367-50 Week 25

This should be an interesting week. Delivering the training on dull psychometrics this week as well as (in one's role as el presidente) MC'ing the City of Belfast Photographic Society annual exhibition. The weekend brings the Festival of Fools in Belfast City Centre and there's talk of a potential photoshoot with the Belfast Roller Derby ladies on Sunday morning.

30/04/12

This is my big son Conor in the back of my car, shot with a 10-24 zoom at it's widest. It makes for an interesting shot. It also makes my car look like a bloody limo rather than the small sporty convertible it actually is.

1/05/12

I discovered this religious comic sitting on a table in a school staff room today. It tells the story of the amazing Mr Harper who was apparently on the Titanic. It's pretty turgid stuff and comes complete with a range of incredible puzzles. However, what caught my eye was Mr Harper's declaration to his daughter. What exactly was the good news he was giving out about Jesus? I suspect it was either that Jesus wasn't on the Titanic or that if he was, he could walk home when the boat sank. I apologise to any of my readers who are religious, but I find this type of thing moderately disturbing. And vaguely amusing.

2/05/12

After all of last week's complaining, I got to deliver my training on psychometrics to a small group of SENCO's this afternoon in the Antrim Board Centre. Nice bunch of people, and not one of them fell asleep. The old joke about the Rorschach Inkblots went down well. Everyone went home armed with a big box of test gear. Good help those children.

3/05/12

This is Milly - living proof that when one door closes, another one opens. Or as my grandmother used to say, when one door closes, another slams in your face.

4/05/12

The Festival of Fools opened in Belfast with two big shows yesterday and today in St Anne's Square. Apart from being good craic, there's millions of photo opportunities to be had for the keen togger. This the lady who was conducting the band and singing for the show tonight. Shot with the big beast of a 70-200 f2.8 Tamron lens in case you're interested.

5/05/12

More Festival of Fools today. This isn't the best shot of the day but this was one of the better juggling acts at the festival - Haggis and Charlie. Lively and funny - I would have liked to have seen a bit more variety and a bit more juggling with fire but hey - you can't have everything.

6/05/12

8am Sunday morning, Belfast City centre. 4 hours of shooting the Belfast Roller Derby girls in action during the making of a promo video. This tired me out, even if I was already knackered after a poor night's sleep. It was an amazing morning and we were able to get some excellent shots. Several re-takes were needed due to my exceptional ability to stray into the shot when filming. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

367-50 Week 24

Bienvenue, Ola, Hoz Geldinitz and so on. Welcome to week 24 - yes that's WEEK 24 of my dinky little photoblog.  God only knows what's coming up this week. Nothing planned in advance and no known photoshoots in the works, except for a camera club outing on Wednesday night.

23/04/12

Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM+ for short) was invented in 1938 and by 1942 was being used by Britain and the USA as an IQ screener for all new soldiers. Welcome to the 2012 version which now includes a very test of ability as well as the good old visual matrices. But why take a photo of this? I'm doing a training session next Wednesday on a new batch of psychometric tests being given out to all post-primary schools and this is one of the tests in the box. It's incredibly dull stuff and I can't think of any way to liven it up except to throw in a few pics. Jokes about psychometric tests are thin on the ground. Mind you, if anyone knows one - leave me a comment on the blog or e-mail me at michaelbarbour902@btinternet.com. Best joke that can be used next week will win a pint at my earliest convenience. *Update* See joke at bottom of blog - all my own work.

24/04/12

Spent all day in Larne, assessed two nursery children (observations and psychometrics and interviews with staff and parents) and got to drive half way home with the roof down. Then went to take the kids aikido class when we graded two of the newest students. The went home and went out for a run - one hour with no stops. I'll not tell you how far I covered but it wasn't as much as the target of 7 miles for the marathon relay leg. My picture - me after my run. I forgot to take my camera out with me today.

25/04/12

I'm on a wee bit of a roll here in terms of strange things I've encountered in the offices of various solicitors. Today was a real gobsmacker. An innocent question - "where's the bathroom" actually lead me to a door behind which was .....a bathroom. Complete with corner bath and shower cubicle which you can't see in this shot. I felt like cancelling the interview I had scheduled and taking a bath.

26/04/12

Comber Greenway, between the Sandown and Beersbridge Roads. North Road bridge in the distance. It's cold and wet. Weather's miserable. Running a little and feeling like shit.

27/04/12

Dirty and grainy shot of the same walkway at sunset. This is at the end, heading into the Holywood Arches. It's not pretty. This and the previous shot were both taken and processed using the Camera Awesome app on the iphone 4.

28/04/12

This is the almost finished backwall gallery for the City of Belfast Photographic Society exhibition with most of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed prints on display. Unfortunately I had to leave before it was finished with the highly commended and commended prints still to be hung. I'm pleased to have four there so far, with a few more to come. I'm also very proud of my 9 year old daughter, who has two first placed prints in the novice/beginner/general section and four pictures up there - damn! She has the same amount as me.

29/04/12

I planted three forest flame bushes in pots in the front garden last year - they've all been out in flower for some time and all have different coloured flowers. These are the white variety - the other two are red/pink and variagated pink/white. They've done really well but I suppose they need to be planted in the ground at some stage.

Cheers for stopping by and having a look at the blog. Don't be shy and drop me a message on the blog - feedback gratefully accepted.

*Update*
Just remembered the joke about the man who goes to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist takes out the Rorschach Ink Blots and shows the man the first one, asking what he can see. The man says "I see a gorgeous naked lady and she's looking at me in a very inviting way." The psychiatrist shows the man the next ink blot and the man says "I see two people making mad passionate love."
The psychiatrist says "I think I can see the problem - you're obsessed with sex."
The man says "me? You're the one showing all these dirty pictures!"