roryosullivan.co.uk

We are now well on the way to midway through February and I still haven’t mentioned what I did that was brand new in January. It’s a work project and is ultimately a bit of lots of peoples work not just mine and it’s sort of not the first time I’ve done it more around what the project is, to make it a bit simpler here are the are new and aren’t new parts.

What isn’t new:
I released an iPhone app (done a few of these)
I went to a tv studio

What is new:
The big part of the application, voting, has never been done before in the UK on this platform  (and possibly the world) and I managed it’s design/development and release from start to finish!.
I’ve been working in a production office in a tv studio (I have been in tv studios before but not really worked in one)
I’ve been to Pinewood.

There was also a couple of little things that haven’t really counted as they were things like trying a particulaer beer for the first time (Stella Black since you asked).

I also spent some time writing up the list for the rest of the year. I’ll publish the intended list soon and hopefully some people might be able to help me achieve some of these things

*please note these views above and in this site are my own and not that of my employer in any way.

Well I’ve just had another amazing long weekend in Pilton for the 40th Anniversary Glastonbury festival.

The view over the Pyramid Stage

Highlights were

Flaming Lips
Stevie Wonder
Muse
Lou Rhodes
Ray Davies

I’ve created 2 spotify Playlists

Pt1 – The Highlights
http://open.spotify.com/user/rawedge/playlist/0auJ6272FOKDcShh0zXQy8

Pt2 – The Emotional Bits
http://open.spotify.com/user/rawedge/playlist/1CLNRu1w7t3eZGlXiBB1uB

You can also see my photos from my trip here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raw-edge/sets/72157624258148835/with/4745570890/

I’ve been looking over the sites that I have found most useful, entertaining or inspirational in 2009 and thought i’d share these. Some are just plain simple, some are services, others are, well, probably old hat to some people but have made an impression in 2009. So in no particular order are:

http://www.twitter.com

Twitter has enabled me to keep better contact with lots of people, and take some conversations out of their normal environments and into a public area where others can get involved.

http://www.facebook.com

Another obvious one but it has enabled me to get back in contact with people, even in short spurts, that I haven’t spoken to in a long time.

http://www.lamebook.com/

Lamebook follows on from Facebook nicely, it’s amazing what people will admit and not realise what their privacy setting are like!

http://xkcd.com/

One of the funniest online comics there is

http://30-f-london.blogspot.com/

An interesting and well written woman’s take on love, life and sex in London (probably NSFW for some people due to language)

http://www.holymoly.com

Always funny, sometimes harsh but the best UK gossip site there is. I especially like the Rules and Corner sections

http://www.gizmodo.com

I’m a geek, I’m not ashamed to admit it, whilst I can’t afford a lot of tech I can drool over the gadgets and potential technology that Gizmodo

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

The Big Pictire is the Boston Globes photogrpahy blog of amazing photographs from all over the world. Some stunning photography

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

Passive Agressive notes is simply a great peice of entertainment

last but definitely not least

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Post Secret can be an awe inspiring source of inspiration and what people are willing to admit is amazing, one day I’ll get the courage to send something of my own one day

In my attempts to pull back some creativity in my photography I’m setting myself a monthly photography project. The idea is simple. The lucky dip. What does this involve you may well ask. Well it involves the list below. Each item is printed onto a bit of paper and folded up. They are all stuck in a hat and on the first of each month 2 bits of paper are pulled out, these two words form the basis of the project, at the end of each month I inted to post up on here a link to the flickr gallery for each project aiming for 10 shots for each project.

Below are my initial bits and pieces, the idea is there will be more than 24 items so that some will be missed and it gives a greater chance of a random project being created. Please feel free to add some suggestions in the comments or If you fancy joining in then let me know.

Adventure/Action
Animal
Architecture
Artistic
Black & White
Camera Phone
Commercial
Documentary
Event
Macro
Nature
Night
Panoramic
People
Pinhole
Scenic
Sports
Travel
Time-lapse
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow

Open House London is something I’ve been meaning to do over the last couple of years and this year I wasn’t working so took the opportunity to look at a local building that I’ve always wanted to nose around. The Gaumant State  opened in 1937 on KIlburn High Road and was a very popular theatre, show venue, cinema and eventually a Mecca Bingo Hall before it finally closed. The Grade II listed building was acquired by a church group who are renovating the building and bringing it back to it’s former glory

Gaumant State - Kilburn

When Mecca too over the building they added false floors to cover the sloping seating and false ceilings to cover the pulleys and mechanisms for the curtain and stage. The Church will be removing these and adding in original seating. The only way you can tell you are standing where the stage was is because of the curtain still hanging above you, the flat false floor covered in bright blue and red carpet hiding what lays below.

Original Seating

The booth style  tables around the upper circle will also be removed and replaced with original style seating

Bingo Seating

The church believes they can get the 4,000 seater main hall back to it’s glory in the next 1.8 months. As part of the deal with the council the Church must make the Grade II listed building available to the public. The UKs largest working Wurlitzer still sits in pride of place next to where the stage should be and original light switches, electrics, signs and still stand proud.

Original light switches

One of the most standout things is the art deco style foyer that greets when you step inside off the grubby Kilburn High Road. Most impressive is the chandelier, a replica of one in Buckingham Palace I believe, that greets you. I hope to get back next year to see more of the building and see it, hopefully looking more like it was when it opened in 1937

Chandelier

I paid a visit with some friends to the Imperial War Museum this weekend. I’ve not been since a child, it’s one of the many places in London that whilst its so close to home that I forget it’s there. Luckily for me a friend needed to visit for a University project so a few of us got together and went along. As with most of my trips these days I took my camera and my camera bag.

After taking a couple of shots of the big guns outside we made our way into the building. As with a lot of museums there are bag checks. As I already had my camera out I placed my bag and the camera on the table and opened the top zip pocket to reveal my personal bits and pieces, keys and the like, and then the camera section which had my additional lens and other related items in it.

Imperial War Museum - Guests

On spotting my camera the security guard, without hesitation, piped up saying that photography was fine in the museum. Having been to museums and galleries before that haven’t allowed photography it was really nice that they made it clear that it was ok. Whilst I wasn’t trying to push my luck or anything and because I wanted clarification I said to the guard that I presumed that it didn’t include flash photography which I thought would have been fair, but no he said it was OK around most of the museum. Whilst I didn’t see any “no flash photography” signs in the areas I saw, the fact that a lot of the exhibits were in glass cabinets in dark areas which would have been difficult to shoot without a flash because of low light and with a flash because of reflections made me think this is what he was referring to. The same guard also mentioned that photography was fine to a friend in the group when his bag was checked as well.

It’s nice to see a museum being photographer friendly and their staff clued up on it all.

There is something magical about Kew Gardens for me, everytime I’ve been over the last couple of years I’ve visited with different people and at different times of the year so have had lots of different experiences there. Everything changes each time you visit, some work is always being done to improve the views, the plants, the information everything.

On this visit the new thing for me was the tree-top walkway After a first failed attempt to take a 3 year old round, he wanted to go up but didn’t like it when we got up there, I went back up and wandered around. The view was good but not amazing, mainly due to the cloudy weather. It was nice to get up close to the trees and see things from their point of view. I reccomened a trip to Kew for anyone living in or visiting London and you should make a point of getting up the tree-top walkway if you don’t mind heights, just don’t forget the green houses, other buldings in the grounds and the large pond.

Silhouette view from the Tree-Top walkway

Flickr Set – Photos from February trip to Kew Gardens