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When you were young and your heart was an open book

By TheophileEscargot (Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 03:36:09 PM EST) Reading, photofc (all tags)

PhotoFC release candidates. What I'm Reading: The Godwhale.

Photography Fun Challenge: Release Candidates
I really suck. Took a few snapshots with the phone camera on my way around places, all of which suck: meant to go out looking for angles but didn't have the time.

Least awful snaps so far:

Wings over the World

Night

Office Space

ObBlamingTheTools whinge: it seems really hard to get decent outdoor photos with the cameraphone when you don't have sunlight. Everything seems to get very grainy/speckly.

Update [2006-10-24 15:42:29 by TheophileEscargot]: I believe that to comply with the competition rules I should state that that the above photos have been extensively post-processed by opening them in Microsoft Paint, shrinking them to 25%, and cropping the edges.

What I'm Reading
Finished The Godwhale by T.J. Bass. Interesting oddity: ecologically-minded far future SF, where a vast Hive of three trillion humans have all but obliterated the biosphere. The Godwhale is a huge cyborg ship-whale, the last surviving ocean harvester, attempting to bring life back to the sea.

Somewhat awkwardly written in places, also seems a bit affectless. Does convey a very good sense of the hopeless claustrophobia of the Hive, with some shiveringly nasty bits written in a dry, matter-of-fact manner that draws out the horror. The noble savages are a bit unbelievable, but it does take you into very well-realised world.

I think you'd have to be an SF fan to appreciate it and overlook its faults, but good if you don't mind the unusual. Reminds me a bit of a darker Cordwainer Smith.

< One of those short ones | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

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The Godwhale - T.J. Bass (0 comments)

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When you were young and your heart was an open book | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

That first pic by spacejack (4.00 / 3) #1 Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 03:49:42 PM EST

Looks like Land of the Lost to me. Gah, look out! Pteredactyl!

: (Comment Deleted) by Dr H0ffm4n (2.00 / 0) #9 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:31:26 AM EST

This comment has been deleted by Dr H0ffm4n

[ Parent ]

the Godwhale by janra (4.00 / 1) #2 Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 09:20:01 PM EST

It was decidedly clumsy in places, and some of the coincidences were just stretched too far to be believed (the guy cut in half at the beginning of the book who ends up being the genetic basis for all of the genetically engineered people developed in the hive? the story's deus ex ending?) but hey, it held my attention long enough.

I found the best-written parts were the hopeless/nasty parts, as you mention. Funny how a flat narrative used to describe horrible things make them more effective...
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Discuss the art and craft of writing

None of those photos suck. by motty (4.00 / 2) #3 Tue Oct 24, 2006 at 10:27:56 PM EST

I spoke to a professional photographer once, on the tricky subject of how the hell it was he had managed to take photos of me which didn't suck, which normally is not possible, me being almost entirely non-photogenic.

He explained to me about the take 100, throw 98 away principle.

None of those snaps are awful.

Bah.

I amd itn ecaptiaghle of drinking sthis d dar - Dr T

: not at all bad for a camphone by Dr H0ffm4n (2.00 / 0) #7 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:19:06 AM EST

[ Parent ]
: That's nice of you to say by R Mutt (2.00 / 0) #8 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:25:46 AM EST

But seriously, the composition of the first one sucks. The bird, the tree on the left, and the spiral are all chopped off amateurishly halfway. There's no unity to the composition: the spiral, the waterfall and the bird are all separate entities, with nothing to draw the eye from one shape to the other. Those different elements neither mirror nor contrast with each other in terms of lines, shapes and angles.
The other two aren't as bad composition-wise, but they're horribly grainy, blurry images; poorly lit.

[ Parent ]

Pix by TurboThy (2.00 / 0) #4 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 03:19:24 AM EST

Top one is great. Shame you didn't get a bit more of the vortex, but the blurry gull looks cool.

Middle: A bit too small, but impressive night shot for a camphone.

Bottom: Me likey. Two nits: I find the red light under the walkways rather distracting in an otherwise blue-green-gray shot, and then it might have benefitted from being rotated a bit clockwise, so the tall building on the right was vertical.
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You can't fix anything, you can't change anything, so just tell them that everything is A. The Fuck OK. —Rogerborg

First pic by gazbo (4.00 / 1) #5 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:04:09 AM EST

The vortexy thing and the blurred bird add a couple of things to actually draw your attention rather than just being a.n.other landscape shot.

"Engarde!" cried the larvae, huskily. - Scrymarch

First one definitely by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #6 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:12:54 AM EST

What everyone else said, plus trying to work out where it is.

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It's political correctness gone mad!

Second one by squigs (2.00 / 0) #10 Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 05:35:46 AM EST

I agree with the Mutt. It's a good subject, but the camera angle is not quite right.

The night shot is pretty, and the blackness of the sky and river gives a good contrast. I've seen quite a few similar to this though. Could always try flipping it...

When you were young and your heart was an open book | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback