Gonna party like it's your birthday!

My lighting assistant!

Smile!

Paging Gaga!

Sadako

Seven Days

Pensive

Curves

Reflections

Linda brings some glam to a wet and weary summer

Hose pipe ban is finished.  It's still raining here.  





Although, it does give Linda a chance to be a fashion diva.  Wellies from Hunter. Coat from NYC. Linda from Lancashire.

Movie afternoon!

I may indulge in an afternoon of the 1st Underworld movie and maybe some retro scifi horror along the lines of Horror Planet.





As Linda is channelling Kate Beckinsale here ;)  Maybe I was inspired by this arriving in the post today ;)


So, it's a scifi Saturday ahead!

Still raining...

...but at least it's Friday!





Some sunshine would be most welcome, indeed it would.

Blerg!

Can someone wake me up when it's Summer, please?

Scifi Saturday!

So......Prometheus at the cinema was rather......well, words cannot describe how immersive and amazing it was.  Want to see it again...and again....well, you get the idea.






So, my homage to this great movie is more low tech today but I don't have the resources of oscar winning film makers at my disposal.  


If you get the chance, catch it in 3D on the biggest screen that you can.  You won't be disappointed.

Random portrait Saturday!

I have now finished a 6 month secondment in a different department (still case working but working for a different directorate).


Feeling a little less stressy now so hopefully my creative tendencies will return!





Weather here is fan-tas-tic!  Is it Pimms O'clock yet???


Edited to add:  I've reviewed my photographic (physical) portfolio and am rather proud of it.  I just need another 30 inserts for my photographic portfolio folder.

Weekend!

It's here at last!





If the weather picks up, may get out and about tomorrow.  In the meantime it's a snack, comic books and a nap for me ;)

Scfi....Thursday?

Well, my weekend has started!  So, thought I'd get in there early ;)





Now, see if I can entice Linda into a photoshoot ;)

The future is shiny!

New post from a new computer :)



If this is what the future looks like, I love it!

(Six gig of memory, 1 gig video card and 1 TB of HD, Intel I7 core and it flies like the wind!)

Rain, please get lost!

Looks like the drought may be over...


 

 This week has been a bit horrendous weather wise but Linda has been giving her wardrobe some consideration. I think she opted for silver to brighten things up. She might have to break out the Hunter's this weekend.

Scifi Friday!

I really need a video camera to make a low budget scifi alien babe invasion movie ;)



After viewing this awesome tumblr, I feel rather inspired!

Red box of memories

An image of a place that always makes me smile.



I can almost smell the hot dogs and summer breeze from this shot.

Tempus fugit

It is rapidly approaching the 8th anniversary of the passing of one of my closest friends.



For all the wrong reasons I am still breathing. I miss him everyday.

But, on the upside each day is a gift and something to be embraced or made the most of.

Slainte, old buddy.

Spooky Thursday!

I always get a bit of a chill when seeing places that are usually busy when they are devoid of people.



It's always a strange feeling....this has inspired me to watch a George Romero movie or three.

Sexy Saturday!

The weekend is here and it's a good one!



May even coax Linda in front of the camera again if we get the chance ;)

A time for reflection and thought

Today is an important day for many Christians.



I was bought up as a Christian but my beliefs lean towards science nowadays. I do respect the thoughts and wishes of others and when growing up, today was often a solemn but hopeful occasion for many.

A time for thought, reflection and peace.

Sunday fun!

Linda purchased a few new items for her wardrobe so not having shot any pics for a while we thought we'd dust off the camera.



Sundays, gotta love 'em!

More can be found here

Random.....kitty!

Does what it says on the tin.



Random......kitty!

Sci Fi/David Bowie Sunday!

See if you can guess the track that popped up on I-Tunes a while ago?? ;)



She hasn't taken her protein pills yet ;)

Summer is here?

It is *so* warm in the UK!



The skies are so blue and the sun so welcome on the skin that it reminds me of time spent in NYC.

More, please!

Scifi Saturday, Emma Peel style!

Saturday and it's a scifi Saturday too!



Linda's take on Emma Peel from that most famous 1960's cult classic, The Avengers.

Now, I am well enough to enjoy fresh air, I'm off for stroll outside.

Laters!

Been a bit poorly...

...but am now up and about. Back to work tomorrow. Germ free now.



Spirits are much more in check but hoping to be back on track by the end of the week. Keeping my head above water and thinking blue sky thoughts is the order of the day.

Edit Still unwell, looks like I will be out of action for a few more days. More sleep please.

Counting my blessings

I do like this shot, the colours and pose are evocative.




I am so lucky to be able to wake up next to this lovely lady everyday.

xxx

Thought of the day

Scifi Saturday!

It's on sunny says like this that I need to get out with my camera.



Instead, I am snoozing at home with a good book.

Bad me.

Random portrait Thursday.

Linda - 2012

I'm the dog that ate your birthday cake....

Lyrics from Sparklehorse, video as below:




It's been a funny week. Not bad per se, but not great. Afterall, to quote Heathers - if you were happy everyday you wouldn't be human, you'd be a gameshow host.

Being old(ish) at 41 I've discovered that life isn't about roses, rainbows and kittens. It is about balance and having an off day is par for the course in the long run. And reflecting upon the troubles of people I know (or read about), my flirtation with a lady called depression is no big thing. I can and will conquer my demons.

Also, factoring in that I have had my antidepressants cut by 50% (yay!) with the mind to be non-medicated by June is a big step (for me anyway, having been taking them for over 3 years I feel that I've outgrown them).

Anyway, it is now the weekend and onto fun things. Time to cast off the shackles of the week and *just*have*fun*.

So, fun it is and fun it will be.



The cat says so!



And so does Linda!

See you on the flipside, y'all!

Strange Sunday!

I've been all over the UK this week from Bristol to Bury!



(Some for work, some for fun...but the fun part was in Bury where I shot these of Linda)

Good times :)

Sexy Saturday!

Speaks for itself, really.



Have a restful weekend, people!

Scifi Sunday!

A retro-futuristic wig and a silver pvc catsuit just sums it up!



I do wish Hollywood would go a bit more retro. It worked for the spy genre (Austin Powers) so why not science fiction?

Scifi Friday!

Linda's take on one of my favourite DC villainesses.



Poison Ivy!

Have a great weekend, I know I will :)

Dream Saturday.

Now, to spend my afternoon in Central Park.



My idea of a great Saturday afternoon.

Have a great weekend folks!

Geography of dreams

Of late I have been thinking a lot about dreams and their significance to the point where I've come to see them as something more than a by product of sleep.

My thoughts of late have turned to a set of "recurring locations" or themes that I seem to process on a regular basis. I know, there is nothing more boring than listening to other people's dreams but recently I have to believe and understand the significance of these thoughts.

I think Alan Moore and various Chaos Magicians have summed this up more eloquently than me but I have arrived at the conclusion that if you can "think" or "visualise" a scenario, it could potentially come to pass. Having consumed a great deal of Eastern philosophy that places a focus on the subject, I can appreciate the importance of the imagery and how my mind works.

Essentially, we live in two worlds. The material (every day "reality") and our dream states where we truly cast off our physical form to explore, create and make sense of what has happened during our "daylight hours". For many years believed that our "dreamscapes" were a way of filtering or making sense of our "reality" (or the material world) but I now believe that this is a misnomer on a number of levels. Now, I'm still a novice when it comes to exploring my own dreamscape but as I progress and open my mind more, I have discovered that the humble dream is no longer metaphor. It is another existence. I won't use the term "alternate reality" as dreamscapes are not reality, they represent an alternate consciousness and in turn this offers a different glimpse into myself. One which I would not experience during my waking hours or the "timeline" in which I would interact with my peers or the people who happen to be around me.

Now, if these alternate periods of consciousness are as "important" as the waking times, should I not learn from them? It is arguable if they are as "rigid" as the time lines set by our waking or "material hours". Each time I sleep the "playing field" is reset, I do not know what I will experience during my sleeping hours. My personality and moral values expand and contract with each experience I have. Sometimes I will be moral, other times less so but does this mean that I am morally questionable? I think the answer is no because given that I am creating a different timeline that is constantly rewritten, erased and reformed it is acceptable to state that time, intellect and personality take on different meanings in the dreamscape where as in the material world, actions have consequences and we are judged by behaviour, not by intention.


Now, applying the rules of the above, the dreamscapes I experience have no boundaries and I have applied "lucid" dreaming techniques to guide my actions to explore said experiences, to take my thoughts and intentions to the edges or outskirts of what I believe I would not commit to in the material world.

In order to fully explain this, I appear to return to several "places" that are familiar to me. These are not geographical or "material" as such and appear to be made up of an amalgam of cities I have been to.

The first and most familiar of these is a location possibly in Arizona. The tarmac on the road is cracked through years of being subjected to intense heat, as if god took a hammer to a tray of peanut brittle and scattered across the parched soil. It glistened like black glass in the late evening sun. As it stretched to the horizon a small gas station was located east of a power station. For some reason I work in the gas station, there are never any customers, only the white noise of a fluorescent light and strains of country music coming from a radio that is slightly out of tune. It's always an hour before dusk when my shift ends. I look out at the road and see that no tyres have marked the cracked road. There's no one announcing the next record; one track segues into another as I can hear the pop of vinyl and the slight jarring cadence of a needle being placed on a record. I walk past the refrigerators, always thirsty but never taking a drink. I look at the condensation dripping down the glass, kill the lights and sit on a bench over looking the power station.

Every night (or what feels like it) I watch as the sun descends behind the towers. The power is still on for some reason, the plant is automated and unmanned. I wonder if there are any people left.

From the above dreamscape, I feel safe. The warmth of the sun and the familiarity of the radio lends me comfort. It's a place where I feel like I belong. I try to return there as often as I can (an escape from the material world to somewhere more sedate). The lack of people present could be construed as my "detached" self wanting some space and would possibly disturb or bore some people but it is a place where I can seek solace.

Other dreamscapes are less familiar and are often disjointed, unlike the example above. I often dream of locations where I used to work but I always wake up feeling drained or anxious. For example, I used to work in a record store that was located in a mall. I could recall circa 1995-2001 I would have dreams that would involve "faceless masses" or groups of people with no discerning features or faces. Or often they would be either "zombified" or devoid of social skills, meaning that they were often chasing me, besieging the location within my dream or displaying symptoms of a disease or sickness. I rarely dream about this place or the people nowadays.

I gather that the locations above were form of a long term anxiety that bled into my subconscious mind. I'd often dream of failure or trying to get to work and forgetting where I was meant to be. Missing exams (I was studying for a degree as a mature student at the time) or not turning up to job interviews.

At present, if I had experienced this type of dream I would be able to counter it through reminding myself I am in a better place. The antidepressants I take give me a sense of calm that does pervade my dreamscapes and the counselling has paid off. Demons are no longer demons, per se. I treat them more like an obstacle or a minor irritation and is a constant surprise to see how mechanisms that I employ in the material world are utilised to counter or defuse potentially traumatic situations (quarrels with Linda, the death of loved ones or the lingering reminder that people I once knew are either long gone or have passed away). The sense of loss is still there, I am able to recognise that I am dreaming but once in every while I have found myself so immersed that the people who are no longer here appear to be once again part of the material world and I have to tell them (again) that they have passed on. I have found this to be both empowering (a way of saying goodbye, a passage to closure) or emotionally traumatic (I still miss them and part of my life hasn't reconciled it, the dreamscape is so realistic that I forget they have died). I do not enjoy these but they are a vital part of my dreamscape, it is a sign that my mind can let go and move on and my material self can adjust and survive.

This utilisation of dreams and casting off of the material world is fascinating but I am beginning to understand that I have more control over my thoughts but I do apply Plato's theory that "there is an old quarrel between philosophy and poetry". Are dreams a form of narrative that we have limited control over? They transcend time in a linear form, we learn quite little from them but they are a form of "catharsis" that we have limited access to in the material world. I am unsure at this point but it holds a valid set of arguments that I think merit further investigation.

Sci-fi Cyber Friday!

Looks like the new year will be silver ;)



Kidding aside, why can't the beeb do the Cybermen (and cyberwomen!) justice?

C'mon Moff, get it sorted, mate!

Welcome to 2012!

May it bring you everything you wish for and more besides!



(For the record, 2011 wasn't that bad all in all).

Happy Holidays!!

Have a safe and fun one



From Chris, Linda, Buffy and Ro :)

xxx

As I missed Sci-Fi Friday....

...I present dystopian bio-hazard Saturday!



Off out to buy tinned food and vodka. See you on the flipside ;)

Scifi Friday!

Le Weekend has landed!



Linda was trying out her Alt-Catwoman.

I think this look really works :)

Winter has landed!

December the 1st means that we're on Xmas countdown and Winter is finally here.




Here's to cosy evenings at home, mulled wine and seasonal cheer.

Random Linda portrait.

Good times. My favourite person to photograph :)



I styled this on the 70's publicity shots for Debbie Harry.

Xmas thoughts!

So, just completed the majority of my xmas shop, thank the Lord Harry! (Thank you Amazon and Play.com!)

Have had today as annual leave and have been chilling with Linda and two very content looking cats. The weekend beckons and have had a fun week with work. No, seriously. Fun. And challenging.

So, here's to the countdown to xmas and to relaxing weekends!

Still breathing!

I keep saying that I am busy and sound like a stuck record but it's true. All in all, I must not complain because it is a good busy. A healthy, frenetic, stimulating, exciting and rewarding period of my life.


But yeah.


Busy.


On the other hand, all the activity has made me appreciate my spare time a little more. My evenings being as full as the days.


Anyhoo, it's scifi Friday!


Inspired by various comics/movies including Gwendoline and Barbarella comics, Linda kindly posed for this set a couple of weeks ago.





A fun shoot it was too :)

Sundays....

...can be great!



Today's photoshoot.


Enjoy.

Too little time, too many things!

The last week has been (predictably) busy with a friend's wedding, an ear infection and lots of stuff in my in-tray at work.

So, this weekend I am planning on relaxing and maybe even getting to shoot some photos.



If the weather lasts it might be a trip to the park late Sunday afternoon or some such.


I am hoping this sunny weather lasts as today is glorious.


In other news, I bought Linda this and this and we need to take photos at some point. Life is fun, but oh so bloody time restricted!