Just something different

Roy Orbison  Video

Never Stop Learning

Several years ago I was a real Photoshop nut … Now I am finding that I have the time and the means to start dabbling in it again.  Having just purchased  Photoshop CS5 I am once again totally blown away by how much improved it is over  CS3, the first version of this software that I purchased. 

I am also amazed at how much I have to learn.  Just this morning, only half awake and before my coffee, I was watching YouTube tutorial on the improvements in selection using CS5.. and yes the Content Aware feature looks like a powerful one..I can’t wait until I really am able to start applying it to some digital artwork. 
There are many things that I want to work on right now … I have been out taking pictures and it is a beautiful time of year to be doing that… here are some of my favorites:




















Right now these may seem kind of static ..however with the right software you can do much to improve the interest in a photo.  I use my photos for many things, not only as a history of my life but to see into a future or a world that is on the edge.. in other words I like to create digital art.
One such example is this “mixed media” picture that I created using an image of my Second Life avatar and a photo that I took in the Buffalo, WY area and another of a 35mm slide I picked up on Ebay sometime ago:


I feel like a novice starting all over with Photoshop again! I love it …

My next adventure in this digital world is Camtasia Studio.   Again I am just learning.  I did make two attempts at doing some Second Life videos:
My first attempt here:
Thistle Hill, Caledon
By my second attempt I had learned how to remove the annoying clicks from the audio:

Steam Sky City, Caledon .. Second Life

There are still some real “herky jerky” elements I do not care for..but I am ok with my first efforts and now will step back and learn how to fine tune and pay attention to the details.

I really didn’t see You Tube as a part of my Social Networking ..but there is always that chance!

Beijing Hutong and Cricket Liu

One of the lunch stops on our tour included a luncheon prepared by and with a local resident of Beijing Hutong..this was really one of the highlights of the trip for me.  We were taken by cycle rickshaw through the narrow alleyways of Hutong to the house of Chicken Liu.
The house was one of many connected together within the heart of Hutong.  It consisted of an entry, kitchen, and two rooms (I couldn’t help but note that on the wall of one of the rooms as a flatscreen tv, in the other room someone noted two computers. )

There was no bathroom in the home, there are various public toilets here and throughout the Hutong.   Apparently, according to this Wikipedia article, the hutong are disappearing as communities, this is not surprising because it does not appear that they have the infrastructure to meet the needs of today’s modern society.  However this is a critical piece of China’s culture, history and society so I hope that some piece of this will be preserved.

Below are some of the pictures I took of Cricket Liu, his wife,their Hutong Home, and a Youtube video I found of him.




The Second and Third pictures show Cricket Liu and our interpreter for the lunch. She did a great job of telling his story!


The flatscreen tv in the first picture:



The cricket’s “home”


Cricket Liu’s wife in the kitchen preparing our meal..I am not sure if they had running water in the home or not:




Cricket Liu is quite an expressive story teller:


Our meal was ready and on the table waiting for us when we arrived:



Cricket Liu also had some very impressive looking grasshoppers:























Holding his cricket house:



He really loves his dog who he called a “movie star”





Cricket Liu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfurk2-Q6AA