Just a quick one tonight. Spent part of the weekend tidying my ‘Garden’ (back yard) and decided to have a little burn up, filmed of course, in imitable style. This very low grade sequence also constitutes my first submission to Vimeo, the apparently more sophisticated alternative to YouTube.

I’m still dreaming of greater freedom, more time to be properly creative and to indulge that perennial desire for total self-mastery. I’m still trying to work out exactly where my personal philosophy sits with the established doctrines but somehow feel that I am somewhere between the sadly defunct ideals of Situationism and the ever elusive complexity of Existentialism --- maybe?

All eyes on Urbis again this coming weekend as the venue (including a specially erected marquee) play host to a 24 hour celebration of all that was Factory. Or more specifically, “The Tony Wilson Experience”. The event also known as Réification (making the abstract concrete) in honour of the situationist manifesto that underpinned the Factory ethos is billed as a kind of creative gathering of the cities most creative minds. Many of whom, of course, were associated with Factory or that extraordinary era of Mancunian creativity.

Much of this event is invitation only but the main purpose is inspiration. The idea being to inspire a new generation of talent to take on the mantle of the now ageing Factory era elite in an attempt to bring about the birth of a new era of creativity and originality amongst Manchester’s cultural movers and shakers. Maybe even the birth of a new cult identity for same, though I feel that this could be a little optimistic. Well, at least someone is trying. My colleague Craig Johnson is joining Elliot Rashman and Steve Connor in the marquee at 4am to give a talk on situationism!

Little to write about tonight just relaxing with GP on the download trying to think of something to do. The weather has changed yet again and reverted to the predominant theme of heavy leaden skies with frequent showers, it seems that we are locked into this depressing climate for the foreseeable future, not so much ‘global warming’ as global drerying. The conditions do however, make for rather interesting photographic effects and it has dawned on me just how many of my pictures now appear to be shot under such heavy and almost apocalyptic conditions instead of clear blue skies. One of the great things about life at these latitudes is the drama of cloud and the ever-changing lighting conditions that it creates, skies that look like a messed up artists pallet under a slow drip. I think this is something that I would really miss if I had to decamp to latitudes in negative figures.

GP has just mentioned the erstwhile Tribe label once again following a ‘special’ on this 70s vehicle for avant garde, deep and spiritual jazz, which of course leads to this:-

2 New for June:-

   
Hastings St Jazz Experience and Marcus Belgrave Gemini

Two classics and must have items from the 70s so called ‘post bop’ ‘post Coltrain’ Detroit jazz scene are heading this way:-

Marcus Belgrave was one of the Tribe label’s prime movers and Gemini defines the whole Tribe feel quite nicely. To me it sounds wonderfully nostalgic and reminds me of tripped-out brassware heavy work for the Afro and converse generation, big powerful and full of 70s soulfulness. In short, both of these albums seem to dovetail with the Dwight Trible ‘Horace’ period quite satisfactorily.

Note to self: Total mileage: 9,150.6

I have decided to join the massing ranks of bearded men, well actually it is probably a third outing for full-blown facial hirsuteness for yours truly but this time we are in for the long haul.

People tell me that beards are very ‘fashionable’ and ‘cool’ at the moment. Of course, I’m not into having a beard simply because it happens to be a necessary requisite for musicians at the helm of the contemporary zeitgeist, or aficionados of the prevailing trend for retro folk chic and the general return to masculine style virtues. No, it’s deeper than that, it seems to me that a growing number of men of all ages (but usually those under 40) are opting for the hirsute look both because of its association with non conformity and revolutionary tendencies. Beards not only seem to identify individuals who are attuned to contemporary thinking on environmental ‘issues’ or artists, but they are also becoming something of a trend amongst those who wish to distance themselves from the shallow contemporary consumer culture, ladism, chavism and the idiotic obsessions with perma boyishness. The assumption is that bearded guys don’t watch Big Brother or obsess about over accessorising their cars, instead bearded guys have BMX scars, swim in moreland rivers and eat organic.

Of course as one of my colleagues pointed out the beard is also an essential requisite for all revolutionary thinkers in the arts, culture, politics and science. But as implied the so called burgeoning ‘revolution’ is now one against all that is decadent, shallow and effete in favour of a return to thoughtfulness and the exoneration of wisdom and maturity over youth. It is an inevitable reaction in many ways I suppose.

As my intellectual and familial kith and kin all seem to be sporting beards of one type or another I felt that I had no choice in order to assert my ‘tribal sympathy’. Fortunately, all concerned think that I suit it, so it is staying put, though I don’t think I could ever be confused with a besandaled librarian in this, I tend to cut more of a Sandinista rebel or battle fatigued commando look --- I do, I tell ya!

Again I’m listening to the Giles Peterson show and it is satisfyingly Jazzy and soulful tonight instead of unremittingly Hip Hop’ish. The opener was a track off the new Paul Weller album (Black River) which sounds amazing moving into some vintage and unfamiliar Herbie Hancock then on to Marcus Belgrave and a tribute to the legendary and always inspiring Tribe label that seemed to be the mainstay of Jazz and Soul artists with a more ‘spiritual’ vibe in the 70s and that’s just how I like it, only Giles can mix it up like this! --- A genius!

However, I’m now trying to listen to this on a rate of 64Kbs instead of the CD quality 250 plus Kbs, Why does the BBC keep messing about with streaming rates, or is it something further down the line so to speak?

Hyperbolic as ever, Good night---

Another YouTube experiment from yours truly here

The weather has begun to feel decidedly spring-like albeit briefly no doubt. I don't have a huge amount to write about at the moment though I thought I would make a brief mention of my latest offering on youtube which is meant to run in concert with stuff of flickr and this site, or rather photos that are soon to appear. Prestbury Mirrors is here and it's a little bit like Derek Jarman meets Minor White - two of my main inspirations in one can't be bad!

I do feel as though I have been stuck in something of a rut again, that is it until very recently, maybe it is the positive impetus of the burgeoning spring time but my mental and physical energy levels have returned to something more like normal. Again though, I just wish I had more time to do (indulge) in the things that I enjoy the most and take full advantage of these inspiring days. The winter felt as though it was dragging on interminably last year though maybe that had something to do with the general lack of sunlight in 2007 and all of the near endless rains.

I must do more, take more photos, devise more ideas and contribute to everything!

I have just ordered a DVD copy of The Moon and The Sledgehammer Philip Trevelyan’s fascinating and thoroughly captivating 1971 documentary that portrays the day to day life of the extraordinary Page family. It is many years since I first saw this, back in the days when CH4 still had a genuinely innovative remit on content and programming. The film, or rather the people and the lives it documents, left an indelible impression on me.



It is even more difficult to find terms to describe the Page family in the context of our 21st century lives than it was back in those relatively uncomplicated early 70s --- but imagine a group of people, or rather a close knit family, living in a forest clearing in marginally rural England and yet so dislocated from 20th century life that they appear almost like members of a lost Amazonian tribe with a completely independent and incredibly beguiling view on life. Or more fittingly, in the case of the Page’s, more like elfin wood folk with a childlike fascination for antiquated 19th century machinery and all manner of creative crafts.

The strange childlike innocence of Mr Page and his Son and two Daughters is at times very touching and one can't help wondering how such people would fare in today’s climate of public pillorying and draconian laws.

See more here The Moon and The Sledgehammer the only place I can find where copies of the DVD are available.

Late Saturday night, It’s been a fairly quiet day in the village for yours truly, mostly dosing around at home. I decided to make another little movie for Youtube even though this rather strange and generally meaningless piece took most of the afternoon to cobble together with the help of my old friend, the Baby Auton, which unfortunately blew a fuse; or so it appears. For the first time I actually appear in the movie, in fact, it is made up of an edited sequence of shots with some nice jump cuts lined up to a piece of music by The Slapped Eyeballers AKA Dimitri Grimm and Co. It’s all rather indulgent activity for a lazy afternoon.See Here

Some of my visitors may have noticed a few minor changes to the layout (design) of parts of this site and that is due to an ongoing project to format the whole thing in CSS. Though, it has to be said, that this little venture has gone a bit cold on me at the moment---I spend much of the week delving into code and therefor feel somewhat less inclined to do same in my spare time these days.

Gill aka Urban Imp has set back to work on her own site which now contains a lot of information on various aspects of living green and wholesome. It does make for a good read.

Happy New Year!

A new year begins in a pleasantly sedate fashion, it’s good not to be hung over (or worse) on the first day of the year and the weather conditions are also rather pleasantly refreshing too. It’s very still and fresh though not unbearably cold, perfect conditions for cycling activities.

I am starting to recover something of that sense of welling up energy which again promotes my perennial lust for change, to maintain a continuum of constantly changing experiences in certain aspects of my life. I still dream of a return to a kind of itinerant existentialist existence, drifting through life and somehow feeling completely detached from the artificial world of ‘society’ as if I am an impartial external observer---such indulgence, but intellectual or spiritual indulgence is just the kind that suits me best.

Now moving swiftly on to a very different subject in typical polymath style. The nixie tube project (mentioned below) is now taking shape so I have decided to give this its own dedicated page which will be available soon for all those fellow retro electronics enthusiasts.

One of my new Russian IN-8-2 Nixie tubes.
Christmas 2007 is almost over and it has been a rather enjoyable if suitably low-key time. Gill and I spent much of the interim period in Prestbury largely ‘chilling’ in front of an open fire and visiting the local boozing hotspots. Some rather nice and slightly quirky presents changed hands and I am pleased to announce that Gill had the presence of mind to get me some components that will eventually facilitate the construction of a nixie tube clock, more on that later, but be warned; it is only for the technically initiated.

The New Year is drawing near and I don’t as yet have any idea what we are going to do to celebrate. Last year we spent much of the night ‘camping’ in a Volkswagen Polo somewhere in a Formby forest following a rather disappointing night time photo shoot of the Anthony Gormley statues on Crosby beach, but looking back, it now feels like an intense and memorable experience never the less. It would be interesting to do something similar now that I am equipped with suitably effective camera equipment though I think a more local setting and the advantages of Martin AKA Wooscary’s new estate car would have been a definite bonus back on the first of January 07.

Now gently easing back to the Nixie clock project. Gill managed to get hold of six old Russian Nixie tubes, they are IN-8-2 tubes manufactured by the Reflector company for the soviet military, these were ordered from a seller in the USA via ebay. Along with the tubes, I also have six rare Russian K155 tube drivers similar to the now defunct 74141 but unfortunately the bespoke controller chip (actually a pre programmed EPROM) is designed to drive the tubes through HV transitors and I think I prefer the use of the K155 (or similar) binary converter for simplicity. The EPROM provides for a rolling seconds display which is a must have feature in my opinion. A separate (but very simple) power supply in the form of a DC to DC converter will be required to provide the 170V DC supply for the nixie HT derived from the main 5V DC supply for the rest of the clock and this is likely to come from Sphere's in Canada. Sphere also provide a non multiplexing clock controller system which is intended to work with BCD driver chips such as the K155’s and I think this is well worth considering. So all I have to do now is to find a way of building either or both of these circuits on matrix boards---not as easy as it sounds---but keep watching this space for the eventual arrival of a working but messy nixie clock.

Some of my ever dwindling number of xmas cards.

Looking back at previous entries from this time of year makes me feel a little nostalgic for the decidedly more ‘difficult’ and uncertain times of at least two past Christmases. This year the transition from one year to another promises pretty much more of the same and there is not so much of that sense of ambition, dreaming, or just the promise of an open ended adventure. It’s funny how I often tend to feel uncomfortable with some forms of stability. It is as if I constantly need to be at the foot of a mountain contemplating an expedition to the summit, a need for conquest or a sense of freedom abounds. Now of course, the financial demands and the need and desire to fund a fuller life with a partner ( the sort of life that we have become used too) is of course an overriding concern so I had better get used to the strange sense of --- sensible ongoing employment and the still curious routine of commuting. I’m certainly looking forward to an active and varied Yule Tide itinerary with dear Gill, the boys and girls and of course brother and SIL.

The last two days have been exceptionally cold with temperatures in negative figures, the cottage sometimes feels as though it provides little or no real barrier to the outside environment and breath condenses in my living room when the outside temp goes really low. This is all part of the fun of 200 plus year old non insulated solid outside walls, but I now have a nice fire in the grate and things have warmed up significantly. Many repairs and TLC work will be required for Oliver Wood towers next year including new ‘made to order’ oak box guttering and something also needs to be done about a nasty case of penetrating damp from the chimney stack, I also declare that 2008 will be the year when we return to the traditional black paint work on window frames --- if next door will follow suit.

I proclaimed that 2007 was to be an excellent year as it had a seven in it --- naturally, and of course in many ways it has been a rather good year with advancements a plenty. Gill and I have had a number of very enjoyable trips and I have become a lot more well aquatinted with the rest of her family and I still love my Nikon D80 even though it is being a little under used at the moment. Hopefully 2008 will be even better despite the ugliness of ‘eight’ my least favourite number! 2008 will be the year that I move up to the Nikon D200 and then on to a top level Niki if I can ever afford one. There is a lot of good humoured ‘banter’ amongst some photographic groups regarding the Nikon versus Canon argument most notably amongst the talented ‘amateurs’ in the flickr community. But of course, both are excellent makes, it’s just that I have a certain loyalty to Nikon which may have something to do with age related nostalgia for this make which absolutely dominated the pro 35mm market for more than 30 years. Good old Nikon is still a key innovator in digital thankfully and their cameras still have that unmistakable ‘edgy’ look to them with plenty of unique quality features.

Recent music purchases, three gooduns from Sonar Kollektiv

Dimlite; This is Embarrassing Clara Hill; Folkwaves Deyampert; Shapes & Colors

There has been much tooing and froing on the musical front of late with interests bouncing from classical right back to cutting edge European electronica and jazz tinged mix-ups. The German sister label to Compost JCR known as Sonar Kollektiv is really getting a lot of my attention at the moment not least because it appears to host many stylistic innovators amongst more ‘approachable’ and traditional artists. One of their key innovators is Mr Dimitri Grimm otherwise known as ‘Dimlite’. This Swiss producer has created one of the most interesting albums in the so called Nu Jazz or ‘nouveau soul’ genre heard all year. It is texturally complex enough to be classified as adult orientated music for the post ‘House’ generation who still remain attuned to the post-modern experiment in popular contemporary music and it is of course, the ‘This is Embarrassing’ CD. Like many innovative artists in the genre Dimitri makes music that is impossible to dance too. Deconstructive experiments in style and texture push the mixtures to new levels of tripped out ‘active listening’ fun that appears to address the whole notion of musical structure head on whilst creating something of a clever microcosm of 40 years of jazz and soul. Other interesting finds on Sonar have included a range of more acoustic orientated jazz balladeers my favourite of them all is Clara Hill everything she touches seems to turn to pure gold for ears.

Well that’s the news for this month…….. Seasons greetings ya-all.

Note to self: Total mileage: 8,453.7

The Cottage in Machynlleth

I’m losing track with these diary entries and it seems as though there has been an exceptional hiatus since my last ‘write up’. At last I feel inspired to make comment once again and something of a muse has returned, albeit temporarily.

We have just returned from another stay in glorious West Wales and yet another part of the UK which had remained completely undiscovered by yours truly up to press.

We stayed in a lovely little cottage close to Machynlleth and very close to some of the most inspiring landscape you could wish for this side of Canada or Norway. Densely wooded valleys and hills comprising a mixture of native deciduous trees and conifers stretched as far as the eye could see and the whole place had a rather satisfying air of out doorsy adventure. Machynlleth is famous for both being on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park and also home to the fascinating Centre For Alternative Technology which has become something of a focal point for the areas long association with ecology and natural conservation issues. CAT is an intriguing mixture of environmentalists and scientific boffins and the centre is home to some of the worlds leading authorities and research in the field of renewable energy systems.

We had rides on a number of the little steam railways which Wales is generally renowned for. They all pass through landscapes of outstanding natural beauty but the most impressive has to be the Rheidol up to Devils Bridge, trundling along at a sedate 12Mph in an open carriage with the fabulous smell of ‘steam’ intermingling with forest timber and the sense of climbing to an almost vertiginous height is, for me, the quintessence of West Wales and of course the whole experience was so much more fulfilling both socially and culturally than any package to sun and beach. Most of the area seems to be patronised by a certain wholesome or ‘real living’ intelligentsia. One gets the impression that their children have no interest in TV and can actually identify trees---amazing and refreshing indeed!

On the way to Corris

On the way to the little village of Corris and the charming Corris Railway. It started to rain quite heavily just after I had taken this shot but it didn’t seem to matter at all, this was a magical place.

I have taken many photos of varying quality though the good ones are likely to find their way to either this site or Flickr or both within the next few days.

I can’t let the weekend pass without paying my own modest homage to the late great Anthony H Wilson. First sight of the Manchester Evening News front page in the local news agents, all black and with the headline “Heart Attack Kills Mr Manchester” came as something of a shock.. The principal founder of Factory Records, the Hacienda, In The City, and many other cultural ventures in Manchester was also the key protagonist for the cities dramatic cultural renaissance. And he was without doubt a significant figure in the cultural evolution of so many Mancunians of my generation, albeit indirectly.

Paul Morley’s tribute in today’s Observer conveys the quintessence of this highly complex man much more eloquently than I can. There were so many contradictory aspects to the Wilson character but as Morley suggests, those of us of a certain age will vividly recollect those strange contradictions that added to his charisma and created a certain fascination. The ‘posh’ provincial newsreader that was simultaneously orchestrating the coolest ‘underground’ music scene that has ever been devised in Britain, and it was happening right on our doorstep. Morley makes significant reference to the most important aspect of the Wilson phenomenon that most often misunderstood and sometimes mocked characteristic of intellectual indulgence. But who better to orchestrate a veritable movement in style and depth of meaning than a Cambridge educated aesthete from an old school working class background, this ‘intellectualisation’ of the ‘scene’ was ultimately egalitarian by default. Joy Division represented the last generation of bands aligned with that now defunct notion of the ‘self improving’ working class, cultural and political revolutionaries cohered into the Factory ethos of avant-garde social theory and situationism as Wilson (and many fans) would have it. The idealistic notion of the life of the city built on art and ideas; .real cultural dynamism. This of course was the manifestation of the A Wilson plan for Manchester in action and it was all fabulously inspiring to anyone engaged in any form of creative discourse. Anthony H was instrumental in transforming Manchester from a bleak post-industrial cultural desert to a city that seemed to be more aligned with New York bohemia. He set in motion a chain of events and associations that transformed Manchester into the most cosmopolitan and international city outside of London and briefly transformed the city into the most innovative regeneration zone in the UK.

There are no more Anthony H Wilson’s in contemporary popular culture, no more ‘scenes’ just insipid and moribund commercially driven impresarios. The matrix of crime and shallowness on the one hand and the yuppification on the other that is such a significant factor in any city today has made it impossible to imagine anything like the Manchester of those heady days happening again.

Anthony H was also a significant protagonist in the fight against the setting up of a ‘super casino’ and a string of lap dancing venues in Manchester. This really sums up his vision for a city that was built on a genuine cultural life and one that did also pay homage to the long tradition of ‘egalitarian northern radicalism’ as Paul Morley describes it. If the ‘pretentiousness’ that the Oasis brothers so frequently deride leads to the birth of Joy Division, the Hacienda and a generation that indulged in culturally literate musical aestheticism. A generation who appreciated the radical deign concepts of Ben Kelly or the artworks of Peter Saville within the context of a post industrial northern city then I am definitely on the side of ‘pretentiousness’.

It feels as though so much time has passed since my last entry on here though I suspect that the interval is no longer than usual. It’s been a busy time at work and play for yours truly.

Sunday’s highlight was a trip the fabulous Bridgwater Hall in Manchester to hear the BBC Philharmonic perform the world premier of a new piece by William Orbit the concert was recorded for Radio 3. The orchestral suite also featured the 18 strong Manchester Chamber Choir. I must admit to not being at all familiar with William Orbit and still have some mixed feelings about the piece though there were some very emotive moments, particularly in the first movement when the choir are in full flow. I couldn’t help feeling that at other moments however, the piece sounded a little like the transposition of a rock tune to orchestra; never a good idea! Other attractive parts appeared to be unmistakably John Adams like and emulated those shimmering string textures like delicate drones layered over a pulsing bass, but these enchanting refrains nearly always jolted into odd and rather awkward sounding resolutions which spoilt the whole effect for me.

Monday morning’s work commitments and the awkward commute home meant that we were unable to stay for the following discussion with Mr Orbit himself but it was all, never the less, a pleasant reengagement with actual cultural events. I seem to have become rather isolated from these activities in recent years even though Manchester is yet again buzzing with significant cultural energy as befitting the ‘Manchester International Festival and the prospect of rejoining a life immersed in the cities multifarious arts and concert venues is definitely appealing.

Donald Byrd Stepping Into Tomorrow and Places and Spaces

A general nostalgia for the good old days of 70s Jazz, R’n’B, Funk etc has lad me to discover (via Roy Ayres) a certain Mr Donald Byrd. Though strangely enough a lot of his stuff is quite familiar again thanks to Mike Chadwick’s erstwhile ‘Cutting Edge’ show, a now fading memory of a the days when Jazz FM was like an Aladdin’s cave of unfamiliar music both old and new and often explored territories where even Giles Peterson would fear to tread. Donald Byrd’s back catalogue has astounding scope literally moving from full-on 60s free form to 70s funk / soul renditions that are just a tad more ‘edgy’ than many of his contemporaries. This transition (I hasten to add) is considerably more adept than say Miles Davis’s awful 80s foray into electro funk or the 70s ‘Bitches Brew’ mess up.

Yes it’s one of my favourite local ‘attractions’, the ornamental gardens at Hare Hill between Prestbury and Mottram St Andrew and its only a 15 minute bike ride from the village. I’m not sure of the history or significance of Hare Hill but it is an enchanted place and very secluded. The centre piece is a large walled area enclosing a huge and immaculately manicured lawn. The gardens are home to a significant variety of acid loving shrubs that create a riot of vivid colour at this time of year; even without the Nikon D80’s mode ‘IIIa’ colour enhancement (what ever that is) the floral colour is still almost ‘unreal’. I have loaded my other photos from Hare Hill on to my Prestbury Gallery page and also my Flickr site.

Gill and I spent most of Saturday out on bikes and it was something of an opportunity for me to indulge in a vicarious exploration of my own locality and what a joy it is to be down here after the general ugliness and stressful ethos of the metropolis. A lot of property development appears to be under way in and around the Prestbury lanes and outskirts. This is not ‘property development’ as in new building on ‘green field’ sites (thank goodness) but rather a local phenomenon of indulgent revamping. Revamping seems to be something of a trend in the so called Cheshire ‘golden triangle’ where relatively new million pound homes are bought up, promptly knocked down, and then new even more expensive properties build on the site and within the allotted boundaries. One of the property ‘developers’ has recently used some of my village photos to illustrate the brochure for a bespoke home that is not yet even completed, needless to say this property will be in the multi million pound price bracket. The concept of such huge sums is rather mind boggling for me to say the least, but Prestbury and surrounding areas are rapidly becoming incomprehensibly exclusive, there are now whole roads where nothing is less than a million. I suspect that the BBC’s grand decamping northwards in a few years time may eventually result in a rather more inspiring breed of millionaire buying property in Prestbury and other parts of Cheshire though! I now promise to almost desist from using the term ‘millionaire’ as it feels so vulgar and greedy to me.

Out of curiosity I have just read the biography of the once iconic and engagingly enigmatic Mike Oldfield. I think you have to be of a certain age (i.e. culturally conscious in the 70s) to appreciate where Oldfield once ‘came from’. The now rather dated and exhaustively familiar Tubular Bells and the other two (still quite obscure) later albums Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn were, in their time, considered to be exceptionally cool and even ‘edgy’ albums. These LP’s once graced my erstwhile vinyl collection and were initially purchased as part of a reconditioning process after the musically incompetent punk fad had faded. Even though for most Mr O’s cool and credibility was at this time on something of a downward slope with easily accessible pop tunes that your parents would find acceptable, or at least understandable. It was hard to believe that this was the same musician who had produced the only album ever to get a full end-to-end play out by John Peel. The early albums however, are still remarkable, haunting, and sometimes eerie, and they do convey that ethos of the early 70s hippy hangover with their allusions to folky mysticism and something of a logical conclusion for the ‘prog rock’ concept. As a burgeoning Sound Engineer I also admired Oldfield for his status as a musician that had embraced the whole process of studio production in such a way that the means of production became part of his thing, like a proto electro artist of today.

The biography is a fascinating insight into those early years when the ego phobic Oldfield became the youngest millionaire in rock music at the time. It is inspiring to read a music (musicians) biography which is just so honest and devoid of the cringe making perma-adolescent crap that is such a feature of today’s personality cult media. Oldfield’s early existential angst is manifest in the total singularity of his early albums that make no recourse to any of the prescribed styles in force at the time and yet bearing that in mind it is remarkable that they were so successful.

I’m suddenly feeling quite nostalgic about this hitherto forgotten music if only for the fact that it stands for an era when there seemed to be something of a more widespread belief in the edification of popular culture. Can you imagine a totally instrumental concept album by a reclusive musician (or similar) even getting off the ground in today’s cultural climate?

It’s a fabulous start to the month of May, wall-to-wall sunshine for at lease the last week, though temperatures seem to be more ‘normal’ for the time of year. Gill and I had a fabulous time in South Wales last weekend and it was a joy to meet her lovely parents and family. We did plenty of cycling and visited a number of interesting places. I must admit that I have never been to this part of the UK before and found it all to be rather pleasant. We cycled up to the curious folly that it Castle Coch, not a real castle, but instead a palatial home built by the eccentric lord Bute and constructed in the Bavarian style that has come to be the model for all Walt Disney castles. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go up to the much more impressive ‘real’ castle at Caerphilly; but maybe next time. On the ride up to Castle Coch we stopped off at a curious little cafe, more a shed beside a mini vineyard which dished out gorgeous stone baked Welsh Cakes with filter coffee. Maybe it was the French girl that served us or the vineyard setting, but for a moment it felt as though we were actually in Southern France rather than Wales. Still, it gave a sense of that certain quirkiness and invention that is a distinctive part of this little country which is such a popular destination for all of Britain’s alternative life style seekers.

I didn’t manage to get quite as many pictures as hoped, or at least pictures that could be configured into a nice sequence on flickr or this site and (foolishly) I omitted to take the D80 to save space. So all photos from Wales are courtesy of the Sony. Fortunately, I now seem to have gotten to grips with all of the D80’s peculiarities including the infamous firmware glitch in the matrix metering and the need to set up a permanent -3ev to compensate. The camera is producing fine results in spot and the rather old fashioned (and disfavoured) centre weighted modes and I definitely prefer to use the assignable ‘single area’ auto focus mode, when actually using auto that is. Results with the other two dynamic modes where proving to be a little frustrating at times as the camera has a tendency to make random assumptions about the point of focus within the frame.

After about a week of messing with the Nikon D80 I have now just about got the hang of all of its multifarious features and settings. Initial attempts with the camera were proving to be alarmingly un impressive for a machine of this quality. The Nikon more than any other digital camera I have had has demonstrated in a way, just how different digital photography is to film.

I thought I would upload a recent snap of Gill. Although this shot was taken in AP mode I still used a bit of the dreaded flash, something I tend to avoid at all costs. I think it would be interesting to do a study into the two different camera modes and how they relate to users. I tend to be more of an Aperture priority photographer with an interest in detail and depth of field, I wonder if SP folks would tend to be much more ‘off the cuff’. An interesting side line debate for Flickr no doubt. Despite the inevitable losses incurred by the considerable downsising of this photo it still looks incredibly smooth to me, with very good contrast and colour.The original is stunning in its detail!

Gill and I are off to Cardiff in couple of weeks to meet the folks so there should be more opportunities for pictures. I hasten to add that I have never visited South Wales and a trip out to parts of the Gower coast and other places sounds very promising.

More innovations and modifications are on the way for this website including a more divergent approach to the Prestbury Gallery that will include some of my more unusual and not necessarily ‘post-cardish photos of the surroundings. Or rather more studied, abstracted and expressive images from here about. The churchyard alone is yielding some very curious photos. Now that I am armed with a camera that can capture images in a huge range of lighting conditions (with attendant atmosphere) not to mention an accurate replication of a whole range of film effects, I see interesting times ahead for oliver-wood.co.uk

The great Nikon debate here at Oliver Wood photos has at last found a resolution in the form of the fabulous D80. I’m very impressed with this camera and although not quite as robust as some of the more top line digital SLRs it is never the less a very nice piece of kit.

I got a Nikon DX 18 – 70mm lens with this camera, another fine piece of gear, all of the hand rings have that unmistakable Nikon feel, as if they are gliding on oiled silk and the auto focus servo is virtually silent. I was quite impressed by just how fast the servo focus system works - it is almost instantaneous. The camera has many very useful features as well as some that I will probably never use such as multiple exposure. As with all pro digital SLRs it can accurately replicate a wide range of ‘film effects’ including colour filter enhanced contrast in black and white. Now I’m looking for opportunities to test out the ‘red filter’ mode and go a bit Bill Brant - ish with my B&W--- again! The D80 has a very ingenious feature that lets you select focus areas within the frame, literally steering the focal point around the frame with the positioning control. With this feature you can bias focus to subjects that may be outside of the central area leaving the rest of the frame in soft focus. Another handy feature is a proper ‘scientific’ approach to white balancing that lets you specify the reference colour temp in Kelvin. I really do like this as most cameras offering preset WB still appear to produce incorrect chromasticty in incandescent lighting but I suppose this is just one of my strange ‘obsessive concerns’. Although the D80 is promoted as an ‘intuitive’ camera there is a heck of a lot to learn and operation requires a fair amount of learning. Many of the controls have ‘soft features’ according to program settings though I found that operation of the camera does become almost automatic after a day or two of experimentation. All important parameters are clearly displayed on an illuminated OLED sub screen within the eyepiece viewfinder. It seems to be expected that most users will prefer this mode of viewing as I have not yet found a way to make the very large rear TFT monitor display a through the lens view.

The menus are really nice and clear, though there are a lot of them! The rear screen resolution is superb and it is also very bright with good contrast. Another handy feature is a setting which lets you trim down these menus so the camera will only display the features you need in the ‘my settings’ mode. It is worth getting to know the whole range of menus though as much of the really interesting and innovative stuff is quite deeply buried in sub menus.

The only gripe I have thus far is a very minor concern with the stiffness of the front and rear command wheels, they are rather difficult to turn and after a short session you can end up with a very tired hand. Though they do move in a solidly incremented way rather than continuous rotation. Generally it is quite a fab camera. All I need now is some time and inspiration to go out and use it as intensively as possible.

I’m wallowing in an ‘expansive’ intrigued and optimistic mood tonight and this fortunately tends to be something of a default state. The general effects of ageing and its supposed creeping cynicism has no chance of a foothold here tha’ knows. Same goes for any form of pessimism or fatalism. It’s just that I wish I could ‘regroup’ some of the old acquaintances or ‘creative partners’. Or rather, I wish they were still up for world domination, or at least, a mode of thinking that transcended the minutiae of an increasingly ‘internalised’ worldview. That rather claustrophobic way of thought that now seems to be intrinsic to our relativistic society where the aspiration to knowledge for its own sake is becoming more and more exclusive and virtually redundant.

Recently Mr P sent a burn of a new offering from the band of young Turks collectively known as Bloc Party and I should point out from the outset that I am now finding it nigh on impossible to get into anything outside of the innovative jazz category. The BP album entitled ‘A Weekend in The City” has its moments, but for the most part I thought it was all hanging a little loose. There is a curious sense of the band losing interest in what they are doing whilst actually performing (recording). The result is a feeling of disengagement, an occasional promising opening dissolves into an over long non-descript meandering that seems unstructured and banal --- well that’s how it struck me.

This is something of a recent classic of the so-called Nu Jazz genre and gorgeously sumptuous it is too. Although TCO are a London based outfit their music (which blends large-scale acoustic arrangements with ‘electronics’ and state of the art production) has that certain moody internationalist flavour. It is a style that is more typical of the continental European and specifically Scandinavian outfits that have largely pioneered the most recent innovations in the Nu Jazz genre. Cinematic is a very apt term here as Man With a Movie Camera was supposedly inspired by Dziga Vertov’s classic and ground breaking avant-garde film of the same name. TCO make the kind of music that I most admire, it is intelligent, exceptionally well crafted, mature, sophisticated, innovative and visually inspiring too! --- get me a roll of Super 8 immediately!!

As we have just broached the subject of “visuals” I thought it appropriate to drop in a foot note on the great Nikon debate which is spinning around in my head. I really need to get back to the joys of SLR-ing it, but as I am no longer so keen on the fuss of film; digital SLRs are taking precedence. It all boils down to a contest between the D50 and D80, and it would seem that both are excellent cameras. I was recently advised on the merits of the 50 and the possibility of saving the extra few hundred quid required for the 80 to go toward a half decent lens. Neither the 50 or 80 will correctly support the use of my ageing collection of manual Nikkors and Tamrons, or rather the metering features will not function with manual lenses. This opens up the intriguing prospect of using an external exposure meter or just resorting to educated guess work which I suppose would introduce an element of ‘old school’ craft to the business of digital photography.

Not such a huge amount to write tonight, though I suppose the new hosting of this website on a ‘proper domain’ does warrant a small mention. Ten years on free hosting with LineOne and then Tiscali. An unreasonably long, unmemorable and SEO unfriendly address has finally given way to the new trip and the. co.uk ification of Oliver Wood Photos.

I thought I would include the rather old (and subsequently processed) photo of the telegraph pole because at the time it seemed strangely apt, it is also in pride of place on my redirect pages with the old host. More importantly, this image recalls a previous photographic obsession with such things intending to convey a sense of inate technological intrigue, the tendril electronic nervous system of the information age --- or something along those lines but I think I may be about to return to this one.

Welcome www.oliver-wood.co.uk

It’s a while since I last saw this chap guarding the gate at the Macclesfield end of the Riverside Way, a rather nice project managed ‘track’ that runs all the way from Macclesfield to Prestbury. The path runs parallel to the river Bolin ostensibly running through the flood plane, though there are divergent pathways that surmount higher ground and run parallel to the Manchester to Stoke railway. This two and-a-half mile track through woodland and fields was always my favourite cycle commuting route to and from work in Macclesfield---oh for the joys of simple pleasures.

Last nights ride home was a rare adjunct to the Manchester to Macc train commute, usually I go up the London Road but decided to take the Riverside for a change. The trip was not without incident, and of course I found myself almost completely bogged in mud (up to the chain at one point) about half way home. There were curious echoes of a daring ride back from Manchester to Heaton Chapel a few days earlier. When “for a change” I decided to take the Ashton Canal and Nelstrop route (after dark) arriving at Gill’s about an hour later than usual due to extreme flooding in part of the so called Highfield Park (or something). One of last year’s trips along this route resulted in my impromptu disruption of location filming for ‘Life on Mars’. The great beauty of the Macc run (in comparison) is that one is hardly likely to bump in to any one and if you do, they are nearly always quite benign, or at least appear to be sane---or should that be saner than me?

Any way I digress, the photography work here is hotting up and some decent digital kit is definitely within sight. I’m now becoming a little disappointed with the Sony W50 although neat and compact the image quality is quite crap in comparison to anything in the Nikon D80 league. I am noticing the flatness of my images more and more and in some circumstances the W50 can produce moiré distortions almost as bad as the toy-like Fuji Finpix. The images don’t seem to tolerate a great deal of post tweaking either. I really want to capture subjects in all their luminous subtly and to be able to convey the mood of lighting at least as well as a good 35mm Film camera with a decent lens. I like shape, form, and patterns but it would be nice to fire off a few images with some depth and warmth too, and images that are closer to human visual perception in chromatic and luminous qualities.

I’m continuing to ‘sell out’ to the ethos of work and the antithesis of ‘idling’ in that Hodgekinson-esque sense vis-à-vis his treatis on the antidote to modern living entitled ‘How To Be Idle’ and other such offerings. All of which became something of a practical philosophy of life for other local ‘rusticated’ friends and myself. However, in some ways I seem to be reaping the benefits of more routine chronological rhythms, not to mention a stable income. Well, there you go, not much in the way of ‘thoughts’ at the moment.

Total cycling mileage 7,357.7

The flickr versus own site argument is hotting up here, as I now seem to be duplicating content on both instead of trying to keep each a separate entity. Some would argue that it is never a bad thing to have photos simultaneously hosted in as many places as possible. At least I have a chance of some ‘feed back’ from flickr but I seem to have a need to run my own site too if only for the satisfaction of owning a site which is totally under my control and where there should never be any issues with content etc.

I am rather pleasantly supprised by the performance of my new Sony W50, a fine little 6Mpx pocket job with a Carl Zeiss lens. This compact f2.8 lens has enabled some fairly decent low-light or night-time shots with a micro tripod and 2s exposure – a virtual impossibility with the Fuji Finpix. Though the little Sony provides little or no competition for a proper SLR so I still have my sights set on the Nikon D80, with or without kit lens. I have enough old Nikors and Tamrons to see me through providing this camera really is capable of working correctly with a fully manual lens that is!

Gill and I have had a very enjoyable if rather lazy weekend at mine with all of the usual low key shenanigans around the village, I did also manage to get some interesting photos of random ‘things’ and all evoking that inimitable ‘intense’ style which is, in fact, my trade-mark. This style has been variously describes as “visual haiku’ and “existential” and I guess I do have something of a detached obsession with the form of things and an intently introspective and analytical ‘gaze’. Guardian readers may regard this a little intellectually naive, Mail types ‘pretentious’ and Sun folks may just feel slightly intimidated but that’s the only way I can define what is after all a quite thoughtful activity and one which appears to transcend basic drives.

The previously mentioned move may not now go ahead, and in some ways this is a bit of a relief for me even though I was looking forward to the inevitable change in my own life style patterns. Manchester and Salford university places combined with other local activities has made the prospect of moving to a more remote and distant location seem rather untenable for Gill and family, at least in the short term. So we can continue to enjoy the novelty of commuting back and too along the Middlewood Way on bikes.

We are on the move, or rather Gill and the Boys’ n’ Girls are in the process of relocating to Cheshire and now we are all very excited about the prospect of acquiring a very large farm house with land and out buildings in Lach Denis not far from Northwich. I must say that I do admire Gill’s dynamism, she is one of those people that can spring surprises and galvanise action at the drop of a hat. Generally life is rather interesting when shared with someone that has the ability to make instant decisions and fearlessly take the main chance. Life at 40 something is too short for stifling and unimaginative fixations.
For the time being I will be staying in Prestbury and continuing with the 50/50 life style (50 percent here and 50 percent there as it might be) but the prospect of fifty fifty-ing it in rural Cheshire seems so much more attractive to me.

The farmhouse is huge, and although the out buildings are all in need of repairs between us we have enough skills and contacts to be able to make a pretty good job of restoration. Some of the outbuildings have been earmarked for Evan’s Recording Studio and yes I have visions of an SSL digital rig and Cheshire’s answer to the Wool Hall but initially it will be a mostly improvised set up. There will also be a darkroom and photo studio for the use of Wooscary photos and possibly yours truly too. The surplus bedrooms will accommodate other creative activities and an office for Lu’s free-lance music management and publicity ventures. The folks are already discussing the concept of turning one of the large second story rooms into a ‘snug’ or chill out space…. I really can’t wait to join in with all of these exciting projects, but of course, it is still dependent on the vagaries of the property market. But we seem to be able to achieve anything, and it is, after all, a year with a ‘7’ in it --- know what I’m sayin? My ‘lucky’ move was all with the 7s and it has never felt like a mistake.

We are rapidly running out of server quota here at Oliver Wood photos so the previously mentioned switch to proper hosting on my .co.uk domain is a definite for 2007. I want to increase the scope of my Prestbury Gallery pages and start to upload some of the more abstract representations of the locality. Also, there is a pressing need to accelerate the rate at which new images and galleries are uploaded to this site, as I am quite keen to develop something of a weekly photo blog. The much larger server quota and easy access from anywhere afforded by proper hosting would make this project feel a lot more pertinent. I do tend to feel that I should prioritise my own personal site over flickr for all new photos, but it looks as though the latter will have to take priority in the short term.

Again I’m being extraordinarily eclectic in my tastes and creating some very odd sonic or should that be stylistic juxtapositions. Check this out for weirdness. Today we have, for your delectations, two old steamers from the coal age of funky jazzines and prog rock (art rock).

Roy Ayers 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine'    Henry Cow 'Leg End'

I never realised until today that Roy Ayers ‘Sunshine’ dated from 1976! I always though it was much more up to date. But I suppose this would result from having my attentions blocked by punk at the time. Never the less, it is a timeless album---a timeless genre in fact, but I have to say that I only got this for that unmistakable ‘third eye’ track. It is ever so slightly weird sounding with some kind of primitive vocal processing and a very skewed melodic refrain underpinning the hook-like lyric ‘look to the sky, seeking to find; the third eye’--- it was made for sampling before the concept was even thought of.

The 1973 album 'Leg End' by the one time Peel sessionistas Henry Cow is very much more obscure stuff but something of a coup for the prog rock genre. Which I gather is generating a lot of interest amongst the younger generations once again and not just ageing collectors.

This is a rather more timely approach to a sort of jazz modality than Roy Ayers ever youthful funk. But Leg End is a very entertaining discovery and reminder of just how ‘high brow’ rock music once was; back in the day when it wasn’t so unexpected for ground breaking bands to be made up of classically trained Cambridge music scholars such as Henry Cow.

Much of the stuff on this album is complex, but avoids the full on improv of their latter albums. It is however, rather reminiscent of Frank Zappa’s more experimental years with the Mothers of Invention only without the often silly comedic aspect spoiling what would otherwise be quite interesting adventures in a burgeoning genre. HC is much more subtle and much more English with a heavy dose of the then fashionable pastoral ethos. Fantastic indeed.

My first entry of 2007, I feel as though I should make something of this as I tend to be rather fond of the number seven and years with this number in them are often either very good or very remarkable for some reason. That’s not to say that 2006 was a bad year, in fact it has been one of the best for ages but seven should be even more --- but then --- things have got off to a miserable start and I hope this doesn’t presage Ill fortune for the rest of the year.

If the somewhat depressing bleakness of January, a feeling of emotional fragility, and the sense of general stasis wasn’t enough; my current woes have been exacerbated a hundred fold by the scum bag that wiped out my online bank account just last week. Yes, I know, like you I never thought I would become a victim of internet crime---but it has happened and rather a lot of money has disappeared into the either.

This has resulted in a tedious and long winded rigmarole with the bank and fraud squad and in someways I feel rather embarrassed about the whole thing. Even SEO consultants can become the victim of very cleverly engineered viruses but I’m sure my fellow techi colleagues quietly think that I may have been inappropriately negligent or inappropriately non techi in some ways---if you catch my drift. The main consolation here is that no offending viruses were found on my machine, this doesn’t account for the possibility of a self deleting keylogger though.

The bank helpfully advised that those of us running the more up to date operating systems are much more likely to become the victim of very cleverly engineered key loggers or data mining Trojan viruses. Virtually all of the major ‘threats’ are specifically engineered for the most up to date, or potentially lucrative operating systems. So there is a very good argument for reverting to good old Win98SE or even Mac or Linux.

But alas It’s not all doom on gloom tha’ knows, and yes its not like me to be ‘down’ and certainly not in any defeatist of silly ‘fatalistic’ manner. That existential Sagittarian optimism always makes me feel totally in control no matter what happens, (even if the juxtaposition of an astrological category and a scientific philosophy seem like an oxymoron par excellence) I just dance off to the next thing completely secure in the knowledge that I am master of my own destiny and choose all courses in life according to my own tastes and preferences --- The joy!.

So some moderately pleasing discoveries were made last week, I noticed with the help of various utilities at work that this website now has between 875 and 919 listings across the top search engines and my optimisation is starting to kick in. But I also happened to chance on an incoming link from Mancubist, an arts and cultural directory for Manchester. I was completely oblivious to this---what a joy when someone actually notices things and appreciates what we attempt to do. I have put a reciprocal link on my dedicated links page, and thanks to anyone else that may have been responsible for the submission..

But now it’s time to say enough of this computer stuff----- It’s time to stop! Three paragraphs of computer nonsense and it’s the weekend! It’s not cleaver, and it’s not quite the kind of self reflexive discourse we want here at Oliver Wood Photos…….thanx very much!!