I made these Okefenokee Scenic Wallpapers from some of the Paintography images I’ve been playing with. They are free to have for personal use. Click on an image below and it will take you to the full size (1600 x 1200) images that you can right-click on and set as your desktop background. If you need another size please contact me and I’ll see what I can do.
One of the things I’ve been focusing on lately is trying to find time for personal creativity and personal projects. As a web designer (well, graphic designer too) you can get in a rut by only being creative for clients. I actually have a fine art degree from Oglethorpe University and Photoshop has completely ruined me when it comes to painting, drawing and sculpting. I shouldn’t blame Photoshop specifically because really ‘Control-Z’ is what completely ruined me. I have no patience whatsoever for actual paints and pencils anymore. That coupled with the fact that I wasn’t all that good at it to begin with. What I do love is the immediacy of digital cameras and Photoshop filters. (On a side note, that is exactly why Instagram is so awesome. If you don’t have it yet you are a terrible person.)
I’ve spent some time digging through old images I’ve taken over the years. A lot of them – like the set below – were taken back when film was still the norm. I’m a mediocre amateur photographer at best so believe me when I tell you the quality of the images and the quality of the scans weren’t good. They were a great starting place to develop some good HDR and painterly processes that I am turning into Photoshop tutorials will share in another post. The images in the set below are over the top. I went a little nuts with it but as my good friend John Lenz once told me “If you don’t go too far you won’t know when you’ve gone far enough.”
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Yesterday I was the photographer for Sweet Eddie’s as we needed additional images for the website I am designing. I spent a few hours touring the bakery and snapping images. Photography is a nice additional service I can provide especially when the images are editorial in nature. The themes we hit on were quality, safety and technique. Take a look at the slideshow and feel free to let me know what you think.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
All creative talent these days know that you need to diversify your skill set. Writers are learning print design. Print designers are learning front-end web design. Front-end web designers are learning to write code. Coders are learning to … I’m not really sure what coders are learning to do. Inventing time machines? Splitting atoms? We’ll leave what they do a mystery because it is less scary that way.
The point here is to also look at diversifying your options professionally on every level. I’m not saying that you should hedge your bets by working for multiple companies at the same time – unless you need to. However, you should certainly have as many contacts and open opportunities as you possibly can. In reality and in this economy you need to be in a position where you can quickly be employed if the ship sinks. If you have nowhere to jump all you are going to do is flounder alone.
This recurring post is where I deposit fun and interesting things I’ve come across during the past week. Topics usually include photography & art, humor, science & technology, the internet in general and design in particular. Feel free to comment or drop me a line.
All Alone in the Night – Time-lapse footage of the Earth as seen from the ISS (link)
Astronauts represent dreams and possibility and the future to little kids. Everything big and wide open and unknown and exciting. Good things for a child to fill their head with. This video is awesome and makes the kid in me wish I was an astronaut.
A Day in the Life of the Internet (infographic) (Link)
I love a good infographic because that is where good design and good information come together. Form and function which is what good design is all about.
DISNEY EXPECTS TO LOSE $200 MILLION ON JOHN CARTER – THE BIGGEST MOVIE LOSS EVER (link)
OUCH! That means that we’ll be getting that many more tv shows aimed at our kids that are completely void of substance and completely full of tweens singing terrible music.
Connecting The Dots Of The Brain (Link)
This is a short and interesting post about the bold undertaking of completely mapping the human brain down to the last neuron.
Study shows how much information Facebook can mine just from relationship status changes (Link)
Facebook’s data team has released some information which gives a little bit of insight into how relationships change with the seasons. This isn’t groundbreaking and seems like common sense stuff but is insightful about how Facebook spends its time.
53% of American consumers use their smartphones to access search engines at least once a day (Source: Google and Mobile Marketing Association Survey)
66% of Americans ages 24-35 own a smartphone (Source: Nielsen, 2012)
Sixty-five percent of mobile users said they used their mobile device to find a business to make an in-store purchase (Source: Google, 2011)
And it doesn’t want to be. People looking for something new that ISN’T Facebook will find a lot of things here to keep them engaged. Google plus is a customizable social network which means you can keep friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, clients, etc. all separated and organized. You can follow and have discussions and even ‘hang out’ with a multitude of people sharing ideas on a multitude of things. I’ve seen it described as “like a news site like Huffington Post…only if you had the ability to customize what you did or didn’t see and could follow, discuss, or even “hang out” with those you share interests with or enjoy hearing from. A way to meet and discuss your interests with a whole group of people, not just the same old friends you only half-heartedly interact with on Facebook.”
After a few weeks of trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say and to show and figuring out where I wanted to work and connect with people, I have finally and officially placed the new website and blog live for the world-at-large. I encourage people to wander and loiter and really look at the site and work presented. I would love to get your feedback as my ultimate goal is to make it continuously better.
If you are using anything other than IE8 or lower, you’ll notice some nice CSS3 and JQuery-based elements. For instance, certain aspects of the site have CSS generated rounded-corners and drop shadows, I’m utilizing Google Web Fonts for a clean and modern look, there is a Nivo Slider on the home page and an elegant JQuery portfolio which uses the easing function.