I went on a bit of a Lightroom preset orgy recently and downloaded tons of free sets and am only now getting round to checking some of them out. They are quite varied in quality, and obviously are suited to particular types of shot. One set that really caught my eye is the freely available Holga pack of 10 presets – what a terrific retro feel they give to crisp modern images.
I know that we have suffered an oversaturation in retro film processing in the last couple of years, largely down to Instagram and iPhones (I love Instagram, not a criticism), but with current tastes as they are….retro is so cool, and I can’t see this changing any time soon.
It does amuse me that we spend so much time and effort with modern equipment including DSLRs, computers, smartphones, etc. (of which the combined development costs must run in billions) to recreate an effect on the emerging imaging technology of yesteryear that brought photography to the masses. Progress in many ways, not in others.
The original image:
Now I am a massive Twitter fan – having been on it for just over a year I have been exposed to a lot of great people and stuff (I am more of a reader rather than a tweeter). There are so many uses of it, that I think there is a little bit of Twitter for everyone in some form or another. Sadly, as with the society we live it, it is being populated with complete and utter morons. We know they exist, we all went to school with them and have probably evolved away from them as we get older with a bit of luck. But they are still there, they seem to be coalescing and multiplying and getting online with phones that are a lot smarter than they are.
Yesterday was the football match known locally as the Steel City Derby. A game that always brings out the animalistic, tribal instincts in many a Sheffield supporter of both persuasions. Most of it does remain innocent enough, but my walk though Hillsborough both to and from the game illustrated how it can turn nasty, both verbal and physical. This spilled over onto Twitter last night, when one of the United players, an 18-year-old lad called Harry Maguire, was abused by a few Wednesday ‘fans’, the most notable from one guy with a direct message of abuse (that included calling him a c*nt). Clearly still fired up by the game, he replied with a mild taunt along the lines of “who are you? someone watching from the stands?”. Quite a good put down really. It didn’t go down well and more jumped on the bandwagon. He received a lot more as a result, and I also think that Harry’s a Wednesday fan too just to make it even more ridiculous.
money they paid!), this has to come first – a full look at the actual bottom-line cost of ‘doing their job’ and how this relates to performance. Perhaps they too should have a budget, linked to the size of their constituency, and they have to stick with it. Certainly any ‘perks’ should be flagged as inappropriate, especially in a time where laws are being passed where workers are even being made to 
