Gaurav Vaz, bassplayer for Raghu Dixit, captured old-school 35mm style
I like photography, though I’m not especially good at it. I know lots of people who are amazing with a camera – and their skills appear to be a blend of raw talent, creative flair, scientific knowledge and some sort of black magic. I don’t have any of those things, but I still like doing photography.
Digital is brilliant for me, because I can take hundreds of photos and just show people the few good ones that happen to have worked through sheer luck.
Using Flickr is even better for me, especially with a pro account – because it means that I can upload EVERYTHING completely indiscriminately – and anyone interested enough can figure out what’s good or interesting on their own terms. Who am I to second guess what they’ll find significant?
On Flickr, my message is not “witness my photographic skills” but – “look what happened” (or in this case – “look how smiley my musician friends are”).
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Tagged: Camera, Finland, Rhythm Changes, Tomas
- Published:
- August 25, 2010 – 6:47 pm
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- By Dubber
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Photo by mkorchia
In a new Wired magazine article called The Web Is Dead, Long Live The Internet, Editor in chief Chris Anderson (author of ‘The Long Tail‘ and ‘Free‘) declares the demise of the web browser in favour of dedicated apps on devices such as iPads and iPhones (no mention of Android handsets, then).
It’s an interesting article – or rather, the first half is a reasonably convincing and interesting article, and the second half is a slightly less interesting, less convincing one. But Anderson’s technologically determinismistic search for cause and massive societal, cultural and economic effect gets in the way – and he ends up saying little, which is a shame, because there’s actually a good point to be made here – though it is one I’ve sort of made before.
In short:
1) the internet is like electricity;
2) individual pieces of software that use the internet (browsers, email clients, iTunes, etc) are like appliances that plug into that electricity; and
3) you CAN dry your hair with a toaster, but it’s not the best tool for the job.
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Tagged: Apps, electricity, hairdryer, Internet, iPad, iPhone, toaster
- Published:
- August 25, 2010 – 11:32 am
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- By Dubber
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There’s a piece in the Guardian in which DJ and film-maker Don Letts dispenses a few observations about culture and society.
There’s one line in it that some friends of mine on Twitter (professional musicians and DJs, as it happens) have seized upon and retweeted as a bit of a ‘hell yeah!’ to the bumper sticker soundbite that Letts has come up with:
“The downside of affordable technology is mediocrity.”
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Tagged: Art, Creativity, culture, Film, Music
- Published:
- August 24, 2010 – 10:54 am
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- By Dubber
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Never thought I’d blog about X Factor. I don’t own a telly, and so I don’t watch it, and the very idea of the show is utterly repugnant. Seriously – I despise everything the X Factor stands for. But last night, record numbers of people did watch the show – and lots of them are complaining that autotune was applied to the vocals.
Some people see it as cheating. Comments like “but it’s a singing contest!” abound – both in mainstream media and on the internet. In fact, it’s probably the most talked about thing of the day. People are genuinely outraged.
And while it’s incredibly significant that X Factor has been autotuned… it’s sure as hell not important – and here’s why.
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Tagged: autotune, television
- Published:
- August 23, 2010 – 3:17 pm
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- By Dubber
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While I was in Helsinki, I was interviewed by Radio New Zealand National‘s Saturday Morning host Kim Hill. The pretext was that Finland had just been declared best country in the world to live in, and since I was a New Zealander who just happened to be there, I was on the radio for quarter of an hour extolling its virtues and examining the national character.
Of course, I know very little about Finland or its people having only visited twice, and having actually spent most of that time sitting inside at conferences. But all the same, I managed to glean enough to keep things going for a bit.
If you’re interested, here’s my interview:
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…and some responses to it from the radio show’s audience:
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Tagged: Finland, Helsinki, jazz, Radio, RNZ
- Published:
- August 23, 2010 – 11:37 am
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- By Dubber
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Me in Helsinki (click to enlarge)
I’m staying in Helsinki at the home of Tomas Whitehouse – a Kings Heath Brummie who moved to Finland about five years ago. I got to know him through Clutch and was massively impressed with his photography (check out his website), so I was very excited when he asked to take my photo while I was here.
The above shot was taken at the Sibelius Monument, which he thought was a) an appropriate background given my connections with music; and b) close enough to lug all the gear.
He took some amazing shots, and he’s given me a few of them to play with and use on my blog, which is brilliant.
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Tagged: Portrait, Sibelius, Tomas
- Published:
- August 20, 2010 – 9:26 pm
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- By Dubber
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I’m in Helsinki for the 9th Nordic Jazz Conference, at which I was doing a presentation about jazz on the internet, and my role in Rhythm Changes – a 3 year jazz research project I’m working on.
The conference was held in the Finnish National Archive building – and today we had a bit of a tour around. If you’re interested – you could have a look yourself too.
Tagged: Finland, jazz
- Published:
- August 20, 2010 – 6:04 pm
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- By Dubber
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. My birthday is September 14th, but don't feel constrained by the calendar. You can buy me presents any time you like...