Talent

Those first 2 pictures started out as a third flyer design but somehow ended up there...and then I couldn't choose which I liked better.  Suggestions?  I can actually see that being a poster for some organization or something with just a few more touch-ups here and there.  That makes me happy because I'm not very easily satisfied by my own work...
But anywho, what I do find very interesting whenever looking at the 2 actual flyers is the style of them.  They almost remind me of the random flyers we see around the art dept and Mayfair.  Our quirky artsy sense of humor sometimes gets the best of us and we end up with these types of things.  If I were to analytically approach each of the 2 flyers then I could talk about composition, style, color, negative space, etc. and I could rip both them to shreds because they don't hold hard to any of those rules necessarily, but, for some reason, I think, they just work.  There is a personality coming out of those flyers...my personality.  It's exciting to see myself weaving so seamlessly through my work, even if they are just flyers.

So what are we learning then in this ever so common formula of an art curriculum?  What is it that is really breaking through if in the end I find myself breaking the rules anyway?  I'm not going to go much into it but I definitely think those are really important questions that we should be able to answer before we leave school.  For me, the very fact that I know that I am breaking rules is important, because yes anyone can break them but not everyone can identify them and abide by them If Necessary.  It is up to me to decide what is the best route to take in order to get my information across, be that through humor, entertainment, style, or any other artistic principle that we have become so aware of.  It makes me happy and feel a sense of accomplishment to feel like I am well on my way in that area, like maybe all this time and work actually IS leading up to something...even though it is still really frustrating that I don't know what that something is.

On a different note, I've still been messing around with playing instruments and recording audio stuff.  I was trying to learn how to record my own acoustic loops and how to implement them in the program I've been learning on, Ableton Live.  A few of them are just a little off-beat of each other, you'll notice one of the instruments occasionally finding itself getting off-time, but it always makes its way back around.
Real quick, before I post the video (track I made), I'm just going to explain basically what you're listening to and its significance.  There are several different tracks that were recorded to put all of this together.  I started out listening (in my headphones) to a metronome tick, and then improved a little 4/4 piano progression.  I played the progression ONE time, but because it is played on a loop, it sounds like I played it over and over.  I did not play it over and over, the track that was recorded from the one time I played is just repeating itself.  So then I listened to the repeating track of the piano (a loop) and added on top of it the drum, then the shaker.  I'm pretty sure I played the guitar last of all and then went back in and changed up the piano some for a variation.  The important thing here is that everything played was physically, acoustically played for only a few seconds at a time but can be looped and made to sound like they were being played forever and ever.  So then you can just add and take away instruments at your discretion in post as an audio engineer...er whatever they call them.
I'll make some more of these soon, but this was my first demo:

What's been happening?

Hm, what Has been happening?  There's so much going on, especially since I last blogged, that it is difficult to keep track of it all.

Recordings.
I'm very pleased with the uses that I have been getting from my microphone.  It's helped me publish the Bible study I'm doing to a live stream online with crisp audio, with a homework project, and even with recording my friend Eric who needed to make a few submissions to attach to his application for a large band.

Here's his video #1:




And here is his second video:




As mentioned in some of my previous posts I believe audio to be a KEY factor in the way we watch and process information, particularly digital information such as via television, radio, and the internet.  In reference to the recent political ads that are very "Hollywood-ified," Bob Mondello, a big shot film-critic, says this, "The sweeping soundtrack doesn't hurt, either. And there's a history of using soundtracks to pump up speeches in Hollywood."  And sure that is something we all know, then why is it not being put into practice?  I've seen more low-budget movies over the past year than probably the rest of my life and nearly Every time they skimp out on the quality of audio, and rarely it adds to the overall effect but normally its not quite that way.  It doesn't take much to make it work--do it.

I am no audio expert, but I am working on it.  I put this together in a short period of time...it focuses on narration.  And yes, this is my voice and no, I didn't manipulate it hardly at all:



That doesn't conclude my auditory endeavors but I do think that it is enough to show the general base of work that I have been trying to accomplish.  A friend of mine asked me to do her college graduation and senior pictures so I agreed...here are a few of the shots:

I am pretty please with the photoshoot.  I'm really working on composition in video and in my photography and I THINK I am beginning to get there, but I know I've still got a ways I can go.  It's just not something that always comes naturally for me.  I just realized I only showed 1 of the pictures of Caylyn at the Greenway so here are a couple more:

Playing with the wide angle lens.  It really gives the image an interesting dynamic.

I actually Really like this one in full color, but there's just something
about this black and white that make it a really interesting shot.

So I am pretty sure that I've no desire to become a professional photographer...photography is fun to do and the techno dork that is trapped within me frees itself through the understanding of the way my camera works, like Really understanding aperture, shutter speed, sensors, ISO, etc. and comparing my camera with other products, but it is difficult to put on a persona that a "photographer" requires.  I've got to keep the mood upbeat and happy.  I have to make sure that the smiles are real smiles and not just fake doing it just because ones.  Combining that with composing shots and changing lenses and adjusting for the continuously changing lights is quite a challenge, one that I fully embrace, sure, but it is difficult!  I'm hoping that it will all come together one day.
Since I'm on the note of videos and photography and whatnot, I'll add that I was never until recently aware of how connected they, and their core concepts, really are.  Video is Seriously just a whole bunch of photos placed together consecutively of course, but understanding photography has helped me understand the way video works.  For instance, when recording videos the cameraman is responsible for dialing in the correct aperture and shutter speed, both of which are KEY things to understand with photography, and according to they way he decides to go about doing that, the quality of video and light change as well.  A slower shutter speed will create "blurrier" pictures so if you put a whole lot slow shutter speed, more blurry pictures together as frames in a film, it will look blurrier and perhaps more fluid.  If you use a high shutter speed the photos will be much more crisp, so if you put a whole lot of "crisp" photos together as frames of a film, you get a much more crisp video.  Both of which, by the way, are good for different things.

I put a lot of photos together consecutively...they're pictures I took of BRAG when it came through Milledgeville.  Check it out:





I know there are lots of things to do to make the video better, the main one being stability, but it was fun to make.  I plan on doing more of these (better) but I had 30 mins to spare and wanted to try one out to see how they work.  It's an interesting stop-motion type thing but the camera is moving instead of an object.  Meh, I don't know.


And finally...it's time to get crafty.

I am working on not one but two crafty projects!

Numero uno:
I am learning to make paper!  I have bought a lot of screen for it to dry on and a lot of wood to build frames (that make the paper a specific size).  The wood/screen I have bought is enough to make 12 12"x15" sheets of paper and one 12"x30" sheet of paper.  Why those numbers might you ask?
I'm going to make my on calendar(s)!  I'm going to make the paper and then print and bind them myself.  This originally started as an idea for gifts but I really think, if done well, I could sell them too!  How awesome would that be?!  I want a homemade calendar right now.  But I guess I have to wait till I make them...

Numero dos:
Also...I will be making my own custom bookshelf for my room (because I actually have enough books of my own that I've read to need one now!).  There are some really creative designs out there, some practical, some not so much, but I really like the idea of installing a large vintage window into my wall and turning it into a bookshelf.  That may seem far fetched now but I'll sketch up some ideas and return to this one later...

Oh, I'm also painting a large headboard to a bed that someone gave me...but that will get done when it gets done...

I was unaware of all the projects I have taken on. But either way, I always enjoy ending my blogs with a few photos, so here we are.  A few more shots I've taken recently:

This brings back memories...My friend Neal and I went out to what we call "The Pit" to take pictures
of some toys around my house.  We created a full story and everything.  It was to practice with a new lens I'd gotten.

I took this of my brother, Matt, on the same day I was recording the story of the dinosaur above

I'm actually not much a fan of this picture at all, but it's just more experimentation.  This was done for my art history
class about the artist Rembrandt.  I was working with light and posture in the same way our master Dutch painter may have.