Tis the season

Tis the season, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

Its that time of year again for Lego festivities in the shape of an advent calendar. This time it is Pirates because lets face it even guys on the seven seas have to celebrate too.

I am documenting each day on Flickr so why not keep popping back to my photostream and see where the antics of Jolly Captain Roger and friends will end up.


ARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Trick or Treat?

Trick or Treat?, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Halloween.

I won't be dressing up but I will be experiencing a true North American Holiday which should be a lot of fun.

Animal Activity

Animal Activity, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

On Wednesday night we ventured through the cold to go see Paranormal Activity at our local Empire Theatre. Since the hype online many weeks ago we have been eagerly awaiting this movie to come to Halifax, I even went to their website and joined in the polls to request it come to a city near you (clever marketing).

For those of you who are unaware of the plot its basically about a couples struggle to try and document what seems to be a haunting in their own home. All the footage is by a hand held camera and has some premise that it is a true story similar to how Blair Witch was introduced to us.

The movie itself was very minimal, we would get dialogue from the suffering couple trying to find out what is going on in their house and at night the camera is placed on a tripod in their bedroom to watch what happens while they are asleep. Most of the sequences at night only amount to bumps and noises, doors moving and lights turning on but these create a wonderfully creepy build of tension.

I won't go into details but Paranormal Activity was fun but it fails on one major level and that having a cliche horror Hollywood ending. After the movie I read that the director had shot a number of different endings but the one that was released was heavily influenced by Steven Spielberg no less. The movie had managed to tell a story without being too obvious, the audience was left to decide what was going on and to discuss what they saw or didn't due to the poor quality of the camera.

The ending basically ruined the whole film for us because after such an increase in tension it felt like it was rushed to get to a simple conclusion.

Paranormal Activity works because when you think about it sitting at home you start to become aware of all the small noises a building can make. the cinema setting was crowded and noisy, chatty scared girls, cell phones that weren't switched off and rustling popcorn bags ruined this movie for us because the movie requires silence so you hear every subtlety.

If I was to recommend it to people I would say wait for DVD, curl up on the sofa and turn the lights off and scare yourself silly because I think it only works if you are experiencing it in your own home. This is a place that is supposed to be safe, your own private fortress, and what better thing to penetrate that than something otherworldly?

The Simple Life

The Simple Life, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

It never gets old seeing little Frannie as she collects nuts for the winter. She has become such a character with no fear as she climbs and jumps all over us looking for her bounty. Her personality shines through and I would like to think there is a bond between her and Chris, she appears to be very loving and intelligent.

I took this video as Chris shot his latest image which you can see on Flickr. This marks probably our last interaction with Frannie until next spring so watching it I have mixed emotions. Who would have thought one so small could entertain so many.

Wanna Dance?

Wanna Dance?, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

A couple of weeks ago I received a message on Facebook from an old friend from college called Natasha referencing my recent 'Other Worlds' work on Flickr. Her boyfriend Chris had seen them over her shoulder and was pretty impressed and then continued to badger her about asking me to work my magic on him. When she told me this I happily responded as I do to people who show an interest and let them know that all I require is a self portrait shot against a blank background.

Not long after that I got an email with a shirtless picture of Chris in a strange pose, it was then disclosed that he wanted to be turned into Wolverine from the X-men comic series. Yesterday I started to tackle the picture which didn't take long at all with only a few minor finishing touches needed today before uploading it online.

I have yet to hear from either of them if they approve but I am sure Chris will be happy with his new physique :)

Thundercats HO!!!!!!!!

Currently enjoying photographing my friends retro toy collection. Many of these action figures I had myself as a child and wished I still did. Unfortunately sometime in my early teens i accompanied my mum to a local car boot sale where she had a stall for the local club she was a member of. I saw all the people there making money and thought to myself maybe I could earn a little something as well. So the following week I decided to sell all my toys (something I now regret).

Lion-O, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I was lucky to accumulate a large collection of toys from certain series like He-Man and Thundercats so my little folding table was crammed with colourful little figures, weapons and accessories.

I recall a man circling my stand with a suitcase until he finally came up and said "How much for the lot?". I looked over the array of different collections trying to put a price on them because until now they had been priceless to me. "Fifty pounds" I stuttered "Done!" the man said, handed me the cash and threw my childhood into his suitcase and walked off.

There had been no time to process what had happened and for the moment I was overjoyed, thinking about how I was going to spend the money. It wasn't until I got home and reality sunk in that nearly all my fond memories of playing had been exchanged for such a measly price. The man was clearly a dealer and would make three times as much on my immaculate collection. I think it was that moment that defined the value I have on personal possessions and probably why I try to collect toys at any given moment.

As an adult I am always on the look out for new and exciting action figures, but now my excuse is for photography. It gives the object another purpose, almost making it into a new art form. When you look at my 'Retro Plastic' collection or the 'Transformers Animated' series they bring memories to the viewer of a time that have forgotten. Its for that reason alone I love doing what I do.

You can find awesome retro Thundercats T-Shirts

at Tees for all

Teefury - ONE DAY ONLY (Oct 2nd)

Hi everybody

First of all sorry for the spamming if you already heard, but Chris (powerpig on Flickr) has one of his awesome T-Shirts (concept by me) on Teefury.com for ONE DAY ONLY!!

The shirts are only $9 each of which he only receives $1 so please please take a look and hopefully buy one or two for you and your friends.

Thanks for your time, its nice to see him being recognised for his hard work and talents.

Wedding Bells

Just over 2 weeks ago I did my first major wedding shoot for a friends cousin. I had never met Jeff & Megan until the day itself which made me extremely nervous because I know how important it can be and the fear of ruining someones special day never left my mind. The wedding itself was a small affair of about 150 guests situated in an apple orchard in the north valley of Nova Scotia.

Everyone made me feel very welcome and I was treated like a guest with a place at a table and a meal from the buffet. The day was long, shooting for at least 6 hours, and my legs and back ached due to the constant crouching to get the right angles. I left the event feeling positive as I had glimpsed at a few shots before packing my kit away.

Megan & Jeff, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

All that was left to do was edit down the 1000 shots to 200 and process them, a task that I only just finished today (hence the blog post). People forget just how much work is involved to make a perfect image, no matter what they tell you, 99% of the time it never comes straight out of the camera.

I use a couple of processing techniques in Photoshop incorporating layers and colour treatments to saturate and highlight the important parts of an image. Luckily most of the photos required the same minor tweaks and patch ups because they were shot in the same lighting conditions. All in all I am happy with the results, I posted a few on Facebook so Jeff and Megan could get a glimpse of what was to come, I heard good things back from them so that put my mind at rest.

Its hard to say that this is an area of photography I want to do often but it sure can pay the bills.

B-Day Boy!

My Birthday Gifts, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I would simply like to thank everyone for their comments and well wishes on my Birthday last Thursday. I had a lovely day and received some great gifts. Who said growing older meant no more toys? Pfft

We Feel Fine

Day 54: Close to hand and heart, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

"Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.)."

I have been lucky to be featured on the website with my 365 image about my Mum, where I used the sentence " I feel I have lost one of my best friends, a super mum that touched everyone she met. ".
Over the past couple of years a book has been in development and I was lucky enough to be asked to be included.

The book is titled We Feel Fine: an Almanac of Human Emotion and is scheduled for a December release. It will be published by Scriber and a launch party will be held in New York. The authors have been very good at keeping me informed and promising me free copies and invites to the party (although its unlikely I will attend due to work).

It's always a boost to the ego when your work is recognized and this particular image means a lot to me so I gladly share it with the world.

Check out their website for more details

The Carleton

The Bar, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

Recently I was contacted by a graphics company called Concrete Orange which I had spoken to around the time I moved to Canada last October. They were currently redoing a website for a local bar/restaurant called The Carleton and needed some interior shots. I gladly took the project even though my style of photography is usually about detail rather than the wide open spaces.

I took two cameras with me, armed with a wide angle, 50mm and zoom lens because you never really know what you will be faced with when entering a shoot blind. I met with the owner Mike whose background is in the music industry and on MTV. He welcomed me warmly and was very excited after seeing my website.

The main areas to shoot were the bar, restaurant and function room so I set up my tripod and composed some test shots using the wide angle. The place is an L shape so it was hard to get the whole space in a single shot so I suggested that if needed I could composite two shots later on Photoshop.

It's very hard to give a still room life, so we added some candles to the bar area to create some ambiance. This was repeated in the function room because the only room that was fully lit was the restaurant.

After two hours and three hundred shots I decided to call it a day. I managed to send Mike eight shots fully processed which he was extremely happy with and asked for a disc of the rest.

The image you see on this post was used for an advert in an in-flight magazine so maybe I will get to see it when I fly home in October for a holiday?

Update: Did another shoot for them this week, this time at night to capture the place busy.

Other Worlds

Swollen, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I am still accepting portraits for my current Photoshop project called 'Other Worlds'.

Basically the rules are as follows: Shoot a self portrait (either head and shoulders or full body) in front of a blank wall or fabric so its easier for me to mask in Photoshop.
Then send me the full res image (raw if possible) to my email matt@matthewjamesparsons.com

So far I have had a lot of fun and its great to never know what image I am going to receive. Why not take part and try to surprise me, give me a real challenge.

Red Bubble

Finally I have got around to trying to sell my work through a site called Red Bubble which is an Aussie site with distribution in many places including Germany and America. The site seems simple enough and works a lot like Flickr in the sense that you can add contacts, add to groups and comment on other peoples work.

Currently I am still uploading images but there is a small collection available already. Please take a look and link my bubble page to anyone you might think would be interested in owning a piece of Fanboy30.

Just click on this button to head over there.



If there are any images you want to purchase and I don't have them on Red Bubble then let me know and I will get right on it, thanks.

Lets All Go To The Lobby!

Lets All Go To The Lobby!, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

Chris challenged me last night to create a vignette from Lego with a movie theme. His actual words were "build something with people waiting to see a movie" and after a number of ideas I came up with a brightly colored foyer filled with eager customers.

A ticket booth is on the right with a sweet kiosk to the left. The screen entrance is at the back of the model with a number eight above and a movie poster to the side suggesting that this is a multiplex. A couple in the foreground collect their tickets and the girls Popsicle drips on the floor much to the annoyance of the usher behind cleaning up spills.

I am very happy with this fun little set which allowed my imagination to run wild. There is bound to be more to follow considering the amount of Lego collecting in the apartment.

I wonder what movie they are going to see?

Autobots Roll Out!

Keeping it very simple (unlike the movie) I see no point in harping on about what I didn't like about Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen because lets face it most of the internet is doing that already.


Young art in its Prime, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

The movie left me thinking about my childhood and why I continue to think that all these remakes and screen adaptations are souring those fond memories. What I should be asking is are these movies simply evolving over time and trying to attract new and younger audiences?

Its true that the toys are aimed at children and the fanboy's who have been brainwashed into collecting anything associated with robots in disguise. I read noticeboards about where waves of toys have been spotted so fans can race to purchase them, it seems that they aren't fazed by the poor quality of the Fallen toys compared to previous series. I have to admit I even look at the toys each time trying to find some essence of appeal, so far I have resisted.

The series of toys I collect are from the latest animated series which has now been canceled a long with the range of toys. For me this has been a short lived hunt as I only started collecting since Christmas and now that fun has been taken from me. Hasbro are concentrating on the Fallen range until 2010 so its fair to say that in the Transformer world I won't be purchasing many more for quite some time.

This summer also sees G.I.Joe hit the big screen, the movie looks a lot of fun and I collected the toys but my memories of the show are foggy. Its this reason that makes me realize I shouldn't be so judgmental about Transformers, ultimately its a summer block buster made for 12-25 year old boys. Over the top explosions and slow motion boobs bouncing up and down with some large fighting robots thrown in.
There are rumors that Michael Bay will bow out for the third installment which could save the series but could also reflect the X-men trilogy. Destroying everything that has been built up just so it ends with little possibility of return, this is the power and fickleness Hollywood has.

In the end they still win, because no matter how bad I thought this movie was going to be I still got in line and paid my $9 for 150 minutes of entertainment. The fanboy in me clearly has a louder voice than I give him credit for.

Mean Streets

Day 61: Mean Streets, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

While I sat on the couch watching CSI: Miami last night minding my own business I heard a loud voice say "Show me your hands and get face down on the floor!". I rushed to the window of the apartment and looked down at the street below only to be faced with four police cars. I couldn't see who they were directing their attention to so I walked out to the balcony to get a better look.

Directly below the entrance to my building there were five kids (1 girl and 4 guys) all aged from 16-18 stood holding Tim Horton coffee cups. The armed police swarmed carefully in blocking any route of escape for the youths. After some bemusement the kids got down on the ground with their arms stretched in front of them. One guy shouted out "I just got off work I haven't done anything!" they searched him first looking at his wallet and cell phone.

One officer cuffed a tall nerdy looking kid and took him to a police car, he then walked back to assist his team. A stern looking officer stood in the middle and called over the radio "We have the item and situation under control". I could only assume the nerdy kid was the one they were after as he was taken to the car straight away while his friends lay on the street.

The girl on the floor shouted out "We haven't done anything" to which the stern officer replied "Well maybe you shouldn't hang out with kids with guns!". That's when it all fell into place, the nerdy kid had obviously been packing heat and probably bragged about it and was overheard. This was alerted to the police who responded quickly, they knew exactly what they were looking for and the kids never knew what hit them.

The remaining kids were put into different cars and the officers dispersed leaving the street to return to normal. All that was left were the Tim Horton cups on the sidewalk which the superintendent of the apartment poured into the drain.

I wanted to snap a shot of the incident but felt incredibly self conscious and wasn't clear on laws in Canada regarding the police. Back in the UK it seems to be a crime to photograph officers of the law without their permission so I wasn't sure if Canada holds the same laws.

Walking back into the apartment I looked at the TV and thought what cheesy line would Horatio Caine say at a time like this?

"You lie down with the Devil, you wake up in Hell" Horatio Caine

What Are You Doing?

Twitter, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

The obsession with knowing other peoples business has become the latest craze. Facebook opened up that method of seeing what your friends were up to and who they were connected with ultimately letting you into their lives as well. Twitter took the Facebook status and made it the soul purpose asking the question "What are you doing?".

Making your life interesting in 140 characters or less is a challenge millions face everyday. When I discovered Twitter I wasn't impressed and thought the idea to be a fad and completely stupid. Almost a year later and I tweet like the next man but still find it difficult to make my life interesting to others.

Why do I care so much about interacting with people (mainly strangers)? These people get a fake representation of me and my existence because I choose to tell them what I am doing and can fabricate the truth. Perhaps I should tweet complete lies of humongous proportions but it wouldn't take long until I was caught out.

Doing the 365 Days portrait project already gave people an insight to my persona and life. In that year I met many Flickr members, many became close friends, and every time I was met with the words "You are much more quieter than I imagined". This is a good example of how differently I convey my online presence. I am naturally shy and through my images I can be the outspoken life and soul of the party.

My tweets are different, I find that I tell the truth more.

"What are you doing?"

Well I just wrote a blog entry, how you like dem apples?!

Love's Labour's Lost

At the weekend I popped along to the local theater company 'Shakespeare By The Sea' to do some head shots for the Company's Director Elizabeth. I am good friends with one of the actors and shot their fundraiser back in May which was a lot of fun.

Elizabeth, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

The shoot itself was very simple and easy but I only had an hour of Elizabeth's time as they were on lunch in between rehearsals. One advantage about photographing someone with an acting background is that they are very comfortable with the camera and usually have years of experience with portraits as its part and parcel for getting work. So I had no trouble directing her to what I wanted and she posed very naturally.

My issue came afterward when I edited. A number of shots weren't focused quite right but that is always a problem when using the 50 mm lens on a high aperture is your focal plain is very shallow. The shots taken outdoors were a little flat due to the weather but I knew I could save some with Photoshop.

I narrowed it down to a small shortlist and sent them off. A day later I get called by my friend to say she wanted to see more, in my head this meant she didn't like the ones I chose, so I sent the entire shoot over in an email.
A few hours later I received a selection back to edit, funnily enough the shot above was included in my original edit but I played dumb and sent it back with the new selection. Fingers crossed this is the one she will choose as I think it captures her warmth and personality.

There is a fine line between what is a nice portrait and being happy with your self image, I often forget this but maybe its because when I take self portraits I have all the control.

Things Have Gone This Far

Consumption, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

A year ago I had just returned home after a wonderful 14 day trip to Canada. My feelings at that time were extremely mixed, the not knowing when and how I was going to be able to return there was agonizing. My family had been to Ottawa the previous year to visit relatives but I couldn't afford to go with them. Seeing Canada had been a life long dream and now there was the possibility to move there.

I explored many ideas but only found results in the Work Canada program (BUNAC). Initially I was told the program for that year was full which meant I had missed out because by the following year I wouldn't qualify because of my age. When August came along I received an email saying that some places were available so I rushed to get my application submitted.
After a few weeks of worry I was notified of my acceptance into the program. The next month was a whirlwind as I sold nearly all of my possessions on eBay, amazon and at local car boot sales. I left my job at Sainsburys grocery store a month before leaving the country so I had time to visit friends and family to say my goodbyes. It all seemed so easy for me, leaving it all behind at the time didn't really compute until I was sitting in the departures lounge at Heathrow. Overwhelmed with emotions I bordered the plane and took my seat.

A year has passed and I am living/working in Canada, some days I feel like a tourist and then I look at myself and think is this me now? Its scary how comfortable I have become considering a few years ago I had no desire to live abroad. The culture shock has worn off but going to Walmart is still an event to me and I don't think that will ever wear off.

Permanent State Of Abyss

Permanent State Of Abyss, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

When you promise one of your best friends to make them beautiful you have to question what beauty is. As you will see from my images I have a dark undertone but this outlook doesn't stretch to life. For once I am totally happy with where I am right now with very little complaints.

My art has always been influenced by artists like H.R.Giger, slightly twisted and sinister with an essence of beauty.
I miss the days when I would pick up a pencil and sketch frantically the thoughts going around in my head. A simple confrontation at a grocery store or a snyde glance from a passing stranger on the street could spur off enough negativity to inspire a new picture. A lot of that I put down to being younger when you are angry at everything.

'Demons' paint/ink on paper 1992

Today I am more calmer but still have trouble taking a photo of something pretty in the picture book sense like flowers or a sunset. I can find beauty in moldy walls, flaky paint and derelict buildings, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In darkness there is always light or else we would never see anything?

Patience Is A Virtue

Grimlock vs Munkzilla, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

It's lovely when a simple idea and a lot of patience pays off.

'Grimlock vs Munkzilla' has become my most popular image to date and I can't help but feel a little guilty for using Chris' (aka Powerpig) niche. The chipmunk in question was new to the backyard and after a few visits we noticed that she was clearly pregnant because of her large belly and noticeable teats. She was extremely timid and erratic which led Chris to believe she wouldn't be able to perform like previous chipmunks.

I sat out in the garden alone with a handful of almonds watching her movements as she darted around under the shed, occasionally popping her head out to stare in my direction.

Sitting low seemed to be less threatening to her and she soon started venturing closer so I threw some nuts in her direction which she happily stuffed in her cheeks. I lay down on the stone path and made high pitched chirping noises similar to the sound they make (Chris usually whistles but I have never been able to, I only discovered how to snap my fingers from the age of 20 so don't ask).

It wasn't long before she was darting to and fro collecting almonds from my hand. It was now or never so I grabbed a bunch of Dinobot Transformers and set them in a group on the concrete path. At first I thought they may scare her off but she scampered around them without a care in the world. The shot just didn't work with three figures in it due to the wide crop and too much background making the chipmunk very small in the frame.

I settled for a simple face off between Grimlock the T-rex and my new little friend because Grimlock's mouth can open and close so I placed a nut in it. Within thirty seconds the furry mother to be was sniffing around him and after some apprehension she stood on her hind legs and took the almond from his mouth. I fired off a number of shots using burst and caught the moment perfectly.

Chris came outside looking slightly less disappointed on seeing the chipmunk performing. He looked at me and said that I could name her considering I had made first contact. Without any hesitation I turned towards her and said Molly, the same name as my new niece back in Brighton.

So a star was born that day, but I never got her to sign a model release.

Hello Good Evening & Welcome

It's been A while since I have blogged and that is probably because life has managed to get in the way. For the first time that is something I am not complaining about.

A lot has happened since I closed 'My Stars & Garters' blog over a year ago. My ramblings on there had gotten far too personal and my dirty laundry really didn't need to be aired to every Tom & Dick, and there are far too many Dicks on the Internet so this time around I am using this blog to promote my photography and whatever attracts my attention in the world.

For those of you that have stumbled upon this from Flickr or Facebook then you will already know me pretty well but for any newbies then the short version is that I am an Englishman now living in Canada for a year on a work visa. I am in the process of trying to extend my visa because I feel its not the right time to return to the UK due to the state of the economy. Plus this is the first time for years that I find myself not living from paycheck to paycheck.

My photography is well received here in Canada because there doesn't seem to be as many professional ones in practice compared to Brighton where I lived previously for two years. Everyone was trying to make a go of it especially with digital cameras being so affordable and technically high standard. I think I allowed myself to fade into the crowd and didn't push at all to be noticed and settled for Flickr fame which realistically meant very little in the profit margin.

I manage a funky environmentally friendly store which sells a huge range of products from designer ware like Alessi and Blomus to fun gifts from Fred and Kikkerland. Over the past 5 months I have seen many new products introduced to the store, Lomography cameras and designer vinyl toys from Strangeco are two of my favorites.
There is nothing else like it in the area let alone the Provence which means we are receiving great success and have recently won a design award for our unique style.

Now that you are up to speed I hope I can entertain and inform you over the for seeing future. Who knows how long I can keep this up and be interesting enough to gather any sort of following. So I encourage you as readers to comment on any of my posts just so I know that you are out there. That is the one disadvantage of being a blogger, is all my ramblings falling on deaf ears and yes I know you are all thinking can I really be arsed to bookmark yet another nobody hoping to be a somebody...only time will tell I guess.

Thanks for listening.

Matt