brianpaddick.org

I love art, but I absolutely love when people find new, inventive and exciting ways of creating art or finding art in unexpected places.

I saw this piece on Yahoo news and it's fantastic, artist Alexa Meade makes live models look like still canvasses in a sort of 3D painting illusion.

The young American artist has apparently received great acclaim for her work, and seems to have really perfected her craft. She paints directly onto her models with a background behind, and when looking at the scene face-on the subject looks two-dimensional.

Alexa Meade's art has already been showcased at the Irvine Contemporary gallery in her hometown of Washington DC.

What's really fascinating is that the very talented artist previously worked as a press intern on the Obama campaign, but has had no formal painting education. I expect to see more big things from her in the future!

Photos: hragv / AlexaMeade (Flickr)

I really need a new camera, I broke my old one and didn't have insurance! I wish I could afford an SLR camera, the quality is absolutely great and whenever I hear about a point-and-shoot camera breaking it's always the retractable lens that has broken - that wouldn't happen with an SLR!

Alas, I cannot afford an SLR, so I'm looking for a decent pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera for now, and I think I've found the one I want.

I always thought I should buy Canon or Nikon, or Pentax even when buying a camera because they are actual camera brands, but I'm really impressed by the Sony DSC-W530 (not the snappiest of names - pardon the pun!)

It's small, lightweight and has a 4x optical zoom on a Carl Zeiss lens, a great bonus for a camera that only costs £109 - or £90 on Amazon!

What impresses me most is that it has a 'Sweep Panorama' mode, to create super-wide images by moving the camera from left to right rather than having to stitch together individual shots, which will be great for landscapes and the touristy travel shots that I take millions of when I go on holiday!

Photo: sdolores (Flickr)

This is quite a sad example of how police blunders can negatively impact people's lives without any repercussions.

Police in Northern Ireland interrupted the wedding of Neil McIlwee and his pregnant fiancee Yanan Sun, and arrested Ms Sun on the suspicion that it was a "sham marriage".

They have since apologised for the mistake, with PSNI chief inspector admitting that office had gotten it wrong but had acted in good faith.

The couple however are not ready to accept the apology, with Mr McIlwee saying that 'sorry' will not make up for the distress caused.

Police realised their mistake and released the couple, who were married the following day in nearby Castlederg.

Now, the police can apologise, but that won't change the distress and humiliation this couple must have gone through on a day that should've been one of the happiest of their lives. Nothing will give them that back, and it's a real shame. The police need to get their facts right before barging in on people's weddings and lives!

Photo: Angi Unruh (Flickr)

I saw on the news today that Obama's motorcade were hit with London Congestion Charge fines after his visit to the UK in May.

His motorcade, including 'The Beast' have been slapped with a £120 penalty for not paying the original charge of £10 on the day when driving through central London's Congestion Charge zone.

Apparently, Boris Johnson himself insisted that the president pay up just like everyone else, but as all of the cars in the Presidential Cavalcade drove so close together only one registration plate was photographed, and only one fine generated.

Bo-Jo wants them to pay for each car in the motorcade, but the US Embassy have claimed diplomatic exception, claiming that diplomatic rules make them exempt from paying the charge and subsequent penalty.

This is ridiculous, the American president can well afford it and they're quibbling over it! To make it worse, apparently London is owed over £50m in C-Charge and parking fines from foreign embassies, and America owes the most, a whopping £5m, followed closely by Russia's £4.4m bill.