Month: May 2007

Click, delete, click, delete

Photography can be a bit of a black art, but then anyone who has picked up any camera that is more than a point-and-shoot will know that. Aperture this, exposure that, bracketing, f numbers, focal distances and on and on and on with the terminology.

Of course that’s the same with any technology, I know, so I guess what I’m really saying is that I’ve yet to experience that lightbulb moment, that mental switch where everything goes from being “Maybe if I … ” to “I know this’ll look better if …”.

I guess this is what makes a hobby, a hobby. Specialist knowledge. Right?

As I’m constantly trying to improve my knowledge, and hone my, ahem, art, I generally spend some time analysing the photos I have taken, trying to figure out how they could be improved. I’m not a huge fan of heavy post-processing, so pretty much what you see is what you get.

One thing I’ve always been fairly happy with is my ability to frame things, to pick out an interesting angle or viewpoint. But even that has been failing me recently.

For example, our wander around Glasgow Botanic Gardens offered plenty of opportunity for ‘interesting’ photos. The main greenhouse in particular, cries out for attention and, of the many photos I took only two really stand out, this one and this one.

But just viewing them tells me that there are other photo opportunities that I missed.

Now, I know that this will always be the case, and that that is nothing new but it’s still a little annoying. With all the mumbo-jumbo that surrounds photography, and my increasing frustration at the slow rate at which I’m picking it up (I’m usually a fast learner), the fact that the one ‘skill’ I thought I had seems to be deserting me too… well it’s a little annoying. But I’ve said that already.

One of the two photos contains the ‘missed opportunity’. Can you spot which one? And can you spot what the ‘missed opportunity’ was?

Just curious. In case it’s, you know, just me.

May 7, 2007

Drawn to Water

Recently, Hg was musing on how he is “fascinated by the sparseness of the planet’s polar extremes and specifically by artistic responses to the territory”. He quote from Brian Keenan’s book, Four Quarters of Light, and it’s such a great quote that I have to repeat it here:

“Wilderness to the creative mind is like a blank canvas to a painter: it is full of possibilities. Here is perfect peace and absolute freedom; here too may be the prologue of melancholy or bliss. In the wilderness there are no ready-made roads; you make your own and go where you choose.”

Isn’t that glorious. The entire post is worth a read and really struck a chord, and as well as having me rush off to order the book itself (well, rush to the nearest online bookstore that is), it had me pondering my great romance with water.

Or to be precise, for tap and bottled water isn’t quite what I have in mind, large of bodies of water. Be they rivers, lochs, lakes or seas, they seem to drawn me to them and once there allow my mind to wander freely, unburdened and unconstrained. It’s not always a wilderness but by their very nature they are wild, untamed and far removed from my sedate lifestyle. They can invoke great emotions, and hold many memories for me.
(more…)

May 5, 2007

Costa de la destinación Tropical

OK, if this link works correctly, the cross marks the exact position on the roof terrace where I’ll spend most of my days next week. The beach is just too far (well not really … scroll down that page a little… ).

The weather looks ok, and I’ve got a fully loaded iPod and a few books to get me through. I may have to resort to alcohol at some points of.. every evening.. but don’t worry, I’ll survive.

And don’t panic, I have found the time to line up the odd post for you to keep you amused in my absence. Ohh sure there are other blogs you COULD read but, frankly, why would you? I mean aside from the fact they are better written, funnier, more interesting and maintained by much smarter people… they aren’t written by ME are they. Pffftttt.

I will think of you all whilst slapping on the suntan lotion, or splashing in the pool and I DO expect some comments on my posts. Ohh and don’t post any links in your comments or they’ll get held for moderation and won’t appear until I get back. You have been warned.

Mind you, whilst I’m not PLANNING on checking in… well, you know how it goes. You don’t? Well it generally goes something like this:

“Ohh this is lovely, strolling along the promenade, stopping when we like… don’t you think darling?”
“Ehh.. wot? Ohh strolling… yes. Lovely.. Promenade… mmmmmm…”
“What are you looking at over there?”
“Me? Nothing.. well.. actually.. you know what… I think that looks lik..”
“Don’t you dare!”
“Wot? Aawww come on, it serves coffee too… ”
“I thought you said you ‘could survive a week’ without worrying about that bloody website of yours!!”
“But, darling, angel, love of my life, I’ve covered this already…“

Anyway, enough jabber. See you all on the 12th, play nice.

May 3, 2007

Writing isn’t important

Like most professionals I’m a member of various mailing lists, all of which deal with very similar issues, usually with overlapping people and discussions as well. The field of Technical Communications is wide and varied but there is always one type of query which is guaranteed to get a response… or 50 responses… sometimes more.

They are typically asked innocently enough, and at face value you’d think that most of them can be answered fairly simply and without too much back and forth. But, of course you are discounting one major factor, that holds true in many industries but does seem to be more prevalent in mine. Pedantry.

The vagaries of the English language are well-documented and far-reaching, yet time and again whenever any such question crops up there is an inevitable torrent of replies, most of which offer differing advice. When dealing with such queries, the one consistent recommendation is to pick your own way (of punctuating bulleted lists, or introducing example screenshots) and stick to it, but that is usually lost among the myriad of suggestions and arguments that arise.

Now, the title of this post is misleading because, of course, writing is a huge part of my job and if I couldn’t write properly … well I’d probably be out of a job by now.

However there is a feeling that, whisper it now, most readers aren’t that bothered about HOW we write, just that we write information that is useful and understandable.

You see, whilst a lot of technical writers studied English, more and more people coming into the profession come from a technical background first and foremost. Naturally this doesn’t mean that they can’t write properly but it does mean that the finer nuances and obscure rules of the English language might be lost on them. Or at the very least they might not even KNOW what verb construct they used in a sentence, but they will know that it scans and reads well, and that the user of the documentation will understand it without further explanation.

And yes, I lump myself into this ‘new breed’ of technical writers.

The minute one of those grammar/usage questions is posted on the mailing lists I cringe.

Partly because I know that a lot of terms that I have no knowledge of (nor inclination towards) will be used, and partly because, honestly, I don’t care.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a middle ground to be found. The best information in the world is useless if you can’t understand it, but equally the best information in the world is useless if it’s buried knee-deep in long, warbling, (if beautifully crafted) prose.

Good technical knowledge does not replace good writing. Similarly good writing does not replace technical knowledge but, within the software industry at least, it does seem like the latter takes precedence.

So, ultimately, writing isn’t that important.

May 2, 2007

Gordon's Mum Writes

Whilst I’ve written about this in the past (thanks to Donalda, who STILL doesn’t have a blog and I think she’d be a big hit, for finding it for me), my Mum has responded to a recent request for the “Gordon Gordon” story.

I’ve never tried guest authors, but as it’s my Mum… mind you, this is definitely a one-off, if you want any more tales from my Mumsy then she’ll need to setup a blog of her own (which would, as it happens, give her the, apparently, much sought after coloured name in the comments).

The previous two sentences will make NO sense whatsoever if you don’t visit the comments here very often. Sorry about that, but it IS your own fault.

So, without further ado:

Dad wanted to call you Moray – after the Firth, and I wanted Neil – after a lot of thought. We had considered Ramsay – dad’s middle name and Todd, grandpa’s middle name and Scott, gran’s maiden name. However we were still arguing about Neil and Moray when I went into labour. If you were a girl it was to be Joanne – both agreed on that.

You took a while to appear (you’ve made up for that by being early for everything since then) and as I was tucking into lentil soup followed by strawberry ice cream (which reappeared later as my stomach was already full) Dad suddenly said ‘what about Gordon?’ – my maiden name. Sounded nice and when you arrived you looked like a Gordon so that stuck.

Dad phoned the new Grandma and grandpa to tell them the good news.

“We’ve just had a boy and we are going to call him Gordon”

“Gordon Gordon?” says Gran.

“No your daughter married 3 years ago and changed her name if you remember…. so it’s Gordon McLean !”

So there you have it.

And yes, it’s quite nice having two family names.

May 2, 2007