http://www.sumption.org Book and film reviews, stuff about photography, geekery, plus Dan Sumption's adventures in Sheffield and London. Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:04:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A while ago, Theo Simpson interviewed me about my photography, for a project he was doing. I just stumbled upon the interview, while cleaning up my hard disk, so here it is: How did you first begin interest in photography? In childhood – my dad gave me a Kodak Brownie when I ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/07/22/my-life-in-photography/ A few weeks ago, Cherry Red Promotions very kindly asked me to play my Desert Island Discs at their monthly Desert Island Disco at The Shakespeare in Sheffield. Here are the tracks I picked, in the order in which I played 'em. Lizzie also produced a little booklet, handed out ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/07/22/desert-island-disco/ Her voice, singing, Baked in a land of brown, black and purple. Light, milk coffee clouds; Dark, cook chocolate shadows; Sparkle Stabs of Sugared Violet. Ohne Zucker Bitte. Kein Kandis. http://www.sumption.org/2009/07/01/treacle-song-radio-3/ A meme's been doing the rounds on Facebook. Instructions are as follows: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. I did that... but then wanted to offer more explanation of ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/05/31/books-that-changed-my-life/ To celebrate Ada Lovelace day, and the importance of women in technology, I'd like to introduce you to Sue Schofield. Sue is a journalist and author who was writing about hooking computers up to telephone lines when I was still in short trousers. You could, perhaps, call her the mother ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/03/24/sue-schofield/ A few weeks ago I went to the Photographers' Gallery for a lecture by the Dutch photographer Hans Aarsman. I'd never heard of Aarsman before, but the description piqued my interest, particularly the line "if, and how, artistic ambitions, aesthetics and useful photography can coincide". I'm so glad I went! ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/03/23/hans-aarsman/ A while ago, I signed up to review site Qype, but it was only last week that I really started using it. So it was a really nice surprise when today I got their weekly email newsletter (which, I have to admit, I normally kinda ignore) and saw that I'd ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/01/22/im-qyper-of-the-week/ Last night, I was reminiscing with a BBC colleague about the UK micro-computer boom of the early 80s, and it struck me: like many programmers of my age, I cut my programming teeth on the BBC Micro (and also the ZX81). But unlike many, I got my BBC from the ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/01/21/itv-gave-me-my-bbc-micro/ In part one of my “2008 and thereabouts” retrospective, I talked about what I'd been up to work-wise. Now I'm going to focus on my personal and family life. I find this side of things a little harder to talk about, and recall, if only because for most of the ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/01/19/2008-life/ Since working full-time in London, I get precious little time to spend out-and-about in Sheffield. As you may know, for the last few years I've been a regular fixture on Sheffield's social scene, out with my camera documenting the night-life. I really miss this, and I miss Sheffield's wonderful people. Thank ... http://www.sumption.org/2009/01/18/friday-nights-at-the-washington/