Mechanical

21/52 Mechanical, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

This is my first watch. My father bought it for me when I was 7. That birthday also my mum bought me a watch, it was made of red plastic and it was digital, more appropriate for a 7 or 8 year old perhaps but definitely not as nice as this one. My parents had separated one or two year erlier. In the separation/divorce struggle my mum was the weakest being a woman who dropped everything when she got married and being left with nothing and two children. As a kid my loyalty went to her and my dad was the devil. I was torn apart when they both got me a watch and I preferred my father's one. I think that was one of the defining moments of my life.

The other defining moment I will always have stuck in my brain was when my grandpa bought me a beautiful big box of staedtler colored pens and at school I was forced to share it. Of course the pens were broken within two days. It was devastating. To add insult to injury I was told by my sister or my aunt that it was my fault I had brought the box to school. But if you have something you are proud of you want to show it off, is it not? Especially if you are 8 years old. Normally teachers know when it is the case to ask someone to share and when it is not. Mine didn't.

Berlusconi lost the elections in Milan and most other cities yesterday. It feels like another dead weight has fallen off my shoulders. I'm not in Italy and could only celebrate online, but I'm soooo proud of Milan right now.

The Great Pacer

The Great Pacer, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

I'm in my house silence. Right now the only sound is that of the wind in the trees and the birds coming through the open back door. What am I doing? I'm pacing aimlessly up and down like a caged animal. If you want to get out of prison you don't need to know the prison inch by inch you just need to get out.

Vanity, Greed and Envy

20/52 Vanity, Greed and Envy, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Or yellow and color spaces..... I converted everything to sRGB now, well the camera and my computer screen. I noticed that many pictures that had great colours on my screen were awfully saturated on others. I thought it might be the bad quality of screens of the screen I've seen around, but eventually red and yellows were soooooooooo intensily saturated that I had to give up. It wasn't the screens it was the mismatched color space I was using. AdobeRGB mutes a lot of colors and sRGB which is more restricted converts those muted colours in more saturated tones. But now tah dah!! I can correct the problem because I'm in sRGB and when the saturation is a bit too much I can take it down a notch without seeing a lifeless colour on my screen. Of course although sRGB is the most common colour space used not all the screens are set to use it and someone will always see the wrong saturation and the wrong temperature.

Alien World.

284/365 Alien World., originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Slightly spooky Christmas decorations at Harvey Nichols in Manchester. I'm not sure what happened but two pictures I've taken in one evening got explored. I thought it was thanks to the Sunday Night Phlow game, but it's not. This one got explored on its own even if at the bottom of the pile (last 50).

I should be extremely happy but, despite my reaction on Facebook, a part of me is saying "yes, so what?" Let's concentrate to get even better so it becomes a habit.

The Spaceship

285/365 The Spaceship, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Manchester, Royal Exchange Theatre. The Royal Exchange Theatre is a modern, spaceship like, heptagonal structure, inside the Royal Exchange which was once one of the largest trading rooms in Europe.

I used to go to the theatre in Italy, but I never really got into it, I thought the acting was stiff and didn't convey any emotion. Anyway I wasn't that sure of myself and didn't feel I could really say I preferred a good hollywood blockbuster to a venerated piece of Chechov.

Theatre in the UK is different. The way actors move and speak is more natural and engaging. On top of it the Royal Exchange Theatre is designed to create a better connection between the actors and the audience and I love the minimal scenographical settings the circular (heptagonal) shape of the stage imposes. It is like magic, the magic of the theatre of other ages that I've seen only described in books.

The external structure of the theatre fitted inside the Royal Exchange hall is also very intriguing as it looks like a spaceship had landed in there.

It Takes Two

284/365 It Takes Two, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Manchester, Exchange Theatre. The other day I went to see The Bacchae. Although it is possible to take pictures outside the theatre structure it is not really allowed to take pictures within the theatre itself but I managed a couple of shots before a mask told me off.

Up to now I've used only the manual mode in my camera. The manual mode is really good for static exposure conditions and for pictures that are setup (tripod or studio). However most of the other times it's slow and clumsy. The other evening I tried other modes:

1) TV shutter priority is not for me and I'm not sure in what conditions a mode that changes depth of field to adjust exposure can be used.
2) AV aperture priority is much more interesting as it regulates the exposure once the aperture has been set. In the late afternoon darkness it was over exposing and the street lights and shop windows were overblown. However together with the semi automatic modes I also finally tried proper EV correction. Up to now I did use it a bit randomly as an additional setting I could use to change the exposure, but in the other evening darkness, in AV mode, I finally understood what it is really for and how well the combination works to set the exposure in low lights for hand held pictures.

And they are on...

278/365 And they are on..., originally uploaded by afortiorama.

I get bored easily and I love different seasons. The switching on of Christmas lights is an event in Manchester at least since I've been here. But I think it is especially so since we have Santa Zippy in front of the Town Hall. I like Christmas and I like Christmas lights. They make the longer winter nights a bit more cheerful. That evening I also went to a photographic event at the Royal Exchange theatre. After it there was a folk singer singing old Scottish/English/American ballads some medieval. He was pretty good and a pleasant way to spend the first part of the evening with a glass of wine, without getting wasted. I spent too much time in the pub not doing anything else; I spent too much time hating it and keeping on doing it. I'm pleased now that I'm finding other things to do instead.