So Derren Brown is making another series, and once again, it's up to Roehampton University to supply him with countless suggestible students for him to mock and ridicule on an international stage.
Two days ago he offered a free show in exchange for willingness to appear on his new TV show. That is an extremely reasonable exchange, considering how life-changing his shows can be. And, like last time, it was a simple hypnosis show, where he hypnotised a decent portion of the students there, including my new friend Cattrina and Cocoa. Once again, I wasn't hypnotised, much to my dismay.
With girly names and forgetting 'seven' and hot chairs, he really impressed me when he made himself invisible. Cocoa remembered her name after a little while, so she was sent to the less-suggestible section of the crowd, but Cattrina was hypnotised throughout and retold her experience afterwards (despite being able to see him occasionally during the invisibility skit).
I tried to meet him after the show, but he was busy. However, Cocoa managed to get a photo with him.
I am quite jealous. But once again it has reignited my love of Mentalism. I was told that I'd be contacted for appearing in the show at a later date, despite not being one of the suggestible people.
Yesterday, I went ahead and bought the lens I've been lusting over for months. It's the EF 50mm f/1.8 II. Not only is it a wonderfully fast lens (I can use a shutter speed up to twelve times faster), but it's also an EF lens, means that it fits any modern Canon camera, not just the digital ones with smaller sensors. This means that the EOS 5 (that I got from eBay without a lens for £30) is finally more than a paperweight, and is a serious photo taking machine ("camera"). I also bought some ISO 50 black and white film. Although it was £4, and that angered me somewhat.
The JCS has finally started. Once again, I am at the helm and enjoying it, especially the stress of being totally responsible. I don't know why, but I love it when I'm in charge of something and I have to find a solution to a problem in a limited time. It's hugely stressful, but I get the most satisfaction from solving those issues. We had a big Wagamama trip last week (after Hare and Tortoise imposed a minimum spend on us), and now we are teaching Japanese (again) and Chinese (Mandarin) at the society, and showing films regularly, as per usual. It's great stuff.
So, after semi-failing at developing film last time (and wasting an unused film in the process), I tried developing a film that I knew was full (I'd finished it earlier that day). I developed it in the same way, using the same chemicals, being just as nervous, thinking that I was about to ruin my South Africa film photos. But as I pulled out the roll, not only did it work, but every shot was correctly exposed, as I expected and looked great. The only shot that failed was one that Taigh had snapped off accidentally while experimenting.
I made a digital shot with a similar lens from the same place. This shot of my father shows the difference in cropping and the dynamic range that you can get from film. This was one shot that really made me realise that film was still worth shooting. Although digital is a less likely to get dusty.
Film shooting also helped me make my first diptych, and first really cheesy cat picture.
And I always love to have my car in there. Lightroom allowed me to do some Split Toning too.
I have been planning a couple of articles that I could write for my blog, but I haven't had the dedication to write them yet, so keep your eyes open.
I'll be back to blog soon. I'll let you know how Akira goes on Thursday.