I have enjoyed The Daily Creates of ds106 and will strive for continued participation in this creative outlet even after my educational enrollment in the ds106 curriculum comes to an end. Here are the 3 daily create assignments I completed for the last week of ds106 and Camp MacGuffin…
I’m not that great at drawing on a good day.Ask me to do it with my eyes closed ensures a disaster in the art department. Knowing this would be the case, I want to add a twist…to make it more interesting. So I used Flamepainter to blindly draw this flower. This made it look more abstract and colorful, standing out from the other pen and pencil renditions of this challenge!
“Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a butterfly.”
A butterfly is an accurate reflection of my life to this point, especially the last few years. I recently had this beautiful reminder tattooed on my ankle for my 35th birthday…to always remind me that change is ineviditable, so make it beautiful! I will blog separately about this in the near future, to give the the whole story, my story and why this holds such a powerful significance to me that I would tattoo on my body. Look for it, if you really want know what’s really Behind Blue Eyes.
To create this sound clip, I recorded a few sounds of water in the bathroom. The shower running, toilet flushing, sick faucet flowing. Again, easy to do using the SoundCloud app on my iPhone to record a short bit.
Another week gone like dust in the wind! Sorry to report that I fell off the daily create challenge this week, after completing 8 consecutive challenges, but here’s the 3 I did get published:
This wasn’t too difficult to do. I walked around my home, tuning up my listening skills to hear soft sounds that I probably over look. It’s been hot as Hades here in Fredericksburg this summer and my AC has been working overtime. I admit, I’m fearing the resulting electric bill! The AC softly blows the lovely cold air from the vents in a glorious, quiet murmur of sound. Almost a white noise, usually taken for granted. To get this sound bit, I simply turned on my SoundCloud app on my iPhone and stuck it into the vent to capture the sound…and nothing but the beautiful sound of cool air comforting me! No alterations necessary, worked like a charm.
My first idea for this challenge was to photograph the stray dog hair that is usually attracted to my work clothes, but, of course, the one time I want to see it there, it wasn’t. So I took a stroll through my home again, and a walk down memory lane. A stuffed Simba and Nala from the Lion King are attracted by a magnet in their noses! The Lion King was my oldest son’s very 1st favorite movie and he carried the VHS tape with him EVERYWHERE! I found these guys among the other well-loved but forgotten childhood treasures. (circa 1994?)
I wanted to record a butterfly or dragonfly fluttering around, but the weather apparently wasn’t pretty enough or they are camera-shy and hiding. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t find any even though I looked for them for hours. Oh, well. Next best thing for flight…and airport! Fortunately for me, my office overlooks Dulles International Airport! Unfortunately, my timing was off and I was unable to capture the arrival or departure of aircraft. So I simply recorded a sample of my view of the airport and it’s activities from my vantage point. Not too exiting, I’d say, but it was original!
Next week is the last for daily creates for ds106, although I plan on continuing to participate, as time allows. It’s a good excuse to keep “making art, damn it!” if even on a smaller scale!
I took liberties with today’s Daily Create (tdc192):
No rules, right? Also, I misread (or didn’t read) the DC directions.
Also, I haven’t sorted out my .gif/Wordpress issues, so you have to click on the image to see it move. Sorry. Maybe that’s a project for tomorrow.
Representing the concept of flight through cartoons… So I found this old Superman cartoon at archive.org. I selected a small section and turned it into an animated .gif. Only I can’t really tell that it’s an animated .gif. Probably should’ve just trimmed the 10 seconds or so of the cartoon I used and uploaded that for the daily create. Dumb, Barker. Dumb. Oh well.
This week in the world of Daily Creates, cogdog expressed his frustration with lack of consistent participation with The Daily Create and issued a 7-day Daily Create Challenge. Rising to his challenge, I worked to complete the Daily Creates daily, everyday. And here’s what I came up with:
I took this picture through the open sunroof of my car while sitting in traffic on my way home. I promise, traffic was dead stopped…I was NOT trying the photograph and drive simultaneously! The clouds were looking quite omnious as a storm was brewing. Looked like trouble to me…at least this was not going to make my commute home easy. I didn’t see it initially, but cogdog commented that he could see a raven. Then I saw it…yet another sign of trouble!
This one was super easy and FUN! Referring back to the ds106 Packing List for web-based drawing tools, I found Flamepainter! What a cool concept! Selected my colors for a fiery theme, looped the cursor around a few times, and…easy, peasy…a fiery tornado. After uploading, it got the attention of a few participant that left complimentary comments, including a comment inquiring about Flamepainter. After publishing a tweet about it on Twitter, I think I turned a few excited followers on to a new tool to play with!
I so love the photograph challenges! It gives me an excuse to play with my camera. I am still amazed at the power of the zoom on my little red Canon PowerShot SX260. I was standing quite a distance away, using the max 80x zoom to capture these bees on a flower. I love how sharply focused the flower and the bees are while blurring the background, showcasing the subjects! In keeping with the instructions, there is not a single human artifact in this picture, foreground or background!
And we’re back to video again…but this one is easy, even to an amateur like me. I had to wait until late in the day to do this though, because I had the DirecTv guy working on hooking me up with a Whole Home DVR system and new equipment, so I didn’t have TV access most of the day. Using my iPhone camera to record this short clip, I discovered that channel 106 is not accessible to me! You see, channel 106 is ESPN-3D and it promptly reminded me that my TV is not 3D, so it could not play this channel. Maybe one day…
This one left me a little stumped at first. Not to mention, I still avoid hearing my own recorded voice whenever possible! But I sucked it up in the interest of not letting cogdog down! Anyway, it finally occurred to me that credit repair services and debt reconciliation firms are constantly advertising too-good-to-be-true services that will magically “fix” your credit problems and stop debt collections. A shame, really, as I’m sure in the current economy, they find plenty of desperate victims to prey on. Using the SoundCloud app on my iPhone, I was able to record and upload this short call quickly, once I had an idea to work with. I do admit using Audacity to edit out a segment that I didn’t like.
So there are 5 Daily Creates in a row. Sorry, cogdog, I still owe you yesterday’s TDC! No excuses, but in my defense the video session of ds106, combined with a concussion, quite frankly kicked my ass this past week! I’ll have it up later today and will amended this post then.
I would like to pont out that only 2 daily creates were required for ds106 students this week, so I more than doubled that requirement!
Ok, so TECHNICALLY I can live with my iPhone. Unlike cogdog insulin pump, my health and existence does not depend on it. But it sure does make my life easier, keeping me organized, in touch, entertained and more productive. The millions of apps available make it fully customizable to suit my needs and desires. I’ve been an iPhone user for 5 years and I am so happy with it. I can’t wait to see what Apple has in store for the iPhone 5!
I certainly can’t have that, so I got to thinking about yesterday’s Daily Create, which was “Take a picture of a cloud and tell us what it looks like to you.”
I checked the Daily Create yesterday and then looked at the sky. It looked something like this for most of the day:
Rainy Day photo courtesy of Alexander Barreto (or Hialean on Flickr)
After a week of 100+ degree days and no rain for forever, yesterday’s showers were a welcome sight. I promptly forgot about TDC #184 and went about my day.
I forgot about it, that is, until I was reading my son stories before bed time. One of last night’s stories was A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock. Kids’ books are weird, and this one is no exception. There’s a lot of talk about guns and animals killing each other. But look what’s on the last page:
A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock
CLOUDS!
I was going to snap a picture of this page last night and upload it to Flickr (the cloud in the top left corner reminds me of a shark), but I (a) forgot (b) was lazy (c) was forgetful (d) all of the above.
So let’s talk about re-interpreting.
Shortly after I read that I had invented the lamest excuse ever (truth), my son pulled a bag of poly-fil (the filling for stuffed animals, quilts, and whatnot) off the shelf.
He takes this stuff out of the bag, puts it on his head and my head, and calls it “bubbles” since it looks like bubbles in the bathtub. Do you know what else it looks like?
CLOUDS!
“Here’s your re-interpretation,” I thought as I taped the poly-fill to one of the windows. I had a vision that this taped-up poly-fil would look like clouds in the sky. Do you know what poly-fil looks like taped to a window? Santa Claus’s pubes.
I was close to just snapping the picture and being done with it, but I wanted to make it work. I wanted something that would kind-of-sort-of match up to the image I had in my head.
Maybe taping the poly-fil to blue construction paper with a yellow sun would make things look less pube-ish.
Less obscene, yes. But still lame.
I give up. Jobot and I play with his cars. Jobot drives his cars into the bubbles/clouds/fog.
YES, JOBOT! That’s it! Hand me those planes!
And here’s what we do:
That was fun.
So I got that TDC #184 (even if it was a day late), but do you know what I loved most about the whole thing? The fact that my kid was involved and the process of failing, failing, failing, and then finally getting it. True, these were small fails on what some would consider an insignificant task, but it felt good nonetheless.
Although I did these last week, I’m just getting the blog post done for them. Sorry for keeping you suspense, but I am slightly behind on my blogging due to an injury I sustained over the weekend. Wish it was at least a good story to tell but it’s not. Just a stupid accident at home that left me with a concussion and a massive headache for a few days. Feeling well enough today to get back to the grind, so here we go…
I took this beautiful image in my mother’s garden last week. Even with the crazy heat we’ve been having here in Virginia, the flowers are flourishing, attracting wild butterflies and bees. It was amazing to watch them and try to capture a pretty photo. This image was made possible by the incredible zoom on my camera. I was able to watch for a distant and zoom it on the resting butterfly.
My favorite plastic accessory of the past week has been my water bottles! The heat has been nearly unbearable and I am not going anywhere with one! This one was fresh from the frig and immediately formed condensation when I step outside. Simple point and shot image…no fancy imagery here.
I recorded this clip during the last moments of my 2 hour commute home from work, as I entered the driveway, shut off the car, gathered my things, and put my feet down in my Home Sweet Home. Used the SoundCloud app on my iPhone to record and upload this task in a matter of moments. Nothing special here, no editing…just simple account of my arrival home after a long day away.
For this image, we were visiting the river and marveling at the rushing muddy water when I spotted the Candian geese on the “island” in the middle of the rapids. This photo is taken at 100% size, no zoom or special alterations. Unless you are looking for them you could easily miss these river visitors, taking a rest.
I must admit the photo/visual assignments are my favorite and I’m sure you’ll see more of them from me during the next few weeks, savoring the break from the audio and video world to enjoy a little photography!
At ds106, we are in the midst of two weeks of audio training…learning…creating…and in my case, FUMBLING!
I’ve been super busy with work, deadline looming. Too many extended days has kept me away from my daily participation in The Daily Creates. Truth be told, I did them pretty much all at once. I know that’s not the purpose behind them, but I vow to do better this week.
I kinda feel like I copped out a little on this one. I pass many construction zones on my commute to work, but I have never been able to stop and take a pic. In my frantic attempt to complete my required number of Daily Creates this week, I tried to get creative on construction. First I thought of doing “cardstruction” but was unable to find a deck of cards to work with AND I noticed someone else had already used that idea. Wanting to be original, I did an internet search for sites under construction and I found this neat front page of a webpage under construction! I took a screenshot, converted to a jpeg, and now I have a picture of construction! Haha!
So I’m thinking about things that make me sick for this challenge. And I’m wondering…why in the world would anyone want to photograph of something that makes them sick! Ha! When I think “sick”, I think literally getting sick, vomiting. Well, I vomit when I have the flu…or when I was pregnant, but I can’t really photograph THAT, so what else makes me sick? Too much drink! The truly foul offender, Goldschlager, is no longer allow in my home, because the shear sight or smell of it makes my stomach flip! Well, Jagermeister can be just as vulgar and I had some in my freezer. And it was pulled from the depths of its frozen home for a quick photo shoot…and then back to the freezer it went, without even cracking it open. Nothing special about the photography here, just point and shoot from an angle.
Another prime example of ds106, changing the way I look at things! I tried to take the challenge to heart and really look for something that I hadn’t noticed before. I started roaming my house, focusing on the rooms I spend the most time in: living room, kitchen, even the front porch. But I found a surprise in my bedroom! I changed my usual range of vision and looked high and low. Up high, near the peak of the cathedral ceiling, there is a ledge. I never go up there, it’s about 9 feet above the floor. For the same reason, I don’t display anything up there either, because then I’d have to climb up there to clean it. Well, I think I really should climb up there for the first time in 6 years. Apparently there is so much dust accumulating up there that even the dust bunnies are ready to commit Harry Carry. They are closing in on me, waiting to accost me in my sleep! I had to make some adjustment to the camera to capture the image. Without fiddling with the settings, the first few images didn’t show the fine details of dust. Zoom, adjust, and shoot, then I got it! Maybe I’ll have time to do some deep cleaning after my summer classes are over. This is a little embarrassing!
Today’s Daily Create prompt: take a photo that represents destruction. Exposed root systems make me feel unsettled. It’s like seeing a person’s innards on the outside. That’s just not how it’s supposed to be.
Camp is now over (see the final story. If you are craving an experience like this, head over to ds106 and see how to participate. For more on the Summer of Magic Macguffin, see.....
