Following the wildly successful launch of photography.garen.co.uk - the first in what will almost certainly be a huge range of Garen branded internet offerings - I've been getting some direct and indirect feedback on the site, layout and content.
It's all interesting and most is actually quite useful, so if you've got anything to add to my melting pot of mods and tweaks, please drop me a note at photos@garen.co.uk.
Monday, 29 June 2015
Friday, 19 June 2015
Orient Express
So it turns out that Shanghai is big (really big), wet, grey and really rather impressive.
Sadly, in the two days I was out there I didn't really get much of a chance to see a lot of it. This was mostly due to the perpetual fog (it was fog and not the smog I'd been warned about) and torrential rain. But in the pouring sky waters, it did have a charming Blade Runner air to it and I got to see enough to understand why most other visitors are impressed.
From the view on the 29th (of 60) floor of my well appointed (and surprisingly good value) hotel, I sampled the striking view out over a tiny section of the city, complete with all its neon lighting and graphic displays twinkling, flashing and throbbing away in the evening. Cranes jutted out of the scenery here and there and the city looked like it was just alive. Old concrete tower blocks were being demolished while next to them new skyscrapers were rising out of the ground. Parks were dotted around and glitzy malls and condos mingled with ancient temples and little shikumen districts - it was a bit like a successful game of SimCity, only faster and with better traffic animations.
On visual inspection, the people seemed happy, busy, healthy and - in some places - doing rather well for themselves. And the vast majority were suspiciously young. I don't know what they did with everyone over the age of 50.
No wonder the US finds this all so threatening. And - given how massively dependent we in the UK are on our rather easily replicated service industry - how threatened we should probably feel too.
But if they are going to take over the world I have one piece of advice for them - guys, it's an awful lot easier to take the bones out of animals before you cut them up and cook them.
It also got me thinking about how challenging it would be to be an expat stuck out there, mainly due to the language barrier. More importantly, it got me thinking about how intimidating it must be for anyone to have to come over to the UK for any length of time for work and how it's hardly surprising that if you come from a very different cultural background, your first reaction will naturally be to try and find some semblance of familiarity, be it a segregated enclave or the local Irish pub.
Strange that we find communities of our "expats" in other countries perfectly reasonable but find "immigrants" (the UK media rarely distinguishes different visa types when discussing "foreigners") distasteful.
Sadly, in the two days I was out there I didn't really get much of a chance to see a lot of it. This was mostly due to the perpetual fog (it was fog and not the smog I'd been warned about) and torrential rain. But in the pouring sky waters, it did have a charming Blade Runner air to it and I got to see enough to understand why most other visitors are impressed.
From the view on the 29th (of 60) floor of my well appointed (and surprisingly good value) hotel, I sampled the striking view out over a tiny section of the city, complete with all its neon lighting and graphic displays twinkling, flashing and throbbing away in the evening. Cranes jutted out of the scenery here and there and the city looked like it was just alive. Old concrete tower blocks were being demolished while next to them new skyscrapers were rising out of the ground. Parks were dotted around and glitzy malls and condos mingled with ancient temples and little shikumen districts - it was a bit like a successful game of SimCity, only faster and with better traffic animations.
 |
| A telephone's excuse for a photograph |
On visual inspection, the people seemed happy, busy, healthy and - in some places - doing rather well for themselves. And the vast majority were suspiciously young. I don't know what they did with everyone over the age of 50.
No wonder the US finds this all so threatening. And - given how massively dependent we in the UK are on our rather easily replicated service industry - how threatened we should probably feel too.
But if they are going to take over the world I have one piece of advice for them - guys, it's an awful lot easier to take the bones out of animals before you cut them up and cook them.
It also got me thinking about how challenging it would be to be an expat stuck out there, mainly due to the language barrier. More importantly, it got me thinking about how intimidating it must be for anyone to have to come over to the UK for any length of time for work and how it's hardly surprising that if you come from a very different cultural background, your first reaction will naturally be to try and find some semblance of familiarity, be it a segregated enclave or the local Irish pub.
Strange that we find communities of our "expats" in other countries perfectly reasonable but find "immigrants" (the UK media rarely distinguishes different visa types when discussing "foreigners") distasteful.
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Padstow Puffins
So the latest little sojourn into domestic holiday delightfulness was the traditional pilgrimage to the lovely fishing town of Padstow. We managed to go slightly out of peak season, which just means that the choking mass of humanity stifling the place is confined to the centre of town and avoids spilling out into the surrounding countryside too much. Sadly, it also means the countryside is full of dogs and their owners, along with the associated noise and effluent.
Having thoroughly enjoyed our sea safari up in Oban a couple of weeks ago, we also booked a similar trip out of Padstow, not expecting the wildlife to be on the same level. While disappointed by the total lack of dolphin and seal activity, we were pleasantly surprised that Padstow has its own (much less advertised) puffin colony, which was happily much more accessible. If you're down there in the narrow window of the year when they are nesting on land with their colourful "breeding beaks" on, it's definitely worth the trip out.
Having previously trekked along the winding western coast out of Padstow to Trevone, we decided to take the ferry over to Rock and try the east side of the coast over to Polzeath. We definitely preferred this side, which finds you winding between sand dunes and popping in and out of scenic viewpoints overlooking breathtaking coastline and picturesque beaches, not to mention the fact it's much less crowded. On the stroll over there, we also looked out onto the island housing the bountiful bird colony we'd drifted contentedly around the day earlier.
Photos are popping up on the main site in their respective folders. Given the event-based nature of a lot of the recent shots and the volume building up, I'm also going to have a go rearranging the bulk of them accordingly, rather than just splitting by topic.
Having thoroughly enjoyed our sea safari up in Oban a couple of weeks ago, we also booked a similar trip out of Padstow, not expecting the wildlife to be on the same level. While disappointed by the total lack of dolphin and seal activity, we were pleasantly surprised that Padstow has its own (much less advertised) puffin colony, which was happily much more accessible. If you're down there in the narrow window of the year when they are nesting on land with their colourful "breeding beaks" on, it's definitely worth the trip out.
Having previously trekked along the winding western coast out of Padstow to Trevone, we decided to take the ferry over to Rock and try the east side of the coast over to Polzeath. We definitely preferred this side, which finds you winding between sand dunes and popping in and out of scenic viewpoints overlooking breathtaking coastline and picturesque beaches, not to mention the fact it's much less crowded. On the stroll over there, we also looked out onto the island housing the bountiful bird colony we'd drifted contentedly around the day earlier.
Photos are popping up on the main site in their respective folders. Given the event-based nature of a lot of the recent shots and the volume building up, I'm also going to have a go rearranging the bulk of them accordingly, rather than just splitting by topic.
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