I've completed my favourite of the recent assignments - modelling.
The assignment was to create the perfect opposite to any superhero of our choice. The Litterbug was created as an opponent to Captain Planet, here is his Bio, as included on the assignment as I handed it in:
The litterbug is the sworn enemy of Captain Planet, and a right bastard, to boot. He buys inefficient consumer electronics, and leaves his TV on standby all night, eye witness reports state that he was seen tipping over Al Gore's bins, but no solid evidence was found. It is believed that he was once a wealthy oil baron, who fell into a barrel of experimental radioactive oil made from beetle shells. This, however, is merely fanciful nonsense. He is magic and a wizard made him.
And the finished model:
The model had to be rendered against a white background, but I preferred the look of it against black, so I rendered another one.
As part of my course, we have to do a stop motion project involving cavemen. Now usually, I'll procrastinate wildly, then hand in a piece of work consisting of one or two sleepless nights. In this case, I got quite into making my character, and I'm far prouder of it than I should really be.
Anyway, here he is:
I started with a copper wire skeleton. Originally the main parts of the limbs were made of air-drying clay, but this cracked when the limbs were moved - so I swapped that for 150-200 (ish) elastic bands, then I modelled the head, hands and feet from the same clay. I then wrapped a piece of flannel around his stomach to bulk him up a little. Moving on, I cut the front and back of a t-shirt and sewed them together on his torso (Note to self - next time, make the clothes before modelling the clay extremities.) The next step was to sew together two tubes as trousers. The next step was a crude belt, followed by extensions to the sleeves. At this point I realised it could be a little difficult to include hair, to solve this, I used a screw driver to 'drill' a hole into each of his ears, allowing me to craft a small pair of headphones which would stay in place, I sewed black cloth around this wire to give my best approximation of dreadlocks. Finally, I added a few wire hoops and some string for a little decoration, along with a crude knife. So, there he is in all his fully posable glory, biding his time on my desk for the next week or two until I actually need to use him for my project.
You may or may not have seen a photograph I took some time ago;
Well, there's a self portraiture competition on www.wired.com - and I've entered this picture. There doesn't appear to be any prize for doing well other than the picture being published on the site and, if it makes the top 10, being published in wired magazine - but still, it's something. Would you mind poking your nose in and having a look around? As of posting this my picture is in 7th position.
I was roaming the world via Google Maps just the other day. I zoomed in to Japan, zoomed in to Tokyo, zoomed in to some street, and found what appears to be a family.
Two parents and two children, out for the day - holding hands and enjoying the sunlight on their backs and their shadows on the ground. At this moment they may well have been talking about what to have for dinner, maybe what their day has/will involve, and in that one instance - without them ever knowing, a photograph of the occasion was taken. From space*. It's almost certain that they will never know this picture exists, but someone on the other side of the world saw their outing, and thought it would be worth making a note of it.
Just thinking about this picture raises more questions than I could ever hope to answer in a lifetime...so I'm just going to leave it here and let you take from it what you will.
It turns out that my web cam can focus on objects as close as 2cm ish from the lens - so I've spent the last 30 odd minutes finding things to take pictures of super close up:
A WKD advert recently raised a very good question.
Which can swim faster; a horse, or a dog?
I think that for the purposes of this poll, the assumption should be that the animals are roughly the same size as those in the video shown below (the dog being of labrador size - possibly a labrador, and the horse being of horse size - I'm a little ignorant on the subject of horses, so I guess racing horse size, possibly). I'm also assuming that the two will be swimming in calm water and will not be distracted.
Arguments for why each may/may not win:
Dog:
Pros:
Lighter than a horse - higher percentage of the animal will be above water, which means less drag
Has a type of swimming named after it
Labradors have webbed feet
Labs also have a "water resistant double coat".
Cons:
No matter how water-resistant - the coat is still going to provide drag quite a bit of drag
Horse:
Pros:
More streamlined than dogs (as far as I can tell)
The fur is generally shorter
Hooves have a wide flat base and taper upwards on the outside - which should provide less drag when bringing feet forward and lots of thrust when pushing
In the story about the Chinese calendar, the horse got to Buddha before the dog did
Since I have no idea how big the round pool should be, I'm going to assume a diameter of 45 feet, because 30ft looks a bit too small for a horse to swim around in. This means an experienced horse can swim at roughly 283 feet per minute, and this experienced dog can swim at about 289 feet per minute...those are some pretty close numbers.
The method of swimming used by dogs is known as the dog paddle. Some breeds of dog swim recreationally. Umbra, a world record-holding dog, can swim 4 miles in 73 minutes, placing her in the top 25% in human long-distance swimming competitions.
It seems that Umbra is a mixed breed, according to this site, a cross between "Definitely labrador and probably greyhound".
Youtube:
As you can see, this video contains both a swimming horse and a swimming dog - to me it looks a little like the dog is swimming fastest, but this doesn't take into account the fact that the horse is carrying a rider, and may also be swimming with/against currents in the water.
So anyway, please let me know what I've missed out - and let's see how the poll turns out
It's very nearly the end of my second (and final) year of photography, the end of year exhibition opens in 24 hours, it gets folded up and packed away next Wednesday, and everything ends the day after. I set up my exhibition piece this morning with the help of a couple of friends, and took a few pictures of it in the same vein as some of the the ones on display:
Anyway, as for the future bit mentioned in the title - I'm (finally) going to university in September to get my teeth into a bit of 3D computer animation. I'm really looking forward to it, and after seeing what films, games and the internet have to offer on the subject there is nothing I would love more than to become a great animator, here's hoping I have the talent.
I am curious...just how many people, whilst alone, have set aside an amount of time (be it 20 seconds or half an hour) to try and control physical objects with their mind, with serious intent?
Whether you comment or not, I'd appreciate your vote on the poll.
Hey everyone, the feedback from my last set of photos was beyond useful, I got a good bit of work done with it and it has been praised by a number of my tutors, I asked for honest opinions and I got them, it was a real help - thanks a lot for responding.
Anywho, I do have another few pictures (still self portraits) I'd like some opinions on if you wouldn't mind.
Again, if you could just give a bit of a critique on any/all of the ones shown (Including your name and location - I'm copying the text en masse from the multiply page). Could you also give an opinion on whether you think these images fit into the category of Surreal/Abstract/Neither/Both...Actually I'll put that bit into a poll, graphs are always impressive, and they fill space pretty well.
Are the following three pictures suitable as a series, or are they better suited to being shown individually?
Thanks for any replies, there's a chance I'll be asking one more time, but I may go looking for feedback from a few other places, such as art galleries/shops and similar.
Hello there! I was wondering if you could give me a hand, I'm doing my final major project in photography and I need some feedback on my pictures (the theme is surreal self portraits). If you've got 2 minutes, could you just tell me what you think of these images?:
All I need is a basic bit of text about any/all of the pictures, something along the lines of whether or not you think there is a meaning behind them, how technically well done they are, what could be changed, favourite image (if any) etc. Also, something about yourself - first name and country/state would be fine. Thanken da if you can spare some words, no worries if you can't. (By the way, feel free to be brutally honest).
Hopefully I'll have a good few more pictures on the topic of Surreal self portraits before long, but along different themes.
My final major project started today in photography, and I'm going ahead with surreal self-portraiture. I've been researching for a couple of hours already, but I have yet to find some stuff that I really like, other than these:
Charles Ray I first discovered these images in the MoMA NY last year and instantly loved them.
I'd be much obliged if anyone could point me in the direction of some surreal portrait photographs either now, if you know of any, or within the next 4 weeks or so if you happen across something. Thanks if you can help out.
I finally fully comprehend Zen Tom's elation on making the Perfect Bacon Sandwich. That which I just created - is of such magnitude that no mere mortal phrase can describe it. I almost cried during its construction - just for the knowledge that no other sandwich could ever hope to be as good as this.
Though no bacon was used in its creation, this Gastronomic Masterpiece...this King of Midnight Snackery has filled the raging void within me. Though I may try to recreate it in the future (I will indeed try) I know deep within my heart that this is a one time thing. A fleeting moment - which I am privileged to have been a part of.
I can only hope that some day, each and every one of you can find that one perfect combination of food and time - and know the sheer joy, the ecstasy that comes with every bite. This feeling as the last wonderful mouthful settles down, and no more or less than satiates the hunger.
I am a student. Therefore I draw foolish pictures while I should be working. I never really considered it worth posting my sketches, but someone might find them entertaining - so why not?
As with most of my entries, this is just a little bit of the work I have been doing recently, playing around in the darkroom at college.
First of all a photogram - the subject had to be 'myth', but since the definitions we had to keep to were so vague, I went for urban legends. Just the one to post at the minute though.
The next two pictures are from a pinhole camera I made out of a shoe box and some pieces of wood. The camera has 15 pinholes, but 6 were used for each of these images:
