iPod Meets Grumpy Old iMac

This tickled me today…

Whatever I work on, I can’t help but go to the nth degree to make sure it’s right for the recipient — even if it’s an eBay listing!

I’ve been enjoying a bit of life laundry recently through eBay, the perfect method for recycling instead of disposing.

All those years ago, I was so excited to receive my very first iPod (above) for Christmas one year but the time was right for it to find a new home.

As you might imagine, I keep the boxes and original documents for most things — the makings of a good future eBay listing.

The lucky buyer of my iPod was very pleased, so much so that she took the time to write this glowing feedback, which I thought I would share with you (and with the buyer’s permission, of course):

“Just wanted to say many, many thanks for the iPod! Loved the listing, the perfect packaging, the “open other side” on the box — in fact, by the time I had sliced through all the sellotape with my scalpel it actually didn’t matter what was in the box!

“I knew the iPod and accessories would have every little piece of protective packaging in place and I wasn’t disappointed. The iPod is the perfect companion for my grumpy old iMac, they bonded immediately via Firewire and plan to live happily ever after. It is the 40th birthday present that I wanted but… yes, I am that old.

“eBay Feedback couldn’t possibly reflect all of this and maybe that’s a good thing, not everyone sees the world as we do.” — a happy eBayer

That kind of recognition for my efforts just makes my day, especially in the knowledge that a much-loved item has gone to a happy home…

Devon Cummings; Binx

My friend Julian Calverley pointed my in the direction of Mark Tucker’s blog at the back end of last year.

If you love the roots of photographic and analogue processes, such as these beautiful Wet Plates, then it’s certainly worth following Mark’s Journal & Notes…

The Jazz Café, Newcastle’s Parisian Corner

Following on from my post last week, you are now among the first to be able to view Duncan Davis’ tribute to his old mate of 35 years, Keith Crombie.

Last Monday, Newcastle came to a standstill as Keith’s friends joined him on his last journey from Pink Lane, through the city centre — a tiny bit of which he transformed into his own corner of Paris, the Jazz Café.

Perched 130ft atop Grey’s Monument in the icy weather, I was honoured to be able to help Duncan film the extraordinary funeral procession.

So, it’s Sunday morning…time to pour your favourite hot beverage, take your seat at the Jazz Café and settle down to enjoy Duncan’s tribute to a Newcastle legend.

Hunter S. Thompson: The Edge

“The Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others — the living — are those who pushed their luck as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.” — Hunter S. Thompson

I know what he means and I expect many of you do too…

This fine short by Piotr Kabat came to me via the superb brain pickings.

An Ode to Instagram

That’s it — along with many others, I’ve just deactivated my Instagram account.

…me too!

The combination of Peter Krogh’s blog post and discussions with friends were enough to finally convince me to leave.

For eleven months, it was wonderful.  My photographic world became a little more spontaneous and creative, capturing scenes that would normally pass me by and connecting with people I would’t have otherwise have stumbled upon.

Funnily enough, it was only in the last couple of weeks that my following was rapidly starting to blossom, particularly with a series of winter scenes I’ve been posting this week.

An image I posted on Monday rapidly became my most-liked image.

There was no denying the buzz I experienced on seeing so much appreciation roll in for any of my images…

With 75 ‘likes’, this soon became my most popular Instagram…

I’ve always been a fan of the visual quip too.  Instagram offers the perfect platform for that — to see the joke, photograph it, post it and have some mutual enjoyment…

Nifty Parking

— Act Today!

I feel that the Facebook/Instagram environment has become untenable for professional photographers.

If you’re waiting to decide what to do with your Instagram account, it’s imperative that you act today!

Instagram’s terms are updated tomorrow, 19th January, so if you don’t deactivate your account today your images will be subject to the new terms…even if you deactivate it tomorrow AND even if you set your account to Private.

There’s plenty written elsewhere about all this on the web but Peter Krogh’s post sums it up pretty well.

— When I Think of Instagram…

When I think of Instagram, out of the 652 I posted, for some reason two particular images first spring to mind.

One, another visual quip, I shot specifically to use the hashtag #iseefaces (to me, this pylon looks like some kind of robot reaching out to shake my hand)…

#iseefaces

The other, to my mind, is a Lowrie-esque landscape that makes me feel calm and warm.

It’s somewhat of a comfort photograph for me, I guess…

Sunday Morning Football

— Farewell…

So, it all ended here.  652 photographs, 300 followers, 101 following and 11,336 likes.

I’ll miss you Instagram, I really will…

How it ended…my final Statigram Stats for @MrJackLowe

— UPDATE: EyeEm an Alternative?

It’s Saturday, the dust is settling and I’m gently investigating an alternative, EyeEm.

Apparently, it overtook Instagram last week in the US App Charts.

I’m not saying it’s the alternative to Instagram but it might be a good one — let’s see.

While we work out if it is a good alternative (or if we even want an alternative), feel free to join me there @jacklowe…