Last Day of Class

Whoa.

So today, we are presenting our website redesign of a local business or organization of our choice. Josh Dean (a classmate, and fellow IV goer) and I decided to do a pair project and chose The Bemidji Symphony Orchestra. We cannot be more pleased with the end-result. We uploaded it in the previous class, and will be presenting it today with much gusto and excitement.

No doubt anticipating the much awaited freedom of which will be most likely short lived.

Turrah for the season. Hope you've enjoyed my homework blog.

Stop-motion awesomeness

So if you've been following this blog, you would have known that I am a huge fan of stop-motion.

Doesn't this make you want to do a totally cool stop-motion video like that? 288 000 jelly beans. MAGNIFICENT!

Catnap

Because I need one so badly.

Laboring all day in the lab. For a project you most definitely could not think of right away.

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY. Writing scores for a song I wrote in 2004 on a software called Finale. It's looking good so far.

But boy, is it time consuming.

Gotta Love this!

They are one of my favorite two-piece cover bands on the tube, EVER. Love them too.

Rocking out to...

Finals does things to you. Not kidding.

Christmas

I am feeling super festive today. Happy 1st of December!

.....and Merry Christmas.

Oh, and ooglay sweater christmas party as a goodbye to IV for the year, tonight! Putting my dancing shoes on.

More Dreamweaver today.

I wonder if Drew will throw an assignment at us today. It's always an adventure figuring stuff out as a group, especially something as absorbing as Dreamweaver. Hope my groupmates are awesome this time around, and we can come up with professional looking stuff for our portfolios. W00t!

Oh, roll call.

"Folder For Today"

Above is an in-class assignment. Studying the art of simple Web Designing on DreamWeaver. I am more and more convinced daily that i should purchase this software for future work. :) The buttons are rollovers that change colors when you hover over them. :)

P/s Initially I added a pixelated Mario and Luigi, etc. but removed them, as I'd wanted to clean them up on Photoshop a bit.

Michael & Justin

They are pretty fantastic! Thanks, Ben Toh, for introducing me to them!

Monstero

This is a blog I follow. Great art. Aglaia Mortcheva. Bvlgarian. ;)

 
Enjoy.

You, AutoCAD!

Three cheers for more homework! Huzzah!

The Movie

I made this short film in the Fall of 2009. Just thought I would put this up again for the benefit of those who hadn't caught it yet.

Part One

Part Two

I wanted it to have the Film La Noir feel to it. Set back to the 60s (hence, the 64 impala and such), this is a story of a misguided detective, a clever physician, a schizophrenic woman with an abusive boyfriend, and a lurking friend.

My regrets? With the small budget and limited volunteer cast time, I could not bring in quality props and retake scenes that did not fully make sense or were badly taken, or even just for an extended version (for clarity of whys). But all in all, this was memorable and my best work. Great job to all.

A study of color.

This is my Color Grid Assignment. I really love how it turned out. Sorry about the strange color casts. Compression tends to do that to a photo I suppose. Enjoy!

More AutoCAD

What I worked on today during Technical Graphics. Hey the line colors were directed by the textbook, so wipe that flabbergast off your person. ;)

Seeking.

‎"Marco?" I stammered, afraid of the thick darkness I seem to have found myself in.

You always say Polo.

-Phoebe

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went to where I knew I could find you today. And I found you. And my day defied gravity.

I succumbed.

I finally did it. After mulling over it, I sheepishly admit that as of yesterday, I am now a bonafide member of Friends of the Foot. Crazy excited. I believe in this band, their messages, dreams, genre, and songs. Confident that this will be a great investment.

Also, I just obtained David Crowder Band's "Oh, for Joy!" Christmas Album that was just released. It is epic. Needless to say.

Bonzai3d

I've been making excellent progress on Bonzai3d. Followed an online webinar/tutorial and created the following. Extremely exciting.

Sketches

Some quick doodles I sketched out en route to Winona, MN in our megavan.

Jobs

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

Hey boy, don't believe 'em, none of us are bullet-proof.

The Story

.....of Jon Foreman. Frontman of Switchfoot. Vice Verses is the bomb.

AutoCAD

Recently, I began living the new experience of the CAD world. I'm taking Technical Graphics this Fall, and utilizing AutoCAD has been a blast. No doubt tedious and time-consuming; but very remunerative. The more you put into it, the more accurate and sleek it looks. So yeah, mainly used for orthographic diagrams -- but will soon  flesh stuff out. Anticipate awesomeness in future.

Apple picking in Winona, MN

Cortlands, mostly. What a cultural experience! I never thought I'd freak out at the sight of apples on a tree. But I truly did. All I've ever seen of apples were how they were arranged in grocery stores and supermarkets, bagged or piled neatly. Plucking them from a tree -- is ridiculous!

Otter Magician

...ask him to do a trick. Try it.

Wedding Singer

So I sang at a wedding last Saturday, and the photos are out! Jill does a fabulous job at capturing the beautiful moments. Refer to her other work or contact her here. Meanwhile, my contorted lips will tell the story.

Today, I find myself in Winona, MN. About to pick apples - pictures to follow. But first, I call my muhma in Malaysia to wish her the best of birthdays! She is an absolutely adorable, amazing and power-packed lady! She has grown me to be the person that I am today and sacrificed much to see me through university. Love you both, ma and da.

Happy birthday again, muhma.

What your cats do when you leave....

...is use your workstation, of course. And then they proceed to hoard. Translation.

15 Years Ago Vs. Today

Summing up: So, You Want to be a Food Photographer?

The very notion of having photography as a vocation, especially in this day and age, is more commonly associated to specific areas – e.g. for print news or magazines, or weddings. With the don of the Internet era in the 90s, we have since diluted the “sacredness” (if you will) of photography. The number of people who actually do not own cameras of their own are a minority today. This also results in the dimming down of values and effort that goes toward the beauty of capturing “a moment”. Everybody has a device, and hopes for their sudden chance at coming across something amazing. So not very much thought is ever put into taking a picture.(Especially now, when all cameras come with an “auto” setting.) So when reading an article like “So, You Want to be a Food Photographer?”, it was hard not to approach the subject without feeling a tinge of indifference.

I was sorely mistaken. People still do have a high regard for photography, let alone food photography. It is literally other-worldly. Almost a science. The amount of effort put behind-the-scenes for food to actually look good through the lens, surpasses anything a typical photographer would need to do to achieve good results. I was amused when the featured food photographer, Iris Richardson said, “It was educating my clients.” She goes on to explain that most of them arrive with lots of food hoping to be done with 20 photographs at a go. They do not quite realize that setups for each dish can take up to 3 or 4 hours each.

I believe it is important to note that a food photographer needs to work with a good food stylist (or be one themselves). In the article, food stylist, Katrina Tekavec, also discusses about the tools of her trade. She arrives to a typical photo-shoot with her car filled with boxes carrying her much needed tools, props, sprays, coloring and etcetera. These were definite eye openers for me, especially when the list included, blowtorches, soldering irons and a meat glue called, “Zap-a-Gap”.

It is not a glamorous climb to the top for food photographers, unfortunately. It took Richardson 5 years to get established as one. It is a lot of apprenticing, shadowing, observing, and working as low-paid assistants to food photography experts to understand what is required of you in the field. The goal is to make food appetizing, and the methods used are not apparent and may even seem counterintuitive. For example, perfectly angled and spaced grill marks on a piece of chicken are applied at measured intervals with a skewer that was heated up with a blowtorch and then, painted over with browning sauce. Another unusual example would be in creating steam (to make food more inviting) by soaking a tampon in water, microwaving it until hot and then positioned with tongs. It does not make food sound as tantalizing, reading what makes or breaks a great food-photograph – however, it is amazing how the little details and “formulas” makes a huge impact in every shot. A note-worthy mention, is the fact that we would need three stylists for a typical burger-chain shoot; one for the bun, one for the lettuce and tomato and one for the burger.

Why would anyone want to delve in something so painstaking? Richardson admits that one would need to be a little crazy to do something crazy. Nevertheless, she is mostly motivated by the challenge and knowing she would be able to see her pictures on magazines and packaging. Great incentives for a great art.

Soldier - Gavin DeGraw

Why Netflix is splitting itself in two

The Oatmeal, Yeah!!!!

Dark Horses - Switchfoot

Cat Vs. Internet

The Oatmeal, YEAHHHHH!