Support Earth Hour 2009: Top 10 Things to do

Please support by turning off non-essential electronic and electrical equipment in your home and place of business. Better still on Friday, 27 March before going home; turn off all non-essential equipment at work!

This is on this Saturday, 28 March 2009 between 8:30 to 9:30 PM [your local time].

Suggested things to do:

1. Have that romantic candle lit dinner with your partner and/or family and friends.
2. Have a game board bonding with the kids.
3. If you play any non electronic/electrical musical instrument, have a sing-along with family and friends.
4. Have your evening walk, jog or biking coincide with Earth Hour.
5. Have a conversation about anything and everything. When was the last time you had a decent conversation?
6. Meditate and do Yoga with your Zen master.
7. Have a social drink of your favourite wine or beer with friends.
8. I am running out of ideas, do nothing!
9. Sleep early.
10. And if you don't want to sleep early, do something else with your partner... [wink, wink].

But whatever you do, turn off those lights!

Cellography

"Taste" taken with my hand-me-down Nokia E65, flouro lighting.

This post was inspired by Flickr images called lomography - expired film, film cameras and cross film processing techniques!

Lomography is actually a commercial trademark of Lomographische AG, Austria, which was in turned inspired by the Russian Lomo LC-A camera. According to the Wikipedia article:

"In 1991, the Austrian founders of Lomography discovered the Lomo LC-A. As the company states, they were "charmed by the unique, colourful, and sometimes blurry" images that the camera produced. After a series of international art exhibitions and aggressive marketing work, Lomography signed an exclusive distribution agreement with LOMO PLC — thereby becoming the sole distributor of all Lomo LC-A cameras outside of the Soviet Union."

The pictures and the "techniques" emphasized casual everyday and common snapshots, with exaggerated, over-saturated colours, "happy accidents", blurring, oft-kilter exposures and alternative film and photo processing; all of which can be re-created using digital cameras and Photoshop.

But I think the best and closest casual shots would be best re-created by cell or mobile phones inbuilt digital cameras. I have seen more than a couple of these imaginative artists on Flickr and other photo sharing sites posting their creations using no more than a cell phone camera; and no mucking around with Photoshop or any digital software.

Both Lomography and cellography pushes the proverbial envelope and produces images than can be "construed" as art - images that not only look good and but pleasantly imaginative. Just Google some of these images and you will see what I mean.

On another note, see http://www.hupix.net/, an online gallery of "stunning simplicity of elegant images made with" Hugh Scott-Symonds [a British film director] cell phone [a Sony Ericsson K800i]. Better still, go and have a look at the "pin-hole camera" black and white pictures of Australian photographer, Rob Gardiner; who, by the way, also creates and dabbles with expired Polaroid SX-70 and Type 55 film. Talking about pushing the envelop, an expired one at that!