megapixels

just a note upfront: my new website is now online!! lots of new stuff to see there, so check it out :D ainsleyboyd.com

anywho. i recently got a new cell phone. (note: do not buy an lg phone... they will fail you). anyways it an android phone, touch screen that has an 8.1 megapixel camera. 8.1!!! what!!

crazy but fun, and kinda handy when you forget any other camera as you still get decent images! pretty cool.

today downloaded this ap for vintage camera (like pinhole and such), it basically just puts filters over the images. but hey, it's fun to play with!

wilderness downtown

the arcade fire's newest interactive video/website is, i think the best one they've got yet. when you arrive at the website you are invited to input your address where you grew up. the site then uses google maps to have the video happening in your neighborhood. you can see the man running down your street and see the your house as he stands in the street in front of it.

then you are invited make a postcards with advice to the younger you, living at that house. these postcards are then brought on the arcade fire tour or sent downtown where they can be found and responded to.

i think this is a very clever idea! i think it would have been really cool if the postcard was then sent to the house that you grew up in. sent to the "younger you", whoever that might be now. then the project would expand way beyond the borders of arcade fire lovers and to people who may have no idea that this project even exists. either way i like it.

when you watch it, make sure that you minimize ALL the screens on you r computer (including the home page of the actual site). the video is a myriad of little screens popping up all over the place. ENJOY!

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

while your at it, check out the one for black mirror http://rorrimkcalb.com/

rediscoveries and motivation

now that i am a done school and the fall is back in full swing for the students in my life (there are a lot of them and i live with 2) i also feel the need to do something. kind of. not that i as home work or intense deadlines for that homework, but i feel like i need something to do.

a little while ago i was sorting through all the things i have stored back in Guelph and came across all my school work from high school. in this collection i rediscovered everything from my writer's craft class. and i was reading some of it i began to remember how much i liked to write. so i have decided to start writing again. i have even gone and picked up a lovely note book with owls on the cover to serve as my "writer's journal". so far i have three entries and i plans to carry it around with me so that when inspiration hits... i am not promising the next pulitzer but i am looking forward to it.

besides that i have tons of book that i need to read. right here in my room there are at least ten that i need to crack open in the near future.

i am also thinking about giving myself assignments as far as my art goes. sometimes it is hard to be motivated to make new work without a deadline. so i am going to start giving myself my own projects with "deadlines".

social networking

twitter. i have officially joined today. just now. you know "for the business" primarily - it is the way of the world and we small businesses have to keep pace.

so once i had joined and decided to follow all of 9 people i was prompted to leave my very first twitter to the world.

i blanked....

this is what i ended up with, "hello twitter. and how are you this chilled evening in sept?"

so creative really. we'll see how this progresses.

https://twitter.com/quietsee

light sensative

this past week i was helping teach teenagers the art of the darkroom at the gallery 44 photomagic camp. it was great to be back in the darkroom and sharing the expirience with kids who have never worked with film before. very fun!

one of the greatest parts of the week, though, actually had nothing to do with the kids... on the first day of camp we were doing pinhole cameras. pinhole cameras, as you may know, can be made from basically anything that is light tight. so Laura, the other instructor, and i decided to make our mouths into pinhole cameras! (none of the kids were interested in trying this.)

how we did this:

1) cut a nice mouth-sized piece of light sensative paper in the darkroom.

2) inserted said paper into our mouth.

3) we also had prepared an "aperture" from a piece of black foam core with a pinhole cut in it, we put this at the front of our mouths.

4) we then proceeded to walk quickely out of the darkroom with our hands over our mouths trying very hard not to laugh or drool - failing miserably at both. the darkroom is in the basement of 401 richmond so we ended up climbing two flights of stairs in this ridiculous state to find a window with some good light.

5) exposed the paper, note for anyone who plans on trying this; when you are the camera it is a good idea to try hold still when you are exposing the paper to light. this i forgot whilst my face was taking the picture...

6) ran back down the stairs in a similar, but somewhat more hilarious state as step 4.

7) spit out the aperture and paper - wash paper... - and develop. VOLA! beautiful image!!

windows

Tree at My Window

Robert Frost

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,

You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

first impressions

First Impressions. this is the "theme" for a photography contest i am entering. now what do you think of first when someone says "first impressions". a first date? job interview? gee i hope i don't have spinach in my teeth? when you google "first impressions" in the images section you find all sorts of fashionable business type people shaking hands and smiling.

needless to say i went in another direction. and here they are so far: