Phil Brown » Miscellaneous

The actual, real end of film?

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:38:09 +0000

Given all the tedious film vs. digital debating I’ve heard over the years, most of which entirely misses the point that there should, ideally, be a creative process going on here, whatever your chosen medium, nothing has made me think the end is nigh more than looking at Kodak’s share price:

No more Tri-X when Kodak goes under and there is no more influential factor on that eventuality than the share price. Ilford might be around a bit longer, but as they’re private who knows? They already went bust once in 2004. There’s always wet plates I guess.

Film is about the only product on the planet, that I can think of, that isn’t being cloned in China. Maybe they’ll pick that up when Kodak finally dies and sell it for $10 a roll in the Lomo stores.

Childhood terrors revisited, part 1: The Boy from Space

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:58:07 +0000

They made us watch this at school when I was definitely no more than six, probably five. From the BBC, “…a Look and Read series about an alien boy called Peep-Peep who some kids help save from a Terminator-style stalker.” “I’ve had a lot of e-mails from traumatised former viewers…“

Lacking prerequisites

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:32:43 +0000

What do you do when you can’t scan your negatives because your scanner is 6,000 miles away? Shoot digital? That would be smart. Instead I’m mostly wandering around with an old Hasselblad and rearranging my website:

2011 is a learning experience

admin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:22:03 +0000

I just about got semi-settled after another trans-Atlantic migration, settled enough to contemplate dealing with this lot, when life changed its mind and sent me packing again. In a month I’ll be heading back to LA where I shall develop these films and unpack the scanners.

Sometimes I really wish shooting digital wasn’t such a stultifying and unsatisfactory process. It would be so much easier and cheaper. But it’s not the same. Turning digital stills into something engaging is so contrived it kind of kills it. But eventually the silver will run out, the scanner will die (the software is dead with Mac 10.7) and I’ll have to rethink the above. Or take up painting maybe.

Anyway the point is, contrary to the state of this blog and my site, I’m not done yet.

Zine available

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:19:13 +0000

Zine launch party and show is happening on Friday, and copies are now available via Magcloud.

Goodbye

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:01:29 +0000

My cat died whilst I was in London. Here are the last few pictures I took before I left.

She used to like to sleep on the modem/router because it was warm. This is where she was the last time I saw her.

Frank’s Cafe, N11

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:12:05 +0000

Egg, bacon, sausage, two toasts, cup of tea, £3.95. I hadn’t been to this place for about 11 years. Still good.

Things to do in Los Angeles

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:01:12 +0000

I just did a 30 mile round trip to get bagels. These are from Brooklyn Bagel Bakery. Still not quite up to NYC standards, but not bad considering the state of the alternatives here.

American Psycho

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:26:08 +0000

… or ‘Things I Really Don’t Need’. Half size name cards from moo.com. $20 for 100. Came out kind of cool… I got to 25 pictures and then got bored, so have four of each, but they can do a different shot on each card if you can be bothered to make enough crops.

I have a theme song

admin — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:20:36 +0000