Rob Masters

 I usually use cyanotype as an in-camera negative. This is a slow process - each exposure is a couple of hours at least.  I also shoot solargraphs. This is also a slow process, with exposures measured in days or months. Or even years.  As you all saw, a few days ago I brought in one of my six month solargraphs. The resulting image was dramatic enough, that I thought it would make a good cyanotype contact print. This is a very fast process by comparison. Exposure time in Perth in mid-summer is around 4-5 minutes.  Here is the result. I think I will do another print, this time on a tee-shirt!

 Consider the following installation.  By itself, it could be almost anything. Maybe slightly ominous, depending on what the music is like. Now let's add a character. Maybe a nice old lady astrophysicist . Suddenly, it is probably just some funky radio telescope or similar. Perfectly normal, nothing bad is going to happen to anyone because of it. So let's change it to some bloke scientist. Everything is still probably fine, depending on the music. Just some researcher. This does not mean that things might not go horribly wrong, but they seem to be perfectly normal. We can make it even more normal by using two characters - Honey! I'm home! But I digress. Back to the slow decline. Now things are looking dodgy. Red glasses, self-satisfied smirk, weird flask of something green... it all adds up to this is probably nothing good for anyone. But we can step it up more. OK, exposed brain alien dude. Let's face it, we're in for a rough and nasty ride. Probably with some awfu

  Taken with a Solarcan Eldorado over six months, starting on the Winter Solstice, and ending on Christmas day. View is looking across our roof to the neighbours.  Scanned with an Epson multifunction scanner, and processed in Snapseed. It is interesting (to me) that the Solarcan cameras have the pinhole only 4cm from the top of the 16cm can (about 2cm below the shoulder). Despite this, the Summer solstice, and the preceding month, are all too high in the sky to be fit in frame. From this I figure I'd need a can nearly 30cm tall  (and still the same diameter) to capture the entire arc.  I have now reloaded the can with some Ilford Multigrade III that I dug up from the back shed (which I have tested, and is still usable for this purpose).

Back to that rich vein of videos, the 80s this time, and one of the musical greats the the era produced.  Our video is a stop-motion paper-cut surrealist dream-sequence, and that by itself would not gain it an entry to this series. What gets it in is the way it mirrors the song in a very literal way. This is someone who has achieved flight and is never returning to the ground. It might be an acid-fuelled vision of the narrative, but it is clearly what is going on.  I do wonder about the flippers and the slippers, though. Anyway, here is 1985's classic hit "And She Was" by Talking Heads from Little Creatures.

Another fresh tune this week, with a track released just ten days ago! Hold on for a ride you've not seen the likes of since Galaxy Quest. And no, do not expect spaceships mit der blinkenlights. But do expect a bunch of very quirky and rather naive aliens. What do they want from us? Why did they come here? All will be revealed! Hailing from the Isle of Wight, here are Wet Leg with "Too Late".

Back to a solid standby this week with one of Lindsey Stirling's earlier works.  In this one we get the whole Narnia thing without the religious overtones - a whole world on the other side of the closet, but you can only visit. Still it seems to give her strength, so props to her. It is interesting to contrast this with Monarch ( SFFMVotW-#67)  , which has some similar themes. Here is 2015's Take Flight, by Lindsey Stirling.

The old gag goes "We have both kinds of music here - Country and Western". Well, I don't usually have a lot of time for either.  This song is an exception, and it was always a crying shame it never got a decent video, until 19 years later, when a band that I also rarely have a lot of time for did a cover.  And the confluence of genres, song, band, and video combined to create something vastly greater than any one of the parts. Enjoy "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Primus from 1998.

This week I have possibly the newest video I will ever post. Released yesterday, and from their new musical Teaching a Robot to Love , I present "A Normal Human Party" by The Doubleclicks.  Many thanks to E. for bringing this to my attention!

I've only been in the Photography Scavenger Hunts since September 2017, but they are tremendous fun, and a great way to stretch your skills. Check out the 10th Anniversary round below!  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-33/

Cosmetic surgery for anthropomorphic dogs. With Alison Goldfrapp as the end product. Really, I cannot say anything more about this - except that Alison is the Kate Bush of the 2000s.  Here is 2005's "Number 1" by Goldfrapp, from Black Cherry. 

Straight out of the 80's and visualised by channelling Leiji Matsumoto, we've got an epic space fantasy this week. Except it is from 2019 and Canada. A truly delightful flashback, this has everything - including cameos from the band, and from their associated act. Prepare for battle alongside "Starlight Brigade" by TWRP, from 2019's Together Through Time.

I thought long and hard about including this one, but in the end I gave it the benefit of the doubt, largely because the band are so perfectly in character for the entire thing. The band's own description of the clip on YouTube is, in itself, a work of art - claiming it to have a vastly older history than it does, and referring to the band in the third person.  Featuring an early 80s or late 70s retrofuturistic take on the music industry, complete with cheesy 'computers', enjoy "Do It All The Time" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME from the EP 1981 Extended Play from 2018. Now are you confused by this multitude of dates? I sure am!

A simple one  this week - imagine a world where letters go missing!  With such a disaster possible, there would have to be an agency to help out, right? Here is "The Alphabet Lost and Found", by They Might Be Giants and featuring Marty Beller, from their 2005 album "Here Come the ABCs". (And look out for someone who is going to have a Damn Good Time !)

 We were lucky enough to catch a launch from the Wadjemup Orbital Facility on our recent trip there. Naturally the nature of the payload was not published, nor have the orbital parameters.

 This one is a riff on the Paper Plane. .75 shot Lyres American Malt .75 shot Lyres Italian Spritz .75 shot Lyres Aperitif Rosso .75 shot fresh lemon juice Quick shake with large block ice, and strain into a coupe glass Garnish with a folded paper dart on a skewer. Sharp, bitter, and citrusy, with malt undertones. 

Visiting the early 2000's now, and a hip-hop love song.  Better known for portraying a pastiche of themselves in a music video, this time we get alien tourists. And an amazingly sweet little story. One that is so full of hope for the world it is almost heartbreaking. Here is "Prototype" from Outkast and 2004.

It is becoming increasingly hard to find SFF music videos that are not intrinsically depressing or that end on a serious downer. In case you're wondering what that has to do with things... The world is in a terrible place right now, and I figure that keeping my videos on the light side for now is for the best. So, my hunt, aided by the amazing Leece, continues.  In fact, she dug up this week's little gem. This little post-apocalyptic visit to a funfair has just enough of an uncertainty at the end to make the grade, so let's run with "Carnival of Rust" by the Finnish band Poets of the Fall, from 2006's album of the same name.

So let's go for something a little simpler this week.  This time we get a simple silent movie, set in a circus. We've got a downtrodden hero, a damsel in distress, and a villain. Everything we need for a classic story. And yes, we get some real magic in it as well.  All in all, some simple entertainment. Enjoy "Magic" by Coldplay from Ghost Stories (2014).

Late again, I know! Once again, we are faced with the question of who or what the monster in this is. Amazingly evocative, and very thought provoking - but I will not say too much because spoilers. Be intrigued by "Monster" by Starset, from 2016's Vessels.

25 minutes timelapse at 1f/5s.

For a while now, I've been doing solargraphs with drink can cameras - like this one: These are long-exposure images on photographic paper, using a pinhole camera. This is a short one - only a couple of days. They can go on for years. Rather than developing them, the latent image is scanned directly, as the exposure would result in a black sheet if developed. Anyways, I thought I would try a similar technique using a medium format camera. Exposure times are a lot shorter, but still require a tripod. Here is a 15 minute exposure on a partly cloudy day, processed in Snapseed: I can see a lot potential in this.

With Talk Like A Pirate Day just around the corner, I thought we'd continue with last week's theme. This time we have a darker look at the mermaid myth, and we get some firm warnings about how to treat promises.  Enjoy Ginny Di's "The Wave Soaked Maiden" from "Songs To Drown Sailors To"  from 2021.

Let's watch this one before I talk about it. Here is "Only You" by Little Mix and Cheat Codes from 2018. This one seems a little sad on the surface (especially given the song is about after a break-up), but I choose to interpret it as a beginning, not an ending. I can see our heroine spending many more hours at beaches, around dusk, when most people have left, and spending quiet quality time with her partner. You can see that neither wants to be apart - but they must be, at least for a little while. Let's rewind a little though - what just happened there? Why do they need to be apart?  The way I see it, the chlorinated pool water could not have been good for something adapted to the sea, so it would have done quite some harm - and getting them out again would only have stopped things getting worse. You can see that they are in great pain after being lifted from the pool. To allow them to heal, actual seawater would be needed - and so our hero got them there, and is pr

OK, first up this band has a  problematic  history to say the very least, although it appears nothing is actually proven. I do not support what therefore appear to be the values of the band in any way, and actively stand against racism and misogyny.   The video itself is so stupidly over the top, that it really needs no comments, except, perhaps, to reflect on what happens when power metal meets WH40K - and a certain wonder that there are not more videos like this.  So here is the band Gloryhammer, with the track "Hootsforce" from the 2019 album Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex.

Something unusual this time - the track is in French, although the intro is in English.  We have fun little time-travel story - this time in the form of an attempted fix-up. And what I really like about this one is the ending. I will not say much, because spoilers , but it is one that will make you think. And let's face it - how often do you need to be careful of spoilers in a music video? Enjoy and ponder the end of "Je te pardonne" by Maître Gims and featuring Sia, from the album 'Mon cœur avait raison' from 2015.

Let's have a look at something that could well be a scene from The Quatermass Conclusion - post apocalyptic, and drained of population. Indeed, other than Jael, the singer, the only people we see are frozen figures spinning in the sky.  Here is Delerium's collaboration with Jael, from 2003's album Chimera  - "After All". 

 I was incredibly lucky this evening - the ISS made a lunar crossing right nearby. Naturally it has been raining on and off all day. But, just as the ISS appeared, there was a break in the clouds ... And gone - just like that. Re-watch at .25 speed to see a bit more clearly. Shot on a Nikon P900. 

This week I have a simple story for you: one of a centaur and a mermaid; and also a pegasus, a kraken, and some giant scorpions. Simple, right? Well once again you can rely on metal to deliver a very cool music video, so rock out to this track from Coheed and Cambria, from 2011. It is "The Suffering".

This week marks the end of two years of videos! And there are plenty more to go.  When I started this, I thought I might get twenty or thirty posts out of it. Was I ever wrong! Along the way I have discovered a wealth of amazing creativity in the music world, and artists I had never heard of that are now some of my favourites. There have also been some real shockers, but even they have their place, and as a fan of MST3K, how could I not include the very worst along with the best?  So, to the handful of people who follow this, stay tuned for many more videos in the future, and thank-you for joining me on this journey.  I also have a special request - if anyone can find the official video for The Alan Parsons Project song "Pyramania", please let me know! Both Leece and I have seen it once, on ABC's Rock Arena, and never since!  On to this week, and to celebrate the anniversary, I have a double feature for you. Way back in the 1980's it all seemed so - no, wait, that'

 From my Dreamwidth feed... Google "pulp book cover" + your name and post the results. Now if I use my full name, I just get a whole lot of fairly pedestrian crime/romance titles. But if I just use my first two names, I get a much better result. Enjoy! I am particularly taken with the Warhol/Munroe Tess, and I'm always happy to see The Shadow on the prowl.

I'm running late again, I know. This week we get a cut-price, but very personal, International Rescue. Just roll with it, really.  It is from The Shins, from 2001, and the album "Oh, Inverted World". Enjoy!

 Last night Leece and I attended the launch party for the recently opened Free Spirit Drink Company - and what a event it was! Held at the rather hidden away 3six5 events space on Newcastle St, and catered by the amazing Salt and Pepper Catering , this was an extraordinary event.  The Free Spirit Drink Company is Perth's first dedicated premium zero-proof drinks retailer - with an extraordinary range of high quality zero-proof beers, wines, and spirits. As a result, the party was completely booze-free.  And what a difference it made. There were several hundred people attending, and everyone just having a good time. There were no security guards to deal with drunk patrons, no microaggressions simmering away, just happy and excited people. Salt and Pepper plied the crowd with an amazing selection of hot foods - including some great gluten-free options, and set up a stunning cheese and cracker station.  A glass of Lyre's Classico prosecco clone or beer was provided on entry, and

 Well something a little more risque  than my usual fare. We've got Mezzo-american amazons, drugs, sex, a conquistador way out of his depth, and, as we all know... So, let's have a look at the plot-line. We've our lost conquistador explorer wandering the jungles, and encounters a flower that sprays him with a hallucinogenic and soporific burst of pollen. Rescued from being (presumably) digested by said plant by a group of amazons, he is feted and brought before their queen. Who apparently finds him worthy.  All hail the conquering hero! But who has been conquered?   So, after all that, are you somewhere nice and private, where no-one can unexpectedly see over your shoulder? Good. Go clicky on the link now. This is "Miracle" by Caravan Palace from the 2019 album "Chronologic".  https://youtu.be/QdabIfmcqSQ

Now we are counting down to the second anniversary, at 104.  This time it is back to the 80s again, and the final Woolfson/Parsons collaboration. For the video, we have a warning not to get too into your art - especially if you are a video editor. Look out for the easter eggs throughout of other APP works. All-in-all a great example of what you can do with minimal effects and a solid concept. So, from "Gaudi" (1987), here is The Alan Parsons Project's "Standing on Higher Ground".

Well, we've made it through 100 episodes of this little vanity project of mine. Next countdown is to the two-year anniversary! This week's first video was uncovered by Leece who described it as "unexpectedly uplifting". Despite being from an American band, this is full of the most wonderfully over the top Eurovision style costuming and vibes. It is great to see exactly who the competent one is in the team!  Then we get to move on to the sequel video, which takes us into the counterpoint world of magical martial arts fighting games. And, oh my goodness, the eyes ! You will see what I mean! All of this was shot in some of the most spectacular places in Mexico, so we get some great scenery porn as just to round things out. So, from the 2019 album "Swing" enjoy "Fantasy" and "Swing" by SOFI TUKKER.

So what is a film noir  fever-dream doing here? Well, there is a good reason - and it ties in with the whole Hammer Films vibe. The veteran British studio Hammer Films is most famous for their horror offerings (many of which remain some of the best horror movies ever made, in my opinion). These were supernatural mood horror works - you rarely had a full-on monster, instead you had people with strange powers. And rarely did they use these for the benefit of man. Be they someone inhabited by a long-dead spirit, an immortal magic user, or cursed renevant, they never looked terrible at first glance. But oh, what terrors they could unleash.  This captures that feeling with distorted camera angles, and an endless array of masks, mirrors, and strange characters. And then there is that brief moment where something truly unreal surfaces from the illusions - and it is that moment that brings this video here. Here is Ladytron's "White Elephant", from 2011's "Gravity the Sed

Back to the 80s and a bit of Blake's 7 inspired dystopia. It has a narrative ... but an explanation is less forthcoming. In any event, we've got big hair and cheesy effects. What more do you need? Welcome back to 1984, and "The Body Electric" by Rush.

Back to the early 80s now. This time we get to enjoy BBC class effects, and a story-line that Dr Who would be proud of. Deeply disturbing on several levels, and, as is best with this sort of thing, raising far more questions than it answers. So here is "Prime Time", by the inimitable Alan Parsons Project from 1983's Ammonia Avenue.  

What can I say about the musical powerhouse that is Muse? Not a lot that others have not already said. So let's focus on this wonderfully over-the-top music video.  We've got a post-apocalyptic SF western, with a bonus unicorn. And all presented in the very best style of Sergio Leone, the granddaddy of spaghetti westerns. With a bit for everyone, you might think that you'd end up with something homogeneous and bland - instead we get something so original, it deserves to be turned into a full movie.   Enjoy the ride from the 2006 album "Black Holes and Revalations" that is "Knights of Cydonia". 

Well, I've got five more to go to the 100th post of this theme. I wonder what I'll do for that one? This week, however, brings us some magical stop-motion animation. Blurring between stage magic and MAGIC we have a tale of youth against the Establishment. It is quite the journey!  The band itself is an intriguing journey from indie rock band, to solo project calling itself a band, and back to being a band again.  So here is 2012's "The Rifle's Spiral" by The Shins, from Port of Morrow.

Alasdair Beckett-King is an absolute gem. Here, he takes on the Scandinavian Crime genre and nails it. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this has proven worryingly versatile with one small shift. You can take almost any promotional still or clip for almost anything and ... well. "It was me." "It was me." But it gets worse. It gets much worse. As I will now demonstrate. "It was me." "It was me." "It was me." So thank-you Alisdair. You have now completely ruined every bit of entertainment there is. Everything on the planet is now a Scandinavian crime thriller. Everything. I hope you're happy.

Last weekend was Eurovision, that wonderfully  insane and over the top celebration of music. 36 countries joining together to throw a huge party. It is silly, and bright, and a perfect antidote to the current times. All the tracks performed have to be sung live on stage, with strict time limits, and all sorts of rules. So how does Eurovision turn up here? Well, it is not the first time.  This time it is the fabulously geeky Daði og Gagnamagnið who make the grade with their #4 ranking entry "10 Years", from 2021. Enjoy your adventure in Icelandic daikaiju super sentai land!

  Shot from May Drive, using an Olympus TG-4 with an external battery. 1:20:00 exposure, starting at totality, and continuing to 3/4 disk.  Either that, or a comet impacted on Perth and we're all blown to bits. 

I'm rather conflicted about this one. I mean we have a sort of post-apocalyptic western vibe going on, but on the other hand we've got a bunch of white guys (plus Slash) beating up on a demonised ethnic group.  Now within the context of the story, it is not nice people that get laid into, but did the producers have to make them all Mexican?   No. And that is where I have a problem with this clip. They could have just as easily cast another bunch of white guys as the villains. Instead they took an easy stereotype and used it exclusively. I know they are playing to a trope in doing so, but it is lazy and very out of touch - even for 14 years ago. In any event, from 2007, here is "She Builds Quick Machines" by Velvet Revolver. 

I'm always on the lookout for something a little different, and the Scandinavians never fail to deliver on that front. Iceland, in particular, can produce some wonderfully off-beat creations. This is one of them. Synchronised swimming, old-school musical theatre-style film-making, and a twist. One that fits perfectly with the rest of the genre, but takes it all into a magical place. And then twists it again to leave you wondering. Enjoy 2017's "Stardust", by Ásgeir, from the album Afterglow.

We have visited the work of Canadian band Delerium before. With rich musical influences and samples from all over, they are one of the great EDM/EA groups. They also tend towards amazingly great genre videos. This is another of them. We've got an ice demon, a beautiful lady, and a brave warrior mage intent on releasing her. But is it all as it seems? Maybe, maybe not. One of the wonderful things about this video is the ambiguity that it contains. We are left with a fragment of a story that we arrived to late to see the start of, and have left too soon to see the end.  Enjoy the mystery of "Incantation" from the 1994 album Semantic Spaces, by Derlerium.

 A classic cocktail from the middle of last century, this translates rather well to the alcohol-free world. Ingredients: 2 shots Lyres American Malt 1 shot Lyres Orange Sec 1/2 shot Lyres Aperitif Rosso 1/2 shot lemon juice Optional: 1/2 shot simple syrup Garnish: Cherry Method: Fill a large tumbler with crushed ice. Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake well. Pour into tumbler, and add cherry. This is sharp, smooth, and dry all at once. The malt flavours dominate, but the citrus and herbal notes still come through.  Enjoy!

Counting down to the 100th edition of this silliness!  Returning to that rich feeding ground for me, the 1980s, and the inimitable Thomas Dolby. This time with the making of a music video. At first. And then things get just a little odd . We've got animated static pictures, a magic camera, a sleezeball, and a heroic rescue.  This has it all! Here is 1988's "Airhead" from "Aliens Ate My Buick", by Thomas Dolby.

Running somewhat late this week, but here we are. Time for some more Lindsey Stirling, and a dramatic fairytale that  echoes back to an earlier video from one of her earlier albums.  Here is "Lost Girls" from the 2017 album "Artemis" by Lindsey Stirling. 

Anything that includes Max Headroom is, in my books, automatically SFF. A music video about Max not being able to sleep? Doubly so. If you don't know who Max is - watch this, and be amazed at just predictive it is.  Further, not only is Max not  CGI, there is a real actor under the astounding prosthetics.  Roll forward a year, and this video gets released by the synth-pop legends of the 1980s, Art of Noise.  Enjoy Paranomia.  

 Recently, someone I follow on Dreamwidth had a long and quite wonderful rant about classism and vaccines. This lead to them talking about one Rudolf Steiner and his classist, racist, antivaxx writings, which had the effect of making the upper echelons of German society lean in an antivaxx direction.  Being the sort of person I am, I started thinking "Gee, that would make a great conspiracy theory - Steiner was deliberately trying to weaken or wipe out the upper classes in Germany."  Then I started thinking more broadly.  What about Stalin? He did huge amounts of damage to Communist Russia, what if he had been put in the role on purpose? Torquemada? Pol Pot? Hitler? And what about some of the modern 'influencers'?  It all sounds like the basis of a great 'hidden history' series of stories. So what sort of people would do such a thing? And why?  And that's when it hit me. This is how conspiracy theories start. Looking for someone to blame for all the things

Pit fights. One of humanity's more pervasive and hideous creations. They come in so many forms - cocks, dogs, bears, even people. All forced to fight each other for the sake of betting and not being the one in the pit getting ripped apart. Almost anything with teeth, claws, or fists ends up in one of these things somewhere. We even do it virtually (yes, Pokemon, I am  looking at you.) But what about stuffed toys? Cute, fluffy, pastel stuffed toys? Utterly harmless, right?  That's what we have for you today folks - a vile pit fight between stuffed toys. Overseen by a greedy gangster type, who has the game rigged. Of course. Because he's always going to get his buck, isn't he? Welcome to the world of "Radioactive" by the US band Imagine Dragons from 2012. 

We had a thunderstorm to the north (and west) of us last night, and I was lucky enough to catch a few of the strikes. Unfortunately, the bulk of the action was over 120km away. Even so, we got quite the show - and it demonstrates how far lightning is visible! This first shot, the strike was about 40km away, out to sea. Single strike to the West. 115mm, f/5, 30s, ISO100, Samsung NX1, processed in Snapseed. The strikes in this shot were approximately 120km away (according to the strike map). Composite of multiple strikes to the North, over the lights of Hillary's Boat Harbour, heavily cropped. 50mm, f/4.5, 30s, ISO100, Samsung NX1, processed in Snapseed. Sadly, the storm mostly collapsed after this, and we packed it in after another 20 minutes of no strikes. Naturally, as soon as we got home, we heard thunder.

OK, so here in OZ we have instituted a regular get-together of state and federal heads to discuss issues around The 19, and how to deal with it. Officially it is called The National Cabinet.  Enter the ABC Coronavirus Live Blog - an informal stream run by the ABC Newsroom to allow readers to ask questions and get clarifications about the various restrictions, lockdowns, vaccine rollouts, and so on. It has developed into quite the tight-knit community, with their own in-jokes (Hi Barbara - how's the pool-boy doing?) and their own slang. One of the central pieces of which is the nick-name for the National Cabinet - forever known as the NashyCab. Which resulted in extensive speculation about just what that was. Over the past couple of weeks, we have entered Nashi season here, and my chance to strike has arrived. I now present, for the first time in public, The NashiCab. The Ingredients For the Nut Crumble 200g Almonds (or Macadamias) 60g Butter 50g Brown Sugar 50g Raw Sugar For the Cr

Some Symphonic Metal this week, with an awesome post-apocalypse theme running. Two survivors in a world blasted by nuclear war working on a way to bring life back. Great music (and remember that I am not really a fan of metal), and a fantastically uplifting story combine to make this a great entry in this list. For bonus coolness points, the band-clip sections respond and relate to the story-line as well.  Hold onto your seats for "Paradise (What About Us?)" by Within Temptation from their 2014 album "Hydra".

Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre, 16:15, 45 minute exposure, 45mm f/1.2 VR lens on A7 paper. Processed in Snapseed. The same scene shot with a 20mm APS lens... ƒ/16 , 1/5s,  20 mm , ISO100 Samsung NX300 I find the cyanograph distinctly intriguing - if you are familiar with the scene, you can recognise most of  elements, but even without that familiarity there are some that can be identified. It is also interesting to note that the hessian sack curtain in front of the DJ is effectively invisible in UV!

(End credits, Excel Saga) Yes, today I have a very sad tale to share in my cyanography experiments. You remember last time, I shared this: Well, I have experimented further with inkjet photo paper, and made some very unpleasant discoveries along the way. The first is the streaking - without using a non-contact application method, I am not going to avoid it. The gel surface is just too fragile. So if I want to persist with this, it will be out with the air-brush. I somehow doubt I am going to find spray-cans of cyanotype sensitiser, after all.  The second is in washing. Because there is no cellulose for the Prussian Blue to bond with, the washing inevitably destroys the image, meaning that you cannot preserve the image long-term. This also means that you end up including the un-exposed chemicals in the scan, which adds considerable grain and loss of contrast - especially in the high-tones of the inverted image.  This second issue is essentially insoluble, which is a pity, as it would h

Right then, so we meet some old friends again this week, this time with a wonderfully bizarre and surreal animation that still manages to be at least somewhat in-genre. We have spies galore (and a cat as well, but only the one - yes, I'll get my coat), televising pigeons, and people's heads being turned into TVs. Not to mention HUAC, and many many others. All of this and it still manages to form a narrative - albeit a downright strange one.  Be ready to bop along to "The Communists Have the Music" from the 2018 album "My Murdered Remains", by the incomparable They Might Be Giants. 

We usually head down to Scarborough Beach for the twilight markets that are held every Thursday during the warmer part of the year. There is a dizzying array of food trucks and various DJs and live performances to keep the crowds entertained.  "Wait. Crowds?" I hear you ask? Yes, crowds . Although the shots below don't really show it. Here in W.A, we've been making the most of our isolation from the rest of the country, and have managed to avoid any significant outbreaks after the initial surge. So far, anyway. We had one potential outbreak a couple of months back, and so we immediately went into a two-week lockdown, which everyone agreed was a great move if it meant that we could avoid a full outbreak. This is all a long way of saying that we are operating in an effectively pre-COVID state (contact tracking logs notwithstanding), aside from interstate/international travel. So things like public festivals are very much taking place as often as we can manage them. All

I continue to play with in-camera cyanotype imaging. My latest experiments have involved using inkjet photo paper as a substrate, and in particular in using it as a cyanotype film roll in a medium format TLR. The results have been rather pleasing.  GoSun Fusion. f2.8 90 minutes. SooC. GoSun Fusion. F2.8 90 minutes post-processed. This first one shows just how much detail you can get out of the process - and also the hazards of using a brush to apply the solution to a high-gloss paper. Nevertheless, I think the result is rather effective, and reinforces the juxtaposition of the very old technique with the ultra-modern subject. Garden, SooC f2.8 90 minutes Garden, post-processed. F2.8 90 minutes. In this case the brush streaks are even more obvious, as are a number of blemishes in the coating. When coating non-gelled surfaces, a bush is OK, and a glass spreading rod even better, but neither work particularly well with a high-gloss gel paper. That said, again, the result is intriguing, so

This week's offering is one that I really have trouble explaining. What just happened? I'm keen to hear what others think, because I understand all the bits, but the whole eludes me. Meantime, there is a wonderful abandoned fun park, and look out for the old-school HP calculator! From a technical aspect, this is by the same production company that brought us the "Macher Institute of Bio-Aural Epidermal De-Speakering" from the Seasons track "Of Our Discontent" ( Week 9 ), Wasted Potential Productions (who are now mostly a concert production company).  It features singer Miya Folick , as 'Clara'. She the one with the camera, and who get woken up by 'Paisley' (Emily Whetstone) in the opening scene. Neither are in the band performing, though. So, from 2011, here are Thrushes with "Trees" from their album "Night Falls". And please do tell me what you think happened!

This week we've got another entry in the list of "Scientists messing with things they shouldn't, and without proper precautions".  On top of that, I suspect the Ethics Committee would not approve. So, here is 2012's "Dance" by Uppermost, from the album One.

 West Aussies - don't forget to vote tomorrow! (The AEC is supplying individual pencils rather than tethered ones this year, to assist in disease control)

Well, that was a fairly epic long weekend. The epic bit started on Sunday morning, when we dropped by the Stirling Farmers' Market to pick up our tomato order. 45kg of them. Plus capsicums, onions, apples, chillies, and some other vague veggies. Then it was back home, and dusting off our old Weber kettle BBQ, and pulling out the GoSun Fusion. Into each we tossed as many tomatoes as would fit (in trays in the Weber), and set them to roasting. Inside, we started chopping onions, more tomatoes, and capsicums - which then went straight onto the stove to become salsa.  Around the same time, we bolted the tomato mill to the kitchen island, and brought in the first batch of tomatoes. These went into the mill, and quickly became the first of many batches of passata. The squeezings joined still more tomatoes, onions and apples in another pot.  By the time we hit 11pm, we had produced and processed in the preserver 22 bottles of passata, and 10 jars of salsa, representing about 3/4 of the 45