Experimenting With Video

I've been wanting to experiment with video and visuals for a while now so decided to take some clips on my ride home from Lunch today. I love the whole kaleidoscope effect so wanted to try to recreate that.

This was recorded on my iPod and was edited in Windows Movie Maker along with some other v. simplistic free online software. Hence the HORRIBLE quality (I apologise) but just wanted to play around with this idea. Hopefully will learn how to use adobe after effects sometime soon and have a proper play about with some reflected/kaleidoscope footage and more experiments with rad colours!

I really like the lines on the road in this video though. As well as seeing the many different views and scenery of Dubai. Please watch it in the small size below, the quality just becomes unbearable when you expand it...

Six Word Story

It's coming up to New Year's and I just realised that I am so useless at sticking to things. My friends got me a "One Line Everyday" diary for my birthday and I filled it in religiously for about a week and then completely forgot about it (sorry guys!). I thought that I could easily form a habit out of this, one line is hardly a commitment! But the constraint just made my diary entries sound like really shit tweets; work took over my life and several consecutive entries of "uni, lectures, pizza, sleep" were not going to paint a very glamorous picture for my grandchildren when they stumbled upon it in my attic. 

Anyway, I digress. What I wanted to talk about was this website - www.sixwordstoryeveryday.com as its given me inspiration to have another stab at my diary in 2014. These 6 word stories convey so much emotion in so little space. Since I am a bit of a fontophile and a fan of typography, I really love the way each story is presented in graphics. It's also quite sneaky since they're using the pictures to add to the story in a non written way.  

Have a browse of the website, it really is cool! Oh, and if you can't read some of them the caption is written underneath but its fun to try and work it out. Just a little hint for you as I have spent an embarrassingly long time trying to decode a couple. 
I also think these could potentially also be a great starting point for a script/story if you're into that sort of thing.
Here are some examples:

Stars danced for us that night.
Writer/Designer: Joy Allen

Life is better in 3D. Usually.
Writer/Designer: Kelsey Watkins

In that moment we were infinite.
Writer: inspired The Perks of Being A Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky

You can go your own way.
Writer/Designer: Amy Rice

So this wasn’t a theme party?
Writer: Mike Derus
Designer: Anne Ulku

VIDEO: Sparkles and Wine

I found this video ages ago and forgot to post it on the ol' blog. Great example of creating a stunning effect with something simple as just a light. I find this video so mesmerising! I love watching the shadow around her nose having such a fun time. Might try and recreate this with a torch however I feel that the DIY aspect might make it lose a bit of its charm. 

Sparkles and Wine - Teaser from Nacho Guzman on Vimeo.

ARTIST: Max Zorn

Max Zorn - a Dutch street artist, makes all of his work out of brown packaging tape. Not too much to say here, its just a really cool medium. Fabulous use of making something so ordinary/mundane into something beautiful. I love how he layers the tape and makes full use of the translucency. Similar to fabulous stained glass work, he says that light is what "brings his work to life". More at http://www.maxzorn.com  

See for yourself:

On another note, Korean sculptor Seung Mo Park is equally innovative and insane with her choice of media and layering skills. She uses wire mesh in a similar way to create stunning detailed work. I love how it is hung allowing one to walk around it and truly see the way the piece has been put together. http://www.seungmopark.com/

3B Printing Project

I'm a big fan of using unconventional materials to create art (and fashion - hello Project Runway!) so when I saw this I was pretty amazed.

3D printing is a crazy enough concept, layers of material are literally printed one on top of the other to create an object! I don't think I will ever not be astounded by the wonders of science.

The 3B Printing Project however, takes it one step further. Bees are massively important in nature. They pollinate a lot of our crops and their honey is in dozens of products. Sadly they are in decline but maybe projects like this will help to raise awareness. Here, the skills of the bees have been put fully to use to create a sculpture of a bust and of a Dewar Highlander Honey Bottle. At first I didn't even realise that this was linked to a company, but as someone who wants to join the fabulous world of marketing when I graduate, campaigns like this get me really excited! Creative, not blatantly obvious, virality - it has got everything that you could ask for.

The bees (80,000 of them!) have been placed into a plastic casing resulting in them creating a hive in the shape of the mould  I never really appreciate the beauty of a bees hive until watching this. The intricate tessellating hexagons are really fascinating. On a side note - has anyone else started appreciating natural beauty a lot more since growing older? I find myself really admiring flowers and scenery these days, something that I just glazed over when I was younger. It could however also be chalked down to the fact that I've moved out of the city in the desert to the campus in the middle of the countryside!  

Watch this video for more information on the project:

   

Steel Wool Photography

So I recently got a chance to take part in a workshop for steel wool photography!
To get the effect you need a DSLR, a tripod/steady hands, steel wool, a whisk and some sort of strap.
Basically you attach the strap to the whisk, put the steel wool inside the whisk (making sure its NOT going to fall out!), light the wool on fire and spin it around. 

By using a long shutter speed you can capture the entire path the whisk creates and by using a small stop (large f number) you ensure that all the sparks are in focus. The settings they recommended to us were: 

• Aperture greater than f/5.6
• ISO 100
• Manual Mode
• 5+ seconds shutter speed (I thought a really long shutter speed of 30 seconds worked well because it brightened the picture and captured every single spark!)
• Self timer of 2 seconds (so that when you shoot there isn't any shake, you can also use a remote if you have one

Apart from the fact that it was absolutely FREEZING outside the workshop was so much fun and I think the results were fantastic! I brightened the photos up a bit on photoshop and here are the end results.

Design Seeds

Anyone else out there just LOVE colour? Those paint pallet samples from Ace Hardware were used for many a craft project in my childhood. I love combining colours, mixing colours, clashing colours, rainbows. Whether it be getting a manicure (always takes me forever to decide); putting together an outfit; redecorating my room or creating some art, choosing the colours is often the longest yet still my favourite part of the process. I find it fascinating when colours just work together when you really feel they shouldn't. I'm not talking red, white and blue here but things like orange and beige, try it - it works. 

Maybe that's why I love this website http://design-seeds.com. A pallet of colours is chosen based on a picture which often evokes a mood or feeling. This is super useful if you're looking for a colour scheme for your next interior decoration project (and IKEA is not providing enough inspiration) or you're stuck on where to start on a poster that you have to design. The colour "dropper" tool (technical name?) on photoshop really comes into use here! The website is neat and simple and I could look at it all day! 

PHOTOGRAPHER: Fabian Oefner

Continuing on from the theme of science and art that inspired Julien Picaud, I introduce to you photographer Fabien Oefner and his collection - Millefiori. In my opinion, art is always about inspiration and experimentation and here Oefner says he was inspired by science and technology blogs as well as the work of Japanese artist Sachiko Kodama. He uses watercolours mixed with ferrofluids (a magnetic, viscous solution). He says that photography is a beautiful thing because you can capture tiny, precious moments that happen in a second and preserve them forever, this is true if you are an amazingly talented photographer. My photos sadly never look as good as the image I am trying to capture in real life! 
Here are some examples of some of his fantastic multi coloured, magnetic, seaweed brains and his website so you can see his other work. Apparently he's also going to be speaking at the TEDx event at my university next year! Will definitely have to get tickets for that. http://www.fabianoefner.com/ (There is also an awesome video of the ferrofluid being combined with the watercolours on there!)

Ditology

"Il Dito" in Italian means the finger, which is the main subject for artist Dito Von Tease who creates celebrity portraits with the main subject being an index finger, this is seriously photoshop mastery.
The images are cute and amusing but the work deals with the deeper meaning of identity (especially for celebrities) and what the fingerprint represents in terms of information and uniqueness. You can just take the images at face value though (pun 100% intended) and try to guess what celebrity they are trying to represent! These are 3 of my favourites.
http://ditology.blogspot.com/
 

Sorry if the page was going a bit crazy in the past hour! Been doing some major re-decorating, hope you like it!