That’s a found photo of my Nonna having her eyes tested. You might remember her as Granumentally.
I’m Christian Payne, Documentally, photographer and writer. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, how we share, what we share, and explore the relations between things. Thanks for joining in.
#TheAction
Possibly the best dog walk of last month happened on international dance day. My watch asked me if I’d like to do 20 mins of dancing and that sounded fun. So I turned on my phone and started with Blondie and the Scissor Sisters mix of good boys. The perfect beat for a fast paced dog walk/dance. I just couldn’t help but smile as the sun streamed through the branches, casting a dancing shadow in front of me. Exhilarating, invigorating, stimulating. A great way to start any day. The dog also seemed to enjoy it.
The things we’ll do for virtual badges.
#ThePictures
How some companies are evaluating the environmental impact of outdoor clothing while others are still using Gore-Tex.
The forever chemicals we have introduced to the ecosystem are already raining down on us.
I watched the film Minimata. An easy 4/5. Rating the film more than the accurate portrayal of the original tragic story. I’m sure it only scrapes the surface but that in itself was more than enough to move me deeply.
I missed this first time round. A reminder that if you do drink, do it in moderation.
#TheWords
This post from my friend Dan entitled ‘Enlightenment’ is well worth your time.
This is what an Instagram feed can look like if you turn it into a book.
Well it might if you are one of Britains most important photojournalists. It’s a mighty tome, as wordy as it is visually fascinating. I’m really enjoying working through it.
My delusions of grandeur would love to think I had a small part to play in the origin story for this book. Back in 2010 I shared the stage with David Hurn at the Magnum Professional Practice. Looking back at my old slide decks I was covering workflows for photographers in regards to blogging, vlogging, podcasting and live-streaming.
After the talk he approached me and said that although he only understood a fraction of what I said, would I like to visit him in Wales to share some more. Abso-bloody-lutely. I’d have been a fool to not take him up on the offer.
And on the 11th of January 2011 I went to stay with him. Here is a little audio with David from that first visit. Plus some personal reflections from late that night. Also a photo of David in his kitchen I took for Instagram. I’d been on Instagram since late 2010. Two years before Facebook snapped it up.
Although I demo’d it to David he seemed uninterested in the format asking why people might want to share such trivialities in realtime. I found that surprising as David himself championed the ‘mundane’ in his own photography. I might have brought him round a little but I was still also very much involved in Flickr which David saw a little more sense in.
The following morning was more show and tell from me and listening to stories from David. In another chat you can hear here we discussed crowd sourcing and how we both first met.
The intro in his new book starts with… “Early in 2016-I must have had nothing better to do – I decided to flirt with Instagram, but I had also heard of blogging.”
Also early 2016, I was on the way to a job in Cardiff and once again dropped back into see David. Here are some photos I took of him from that time. So was I the inspiration for the David getting onto Instagram? Probably not. Early 2016 he was still not at all keen on the platform and although the intro to the book says ‘early 2016’ David’s first Instagram post is from the 3rd of November 2016. So I have a feeling a friend or someone at Magnum might be assisting him.
I’m glad someone is sharing his work on there. It’s important that these avenues are enabling more people to enjoy the work of great photographers like him.
Last week I told you that after being informed of David’s death I was pleased to see him alive and well. Even more so to meet him in the flesh again.
It’s been an eight years since we last met. David is now 89 years old. Tired after his talk and lots of book signing, he remembered my face but not my name. I chatted with him about my visits to his home and selfishly hoped he’d remember I’d not picked up a photographic print he’d promised me. He didn’t. Oh well. It was worth a try :-)
Thanks to Ben Paul for taking the Photos of me with David.
#TheSound
Back in issue 001 of this dispatch I shared a 90min chat with David that I recorded on my second visit. Sadly it disappeared with my subscription to Soundcloud but if you are interested I will dig it out of the archive and share it as a podcast for supporting subscribers.
In the meantime here is a short clip of David on deleting.
And finally here is David Hurn on The Joy of Farting.
This WNYC audio documentary offers some great insight into what went on during W. Eugene Smith’s The Jazz Loft Jam Sessions
#TheConsumed
A neighbour offered me some rhubarb and despite it being my least favourite vegetable I said yes. It sat there for quite a few days till fed up of looking at it, my Wife used it to make a cheesecake.
Wow. Rhubarb never tasted so good. She used this recipe and as we didn’t have any white sugar, swapped it out for brown. I’m now thinking of growing rhubarb. Mainly because when I googled how to grow cheesecake I got this.
I’m starting to think my letterbox is just for the receiving of whisky samples.
The whisky tower in the middle is quite clearly from Glenwyvis who have sent some very interesting samples I’m looking forward to trying tonight. And the two bottles on the side (now just a delicious memory) were sent to me from Dave Graham. Thanks David.
#TheBody
Nine years ago I wrote about how the Apple Watch had changed my behaviour in regards to exercise and even got me running. I finished the post pondering if I would still keep running if I wasn’t wearing the watch. What a quaint thought. The only time I don’t wear it is in the shower or when I’m asleep, as the bloody thing needs charging daily.
This week the (AFib) atrial fibrillation feature on the Apple Watch has received approval as a qualified device in the FDA's Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) program.
But nothing yet on how getting dance badges help you live longer.
#TheThings
I am most certainly a slave to this wrist worn computer and the ‘healthy habits’ it enables. Only this week I had forgotten my Apple Watch charger when staying away in Wales and had a sleepless night as a result. Mainly a fear of losing my 714 day move streak. I was attempting to get to 1000 days. I’m not alone with this fear.
I woke a few times, then properly at 4 am. I’d formed a plan in the little sleep I’d had, deciding that once they were open, I’d ask reception if anybody had left a charger behind. If not, like a mad man who enjoyed looking at wrists, I planned to check out everyone at breakfast to see if someone was wearing an Apple Watch.
I lay there for an hour pondering the plan. Then picked up my phone, put in my headphones, selected a sleep focussed meditation program and miraculously got another 40 mins of sleep.
That’s how technology should work. Despite breaking the rule and having the phone by my bedside, it was able to deliver me some stress free bonus kip.
As soon as reception was open, I headed over and trying not to sound like gibbering wreck asked the hairy biker on the desk if there was a wireless charger anywhere. “Yes!” he said and gave me one that charges phone AirPods and watch. Suddenly, very happy indeed (I could have kissed him) I took it back to my room. Plugged it into my laptop charger and was happy I didn’t need to hassle the breakfasters like an unwanted flower seller. I’m now on 718 days straight. So far so good.
It’s taken me till this point in my life to become the proud owner of a 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Ethernet Switch. I’ve still have no idea what it’s capable of or how it might enhance my work life in the shed. But my NAS, Mac and internet now happily talk to one another and I still have three ports left.
There is the occasional affiliate link in these emails. I’m told that I might get a few quid should people buy through them and the last time I did was in Feb 2023 (£22.61). “This time next year we’ll be millionaires”.
#TheThanks
Thank you to all the paying subscribers that support my time here and keep this dispatch free for everyone. This week I’d like to thank John Tierney. He helps run the HistoricGraves.com platform and uses LumaLabs.ai iphone app to make Nerfs/Splats.
Like him, please consider upgrading to become a paid supporter. Or if you prefer PayAsYouGo you can do that via PayPal.
Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing and liking.
#TheWeb
A history of online public messaging.
Electric car driver turned away from hospital carpark.
Thank you for adding yourself to the Documentally community map
Not wanting to take anything away from this amazing story of the orangutang healing himself with a poultice but the photo on the right looks a little photoshopped. I’m no expert though.
Dataset investigation is one of the few tools we have available to gain insight and understanding into the most complex systems ever conceived by humans.
This is one of the longer reads i’ve attempted to get through this week. Thankfully you can also listen to it.
Don’t forget to breathe.
Are we connected on Insta? Some of my other places include Letterboxd, GoodReads, Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, a ham radio newsletter or search ‘Documentally’ on Birdsite, Bluesky or Daft Social.
Sodium-Ion batteries are finally here.
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. I hope you took the time to click on some of the embedded audio. Happy Star Wars day for tomorrow. Next week I’ll be prepping for Thinking Digital which comes around the following week.
“Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Thank you for your curiosity.
See you out there.
Over…
Glad you enjoyed the whisky. I’ll have to sort you out another couple of drams at some point
Great that you watched Minimata, yes, definitely a moving movie and I’d love to learn more about mr smith.