Playing about with beach photos

Spent about half an hour on fusing these 2 pictures together. Using the editing app 'Afterlight' on my iPhone I was able to layer the 2 photographs (that were taken on my camera which I synched onto my phone using iTunes) and adjust contrast, saturation, composition, exposure etc. 

Neither of the photographs of my brother and sister were posed or set up in any way. Pretty happy I was able to achieve this with my iPhone, I suppose I have little faith in it when it comes to creative activites but this proves me otherwise! I'll continue to explore the features of 'Afterlight' and other such apps, and update my blog on my findings.

Holiday!

Up at Nairn for our annual family holiday. My granny, mum, sister, brother and I are having a ball already in the very warm weather!

Took a stroll on the beach just now and feeling the benefits of having my digital camera with me. I took over 500 pictures whilst at T in the Park last weekend and so am in the habit of capturing the environment and people surrounding me. I've always loved taking photographs, even when I was younger when it would be with my mums camera. And ever since I got my own a few years back, I've discovered how creative you can get just by observing and getting yourself in the right position to capture a collection of shapes, colours and figures around you.

Here are a few from earlier that I guess fall more into the category of 'artsy' rather than just 'observational'.

Testing the app 'Cinamatic'

Two weeks ago a man had an incident whilst out on his bicycle. He suffered a fall because of a bad heart. This meant that the local ambulance team were forced to close off the road and call in the air ambulance.

I decided to capitalise on this tragic event and take a walk down the road across from my street and take some videos of the helicopter. Of course I felt a little bad for the guy getting stretchered into the helicopter and all but - I had to try this app out right? He was fine any way, plus they were in no rush whatsoever! I was waiting for the damn thing to take off for more than half an hour... Eventually he made it to Edinburgh where I'm sure he made a full recovery!

The audio on this tester video cuts out after each individual clip but in the future I'll edit the sound out, or at least make it less obvious to people watching.

The filter choice irritated me and I settled for the default, grainy, cheesy retro look. It worked okay, but as I said I'm gonna keep my eye out for opportunities regarding subjects to film.

World Peace is None of Your Business

Morrissey's new album on vinyl arrived in the post today and I'm loving it! 

Just wanted to share the lyric sheets that accompanied the record. Really like the layout and choice of typeface...

Sylvia Plath

Was out a drive with my friend Calum tonight and he played me a poem by Sylvia Plath. Calum is at Glasgow University studying History and has an in depth knowledge and love for poetry, and so this was another recommendation I was glad he gave me.

I gave poetry a shot whilst I was in 6th year at school and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Whilst I would prefer not to produce such personal pieces regarding my artwork - I feel when the rare time comes around when I fancy a bit writing - going down the personal route just feels right.

I may as well provide a link to my Tumblr page, there's a few pieces on there I'm a little proud of. They are in no way ground breaking or anything - but maybe something I may include or attempt to integrate with some of my work during second year!

My Tumblr Page



Anyways - back to Plath! All credit to Calum here as he is so enthusiastic about these things I just can't help but get in there myself and have a look, listen or read. The spoken word and performances of work in general are something I am not at all educated in, but at the same time something I am taking a keen interest in.

I don't know much about Sylvia Plath's life, only that of her suicide attempts and now quite plainly obvious 'daddy issues'. But this reading of her poem 'Daddy' is an emotional and very symbolical insight into her relationship with her father. Stated in the poem he died when she was 10. That said, his presence and very existence had a very serious affect on her life.

The past couple of weeks have had me thinking of all the different kinds of art. Painting, drawing, performance, printing etc. And all of the possibilities and opportunities out there to create my own work through all of the different medias available!

It's exciting!

Here's the link if you're interested :     'Daddy' by Sylvia Plath

'Cinamatic'

This is a new app I discovered on the App Store! Not tried it out yet but I may begin thinking about making a couple of short videos, each based on different subjects. 

I use an app called Vine occasionally to view and film 6 second videos, but when it comes to editing and saving the clips - Cinamatic seems a much more efficient way to achieve what I want. Gonna have a go at filming some stuff tomorrow, I look forward to utilizing my phone for uses other than music and Facebook!

Break time at Hawick Knitwear

"See that bed sold for a couple million quid? Bloody ridiculous"

"How the fuck is that art onyway?! When I have a few beers for supper, don't dispose of the bottles and then leave my bed unmade - you deh see me raking in the cash!"

"I deh fucking get it"

"It's no right, where's my 2 million?"

"If I had 2 mil everytime I soiled my bed... "