Film Industry - dead giveaways

Signs you work at a CGi company

1. You wake up screaming with nightmares of intersecting polygons.
2. You get a paper cut and you bleed coffee.
3. Your best friend is your mouse *sniff* you never let me down*
4. You pet your desk lamp and call it Luxo Junior.
5. Pets get paged thru the intercom. “Fido to the back door please. And stay!”
6. You criticise “Reboot” because they don’t render the shadows
7. The sun rises and sets, apparently
8. You find yourself making ‘signs you work at…’ lists

Signs you work in film

1.  7am is considered ‘sleeping in’
2. You use ‘stand by’ and ‘copy that’ in normal conversation
3. You buy household light bulbs based on colour temperature
4. Your fridge is empty and you have no clean underwear
5. People who wrap cables wrong irritate you
6. You can’t watch a movie without finding issues but watch until the credits end
7. Your turnarounds are so short you can’t get your phone fully charged
8. You can never get to a bank in business hours
9. You have no idea what day of the week it is

Signs you work in signage

1. You can word a disclaimer without thinking
2. All your fonts end in ‘XB’ or ‘black’
3. Anything under A4 is considered ‘fine print’
4. All your friends know what ‘vector’ means
5. The only time you feel steady is when you’re on a ladder
6. You have sixteen terms for very strong glue
7. You don’t know how to unlock Caps Lock

signs you work in sculpture

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Lightning in Cape Town

Images of last night's rare lightning show in Cape Town

Lightning in Cape Town and Milnerton

Every five years or so I get a chance to shoot the lightning, no tripod... just wits and a steady hand.

That guy on the top floor has had it

Same guy got zapped twice

the unrivalled quality of local media. i are famous, kinda.

The last time Cape Town had lightning was in 2009, when I lived in what was essentially an industrial park. There is an improvement in the view, so that's a good trend.

2009: the unrivalled natural splendour of the view, killarney gardens

second exposure, same stick

Update

So that was Sept 2009, Aug 2015 and now...
It's 9:32pm, Monday March 20, 2017. The third time I've seen lightning here  The storm, such as it is, has now endured almost 3 hours, and it goes on. From my apartment, I have a good view - which would be better if i went upstairs, but, you know, stairs.

Lightning is poetry.

Imagine we found a habitable world but the catch was that random and intense electricity blasts whatever is nearby asunder, in a manner that ensures you have just enough prep time to panic.

Can't imagine anyone would live there.

I was under a lightning conductor at school when a bolt struck, some twenty feet from my head, and it felt like the world had exploded. Everything went white and shook with the percussion, and I thought, briefly, this is it. I'm dead.The noise was unbelievable, for a while after our ears rang and we couldn't hear each other speak,

Zap!

All exposures bulb, so a lot of guesswork. Did go from f.8 to f.4.5, with no AF - tricky.

Update: Feb 2018

Behold - the ultimate selfie!

self-portrait with LED poi on the beach 30s f/16

Pinup Poster Girls from the Fifties

Prominent Pin-Up artists include:

• Al Buell                           (1910-1996)
• Joseph F. DeMartini *       (1927-      )
• Freeman Elliot *               (1922-      )
• Gil Elvgren                      (1914-1980)
• Art Frahm                       (1907-1981)
• Pearl Frush                      (1907-1986)
• Earl MacPherson *            (1910-      )
• Al Moore *                       (1912-1991)
• Knute “KO” Munson *       (1900-1967)
• Edward Runci *                (1921-1986)
• Alberto Vargas                 (1896-1982)
• Fritz Willis *                    (1907-1979)

* not listed amongst the 70 most prolific names in the genre.

For a brief look at artists in a similar vein, see this Flickr photostream

Another interesting article: side-by-side paintings and the photo references

Gil Elvgren published over 500 paintings - available to buy in book form… here’s a list.

Gil Elvgren Unidentified

Gil Elvgren, “’That Low-Down Feeling”, 1957

Gil Elvgren, “The Finishing Touch”, 1960 

Gil Elvgren, “I’m Not Shy, I’m Just Retiring”, 1948 

Gil Elvgren, “’It’s Up To You”, 1958

Unknown  Unknown

Alberto Vargas

Harry Ekman

Gil Elvgren Unidentified

Gil Elvgren

Gil Elvgren

Gil Elvgren ‘He Thinks I’m too Good to be True’ 1947

Gil Elvgren ‘I Must be Going to Waist’ 1946

Gil Elvgren, “No You Don’t”, 1956

Gil Elvgren Unidentified

Gil Elvgren, “Gentlemen Prefer?”, 1963

Gil Elvgren Unidentified

Gil Elvgren, “Spotty Performance (Occupational Hazard; Stenographer)”, 1962

Gil Elvgren, “Wrong Nail”, 1964

Gil Elvgren, “Cold Feed”, 1958

Runci and Clough

Unknown Unknown

Alberto Vargas

Alberto Vargas

Fritz Willis

Fritz Willis

Disclaimer: If copyright exists with these images, none is specified, although it's safe to assume that commercial usage is prohibited. 
The next article in this series will be Pinup Girls Riding Bombs

Flipping the bird

Following my Space Ghost drawing, some examples of the more unusual instances where birds have been flipped.