The Bradnam Blog

19 Jul 2010

A selection of favorite photos from five and half years in Davis

No particular theme. Just twenty-two photos taken from downtown Davis, the campus, and surrounding area. Enjoy.

Click here to download:

A_selection_of_favorite_photos.zip (2718 KB)

25 May 2010

Some pictures from a weekend camping on the coast

Spent the weekend camping in Salt Point State Park, a few hours north of San Francisco. Had a very relaxing weekend and took over 200 photos. As normally happens, I end up taking lots of shots of coastlines that meander off into the distance. My iPhoto library is full of effectively the same photo, but I thought I would not include those here. Instead, here is an assortment of photos from the weekend. We had a dog and a baby as part of our camping collective, and so this gave me some different subject matter to practice my photography skills with. The photo of the road tapering off into the sea is now among my all time favorite photos, though I'm not sure what it is about the photo that I like so much.

Click here to download:

Some_pictures_from_a_weekend_c.zip (11022 KB)

17 Apr 2010

Eggheads on campus. Gotta love those eggheads.

The UC Davis campus features a number of Egghead sculptures. I've just realized that the photo doesn't include anything to give you a sense of scale. They stand about four foot high.

11 Apr 2010

My Life Revisited. Part 9: 1984

Another year, and another school photograph. If my calculations are correct then this photo would have been taken from my last year of middle school. Soon I would be taking that big step to ‘Upper’ school, a slightly less innocent and more salubrious place. Once again it would mark that transition from feeling somewhat smug and superior at being the eldest year in the school, to feeling scared and insecure at being among the ‘new boys’.

Of course the big news from this photo is that the era of brown is over. For reasons for which I still do not fully understand, I spent a few years of my life in the late 1980s with an unhealthy obsession towards all things grey. I could have stuck with brown, or explored shades of blue, black, or white...all colours that would have been permissible under the school colour code. But no, I went for that most boring, and unappealing of all colours. This photo captures me in one of many grey tops that I would come to own. This one has it’s rather fetching grey mesh overlay to accentuate the grey base layer.

The really sad part of this was that the greyness did not stop at sweaters and shirts. I also wore grey trousers accompanied with grey socks and grey shoes. Let's be honest, I was a vision in grey. When walking to school, I was probably indistinguishable from the concrete pavement on which my steps fell. Was this why so many people ignored me?

Thinking back to this era, I’m still perplexed as to what exactly the appeal of all of this grey was. The saddest part of my grey obsession was that it didn't stop with my wardrobe ... it even extended to interior furnishings. I remember requesting that my bedroom walls should be furnished with grey wallpaper and I also had a matching grey lampshade. It was a decor that said "Here's Keith, he's the most boring person that you will ever meet".

All this talk about my 'grey period' is starting to make me feel slightly nauseous. Fortunately I can put everyone’s minds at rest and reassure you all that this was just a passing fad. By the time we moved into the nineties, I had expanded my color palette and I spent the entirety of that decade garbed almost exclusively in hues of blue and green.

4 Apr 2010

24 hours with the new noPad from Apple

It's the latest technological wonder that literally no-one has been talking about, it's the new noPad from Apple. Don't confuse this with the somewhat inferior iPad, though they do share many similarities. Like the iPad, the noPad is simply gorgeous to look at. Its crystal clear display which has a 360˚ viewing angle, is jaw-droppingly stunning in it's clarity. Picking up the noPad is also a delight. What really impressed me was just how light it felt in the hands, almost weightless in fact.

You can orient the noPad in any way that you want, and it doesn't share the iPad's limitation where you have to have the screen actually pointing at you in order to be able to use it. As demonstrated below, it is easy to hold with just one hand, freeing your other hand to interact with the extensively complex, yet innocently simplistic, user interface.

Another advantage of the noPad over the iPad lies with the fact that the noPad is locked in an 'always on' mode which incredibly draws very little power, actually none at all. Unlike many new pieces of technology, there is absolutely no learning curve associated with the noPad. Just pick it up and... BOOM, you're ready to go. Everything works so well and so intuitively that after just a few seconds of use, it feels almost as if it wasn't there at all.

Unlike the iPad, this is a device that is very pocketable which makes it a must have accessory for taking with you everywhere you go. I was impressed with just how quiet it was, even when I was multitasking to the max (yes, it does feature unlimited multitasking). Equally impressive was how I was able to take it outside and use it even whilst it was raining. No expensive waterproof cases are needed for this baby. The iPad (like the iPhone before it) may have made waves with its innovative 'pinch to zoom' gestures. But when you get to play with the noPad's 'pinch to do anything you can think of' gesture, you will be blown away.

In my extensive testing, the only gripe I had with the noPad is that it can be very easy to misplace. However, given the low, low price of this device, I'm fully prepared to buy a new one any time I lose it. In summary I would say that the noPad is the perfect device for everybody as its uses are limited only by your imagination. In a word, it's magical.

7 Mar 2010

My Life Revisited. Part 7: 1981

Another year, another birthday, and another reason for hanging out with ‘the gang’. We are now into the 80’s but brown still seems to be the predominant colour in our house. Note the absence of any girls in this picture. This would set the tone for my relationships (or lack of them) for the next twenty years.

At back left, wearing the Spider Man top is Stephen Pontin, he used to live next door to me. Then it’s me with another classic pudding-bowl haircut. I am taller than it suggests in this photo, I don’t quite know why it came out with me looking like a little munchkin out of the Wizard of Oz. On my right - and showing how cool he is because he doesn’t need to even look at the camera - is Mark Freeman. He lived four doors down from our house, and I think that his parents still live there. To his right I think it is Jamie Newman who was in my year at school (and possibly in my class).

Into the front row, and on the left we have Kevin Seabright...I can’t work out if that is a polo neck sweater underneath a deep V-neck sweater, or whether it’s a single sweater designed to look like it’s two sweaters. Then we have Mark’s younger brother Chris. There’s something about his hair and face in this picture that intensely reminds me of this little fellow. Completing the line-up is my friend Tony (who lived next door to me as well...but the other side to Stephen). He is also showing that he is too cool to be in this photo, as he has his eyes shut. Notice the nipple-clamp attachments on his cardigan.

We are so wide-eyed and innocent in this picture (apart from Tony, obviously). Our chief concern at this age was accumulating Star Wars toys, eating sweets, and heeding the wise words of the Green Cross Code Man. We were still years away from being aware of the dangers and stresses of AIDS, property repossession, and crack cocaine (though taking a second look at Chris’s face, I do wonder...).

28 Feb 2010

Five fingers, ten toes, and two ankles - running with Vibram FiveFingers

Last November I ran my first ever 10k race (The Davis Turkey Trot). I had previously run several 5k races and so I wanted to step up to the next level (this was necessary as I'm meant to be running the San Francisco half marathon in July). After running the race I experienced a lot of ankle pain, around the bones rather than the muscles, and I couldn't run again for a month.

Since then, I have found that every time I try running more than 5k, the pain returns. This could be a new medical condition, or it could be due to me wearing the wrong type of trainer. I'm inclined to disbelieve the latter as I did get a proper fitting and advice from a running shop when I bought my running shoes. Another possibility is that it's something to do with my running style (or lack of).

When I researching into what remedies I could try, I started reading articles about Chi Running and also barefoot running. The principles behind barefoot running appealed to the scientist in me. It does make sense that, from an evolutionary point of view, our bodies have not evolved to run with a prominent heel strike. And then a few weeks ago, there was a paper published in Nature which gave support to the idea that barefoot running is a more efficient way of running which causes fewer 'collision forces' to the feet.

With some firmer scientific evidence in hand, I decided it was worth trying to see if barefoot running could alleviate my ankle pain. And so I ordered a pair of Vibram FiveFingers from REI and opted for the KSO model (Keep Stuff Out). I imagine that the Nature article has done wonderful business for Vibram as everywhere I looked, they were initially sold out. I had to wait for REI to backorder a pair but I finally managed to get hold of them yesterday. Here's what they look like:

They might look odd, but they feel very comfortable to wear. If you've ever used climbing boots, then you will be used to feel of a lightweight shoe which has a high-grip rubber soul. Actually, Vibram started out in the 1930s as a company that made the first ever rubber souls for mountaineering boots.

The first thing to say about them is that they are hard to put on. I have big feet but my little toes are on the small side. It's a bit of a struggle to get each toe into each compartment. Once they are on though, they feel really comfortable. I spent yesterday afternoon wearing them about the house, trying to get used to them. After 30 minutes or so, I forgot I was wearing them at all. It's nice being able to grip things with your toes!

Today I tried my first run in them. You are warned to not start off running the same distances that you are used to. There is a good reason for this because you effectively need to learn how to run again. If you run in your normal style, your heels will hit the ground first. Without the thick, cushioned heel provided by normal running shoes, this is actually quite painful. Try it in bare feet and you will see what I mean. Instead, you need to switch to running so that you land more on the middle or front of your feet. This takes a little bit of adjustment. It also means that you start using your calf muscles in a way that you never do when you run normally. I ran for 5 minutes and then my calves were sore. This apparently is very common. I think it will take me about a month to get back up to running 5k distances without my calves hurting. Having said that, I would much rather feel the pain of my muscles working healthily, as opposed to the soreness of my previous ankle pain. I remain hopeful that these will help me run again without getting sore ankles. It's very early days, but I'm still hopeful that I will be able to get enough training in to run that half marathon in July!

19 Feb 2010

A faithful companion

When I work from home, my cat likes to keep me company. It's flattering that she likes to be with me, but it can sometimes get a little unnerving. She will sit at the edge of my laptop for long periods of time, remaining silent and quite motionless. Frequently, she appears to be staring at what I'm working on (I can hear the voice in her head saying "That's an interesting idea Keith; useless, but interesting".

From time to time she moves from the edge of the desk (a position which permanently blocks about a quarter of my laptop screen) to take up residence on my lap (a position that allows me to see the screen, but which no longer lets me type easily). She lovingly stays by my side without asking for anything in return ... except for bountiful amounts of food, and lots of stroking.

16 Feb 2010

My Life Revisited. Part 6: 1980

And what better way to start off a new decade than with a hand-me-down clunky looking, rust coloured cardigan? It’s the sort of cardigan that you expect to see being worn by someone in their seventies...perhaps with a pipe in their hand.

This picture would have been taken at the start of my last year in primary school. I still have a memory of being in an end of year (1979) assembly and knowing that when I came back to school for the next term, that the year was going to have a whole new number (8 rather than 7). When you have only ever lived in one decade for nine years of your life, the change of decade seemed like a big thing. This would be my first experience of being ‘one of the old guard’, the pupils who had been around the block and who knew everything...or who thought they knew everything. There were four years worth of younger pupils, who would look up at us 5th years with a mixture of awe and respect. This would of course all change (later the same year) when we took the big step up to ‘middle school’ and became first years all over again.

My hair has started to darken in this picture and the eighties would see me lose those locks of blonde hair, to be replaced with more of a mousey-brown shade. The two front teeth (with requisite gap between them) gave me the appearance of a chipmunk. I appear to have quite a cheeky smirk about my face which strikes me as a little unusual; I usually think of myself being more of the shy, retiring type back then. I guess I was still happy that I only needed one digit to represent my age.

I recall that I first starting wearing glasses about this time, but I obviously had decided not to wear them in school portraits (as some following blog entries in this series will attest to). I think I should add that it was around this time that I first started taking notice of popular music. One song that stood out in this particular year was Babooshka by Kate Bush. A couple of years earlier, I had been positively terrified by another song by the same artist. I have very strong memories of the wailing chorus of Wuthering heights causing me go wild with displeasure. On one occasion (presumably when we watching Top of the Pops), her performance literally made me beg my parents to turn the TV to another channel (and this was an era when you really did have to turn a dial in order to change a channel). I'm happy to say that I very much like the song now. I guess Kate Bush was the Lady Gaga of her age. All together now: "Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy...”

12 Feb 2010

The running costs of taking running photos

Last weekend I ran a 10k race as part of the Davis Stampede. If you have ever run an organized race (5k and upwards) you will probably know that various photographic companies take pictures of you which they then try to sell to you afterwards. This is one of the unavoidable consequences of having to provide an email address when you register. Often these pictures capture you in a state of near death, with a pained expression on your face. However, today I received the following example pic in my inbox:

I quite like how this looks. This captures me crossing the finish line, which was the only time in the race that I actually sprinted. I really like how the photographer from brightroom.com caught me with both feet off of the ground. So for once, I was actually intrigued by the possibility of buying this photo. Being someone who lives very much in the digital age I am less interested in getting a framed print, but much more interested in buying a digital copy so that I can use it however I want. So how much does a single digital print cost?

$28.99

Wow. I was shocked. Nearly $30 to email me one picture!?! If I actually wanted to receive the same picture on a photo CD, then the price goes up to $49.99...though as this is less than the $100 minimum for free shipping, I'd also have to pay shipping. If I wanted an actual hard-copy of the picture, the cheapest option starts from $13.99 for an unframed 5" x 7" print. I don't begrudge that brightroom.com has a right to make money from providing this service, but I don't think I would ever consider spending so much for a single image. Presumably they take thousands of photos at every event and these all need to be stored, backed-up, digitally processed etc. But even then, it just seems too high a price for a single picture...even if it does make me look more athletic than I actually am. Would you pay for a photo like this (not one of me obviously), and if so, how much?