Last dose of London...

...at least this year. Although there will be some random people shots up later. :-) Enjoy!

The Tower of the London of Steel

And there's another batch coming your way. No blah blah today, whatever, most of you don't read my rants anyway. ;-) These are all from the Tower and around. We didn't go in, as it was crowded and expensive, and I'd been there before, but it was a nice walk nonetheless.

These photos have a bit colder colours, and look good on my display. Please let me know if I overdid it and it looks too blueish on yours. Also, I wish to register a complaint, as shooting when it's as cloudy as this is a bitch, original photos were all hazy and boring.

Spying at LSE

For those very few hard-core enough to venture beyond LSD, there is a special treat in London. Posing as one of the world's most überbest universities, only its name suggests that there's more to LSE than they would like us to know. ;-)

The preliminary results of my espionage mission on this target were pretty confusing, as it seemed that they managed to hide this secret very well, while at the same time exhibiting rather lax security allowing me to sneak into their enormous library, or freely eat at their cantina. :-)

This post is mostly here for my dearest, to whom I've promised to take a few shots of the campus, as well as for our friends from the LSE Summer School 2008. So go ahead and shed a tear of nostalgy, or perhaps two. Miss the place?




PS: I haven't forgotten about the post I've promised about my post-processing techniques, but I just can't afford the time to write it right now. A realistic expectation is that it will be here within several weeks. :-)

Happy anniversary!

It is by accident that I've noticed this exactly today, because it certainly doesn't feel that way, but I've been exhibiting my obviously unsurpassed graphomaniacal phase here for a whole year exactly today. :-) I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised, because I didn't think I would post often after a month or two, nor did I think that people would still be actually reading this after such a time.

A little statistic is in order to summarise: on average I've written more than one new post each week (58), received over 28 hits each day (10500!) produced three and a half megabytes of hypertext, linked hundreds of images... and thanks to this blog (and having a fairly uncommon surname, of course :-D) I am now officially #1 Hinca on the web. ;-)

And while, naturally, creating something and having my thoughts and photos online in one place is a sort of motivation for me in itself, it wouldn't be worth it without all of you participating, and maybe appreciating it with an occasional word of praise. :-) So thank you all, and I hope that the coming year is going to be just as good!

Squirrels!

This one is for the kids mostly, although there is one photo here that I especially like: The squirrel with the old woman's hand. She was a real deranged hermit :-), the squirrels had some strange affinity towards her. Kulida will kindly forgive that there are only two squirrels, yet several photos. :-P All shot in St. James park.






And I'll also add the hermit for Filip. :-) And a little bird also on her hand. It was a nice and entertaining shoot overall, and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail and magnification I was able to squeeze from the lens.

God Must be a Hippie

This post is long overdue, because I just couldn't get myself to process the photos. As for the post-processing, I know these look unreal. But that's not my fault! There is no HDR applied, and color is not edited at all! Seriously, I have deliberately left all the Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Vibrance, and other similar sliders alone. The colors are exactly as shot, and much less crazy than they were in reality. On the second thought, perhaps I should have made them more vibrant. :-)

So, being unrealistic enough on their own, that is sort of their selling point, because the sky was INSANE that evening. I went out and was like "WTF? The end is at hand, Sabaton has finally met Amon Amarth in the Final Battle." Seriously, whatever deity involved must have been stoned.

I only made a few documentary shots, nothing really artistic, so don't grumble about the composition, or stuff, I was being chased around by dad who wanted me to mow the lawn and his patience was getting thin. :-) Needless to say, I was moving it so that I was always facing the sunset. It turned even better later, but I couldn't go get the camera and reshoot, because he would probably break my lens with a spade. :-D

London Revisited (HDR)

My little treasure obviously got addicted to schoolwork after getting her degree, so she decided to attend the LSE summer school in London. As I would have probably died of sorrow back here alone, I had to come visit her for at least a while. Besides, it was a great opportunity to get back to my beloved London, stay at her place for cheap, and breathe in international student's life for one more time.

I booked the flight with SkyEurope, only to have to argue with who had to be the most annoying airline employer ever, because those lousy crooks made me pay 1280,- for the privilege to check-in my case. I will think several times before I fly with them again.

As a related experience from the airport, here's a transcript of my dialogue with a security officer in Bratislava.

Him: (Making me show him my 0.5 l mineral water bottle.) "Don't you know you can't take liquids past the security checkpoint? Throw it away at once!"
Me: (Playing perplexed.) "Really? And why would that be? It's only mineral water, after all."
Him: (Annoyed.) "It could be an explosive."
Me: (Taking a sip from the bottle.) "I see. It tastes pretty damn good for an explosive, wanna try?"
Him: "I told you to throw it into the bin."
Me: (Thoughtful.) "Wait a minute... what if it really is an explosive?"
Him: "What?"
Me: "Wow, you guys are just precious. You take a suspected explosive from most of people who pass the security checkpoint, and then just put them all together into the same plastic bin right in the middle of a crowded airport? Have you got a death wish?"
Him: (Stares blankly.)
Me: (Still drinking from the bottle.) "Seriously now. It's as dangerous here as it would be in the air. If you are taking my water away because you suspect it's an explosive, I demand it to be treated as such! Why don't you call for a bomb disposal unit?"
Other officer: (Loses his face and starts laughing.)
Him: "Throw it away if you want to fly today."
Me: (Laughing as well. Having finished the bottle, I pack it back into the backpack to refill it later...) "Sorry, I don't have any water anymore. Have a god day, officer! And take care..."

We stayed at Rosebery hall, an LSE dormitory some 30 minutes from central London with most of the sights readily accessible on foot, including the LSE main campus.

As Jana had to attend classes daily and later got sick, I had a lot of time to enjoy on my own, accompanied only by my trusty camera. It's not that I don't love walking around with anyone else, but I hate to spoil shots because I am hurried, and don't want to keep them waiting... so sometimes I find solitude rather enjoyable.

When I was about to build my DSLR setup, I was a little worried that after a while I won't enjoy the shooting anymore, that I'll be bored and the camera will idly sit on a shelf, begging to be at least dusted once in a few months. Well, more than 20000 photos later (that's a little under hundred photos everyday, on average) I have to say that I'm still as satisfied as when it was new, and still learning new stuff every time I go out. :-D

The light conditions were often rather photo-unfriendly, with either harsh direct light, or heavy clouds, so I decided it was high time to start experimenting with techniques I've had in my cross-hairs for quite some time now. Multiple exposures, HDR, tone-mapping, exposure blending, relighting.

It was easier than I thought to get it "somehow", but it will be pretty difficult to get it right - the tools are rather complex and I am far from having mastered them properly. There will definitely be a post coming soon explaining how to create photos such as these.

The post-processing of photos in this post varies, you will find photos that are fairly similar to a normal exposure (with a polarizing filter) but also photos that don't look realistic anymore and even resemble paintings more.

I would really like you to comment whether you like this, or if there is anything here that is too "avantgarde" for you, or you think the post-processing was screwed up. I went pretty far sometimes, so I don't really expect someone to like them all. Just please, pretty please, more feedback this time.







And this is just from the first day... there will be more coming. Sadly, it takes ages to process them in this fashion. :-) Overall, I have to say I'm pleased with the results.

Bratislava under Siege

In early 19th century that frog-eating midget Napoleon thought it was a great idea to lay siege to Bratislava and bombard it and destroy a lot of valuable cultural heritage and whatsnot... well, some people obviously feel that is a reason for celebration and reenactment, and as little Filip wanted to go and see some of that, so went I and my camera. Sadly, we didn't get to see most of the program, so I only have a bunch of random shots. On the positive side, I feel like I've really improved my flash technique. :-)

Big Brother's long fingers

It is perhaps due to my ignorance that I am noticing this now, or maybe I just dismissed it as impossible, but I was pretty shocked by a finding that struck me tonight

Especially after 9/11, it is a common occurrence that Europeans pity citizens of the United States, because their privacy is invaded at every corner, and all that newspeak and fear-mongering really remind us of Orwell's 1984. My father is even so concerned about his privacy and personal information, that he turned down an opportunity to go to the post-2001 USA several times.

In fact, when I was about to leave for the Land of Freedom to spend a semester there last fall, I even had to pay for being watched and tracked. My visa request would not be granted unless I paid a $100 fee to SEVIS, an organization whose very purpose is to spy on foreign students and visitors.

I always thought that compassion is all that we had to offer in this context, but it turns out I was wrong: Obviously, and agreement between US and EU [NY Times] is about to happen, that will give the US government access to personal data of EU citizens. Am I the only one who feels this is an outrage? Any reason we should trust Team America with this?

Of course, they claim they will only "look for suspicious activity", but just consider how the FBI abuses the Patriot Act. Do you remember that sweet pot of honey they were feeding everyone prior to the Patriot Act vote? This is a binding agreement, and indeed is a big deal. If the EU will have to turn over any such information US would ask for, I think I have yet another reason to move to Norway.

Fortunately, there are some respectable voices speaking out against this. “I am very worried that once this will be adopted, it will serve as a pretext to freely share our personal data with anyone, so I want it to be very clear about exactly what it means and how it will work,” said Sophia in ’t Veld, a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands who has been an outspoken advocate of privacy rights.

Of course, “the fight against transnational crime and terrorism requires the ability to share personal data for law enforcement.” Naturally, I am going to feel safer immediately, knowing that Ahmed ibn Muhammad, who sells Gyros in Frankfurt, has his credit report resting safe within the hands of the DHS, right next to mine.

But wait, it gets better...! “The Europeans have agreed that the American government’s internal oversight system may be good enough to provide accountability for how Europeans’ data is used.” Yeah right. I wouldn't trust the American government's internal oversight system to oversee berries-picking in my backyard. They would probably lose an unencrypted laptop with full recordings of everything I said and did during the past 18 months.

Duh. Can someone please tell me that everything is going to be okay...?

Walrus on the Lawn

Although not technically a member of the odobenidae, I believe that this speciman has much in common with the marine mammal. Thus, although Janka likes to call him Blesk (Flash), I usually call him Mrož (Walrus). There's just something about his personality and phonic demonstration that makes me sure he should have been born somewhere in the Arctics with giant tusks. :-D

Perhaps his most favourite source of nutrition are tennis balls, which he pops effortlessly and devours with great passion. ;-) Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a wee bit.

When confronted with a stray tennis ball, Walrus darts after it furiously and although sometimes he gets disoriented, usually he manages to prevail.

Lately we've been having some quality time together no less than three times a day, so in case the next time I see you I act like a marine mammal, you know that Walrus has won the battle of wits against me as well. Then again, I might offer more resistance than a drooled-over tennis ball.

Notice the strong difference between shadow and direct sunlight on the photos. Sometimes it can be a real pain to compensate for this. :-(

Also, as some of you may have noticed, it is most unjust that I blog about Walrus sooner than I do about Freya. I plead guilty and declare that this will have to be corrected sometime soon.

PS: You have to admit... the similarity is just uncanny. :-D

We wanted the best...

...and we got the best! The hottest band in the world, KISS!!

It was with mixed feelings that I've decided to pay twelve hundred crowns for a show of a band I hadn't been quite that huge a fan of... at least until now. But hey, I said to myself, they indeed are a legend, an aging one, actually, and they might not come here again. You better go and see them now that you've got the chance. Well, that may just have been my best decision recently. :-D

I have been preparing diligently for this, feeding my last.fm account a hundred or more KISS songs a week lately. The show was happening at O₂ Arena in Prague, so we left Brno before noon. As Zdeněk and Jenda are really hard-core fans, make-ups were a must, and I have to admit that a bit of their enthusiasm brushed off on me as well. Speaking of which, I am very grateful to ZZ for making this happen for me.

It took us well over an hour to paint our faces, and we were pretty satisfied with the results. :-) I have to say it was rather enjoyable to roam streets of Prague like this, especially at night. Some confused tourists even asked us for autographs. :-D Sadly, Jana has little understanding or appreciation for this delicate modern art... and there I was sooo hoping she would join us next time. ;-)

The venue is really nice. Right size for a great show, well built, with working air-conditioning (it really was a bliss, I am still surprised) it might just be the finest place I've ever been to see a concert. As always, I have to praise the security... obviously, their main concern was to keep people from bringing their own water in, it really made me feel safer than ever before. To beef it up, when you bought a small bottle of soda, they would refuse to give you the bottlecap and throw it away. Maybe they were preparing for Fallout already, but it was really annoying to be unable to close the bottle. Even more so, you weren't allowed to bring the drink you bought inside to the stage itself -- which was again the guards' main concern. As it was shortly after six and we didn't expect the show to end before eleven, this was even more annoying.

To everyone's vast surprise, the security didn't work well, and soon I had a full bottle of Fanta right before the stage. With a bottlecap on it, of course -- no one can keep my post-apocalyptic loot from me. It made me feel like a sly and cunning criminal, but then again, it really wasn't that much of a challenge to outsmart those plantlike goons. :-P

It was quite a long wait until eight, when the forerunners appeared on stage. Cinder Road, they call themselves. They are pretty weird, you can't really decide whether they are rockers or just a boy band, but in retrospect the latter seems more likely. I've seen much worse bands and their songs were not too demanding, but overall I was unimpressed. Also, their frontman must be the most feminine guy I've ever seen.

And finally, what we've all been waiting for. The best! The four old men (don't frown, this was the 35^th anniversary of the band, after all, although they really don't look like they're pushing their sixties) descended from the sky in their fancy costumes, and the utter világos started. The sound and lights were impeccable, show professional, and the band was playing one legendary hit right after another... it was sweet. It's difficult to emphasize just how spectacular the show was, and how well the music sounded, but it was earning goshu points every minute.

We managed to get pretty close and get an okay (though not fantastic) view as well, so all the flying and blood-spitting and effects were pretty impressive, even better than Iron Maiden we saw exactly a year ago.

Edited to add: The one thing that surprised me mightily was the crowd. Not only were they slightly less enthusiastic than I expected, but no one moved. During the whole three hours, not a single person bumped into me, nobody around me jumped, nobody swapped their places -- people were completely static. I haven't seen this happen (or not happen, more accurately) right in front of the stage on any concert before, let alone show this huge.

Overall, it was a very pleasant surprise, KISS managed to exceed my expectations more than just a little. For that, I award them 91 goshu points and dub them supreme világos, the second greatest of all time, surpassed by none but the classic Therion show in Miškolc. I am deeply saddened to realise that the list of meganoobs and criminals has grown yet more this week. :-(

Finally, for a little taste of what you missed, you may want to check out these vids:
I Love it Loud, Rock'n'Roll All Nite, Detroit Rock City!

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Edited to add: Zdeněk has posted a blogpost of his own today, and it's pretty good. The photos over there are better than the ones I have here, and it's definitely worth a look.