testmeat photoblog

girl with a big boat

this is a boat that was made on an island like this and sailed on a lake like this. for those that don't click on these links the relevant words were reed and titicaca - but i'm not telling you which goes where - you've got to do some of the work here.

here's the original

8th March 2010 ]]>

cliche of liberty

yup, it was unavoidable. if you've seen any of my other new york shots you may have been surprised at not seeing any statue of liberty photos. maybe you were even impressed at my originality and restraint at not putting up such an obvious picture. well i'm sorry. i've let you down, i've let my country down, but most importantly i've let myself down. it's done now. i can't take it back. let's just move on and put it behind us.

here's the original

4th March 2010 ]]>

mini snowman #2

this photo may not seem that appropriate to post right now as (at the time of writing) the weather seems to have turned a corner with the cold sun replacing the cold snow. however tonight i'm escaping all that and going to france on a snowboarding holiday. finally, a place where there's a lot of snow and a purpose for it. i've lined up photos to post while i'm away, however whether they get posted or not will all depend on the internet facilities that are available. if this chump is staring back at you for the next eight days it's safe to assume i was unable to connect.

here's the original

2nd March 2010 ]]>

a lotta legs

this is another creature that i met on the inca trail. not quite as cool as the dude at machu picchu, not as funny as the writer at the campsite, and certainly not as cute as the beast in bolivia. still, it caught my eye and served as a welcome respite from the thousands of steps i was descending. i was going to call this photo millipede, but i couldn't count 1000 legs. then i thought of centipede but i couldn't count 100 legs. then i checked on wikipedia and it turns out those numbers are bollocks anyway. but i did learn that centipedes always have an odd number of legs. however that piece of trivia becomes even more trivial when you employ a shallow depth of field like this. then i got bored, and conceded that the number wasn't really that important. so, after literally minutes of research, i present to you: a creature with lots of legs.

here's the original

1st March 2010 ]]>

broken filament

i've got a light fitting in my lounge which is forever on the fritz. i'm always reluctant to buy an expensive lightbulb, cos all the bulbs i put inside end up blowing. so i tend to buy cheap bulbs, which don't last as long. so they blow more frequently. and when they do i'm even less inclined to shell out more than i should on another lightbulb. so i buy another cheap one. then that blows. and it goes on. and it goes on. i'm sure there's a solution to this circular logic, but i can't seem to find it.

this is a composite of three images. the first is of the light bulb balancing in front of my computer screen. the second is of the bulb balancing upside down in front of the screen. and the third is of the computer screen. i then took the end of image two, stuck it on the tip of image one and masked off the rest over image three. and that's the secret of the floating lightbulb. here's (one of) the original(s)

27th February 2010 ]]>

open mic

2010 is nearly two months old and, despite posting pretty regularly in this time, i've only posted three pictures taken this year. i still have a bunch from south america, so i shouldn't get to a point where i run out of things to post too soon, but i am a bit annoyed at that statistic. i'm going to try and make a better effort to pick up my camera and take some new pictures - starting now. this was taken earlier today (you can't get much newer than that) when i was in the sound studio opposite where i work.

here's the original

26th February 2010 ]]>

behind blue eye

i fully intended to post a photo yesterday, but i was up late doing work. in fact, i was up later than i should have been doing work - you see i knew i had a lot to get on with, but i also wanted to watch the footy on tv. my compromise to myself was to watch the match, and then stay up a little bit later afterwards. the plan got scrapped when i fell asleep halfway through the first half. i awoke with the second half well underway, and i thought to myself that it could have been worse - i must have only been asleep for about half an hour. then i noticed that the game seemed to jump from one bit of action to another. then i noticed that there wasn't a clock, or scoreboard, on the screen. then i realised that i'd actually managed to sleep through all of the second half, then programmes that were shown after the match, all the way through to the highlights package that comes on late at night. i tells ya, when you've just woken up that messes with your mind.

this is a blue eye of a stone statue in peru. here's the original

25th February 2010 ]]>

bring me the head of a chicken

today's post is not very vegetarian friendly, sorry about that, but if you do eat meat then i don't think you can complain too much about the content. it's not as though these guys start their lives as chicken nuggets. that's probably a bad example as imagine they don't end up as chicken nuggets either. anyways, i thought of posting it as i'm cooking up some cajun chicken for dinner, and this hasn't put me off my food. then again, that might just say more about how god damn hungry i am at the minute.

this guy, and the hand that feeds, were both on the floating island. and here's the original

23rd February 2010 ]]>

plaza de armas

i feel like i have been relatively restrained in using this tilt-shift effect - in fact i didn't fake it once in 2009. so i don't feel too bad using it in this instance - particularly as i feel it works better in these kind of city landscape shots. this is the main plaza in cusco, peru - and it's the same view that the big white jesus has.

here's the original

22nd February 2010 ]]>

peruvian fountain

i snapped this while killing time in lima before i flew to new york on my final day in peru. earlier in the day i was wandering around in cusco, and saw some little handmade gifts that i thought would be perfect to give to my family when i got home. i tried to haggle for them in my best spanish, however the shopkeep wouldn't budge on the price. i said that it was too expensive and walked out the shop, expecting her to call me back with a reduced offer. she didn't, and i was too stubborn to go back and pay full wack, which probably equated to the cost of a chocolate bar. well i paid for it later in lima as i searched all the shops for some comparable presents. it was fruitless, and in the end i just got a book, some booze and a (really) overpriced gift at the airport. what can i say - i just don't know how to haggle.

here's the original

21st February 2010 ]]>

imagine dying sunflowers

central park is a pretty big place, and as i'd been walking around the village for a lot of the morning i didn't really feel like exploring all of it. so i had a look at the map and decided where i wanted to go. high up on the list was strawberry fields. i had no idea what it looked like, but even putting the beatles / john lennon connection to one side i figured with a name like that it must look pretty spectacular. wrong. what i found was this mosaic pattern on the ground, four dying sunflowers, and a dozen pissheads arguing loudly and playing i am the walrus on a beaten up ghetto blaster. i don't think it could have been any more depressing if it was john's decaying head impaled on a spike. the phrase 'rolling in his grave' came to mind.

here's the original

20th February 2010 ]]>

trail or tracks

i think i've said before when talking about going to machu picchu that there's no real need to trek there for a number of days, you can just rock up on the train if you want. a lot of people have to do that as there are only a limited number of passes allocated each day (i think about 250). so for some, that's the only way to see one of the (new) seven wonders of the world. the train appealed to the lazy, unfit side of me, which lets be frank is quite a large side. but i couldn't shake the feeling that it would be cheating, so i chose the trail over the tracks. plus i'm very easily suckered in by things that are limited edition, so hearing that inca trail tickets had an air of exclusivity about them helped to swing my decision.

here's the original

18th February 2010 ]]>

the el dude brothers

i'll be honest, if i dressed up in a costume like this i'd feel like a bit of a tit. by contrast, these guys thought they were cool as fuck and seemed to have been practising their boyband pose for the paparazzi. they were waiting on the corner for their role in the parade in tiwanaku, bolivia

here's the original

17th February 2010 ]]>

a partridge amongst the pigeons

if the title of this photo doesn't mean anything to you then i don't know why i'm even bothering to speak to you. no seriously. i think i'll make that a rule, you have to 'get' that line in order to view this website. ok, maybe that's a little harsh. i suppose there's a chance the brilliance of alan partridge might have passed you by. if that is the case, then the next link you click should be to view this clip. it's quite a long one, the quote in question occurs around 6min 45sec, but i encourage you to view all of it as it's possibly one of the funniest bits of british comedy ever. like a classic album, each time i watch an episode there's a different bit that i like the most. having just re-watched it my favourite this time was give me a second series ya shit! i guess my next task will have to be to try and take a picture where it would be appropriate to use that as a title.

this photo was taken in lima, in the pigeon infested convento de san francisco, and here's the original

16th February 2010 ]]>

popeyes

i hadn't had any food when i got to coney island, and i intended on getting something ~~disgusting~~ traditional like a coney island dog - however as i've mentioned before, i arrived to find everything closed. so i looked around for an alternative delicacy and spotted this fastfood chain called popeyes that advertised chicken and biscuits. chicken. and biscuits. as in biscuits... and chicken. when i was in peru i tried llama and guinea pig, which was a little bit of a culture shift, but chicken and biscuits - what kind of country thinks it's a good idea to put those two things together? what next - pork chops and cookies? it sounded so fucked up that i just had to try it. the whole experience was just plain strange, from the racially abusive (with each other) vendors, to the weird clientele down to the straight out odd food that i consumed. if it was possible, i left with even more questions than when i went in.

here's the original

15th February 2010 ]]>

la paz

this is la paz, the (administrative) capital of bolivia, and this was our first view of it when we were coming in on the coach from the peruvian border. it's one of the highest major cities in the world, ranging from between 3,000 - 4,000 metres. and it's surrounded by even higher altiplano, which makes it look like a huge number of buildings have sprouted up inside a crater. the city itself is a little strange. it's fairly dirty, there's a lot of poverty, and (reportedly) it's a bit on the dangerous side - but there was a weird vibe to the place that i kind of liked. i was only there for a few days but i would have liked to explored it for longer.

here's the original

14th February 2010 ]]>

random lines

i don't really like the term filler, cos photos can be very subjective. one man's picasso could be another man's picasso, you know if the second man didn't like picasso very much. either way there are certainly photos i've put up, whether due to a lack of alternatives or trying to keep up with regular posting, which i'm not very proud of. there's a handful that i down right despise. and to balance it out, a few that i am keen on. i don't think this one falls into any of those categories, which i don't think makes it a filler. sure it's of nothing in particular, but i like it enough at the minute to put it up, so here i go.

not that you can tell, or that it really matters, but this was taken in moon valley - and here's the original

13th February 2010 ]]>

maxi reed island

i've already posted a picture of what a mini reed island looks like, well here's a bigger version. i took this standing on some kind of reedy watchtower at one corner of the island. as you can see, it's not the biggest place in the world, but it is a home to the family that showed us around. it's mental to think that the houses, the boats and the island itself are all made out of the same material. and none of those are permanent structures, as the reeds eventually break down, so they all need constant maintenance, with the island having to be completely rebuilt every decade. mental.

this is a stitch of three separate photos, which i've shrunk down to (hopefully) appear on your monitor without the need for scrolling. if you want a little more detail, here's a bigger version

12th February 2010 ]]>

tuba

i remember when i went down to watch the parade, in bolivia, that i had both of my camera lens' with me. i'm glad i did as it allowed me to get close ups like this as well as wide shots like the aforementioned parade. it is a hassle swapping around lens though, it made me wish that someone would invent an 18-200mm lens. what's that? they exist? ok, i'll rephrase that last statement. it made me wish i could afford an 18-200mm lens. besides, now that i have a superwide lens in my kit bag, i suppose it's an issue that never really goes away. you just got to hope you have the right lens attached when you see one of those 'click and you'll miss it' photo ops.

here's the original

11th February 2010 ]]>

hot dog vendor

this dude was selling his tasty goodness outside the apple store in manhattan. i recall being fairly peckish at the time i took this, but only settled for a can of coke in lieu of a 'proper' meal later on. weird thing is, i have absolutely no idea what i then ate for dinner that night. i guess it doesn't really matter, and isn't particularly interesting, but it's starting to really bug me now. whatever it was, i assume i didn't regard it photoworthy.

here's the original

10th February 2010 ]]>

the pigeon and the angel

i've been really busy at work (as usual) for the last week, and in particular the last 36 hours, to the point where my eyes are hurting that bit too much when i look at a computer screen. that's todays imaginative excuse for not really writing much about this photo, so sorry about that. to be honest, even if i wasn't so busy i don't think there's a great deal i could say about this shot anyways. i took it in lima when i was in peru, i quite liked sharp angel and the (motion) blurred bird, and, er, that's about all i got.

oh, and here's the original

9th February 2010 ]]>

leafy fall

as well as (trying to) post a photo each day on this website, i also post on flickr and picasa. i started doing that a few years ago just so more people could view my photos. i also tend to get (marginally) more comments on flickr than i do here, which isn't saying a great deal, but it's nice to read. i got one last week on my brooklyn bridge photo informing me it was photo of the day at a website called dailyQI. i don't do any form of self promotion so it's cool when people stumble across my pictures. a similar thing happened at the end of last year when some dudes at brown university found my pink needle photo and ended up using it for the posters and programmes for their theatre production of doris to darlene. oh, and i don't think i mentioned it at the time, but back in 2008 some french dudes saw my ride me shot and that ended up being published (on page 87) in a french photo book called pink attitude. so if you have any foreign coffee table books or theatre productions and need that perfect (possibly pink) picture - i'm your man!

as for this photo, i spotted it on day three of the inca trail. i'm not sure how long the green waterfall had been in operation but i was impressed that the leaf seemed to be holding strong. here's the original

8th February 2010 ]]>

bond street

when i was down in london last i got the bus to piccadilly circus with the intention of taking some pictures of the big neon adverts. it didn't quite work out, in that the pictures ended up looking a bit shit, but i got a shot i liked when i was walking back to oxford street. this was another unexpected by-product of the journey. i spotted these lights when the bus was going past bond street and made a mental note to head back there to get a picture. by the time i did, it was properly pissing it down so it became a struggle to not get the camera wet. the upside was it meant that i was able to get some cool street reflections.

here's the original

7th February 2010 ]]>

sapo

this is a peruvian game we played when we were dotting around the sacred valley called sapo. you get a handful of thick, brass coins and the aim is to chuck them towards a table with different sized holes. the maximum points can be obtained if you get the coin inside the mouth of a shiny toad who proudly sits in the centre of the table. after despatching all of your coins you then pull out the table draw and count the points inside. oh, and if you're curious, sapo is the spanish word for toad. so if you have an annoying spanish speaking boss you can always use señor sapo as a nickname.

here's the original

6th February 2010 ]]>

moon valley

this is valle de la luna, or moon valley, in la paz, bolivia. it's a strange landscape made out of clay stalagmites which have been eroded into this shape over time. a lot of time. i'm pretty sure the guide told us that it got it's name after neil armstrong saw the place and commented that it was the closest thing on earth that resembled the surface of the moon. i'm not sure if that's just an urban legend, but it still looked pretty cool.

here's the original

5th February 2010 ]]>