Motion Picture AND Photoshop Frippery!

Back in the early days of this blog I wrote two posts: one was about movement in pictures - blurred edges instead of catching something in suspended animation; the other was about the fun you can have by fettling your pictures in Photoshop (or the like). I love experimenting with different effects on my camera or in Photoshop: I love taking the mediocre pictures and making them into something really special just by messing around with something as banal as the contrast.

When I went to the Belgian Grand Prix last year I took some bad pictures. Really bad pictures. I tried to capture the movement and failed. I tried to capture them in suspended animation and failed. My only option was to drag them all into Photoshop and try to bring about a miracle.

 This was one of my pictures. Poor colour, no real definition, not the kind of thing you'd really want to hang on your wall. Photoshop was my only solution to haul this poor piece of photography away from its gloomy fate in my recycle bin...

I'm pretty proud of the finished outcome, but then again I love pictures like this. I'm a big fan of pop art and bold blocks of colour: they really are the pictures I'd hang on my wall - in fact I just might get that one printed.

One of the photos I took when I was with my cousin in Formby was one of these awful washed-out images that wasn't really going to win any awards, or even just wall space. I introduced it to Photoshop.

It's not the best image I've ever come out with, but it's certainly better than the original. It's not destined for my wall, but I've maybe saved it from the recycle bin for the time being...

Road Trippin'

Formby, England, 2010

We Are Family!

Currently I've jumped in Padova, Gardaland, Trento, Venice, Bologna, Milan, Manchester, Verona, Switzerland, Lake Maggiore, Florence, Rome, St Andrews, at a boiled meat festival, and at a rice festival, to name but several...

Since I started jumping regularly (in 2008) it's been quite a whistle-stop tour, and that doesn't count all the times I visited places and just didn't get round to jumping. I've been a busy bee. Unfortunately, the life of a busy bee can sometimes be a little neglectful of the people who aren't on the same road as you. In fact it is extremely neglectful of the people that are equally as busy but are instead following their sat nav in a completely different direction - only rarely do your paths cross.

This is the situation with my cousin. We love spending time together, but we don't get to do it very often because we're both flying round the world and living hectic lives without trying to organise cross-country (as in nation and not the Cotswolds) meet-ups.

When, back in the summer of 2010, I returned home for a wedding, we took full advantage of being in the same place at the same time and went for a day out at the beach. It was great fun - we had loads to catch up on and for once the English sunshine rivalled the Italian variety I'd gotten used to (well nearly...).

In order to mark the day in a more special way, I wanted her to take a jumping photo for me.

This took some time.

But we got there in the end.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Formby, England, 2010

Afternoon Tea

So after my attempt at cross-cultural relations, I caught the train to Padova to have afternoon tea with my friends. The dress-code was tennis whites, although they made an exception with my cream cricket jumper. My friends called it 'Afternoon Tea' but really it was a large bowl of Pimms and lots of cake to soak it all up.

There was an enormous victoria sponge on offer - each half was an entire cake (sometimes I love miscalculations); we had brought a plethora of freshly-baked scones; some of the other attendees (hailing from other European countries and America) had a go at bringing something relevant (with little success) and of course there was the Pimms punch (complete with cucumber).

It was a really British affair - well apart from the fact that we were sitting on a rooftop in Padova in 27 degree heat, legitimately wearing yah-ishly large sunglasses. It was what people in Britain wish would happen when they have their own afternoon tea parties.

The internationals present at the time were quite astounded with what we could achieve with some eggs, flour, [very expensive] butter [with rivets in the package - seriously what is with that, you could knock at least a Euro off the price if you took the rivets out]. Anyway, with the various ingredients and plenty of jam and cream we'd created a real English treat. The icing on the proverbial cake, however, was what the Italians gave us in return... Sunshine... Lovely.

And I know it's gonna be a lovely day!

Padova, Italy, 2010

Cross-Cultural Relations

Sometimes my life in Italy put me in a real quandry. I fell in love with Italy, the Italian culture, the Italian people, Italian coffee... That said, there were some occasions that above all I just wanted a cup of PG Tips with proper water; I craved roast dinners; I longed for Pimms...

I wished that I could find an appropriate hybrid with the best of British and the best of la dolce vita. Compromise was of course key, but I think I managed to get by quite happily. My parents sent me four boxes of PG Tips and I bought a funny Italian teapot; I turned my nose up at instant coffee and drank only the full-bodied Italian stuff (out of a Moka); I ate my pasta al dente; I showed my roommate how to make scones; I took a casual attitude to queueing; I watched Spooks and Never Mind the Buzzcocks of an evening; I got tanned; my blonde hair went blonder; I supported England in the World Cup; I supported Ferrari in the Formula 1; I drank Pimms in the afternoon and a Spritz at aperativo time. The Toyota Prius has nothing on me.

Anyway, this is all well and good, but I wanted to sum this up in a picture, and a jumping picture at that. I think I've managed it quite well: a cricket jumper and one of Italy's more ramshackled train stations...

Mind the Gap

Verona, Italy, 2010