Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
If you ever find yourself watching the news and experiencing extreme déjà vous it may not be such a coincidence after all. You are quite possibly experiencing one of the phenomenons of modern media: over-repetitive use of certain words and phrases.
Take the word shocking for instance. This of course is a word that is used to describe any event that we find tragic, disastrous, disturbing, unpleasant, violent, sudden, unexpected, frightening and so on. Try watching any of the news bulletins on the BBC, who seem to prefer the word shocking to any other synonym, and shocking events may very well be reported. Don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself.
A search for the word shocking on the BBC website site yields 1,674 audio & video results alone. Taken in context of the total number of results to search through and that might not seem like many, but consider some synonyms for shocking and their comparitive audio & video results: startling (22), astounding (21), staggering (65) and appalling (239). So, of 2,021 total occurences, nearly 83% are of shocking.
The BBC are not alone, however, as results from Sky News are roughly proportionate (75%). If, on the other hand, we look at the same results for an organisation with a print background, such as The Guardian (31%) or The Sun (45%) the distinction is much less marked though still significant.
The great advantage that shocking has over its synonyms is probably impact value - this is a word that fairly rolls off the tongue and can be said very emphatically - more so than, say, appalling. This illustrates why the results we have seen are less for print media, where the advantage is less than that gained through screen media.
Something that is far harder to evaluate is how accurately this reflects our everyday speech. Do we simply attribute this to lazy journalism, or is this a symptom indicative of modern English usage? Personally I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in between - journalists like to use some words more than others because of their impact value, whilst we probably choose to use the same words more often in our everyday speech for the same reason. Because certain words and phrases have higher impact value, they are more easily imprinted upon us and, as a result, more easily called to mind.
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Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
When I first took up photography, I wasn’t very good at it. Many of the photos I took weren’t composed with much thought, or were snapped ad-hoq. Below is one such example, taken in the Lake District:
Had I taken my time to set up and been patient, there might have been a good shot to be had. Instead this was the result. So opportunity lost.
A couple of years later I was moving some files when I came across this picture again, and I ended up spending some time using it to experiment with creative effects. And this is the result:
By breaking the image into different layers and applying different effects to each, such as Découpage, Gaussian Blur and colour filters, I was able to convert this missed opportunity into something that, though not a classic, certainly has its value. I was able to learn some new techniques and turn the original into something a bit different.
This made me realise that whilst in years gone by these sorts of shots would have been discarded, with the advent of digital photography, and software such as Photoshop, we can still make some use of them. The ugly duckling might not become a swan (pardon the pun), but you might be able to create something interesting and different. Even film negatives can now be scanned and manipulated in the same way.
So before you discard the photos you’re not happy with remember that there might be something more worthwhile trying to get out. At the very least, they can offer the chance for some experimentation, learning and inspiration.
For example, applying new styles to a photo that didn’t turn out right might lead to inspiration for a future attempt with a slightly different approach, or lead to an idea that can be applied to other, better quality pictures later on.
Rather than wondering if a bad photo equals a wasted photo, perhaps we should be wondering if there is even any such thing as a bad photo…
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Sunday, April 6th, 2008
As evidence of continued weather-based strangeness comes this photo:
Last week, conversation in our office turned to “Spring has Sprung” related topics as the weather warmed up. Four days later, and we have a full-on blizzard. No doubt all traffic and public transport has come to a screeching halt as is the tradition in the UK. The news will be full of stories of poor unfortunates who have been delayed from reaching their destinations “by several hours” as the media reach a code-red level of slow-news hysteria, again a traditional British pursuit. Small stranded motorway communities will find a means of surviving on sweets and snacks purchased / looted from a distant service station…
Meanwhile, my own personal crisis has occurred - I have been watching the blanket build up in our back garden all morning until it reached the point of perfect consistency - no grass showing through etc. Suddenly this was disturbed by an inconsiderate neighbour from the upstairs flat trampling across the communal lawn and ruining the symmetry. This has set back neighbourly diplomatic relations some years.
So the following questions require answers, and I am sure we will be looking to the BBC to provide them: Will we survive? How many homes will be destroyed? And will Tom Jackson from Redhill make it to the shops before sundown?
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Feeding time: