list horror movie. Notably it took a fine artist, H. R. Giger, to visualise the design of the creature itself in such a radically different - and effective way.

Co-incidentally I also bought another Sci-Fi cult movie favourite, ‘Dark Star‘. This black comedy Sci-Fi movie was started as a student project by John Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon, - who later wrote the screenplay for Alien.