From Dingles

The view from the top floor of The House Of Fraser.
The tops of the buildings look grubby and in need of a clean. The roof of the building looks very different from up here. It reminded me of being a child where I used to climb onto my school rooftop, and makes me think it would be good fun to scramble about on top of this roof.
The shop fronts could be anywhere in the country, they don't have much of an identity.

Notes On Scott Haefner.

Kite photography, invented in the 1870s—flourished until the 1920s, when airplane photography took over. In France, pioneering photographers created aerial panoramas.

George Lawrence sent a camera skyward to record the destruction from the 1906 San Francisco quake.

Kite photography was reborn in the 1980s. Today it’s booming, with several hundred practitioners worldwide and as many Web sites. Haefner knows half a dozen fellow enthusiasts.

It is virtual reality and psychedelia all in one, as the world spins about with ever-changing distortions.

Haefner creates bubble panoramas, using a fish-eye lens to take one shot looking straight up and another shot from the kite straight down, then stitching them together using several software programs and a process developed by French engineer and Lego master Philippe Hurbain.

“...it is virtual reality in the sense that you’re able to get inside this image and rotate it around,” Haefner says. “You’re in control. It’s almost like you’re on this ride where you’re suspended in the air and you can turn and look in any direction you want.”

A remote control box the size of a lunch box lets him aim and shoot.

Weinstein, D . 2003. On Scott Haefner: San Francisco Chronicle [online] July 11 [Available at]

http://scotthaefner.com/publications/chronicle/’: [accessed on 28^th January 2011 at 23 30.]

DVD REVIEWS: VERTIGO

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 Physiological Thriller.

During a police chase across the rooftops of San Francisco Detective John "Scottie" Ferguson almost falls and discovers his fear of heights. His partner tries to save him, slips and falls to his death.

This opening seen of the film made me feel quite nervous, as it showed ‘scottie’ looking down the length of the building which showed how high he was.

Vertigo. 1958. [DVD] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: Universal Studios.

DVD REVIEW; MAN ON WIRE

FILM IS THE STORY OF PHILIPPE PETIT. WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG MAN IN FRANCE HE SAW AN ARTICAL IN A MAGAZINE ANNOUNCING THE PLANNED BUILDING OF THE TWIN TOWERS IN AMERICA. THE THOUGHT OF THE TOWERS BEING BUILT CAUSED HIM GREAT EXCITEMENT AND HE STARTED MAKING PLANS.

PETIT IS A TIGHT ROPE WALKER, HIS PLAN WAS TO WALK A TIGHT ROPE PLACED BETWEEN THE TOP OF THE TWIN TOWERS.

THE FILM IS A DOCUMENTORY, IS FULL OF TENSION AND VERY GRIPING, THE FILM HAD ME WRIGGLING IN MY SEAT AT THE THOUGHT OF WHAT WAS BEING PLANNED. I COULD FEEL THE TENSION, THE SHEER EXILERATION AND THE SHEAR JOY I FELT WHEN WATCHING HIM ON THE WIRE WAS JUST AMAZING.

MAN ON WIRE. 1974. [DVD] DIRECTED BY JAMES MARSH. ICON FIIM

Quotes by PhilippPetit.

If I die, what a beautiful death! (Philippe Petit)

It's impossible, that's sure. So let's start working (Philippe Petit)

Quotes from man on wire. [available at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/quotes accessed on 24-5-2011].