Spice Store (This is a test)

© Joselito Briones

I was looking at Erwin Olaf's works yesterday, and, as is usual when I see something I like, I try to see if I can do it myself. (Remember when I did a sorta kinda Pierre et Gille somewhatta?)

This time I deliberated on how to achieve his signature desaturated colors, digitally. It's his colors, after all, that he is most famous for.

The photo on top is the finished product. I guess it wouldn't be worth showing anyway if I thought I didn't succeed in emulating his colors. It's not exactly perfect yet, but I think I've got the principle.

© Joselito Briones

I guess I'll just have to make it a little bit less reddish, and still a bit less saturated. Oh well.

The photo below is the original. The photo was taken using my Canon powershot digital camera. Boring picture. It's a spice shop, close to the center of city, in the pedestrian zone.

Next step: How do I achieve the same effect using film and traditional darkroom printing? I have an idea, of course, but whether or not I'll have enough interest to actually test that idea remains to be seen.

XXX


P.S.
I started storing some of my blog photos in Flickr. Here's the link.

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Eishaus

© Joselito Briones

It's such a welcome respite from the heat. It's become a routine for me to, right after German class, go to the Zentrum, binge on heart-attack food (Bauch Brötchen - roasted pork belly with crispy skin, in bread) and ice cream afterwards.

I've tried several ice cream vendors, and they all seem to be generic, taste-wise. Good, but nothing to write home to mom about. What they differ in, though, is the size of the serving. Eishaus, for 70 €uro cents, gives you the equivalent of at least 3 scoops of ice cream from the other stores. And as if you won't think that's a lot already, they put it in a tiny crispy cone which makes it look like an enormous amount of ice cream. The first time I had it, I was stressed. How does one eat this without making a mess? You end up trying to gobble up as much as you can in as little time, or you'll have to deal with the stuff dripping all over your hand. Try and lick your hand in public.

For a grown man, eating this amount of ice cream from a small cone (or for that matter, any amount of ice cream, in any size of cone) ranks up there with eating bananas or deep-throating wieners in public. There's just no dignified way of doing it.

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Pet peeves

© Joselito Briones

It's whine time!

I guess by now you already know, no matter how satisfied I am with something, I'd always find a part of it to complain about. Take this apartment for example. As much as I've learned to really like it here, there are still things that annoy me whenever I come into contact with it..

First is the front door lock. Simple - check. Clean - check. Very nice to look at - check. Secure - check. What pisses me off, though, is that the darned thing can't be opened by one hand. Normally, one can use a hand to fish out the key from a pocket, unlock the door, put back the key to the pocket, and then turn the knob with the same hand. This one's different. You'll have to turn the knob with one hand while turning the key with the other. Whenever I come home carrying bags upon bags of grocery, I always end up putting everything down to open the door, pick the things back up, carry them to the kitchen and then go back to the front door to close it. (To put them down again in the entrance hall while closing the door is just too stupid already). So much for German efficiency.

© Joselito Briones

Another one is the shower control. It's nice and simple, fine. Looks clean, perfect. Easy to turn on, check. Problem is, it's just as easy to shut off. Imagine yourself taking a shower in a not-so-spacious cubicle. You spend some time adjusting the water temperature, until you get it perfect, exactly the way you want it (it's very important for me, I'm very sensitive to temperature). Then you shower, soap yourself, wiggle, wiggle. Then invariably, a part of your body bumps into the control and shuts it off, or worse, turns it so that the water becomes freezing cold. Then you end up fumbling for the controls to adjust it again, while soap gets in your eyes. Really annoying.

Okay, that's it for now, I'm sure there'd be more in the future.


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