Janet Gogerty's Blog: Sandscript - Posts Tagged "photography"

Shelves full of them; barring a house fire or aircraft crashing onto our roof, a large collection of photograph albums could be passed on into history. Black and white pictures on black pages, sticky pages unpeeling, flip up albums of 6x4 prints. But the days of calling at the chemist to collect a packet of prints, the hoped for best shot out of focus, are a mere memory.
When we joined a camera club a decade ago, only half the members had converted to digital, now the colour slide show has been replaced by digital images projected onto a screen. Charity shops are full of old cameras. The real enthusiast used to be someone who had his own dark room, now he has a computer, sophisticated software packages and a good quality printer. Digital photos can be printed out by anyone, a trip to the supermarket machine, put in your memory device and collect.
But unlike a roll of film, digital never runs out. Many computers are full of thousands of unseen images, lost to history as technology changes.
From pictures taken on mobile phones of news as it happens, to bumble bees captured with the most expensive macro lens; everyone is a photographer now.
I prefer small cameras that point and shoot. But for the 'technowhiz' with the right software and a lot of patience, there is nothing that can't be done to a digital image; cut down to size, lamp posts erased, colours altered, several snaps melded together or the photograph turned into a painting. My book covers are all created with original photographs digitally redesigned by a family member.
All authors are advised to have a website and realising I could put pictures on mine, I became obsessed; the means to an end had become an end in itself. Then I turned to Facebook. Time waster or social interface? It does not need to be filled with family photos, I try to post interesting pictures, often as a quiz. My friend's mother identified a place she had visited in 1939. Now, when out and about, I'm not just recording holidays and family events, but looking out for the unusual.
Despite this revolution, people love black and white photographs; most of us are intrigued if we visit an exhibition. We enjoy the iconic historic images, but the best photographers of that era took beautiful pictures. There is a clarity and sharpness in black an white photographs that is not present in colour images. Ironically, modern photographers use their computer to turn digital pictures into black and white; they are impressive, but never quite the same as the real thing created with chemicals in the dark room.

Visit my website to see what pictures I have been taking recently.
http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/

What does a writer take on holiday? Some might say nothing to do with writing, if it is supposed to be a holiday. Away for nearly a month, driving around the north of England and Scotland, the first essentials were clothes of every description to cater for any kind of weather. Then the other essentials, cameras to record our travels, including card readers and battery chargers, kindle, knitting and a bag of toys (electronic) to keep the rest of the party occupied while I wrote.
Fresh air, walking, seeing new cites and remote rural areas, meeting interesting people and getting inspiration for settings and characters, all important ingredients of a trip.
At a secluded cottage one can pretend to be a writer who has cut themselves off from the world. But with the right equipment an author can write anywhere.
Take a clockwork lap top and at least one memory stick with the current novel and all other writing. If wi fi is available the blog can also be kept up to date.
Always have a notebook handy for those pleasant times when the sun shines as you sit by the river with your coffee, or on the cathedral green with afternoon tea.
Take the paper manuscript of the novel in progress; if the electronics fail you can read, edit, check the plot lines…
Did I do all these things? Yes.
I downloaded photographs every day onto the lap top ready for my website and Facebook and when rain or mist descended I typed up the notes scribbled in the sunshine.
I’ve edited my novel and knitted a scarf for a family member visited on the way home.
Of course the other advantage of taking manuscripts, paper and electronic... if one should arrive home to discover the house blown up in a gas leak or flattened by a meteorite, at least the writing has been preserved.
Luckily our house was still standing when we returned.
And did the driver complain that I had taken too many bags on holiday? Yes.

You can see some pictures of places visited on my website; in the picture quiz and in Beachwriter’s Blog.

http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/chapter...

Lists; obsessive compulsive disorder or good organisation? Whichever is true, the CLM, compulsive list maker, goes into overdrive when a holiday is looming. At first there is one list; cases out of loft, car serviced, catch up with e-mails, pay bills and give neighbours address of destination in case house blows up.
Then the lists multiply; To Do, To Pack down to the final list by the front door: cases, coats, walking boots, buy petrol, lock back door, handbag, bleach down toilet…
For the keen gardener the lead up to a holiday is even more fraught; a dedicated gardener would not go on holiday till January. In September flowers are still blooming, tomatoes are ripe and the grass is growing. Will it be dry so the lawn stays in check, but the flowers wilt or will it rain continuously and the weeds take over?
If there is a photographer in the family the frenetic activity escalates; cameras, lenses, batteries, battery chargers, card readers and clockwork lap top, useless for Wi Fi, but handy for storing a few thousand digital images; all have to be assembled.
But this is nothing compared to the holiday preparation of an author. Packing notepads of various sizes and a few pens is not enough. I have been busy working my way through reams of scribble for my current novel. I like writing in long hand first, but I can’t actually read my writing, hence the need to quickly transfer from microscrap paper and macrosoft brain to Microsoft Word. Then edit and put on several memory sticks in case a burglar steals my computer, or worse, the whole house blows up while we are away.
In the meantime there is work to do in the ether; refreshing my website so it looks as if I have visited it recently and am not dead, blogs to write….
Back to packing…. Our collection of equipment to take is not complete without the various communication gadgets passed round the family or bought cheaply from Pete-at-work. Two Smart phones and two tablets because the lap top can’t be trusted to find the Internet and phone screens are too tiny to enjoy Facebook.
Finally clothes, September weather? Same as for an English holiday at any time of the year, take everything.
We’re only going 180 miles, away for 25 days maximum. Some staying with relatives involved, handy for laundry, shops nearby, so it’s hardly an expedition, but I need to treat it as such so that I will be prepared to enjoy getting away from it all.

Visit my website to see what's on in September; stories, pictures and all sorts. www.ccsidewriter.co.uk

SERVER NOT FOUND, words guaranteed to strike dread in the hearts of anyone expecting to go on line in the next few seconds. When I saw those words I tried every device in the house, only to get the same answer. I did not need to go on the internet, it was a catching up with housework day. At least we hadn’t had a power cut; electricity not WiFi was all that was needed to work the washing machine, vacuum cleaner and most importantly the radio, the only companion that makes chores bearable.
So why was I experiencing medium levels of stress, anxiety and restlessness? First cause was the question Why? Obviously the Internet works by magic, but what had broken the spell and would the magic ever return?
Second worry; I was due to Skype family in Australia early the next morning.
Third problem; I needed to update my website with the next episode of the serial.
Finally came the hollow panic: what was I missing while off line? Would I be the last relative to put a sad emoticon on Facebook if a baby wasn’t well or if someone was in casualty? Were there any important e-mails?

There was a time when I wasn’t on Facebook or Skype, further back I didn’t have an e-mail address. There is a telephone in the house attached to a land line, which at some stage beams up to a satellite. I could just phone Australia. Anybody could phone me if there was an emergency. I could get on with writing my novel on Microsoft Word, if I ever finished the housework. So why was I still anxious?

When the long suffering Cyberspouse came home from work he did not realise the gravity of the situation, commenting calmly that Virgin was probably ‘down’. However, he decided he would unplug the router and plug it in again. Instantly, messages and Whatsapps pinged into our mobile phones. Facebook lit up the large screen of my desk top computer. I was delighted, proof indeed that the internet works by magic. The way to restore it is by a magic spell that I cannot perform; the internet has to be switched off and on by someone who is not a technophobe and who is totally uninterested in social media.

I was late cooking dinner that evening because I had to check all my multi media connections. And what had I missed? I was in time to see sunset pictures from Facebook photographer friends and to sign a petition to save a cow swimming in the harbour after escaping from a live export ship in Fremantle Port, Western Australia.

Of course I am not a Facebook Fanatic. After several years of being blissfully without a mobile phone I now have my first (third hand ) Smart phone and with it comes the security of knowing I can check Facebook while I am out to make sure I’m not missing anything. Also I can take photographs with my phone and post them, so that Facebook friends do not miss anything I’m doing out in real life.

Read about what can go wrong on Facebook in two stories in my anthology Dark and Milk ‘You Have One Friend’ and ‘Friend Request’
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Milk-Jane...

Catch up with the Friday Serial at my website
http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/chapter...