Monty the penguin

Each year, UK department store, John Lewis, hires a team to create a special ad for the Christmas season. These ads are excellent examples of persuasive visual texts.


John Lewis Christmas advert 2014 – #MontyThePenguin


Flock Associates – John Lewis: The Making of Monty the Penguin 2014


John Lewis Christmas advert 2013 – The bear & the hare


Lily Allen | [The Making of] Somewhere Only We Know (John Lewis Christmas Advert)


John Lewis Christmas advert 2012 – The journey


John Lewis Christmas advert 2011 – The long wait

Same ad, with a different music track:

The New John Lewis 2011 Christmas TV Advert – The long wait [Alternate]


John Lewis Christmas advert 2010 – This feeling inside


John Lewis Christmas advert 2009 – Sweet child of mine


John Lewis Christmas advert 2008 – From me to you [Extended studio version]


John Lewis Christmas advert 2007 – Shadow

365 photos

A few weeks ago, I happened across two different references to a blogging project that was called “365 Photos“. The concept is to use a digital camera to create one photograph per day, using an almost-impromptu, aim-and-shoot technique. Some days, one finds oneself putting a lot of thought into a photo, or at least the subject matter. Other days, a surprise opportunity just presents itself. And other times, it might reach 11.58 pm before one realises that the day has almost slipped by without a suitable photo opportunity. The family dog is useful for such moments of panic (even if he’s asleep).

I’ve been uploading the resultant shots to my Flickr account, and assembling them as a cumulative “set”. This also means that I can create a slideshow, as I did a few minutes ago, by requesting an automatically-generated URL from Flickr. eg:

Click here

The slideshow presentation will get longer and longer as time goes on, of course. And there is an option to display captions – or not.

Although I’m doing this as a personal blogging exercise, over on my other blog – and it has certainly ensured that I have no shortage of things to talk about on that blog – I’m beginning to realise there are endless ways to adapt this project for use with a class of students. Not to mention the potential for using it to discuss visual literacy!

I found a great online explanation of “365 Photoshere, and the reflections of its first advocate here.