Selfridge’s Xmas decoration for 2014 (it was)

I know, it was a bit (very) slow to upload.  Still, they are the 2014 annual Xmas  

decoration of the Selfridge.  As expected, Oxford Street was very noisy and vibrant.  

—– those Steel band musician were the first people I saw wearing Santa’s

costume on this year.  (As people fed-up, it must be out of fashion.)

Selfridge put an explanation of the concept / story though, — ? ? ? who read it ?

So, I have no idea what about those decoration meant.  😀

And those decorations are quite mysterious and bizarre.   😀

Last one of those circular image was not by fisheye lens.  

It was a reflection of me on a mirror ball.  🙂

I guess, you opened all the presents received. (did you ?)

What ever, enjoy a holiday.

(The lens used were, Canon EF Fisheye Zoom 8-15mm F2.8 , EF Zoom 24-70mm F2.8

on Canon 5D Mk-III )

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Utterly useless Banana skin —– still, this is the Glorious 700th Post for a festive evening !

You never seen like this or able to guess what this is.   They are the banana skins.

—– ? ? ?   Why banana skin was made like this ? —– They were left there to

become dry. —– Why needed to make them dry ? = It was for not to make wet

rubbish in the bin and to prevent the fruits fly to come. —– M m m ? ? ?

—– If I have a grown up teenage daughter, she must hate this kind of practice

and the man who does. = = = I know, that’s why I don’t have a daughter, in fact

any kids or even a possible cause of that, a wife.  

(I just read a small article which was telling about his awkward daughter.  😀 )

So that, to avoid to have a cause of trouble was a wise precaution, or wise choice

to have trouble-free life and seems to be a way to reach Enlightenment.

Sound very much Buddhist like thinking.   Though, this was an Hinayana approach

to the life.  =If the whole planet was filled with such wise Buddhists,

the human-being would be doomed.

As, Hinayana approach was to avoid to have the cause of trouble beforehand,

therefore, to become a man of “Do nothing” was the ideal solution to get Enlightened.

—– but this approach creates more trouble “Not able to follow the rules” = The more

rules, more chance to fail.   And anyhow most of the man was not such ideal person.

So, the Buddhism invented another approach called Mahayana = To have a trouble

which is natural to the life is not classified as a trouble.   A wife (or two) and could be

an awkward daughter(s) = they may be troublesome but bring a fun as well.

It’s mean, a man (or woman) to have life’s troubles is nothing wrong, it’s just

awkward that all. (After all,

Lord Buddha defined the life is suffering !)  = The matter of the Enlightenment is

nothing to do with those troubles.   No man is perfect, so, why imperfect was the

obstacle to get enlightened ?

Still, strangely enough, no one (well almost) stay put imperfect = but try to be better.

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So, this is where the banana skin comes in. — but not to make you slip, make us think.

Why fruits fly is not welcome and the fruits skin is the cause of trouble ? = Filthy wet

rubbish made by the fruits skin kind in the bin is the ideal breeding environment to

the fly. —– Still, fly exists according to the Dharma too.   All sorts of nasty bacteria,

virus etc etc also exists thanks to the Dharma.

—– If so, imagining own clean life and avoid to have a filth is just an ego and a

delusion isn’t it ?

Giving the opportunities of their life’s fulfilment to the fruits fly, bacteria, virus etc etc

it is a compassion isn’t it ? ? ?  —– So, how do you think.  (My guess is,

Lord Buddha would have given a smile but no answer.

And Zen master will give a good whack. = shut up, don’t waste the time. 😀 )

—– Have a nice holiday.   🙂

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Fortnum and Mason’s Frosty Affair

This year, the Angel or Santa Claus were nowhere to be seen in the

Fortnum & Mason’s window.    Instead, said to be a Frosty Affair there.

—– I didn’t go deep into their financial affair, whether Frosty Affair was

the cause of it or the result.  = anyhow, it was the show window of the products

what they are selling with a lots of snow splay. —– and the additional

clear plastic stick = meant to be icicles.    M m m, is that’s all  ?   🙂 

Many people came down to take picture, was saying  “Disappointed”   😦  

Still, the camera is a simple device, what’s ever the subject, just press the button,

the picture will come out.    Here they are.   🙂

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SEASON’S GREETING 2015

 Thanks goodness, as the sun rotates

 the days passing and naturally

  the season has come to say

 for thanks to you all the readers 

 for your kind support to this blog.

Wish to all of you for A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

(Next year would be a Sheep / Ram Year)

PS:  Photo on top was taken by Wide-angle Tri-color Pinhole

and the additional Fisheye photo shows the normal view.

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Immersive Cult Party

It was the first anniversary of the Immersive Cult.  —– though, they are nothing 

to do with any religious act, but exclusively dedicated to a fancy Party. = They are

the Party People.  (The Party like this was what they designed and organized.)

This was the Party for themselves to celebrate successful first year as a company.  

So, they are the Planner, Stage Designer, Costume Designer, Performer and the

Party Food cataler.  If any body, corporate, want to have a specially themed fancy

Party, they are the people to be called.   (—– they are in fact my long standing

friends who worked together for a theatrical stage design etc, and appeared in 

this blog time to time such as this and that .)  

Funny things was, as people meet again here and there, sometimes years apart and

my memory of the name was so bad, still, they remember my name. (How they can ?)

In here, other than a Fish-eye lens, photos were taken by a homemade lens,

and this lens was meant to be fuzzy. (If you don’t like look away please.)

 

 Then, in the midnight, the party moved down to the basement of the building,

to the club called Basement Snack where DJ got rather soft house.  😀

So, the party went on to the (seemingly) pretty late.

(but, I took the two hours journey back on 1:00, because this party was the second

one today = I had the other gathering on the afternoon.  Better take a rest)  🙂

Anyhow, it was a very joyful party with a lots of interesting people.

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Poppy Talk

The regular reader of this blog might have noticed that the talk in the previous post [Poppy Poppy] became increasingly lecturing.  Yes, I know it. The reason was the same why I made an exception to come to a public event and took picture. —– A while ago, I had a chat with a photographer who has just finished the school and learning to become Professional while doing an assistant work.  As she asked me “How to make a good Photograph” I answered ” Just press the button” she stunned and burst into laughing.  “Oh gosh, I never heard such answer”.  

“When you see a beautiful light, press the button. — It’s mean, if you couldn’t see it’s beauty, you don’t have the eyes to see.  And even if you could see it, still not able to press the button,  you don’t have a good reflex, either case, you are hopeless and any sort of advice or knuck to take picture would be useless.  Otherwise, you were lucky enough to take good picture.  Then do it.   

 Anyhow, it is pointless to speak about photography => it’s better  to see the real situation and a way of the photographic approach,  and the captured images —– good or bad. = Everything is  self explanatory.  So, those photos (with the photos of Last  Post) were the finishing part of the chat or the “lecture”.    🙂

 —– Just press the Button, mean, “Just take picture with the own intuition”, but not a theory or special thinking kind.  Still, it is better to know about the  subject, history, episode in  human term (mean, not politics or technology) which did hit  your  emotion, but the most important point is to capture the image,  sweet to your eyes. (it doesn’t mean looks nice, cute person  smiling, but in the image, context and the emotion has settled and balanced) = DON’T chase dramatic image, until you yourself  experienced a drama in your life.) 

So, this is the picture which was not a settled image but make the mind to stray away.  It’s mean, this is not a sweet picture. —– even after 70 years, Poppy field has not settled calm for some people yet.  

Peace to the dead soldier’s Soul.

___/\___

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Poppy Poppy

Normally I don’t  go to a public event and take picture — the same reason that I don’t watch TV.

(If million of others do the same, I can’t see a point, why do I need to do the same ? — among the millions, there must be much suited person to do the subject = leave the business to that person and I’ll do what nobody else is doing or ever tried (provided, it cost small = Most of project with large cost is not creative, since it is a rational combination of existing devices and the ideas, otherwise, it is industrial (Humanoid Robot is ingenious but not creative), if not political (Communist’s huge monument never be creative, unless we see them as an ironical symbol of man’s idiocy.) —– that is my art and who I am.)

But strangely, I made an exception to the unusual event to fill the ground of the Tower of London with Red Poppies.   (Said to be 890,000 of ceramic flowers.)

In an essence, this is an art exhibition using the Remembrance (of the War dead) Day as a pretext. (Red Poppy is the symbol of the war dead as they flowers in the old  battlefield of the western front.)

When I popped out, it was a bit of drizzle though, when the bus coming to the Tower of London, the sun blakes out and even a Rainbow appeared on front. (Top photo)

Then after a while,  the sky became like this photo.(Shadowy ground needs to have a morning sun though.)

These days, the art piece got to be massive size, it is a silly creche, the larger the work it must  impress more.  (Unless it was installed in a middle of nowhere, it’s easy to proclaim that this is a public art hence easy to get public funding and media exposure.) (it seems, it was started with that floating big duck)   😀

Red Poppy ? ? ? — they don’t look like a Poppy  though, it’s their problem.

(This photo was taken — can you believe — 20 m away ! )

 The cascading flowers was dubbed as “Weeping window” — is it ?

(A man in the cloud said “Snorting nostril” — well, it’s looks much more like.)   😀

Those photos were taken by Canon Fisheye Zoom 8~15 mm and the closer shot was made by Tamron Mirror 500mm F8 (I really love this lens.)  on the Canon EOS 5D Mk-III. 

(I went there only with those two lenses. = I knew what I need to photograph and had the pictures in my mind. —– I have 9 genuine Canon lens (from 8 to 200mm include Macro and TS lens kind) which got all different character  = I chose which one or two will suite the job.  — which mean, I don’t rely on the opportunistic discovery on the spot. — With a good luck and an opportunity even amateur can produce quite good picture.   But, I’m not an amateur = even in the worst condition, still need to fill the assignment = no excuse = That’s what professional meant. (—– I mean, when I was in the job.  —– Thanks goodness I’m out now.) Ha ha ha.   😀

By the way, a combination of photos here was a demonstration of minimal set, such that for 2 pages article in a small magazine.  If the Editor likes to emphasize an aspect of one photo, I’ll send the addition though, in this case, the most interesting kind of image is “Making Poppy” but, no doubt, it must have done in China and not available, (still, no doubt, organizer has them.) —– Though, as the Organizer is going to sell those “Poppy” to create huge profit, they may not like to expose the story behind “The Soul of British Dead Soldier = Red Poppy was cheaply mass produced in China”.)

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Autumn Cherry 2014

In a normal sens, it must be crazy to see the cherry blossom in November.

But this cherry tree is not an ordinary cherry.

= This is the Autumn Cherry which I’ve been photographing every Autumn to

Winter in a past few years.    ( I even called her Perpetual Cherry, before.    🙂 )

In the Autumn, when the tree started to change the color, this cherry start to have her

flower bud.  Then one or two bleak open.  — On the beginning, I just bumped to this flower,  and

realized,  it was not an accident or fleak,  this tree has a fixed program to have winter flowers.

Since then, I also made my custom to visit this tree when I see the season.  May be, it is

the similar kind of feeling to see an out wedded daughter come home once a year and find that

she is fine and doing well.    (Only a guess as I don’t have any kids.   🙂  )

Those photos were taken by Zeiss 85 mm F1.4 , with and without

“Homemade Ultra heavy Proxer (close-up lens)” on Canon 5D Mk-III.

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Become Immune or Irritated ?

When you read a post, like Key Mechanism in Zen Buddhists Mind you might have

mistaken that while doing repeated practice and keep receiving repeated same signal,

our brain automatically start ignoring it. —– Really ?      Think it yourself.

In the real situation, such as when you hear the same CM repeating the same name

on the radio or TV, in most of the case you just feel annoyance and irritation =

our brain, our perception couldn’t stand of it. —– So, which is the true.

— the brain become immune or become irritated and mad ?

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My explanation there was

“When a task was given by an order or from a situation in the life, first, it’s needed to

have a “Contemplation” some time interpreted as an acceptance, giving-up (to resist) or

determination to take the task (which ever it was passive or more positive, active way).

—–> And as it was accepted = no way else to go = have to face

the task head-on (this is called “Mindfulness”).

= “needed to have an acceptance” (whether, I’ll do / I have to do / I need to do).

This acceptance or determination, mind-set has to come first, preceding to the act.

And this determination = the conviction “I’ll DO” makes the same task, such as  

sweeping the garden,  from just a task to the practice to reach the Enlightenment.

Lord Buddha did know this from the beginning therefore in his earliest teachings of

“Four Noble Truth” he said

1) The Life is in sufferings.

2) There was the cause of those sufferings. (because of Karma, hence  impermanence)

3) So, it is necessary to (actively) seek the way to escape from the sufferings.

4) And the Buddhism is the way to overcome those sufferings.

Lord Buddha didn’t go any deluded idea, how this world was created by whom kind

of mumbo-jumbo but straight into the reality of the life = It IS the sufferings, and

telling the people to accept it first. 

First to accept, then seek the remedy.  And the way to seek the remedy is the way of

the repeated practice.  So that, the repeated same signal in the brain doesn’t cause

the repulsion but just accepted, then got used => ignored => so, the person become

immune to such signal while carrying out the daily life = => become immune to

the sufferings in the life general => able to live in peace without feel sufferings = is the

Enlightenment.   (What a clever magic or the clever design of the brain mechanism !)

= this is the mechanism (the Dharma) everybody was born to have

= therefore, anybody can get the Enlightenment !

= This is THE beauty of Buddhism.

___/\___

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Funeral Party (of Space Hijackers)

On the Halloween night, an Anarchist group Space Hijackers had their own funeral.

Is it really mean the end of their organization or it was just another ploy to attract

party goers, are waited to be seen. (They might  say, Goodness, We were resurrected.)

Anyway, what ever the excuse, it was a good busy party.  (Though, with rather slow

music, I did little dancing and spent most of the time photographing the people.

—– on the big party, DJ doesn’t go to hard-core = they do soft focus too.  😀  )

Photo was taken by my  two-element homemade lens.  (Originally a small  plastic lens

came from a toy camera and its 27 mm focal length was extended by a short-eye-sighted

specs lens from Hoya.  It’s called Retrofocus Lens design and the focal length now is

38 mm which enabled the lens to be used on the DSLR.)   I like this soft focus lens

—– but, it has no control.  And almost all blind shooting. (No use of finder)

Still, pocket sized flash-light with umbrella worked pretty well.  I like it. 

I’m not putting caption to each photo.   They are as it looks.  

And you must know your own photo. = You can Copy if you like.

Some familiar faces are the old members of Hijackers and they do

all the work and DJ as well.

The members who is wearing red pants can get in free = so, they exposed theirs.  😀

M m m m m m m m — some are quite pretty !

BTW, if you are not happy with those fuzzy images,  you’ve bumped to the wrong man.

You should have asked your friend’s iPhone to have your own photo taken.

The photos were taken by the lens I made myself = (and I’m qualified to do this kind. )

They were aimed to be fuzzy. ( fuzzy but omnifocus = thanks, no need to focus.)

Photo is for a fun (of myself) = if you ask me serious business, I have to charge !  😀 

—————–

PS :  Other photographer wondered the lighting technique, how they were done ? =

It was not an ordinary flash-lighting, nor white plastic cap kind or bounce flash.

It was a handheld lighting of a flash with small umbrella ( — see the photo.)

(Umbrella was an one-off special made and the support frame was my handmade.)

 

 

 

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