HELIOPA / ALTERNATE TIMELINE

Child



What was actually a work in progress, the day after started to look like a finished image. So I left it that way.

Why Alternate Timeline? Because timelines are independent in alternate universes. :) And science fiction movie directors from the past were sure the other one must be colourless.

And the soundtrack is The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun because she like it the most. :)

HYACINTH

Backlighting



Hyacinth is a symbol of games. And here it is, dedicated to all the players and our faithful followers. Thank you all so much for your time and comments, each and every one is appreciated.

I've been keeping an eye on these guys since I've heard "After the Storm" in the closing scenes of one "Stargate Universe" episode. Since I've been playing their "Sigh No More" debut more often these days, here's one for you too: Mumford & Sons - After The Storm.

Until the next season, have fun and stay well! Cheerio!

TRAVELER

Converging Parallels



Under-age.
Exactly two weeks old.
Model release available on request.

This one always reminded me of a lullaby for a child: The Frames - Star Star.

PASSPARTU

Food



I need a break! :)

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Passpartù

CITY GRASS

Abstract



Working title: Getaway #3

François Couperin - Les Barricades Mystérieuses (performed by Scott Ross)

MACHINERY

Underlighting



I had this idea yesterday but skeleton had won. Since it's very simple shot, I did it today. Prop used: spiral bevel pinion (hypoid gear). And yes, I really like clean, minimalistic images like this one. :)

When I first heard Sinking of the Titanic by Gavin Bryars, I was truly impressed. The amount of details, the research that preceded the first version, the evolvement of (rare) performances... and machinery noises. ;) This is a very long ambiental piece (up to one hour) so don't bother if that's not your thing. Linked video is only an excerpt.

"In the various performing versions of The Sinking of the Titanic made since its inception in 1969, the starting point for the piece has been the hymn-tune "Autumn," following the evidence of the surviving wireless operator Harold Bride. He told the New York Times in April 1912 :"....the band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down. They were playing Autumn then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic on her nose, with her after-quartet sticking straight up in the air, began to settle - slowly.... the way the band kept playing was a noble thing..... and the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing Autumn. How they ever did it I cannot imagine." (from gavinbryars.com)

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Shadows



There is a story behind this one. One particular song haunted me for hours today. I heard it first some ten years ago as a soundtrack to the wonderful clay animation short movie "Hasta los huesos" by René Castillo (a.k.a. "Down to the Bone"). It was Spanish traditional "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman) performed by Eugenia León and Cafe Tacuba.

I was planning to do something else for today but there was that skeleton hanging on the kitchen door (don't ask). 2+5=9, Dia de los Muertos!

A word of precaution: "Hasta los huesos" is NSFW and not for a weak-hearted. :)

Since pop oriented Cafe Tacuba is not really my thing, here's my soundtrack for today. Los Lobos - La Pistola y el Corazón.

NAUTILUS

Golden Mean



This is the closest thing to the golden mean I could get in 24 hours, today. As a matter of fact, Fibonacci nautilus overlays quite nicely. :)

A little bit of smooth jazz fusion for today, Bob James - Nautilus (1974).

AND THEN HE CAME

Telephoto (200mm)



18ºC (64.4ºF) in February?! I took a bike and went to the nearest lake. It felt like a "landscape" day but all I got was a bunch of dull, flat and boring images. The air was smoggy enough to violate even the most liberal health standards. On my way home I stopped at the pâtisserie for a coffee, thinking about how I'll end up shooting an "abstract" in the evening. And then he came!

Sorry for being bizarre today but "bird is the word" - here's The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird, "the deepest and most meaningful song in the world" (stolen from Youtube comments). And just in case, alt1, alt2 and live version from the Amsterdam revival. :)

BRICK IN LOVE

Pastel colours



It was warm and sunny today. Groundhogs forecast an early spring. And glass bricks are in love! Return to Forever - What Game Shall We Play Today. :) (Alternative link 1) (Alternative link 2)

IN PARADISUM

Macro



When I sense the smell of old polished mahogany furniture and see a mechanical alarm clock like this one, I'm always expecting to hear a mixture of hypnotic metal ticking and The Carpenters. Since I can't stand The Carpenters, here's the deal: Gabriel Fauré - In Paradisum from his Requiem in D minor, Op.48. :)

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Silhouettes



Claude Debussy - Arabesque No.1, Aldo Ciccolini

BLACK

Low Key



A little different kind of low key. I've seen a few colour-themed images like this a long time ago and I've always wanted to do one. Some twentysomething years later, here it is. Although it is not a period piece, I'll reach for a Phil Spector's Wall of Sound fan from the seventies: Dave Edmunds - Baby I Love You. Simplicity is highly underrated. :)

YELLOW FIELDS

Hands



Eberhard Weber - Touch from the wonderful Yellow Fields.
I grew up with this album. RIP, Charlie Mariano (yes, another one).

GUGGENHEIM

On the Diagonal



"They don't just go from A to B
they go around and come around again
'cause out there's always a construction site
a Starbucks and
yet another Guggenheim"

Einstürzende Neubauten - Youme & Meyou (Palast Der Republik Live 2004)
And "if the future isn't bright, at least it's colorful" :)

THE MAN WHO YELLED

Facial expressions/Emotion



My guiding light for this shot was one brilliant animated short: The Man Who Yelled by Mo Willems (yes, the Sesame Street guy). Besides, I was running out of options since I was working until midnight. :)

Another man who yelled: John Zorn / Naked City - Osaka Bondage

RANDOM

Shallow DoF



I rolled the dices and got everything!
Captured position is completely random.

Mood music for today is no music at all. Or maybe it is. The Conet Project - The Swedish Rhapsody is an excerpt from a 4CD set of recordings of numbers stations, "mysterious shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin." If you want to know more, you can start with this.

NOT AN APPLE

Spotlighting



This is not an apple.

Karl Jenkins & Catrin Finch - Harpers Bizarre

SUPERNOVA

Zoom Blur



"A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months. During this short interval a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun is expected to emit over its entire life span." (Wikipedia)

A little different space music for today: Hector Zazou - Caoineadh Na Dtrí Muire (Keening Joys of the Three Marys) from his celtic "Lights in the Dark" album. Enjoy!

SEE-SAW

Central Composition



Getaway project #2.

He's waiting. Now it's your turn to jump on the teeter-totter.

Pink Floyd - See-Saw
R.I.P. Rick Wright. (This is starting to look like an obituary column.)

PLAY

Motion Blur



It's very difficult to play hide-and-seek in an empty straight corridor. Photographing the running kid under the low neon light is easy. (Yeah, right.) This is just one-of-many and the post processing applied is mild to moderate.

For today, Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Perpetuum Mobile. Rest in peace, Simon Jeffes & PCO.

VANISHING POINT

High Key



She has been acting like this since she put her headphones on. Like a mind melt with a bottle of bleach.

If you're reading/watching this on a bright monitor, it's entirely possible that she's already gone.

I was never interested in music videos but I really like this guys work. Former Stockhausen student, music teacher, long time Can member and now solo artist, mister Holger Czukay - Ode to Perfume. (I've already borrowed this title for one frenzy image two years ago.) And I've linked the radio edit version (short) so you can see the master (if you wish).

OUTSIDE

Analogous palette



I had exactly one hour to do the image for today and no concept at all. Instead of looking through the lens, I've picked one card from the Oblique Strategies deck (Over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt). "Look at a very small object, look at its centre" - that was my card.

My getaway project is done. Can you guess how big is that thing on the image?

And the music?! I got something different for today, Jakob - Saint, really great post-rock band from Napier, New Zealand.

PLAINSCAPE

Inversion



Pēteris Vasks - Plainscapes

FROM THE BOOK OF SOUNDS

Reflections



"Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The law of reflection says that for specular reflection the angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the angle at which it is reflected." (Wikipedia)

Hans Otte - Das Buch der Klänge (The Book of Sounds) Part II

THE WATCHER AND THE TOWER

Monotone



"The watcher and the tower
Waiting hour by hour."
(Mike Oldfield)

Just sitting there for years, never moving. I bet he could tell a story or two.

Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - Memory Gongs

CONVERSATION THEORY

Square Frame



"Conversation Theory is a cybernetic and dialectic framework that offers a scientific theory to explain how interactions lead to construction of knowledge, or, knowing: wishing to preserve both the dynamic/kinetic quality, and the necessity for there to be a knower." (Gordon Pask, 1970)

Lp was Pask's protolanguage which produced operators like Ap which concurrently executes, Con, the concept of a Topic, T to produce a Description, D. Thus:

Ap(Con(T)) => D(T)

Dave Holland Quartet - Conference of the Birds (ECM, 1972)

IT IS A MAGIC OF TIME

Night shot



Hi ga Kureru  / The day falls into the twilight
Sore wa Toki no Mahou  / It is a magic of time
Asu Onaji Toki  / The same time tommorrow
Mata Chigau Mahou  / there'll be another magic
Sore wa Iro ga Kaori ni  / It is when colours turn to flavours,
Kaori ga Iro ni Kawaru Toki  / and flavours turn to colours
Soshite Kage wa Kagirinai  / And it is when
Ao ni Tokeru  / shadows melt into deep blue

As we climbed towards the Old city, the fog was getting thicker every step of the way. It was cold and wet and the downtown city mysteriously disappeared, encased in a ghostly cloak. But the lonely alley was beautiful and we were there! :-)

Although twilight was behind us, I've heard it almost instantly, Vangelis – Twilight theme from the marvelous The City album.

Mata ashita (see you tomorrow).

THE PLAGUE DOCTOR

Sidelighting



"The Medico Della Peste with its long beak is one of the most bizarre and recognizable of the Venetian masks. The striking design has a macabre history originating from 16th century French physician Charles de Lorme who adopted the mask together with other peculiar sanitary precautions while treating plague victims." (Wikipedia)

It's getting late. I've done this in total darkness. The only light source was my six LED torch. And I've played Spheres by Keith Jarrett. So can you but this is only a short excerpt.

AIRPLANE

Architecture



I wanted to start today’s ramble with “I had an idea” but there wasn’t any. Things are just happening. It was 8:15AM and the day looked promising. I was just returning home when I spotted the ray of winter morning sunlight on the Cathedral walls. The angle was perfect for a weird single tower shot but also there was that airplane, approaching quickly. Instead of thinking about cloning the contrails, I’ve decided to take a picture of an airplane. So this is my airplane shot and the under construction Cathedral tower just got in the way. :-)

It felt good to have something ready that early. And I’ve picked the tune for the day while waiting for Godot. :-) The keyword for today is freedom.

“For the first time ever, Abdullah Ibrahim, formerly known as Dollar Brand, went to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. All forms of music were banned. A lawyer smuggled one of Abdullah's songs into the control room, blocked the doors and played it over the loudspeakers. Mandela's first sound of music in decades.” (Source: YouTube)

Maybe a jazz myth, maybe not, but Abdullah Ibrahim really visited Robben Island. Anyway, here’s the masterpiece: Mannenberg – extended version from the “Voice of Africa” album. Enjoy if that's your kind of thing.

WILD BUNCH

Animal portrait



The plan was very simple, two continuous lights setup, white background and a bit of luck. Yeah, right. These little fur balls weren’t interested at all. I ended up chasing them through the flat with ISO1600 and available light. Kittens are fast! So here it is, bed-shot with ceiling light and a small ambient lamp on the wall – true studio environment. :-)

„Austrian scientists have found that cats appear to prefer instruments such as the oboe and deep bass, as well as male voice choirs. They made this discovery by filming cats as they listened to various types of music and observing whether they moved closer to or further away from the speakers. Overall, they found that cats prefer fast beats to slow beats, and deep tones to high-pitched notes.“ (Jennifer Copley)

Fast beats and deep tones? I got something cats might like, Zawinul Syndicate – Zanza (live from the North Sea Jazz Festival). Requiescat in pace, Joe.