Pig Sty Avenue

Molly Full Face , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I got some photos back from the shop today - that's the second roll from the Chinon. I love this photo. AND I've just noticed: there is a family resemblence beginning to show. Poor bairn.

Garys' own stencil , originally uploaded by mafleen .

Molly Unsure of Her Cousin Jennifer , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . The plan was to put the Olympus compact in a drawer for a while. Then my niece called round this morning and I got this nice snapshot. And now Herself's decided to start using it. I hope she gets to like photography, and that politely blank look will go from her face when I'm blethering on about it. This morning was mostly for drafting the first biggish assignment for the MA. My brain was hurting after a few hours so I went out to take some photos of the setting sun and the snow, using up the second roll in the Chinon.

I've got my Dad's Chinon, Brendadada's Nikon, and I'm expecting to get my old Nikon back from Clare on thursday. And there's my trusty Olympus P&S, and my Sony low res. I need to get out and get clicking. But that's easier said than done, this weather, with a small baby.

Snow's forecast for Eastern England today. We've already had hailsones. I hope it does snow. I've got a lend of Brendadada 's Nikon F-601 , and heavy snow would give me a good excuse to get out with the camera. "A good excuse", forsooth! Herself bought me that book Jarrovians for Christmas. (Any local readers can get a copy at the Baltic , it seems). The back-story is, Vince Rea's a local artist (he did the Jarrow Marchers' sculptures at the Metro station and outside Morrisons); he was formerly the director of the town's Bede Gallery, and whilst that gallery was being refurbished in 1978, he made a photographic study of the people of Jarrow. Most of the photos are indoors, a lot of them in pubs. There's no technical information in the book, which is a pity. But I'd say most of the photos were taken on very fast black and white film without a flash. My main criticism would be that there's too much depth of field on most of the...

Three Women Xmas Day II , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . That's our neighbour, Julie, who came to us for Christmas dinner, Herself and of course Molly, enjoying her first Christmas. No, really she did seem to enjoy herself, smiling a lot. After dinner, Julie went home and we went to my sister's house, and all the family was there. A lovely day altogether. Now it's Boxing Day. Since Molly arrived I've not done much serious drinking, and this is the first hangover in ages. Ugh.

Yesterday was Christmas shopping, and getting vegetables from the allotment. Then a Flickrmeet, with Brenda , Adam , Kate , Bronwyn , Ceris (who made me a xmas card which I've mislaid, so I hope I've remembered her name correctly), and Topsy , who had been doing things with the Pig Sty Avenue name; (which is nice, making the Avenue feel like a bit of performance art... or something). Disgusted by the capitalist exploitation of Christmas, we've been trying to avoid it for years. This year, there's some sort of resolution: celebrate it, avoid the hype. So we've got a wee lemon tree I grew from seed a couple of years ago, with a star on it to be our Christmas tree. We can keep the tree and celebrate it each year and it can grow with Molly. And as this is really the marking of the solstice, a lemon tree - with the colour of its fruit and association with sunshine, - feels right. Anyhow. Now is the time, when all the shopping's done, and a dinner to prepare. ...

or maybe this one?

I'll come back in a bit. Met Topsy Qur'et at the Flickrmeet the other night, and learned that there was a mutual intrigue about one anothers virtual names, and that he'd done some art on the theme of Pig Sty Avenue (below). I'm honoured, so I've gotten his ok to adapt it as an icon. I've more to write, but I've a Christmas dinner to prepare, so more later, probably.

PIG STY stencil , originally uploaded by Topsy Qur'et . I'll explain these photos later.

Working on the Pig Sty , originally uploaded by Topsy Qur'et .

Go to the allotment, get two of the lemon trees from the greenhouse (one's a present, the other's to be an unusual Christmas tree); get the sprouts, cabbage, turnip and parsnips for Christmas dinner. Go to Town, presents and wrapping paper, quick Flickrmeet. Tidy house, hoover, all that. Then tomorrow, go to Jarrow collect the capon, cook the capon, prepare the other bits of the dinner.... So, busy, but if you leave Christmas until the last minute, it's actually quite good fun. You know, like in the old films: they always do the shopping on Christmas Eve. It's a holiday: it's to be enjoyed.

Saving Up For a New Guitar , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . ...Whereas I'm saving up for a camera. Jessops are doing the D50 + 18-70mm lens for £584. They said they would match the price of any shop in a 20 mile radius. They might match the price of internet or mail order, but they'd need a print out or a catalogue, and it wouldn't be guaranteed, they'd 'have to make a couple of phone calls'. Next I went to Jacobs, who said that Jessops were doing 'silly prices' and there's no way they could match that price. I asked if they could give any advice about pricing, best time to buy and so on, and the man said that the price of DSLRs changed from day to day. But, he said, February would probably be a good time. This lad gets money for practising his hobby in public. Doubt there's any cash in being a photo-busker.

Superchou at the Baltic , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . My first efforts with the Chinon are a big disappointment. Blurred and shakey and misconceived. The quality of the development is really low: less pixels than the Olympus compact, I'd say, so I can't resucue much from them with post-processing. Bugger.

I wanted to go to the fireworks tonight, take the auld Chinon along and get some photos. But the end of my first term for the MA is approaching (end of January), and I've a lot of work to do, so instead I've been analysing learner dictionary entries , which is no more nor less fun than it sounds. On the subject of the Chinon, I put my first film into the chemists in Jarrow on Thursday, then went full of anticipation to collect the CD yesterday... And the bloody shop has half day closing Saturday. I muttered some very rude words. Still, never mind. I finish early Tuesday, so I'll give myself the afternoon off studying to look at the photos and probably do a wee bit of post processing. The Which Camera decision is now made, finally. There's a discussion with Brendadada here . It's to be the D70 with the 18-70mm lens - though I'll go for the D50 with that lens if it works out cheaper. And then I'm going to try to take photos like Tony Ray-Jones did....

Alexander was 18 on Tuesday, and to celebrate, we went to see The Pogues last night. It's a remarkable happenstance that I was a big fan in the early 80s, and that he's stumbled onto them in the last year or so and loves their music too. (I notice Al's blog's gone quiet - he's been busy studying, learning to play the banjo and now he's distracted by a really clever synthesiser his mam's gotten him for his 18th). It was a fantastic night. They were supported by The Dropkick Murphys , who were great - and finished their set with The Worker's Song , which Dick Gaughan used to do. I had been a bit sceptical about who would be in The Pogues' line up, but they were all there - it was a bit like meeting someone you knew years ago: they've aged but are essentially the same. Shane McGowan looks like shit, of course, but he never missed a beat. It was a great night.

I can't remember if I linked to this when he started it. But I am now , anyway.

cafe at morrisons , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . This was Molly's first time in a public eating place. Not that she was more than barely aware of it. She seems to be in suspended animation when we're out and she's in the pram. Mind you, this cafe at Morrison's supermarket in Jarrow is shite. You've to help yourself to drinks as you shuffle along. An old lady asked me to get her Diet Coke, because she was 'half sighted'. Then she complained that I hadn't filled it right to the top. The aisles were too narrow for a pram, and I was worried some other half-sighted auld wifie would dunch into the pram and spill hot tea over her.

I saw one of these wee gems in the Marie Curie charity shop in Jarrow today. Only £9.99, which I'm sure is a bargain... Was tempted, but all my pennies are going digital.

Stevie-B's started a new blog, Empty Blog . Be warned! He uses the C word. A lot.

Here's another video I made tonight , this time crossing the Tyne on the metro, coming home from work. Like film noir with a bit of colour. Atmospheric or crap? Won't win any Oscars, no doubt.

Term has ended and I'm managing to get a lot of studying done at work. I've deliberately chosen a topic which has some relevance to the work I do. It's about the way students use a digilab for pronunciation practice. I've been getting a lot of academic articles printed; (not very green I know, but to read actively one needs paper and a pen - a computer monitor just won't cut the mustard). So that means rather a lot of reading the next few days, followed by rather a lot of writing. I've stopped using my compact digital (except for a video I did yesterday for the Jarrow & Hebburn blog ). I've started using the Chinon again, to get my hand in using an SLR. Also, it's primitiveness will, hopefully, discipline my eye for the D50's appearance, which should be next spring. Molly's 9lb 9oz now - she was weighed yesterday at the local baby clinic, which is set up in the local community centre. Herself went, I was at work; she said she felt r...

Need to write 4000 words over the next couple of weeks. Details here . Am trying to avoid Flickr; unsuccesfully.

siena_p2 (passeggiata) , originally uploaded by Pay No Mind . I've been looking through the Nikon D50 group on Flickr. There are a lot of good photos there, but this lad's are exceptional. Here's what he said in response to an enquiry about a similar, but B&W photo: "All of the shots in my Italy set are with the kit lens. Most are handheld. This particular shot was with the camera sitting on a table. I found the kit lens a little soft. But the camera itself is fantastic. I picked up the 50mm 1.8D for a hundred bucks. It's super sharp." Well, that's it. Decision made. It's a D50.

, originally uploaded by Ten Directions . See what I mean? I'll leave the subject now. Honest injun.

Honest, this is the last time I'll blether on about this subject for a while. Really. The Nikon D50 is nearly £200 quid cheaper than the D70. And it's got the same lens interchangeability. And here's the clincher: look at these test results : the D50 has significantly less noise at high ISO than it's more expensive relation. So that's the decision made. Barring some unforeseen financial calamity putting an unavoidable call on the saving-up-for-a-camera fund, I should be able to buy the blighter early in the spring. Until then, I'll try to leave the subject alone.

Little and Large Low Res , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I got these two lads on the metro with the little DSC2770 camera, half cut on the way back from the funeral. I don't know why I find them so appealing. I spent a bit of time with the blur tool in PhotoShop to give an artificial DoF.

... there's also the Olympus E500 . The users' pool on Flickr is not a great inspiration. Whereas the Nikon D70 group is a very lively one, with a lot of most excellent pictures. There's a point where a practical decision will also be a cultural or even an emotional one. My first proper camera, twenty-odd years ago, was a Nikon EM. (The circumstances in which I lost touch with that are a whole other story). So history and peer pressure are leading me towards the Nikon just now.

Brendadada , no less, has weighed in to the Pig Sty Camera debate. We're getting down to the wire now. It's between the Canon EOS 350D and the Nikon D70, and here's a very useful side by side comparison she's put me on to. Hmm. The Nikon's a wee bit heavier and bigger, which is a negative for me... But this interchangeability with most other Nikon lenses is very persuasive, with the opportunity to borrow your pals' lenses for particular tasks... And if the price comes down in the new year, which seems likely, it's coming into my price range. Oh yes. As for the pocketability angle. As I said, the bigger size of the Nikon is a negative. But to take pictures of people, I'm just going to have to deploy a whole load of interpersonal techniques to put them at ease. And there are other things I want to photo: spiders in their webs, dewdrops on railings, sunday morning football, dog races, motion blurred metros and aeroplanes and cars on the Tyne t...

I'm a little pumpkin , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . I took this one today. Cute, eh? She seems to change every day. And she's a wonderful model. I can snap away and take twenty photos, and each one will be different. Gorgeous.

Wake , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue .

The funeral was at the crematorium on the West road, so I got the metro and then the bus up there. I met Ian, who has gone bald since we last saw each other, back in Barcelona years ago, when he had dreadlocks. There was a good turn out, well over a hundred people. I didn't realise Jim knew so many people. It was a humanist 'service' led by a woman I didn't know, and who talked about Jim and his life - she was very good, but as Ian said later, rather like a politician, 'with all the pauses in the right places'. There was stifled laughter when she spoke about Jim's garden and love of cooking with herbs... And we realised this was a coded reference to his love of a certain herb which he smoked. At the end, everybody shuffled out, and that's when it hit me, we were leaving poor Jim in that cold place, in that box, to be cremated. Then to a lad's house for coffee, and then to Jim's local, the Travellers in Brunswick Village. Exchanged phone ...

I posted a few weeks ago about a friend who was ill. He died last Saturday. The funeral's tomorrow. I'm going to miss him. Suddenly, someone's gone. And you realise how precious their wee pleasures were: having a pint of beer, rolling a herbal cigarette, shouting at the eedjits on the telly. All no more. We've to remember that, and enjoy every lovely minute of our lives, because any time now, 'click', you're remembered only.

Yesterday morning, the phone went at 5.30am. I leapt up, fearing some family calamity, but there was no-one there. 1471 gave an 08-something number, which when dialled came up a BT SMS something or other. I was more than a trifle pissed off and couldn't get back to sleep. Last night was another bad night with Molly up, and dreams about a Canon EOS 1D , for God's sake; have you seen the price of the bugger? That's a professional camera... unless we win the Lottery. It was one of those unfathomable, confused dreams that leaves you drained and disoriented. So I'm cream crackered today. Term's more or less over, though, so I've been quietly getting on with researching about self access to learning, more details over on the studious blog over the next few days, if anybody's arsed. Molly went for her jabs this morning, and Herself and I kept in touch with developments over the phone. She had them in both legs, apparently, and screamed blue murder with re...

Jacobs Camera Shop , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . ...where I go to play with the cameras, and the nice people never tell me to "buy one or piss off."

More thanks to Factobrunt for his observations on the Pig Sty Camera Question. He's got the clincher, too, with his remarks about ISO. An SLR can have a relatively high ISO, which means I can take pics in poor(ish) light with no flash. I want to be able to do that to take relatively unobtrusive pictures, like this one. Now the only question is which DSLR? The Canon EOS 350 is used by a lot of people on Flickr, including my mate Sam . There's a new Olympus out in the same price range. Speaking of price, as we've a new baby and I've got a part time job, I can't dash out and buy something this expensive just now. So for the first time since childhood I'm Saving Up. No need for snap decisions, therefore, and a bit of fun making the decision meanwhile.

Many thanks to John and Factobrunt for their comments. Both have highlighted the dilemma. On the one hand, the pocketability of a compact, on the other the quality of an SLR. To get the best of both worlds, this Leica caught my eye. I mean, just the whole idea of using a Leica has glamour. The detail that appeals is being able to set the shutter speed and aperture manually... Any more comments?

supermoll , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . Here's a happy picture for a Sunday.

It's our first anniversary. Perhaps because we're so pre-occupied with Molly, we both nearly forgot! But I'm off to have a bath and cook us dinner, so no more blogging the noo.

I think about photography too much. My Olympus Camedia C-310 has been a great friend and has taken a lot of good photos and a handful of very good ones. I'd decided to get an SLR, something like the Canon 350D perhaps. I want to be able to manually set speed and aperture settings, get appropriate depth of field, motion blur or freeze frame and all that jazz. And then my attention was drawn to cameras like the Olympus MJU 800 , which has 8 megapixels - that's as many as SLRs like the Canon. And it's about half the price. What you'd be paying for with an SLR is adjustability and a far better lens. Apart from the price there's the issue of What Kind of Photos do I want to take? See, what I'm thinking, apart from people snapping away at parties and on their holidays, nobody is going to be recording our lives, now, in this town. A local artist, Vince Rea, took a load of pictures of the people of Jarrow in the mid 70s, and you can get a book of the collectio...

tired molly 2 , originally uploaded by Pig Sty Avenue . We think she has a touch of colic: happy one minute, crying the next.

the point , originally uploaded by Superchou . Superchou passed briefly through Newcastle on her way from Edinburgh to France and took some wonderful pictures . From left to right there's me, Brenda , Adam , and Sam . That's an awful lot of links, but you know how it is with bloggers, mentioning them without a link is almost an insult. And when I linked to Superchou's "wonderful pictures" I was linking to the Flickr blog, where a photo she took of besuited salesmen in pink chairs on the millenium bridge taken at the same time as this one was posted. In the wee world of Flickr, that's a serious compliment.