Archive for August, 2012

I have failed to find you a sunset within the prescribed time frame so have decided to go with a spooky moonrise as a substitute.

Moonrise over Croydon

Time has kinda run away with me this last week with Grandma Bunny Chow now having returned to Zimbabwe I hope to be able to dedicate a little more time to you all in the coming weeks.

I haven’t forgotten the deadline is fast approaching for Nick and Shannon’s monthly community collaboration project either, although I may have to miss out on this one as time and idea’s are rapidly running away from me, we shall see.

Next weeks theme is going to be metal and I already have some great idea’s lets hope that I manage to execute them in a timely manner.

for now though

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

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first off I wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you who read these random ramblings of mine, I’ve now reached the landmark of 100 wordpress.com followers and having that support and following has been great. As some of you longer term readers will know I started rambling around on the web in frustration at shoddy customer service and to give poor Mrs Bunny Chow a break from listening to me whining. At the time I’d never even read any blogs and had no idea that this community even existed or dreamed that I could become part of it.

Blogging has become a hobby for me and keeps me out of trouble, I became really down a week or so ago when a close friend began questioning why I would be “doing shit drawings and putting them all over the internet” well my friend I do them because it’s my hobby and I gain pleasure from it and thanks to you good people out here in the blogosphere seem to gain something from my photography and art, I could have retaliated in person and attacked his passions and questioned what led him to do what he does in his free time but I was grown up enough to drop it and remember that art is subjective, just because he might not like what I am doing that’s entirely his right to make that decision and whilst my feelings at the time were deeply deeply hurt and poor Mrs Bunny Chow had to listen to me griping and whining, having allowed myself time to simmer I realise that in reality I would defend to the end his right to his opinions, I may not agree with them but the internet is a wonderful democracy and if he chooses not to enjoy my artistic that’s his prerogative, I’m not going to give up my hobby because it doesn’t float the boat of someone else, be they a real life friend or the occasional internet troll.

Next I’d like to talk about artistic inspiration, it’s a topic I’ve covered a couple of times before in these pages but would like to touch on again inspired by the lovely Patricia over at Pixygiggles who asked about artistic Mojo and how creativity can be commanded, well the simple answer is that it can’t be commanded, well at least not by me, there are plenty of weeks that go by where I battle to keep taking pictures but I keep going. I draw my inspiration and ideas from a variety of sources, Google+ and especially the Project 52 list have thus far inspired at least 34 posts with plenty more to come, Nick and Shannon from www.nickexposed.com and http://seeingspotsphoto.wordpress.com/ have been equally inspiring with their monthly community collaboration projects.

Then there are just people like the aforementioned Patricia who goes out of her way day after day to share her interpretation of the world and what it means to her at any given time, I’ve discovered so many people who inspire me to go out and create on a daily basis, I don’t share every failure with you but I do share plenty of them and do you know what sometimes I cringe but more often I’ll just look back with pride and think I created that, sure I’ve learned a lot about photography in the last year or so and might approach things differently if faced with the same opportunities today but isn’t that what learning is all about, do golfers ever shoot that perfect round and think sod it that’s enough I’ll quit now?

Phew this is turning into something of a rant, deep breath, I started writing today because I wanted to thank all of you who have welcomed me and inspired me to keep going and enjoy myself, at the end of the day this is my little fiefdom but all of you make it a happy little fiefdom so thank-you for being you.

My last little ramble is to ask opinions of phonography and the proliferation of filter apps like instagram and hipstamatic, I keep changing my mind about them, they’re fun, they’re quirky, they’re always in your pocket but the pictures that come out of them are crap, yet it’s that same crapness that I somehow like about them and keep finding myself drawn back to even when editing my photographs from my camera I find myself drawn back to retro feeling editing styles, is this because of the cliché or just because it’s what I’ve always found aesthetically appealing, I’m not sure I can answer that at the moment so I’ll leave the floor open for your thoughts.

The pictures interspersed throughout this post are not new, they’re just a few I’ve chosen because I liked them and felt like sharing them, I’m pretty sure they’ve all been seen in these pages before but if they’re new to you I hope you like them and if you don’t then that’s fine too.

Comment your lives away.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

I’ve been neglecting you my friends, and I’m sorry, sometimes the creative juices just don’t flow beyond my own four walls and I don’t want to keep boring you with near identical pictures of my kids as cute as they may be to me I’m sure that despite my bias to the world at large they are just kids with foppish hair and silly grins.

This weeks theme was portraits and my initial intention was to do some portraits of Mrs Bunny Chow’s cousin the very talented rapper Twig who we had a braai (barbecue) with on Saturday, I really did have good intentions, I got my camera out, I snapped some pictures of the kids in the garden, we talked about lenses and aperture and geeky stuff and then the sun got to me and reminded me that I was unfairly hung over (it was unfair I honestly didn’t have that much to drink the night before and can normally get away with plenty more, sometimes hangovers are just like that) and all good intentions went out the window with nothing useable captured.

Hmmmm well with that one out of the window I was left with either begging Mrs Bunny Chow to pose for me (slim chance of that happening) or utilising my amazing Mother who thankfully flew in to attend the Alzheimer University a fantastic course designed to help Alzheimer’s Societies from around the world. She’s very honoured to be representing the Zimbabwean Alzheimer’s Association and I’m very proud to be her son as she continues to give of her time to this wonderful organisation.

Still we’re here to talk about photography and pictures so here is my chosen portrait of my mother.

portrait of mum

I know it’s becoming a bit of a cliché at the moment but I’ve given a light retro twist to the edit.

I may have to get creative again next week as the suggested theme is sunsets (yes I know they happen every day) and I’m not sure if  or when I’ll have the opportunity to capture a new one as currently sunset falls smack in the middle of bed and bathtime and I don’t want to reach back in to the archives for an older picture to share in this series.

I hope that you’ve all had a great week and I promise that I’ll be making more time for you in the coming weeks.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

wow, gosh, blush lurvee alarm etc. et al, I am honoured and flattered to have had one of my posts recommended by the talented Matthew Durr whose blog I have followed for a while now, he posts lots of photography and plenty of fabulously geeky and in-depth lens reviews detailing such nerdy things as chromatic aberrations, corner to corner sharpness at varying apertures and all manner of other such wonderfullness.

I’ve learned plenty from him as well as admired his photography from afar from some time.

I can’t thank him enough for this kind recognition and urge you to check him out.

I’ve also just discovered him and added him on Google+ which my regulars will know I’m a big fan of.

otherwise it’s Wednesday not Thursday or Friday.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

as promised here is my texture submission for week 33 of my Project 52.

The photo was taken with my little Canon IXUS 107 and all of the editing done using the simple effects available through the Google+ editing tool.

The mono version was chosen by the rats view master Thorn Button although I’ve also included a colour interpretation for contrast below.

Next week’s theme is portrait so if there is anyone in the London area who’d like to volunteer as a model I’d be most grateful.

That’s it from me today

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

I’ve recently been interacting on Google+ with a very talented photographer called Thorn Button I love the film noir style and have tried to emulate it with projects like my recent Churches and Dead People and Project Dark series actually emulate is the wrong word, take inspiration from.

Any way I highly recommend that you see Thorn out, he’s personable and always willing to offer helpful critique. I especially admire his portrait work, although I should warn you that whilst none of it is gratuitous at the same time it’s probably safest to advise that it’s “not safe for work”

I’d love to try some similar style portraiture for myself if there are any willing models out there,please do get in touch via rantingmrbunnychow@gmail.com and we’ll see if we can sort something out. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re young, old, male, female or even a couple, it could be great fun and you’d hopefully get some great images of yourself out of it.

noir angel

Noir Angel, you’ve seen this picture before but I’ve since added a touch more vignette.

Are there any artists who inspire you, please comment below I’d love to check them out.

I’m hoping to get around to processing for Week 33 (texture) of my Project 52 this evening for publishing tomorrow, assuming the shots I’ve got sitting in my camera come out the way I hope they have you’ll be able to see more of Thorn’s influence and Rats View style within them, although we’ll all have to wait and see.

Until then

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow.

One of my blogging friends Zelmare has recently been blessed with the arrival of a new calf in her herd of Brahman’s, she’s also been kind enough to be encouraging of my doodlings in the past and I’ve long been promising and failing to do a doodle for her, well failed promises are no more this Brahman calf is for you Zelmare.

brahman calf

a Brahman Calf for Zelmare

I hope you like him and he brings you luck.

I’d love also love for you to have the original so please email me via rantingmrbunnychow@gmail.com and we’ll see if I can get it to you in South Africa.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

 

Ouch 8

Posted: 06/08/2012 in ouch
Tags: , , , ,

it’s been a while since I’ve whinged and whined about my low pain threshold so thought I would give you all a brief update on my recovery.

The stitches have been out for just over a week now and despite a huge chunk of dead skin peeling away a couple of days later the wound itself although still tender and a little inflamed appears to be healed over with just a little flakiness remaining although I am massaging Bio Oil into it several times a day which will no doubt improve the dryness. The exciting news from this weekend is that I was experiencing some general swelling of my hand necessitating having to take my wedding ring off but then I bashed my thumb and realised that I could feel pain just in front of the original would site. There is still no sensation at the tip of my thumb but I’m getting some really peculiar sensations down the length of my thumb like pins and needles. In addition to this although difficult to explain if I run my fingers over my thumb it feels strangely detached almost as if it’s not my own like that sensation you get if you sit on your hand for a long time and then touch it.

Reading back over that last bit I’m not sure what I’ve written makes sense even to me and I know what I’m trying to say but still I’m excited because things are changing and that’s got to be good. I’m now almost entirely analgesic free which whilst not always especially comfortable my bowels are grateful for the lack of codeine which was wreaking havoc on my somewhat sensitive constitution.

Not a lot of other news to report so I’ll leave you there.

Have a great week.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

firstly the big news of the day, I have just discovered that I am related to Zimbabwe’s big olympic medal hope, the beautiful Kirsty Coventry, she’s a close relative, she’s my mothers, cousins, grandsons fiance. So there you go I’m related to an olympic medal winner, world champion, world record-breaking athlete, who’d have thunk it.

Anyway this week I’m clutching at the most tenuous of straws again when it comes to following the guidelines of this project (Animals) but after taking several dozen pictures of Bunny Chow this week I’ve not really been very pleased with any of them and my cants have been uncooperative then this morning I’ve been doodling whilst on the phone at work and before I knew it I’d doodled this picture of Wol who I’m very proud of.

Owl took Christopher Robin’s notice from Rabbit and looked at it nervously. He could spell his own name WOL, and he could spell Tuesday so that you knew it wasn’t Wednesday, and he could read quite comfortably when you weren’t looking over his shoulder and saying “Well?” all the time, and he could……A.A.Milne

In case you are wondering about my spelling Wol refers back to several quotes from the dyslexic Owl in the genius of the great A A Milne’s House at Poo Corner. In case you are wondering about what sort of owl Wol is the answer is he’s a generic horned owl from my imagination. Maybe a Scops Owl because they’re cute and go prrrp.

Hope you’ve had a great week, next week we’re going to be looking at textures until then

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

I know, I know I shouldn’t keep banging on about my fathers blog but I had to share this quick link through to his latest post with fantastic pictures from his recent guiding trip to Hwange.

http://birdingzimbabwe.com/2012/08/01/hwange-birding-3/

Please do pop on over and check it out, he’s once again made me jealous of his adventures into the African hinterland, I’m not even a birder, in fact birding bores me, I couldn’t have grown up with my father without inheriting a fraction of his knowledge and a huge amount of his passion for the African bush though.

Keep ’em coming Pa.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow