Year of the Rooster

From my archives I found this picture taken in 2012. I suddenly remembered an old CD 'The Falling' and music berformed by the band Carmel, and their leading vocalist Carmel McCourt, who still seem to perform. Soundtrack to go along with this image: youtu.be/nr6enqNMf9g EDIT: Thanks to Mick, here's the original by Three Dog Night: youtu.be/rKaQzQAlNn4

And some music to go with it ;-)

Inverted and turned the "hue -170 degrees" on GIMP editor, and improved the tones on PicMonkey. Original

Too Far Gone soundtrack by Dawn Eden: soundcloud.com/dawn-eden-music/dawn-eden-too-far-gone

" I'm just looking to find out more about the world and if it turns out there is a simple ultimate law which explains everything, so be it; that would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it's like an onion with millions of layers and we're just sick and tired of looking at the layers, then that's the way it is. ... My interest in science is to simply find out more about the world. " ~Richard Feynman Soundtrack by Daffy Maestro (Gihan Senevirathne): soundcloud.com/daffymaestro/chair

Patterns as repetition within space Patterns can be understood as a repetition within the space, like a decoration on floor, wall, canvas or in any three dimensional space. Probably most creative masters on this sort of patterns are Arabic architects and artists who have decorated Mosques and other Arabic buildings with incredibly detailed mosaics. I have read somewhere the Arabic art went to this path of illustration because in Islamic religion and culture such thing as iconolatry (or idolatry) is strongly forbidden. Therefore artists could not decorate the buildings (or any other items) with anything that could be recognized as an any sort of a symbol. As a consequence they invented actually very imaginative form of abstract art: almost painstakingly detailed patterns and ornaments. Arabs of course were not the only ones making mosaics for decoration. But they certainly took it to another level. Then later on these master pieces of art have inspired many modern and contemporary artists. Good examples on this are relatively modern western artists M.C. Esher and Antoni Gaudi . Patterns as repetition within time Another way to see patterns is what could be called as pattern recognition. It is a learned ability to recognize familiar symbols, sounds, melodies, smells, tastes and textures. Through everyday repetition of stimuli, we learn to recognize familiar things and then call them as patterns. One example is pareidolia, where we recognize some pattern formed from dots and lines, which then looks like a face of some creature. Pattern recognition can be also programmed into a software, and then used on number of applications. For example on camera software it can be used to recognize faces as well, and then help camera automatically focus on those subjects. Using patterns as subjects in photographic art On my example image, I use patterns in number of ways. First of all I have taken shot of a brick wall to show the repetitive pattern of that colorful and beautiful wall. Then I have chosen someone else's work of art to illustrate how those bricks could be used to create a mosaic, or as pixel art, as we would also say today. Except in this case the mosaic is used to create some icons that we can recognize, thanks to continuous cultural repetition. Then, finally I have made this work as mine by adding there my shadow. But not just any shadow. The idea is to show there Mr Nobody , which I have intentionally taken to represent myself as an imaginary amateur photographer. The shadow holding hand and camera up is supposed to bring several possible "patterns" into one's mind. First of all, one can see there a person just rising the hand in order to salute the viewer. Second purpose is to directly show the new way to use modern cameras. We no longer need to hold the camera in front of the face, and that way we are able to extent our reach much further. Thirdly the idea is to show how the shadow actually looks more complete than a torso. If the hand would be held in front of the body or head, it could be much more difficult to recognize it as a pattern of human figure. Then the fourth reason is to add there so called inter-textual references. The inter-textual references can be of course many; depending on what of them are familiar to the viewer. But what I have intentionally "hidden" there are Michelangelo 's famous sculpture David , and Ignatz the cartoon mouse from Krazy Kat by George Herriman . So, there is a character holding either a sling or a brick, in order to hit somebody with it. Depending on the point of view, it is either David or Ignatz, but they both are more or less trying to make a statement. What the statement then is, it fully depends on the person who views the image. The final message can be either obvious or complex. One possible message could be hidden on those icons or symbols. The picture can for example say: "Look at those symbols! Do you accept them as icons of human kind? Do you see there a woman wearing a skirt and a man with a hat, or what do you see? A symbol for unisex perhaps?"

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” ― Carlos Castaneda One thing I have always found fascinating about photography is to challenge oneself to overcome the technical limitations. In 2010 I for example used 3 MP mobile phone camera a lot, and learned many creative ways to take and edit if not technically good but at least interesting images. During this year I have decided to focus using a mobile phone camera again, and also learn at least something about black and white photography. One of my all time inspiration on photography has been Jesper Høm's and Sven Grønløkke's 'Børnenes Billedbog' (DE: Kinderbilderbuch, FI: Kuvis - uusi kuvakirja): www.achtung.photography/jesper-hom-sven-gronlokke-bornenes-billedbog-1975 My sister had a copy of it when we were young, and later on I manage to find the book from one antiquarian bookshop. So, the reason why I have always loved images of simple things very likely comes from that picture book. I remember how me and my brother once talked about this concept of shooting ordinary everyday items and scenes, when I was something like 18 years old, and just starting to learn photography more seriously. I guess the whole idea is to capture something that is meaningful to almost everyone. And presenting the image as a poor quality black and white somehow makes clear it is indeed only an image, a shadow on the wall of Plato's cave, aka an image of an idea. For example feather is a feather in everyday life context, but an image of a feather is an idea of a feather, and therefore also all of it's symbolic meanings becomes more obvious, I think... I also recently became interested on an idea of keeping a "photo journal", where I think the goal is to record and report the work-flow behind the image. For this shot the flow was rather interesting indeed. I first of course started from The Sunday Challenge, which was feather(s) for this week. During the week I was also seeking information on Canon G5x camera, and I accidentally discovered The Art of Photography "vlogs and blogs" by Ted Forbes: www.youtube.com/channel/UC7T8roVtC_3afWKTOGtLlBA www.facebook.com/TheArtofPhotography Ted Forbes had just recently started an online assignments when I discovered his videos and Facebook pages. There he introduces the technique of keeping a photography journal. My first reaction was that I really can't get printed any of my pictures, or write something about every single shot I take on daily bases. But then I realized it would be nice and useful to write at least few words even once or twice a week, and I could just as well do it digitally. After all, the point of any journal is to stop for a moment to reflect what one has done. By formulating it in words, it then helps one to recall things better. So from my daydreams of buying a new camera, and digesting this week's feather challenge, I slowly started to think not only how to use a pair of feathers I had at home, but also how to use my technically limited tools creatively. I also recalled all the things related to mysticism I have read or heard about during my life. And then it suddenly hit me. I have once been interested on Carlos Castaneda's fictional stories about "his training in shamanism". Although Castaneda's books have soon found out as totally fictional, the stories still have been a great inspiration for many artist, like Milo Manara, and perhaps also for Storm Thorgerson, who has made a very cool music video for Pink Floyd's *Learning to Fly': youtu.be/nVhNCTH8pDs After following this path of thinking, I immediately knew the scene I want to shoot, the scene where the main character on video attaches the feathers on his arm. I first had ideas on how to take just similar image as on the video (person seen against the blue sky). BUT then I started to think I want to use one of my favorite point of view, to shoot from the "first person view", and show my both arms like seeing them on front of my own eyes. And when testing how it would look seen through the wide angle (24mm equivalent) lens, I realized I can include also my feet. Finally through several test shots, I end up to this composition seen on the picture. For the background I chose a shag rug and dark shade of a sofa, to make the background as dark and rough as possible. The technical challenge when taking this shot was to use a self timer, and place the mobile phone camera in a position that shows my both hands and feet in the picture. Finally I end up using screw clamp camera holder to hold the camera with my teeth. Not a very comfortable approach, but it worked! Then because the shot was pretty poor in quality, I decided to use 'selective Gaussian blur', and then turn it into black and white. Finally I got the idea to tell this story, to record and report what I had done and why. And I also decided to seek the reference on that book that has always been my great source of inspiration. The overall outcome was that I really enjoyed the whole process, found number of interesting sources, and learned plenty of new things =)

Soundtrack by Jens Buchert: soundcloud.com/jens-buchert/ice On this year's first day at work, I decided to be "the somebody else", and clean our storage room at work. Among all things abandoned there, I discovered all sorts of recreational stuff, like two disco balls. I loaned one of them, to take shots of it. I took several shots of the disco ball hanged against dark background. I lit the wall on one side of the ball instead of pointing the light directly to the ball itself. The idea was to capture the colourful reflections seen on the tiny mirrors only, and make the ball look like a planet lit from one side. And the original idea was also to make an image where one disco ball is rising above the horizon of an other.