RETURN FOLLOWING A BRIEF ABSENCE/BRIEF INTRODUCTION FOLLOWING A RETURN

This blog has been neglected (after the grand two posts I have made so far) but I finally have a true use for it, a reason for it to go on living. Hooray! After many long years my lovely grandparents have given me their scanner which means I can finally put all of my good (well I think so) photos on the internet (I do have a Flickr however it is mainly home to cameraphone snaps of sunsets and photos-of-photos, you know the type). ANYway, I like to think of myself as handy with a camera in my spare time, I am also studying photography at school but that just means I can say 'Ooh, how very Man Ray' at appropriate times and look clever about art. Basically what I'm trying to say is now all the photos that have been knocking about in draws throughout my house for many years are relocating to here and hopefully some new ones will follow, but any ~cool and inspiring~ pictures I guess I will carry on putting up here too. Not yet though because I'm on the wrong computer.. anyway I'm sure my millions of readers will appreciate this ha.

MATTE PAINTINGS/SETS/GENERAL GOOD TASTE FROM THE ORIGINAL STAR TREK

This is a collection of my favourites from the screen caps gallery on this A* Star Trek site. Although I've never really been a die hard fan of Star Trek (it's not that I don't like it, but it's never on any more so I haven't had a chance to learn all the facts I need to declare myself a proper fan, booo!!), judging from these shots the original series would be right up my street - a bit silly but very handsome nonetheless. The backdrops are all paintings, with which the underlying goal was "to give each planet a distinct appearance, with sky colours, rock formations and architectural styles different from those on 20th century Earth". Well, I'm loving the amazingly camp purple/orange/pink/glittery colour scheme that seems to have been assigned to each and every other planet in the universe but ours :(

These sets have definitely inspired me to get hold of some infrared colour film, which (it has become clear to me now) was designed solely to turn your local park into a Star Trekkian wonderland in various shades of lavender.

Also, check out the décor in number eight! Am I the only person who suddenly has an urge to revamp my bedroom into an alien throne room/space boudoir now?

MICROSCOPIC IMAGES/LUSH COLOURS

A cigarette paper, water bears, and a diatom taken from the Telegraph website. 

I love the alien world that tiny things inhabit, miniature habitats that are right under our giant noses are completely surreal and beautiful and sometimes even look as if they could be the set for a bad 60s sci-fi movie (which is never a bad thing). The first image, for example, reminds me of Fantastic Planet (below) (and also a little bit of He-Man - anyone else?). It almost seems to me as if a similiar picture must have inspired some of the film, however I highly doubt that such detailed microscopic images of rizlas were available in 1973. The second, of water bears, could be right out of any Studio Ghibli film! I guess my point is that when people imagine alien worlds and impossible creatures what they often end up with is just a bigger version of something that has been sitting next to them the whole time, I think that's kinda weird but cool at the same time.