More transportation, this time the bus back to the hotel after the conference dinner. There seems to be something amusing both Alexandra in the foreground and the gentleman behind, who happens to be Marc Prensky; those of you active in the education field may have heard of this guy (digital natives etc.).
Another photo back at the alma mater, that is, Leeds University. I have a week away coming up though — not a new country, but a new part of it, and somewhere I find pretty cool, too. You’ll find out over the weekend — I have a 21.5 hour journey (door to door) tomorrow though.
Halifax Town’s number 7 trots over to do his duty, while the substitutes of Aldershot Town look on. The home team (that is, Halifax) won 1-0. I’ve been to quite a few football matches during the course of this blog and don’t think I’ve ever managed a decent action shot — it’s not an easy genre of photography to master, particularly not when you’re up in the stands and limited to a single vantage point. This one isn’t an ‘action’ shot at all of course, but I kind of like it for its feel of being a pause, a moment of transition between one bit of the game and another.
At a conference today, though in Manchester. Held at one of these ‘workspaces’ festooned with motivational messages. I don’t mind this one, except the subliminal attempt to highlight the value of work (for whom….?); it all looks kind of Photoshopped, but isn’t.
You’ve seen plenty of photos of me in Moscow; for a change here is a Russian in Manchester, namely Olga, making her presentation at a sort-of conference I organised for them today. I like the way her hand has been caught in mid-gesture. They sure saw Manchester in a diversity of weather today, anyway — wild mood swings from foul to sun to foul again.
I know there are plenty of you who read this and probably don’t think I do any work, but here you go, some evidence of it anyway. Not that anyone is ‘working’ right at this moment, except the Italian chap silhouetted against the window. There was a spectacular view of the Oslo hinterland from this venue (the well-named Soria Moria hotel), but this is the first interior shot since my return to Europe on 28th May. I know it would have been better to get all the lines on the carpet straight as well as those on the wall, but hey.
At the conference dinner of THETA 2013, the gig that has got me to Hobart. These guys also turn up, do their thing, go away again and presumably get something out of it all. There are plenty of people watching them – even if you can’t see them in this photo.
Taken at the Palace Hotel, Manchester (with a fast shutter speed – it wasn’t actually that dark). Three Manchester photos in a row – that hasn’t happened before on the blog. It’s because I’m here for the ALT (Association of Learning Technologists) conference, although I don’t always like coming to conferences here – it’s hard to detach from other work. Nice meal tonight, though.
Anyone who’s been to New Orleans knows that its visual attractions are varied and eye-opening. You’ll doubtless be seeing more of the city itself – and its inhabitants and visitors – over the next few days.
But here’s the reason I’m here, the Blackboard World 2012 conference at the truly colossal Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – a building that is literally a mile in length. This is Michael Chasen, the CEO of the company, at his morning keynote. I like the pose I’ve caught him in and also the display on the board behind him, which is a neat way of summarising it. He did have a reason to talk about pee particularly, but I won’t spoil the mystery by telling you what it was.
Today was a salutary lesson in what Principal Skinner (The Simpsons) once said: “Children! Do you want to be like the real UN, or do you just want to squabble and waste time?!’
I am being unfair. It was a very interesting day today. But the experience of writing a document then, in effect, having to have it endorsed by 120 different people from 40 different countries was a new one on me. I therefore distracted myself from the more repetitive parts of the process by taking photos of the delegates. As you can see, everyone seems quite interested. Rule one of taking photos of crowds: even if it’s meant to be a photo of a crowd, focus on someone. This is Tatiana, from Brazil. There are good reasons to pick her as a focus: what a face!
Being 42 