Manufacturing Memories [554]
Greetings from The Borders...
I’m Christian Payne, photographer, writer and firewood hoarder. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, how we share, what we share and consume, plus where we might be going. Thanks for joining in.
#TheAction
An interesting start to this last week. Before the weekend was even over, there’d been two car crashes and the murder of a pheasant.
First off, while on the way to see the musical Hamilton in London, my Wife and Daughter had an altercation with a lorry on the A1. A left hand drive artic had not seen them when changing lanes. Thanks to her company car being a Volvo they were only a little shaken up and not hurt. In fact looking at the damage to the car that still got them there and back again, you have to respect how much crash protection Volvo put into their vehicles.
Then the following day… [Actually I’ll save this story for the Discord group as I have 17 years no claims and thanks to a lovely human, am able to keep it that way ;-) ]
All I will say is that I blame loading my van to the roof with bits of tree.
Much of which I have been chopping my way through this week.
[If you are a supporting subscriber and would like an invite link to the Discord let me know.]
On to the pheasant thing.
I had just finished recording some audio (linked below) and had put the dog on a lead after some deer leapt over the path in front of us. I was thinking that with the dog being on the lead she couldn’t run off after them or get into any trouble.
How wrong I was.
I was looking off to the hills in the distance when she lurched into some long grass pulling me with her.
Inside the scrub was a pheasant doing that thing where they think they’re hiding but are really crouching as if no one can see them. Probably with their eyes closed.
In one swift move the dog had grabbed it by the neck and pulled it out and onto the path. I shouted at her to drop it and she did. Looking really guilty.
That one bite on the neck and the pheasant was dead. I have no idea if it was the skill of the dog’s primal instincts, or that pheasants have evolved to be easy prey. Either way, rather than leave it there, I checked if a local house wanted pheasant for dinner and after getting a nervous “No thanks” I took it home and asked my Mother in Law if she could prepare it for me (she’s done that kind of thing before). It was a nice try, but I was on my own.
Well not quite on my own. I had the wisdom of an old game keeper my friend knows who over the phone shared a technique that enables you to remove the meat from a pheasant without plucking. I will save you the gruesome details, but will add that after doing it I can vouch that unless you are suddenly in possession of lots of dead birds there are much easier/nicer ways to get your protein that don’t involve a pheasant-wrangling workflow.
You know like yoghurt, cheese, nuts, eggs, lentils, falafel, tofu, chickpeas, beans and so on.
That said, I figured that eating local pheasant that has died accidentally is about as ethical and sustainable as meat-eating gets. There was no intentional killing, (not by me) no added suffering and no increase in demand for shooting or farming. Instead, I’m preventing waste by making use of an animal that lived freely and died by ‘accident’. Might it be ‘ethical salvage’?’
The carbon footprint must be almost zero, with no feed, transport or packaging involved. I know that UK law allows you to take roadkill for personal use as long as you did not cause the death. I’m guessing it’s the same for this bird which I did not set out to hunt or harm.
The kids saw it hanging in the utility room for a day and were interested to try it. So I fried it with garlic and thyme from the garden. I’ve had pheasant before and was not a fan of the gaminess. But this was much better after only hanging for a day.
But like I say…. There are easier/nicer ways to get your protein.
Thanks to family with shovels who aren’t afraid to sweat, the poly tunnel now has a layer of wood chip to create the blank canvas we shall soon be growing on.
The rest of the week has had me sharpening axes, chopping and stacking wood (my happy place) and testing a solar set up for the shed.
#ThePictures
A reminder as to why we should not let Adobe (or other AI focused editing tools) dictate how our photos are made.
The camera, along with an audio recorder, are my favourite tools to document the world around me. But now it seems I have to guard my audio files and images from the very software designed to ‘improve’ them. The pen or the keyboard can reshape reality, but only through interpretation. They don’t manufacture evidence on their own.
I’d like to think the camera, at least in my hands, is capturing a copy of what my eyes see. Or at least as close as damn it. Our generative editing tools, particularly in photo work, can alter reality without the user realising the extent of the change. So while all creative tools reshape experience, my writing transforms reality through meaning, not through manufactured evidence, while my camera, I hope, remains an honest witness.
This current shift in AI infused editing tools is where the danger creeps in. The moment I let Adobe’s generative algorithms start deciding what belongs in a photograph, I’m no longer interpreting reality, I’m replacing it. Swapping what happened for what looks good.
Pixel-polishing an image with the click of a button might well create something aesthetically pleasing, but after the camera’s initial computational assessment and rendering (unless I’m shooting film), how much of what feels like an honest capture of what I see starts to drift into fiction?
If I let the tools manipulate the audio or rewrite the picture, I’m not documenting anything at all. I’m just helping the machine manufacture memories.
So how far is too far? If you’re more interested in documenting the world around you than creating digital art, there are plenty of options. I use Pixelmator Pro (I have no affiliation with them and bought the software myself). There’s also Capture One, DxO PhotoLab and the opensource options Darktable and RawTherapee. If you’re on a Mac, even Apple Photos is a solid choice.
These tools offer strong RAW development, tonal control and colour correction without the ‘swap the sky’ tricks we’re seeing elsewhere.
Personally I’m happy tweaking exposure, contrast, white balance and cropping, with a little lens correction, gentle dodge and burn and minimal dust-spot removal.
If you’re planning to use heavy colour grading, HDR blending, AI noise reduction or AI sharpening you do need to consider where the image is going, especially for editorial work.
But for me, sky replacement, object removal that invents pixels, generative fill and AI upscaling that fabricates texture or facial features are no-go areas unless you’re intentionally making digital art, posters or memes.
In the context of the screenshot of the wild cat, I feel nature and documentary photography should follow a ‘sensor-first’ workflow. Start with global corrections like white balance, exposure and lens profiles. Then use only subtle local edits that echo what you might do in an analogue darkroom. Avoid tools that add or remove subjects and keep colour grading natural by referencing your RAW previews. Never use generative features that invent sky, land or wildlife. Finish by viewing your final edit beside the untouched RAW file. It’s the quickest way to see how much of your image still belongs to the moment you captured.
We watched Bugonia this week.
A weird and sporadically violent paranoid sci-fi. Which is pretty good in my book. Makes me want to watch the original this film is inspired by. 3.5/5
I also introduced my eldest to Robocop. Who is about the same age as when I saw it. They were interested in seeing this as the origin story of the computer games. I’ve not seen it for forever and was reminded of all the memes that the film birthed. 3.5/5
#TheWords
I’m currently reading I Am The Law - How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future. I forget who recommended me this but am pretty sure it was one of you. Thanks.
Really getting in to it. It’s an exploration of how the 1970s 2000AD comic book character ended up becoming one of the most accurate mirrors of our modern world. Although Judge Dredd was originally conceived as a satirical exaggeration of authoritarian policing and bureaucratic cruelty, the book shows how real life has become disturbingly comparable to the dystopian MegaCity One.
It also traces the comic’s roots in British political anxiety, from the Thatcher era crackdowns to America’s tough on crime mythology. Dredd’s world was not the only one anticipating mass surveillance and militarised policing, but it was strikingly accurate all the same.
The book never treats Dredd as a hero, yet it takes him seriously without stripping away the dark humour many of us loved as kids.
After reading the comics all those years ago, I’m enjoying revisiting the character’s contradictions. Many of which I would have missed first time round.
If you’re interested in examining the world’s Orwellian tiptoe into totalitarianism, I feel this is well worth reading.
#TheSound
I picked up some Clippys from MicBooster and attached them to a short bar while out for a walk.
The stereo pattern will be quite narrow and the wind noise annoying at times, but it will give you a feel for the quality of these great little mics. There’s a lot of audio with me rambling on but it might be interesting to some. I explain the setup a little more and also recount the pheasant incident mentioned above.
#TheConsumed
This is worth the few quid it costs.
As it says on the label… Cranberry and Clementine ‘Flavour’ mulled wine. I doubt i’d ever go through the hassle of making a 5% alcohol wine and then flavour it myself but this was pretty decent off the shelf.
Porridge of the week was a collection of 50-50 oat milk to water dried apple slices from our trees, chopped dried figs, fresh raspberries and a topping of nuts.
To be honest, the raspberries were a bit of overkill as the tartness overpowered the fig a little. Still enjoying these porridge experiments but as we move towards Xmas I’m feeling a lighter start to the day is needed.
This ‘special winter edition’ of Irn Bru is basically ginger beer.
#TheThings
Really happy with how Mark at Sea The Change took my bike and a box full of bits and made me this beautiful machine
The picture on the top of this post was taken when I parked up on a test ride and broke out in a massive smile when I stood back to look at the bike.
I’m not sure any other machine gives me the same joy as a bicycle. And this one does it more than most. Mainly because we already have history together.
Now I’ve changed the bars and gears for my new environment, it feels ready to fit my life again. Which means we can carry on having adventures and making new stories over the coming years.
#TheThanks
Massive thanks to the paying subscribers who continue to support this dispatch and the adventures/experiments that make it. You know who you are. ♥️
Till then… If you value these words, ideas and curation, please consider an upgrade to paid…
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#TheWeb
There is still hope for us as AI struggles with psychologically complex and ambiguous narratives.
Have you added yourself to the Documentally community map? Still no one from Lapland.
Are you seeing the world or seeing images of it?
The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life
Some of my other places include these.
Here is a Christmas story for you. It’s long but read to the end.
#TheEnd
My next dispatch, satisfyingly numbered 555, will be the last one of the year. It’ll most likely be a short one for supporting subs so if we don’t get to chat soon, have a great holiday Happy Yule! Live, love, laugh and i’ll see you on the other side. :-)
“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ― Shel Silverstein
Be present.
See you out there.
Over…
