Black and white is best developed at 20ºC/68ºF. Colour is best developed at 38ºC/100ºF. Different film types have different development times and different film speeds have different development times. That makes for a helluva lot of development times. I mature and I read, I interact and I absorb and I am slowly more encouraged. I learn that humankind is not too dissimilar from me. A plastic sheet base coated with a gelatin emulsion is what makes photographic film. In an aqueous environment, the gelatin layer is more receptive to chemical treatments. The gelatin emulsion of film contains microscopically small silver…
It wasn’t March. It was May. May 31st 2019. The Ides of March; mid March brings the bad juju, but there was no full moon. Bad luck or a bullet dodged? Eeeny meeny miney moe………or just another day.
Ben and I were in Bratislava, seated at a cafe that wanted to be a bar. We were not well versed in the art of war. Ben was analysing the grain in the table, and I was eyeing a young lady suspiciously. She had moved slowly and stiffly past the counter in a hidden skeletons kind of way. We downed two beers…
We arrive in a hospital room from a womb and are immediately brandished by the Joneses. Our days are no longer driven by survival against the elements, they are driven by survival against ourselves. We exist in a more privileged time than ever, a time when we are ever-increasingly aware of our own awareness. All those feelings we often mute with fear or paralyse with ‘socially acceptable’. The pressure to live within a construct of ‘proverbial’ wisdom often fashioned through dictatorship or fascism. Some of us relish being a Stepford wife and living behind a white picket fence. Some allow…
I was feeling a little like Grace Kelly in this moment; by no means in looks (bar the blonde), just in momentary ambience and action. I was in a 1950esque wooden and woven cane locker room. The kind reminiscent of vintage Thonet Bentwood rocking chairs. I know this because my mum had two of them. I am in a locker room (öltözo) at the Rudas baths (Rudas fürdő) in Budapest, changing into swimwear. My mind’s view of my body dictates that I should be slipping into a tunic. In reality, I was putting on a bright pink bikini thanks to…
Dawn and dusk, the cusp of day and night. The cusp of a song. I embrace cusps, I guess it’s the anticipation. My partner, Ben, and I had just arrived in Colombo. We were on the cusp of a Sri Lankan holiday, albeit with a 3 hour drive from Colombo to Galle ahead of us. I was feeling Carmen Sandiego vibes — seventies and eighties babies will understand.
We had hired a driver for the trip, as recommended. We were on the tail end of thirty-six hours of flight delays, pithy food vouchers, bench-sleeping, and flight-board cursing. I don’t like…
My current drug of choice is travelling to a region as yet uncharted (by me), devoid of expectation — an immense challenge with today’s media saturation. At times, it proves to be a calming narcotic; at others, a muted adrenaline shot. I had no expectations of Ljubljana or Slovenia, my mind a tabula rasa in relation to this Balkan land. Google informed me the area is renowned for its cuisine. Slovenian wine has also apparently gained a reputation. Yet, as a globally known tourist destination, the region appears fresh. …
I write about my travel experiences and the forever contrast that is life.