visual

Gnomes, The Moon and The Porch

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Iceland FairyTale Week

It is visual assignment week in #burgeron106 and it is Icelandic week as well. That means, gnomes, elves, fairies and more.

The poster could be “design” because it is a poster- but I used my own photos to create it. (well – except for NanaLou’s porch)

I used a shot of the moon off my deck. I have tried for moon shots for a long time and this one is a step up in starting to understand the settings on my camera.  It is from the fall – but it also forced me to get my camera out again and actually use it over my phone.

Moonin' - almost there! Spooky!

From there I decided to learn how to use the external flash and remote I got for Christmas this last year.  I used it once and could never get it to work again – packed it away.

remotes flash

I spent about an hour trying to get the flash to fire when I took a picture – nothing worked and I have about 200 pictures of only black to prove it! Searched the Internet and everything said “not a problem – works easily – not difficult”…….hmnnn……..after a few more tries I finally figured it out! I had put the receiver on backwards!

Problem solved.

I use the external flash in one hand and hold it at different angles as I shoot to get different effects. I have some Tom Clark Gnomes that I collected years ago and have since moved to the basement with the former collections of things and thought they would make good subjects. More on how I shot the pics as the next products are completed.

Once I had the picture and lighting I liked – I cropped it and added it to the poster.

So while it looks like a design assignment – I am focusing on the visual and photography – and pictures telling a story. 🙂

 

 

Batman in 15 Seconds

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Daily Create 1171

Not too much on this one.
Draw a  Batman in 15 seconds.
While process was not complex – the time limit allowed for creativity and a boost of fun and energy by not being complex.
I used my 53 Paper app on my iPad. It is like a coloring session in pre-school – so fun to use and I don’t use it enough.

I think I may have even had my tongue on my lip while doing this one! – The inner child – where the seeds of creativity are stored.

15 Second Batman tdc1171

Catching Noir Fever….

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Did this a few years ago – guess it is my Noir self-portrait. Maybe a little too smiley for Noir.

some color

So I cropped it – which will probably work out better for avatar purposes.

Noir Selfie

And of course needed to add some cats! While black cats would be more Noir, the contrast and placement would not show effectively. Plus this little guy looks like he just swallowed the canary or saw a murder!

Noir Selfie w/ Cats

Noir Photo Safari

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As an open course participant – (I like to think of it more as my personalized learning path) – I am not following the Noir section assignments, but am taking advantage of being able to create my own learning path based on interests and choice. Here are some Noir inspired pictures of mine as my application of the safari assignment. Rather than embed large Flickr stored photos, I dropped them into a Google Slides format to share. Any feedback as a reader as to whether this is effective in how you view would be appreciated. Do you like to scroll or would you rather have it transition as a slide show and be able to click through as you would like?

The safari challenge was:

  1. Complete a Photo Safari: In which you take a series of pictures this week to capture at least five  of the following Noir elements (tag:noirsafari):
    • dramatic use of distinct shadows
    • lighting from one side
    • off-kilter or unusual camera angle/framing
    • the “Venetian blind” effect — using some repeating geometric shadow across a shot
    • sense of drama and/or moodiness
    • characters captured in a tableau suggesting an intense, fraught moment
    • urban nightscapes
    • the grittiness of built environment (building, streets, etc.)
    • a NoirCat

From the photos I have included some of the set ups are missing. The plus of the Google slide show is that I can add photos without having to republish or alter this blog post. As I get feedback from others – I can add or change the photo sequence and selection.

Leave a thought or comment.

Liberate Art – “Share your art damnit!”

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Liberate Art Cards

This daily create might have just a few too many details for the instructor led ds106 student to complete within the timeframe – but what a wonderful boost to get some art delivered to your snail mail right after spring break for an inspirational boost. Being in the open course, my flexibility fits nicely into this activity as well as bringing it into a personal path to completing it.

Participating also could be a way of extending and taking skills and ideas being developed from this #ds106 experience and realizing it is real world and is #4life in many ways. As my journey in becoming an independent learner and understanding how educators have a responsibility to help their students achieve learner independence in order to be the most successful individual they can be for life this postcard swap struck a chord. For more on the independent learner continuum and owning your own learning: Learning Independence Continuum and Executive Summary publications from the Institute @ CESA #1.

The postcard swap involves:

  • creation of art – whether it is traditional media, digital media, words, diy – whatever – it is the #ds106 premise – “make art damnit!”
  • it fosters community and connection and the importance of those concepts in life and work
  • it expands your box – brings diversity and individuals into your universe that you might not have otherwise encountered and opens new paths and ideas
  • allows one to be proud of what they create and provides an audience to share it with
  • Kat Sloma – the individual who started the swap states the following reasons.
    • To encourage artists to learn how to reproduce their artwork. Many people create original work, but don’t take the next step to reproduce their work to share. I would like you to learn how easy it is to create the postcards if you haven’t done this before.
    • To encourage connection between artists of different mediums from around the world.  Regardless of the medium we create in, we are all artists! I believe we have more inspiration for creation as we explore diversity in art and culture. Personal connections between artists enhance our art.
    • To encourage sharing of art with others. If you love to create but have a fear of sharing your work, this is a safe way to start. You can get your work out there in the swap, even without your name attached. Sometimes taking that little step is enough to push past long-held fears!
    • To give you some fun, happy mail! There is nothing better than visiting the letter box to find some wonderful piece of mail, is there? For a few weeks, you will receive pieces of art and encouragement from your fellow swap participants in the mail. It’s just plain fun!

      This all wraps up into the central idea behind the swap: Liberate Your Art into the world, where it can do its greatest good . Liberate Your Art 2015 Postcard Swap.

I would love that one of my postcards in return are from someone in #ds106 as well as knowing that #ds106 has infiltrated another segment of creators and will be discovered by those who receive a card. Time will tell. Enjoy the process if you can or bookmark it for 2016. 🙂

I will undoubtedly post as I get my cards in March and April and update followers through my Chasing Shiny Objects category. Can’t wait for the postman!

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