Monday, December 04, 2006

Y returns - The Geograph site

These 2 pictures are for my new association with Geograph, a site Lynne at the Camera Club intoduced me to. Great fun! Although I don't fully understand the system yet, one enters the 'grid ref.' for the location of the picture. Then 'moderators' decide whether to accept it as a 'Geograph' or a 'Supplemental' if at all. I will try not to bore on about this.

Up to the present they have 286,252 images covering 45.1% of Great Britain. Wherever interests you, if the 'post-code' or 'grid ref.' is available you can look at loads of pictures of there. There is an onsite map if you need to find a grid-reference for yourself .

They stress that what is wanted is 'record-shots' not works of art. This is in line with my new 'religion' (of which more later). A judicious 'crop' or maybe a tweak for 'brightness' is allowed but not the widespread use of PhotoShop. Picture 1 is from outside the Doctor's looking down on the roofs of Church Street, Eastwood. Radcliffe-on-Soar Power Station can just be seen on the skyline. And, as future historians will note, we still have telephone cables. On the way into the doctor's a beautiful Maseratti was parked outside. That will make an excellent 'record' shot for Eastood I thought, but when I came out, it had gone. Carpe diem or what?

The 'more later' of which I spake, is that I have had a 600word piece accepted by Amateur Photographer for their 'Backchat' column - about this very subject, i.e. the need for 'record shots' and that the heavily false results from image manipulation are becoming boring. Also, they pay £50. I could buy an upgrade to my PhotoShop Elements !! I speak in jest.

Picture 2 is a 'completely unretouched' photo of Eastwood Morrisons and you can't get more record-shotty that that can you? Mind - if you look on the skyine extreme left you can see the Derbyshire Hills. You have my promise that this won't become an excuse for producing boring pictures. Honest.

I collected Y from Phoenix Park Tram just after lunch and it is good to have her home. She's had a great time and her tales of Palmers Green are a joy. My 3 days involved endless messing about which, these days, I'm very good at. That and 'spending money' at which we both excel, to the extent that I think we should run courses. Bungus's Blog saga inches ever closer to a satisfactory outcome and will be a good read (his stuff usually is) when he is up-and-running.

The Test Match seems to be stuttering towards a draw. I knew I'd spoken too soon.

byeeeee..................

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for intro to 'GeoGraph'. I have been told today (Tue) however, that they have run out of funding and therefore are not accepting further pics for the time being.

Personally, I find it hard to accept record photos that are not well composed and interesting. I think your pic would be better if cropped to show only the power station in the mist. I am not saying that the original is not worth keeping; I just don’t think it is worth displaying.
As for your ‘new religion’: in your younger slimmer days I thought of you as an 18 stone butterfly, flitting from one interest to another at an alarming rate (eg, painting, writing, photography). Now I feel a revision is required; butterflies being easier to pin down! (cf, Mansfield Museum). Having declared yourself opposed to ‘manipulation’ of images (something I broadly agree with) you suddenly started 'PhotoShopping' like crazy but now, 3 weeks later, you have seen the light (from the left, just after dawn) and done a ‘volte face’, returning to your previous puritan position (2, 4, 6, 8 / let us all alliterate). Good. Will you please stay there while I get the gas bottle?
I also heard today (Tue) that a judge has refused to accept a digital photograph in evidence as they can be so easily and undetectably (?) interfered with.

Congrats on acceptance of your piece for AP.

Bungus's Blog has hit the buffers. Tough on posterity.

Quote ’The Test Match seems to be stuttering towards a draw. I knew I'd spoken too soon.' Unquote. Encore! Howzat?