Seek out genuine voices [501]
Greetings from the shed...
I’m Christian Payne, photographer and writer. In this weekly dispatch I look for 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
How has your week been?
I’ve been driving hundreds of miles, exploring the Scottish Borders, finding money in the street, celebrating an anniversary, chatting on the radio, updating Macs, pairing peripherals, walking the dog, experimenting with solar panels, attempting to fix broken things, pitching a project to Eddie Vedder, baking bread, feeding a leaf hoover, paying a tax bill, writing up a journal, plus booking trains and accommodation.
A last minute dash before decelerating before the end of the month. Hope you are well.
#ThePictures
This video documents the fascinating rediscovery of a huge archive of aerial photography and how it’s now being digitised and shared with the world.
What a fascinating amount of geographical, archaeological, sociopolitical, ecological, technological and meteorological data now available to the world. You can read more about the project here.
Brilliant little mixed media film. Curiosa.
#TheWords
Applying Dark Forest Theory to the internet.
Today I read a lovely passage of text quoted in a friend’s newsletter, but something didn't feel quite right with it. I wish I hadn’t—but I ran it through an AI text identifier. It read like a life affirming heart felt piece, reflecting a life changing moment. But the passage came up as 69% human. I wish I hadn't checked it because it had me wondering which 31% of it might be written by an AI.
I also wish this kind of questioning wasn’t becoming the norm. So much of what is shared on the web still comes straight from one heart to another. But I fear that as we digitally mince our words, this dilution is increasing exponentially.
Putting the intent aside, I wondered what percentage of what I write might be influenced by the words of others. That perhaps there is a spectrum of authenticity and not simply authentic vs inauthentic.
I understand that this is my subjective interpretation, and that any piece of 100% human penned text can still be inauthentic if it doesn’t reflect genuine lived experience. But how can I once again trust what I see on a page and truly feel immersed?
We are still at the beginning of this journey into our AI laced future and I expect the collective definition of authentic may change.
In the meantime I guess I need to focus on intent, go with the gut and seek out genuine voices.
[The AI checker tells me that it’s highly confident this text above is entirely human.]
#TheSound
Sometimes when out and about I like to listen to a spoken word podcast and other times just music. But in those times when I’m not sure what I want, there’s the BBC podcast ‘Add to Playlist’. Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye with a wonderful mixture of both and you never know what you’re going to get. There’s 10 series but I have gone back to the start. Loved this episode as with all the episodes so far I have learned a lot about tracks I thought I knew.
A brief history of the playlist.
#TheConsumed
I really enjoyed a lunch out this week where I splashed out on a goat’s cheese salad with beetroot, butternut squash and walnuts.
Goats cheese is lower in fat and calories, plus easier to digest than other cheeses. Some are also probiotic. We think humans have enjoyed goats cheese since 5000BCE when I doubt they paid £14.95 for a small portion of it on some leaves. Gotta support your local pubs though. You will miss them when they are gone.
Experiments with the AirFrier continue. A large number of boiled eggs were a breeze to do perfectly (especially for pickling) and a shakshouka was quickly rustled up later in the week.
Although I’m still trying to master baking a loaf that doesn’t resemble a canon ball.
#TheBody
The other week I bumped into a surveillance manager who looks after a CCTV control room. I asked him who gets access to this kind of power and he told me they mostly use Super Recognisers. People with enhanced facial recognition skills.
#TheThings
Do you remember all the cars you’ve owned/leased? I’ve had an Austin Maxi bought for £50 and written off before I got my licence. A Ford Granada I bought for £100 drove once, didn’t like and scrapped, a Morris Mini 1000cc which was so much fun, could be fixed with string and sold for £50 as it was in a bad way.
My Gran helped me buy a Peugeot 205 for £3000 and I had that for a good long while. Me and a friend picked up a bay window VW Camper and drove it to France where it broke down. I was then co-owner of a little yellow Citroen Seicento Schumacher Edition and then the last Bay Window VW Camper to be made.
After that had to be sold (as it needed way too much welding) I bought a Mini Cooper 35 for £5000 cash. An amazing little car. Then came my first Landrover Defender 200TDI which got stolen off the drive and I replaced it with a Landrover Defender 300TDI which I accidentally wrote off on some black ice into a ditch taking a telegraph pole with me.
I then liked the look of a weird little Japanese import Nissan Pao which was the slowest (but cutest) car I’ve owned. Then I got a different kind of camper and another Japanese import, the Mazda Bongo.
The last Landrover I ever owned was a Landrover TD5 DoubleCab and my only Bond vehicle which when it got engine trouble, I swapped for a Skoda Yeti. Probably one of the most practical vehicles I have ever owned.
Then I went electric with the lease of a Kia eNero, a lot of car for the money. But the VW ID3 was cheaper so swapped it for that. Then we discovered the Cupra Born which was cheaper again and basically the same car. When that lease was up we attempted to survive with my wife’s electric car but I was kindly given an old VW Scirocco. This is what i’m driving at the moment and does very few miles but is a lot of fun.
Out of all these cars I miss a few of them but none of them more than the Mini Copper 35. It was fast and fun and would be worth almost three times what i’d paid for it if I’d kept hold of it.
My Brompton is not my only bike but it’s the one I ride the most and 6 cars have come and gone in the 14 years I’ve owned it. Here is a photo montage of it.
I was hoping we were further up the fusion ladder.
More info here.
#TheThanks
Thank you to all the paying subscribers that support my time here and keep this dispatch free for everyone. Please consider upgrading to become a paid supporter. And thank you to those that did so last week.
#TheWeb
An EU based, privacy first open-source workplace.
Welcoming Adam to the Documentally community map and hoping more Parisians add themselves.
The Dutch headwind cycling championships sounds like someone else’s kind of fun.
A video presentation from Ben Evans entitled AI Eats The World.
Some of my other places include Letterboxd, Flickr, Swarm, LinkedIn, Mastodon, or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire or Bluesky.
The UK’s top ten beer cities.
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. To err is human. So please think of my grammatical nuances as evidence of me writing this from the heart.
Next week I shall be working in Paris. Let me know if you’ll be around.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to." — Jim Jarmusch
Err.
See you out there.
Over…
