Scott Macdonald

Category: Life

  • A fitness/lockdown journey

    A fitness/lockdown journey

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    Scott Macdonald
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    If regular resistance training was a drug, it’d do gangbusters.

  • Works to nourish the uncolonised mind – Ursula K. Le Guin

    Works to nourish the uncolonised mind – Ursula K. Le Guin

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    Scott Macdonald
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    I generally do not weep when my heroes die. But I do for Ursula K. Le Guin, speculative fiction writer, poet, scholar and genius, who left us at the age of 88. Not all tears are wrought of misery – mine are of joy that her work, writing, wisdom was shared to me, enriched me,…

  • Video production – Exposure

    Video production – Exposure

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    Scott Macdonald
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    Getting an acceptable image on a DSLR is generally not difficult. Getting a professional, consistent, stable image is occasionally very hard. Exposure The single greatest aspect of achieving a pleasing image is ensuring the image is exposed well. Exposure is the process in which light reaching the camera’s sensor is absorbed, quantified, converted to an electrical signal…

  • I rely on a lot of people to make me whole

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    Scott Macdonald
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    Last night, I was working with a comrade on implementing a discussion forum. Looking at its functionality, fixing its breakages and ensuring it had access to all it needed to function correctly – and test with more people in due course. He was looking at administrative functionality, I was trying to ensure that it wasn’t…

  • Recent SSP video pieces

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    Scott Macdonald
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    Saturday and Sunday – was in Stirling. Stayed over on the branch organiser’s sofa. Had a pile of work to do, so headed there early, and brought my laptop to start work on a branch movie poster campaign, and to knit together a reasonably complex short film about the RMT’s struggle to keep the guards…

  • Biking to work

    Biking to work

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    Scott Macdonald
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    I have to travel nearly two and a half hours every day to work. Two buses there and back, 30+ minute journeys each, and waiting time in connection. I try to make the best of it, by carrying a book or two, but I do miss my morning and afternoon bicycle rides to work. They were short…

  • Oppression, equality and respect

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    Scott Macdonald
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    There’s an acute shortage of socialists who aren’t fighting with one another. During the past four years of activism two things have become clear. I’ve had no end of people being shut out and ostracised from politics because they’re ill-educated or say the wrong things without meaning to offend. There’s no shortage of folk that…

  • Getting the SSP’s conference film done

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    Scott Macdonald
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    Righto. Since getting a nice DSLR last year, I’ve been quite busy. Learning an absolute ton of useful information from YouTube on getting passable results. Filmmaker IQ The Basic Filmmaker DSLRGuide Philip Bloom David Kong’s video series RocketJump Film School

  • Photography

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    Scott Macdonald
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    I’ve been busy since getting a Canon EOS 700D. It’s been an interesting experience, in learning how all of this works: The holy quadrangle of exposure: ISO aperture shutter speed lighting Compressing space with high-power zooms and long-exposure times. Composition theory, areas of interest and guiding the eye. How this fits together to get what…

  • Edinburgh People’s Festival – Burns on the Beach

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    Scott Macdonald
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    Had a braw time at the Edinburgh People’s Festival event – intended to welcome the great contribution that migrants and refugees make to Scottish society. It was a terrific night. A roaring fire, friendship, guests, dancing, music, poetry, song. And free haggis, soup, trifle, stovies, mulled wine, juice, and a dram. And unusually perfect weather…