Lewis Hine

Photography is one of the art forms that is very easily accesible but difficult to master.
You are never more than 6 metres away from a rat or an amatuer photographer with a kick ass SLR.
All the gear and no idea is a phrase I like to use particulally when it comes to this new breed of SLR freaks.  Cruel I know but one of the symptoms of growing old is an inabililty to edit yourself,  you think and say what you like.  Growing old has got to have some perks.

My knowledge of photography and photographers is limited at best.  I have been to the National Portrait Gallery to see Anna Lebrevitz,  I have always thought the Guardian had some cool pictures in it and I myself have played around with a few lomography apps on my phone, but thats it.

Lighting is a word used a lot by photographers weather its natural or artificial.  This is where it gets complicated and quite in depth.  There is a certain knowledge of science required due to the fact that light can do strange things but can also be manulpulated to our needs.  I would love to elaborate a bit more in this area but it would be cut and pasted from another source.

Lewis Hine was aware of the science and also of lighting but he chose to ignore this and apply a diferent approach.  He tried to connect with his subject and connect he certainly did.
Lewis Hine was a very modest man and the real stars were the people he chose to take a picture of.
Its easy to tell if someone is judging you on your appearance or the amount of money you have.  It could be something you say or the tone of your voice,  you just know when someone is taking the piss or being condercending.  This is an important factor becasue for Lewis Hine to get the right picture that he needed to tell the story they would need his trust and they were not being judged.  This seem to come natural which is a very unique talent.

Most people will be aware of his famous work which is the picture of the workers having there lunch on top of a half built Empire state building.  The workers are completley oblivious to the danger that surrounds them which is surprising when there were numerous deaths during construction of this huge structure.  His least famous work which is the child labour photos he did prior to that I would say is his best.  Yes child labour in America, the forgotten swept under the carpet history that not many people know about.  So check out the photos below for yourself and if your,e an "All the gear" type person,  ask yourself why you got into photography and spent loads on a camera.  Was it to look cool or was it because Mr Jones had one.  Anyone can push a button but not everyone can connect with there subject through a lens,  be it nature, abstract or people.

 

                                                                     Lewis Hine

Traditional shaving

Facial hair is a fact of life for men.  Its What defines us as real men,  looking like a clean shaven cave man and reading the Sun is just not enough.  We have to have some form of stubble or maybe a ZZ top style beard.  You lose your hair on your head but facial hair stays with you throughout your life.
I remember my first shave, I was assisted by my older brother which was slightly worrying due to him insisting I tried a dry shave first rather than a wet shave. Older brothers will always devise a plan to harm there sibling which genearly invovles them helping you out. cue scene  Me: Mum he has just cut me with a razor.  Brother :  "ehhh I was just trying to assist him in the art of shaving".


Looks sexy

Nonetheless it all turned out ok and there was no injuries to me or my brother,  just lots a giggles and a few bum fluff shavings on the floor.  Male grooming back then was non existent,  shaving/grooming products like  Bic razors and Hai Karate aftershave was something you got at Christmas from your mum, or worse your nan so you did not discredit the family name by being hairy and smelly.  I am not an overly hairy person and I would say I could probably get away with shaving about 2 maybe 3 times a week. 



My weapon of choice at the time did vary depending on the funds I had at the time,  so if I was flush it would be a super duper triple blade 5000 as used by a famous footballer (yawn) or your budget Bic one blade wonder guaranted to draw blood type thing and then there was the shaving soap which again depending on the funds which would be shaving foam in a can or my mums palmolive soap (not good).

I would say I ran with this formulae for about 15 years,  then something changed, that thing was a very deep recession in this country and it called into question how my wife and I could save money and one of the many ways to cut back was shaving equipment.  I dont need to tell you how ridiculously expensive modern razor blades are these days,  its a rip off basically, but totally justified by the big companies due to the amount of thought and technology that goes into creating these ultra thin mega sharp blades.  Is it necessary?  we are just shaving our beard right?  or did I miss something.  I dont think i did so no, all this effort, which we pay for is really not not needed when a swiss army knife will do hehe just kidding. 

So thanks to a couple of forward thinking lads on a wonderful forum I belong to offhandforum.com  the idea was to go back to the original safety razor which uses one single blade and a 2 piece shaver.
The initial cost of a safety razor can vary and I stress traditional shaving is not for everyone, so I did not want to fork out loads of money initialy in case it was not for me,  so I managed to pick up an unsused vintage gillete from the 60's still in its case for 50p.  There is a sense of irony here becasue its the main brands like Gillete that have priced me out of the modern shaving market and now here I am picking up one of there older models to save money.

                                                                     Vintage Gillete

So Welcome to the world of traditional shaving.
Using a safety razor can be a bit daunting especialy like me you are used to using the modern shavers. You can hack away untill your hearts content with a modern razor  This is not the case with a safety razor,  a steepish learning curve aided by some youtube videos was the way forward from this point and also some advice about the different types of soap and balms to use and the very important shaving brush,  do you go for real badger or man made. No idea!  This was starting to get quite interesting, confusing and also fun.

                                                                 My new Merkur Razor

I wont go into the techniques you can adopt when using a safety razor,  I will leave that up to you becasue they do vary and is really down to the individual, length and time you have to spend shaving your face.  These are all factors in this new world I have entered.  Anyway things went smoothly with my new approach to shaving so I decided to sell the old Gillete on Ebay (£7 kerching) and invested in a Merkur razor which is the nuts.  I am saving a fortune now in shaving soap and blades which in comparison are £3.50 for a pack of 10 japanese blades or £8 (could be more not sure) for a pack of 4 fusion type blades.  No brainer.   The recession for me and my profession has passed for now and could I probably afford to buy the David Beckham specials,  but my cost cutting methods are well in place and the way I consume and view the things I buy has changed lus i am having fun shaving and dont really see it as a chore. We want value for money not bling.  We want to find out and discover new things ourselves rather than be told by adverts or clever marketing companies.

                      Shaving Starter Kit from the Traditional Shaving             

          Company onllne shop

First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining

Fantastic series if you are into graphic novels

Stray Bullets Issue
http://www.comixology.com/Stray-Bullets/digital-comic/59253?app=1