Sunday 31 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 090

Pareidolia. I love it. You know when Jesus appears in a KitKat Chunky or a taco? Pareidolia. When the Virgin Mary appears in a mouldy grape? Pareidolia. One of the most famous examples is the Face on Mars, loved by conspiracy theorists and morons everywhere, photographed by Viking 1 in 1976. A quick Google search will reveal an infinite number of examples and you would be unlikely to have to watch more than a few weeks of breakfast 'news' before yet another example presented itself.

So what exactly is pareidolia? Well, it is most commonly used to describe instances where we see faces where there really isn't one but it is defined more broadly as the psychological phenomenon when a vague or random stimulus is perceived as being significant. This can be a visual or auditory phenomenon. Today, when I was slurping up my chocolate milk (because I'm an adult), I saw this little dude looking back at me out of the bowl; I took a quick snap and then proceeded to devour his handlebar mustachioed face. If I'd wanted to, I could try to ascribe some sort of meaning to this random pattern; maybe a premonition of good luck, or of meeting someone new, even a sign of my impending death - people will believe anything.


But why do we do this? Why would our brain be so cruel as to trick us like this? It's difficult to say exactly as this would lead us into the realm of evolutionary psychology, which isn't really science as it doesn't make falsifiable hypotheses, which leaves it languishing somewhere between philosophy and idle speculation. The leading theory, though, is that human babies that could quickly and easily recognise human faces had an evolutionary advantage over their not so canny cousins. This seems reasonable. It has been shown many times that very young neonates can involuntarily smile upon being presented with a face, even though they don't know what a smile is nor, indeed, a face. The theory goes that parents that see their little one smiling back at them will be endeared towards it and take better care of it. Again, this doesn't seem entirely implausible; at a time in human evolution when raising a child was a truly huge undertaking requiring a massive drain on resources, you can imagine this conferring an advantage over some poor mite that had inherited an unfortunate scowl from grumpy grandad Jack.

Below is a picture of three circles and a straight line, but I would put good money on every single one of you seeing a face. You can't help it. It's hard wired. In fact, if you couldn't see a face then you should get yourself signed up to some experiments because psychologists and neurologists will absolutely love you.

The human brain is still the greatest, most accomplished pattern-recognition machine in the known universe. Unfortunately we have evolved in an environment where false positives carry less disadvantage than false negatives and so the brain can ascribe significance where there is none; this isn't a problem so long as we're aware of it and don't blindly follow our first instincts. Keep your eyes open, folks, who knows what you might see.



Saturday 30 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 089

The only photos I took today were of this band I went to see. They're called Afrospot and they were pretty damned good.


Friday 29 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 088

Do you remember the other day I was in Parliament Square and I spotted this composition? No? Then pay more attention. This is my second attempt at it. I've grunged it up a bit in SnapSeed hoping to add a bit of a war time feel to it. Needless to say, it's Churchill.


Thursday 28 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 087

My miserable week at work continues apace. This is the innards of our DNA sequencer, it costs about as much as my house and it's not working properly. I have to make it work properly. Sigh.


Wednesday 27 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 086

Hunt is the theme and this little blighter took hours of stalking before I shot it. Honest.


Tuesday 26 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 085

This dull, poorly framed picture of data, which I'm not going to bother to explain, has nothing to do with today's prompt; but it is making my week at work miserable.


Monday 25 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 084

Okay, I lied. One more from Venice. I love that you can see the texture in the stucco on this wall, and the colours are very soothing.


Sunday 24 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 083

A final picture from Venice for today's effort. I'll try to get more on topic over the next week. On many of the bridges in Venice, of which there are many, you will find padlocks with the names of lovers written on them. I've given this picture of some of them the Lomo treatment.


Saturday 23 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 082

Ignoring the prompt again, but this is the Piazza San Marco as seen from the loggia of the basilica. I've given it a little tilt shift effect; I've always loved the miniaturising effect it gives.


Friday 22 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 081

I'm totally ignoring the prompt today as I am in Venice and just using whatever I like. This is the view looking north from the Rialto Bridge in the centre of the lagoon.


Thursday 21 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 080

Hiding. This little dude got picked up on an island off the coast of Tierra del Fuego in southern Chile. It was extremely cold down there, even in summer, which is why he has a woolly hat.


Wednesday 20 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 079

A bit of a cheat today. The prompt was Plant Something. Now, I haven't planted something but I have been creative with the germ lines of flora, which isn't quite as disgusting as it sounds. And, yes, I need to give my coffee table a waxing.


Tuesday 19 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 078

The theme today was Playing a Game, or something like that. Well, a game can also be known as a match so clearly this photo fits the bill. There is no secret to manipulating matchsticks like this; it just takes a bloody long time and the patience of a saint. With this bunch of miscreants I was so close to committing a violent atrocity by the time I had them positioned that I didn't care about clearing out the background of the photo and generally making it as good as it should be. Another lesson learnt....


Monday 18 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 077

I'm ignoring the prompt today, Spots, not because I don't like it but just because I found a more interesting photo. I found myself in Parliament Square this evening and came across this composition. This photo itself is nothing to shout about, it's grainy; there's a bus in the way; the branches at the top are distracting and it's just generally a bit tawdry, think of it more as a proof of concept. If I get down there with the right light and my camera and tripod then this could become something quite interesting. Watch this space.


Sunday 17 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 076

I was feeling a little rebellious today. Being slightly bored with the relentlessly unimaginative prompts over the last few days I changed things up a little today, St. Patrick's Day. The theme was Wearing of the Green, which is the name of a lovely Irish folk song. I have no idea if they are related but that song puts me in mind of The Rising of the Moon by the Dubliners; a personal favourite of mine. Anyway, I digress. This mannequin type thing was dressed as a leprechaun or some such nonsense but I decided to make it B+W and grain it up a little. Hopefully the prompts will move away from all the Irish and Green references now; I've a definite soft spot for Ireland, I love the music and am a quarter Irish myself but, really, enough's enough.


Saturday 16 March 2013

Friday 15 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 074

You won't be surprised to hear that the list of themes for the middle of March is a bit heavy on Green-ness and today is no exception: In a Field of Green. Once again my standard issue green space during the working week is Russell Square.


Thursday 14 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 073

Today I was aiming for Branches. This is a shot I took on my phone and edited in Snapseed to make it a bit more contrasty. 


Wednesday 13 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 072

Today's theme is Messy. As I walked into the office today two things struck me; one, that it was devoid of anyone doing work; and two, that it was a complete shit tip. I quickly grabbed this photo as I liked the symmetry that the chairs had.


Tuesday 12 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 071

It all went a bit wrong today. The theme was Shamrock so I thought I would take a photo of some clover; so far so easy. So I went to Russell Square at lunchtime to get the shot and this is what I got. It was only afterwards that I wondered whether or not clover really is shamrock and some quick research seems to suggest it's a matter of some contention. Then, looking back at the photo, I realised that I hadn't even taken a photo of clover anyway - all round fail. Still, here it is:


Monday 11 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 070

I have just spent the last two hours trying to photograph drops of water for today's theme of Liquid. It's taken some educated guessing, a lot of trial and error, some ingenious lateral thinking and a whole heap of luck but I nearly pulled it off. For a first attempt at this I'm pretty happy with the results. As a proof of concept I'm happy that I've learnt a lot and will be better placed to come up with something actually good next time. As it is, this was probably my best attempt. It's not quite in focus but it'll do for today. I imagine I'll write a longer article on how to do this in the fullness of time.


365 Project: Photo 069

This is my take on Pot of Gold.


365 Project: Photo 068

This photo is sort of spot on and sort of a cheat. The theme is Me. This is, indeed, a photo of me and it was taken on the right day; it wasn't, however, taken by me but by Sue. We had gone on a little excursion to Ickworth House just to have a stroll around it's woodlands and wild flowers but upon arrival the weather had turned nasty with heavy cold rain falling and snow forecast for the not too distant future. That being the case I left my camera in the car but Sue manfully took hers, my old Sony A250. We started with lunch and eventually the rain cleared enough to warrant a little walk which turned into a basic photography tutorial for Sue, explaining aperture sizes and ISO speeds and the like.

At one point I asked her if there were any good reflections in the puddles round about; sadly there wasn't but there was this one of me.


365 Project: Photo 067

Of late Sue has been getting to know my old camera. Her periodic interest in photography is definitely going through a spike in activity, perhaps sparked by a frustration with the photos she sees me churning out; we have totally different photos. I like a nice wide angle and broad, open landscapes. Sue likes the zoom lens and detail shots that verge on the abstract. In any case, it is a shared interest and it's good to see my old camera in use. I snapped this on my phone as the theme for today was Hobby/Equipment.


365 Project: Photo 066

The theme was Breakfast and eggs are a personal favourite. Boiled or fried are my favourite, so long as the yolk is good and runny.


365 Project: Photo 065

This one hasn't really turned out how I had planned but I hope you can see what I was aiming for. The theme was Full Speed and I was trying to capture snow flakes as they fell. There are a couple that are in focus to, hopefully, demonstrate what they are but I guess you would need a lot of it to be out of focus for it to fit the speedy theme. Anyway, here it is.


Sunday 10 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 062

A total cheat today. I couldn't tell you what the theme is but I do like this picture I took. So there.


365 Project: Photo 064

This is my fridge. As you can see, I have errrmmmmm...... one or two fridge magnets. This started many, many years ago back when I was a poor, young student. When I went away somewhere I could just about afford to get there but not much else so souvenirs didn't have much of a budget. My remedy was to get a fridge magnet: cheap and cheerful. I have kept this up over the years and now have quite a collection. People have even started buying them for me. In recent years I have made a conscious decision to try and get the most garish, or cheaply made, or generally awful magnet I can find. I generally do well.

But why, I hear you ask, has this become part of the venerable 365 project? Well, today's theme is Lucky and, quite clearly, there is a shamrock magnet to be found if you look hard enough. Job done.


365 Project: Photo 063

The prompt for today was Two. This is an unedited photo of my light switch. Yup, pretty lazy.


365 Project: Photo 061

The theme today was whimsical but I wasn't feeling very inspired by this, plus, I was on a London Photo Walk from Tower Bridge to Westminster and so I was always going to use one of my netter photos from that for today. The idea behind this walk was to do some night photography and so we met an hour or so before sunset, the best one we'd had in a couple of weeks, and made our way along the river. This shot is a 30 second exposure of St. Paul's cathedral from the South Bank. I had a boat move through the shot and it left a nice little light trail along the river which I'm quite fond of. I also like the way the water has smoothed itself out and the buoy is all blurred from bobbing about whilst the background remains crisp.


365 Project: Photo 060

Sweet Rest is the theme. If this were a gravestone it would nicely fit the theme; but it isn't. I'm using it anyway. It's actually a marker in the grounds of Ickworth House in Suffolk, a very pleasant National Trust property with acres of woodland and lakes and the like. We even spotted a wild muntjack deer.


Wednesday 6 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 058

This is sort of a cheat. The theme was Up Close and Personal, which fits, but I didn't take the photo today and, in fact, I didn't even take it; Sue did. Normally it's me lugging the camera about and taking ages to get anywhere because I'm constantly papping everything but, unusually, in Vienna the other day it was Sue that was super keen to take photos. Under normal conditions, when Sue has decided it's time to move on or she's bored she'll normally start trying to forcibly insert herself into the photos so I thought I'd get my own back. On the downside it has resulted in yet another God awful photo of me....


Saturday 2 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 057

The device below is a prized possession of mine; it's a cut throat razor with accompanying whetstone. This may not make too much sense as I am a bit, well, beardy; but there you have it. The prompt for today was Essential Equipment so, although a razor isn't exactly essential equipment for maintaining a beard it is, nonetheless, something of mine that I rather like.


365 Project: Photo 056

This is a building near where I work, I took it from the 9th floor, I think. It seems to still be occupied by something but, frankly, I'm not sure. The graffiti, combined with the monochrome, reminds me of the 1980s for some reason; something reminiscent of Thatcher's Britain. Hopefully we won't end up there again. Relevance? A little, I guess. the theme is From the Side.


365 Project: Photo 055

A Cup of _____; that was the theme. I can't stand coffee and I don't really drink tea but I do love a hot chocolate. Voila.


365 Project: Photo 054

For The Love Of Music is the theme for today. The instrument featured below has never played fantastic music; I don't think it's ever even played a proper note but it does represent a good time. I bought this on my travels in South America more than 7 years ago now; it's one of many trinkets from that journey that always remind me of one of the happiest times of my life.


365 Project: Photo 053

I'm going off piste again today. I don't know what the theme for today was but here is a sunset from the bridge on Angel Lane heading towards Stratford station. The odd looking structure in the background is The Orbit on the Olympic Park. Once it opens up again, presumably some time later this year, I'll hopefully have a little trip up there.

sunset, arcelor, mittal, orbit, olympics, london, stratford

365 Project: Photo 052

The theme today was Sweet Treats. I didn't have much to work with so this is it. Soz.


Friday 1 March 2013

365 Project: Photo 051

This was a guy who was making his living blowing bubbles, nice work if you can get it. He put on a nice little performance more than worth a few Euros, which was handy because Performance was what I was after. This is another cheat from Vienna but, hey, I don't go there everyday so I'm going to make the most of it.


365 Project: Photo 050

I'll be honest, I'm cheating today. The theme is Look Up, which this photo does but I didn't take it today; I took it on the weekend in Vienna. This is a shot looking up at the tower of the Rathaus, a wonderful building on a par with the Palace of Westminster.


365 Project: Photo 049

Theme: Tree. I have photographed the trees of Russell Square more times than I can remember over the last 7 years. This is where I come to have my lunch nearly every day to get out of the lab and see a bit of nature. It may be enclosed by a ring of heavy traffic but to me it is an oasis of calm. Taken on my Galaxy S3 and edited on Snapseed, my new favourite app.


365 Project: Photo 049

Okay, I'm back on topic today, the topic being Favourite Snack. Here are a couple of personal faves from the pub; chilli, corny puff things and pork scratchings. I bloody love pork scratchings.


365 Project: Photo 048

This is a photo of a chain. It has nothing to do with today's prompt; I can't even tell you what the prompt is to be honest. I like the chain, though.


365 Project: Photo 047

This is a little triptych I made of Michaelerplatz and Stephanplatz in Vienna. I grunged it up a bit using Snapseed and then used Photo Grid to make the montage.


365 Project: Photo 046

I went to Vienna this weekend and basically decided I was going to ignore all the prompts for a while and freestyle. This was a shot that I quickly grabbed on the fly. The cloud was quite thick and made the sun tolerable to look at (probably still not a good idea though). The extreme nature of the exposure made the clouds look moody; I was going to edit it slightly so that the statuary became more of a silhouette but I've decided to leave it as is. It's a shot of one end of the Hofberg by the way, a very impressive series of palaces found in the centre of the city; more of which in a future post.