He/him. Writer, content designer. Here, it's all books, photos, films and art. Beer at boakandbailey.com
Delighted that the mystery of ‘Festive’ has been unlocked. I think it's that...
> Festive is the lettering style
> Inter-signs or Intersign is the product
> Lettercast is the brand
> Wards is the parent company
> Launched in 1963
Now aiming to write this up for @FontsInUse.
And the award for most Avant Garde Bristol pavement parking 2023 goes to... #Bristol
Oh, good: burning desire to write, bursting with ideas and energy, but I have to spend 8 hours doing my actual job instead. The one that pays for my food and house and all that, to be fair, but, still, I should be allowed to claim an unscheduled “writer day”. #writing
Another week I'm aiming to “get through”. I worry I'm going to “get through” one week after another until I'm on my deathbed. Would be good to pause and actually enjoy one or two weeks on the way.
I was looking at Harry Gruyaert's photos again and trying to work out why they feel strange. Here's a theory: he times his shot to capture people at the point in their stride when they look as if they're standing still, frozen on the spot. 1/2 #photography
Out for a walk with my camera. A man just jumped down from a tree and sang “Take a picture of ME!” I said, “No, you're alright, cheers.” To which his response was “Hmm, but why not of this beautiful tree, though?” Either off his tits or a woodland sprite. Not sure which. #photography #bristol
One of the all-time great descriptions of a cat, from the story ‘Child’s Play’ by Elizabeth Jane Howard, 1975.
Woken by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Then an invisible presence in the bedroom. Sat up, ready to fight or fly. At which point the neighbour's tiny black cat emerged from the shadows at the foot of the bed, ran back to the attic, and scrambled out of the skylight.
My favourite photo from my walk through central London yesterday. #photography #london
“To gauge my shutter time, I would smoke cigarettes – a Gauloise for a certain light, a Boyard if it was darker.” – Brassaï on night-time photography. #photography #quotes
I've been posting photos on Instagram, mostly using my Ricoh GRIII with, lately, a vivid Kodak-ish film simulation.
“Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against the hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more...”
Pure pulp. I used to pick up books like this for 10p as a teenager. Lots got left behind or given away on successive house moves but these are still around, with all their seedy glamour and sweet smell of decaying paper. #paperbacks #pulp #books
A fascinating article about AI and “the American smile”:
“Every American knows to say ‘cheese’ when taking a photo, and, therefore, so does the AI when generating new images based on the pattern established by previous ones... In the same way that English language emotion concepts have colonized psychology, AI dominated by American-influenced image sources is producing a new visual monoculture of facial expressions.”
https://medium.com/@socialcreature/ai-and-the-american-smile-76d23a0fbfaf
I've been reading (listening to) the selected stories of Patricia Highsmith. Oof! Just one moment of jagged awkwardness, or unexpected violence, or psychological violence, after another. Loneliness is maybe the overarching theme: people who cannot connect with others, or feel cut off from the world even when they're in the thick of it. #ShortStories #PatriciaHighsmith #bookstodon #books
This has been fun: instead of buying a new camera, which I don't need, I dug out this old, pretty basic one and explored the settings. It is now my pocket sized spontaneous gritty street photography machine. #Photography #Cameras #StreetPhotography 🧵
