Archive for the Category "Personal Blog"
Google’s latest Street View technology incorporates automatic face recognition to blur faces so people can’t sue them.
They even blurred the face on a portrait in my studio window!
Hmm! I wonder if I can sue them for implying that I don’t take sharp photographs?! 
Click the image to enlarge
Popularised back in the fifties and sixties by the likes of Brian Rix, farces were fast-moving sit-coms based upon ludicrous misunderstandings, improbable co-incidences, slapstick and innuendo, with the actors running in and out of slammed doors, often with their trousers around their ankles.
At their best they were very funny …and very silly.
In more recent years, the farce waned in popularity, giving way to more sophisticated comedy. Well now it’s back. With a door-slamming, trouser-dropping, innuendo-ridden vengeance.
Ray Cooney’s 1994 play Funny Money has been suitably scoused-up by director Leslie Lawton for a month-long run at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool.
It is very funny …and very silly.
This fast-moving play revolves around Danny (played by Neil Caple) and his “suddenly alcoholic” wife (Eithne Brown) and the way they react to Danny having found a briefcase containing two million pounds.
The ensuing chaos is magnificently orchestrated, with the entire cast bouncing off each other, both metaphorically and physically, with precision timing. Neil’s long time Brookside buddy Mark Moraghan and Royal Court regular Alan Stocks delivered some particularly side-splitting cameos.
Funny Money runs at the Royal Court until 27 February and with tickets costing from as little as £10 you won’t need a briefcase full of money to enjoy it. This is unmissable!
Following my Mashed Potato Challenge with the Hairy Bikers, someone just reminded me of one of the first songs we (The Exectutioners) did back in the late sixties.
Predictably we were often booked as support band to the Undertakers – and at the Iron Door Club too.
This clip really takes me back.
Spot the wally!
The blue sky as I queued to board the Ferris Wheel disappeared under a veil of cloud the minute the pod door shut. Still it was nice to see the city from a viewpoint that will disappear at the end of this month when the wheel comes down.
I would love to do another few flights, at different times f day and with better lighting conditions. Sadly, time, or playtime at least, is going to be scarce in the next week and a half. If nothing else, I have these shots to document the fact the wheel was there and I was one of its passengers.
Other than a little tonal control, these are unedited images. In a day or two I will replace them with the ‘finished’ versions, so please bookmark and call back.
Click here for my gallery of shots of the wheel at night.
Chris Birchall (The Hairy Photographer) is forever being mistaken for TV chef Dave Myres of The Hairy Bikers. When the opportunity arose, one day last September, he visited one of the recipe fairs where they were filming for the 2010 series “Mums Know Best”.
The Hairy Bikers threw down the gauntlet oven glove and bade him to come forth and take part in the Mashed Potato Challenge. So he did …and came fifth!
Mashing implements at ten paces. Let the challenge begin…
(This episode of Mums Know Best was filmed in Skipton, West Yorkshire and was shown on BBC2 on January 19th 2010.)
Click to view full size
*Updated 6/1/2010
Part two of this “first-impressions” review of the Eye-Fi card, describes the workflow I envisage using for portraits and product photography in the studio.
You will recall that the intention is to wirelessly upload only the Jpegs, from the Nikon’s Raw+Jpeg pairs, for the sole purpose of reviewing the pictures on-screen, a matter of seconds after the shots are taken. And I can tell you, even after just one day’s testing, this is going to be so beneficial during portrait/beauty/fashion shoots.
The much larger (and slower to upload) Raw files will be transferred conventionally to the computer at the end of the shoot. And that is the reason I opted for the ‘Jpeg only’ version of this card for this purpose.
Lightroom is set up to move these Jpegs out of the “watched folder” into my 2010/previews folder renaming them in the process to “date-filenum”. With Lightroom in Loupe mode, the images appear full screen the instant they upload.
Whilst reviewing these shots, all the keepers are flagged as “picks” and we will use these to isolate the Raw “keepers” ready for post-processing after the shoot.
If there are a lot of them, it would be easy to miss one or two, so here is the workflow I’ve devised. It might seem long-winded, but it actually takes longer to explain than to do.
All the Jpegs, flagged and unflagged, are moved from the previews folder into the Raws folder. Right-clicking one of the images, choose “Auto Stack by Capture Time” from the stacking menu with “Time Between Stacks” set to 1 second. This causes the Raws and Jpegs to stack in their respective pairs. Choosing “Collapse All Stacks” from the same menu effectively hides the raw files behind the Jpegs.
Next set the Library filter to show “Unflagged Photos Only”. Then choose “Expand all Stacks”, “Select All”, and hit “X” to set all the previously unflagged Raws and Jpegs as “Rejected” for deleting or hiding as required.
Setting the Library Filter back to “Flagged” and “Unflagged” will reveal the Keepers. Having served their purpose, the Jpeg “Picks” can now be deleted leaving the RAW files for processing. To do this: “Select All” then “Expand all Stacks” and hit “X” to set the flagged Jpegs as Rejected.
However convoluted this might sound, it really is quick to implement.
To sum up: I always used to like shooting tethered, but gave it up because cables dangling from your camera are not ideal – especially when photographing children. The Eye-Fi card has made it all possible again.
I could have sworn I just heard Lightroom say: “WTF?”
Anyone who knows me as well as my computer does, will know I never shoot Jpegs. EVER.
Compared to the extra quality, tonality and latitude inherent in the extra bit-depth of the Raw File, Jpegs just don’t cut the mustard.
So why now?
Well it’s all down to the fact I’ve been playing I Spy with an Eye-Fi for my Wi-Fi.
The Eye-Fi is an SD card on steroids. Not only does it function as a normal 4GB card in my trusty Nikons, it also has built-in wireless capability. Using the wireless router connected to my studio’s network, it can upload images direct to the computer as I shoot them.
A couple of years ago, this was only possible wirelessly by using an expensive piece of kit bolted to the camera. Or alternatively by being tethered with a cumbersome cable to the computer.
Now then… Anyone who has investigated the Eye-Fi already (or follows this link to their web site) will know that it comes in two flavours. The standard card that will only upload Jpegs and a professional version that can handle Raw Files. So why did Birchall go for the standard version?
Well it’s not because I’m a skinflint. True, it is less than half the price at just fifty quid. However, it was more to do with upload speeds and the manner in which I intend to use it. The relatively small Jpegs upload in seconds whereas raw files take considerably longer. So I can quickly preview my shots before uploading the meatier Raws for processing.
With the Nikon set to capture “Raw+Jpeg”. The latter is uploaded wirelessly the instant it is written to the Eye-Fi card. These files go straight into a “watched folder” from where Lightroom displays them full screen.
Now I can check my shots for composition, sharpness, expression etc., as I shoot and review the images with my client immediately we have finished.
As a result, I will inevitably take fewer shots which will be a massive post-processing time saver.
Once the shoot is finished and the client has left, all that remains is to connect the camera by cable to start uploading the RAW files whilst I brew a nice cup of tea.
The initial tests are very encouraging and I’m now investigating ways of refining the workflow. All of which will be divulged in my next post.
The scenery was nicely painted.
Hey… maybe I should quit now while I’m ahead. End on a positive note, as it were? Just go to bed.
But I can’t. The sound of Theatr Clwyd’s Rock ‘n Roll Panto is still ringing grating in my head.
They tried their best.
Well actually… No. They didn’t.
It was as if they had given up. Just going through the motions. It was as if they’d resigned themselves to the fact it might have been a half decent production if only the musical director had been a little bit musical and the sound engineer knew how to engineer sound. It was as if they thought ‘what the hell, it’s panto – you can get away with murder’
No! Come on you people! This was the annual Rock ‘n Roll Panto. And we were looking forward to it!
It’s not that they were ‘bad’ singers. Just that they were not that good. Actually… there were some bad singers: Robin Hood… Meatloaf you ain’t!
It’s not that they were ‘bad’ musicians. They were… erm… reasonably competent musicians. Individually. But that was it! They stood on stage, eyes fixed upon their fretting hand, playing their guitars. They were not… ‘together‘. There was no hint of the passion that is a prerequisite of performing Rock and Roll.
It was messy. They just didn’t gel.
The sound really was awful. There was no ‘wall of sound’ – just several bricks that happened to emanating sound. At the same time. Almost.
Their only saving grace was the finale. Had these boys and girls put as much energy and enthusiasm into the whole show, much of the rest of their failings may well have been forgiven.
During the speaking parts they where not amplified at all (even though some were wearing cheek mics). Did I say speaking parts? I meant shouting parts.
And the singing… Well what can I say? When someone has a screechy piercing voice, max treble and no bass is not the way to ‘EQ’.
Choreography? What choreography? I’ve seen more synchronicity in a primary school play!
Even the writers got it wrong. This script didn’t know whether its audience was under ten or over twenty (let’s face it ‘teenagers’ wouldn’t be seen dead at a pantomime anyway!) So the writers erred on the side of safety – and got it all wrong. A Rock ‘n Roll Panto should have a mix of slapstick and innuendo. By innuendo, I mean the sort of double entendre that can go straight over the heads of the adults whilst the youngsters get the (dirty) joke. And yes – I did phrase that the right way around! 
Was it funny? Not really.
“We’ve got the latest games” …he places a cardboard box on the floor and stamps on it… “It’s an X-Box” If I tell you that was the second funniest line of the whole show you get my meaning. The funniest line was when he then placed one foot on the flattened cardboard, spun around and declared: “It’s an X-Box 360″.
Yes, I visibly cringed.
Since returning home I found myself thinking: “Is it me? Have I set too high a standard after watching last week’s excellent Rock ‘n Roll Panto at the Everyman? Is it because I have seen so many top notch comedies and musicals in Liverpool during the course of 2009?
Sadly, the answer is no. The previous three Theatr Clwyd R&R Pantos were excellent, completely overshadowing tonight’s meagre offering. Even sadder is the fact it was produced by much the same team.
So you will not be surprised that I cannot bring myself to recommend it or even suggest you give it the benefit of the doubt.
3/10 .
Must do better next year.
When you’ve had your fill of nativities and carol services, get yourself down to Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre for the finest antidote known to man – Scouse Humour.
Merry Ding Dong is playwrite Fred Lawless’s Christmas Story about two warring families whose neighbouring houses in Speak are painted, respectively, Red and Blue
Are you beginning to get the picture?
And there is a touch of poetic irony in the fact that whilst the actors playing the feuding fathers are Merseyside football fans, Evertonian Jake Abraham has been cast as Noel the big Liverpool FC supporter, whilst Stephen Aintree who plays the ‘Red’ Chris has the exact opposite allegiance in real life! On stage they were very convincing in their new colours and kept us in stitches thoughout.
The story revolves around life-long friends Chris and Noel who fell out during a holiday both families spent at Talacre in North Wales. The actual reason behind the falling out is not revealed until late on in the play. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you are a football fan you will really appreciate the audience reaction when it happens!
I must say the entire cast displayed a remarkably proficient level of musical ability. Royal Court regulars Eithne Brown and Lindzi Germain were spot on as usual, whilst Stephen Fletcher and Rachael Rae (who played the neighbouring teenage lovers) where quite outstanding at times. Stephen turned out a remarkable Elvis impersonation with his comedic version of “Blue Blue Christmas” and the diminutive Rachel belted out a parody of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ that would have got her through to Simon Cowel’s final two with no problem at all.
This musical comedy is festively awash with dozens of Christmas songs, both traditional and modern. Although I have to say any of the songwriters who have graves to turn in would be spinning like tops if they heard what has been done to their lyrics. Very very funny. And totally irreverent!
Speaking of reverence, the part of the vicar was played by Alan Stocks. And he gave us one of the funniest, and at the same time most convincing, stage performances of a drunk that I have ever seen.
He too had a good singing voice. It was one you would definitely describe as baritone bordering on soprano. It was some surprise, therefore, when he appeared descending in a helicopter to the opening bars of “Walking in the Air”. The whole theatre erupted as he consumed the contents a helium balloon to perform the number, note perfect, as a tenor bordering on falsetto!
How the cast kept straight faces defeats me, for they obviously enjoyed performing as much as the audience enjoyed watching. I wasn’t the only one in that packed Wednesday night house wiping tears of laughter off my cheeks.
A standing ovation brought these seven talented actors back out to perform one last hilarious number as a curtain call – and we were all on our feet joining in.
Merry Ding Dong runs until January 23rd. We’re going to see it again – and you really shouldn’t miss it!
You can also read my review on the Liverpool Daily Post website
Can you remember what you were doing 29 years ago today?
I can. It was my day off. I dragged myself out of bed mid morning, turned the kettle on and then the radio.
The kettle boiled dry.
Shocked by the news, I never got my morning cuppa. I sat all day, stunned, as a crackly medium wave Radio City struggled to reach over the Welsh mountains. They played Beatles tracks all day back-to-back.
John Lennon had been shot.
The following day I was back at work for the Evening Leader newspaper. Myself and feature-writer Carol James were the only newspaper people John’s ex wife Cynthia would talk to at that sad time. We interviewed and photographed her at her home in Castle Street, Ruthin, whilst the photographers from the Nationals were dropping mind-blowingly huge cheques through her letterbox desperate for exclusive pictures and an interview. She tore them all up.
We got through the door because we were journos she could trust to be sensitive and not sensationalise how she felt about John’s death, having previously done a feature about her charity work a few months earlier and prior to that a promotinal peice about her book A Twist of Lennon.
For me, the whole thing was made far more poignant since I’d been part of the 60s/70s music scene myself.
My band, The Executioners, had graduated from the local village hall dances, through the Chester and Deeside working-mens clubs, to earn our place on the Mersey Beat scene. We played the Cavern, The Iron Door, Tower Ballroom New Brighton and many other Merseyside Clubs, alongside the likes of the Searchers, The Big Three, Freddie Starr and the Midnighters, The Black Abbots, and the Undertakers.
Sadly, we were never on the same bill as The Beatles, so I never got to meet John Lennon.
It was spooky when some time later, I photographed Julian Lennon as a young man because at that time he was just like his father during the Cavern years.
Today, 29 years after his untimely death, John’s music is as fresh and meaningful as back then. It will live on forever. But I often wonder what he would be doing now had December 8th 1980 never happened.
A bit of Twitter banter between the Hairy Photographer and the not-so-hairy Eamonn Holmes this morning.
Glad I was able to help him sort out such an important life-changing dilemma!!
(In case you’re not familiar with the Twitter feed – the conversation starts at the bottom)
Cynics might suggest my main reason for being at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre last night was to ogle Suzanne Collins’ long slender legs.
Well that’s because they only think they know me. I am of course, ever appreciative of a shapely pair of pins, but I’m also a sucker for a good serving of raucous scouse comedy.
And that was my main reason for attending the second-night performance of Drew Quaile’s The Salon. Two and a half hours of having the lovely Suzanne cavort in a very short beautician’s tunic just a few feet from my seat in the stalls, was just an added bonus.
On all counts, the evening definitely did not disappoint.
An hour before curtain-up, Jayne and I enjoyed an excellent meal served at our table in the Royal Court’s unique “cabaret-style” stalls. Good honest simple fayre, beautifully prepared and presented. Fantastic quality, especially when you consider they serve 150 meals in forty-five minutes! A nicely chilled bottle of rosé from the theatre bar was the perfect accompaniment.
Then within seconds of the lights going down there was non-stop laughter throughout the entire performance.
Set in the “Curl Up and Dye” salon, the play give a hilarious insight to the entwined love lives (and the lack thereof) of the hairdressers, beautician, and their customers and revolves around the break-up of the salon’s two gay owners.
Other than that, there was no real story-line as such. But then, none was needed. In fact there was no room for one. Quail’s script was bursting with humour and innuendo. And under the genius direction of Bob Eaton, the cast delivered some of the funniest performances I have seen.
Lynne Fitzgerald was hilarious as the scissor-happy brazen hussy and Roy Brandon’s portrayal of an hysterical love-forsaken queen was a magnificent combination of drama and slapstick.
And the acting in late-night drunken scene was so convincing, I actually found myself worrying that the actors might end up falling off the cleverly constructed elevated stage that was the apartment above the salon.
Can I recommend it? Absolutely!
If anybody can find fault with this terrific comedy, they’d be splitting hairs. Go and see it for yourself and I promise you, it’s your sides that’ll be splitting!
The Salon’s month-long run at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, ends November 28th
The band struck up. The curtain rose. The dancers were up and singing.
I couldn’t help noticing that the youngest were around twelve. And during that first energetic number I surmised that this would be a very different production from the raucous comedies we are used to seeing at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre.
After the first number, Royal Court Regular Andrew Scofield (remember Scully in Boys from the Black Stuff?) entered stage right. Drew is normally cast as the archetype scouse scally who gets withdrawal symptoms if he goes more than two sentences without uttering the “F” word.
In this first scene he played an extremely short-sighted lolly-pop man on the school crossing and having suffered a tirade of abuse from the “remedial” class teenagers he was heard to shout “and you can Eff-off and all”. That, I imagined, would be to limit of the swearing on this show.
Woohoo! How wrong can you be?!
Our Day Out is a bang-up-to-date rewrite of Willy Russell’s original comedy.
Now a full blown musical, it tells of a school trip to Wales for the remedial class of a Liverpool School – and the great playwrite acknowledges in his script that the “Queen’s English” has very little to do with the vocabulary of today’s teens.
Andrew Schofield was, as ever, brilliant – both as the half wit school crossing man in the opening scene and as the staid, establishment, strait-laced, teacher who “invited” himself on the school trip to the horror of the pupils and of the progressive class teachers who’d organised it.
In these roles, Gillian Hardie and Bradley Clarkson were truly great. And you could be excused for imagining that Holly Quin Ankrah was chosen for her role as the young student teacher purely because of the way she filled out that orange swimsuit in the beach scene. But her singing, dancing and acting prowess demonstrated exactly why she quickly progressed from her five years on Grange Hill to the principle role in Rock Rivals and more recently as Geena in Shameless.
Michael Starke too (Brookside, The Royal and Jerry Morton in Corrie) exhibited perfect comedic timing, a really good singing voice and surprising light-footedness as the cheerful chubby bus driver.
My standing ovation last night, however, was for the extremely talented young actors and dancers who played the errant schoolies. I’ve always felt the Royal Court’s success stems from casting “to type”. That is why Drew is such a favourite. Hire a scouser to play a scouser. These scouse kids certainly came up with the goods. So believable they were as the characters they portrayed.
Their energy and exuberance was matched only by the professionalism of their performance. Their singing and acting voices were as good as you would find on any stage in Britain – including the West End.
And I was struck by the irony of the task facing the choreographers and stage directors. They had to discipline a couple of dozen energetic hormonal teenagers into successfully portraying a couple of dozen wayward and unruly hormonal teenagers. Type-casting? No. This was the result of such hard work executed with the enthusiasm and energy of youth. Flawless performances that left you laughing and crying and wanting to be that young again yourself.
I’m so glad I am not a professional reviewer. For I’d feel I had to tell you to look out for the exceptional singing and dancing talents of young Rebecca Cumings, or Chris Mason’s accurate portrayal of a love-struck Jack-the-Lad, or…
In truth, every single one of those talented youngsters delivered fantastic performances and fully deserved the standing ovation they received from a Tuesday night packed house.
I can fully recommend you go and see Our Day Out. The youngsters, the cast, the musicians, the production team and the most warm and welcoming venue that Liverpool has to offer, truly do justice to the unrivalled observational humour of Willy Russell.
Our Day Out will be Your Night Out to Remember. You’ve got until October 17th to catch the bus. Whatever else you do – don’t miss it!
Read a shortened version of this along with other reviews on the Liverpool Echo Website: http://tinyurl.com/willyrussell
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