Benjamin Ellis

Benjamin Not Ben – Jamin on the Net

Time-Slice Films – Photography Meets Cinematography

Sometimes people call it Bullet-time, but more properly it is called time-slice – freezing a moment in time, but from multiple views – an effect made most famous by the Matrix series of films.

The team behind the effect

I met the Time-Slice Films team at the Canon Pro Solutions Exhibition, and recorded this intverview with Tim Macmillan. The company was established back in 1994 by Tim, who originated the effect in his days at Bath Academy of Art, using film-based cameras and manual compositing. A far cry from today’s rig, here’s the interview:

Continue Reading…

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:45 pm. 1 comment

Canon Pro Solutions Show – 09

I spent a good chunk of today in the company of Canon and many of the businesses in what has become a large and successful eco-system around their photography and video products. They took over the business design centre for two days, filling the exhibition space with dozens of exhibitors, as well as their own stands, and a steady stream of seminars in the rooms upstairs.

I’ll blog on some of the specific products over the next week or two, but first a few highlights:

Good news for Canon 5D Mark II users in Europe – it sounds like we can expect a firmware update in the new year to give us 24p & 25p frame rates. If that means something to you, you’re probably dancing in your seat. If it doesn’t, just take it that it is good news and will be something to look forward to early in 2010. Continue Reading…

Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 10:53 am. 4 comments

Getting the Wardrobe Organised – With a Little Help From My Friends

That “end of summer” vibe has started to kick in. The air is getting colder, and I sense autumn around the corner. That means digging out some warmer clothes and retire some of the thinner summer wear. As I looked at my clothes, in their cupboards and drawers, I realised I have always stored them the same way. My productivity neurons got me wondering… Is there a better way? Time for Twitter:

Twitter Question

A little while later, and I’ve got a sea of interesting suggestions. Of course some just start at the basics…

Andy

Well, it is a start I guess. I do remember struggling as a teenager, with my mother trying to teach me a simple two category system, as practised by Rita, Robert et al.:

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Some take a more technical approach…

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Sorting by type, then by colour seems reasonably popular too.

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Even if it doesn’t always go according to plan…

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I like the idea of “chromatic sorting” – it sounds suitably geeky. The idea was just plain weird to others though…

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You could even go multi-dimensional with the organisation.

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I like Meriem’s use of two dimensional space, sadly my storage is strickly 1D – tall and narrow. You could just subvert the whole need to sort, with a lifestyle choice…

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But sorting by some category seems to be the norm! Sorting by use is another popular theme, which is how Josie tackles her non-super-hero outfits:

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Or by taking a seasonal approach:

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That’s a big pile in the middle. Seasonality has its own challenges…
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I think I’m going to go for storing “off season” clothes separately, then sorting by type and – yes – by colour. We’ll see how it goes.

Finally, there are those who are left cold by the whole idea of the topic…

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Update: Turns out not everyone is so chilled ;)

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Posted 1 year ago at 4:56 pm. 1 comment

Killing Hope – You’re Just Making it Worse


Hope uploaded by edmittance

My personal view is that hope is a rather special thing. There are a number of psychologists who are currently researching its effects and its causes. That is a whole other post. For now, just take it that it is a powerful force that sustains us.

The picture is of a mural in Stokes Croft, in Bristol – it is linked to the original posting on Flickr by edmittance.

Bristol council removed the mural, blacking it out. Almost symbolic. Cheo and 3Dom – the artists behind the piece – were less than impressed, and responded in the medium they had originally used. Continue Reading…

Posted 1 year ago at 12:59 pm. Add a comment

On the River

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We all need things to aspire to. There is no person that is perfect. There is no place that is perfect. We stand astride the great river of life, caught between two banks. We can not choose where the tide takes us, but we can paddle in the right direction, for all that we are worth. We do not know where that might take us, or the difference it will make, but we can, at the very least, try.

John Wesley said this:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

Posted 1 year ago at 10:33 pm. 1 comment

A kinder philosophy of success

I posted a question on Twitter:

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A raft of wonderful suggestions came back – things that I have now read, watched and pondered over. Friends, you are, of course, uplifting and inspiring! I’m going to pick one item to share back for now. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it is a TED video.

Continue Reading…

Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 10:25 pm. 7 comments