[Photography] Surface To Air.

A shot of Palma taken as we were coming in to land at the airport.  You can see the rain and storms hitting the mountains on the left hand-side, with the sun beating down on the bay and the sea.  Drove through the storm to get to the villa after getting the hire car.

Taken on my Canon 400D with the Tamron 18-250 lens attached.  Shot in RAW and edited in ACR/Photoshop.  I shot more film than digital in Mallorca [on a cheap 135 'panoramic' camera with no frills], looking forward to getting the rolls developed - mono, colour neg and xpro chrome!

[Music] The Chemical Brothers - Escape Velocity.

Today's song of the day, been playing this a lot this morning - its the right kind of weather for it. A slow builder, but well worth it for when it kicks in. Reminds me of an electronica [showing my age there] version of "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who. Taken from the Chem's current album 'Futher'.

[Beer] Aurum Pilsner Lager.

Mmmm, cheap beer.

So, out in Mallorca I was on the hunt for a cheap lager to drink in the evening.  You could buy the usual name brands - Stella, Fosters, Carling, John Smiths, Guinness - but these cost a fortune.  Luckily, the local supermarket, Eroski, came to the rescue with these excellent little cans - Aurum beer.  It's described as a "premium Pilsner lager", seems to be brewed in Spain and, yeah, that covers the basics well enough.  The beer is a nice light golden colour, with a small white head when poured.  Aroma of hops, sweetness and a light malt.  Taste is what you would expect; sweet, mildly hoppy with a small bitterness creeping in to the aster taste, and quite watery overall - surprisingly not too fizzy, nice light bubbles.  It's rated at 4.5& ABV, putting it over the stuff you get in the UK at a small price point.  Tried it in small 'stubby' bottles the first time, then moved on to the 330ml sized cans they had at 25c [yes, twenty five Euro cents, around 25p Sterling then] each.  I think they had the larger 500ml cans for 49c or so, cant remember.

Overall, I would have this again when out in Mallorca/Spain but I'm not sure I would seek it out back home as 'holiday' beers don't normally translate well to pub drinking.  And it's certainly not going to tempt be back from ales...

[Cycling] Some Cornish Cycling.

The Beast Of Bude.

Managed to get 3 cycling rides in whilst staying at my parents in Bude, Cornwall.  Didnt take either of my bikes with me, and with my Dad using his new front sus/disc brake MTB, I was relegated to his old [and I mean old, 20+ year] Raleigh Mustang 'ATB' [love it].  Samuel called it the 'Strawberry Bike' because of the faded reddish colours, I called it the "Beast of Bude" due to its substantial bulk.  Dad had had it serviced by the local bike shop and it was actually OK to ride.  I hadnt ridden a non-sus mountain bike in years, and although it was heavy it was nice to be able to get some power down on the uphill without the wobble you get from the suspension on my usual off-roader.  A few things took a while to get used to; the brakes we a bit soft to say the least and the non-indexed gears were a throw-back too.  I fittied on my saddle-bag, bottle cage and mini-pump and took it out.

Ride 1: Wet, short trip.

It was raining a fair bit, so I took the bike out for a quick blast to see how she handled, just down the Stratton Road hill into Bude and out along Kings Hill to the Marhamchurch turning, then along the tracks by my aunts house to Stratton and back to my parents.  Bike held up, even though one of the tracks was basically a river of mud and rain, and I was trying to cycle up it following a lost sheep at the same time.  First time I had been out on a bike since before Mallorca, so my legs felt it after. Only 4.15 Miles in 22mins, including that long up hill off-road section.

Ride 2: Sunny amble with Dad.

Sunnier this time so Dad joined me for a ride out, which was handy as he showed me some new routes, cut throughs and the cycle path by the Canal/River I didn't know about. Was good. Down the road to Bude and meet up at the Crescent car park [I shot down the hill, he coasted], then along the cycle path beside the canal and river to Hele. From there we took the hills up into Marhamchurch and then along to Stratton and up from Stratton back to my parents house. A decent ride, nice and sunny too which helped. A total of 6.38 miles in 40mins, not bad for my Dad at all (was the longest distance he had covered on his bike).

Ride 3: Ride with Dad then quick blast.

Another nice afternoon so Dad and I went out again, this time a different route. Started off up in to Stratton and along a few lanes to get to Poughill without using the main roads, which was good to know for future reference. From Poughill we headed off towards Northcott, turning back towards Flexbury/Crookletts half way along. Then through Bude town centre and then along the canal cycle way to Kings Hills. Through the Kings Hills industrial estate and across the A39 to the lanes, and from there back to Statton. Dad then headed home and I took off for a blast. Down the Atlantic Highway (A39) to Hele, along the cycle route until Lower Upton. Up the hill from the canal to Upton and then along Marine Drive back to Bude. Managed to get up to 30mph down past Upton Meadows, no mean feat on that bike!  Back home up Stratton Road wasn't the best way to round it off, but a very satisfying ride of 11.51 miles in 1hour 5mins, the longest I had done in weeks. Good stuff.

Some nice riding down there, I've got to take my road bike next time as I really fancy a long ride up to Kilkhampton, then down following the A39 to Widemouth and back. Have to see how I can get it on the car...

[Photography] Another Four Polaroids.

A new batch of my latest four Polaroids from my series of shots from in and around Thorndon Country Park in Essex.  At least 2 of these (if not all four) will make it into my final project/book.  These were taken on a mixture of TheImpossibleProject PX680 beta film released in April this year, and PX70 ColorShade FirstFlush from last October.  Both sets of pictures were taken on a Polaroid SX70, the PX70 shots on a standard SX70 Alpha; and the PX680 shots on an SX70 Alpha that has had the ND filter over the electronic eye removed to part compensate for the difference in the standard ISO levels.

Both sets of shots were sheilded from the light upon ejection from the camera using the "darkslide between rollers" method as recomended by TIP, which I have found does produce the best results.

[Music] Perfect Partners: Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds - Eponymous | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth - Eponymous.

My second installation in an occasional series where I link two albums by two different artists that just go together well. 

Izzy Stradklin' & The Ju Ju Hounds - Eponymous [1992] | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth - Eponymous [2010]

I'll start with the older of the 2 albums on offer here, the eponymous début by Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds.  After Izzy left Guns N' Roses, he formed the JJH as an outlet for the more classical blues rock based songs he had been writing that didn't fit in his previous band.  The album was recorded by the band comprising of erstwhile Georgia Satellite Rick Richards on guitar, future Buckcherry member Jimmy Ashhurst on bass and drummer Charlie Quintana from Plugz; and released in October 1992, less than a year after Stradlin left GNR.  Pretty obvious to say that I came to this album because of Stradlin's work in GNR, and more specifically his 3 'solo' songs on the Use Your Illusion albums - "14 Years", "Double Talkin' Jive" and "Dust N' Bones" -  all of which being favourites of mine.  His solo album follows those in a similar path, it's a very simple rock album that harks back to the sounds of the Rolling Stones, vintage Aerosmith and The Faces - it comes as no surprise that Izzy gets Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood to write and play on a track on this album.  Also included is a homage to 2 more of Stradlin's roots in one song.  "Pressure Drop" was originally recorded by Toots & The Maytalls and is considered to be a roots reggae classic.  It was, however covered by The Clash, another band who's spirit looms large over Stradlin's work.

The guitar and organ driven first single "Shuffle It All" with it's soulful vibe and sorrowful lyrics is one of the standout tracks and gives the album a real focus point. An album split between straight up rockers ("Somebody Knockin'", "Train Tracks", and "Take A Look At That Guy" with Wood) and more mellow ballads ("Time Gone By", "Come On Now Inside"), it doesn't break any moulds or push any boundaries, but what it does do is prove that Stradlin is more than accomplished in penning an opus of good ol' classic rock as well as the next man... 

...especially if the next man is Steve Conte.  Conte is most well known for being the man that had the unenviable task to being the "new" Johnny Thunders in the reformed New York Dolls, and more recently of being one of the twin guitar attack (alongside Ginger of The Wildhearts) in ex-Hanoi Rocks front-man Michael Monroe's solo band.  So, he must have something about him them.  I first came across Conte and his music via the 'Dolls appearance on the TV show 'Later... with Jools Holland' on which they played new song "Cause I Sez So" and the classic "Trash".  Conte was, and I know this sounds sad, a freakin' cool looking guitarist on that show and I made note of him when I obtained the 'Dolls latest album.  A week or so later I think, one of his tweets on Twitter was re-tweeted by previously mentioned Ginger (who I followed) and I picked up on the name and followed Steve.  This album, the debut from his power trio The Crazy Truth is not the first Steve Conte album - he has released albums under various names with various people such as The Contes (with his brother John) and Company of Wolves.  Like Stradlin's album, this is a showcase for Steve's song-writing, singing and guitar playing.  Kicking off with the classic formula of an upbeat rocker in "This Is The End", the album is a combo of blues licks, punk kicks and glam flicks.

A very New York album, there are hints of the city's famous sons littered all over the album.  The swagger and sneer of the Ramones on "Junk Planet" to the 'Dolls pouting campness on "Strumpet-hearted Monkey Girl" (which, incidently wins the battle for most awesome song title), the album is as much a homage to NYC as it is to rock n' roll.  A nice addition to the normal guitar/bass/drums formula is the inclusion of sax on most songs, giving them a more bluesy, sleazy edge.  The albums highlight for me is "The Truth Aint Pretty", a near perfect classic rock track if ever there was one.

So, why do these work so well together then? Well, just like the last installation of the series [The Distillers | Sorry & The Sinatras], both albums try to capture a period of music that is a golden age to the songwriters.  Both Stradlin and Conte have made albums that would not seem out of place if they had been released in the middle to latter half of the seventies, anachronisms aside.  Both albums give off a feel of good times, decadent rock n roll party and also that hazy next-day feeling that comes with it.

Check them both out: Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds on Spotify | Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth on Spotify

[Photography] The Holga [or the joys of plastic and 120 film].

My Holga 120N

I have had and used my Holga 120n for about 18 months now.  I first discovered the Holga via Flickr after I started to play round with film again.  The results I saw on Flickr instantly grabbed me and I knew I had to try one of these cameras out.

The Holga is basically the most basic camera type there is barring of course a pinhole. Formed from a simple plastic box front by a cheap plastic lens.  The early models featured 2 different aperture settings, although it is widely acknowledged that switching between these didn't actually change the aperture due to the way the camera was manufactured.  This mistake has been corrected on the more modern version including the one I have. The Holga also produces a pronounced vignette when shot at the smallest aperture setting. The focus is by the "zone focus" method, and the viewfinder is a simple view-finder type with no parallax helper lines - the viewfinder also shows a much wider view than is captured via the lens.  This combination of plastic body (which is prone to gorgeous lightleaks due to the lack of seals), zone focusing and plastic lens lends a dreamlike or vintage feel to the images produced on the film.

Another bit of interest on the Holga is the odd shutter switch, which is located on the side of the lens housing - pretty standard in the olden, golden days; but confuses the modern shooter no end.  The shutter itself isnt linked to the wind-on, meaning that double, triple or however-many exposures are available, be that planned or not.  Other non-planned effects are gained from the "bulb" setting which can easily be knocked on by mistake, changing the set 1/60 second shutter speed to "however long the shutter switch is held for", resulting in many a blurry, movement filled image.... and of course there is the problem of leaving the lens cap on - you are not a Holga shooter until you have got a roll of film back and realised the 6 black images are "lens cap on" moments.

The Holga takes 120 film, a format refereed to as "Medium Format" due to positioning between 8x10 "large format" and 35mm standard or "small format".  The 120 film is paper backed, and on the paper is marked frame number for the different aspect ratios that can be generated on the emulsion.  The Holga can be setup to produce 6x6 square images, or 6x4.5 portrait orientation images.  I choose to shoot my Holga exclusively at 6x6 as I find the square formatting give me something different to work with.  When used like this, you get 12 images on each roll of 120 film, with 6x4.5 yielding 16.

Getting 120 film developed and processed is still, despite what many believe, easy to achieve.  There are many online labs that allow postal orders of film, usually offering 2-3 turn around.  And of course there is always the option to develop at home if you are that way inclined.  I have my 120 developed by either Peak Imaging or Whole Picture Online, both of which also scan to CD at the time of processing as my aged Epson scanner doesnt take the larger negatives this film produces.

Ive shot both colour negative and black & white negative in my Holga.  I havent yet tried chrome (slide) film yet, either straight or cross-processed.  I have found that Fujifilm Colour Pro400 gives me the right blend of film speed, grain and colour rendering and is my film of choice when shooting "toy" cameras such as my Holga or Lubitel TLR.

For me at least, the Holga produces lovely evocative images and gives me a more freeform shooting methodology compared to shooting digital, instant ot even "normal" film.  The ease of use combined with the fact that you dont know exactly what will appear on the final image leads to a more creative shooting experience that it lacking in todays world of megapixels and ultra-zoom lenses.  Plus the camera is so cheap you don't mind taking more risks with it, putting it in situations you would dream of putting a DSLR.

I actually have a 2nd Holga 120N which I kind of won in  photo competition, and it set-up with a 135 adapter to take spooled 35mm film and exposure the image on the film and sprocket holes.  As yet, I havent had a chance to use it...

Some online Holga Resources:

• Holga on Camerapedia: http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Holga
• Holga on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holga
• Holgarama, UK Holga suppliers: http://www.holgarama.com/
• Squarefrog, Holga fan-site: http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/
• Holga Group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/86881528@N00/

Some of my favourite Holga shooters on Flickr:

• FitzhughFella: http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanholley/
• abdukted1456: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abdukted1456/
• Donnie Vendetta: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnievendetta
• Skissen: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skiss1/
• Katworks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bzphoto/
• nefoto...: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nefotografas/