Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Instax Printer - Fujifilm Share SP-1 - Print Polaroids from your phone!


This is the coolest thing I've seen all day! It's a mini wifi printer, that will print any photo from your smart phone on to instax mini film. Turn everything into an adorable polaroid? Yes please!

This Instax Share Smartphone Printer SP-1 is available in Australian stores for around $300. Importing from overseas looks to be around $200.

Here's a review of the product by Digi Direct ~




Saturday, July 26, 2014

ACG203 Graphic & Digital Imaging - Planet Air Project

One of my larger projects at Deakin Universtiy was a series of assignments based around a fictional airline. We had to choose a name, create a logo, business cards, food packaging, letterheads, plane decals, annual reports and a website. Here's some of my on screen and sketchbook work. I look back on it and see a few things I could improve but overall I was fairly pleased with how this series went at the time. (2nd year of my Bachelors degree in 2010).
































Saturday, June 21, 2014

Picasso's hidden painting


A picture inside a picture! Looks like Picasso reused a canvas to create something new. Did he not like his original painting or just not have enough money for new materials? Infared scanning revealed the old image underneath The Blue Room painting.

Image by AP/Wikiart.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20142006-25709.html

Monday, June 9, 2014

Advertising and Internet Pop Culture


I guess this isn't the first time advertisers have been inspired by internet culture. Take a look at this video "Sad Cat Diary" and then the "Dear Kitten" advert for Friskies.


While the feeling of the ad is a little more upbeat, it reminded me a lot of Sad Cat Diary, in fact I instantly thought of it when the voice over started.

I think it's fun when ads remind me of these amusing creations by people on the internet but at the same time I realise that the ads are cashing in on someone elses idea. Nothing in this world is truly original but how far is too far? Large corporations certainly wouldn't hold back when it comes to suing someone for using their ideas. So is it fair that advertisers ride the free waves of internet pop culture in order to make a buck?

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Square Enix Artnia Store - Materia Fountain





One day I must go back here with a better camera. This fountain was so pretty and my iphone does not do it justice!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Essay/Review on short film Jasper Morello

Written by Jodie Becker

ACM132 – Introduction to Animation


The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello – The First Voyage



The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005) is an Australian film directed and co-written by Anthony Lucas. It is has a long list of awards and was nominated for an academy award.

This movie is classified in a genre that became popular in the 90’s known as Steampunk - A fiction genre set in Englands Victorian era, where steam power is the prominent technology in the 19th century. However this particular film is set in the year 1276 and gives a look at an alternate world for the human race. As it is a fantasy genre there are also many fictional technologies that are not based on history, the past and present become mixed together to create all new machines. There are floating islands, iron airships and strange creatures that make up the curious world of this film.

The story follows the character Jasper Morello, a disgraced navigator who is haunted by a fatal mistake he made on his last expedition. He nervously sets out on a new voyage but vows it will be his last before he and his wife can settle down and start a family. Their home city, Gothia is currently being ravaged by a Plague and in their travels they are accompanied by a scientist searching for a cure. Jasper worries about his wife back home when he notices she is sick over a video-phone conversation. When the ship is thrown off course, they discover an abandoned ship they are forced to use when their own becomes damaged. Flying in uncharted air, the crew discovers a monster that holds a cure for the disease. Jasper is torn between the need to bring the cure to his wife and sacrificing the lives of his ship-mates.

All of the characters in this film are silhouettes. This animation style has its origins from wayang, the Indonesian shadow puppets which have been around for 300 years. The film is overall very dark and gothic due to the monochrome scheme that is also common in other silhouette films. Color has been used sparingly and only highlights the more dramatic details such as the illness that kills people that appears as a bright orange lava substance.

Traditionally silhouette animation was made using stop motion techniques, the first full length film made with this method was The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reiniger. However traditional cel animation is easily able to imitate the style. The anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) shows example of this modern version of the technique frequently. It is most likely that The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello has been made using cel or computers for the 2D animated characters.

The backgrounds in the film are made from a combination of found objects and CGI rendering. Many objects are also silhouettes but there is enough of a balance between detailed objects and the black silhouettes that they all work together harmoniously.

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello was enjoyable to watch for both its uncommon use of animation styles and curious plot line. It’s actually rather creepy and is definitely not a story for small children as it deals with darker sides of humanity, violence and death. The plot keeps you wondering how this story is going to end. When it did come to an end I was a little disappointed because the story was left open and I personally like things to be wrapped up. But I discovered that this film is part of a series containing 4 episodes (voyages). I was left wanting more, so I will seek out the other episodes and continue to follow the adventures of Jasper Morello.


Bibliography

Wikipedia, Silhouette Animation, Wikipedia, retrieved 5th August 2009, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silhouette_animation>

 Sandall, S, Anthony Lucas on The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Amazon, retrieved 4th August 2009, <http://readersvoice.com/interviews/2006/January/230/>

Madman Entertainment, Gothia Gazette, Madman Entertainment, retrieved 21st July 2009, <http://www.jaspermorello.com>

Wikipedia, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Wikipedia, retrieved 1st August 2009, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Geographic_Explorations_of_Jasper_Morello>

Foster, M,  Animated Shorts - The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper , Google, retrieved 6th August 2009, <http://www.fosteronfilm.com/shorts/jaspermorello.htm>

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Tutorial Link : How to digital paint grass in Photoshop

After an introduction, the tutorial starts about 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the video. It teaches you how to set up your brushes to paint strokes with gradients that layer nicely into one another. I will definitely have to try this out! ~ http://vimeo.com/78183651




Monday, April 21, 2014

State Library of Victoria - A history of books


Early last year (2013) I went on a walk by myself through the city after running some errands. It was a nice day, so I brought my camera with me and decided to go wherever was interesting. Among other things, I ended up finding a little free exhibition in the State Library about old types of books.





Full photoset here ~
http://unikorn.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Melbourne-30th-Jan-2013

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Blood Moon Eclipse



There was an eclipse this evening, causing the moon to have a red color. I enhanced it a little in post.

I experimented with longer exposures to get more of a glow, came out pretty cool.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

3D Animated version of the Card Captor Sakura opening.

Beautiful fan creation of a 3D animation version of the Card Captor Sakura opening! The amount of work put into this to get the timing, models and colors right would have been painstaking. Amazing work by Tomo.



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Nendoroid More PJ's!


1/125 @ f10 400ISO

I got the Nendoroid More Pajamas set! It's very cute to put your nendo's in PJ's! Seeing if you can match up all the colors is fun. I have 12 Nendoroids at the moment, so there will be a bit of swapping around for more pictures. Although I do have 3 versions of Miku and 2 versions of Kaito. XD

I shot this in front of a bright sunny window. So I had to adjust the lighting a bit in post processing as the figures were a little dark for my lighting. I could have used flash to brighten them up but I wanted the soft natural lighting.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

ACM138 Animation - Autodesk Maya - Water Temple

Deakin University was a good place to do my Graphic Design degree because it had flexibility with elective subjects. Which meant I could explore other things I was interested in studying. I took a few subjects from the Animation section and learnt a little bit about using Maya - a 3D animation program. I was very noob at it because Animation was not my major but I had fun making things.

The major assignment for the first subject was to build a room and then have a camera pan through it. So while people built bedrooms and lounge rooms, I decided to make a water temple and try to emulate bloom effects.

I will have to see if I can track down the actual video that panned through this room, I'm not sure if I managed to back it up on my USB drive because the file was quite large. But here are the screenshots of it.











And here is the video!

ACM102 Comparitive Imaging - Assignment 5

This was a photography assignment from university. In the first part we were asked to create a series of alike things - a typology. I have a lot of keyrings, so I made a photo set of them! The second part of the assignment required us to create a rule which would mean we had to take a photo. Mine was I had to take a photo of everything I ate and I did that for 5 days. As you can see I'm naughty and eat a lot of junk. XD



Thursday, March 27, 2014

Preying mantis


Yesterday I had a visitor, this praying mantis was sitting on my car bonnet! I noticed it when looking out the window and scurried off to grab my camera and a zoom lens. I probably looked strange still wearing my PJ's and pointing my camera at my car but you have to be quick to catch cool things like this!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Miniature Towns

Michael Paul Smith photographs a town that is very special to him; Elgin Park. These lovely photos look they were taken decades ago when these retro homes and cars were brand new.


But Mr Smith has a secret... this town is tiny!


Not only does this miniature town look amazing but he built it himself!

As I myself like to photograph miniatures in the way of figurines, I am definitely impressed by his time poured in and the attention to detail in his models. It would take a lot of patience that I certainly don't have! Although I'd love to put my figmas in that little town XD

There's some great behind the scenes shots on his Flickr.

Michael Paul Smith - Elgin Park 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Slideshow Video - Code Geass Meet #2


I want to make more videos and get better at it in the process. My Sony Vaio came with Movie Studio Platinum so I'm going to teach myself to use that for the time being. I made a simple slideshow using my set of photos from Code Geass Meet #2, which I hosted in 2012. My previous experience is with Adobe Premiere, but at first glance it seems fairly easy to adapt to Movie Studio Platinum with my existing basic knowledge of video editing.

While I really can't afford it now, I want my next DSLR to have video on it. Currently I can only take video with my iPhone or old point & shoot cameras around the house. I'd also like to play with some video capture software for video games, as I had a lot of fun making Sims 2 videos back a few years ago!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Abandoned Places

http://www.1millionwomen.com.au/2013/10/17/10-incredible-images-of-abandoned-places-nature-has-reclaimed/


Abandoned places is a pretty popular subject for photography. You don't need to organise models or talk to anyone for the most part, a great plan for the introverted photographer! Although there are some very remote locations that take a bit of effort to find. Check out the link, some great pictures there!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Hiroshi Sugimoto Essay

Essay by Jodie Becker


HIROSHI SUGIMOTO

Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1948. He finished university in 1970, his initial studies were Politics/Socialogy and not photography related at all. He later retrained himself with a BFA in Fine Arts at the Art Center College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California, which he graduated from in 1974. He then moved to New York, however he spreads himself between American and Japan, which is reflected in his photographs.

Many of Sugimoto’s photography themes are often related to the flow of time, life and death, surrealism and fascination with science/math. He uses a large format camera and has an exceptional technical ability but is also admired for the philosophical connections that form the conceptual ideas in his work. Most often he does photographic series. He often likes to question ones sense of reality, especially when it is commonly perceived that a photograph only captures the truth. Sugimoto never photographs living people, his subjects are statues, models, landscape, sculpture and architecture. He prefers to shoot with natural lighting and will avoid using studio lighting where possible, he also prefers his exhibitions to be bathed in natural light and does not concern himself with the deterioration of the images as he believes this is a natural flow of life.



Permian Land, 2004

DIORAMAS
When visiting the American Musuem of Natural History in New York, Sugimoto observed that the stuffed animals against painted backgrounds looked tragically fake, but when he squinted one eye, the perspective would vanish and it looked more realistic. He thought that perhaps this is how the camera would see the image and set about making the Diorama series. At a first glance the images do look real but when you notice creatures such as dinosaurs, you realise they do not exist in the world today and therefore the image cannot be a real living creature that has been captured by the camera.



Sea of Japan, Hokkaido, 1986

SEASCAPES
At a first glance, the series of Seascapes look quite simple. Calm compositions divided equally between the water and sky. But the philosophy behind them is wonderfully thought out.

“Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention - and yet they vouchsafe our very existance” (Hiroshi Sugimoto)

The way each seascape has been photographed makes it ambiguous to it’s location, with only the title tying it to the place of capture. Longer shutterspeeds have been used on some of the images, which as a result have a soft ethereal quality to them, where the waves and sky have drifted together during the exposure time. While each photograph has been framed the same way, each has it’s own quality in the variation of shutterspeeds and the type of weather present at the scene.



Metropolitan, 1993

THEATRES
Sugimoto had an interesting thought session that led to the question “Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame?” where of course the answer is “You get a shining screen”. He took action to realise this vision and began experimenting by taking his camera to a theatre, where he set the shutter open, only to click it closed when the movie had finished. He developed the film the same night and was completely amazed by the result. He has since photographed many different theatres in this fashion, being lit by only the light of the movie itself which becomes an indistinguishable white screen but therefore condensing the whole movie to one frame, collapsing time into what seems like a single moment. The theatres which are usually filled with people during a movie screening, look quite eerie as they are empty in Sugimotos photographs.



Mathematical Form 0003, 2004.
Dini's surface: a surface of contant negative curvature obtained by twisting a pseudosphere.

MATHEMATICAL FORMS
Sugimoto has a fascination in mathematical sculptures and the beauty they create without being intentional pieces of art work. “Art resides even in things with no artistic intentions” (Hiroshi Sugimoto). The objects known as “stereometric exemplars” were used as teaching aids to demonstrate trigonometric functions to students. They have been photographed in a way that they appear as abstract statuesque monuments against a black background, giving the viewer no clue as to the real size of the object and therefore perceived as being very large as they dominate the frame.



Anne of Cleves, 1999

PORTRAITS
The famous wax museum Madame Tussuads has many historical figures that have been made with only renaissance paintings as reference, as photography did not exist in their era. Sugimoto has then photographed these figures with renaissance style lighting to immitate the paintings, yet the photographs turn out looking as though a real person could be standing in front of the camera. Many levels of different art mediums imitating each other makes us question the sense of reality in the photographs. Sugimoto himself has said “If this photograph no appears lifelike to you, you had better reconsider what it means to be alive here and now.”



Many of Sugimoto’s themes challenge your perception of reality in his photographs. The ideas of art and science are being intermingled into one. His beautiful execution of the images also indicates his understanding of the interrelation between science and art and not just his ability to pose questions about it. There’s a dreamy quality in his photographs that also demands us to acknowledge the here and now. The metaphysical philosophy that drives his choice of subject matter creates a story behind each image that makes the viewer question their perception of time, space and self. These questions and themes are very evident in his series Dioramas, Seascapes, Mathematical Forms, Portraits and Theatres.



REFERENCES

Sugimoto Hiroshi, Portfolio, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/>

ARTINFO, Lightning Fields, retrieved 20 April 2011,

The Coveted, Trip to the museum: Contemporary Japanese Fashion, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://the-coveted.com/blog/2007/11/28/trip-to-the-museum-contemporary-japanese-fashion/>

Art Knowledge News, Lucerne Museum of Art displays a Hiroshi Sugimoto Retrospective, retrieved 20 April 2011,


Heike Helfert, Sugimoto Hiroshi Theatres, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/theaters/>

Thomas Kellein, Hiroshi Sugimoto : Time Exposed, 1995, Thames & Hudson.

Johnny, Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Sea Scapes at the Gagosian, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2008/12/10/hiroshi-sugimotos-sea-scapes-at-the-gagosian/>

C4 Art Gallery, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Seascapes, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://c4gallery.com/artist/database/hiroshi-sugimoto/seascapes/hiroshi-sugimoto-seascapes.html>


Levy Gallery, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Conceptual Forms, retrieved 20 April 2011, <http://www.levygallery.com/inventory/hiroshi_sugimoto/03.html>

Zuihitsu, Hiroshi Sugimoto at the de Young, Part I, retrieved 20 April 2011,


Wikipedia, Hiroshi Sugimoto, retrieved 5 May 2011, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Sugimoto>