Software excitement and inspirations

It's been a while. I get into phases where I'm not very talkative or social, just ask anyone who has ever lived with me how often I hole myself up in my own room and do my own thing completely ignoring other people. It doesn't help that I have been busy applying for jobs with a new found desperation, and reading up on InDesign. Guys! InDesign is a pretty awesome program! It's one of those programs that reading a book on how to use it actually makes me smile with excitement! Not because I'm a computer geek, because I'm not, but because I'm a design geek, and the possibilities it offers are exciting! How did I live so long with just Photoshop? It's an awesome layout program, all the nifty stuff you can do with text and graphics and layers! And you can create multipage files! And save as multipage pdfs! Yay! And if you're a seasoned photoshop user, the interface and the logic is very easy to learn. I actually made a new portfolio and other stuff with it before even reading the book! Back in the very very beginning when I first installed it a couple of months ago, and had only seen a couple of informative tutorials on the web, I made a little portfolio of inspirations for a job application. Sometimes when applying for architecture practices they can ask for the damnedest things. This particular practice had asked for five things that inspire us architecturally. This is what I came up with: > > > > >

I went shopping again

So anyway I didn't get the job, obviously, and the new manager is still driving us crazy at work. I can't wait for him to crash and burn so we can get a new one. I am considering writing a letter of complaint about him. A number of people would sign it, it's just that no one seems up to writing it. And as the most educated person there, maybe I should do it. I did a bit of retail therapy yesterday to cheer myself up. I got a pair of turquoise skinny jeans from urban outfitters (yes, I'm too old and fat for skinny jeans, but whatever).

I couldn't find a photo of the turquoise colour I got. And I got a black shirt from Mango for any prospective interviews or future office jobs (we got to keep on hoping against hope).

And worst of all I went to John Lewis and ended up buying a skirt from Hobbs. It was 60% off, but this is Hobbs... For non UK people, Hobbs is an upmarket shop for serious clothes. The skirt I bought was from their casual line, but my plan was to wear it to prospective interviews or future office jobs (yup, it goes with the shirt).

Question: would you match a pekan coloured skirt (yes, that's what colour it is) with a magenta jacket? How about with cinnamon tights and top as well? Also I have been busy wearing this cool scarf I got from Oasis a week ago:

For all you who didn't already realise, I have a bit of a thing for clothes... Next thing on my list: summer brogues. Any ideas?

100 things: 100 photos - photo 2

Today I chose something simpler and easier. A digital photo I took in 2008. I have long had quite an obsession with reflections. I love photographing reflections in mirrors, windows and puddles. I actually have a whole series of self-portraits taken in reflections. The more broken up and complex the more I like them. This particular photo was taken in one of the side streets in Monastiraki flea-market, one of the more colourful and interesting places in Athens. I always liked visiting Monastiraki, Thuseio and the environs for the shops, the atmosphere, the food, the antiques and the photographic opportunities. And the three years I lived in central Athens it was ridiculously easy for me to get there. On one side it's me - with my old discrete wire-framed glasses and before I cut a fringe - and on the other side there's my sister and two of my best friends. In the middle is a photo of the old king. I am rather proud of this picture, I think in captures the moment and the location quite well. I even submitted it (together with two others) in a photographic competition of city photography in Athens. I got shortlisted and my photos were exhibited, but of course I wasn't one of the finalists. >

Calling all Canadians

I am loosing all hope with the UK and Europe. If this Paris job doesn't pull through I will have to look at other options. The US is too hard - too much unemployment -, Australia is too far away, Asia is too scary. I'm thinking about Canada, even though I can't possibly see how a person can get a job offer before getting a work permit - that's what the embassy says you have to do. I know I have a couple of Canadians on my flist, or at least people who know people who have emigrated to Canada. So talk to me. How are things in Canada? Are there any jobs? Are European nationals employable over there? Will a company actually give you a job offer without you already being in the country?

Day in London

Went down to central London today. First stop, John Lewis where I browsed furniture fabrics and tassels to see about making a new throw for my grandmother's dinning room table - since I destroyed the old one and all. Second stop, a walk around Soho with a friend and a visit to the Photography Gallery that's there. After we parted ways, I meandered around a bit more, had some cheap chinese and finally found the ice-cream shop in Soho I had been looking for for ages. It's in Old Compton Street, by the way, and the ice-cream is delicious. It also possibly has the cheapest italian espresso in Soho at £1.70. I ended up in art supply shop to get some coloured inks - I was out of emerald green -, a watercolour block and, at the spur of the moment, a fine sable brush. While waiting to be served, I spied the craziest thing out the window: Unfortunately my phone takes crap videos. When will I be able to afford an iphone? It's the first thing I'll buy once I get a proper job. By the way, that is Charing Cross Road they are all riding down in the buff. It was a huge, seemingly never-ending, procession. Very impressive really.

100 things: 100 photos - photo 1

I am going to be contrary and start off as I DON'T plan to continue. I mainly photograph cityscapes, landscapes and buildings. On occasion I try my hand at portraits, but I'm not really a portrait photographer. Also I am going to mainly post digital photos, and thus relatively recent ones. I used to be an ardent black white analogue photographer and I have a huge backlog of traditional photographs. Unfortunately I have hardly scanned any of them. The following photo is one of a huge series I took of my friend Dimitris in his home in Athens. It is rare that I find a model as obliging or as photogenic as Dimitris. His only demand was that I also take a couple of semi-nude photos as well for him to use on gaydar. (Yeah, as if you can score guys using arty b&w photographs! He quickly replaced them.) I used my father's Leica M6, which is an absolutely gorgeous camera. I used it for many many years and loved it to bits. If I remember correctly I had the 50mm lens on, which was my absolutely favourite lens. I will never enjoy photography again as much as I did with the Leica and b&w film... I even developed and printed my own photographs for a couple of years...

V&A

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum with my camera, dragging a poor friend with me. (Ha! Lets see if he ever agrees to an outing with me again!) It was a fun visit. The V&A is one of my favourites. It's just more proof of what a bad blogger I am, that I am only now getting round to sharing my photos with you.

Afterwards I met up with my sister and her boyfriend for a walk up Primrose Hill. I know I don't usually share photos of myself, but I thought I'd make an exception.

It's me on the colourful bridge on the way to Primrose Hill, what did you think I'd post?

#100 things: 100 photos - prologue

{Take the 100 Things challenge!} Yes, that means exactly what you think it does. I am jumping on the bandwagon and will be posting my own 100 things. Since you all know how sporadic and un-scheduled my posting is, as you can imagine it will take quite a while. But I have chosen a subject that I will definitely not run out of before I reach 100, so hopefully I will finish this long challenge. Enough about that. My subject is 100 photos I have taken, and the story behind them . It's not a very exciting and original subject - I'm not a very exciting and original person. But, hopefully, it should prove interesting enough for you lot - not to mention voyeuristic enough, you kinky buggers. I'm off to look through my giant photo archive and start choosing my 100. If I'm good I might even make my first post tomorrow!

Paris!

I went to Paris over the weekend. I left Thursday morning and returned Sunday night. I had a good, laid back time. Thursday I finally got to meet a wonderful internet friend in the flesh. She was wonderful enough to put me up Thursday night. I spent Thursday walking around touristy places like St Michel, Odeon, St Germain de Pres, the Louvre gardens, the Tuilleries, Place de Concorde and all the lovely bridges in between, not to mention eating some of my favourite Italian ice-cream... Later on we went for Japanese with together and for a drink in the Marais where we met up with my old friend Amin. It was a lovely laid back night, walking around Paris talking about all things under the moon, from porn to politics. Friday was my interview. I didn't do much, I spent all the morning stressing and reading up or sitting in the park. My interview went well, I think, but not perfect. I got stuck at points, was a bit too nervous at points, and some of my answers could have been better. It seemed like a cool interesting place to work, so I will be very sad if I blew it. (Don't ask me if I got it, because I am still waiting to find out and the suspense is killing me!) Afterwards I took my stuff to my dear Amin's where we had a typical parisian dinner and lots wine before returning home to chat all night, because we are old and boring and hadn't met for years and Amin always has the best adventures - and love stories. Saturday I walked around Paris some more. Guys, London might be more happening and trendy than Paris, but Paris is just so classy! And then had a typical weird night out with Amin. First he took me to the party of a friend of his, who's a university professor. He warned me that the guy usually throws kinky parties with orgies and stuff. I asked if I would be the only straight woman there, which could be awkward, but was assured this party would be toned down and have some straights as well. It turned out to be super boring. All the straight people were colleagues of his partner, so were school teachers, and were married with kids. Many of them had actually brought their children with them! The youngest was nine months old! We got really bored and Amin persuaded me to leave the party to go to a club that was having a bears night. Why do I let him persuade me to do things like this? After paying the hefty entrance fee, we find the place rather empty, both of people and bears, and playing latin music! A little later -distinctly heterosexual- couples start dancing. Amin looks it up and realises he mixed his clubs up, instead of taking a taxi half across Paris, the right club was right next to his friends house! So, instead he says we should go to a gay bar he likes in the Marais, that he calls the bac+5 bar because everyone there is hopelessly highly educated and intellectual. We rented some velolibres and cycled through Paris in the dark on unfamiliar bikes on a saturday night full of traffic. It was scary and exhilarating. Like bike rides through busy night-time cities tend to be. The bar was a strange little place full of dreadfully serious and troubled gay men and the odd woman. It was fun though, because it was so small and it was kind of like a private party. Everyone seemed to do the round randomly talking to other people. I have never chatted to so many strangers in a bar before! Most of them were keen to get into Amin's pants of course, but were polite enough to talk to me too. Some said some awfully prejudiced and chauvinistic things, Amin being Iranian, me being Greek and them being European and tipsy. Isn't it odd that the worst stuff were said by Italians and Spanish, rather than the French? Amin got the hots for an Italian linguistics professor at one of the Paris universities, but - as is usual - he was one of the few who weren't in the least interested in him. I, on the other hand, chatted up a very cute corsican dancer with the name of Ninja Turtle - or a renaissance painter if you want to be all highbrow. When I asked what he did, and he said dancer, you should have seen me try to contain the drool! When he asked if I believed him, I said I would have to see him without his clothes to say, but he didn't oblige. He did some of that fancy footwork that ballet dancers do (he was a modern classical dancer) and showed me some of the differences between the various schools of dance. Very informative. Unfortunately, no matter how much I fluttered my eyelashes or flashed my cleavage I didn't get anywhere. I was hoping he might have been bi, but I guess he was gay. Or just didn't like me. *sigh* We left eventually, and had to walk home because Amin messed up our cards for the velolibres and didn't want to pay for more, and collapsed into bed at six in the morning. Only to be woken up at eight in the morning by someone incessantly banging on the front door and calling us on the phone. It turned out that there was a leak somewhere in our pipes and it was leaking into the guy underneath's flat. We turned the water off by the main and tried to go back to sleep. But our sunday was fucked. We woke up late. Lazed around for ages, then went for a nice french lunch, and then returned home to invite some of his friends over and laze about some more before I had to leave for my train. And that's what I did in Paris. I could have done more, I guess, but didn't really feel like it. I took some photos, but I'm hopelessly behind on downloading and fixing up my photos...