journal.kevinthom.com - keyboard confessional

Jully Black

superkev — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:20:45 +0000

I went to see Jully Black tonight at the Hamilton Place Studio Theatre. What a great show. The venue was small and intimate, with tables set up on the floor. I didn’t know what to expect, since I don’t know much about her music. I went because Laura bought tickets. She doesn’t know Jully Black either, but felt compelled to buy the tickets anyway. I’m glad she did. Black owned that stage. What amazed and inspired me most was that her soul was wide open to the world. She didn’t hold anything back. I guess that’s what makes a soul singer great.

Her music is a delicious dollop of Motown with a peppering of soca and reggae, and a pinch of hip hop thrown in for good measure. Here’s a taste for ya.

Armchair photographers

superkev — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:11:16 +0000

A couple of things… I was researching some new articles I’m writing, and went back to one of my favorite essays, Ken Rockwell’s The Seven Levels of Photographers for inspiration. I noticed that he recently added a level 0 to this, having found a new level below level 1, The Equipment Measurbator. Level 0 is “Online Expert or Armchair Photographer.” This type of person doesn’t really know anything about photography, but is quite happy to foist his or her opinion upon the Internet masses. I filed it away as interesting, but not particularly relevant to me, until today when I was going through my online portfolio cleaning up the comment spam. I found this comment on Watchful Wings:

From:	Heidi DK	(Sat 14 Oct 2006 09:45:26 AM EDT)
I like the photo - but I think it would be even nicer if you didn’t edited it so much - it looks fake, and I think what is beautiful about a picture is when it is so good, that you don’t have to edit it.

What a coincidence. I think what is beautiful about a picture is when it is so good that you don’t have to edit it too!

Aggregated Assault

superkev — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:46:39 +0000

Here’s something new and interesting. Swurl aggregates all of your social networking Web 2.0 goodness into one place. You can add your blog(s) , Flickr, Twitter, Facebook status updates, etc. into one big RSS feed so that people can keep the hell up with what you’re doing. It’s very easy to sign up and set up. I like!

As a side note,� I signed up for Twitter. I can’t stand the word “twitter.” It sounds so… mindless. But, the concept is cool. I will probably use it for things that don’t justify the massive effort required to create a blog post.

Fresh?

superkev — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:16:42 +0000

Maple Leaf has a brand of factory-made pre-packaged foods called “Simply Fresh.” I don’t get it.

Sell sheet

superkev — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:45:27 +0000

I had a meeting yesterday with an art director who designs several local magazines. They’re pretty classy magazines, and nicely designed, so I’d love the chance to shoot for them. Anyway, I wanted to leave him with some examples of my work, so I designed this little one-off sell sheet to give to him.

This one is just meant to be very general, so I don’t think it’s too effective on its own, but I think it gives an idea of what kind of commercial work I do. I’m planning to make postcards to advertise headshots, and another one for promo photos for bands and performers.

Montreal deja vu

superkev — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:25:20 +0000

I was back in Montreal for the long weekend. It was a bit weird being there as a visitor, instead of as a resident. We stayed in the Intercontinental, at the bottom of Bleury. It is right on the fringe of Old Montreal, which meant I got to see a bit more of that area, which I had largely ignored for most of last year. We had lots of good food. I had steak for three nights in a row, plus the night before leaving, and the night after coming back. That’s got to be some kind of a record. We also saw some jazz at the Jazz Festival. As usual, a huge swath of downtown was closed to traffic, and stages were set up everywhere for free outdoor concerts. It always amazes me how much inconvenience Montrealers are willing to suffer in the name of a good time.

Here are some snaps from my wee camera, which I carried everywhere, but barely used.

See ya Bill

superkev — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:05:59 +0000

Bill Gates left Microsoft today, to pursue his philanthropic causes. I have to say that I really admire Bill Gates. I say this with all seriousness: it’s not easy to be on top. When you are number one at anything, you are the target of all the haters everywhere. Just ask McDonald’s and Walmart. They know what it’s all about.

Bill Gates changed the world with a computer program. Not once, but several times. As a geek, I have to respect that, even though more than once, his products have caused me to curse.

A couple of days ago, I read a story about the release of one of Bill’s internal email memos, blasting his team for shortcomings in Windows usability. The email was a fascinating read, and an insight into Bill’s continuing vision for his company.

As he leaves to pursue other, more charitable ventures, I can’t help but notice the void left in his absence. He was an icon, a legend, and even a geeky personality. He personally represented a giant behemoth of a corporation, and a worldwide technology movement. Now we have… Steve Ballmer.

I owe my livelihood to Bill Gates and the personal computer revolution that he spawned. My IT business depended on people who owned and struggled with Microsoft-powered hardware. My photography practice depends on that same technology. Who knows where I’d be today if not for Bill Gates. Maybe in some newspaper newsroom somewhere, hacking away at a Selectric typewriter, a Brother word processor, or worse yet, a Mac!

Happy trails, Bill!

Is it wrong?

superkev — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:00:30 +0000

I have never seen an omelette made with chicken in it. Is it wrong to mix the adult animal with its ovum? It strikes me as odd, yet also logical.

Straight not narrow

superkev — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:32:57 +0000

I shot a photo the other night for the organization Heterosexuals for Same Sex Equality. The campaign is called Straight Not Narrow. They’d asked me to include the words “Straight Not Narrow” in the photo, but after much thought, I couldn’t come up with a concept that included the words. My language is photography, and I find it hard to mix English in there too. I always found photos that include words to be a bit heavy-handed. In a photo, I feel that if you can’t say what you want to say visually, then maybe you need to think about how you’re saying it. Anyway, here’s what I came up with to say “Straight Not Narrow.”

Accessory to the crime

superkev — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:28:41 +0000

I was hired to shoot a few full days for Mazda Canada, producing images of accessories for their website and brochures. That was fun.

I finally found a use for that 24mm macro lens that I bought about 6 years ago. Hero shots!